Aspiring to the Immortal Path -
Chapter 1174: Resolution
The Hall of Divine Conference.
48 Star Lanterns were suspended from the ceiling, while 1028 Everlasting Spirit Candles burned on the ground. Together, their lights weaved together an image—Heavenweave Ridge.
At this time, Heavenweave Ridge was covered in darkness.
Dark clouds covered the sky and black soil spread across the earth.
All was obscured, and only on the very edge could one make out a few savage demons. Even then, the scene would occasionally skip or shatter…
“At least one True Immortal devil is using their Divine Will to cover the area. We can’t be sure if it’s Libido, but the usual custom of the Primordial Fog is for one Archdemon Lord to be supported by at least five True Immortal devils.”
Tang Jie was the speaker.
Seated at the highest seat in the center was Yun Tianlan. In terms of strength, Tang Jie was actually the strongest of the Rosecloud Domain, but Yun Tianlan was still the undisputed leader of the Rosecloud Domain.
Fairy Gu Ye sat on his left, ranked second, while Tang Jie sat on his right, ranked third. Following them were Blossom Queen Ran Qing, Huang Wuji, Mu Ziyang, Ye Yun, and Ji Wenzhang. From this, one could see that there had been another shift in the rankings of the major sects. Godhead Palace and the Beast Refining Gate, after many years of rehabilitation, had risen up from the bottom. Meanwhile, the Seven Absolutions Sect, which had always been right beneath the Basking Moon Sect, had fallen far in status because Ji Wenzhang had yet to become a True Immortal.
But the Basking Moon Sect did not treat the Seven Absolutions Sect poorly, still favoring Ji Wenzhang when it came to resources. Even if it was for its own sake, it wanted Ji Wenzhang to become a True Immortal. Alas, advancing to True Immortal had never been just a question of resources, and Ji Wenzhang still saw no hope of a breakthrough.
Down below, Wei Tianchong mumbled, “The gap doesn’t sound too big.”
It truly wasn’t. The Rosecloud Domain currently had seven True Immortals, which, even when considering the entirety of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm, was no small force. If the enemy had only six or seven True Immortals, then they could theoretically be dealt with.
However, the scariest thing about the Primordial Fog had never been its high-end forces. It had to be remembered that it wasn’t just one Nether Emperor from the Nether Domain that had almost taken all of the Flame Yang Domain.
The scariest thing about the Primordial Fog Domain was its endless demonic energy that contaminated both the soil and the mind. Through various means, the demons could cause human cultivator after human cultivator to fall and join the demons. The devils Tang Jie had encountered before, like Immortal Ji Yao and the Primordial Heavenly Demon, had all been old hands at drawing people down the demonic path. The Primordial Heavenly Demon was particularly outstanding at this, able to create a pack of devils with the raise of a hand.
But Immortal Ji Yao and the Primordial Heavenly Demon were not the only ones that knew this skill.
Far too many devils were experts at this. While they weren’t as formidable as the Primordial Heavenly Demon, able to do it as easily as he did, they still had their own cunning ways of taking humans by surprise. Most frightening of all was that once one fell into demonhood, there was no coming back—even now, Ice Phoenix was still imprisoned within the Mountain River Diagram, having an ancient forbidden ground in the Yellow Court World all to herself.
Besides that, devils themselves were very powerful. The lack of resources in the Primordial Fog Domain meant that each devil had essentially killed their way out of an ocean of corpses. Survival meant constantly slaughtering one’s foes and feeding on them to grow stronger. They had the strongest desire for battle, and could exploit resources to the maximum. Why was the Primordial Fog inevitably going to invade the chiliocosm? It wasn’t because the Demon Lords had commanded them, but because this thriving and prosperous plane was the greatest temptation for every demon of the Primordial Fog Domain.
For delicious food, for sunlight, for springwater, for forests, for all valuable resources, demons would give up everything they had to fight, kill, and plunder.
Every demon that could survive in the Primordial Fog Domain was a madman, a pervert, a ruthless murderer. They had a strong endurance for inhospitable environments, and they were wild, berserk, cruel, crazy, strong, numerous, and persistent. Thus did even the likes of Demonhorns, Red Bats, and Ironbones dare to charge at Violet Palace and Immortal Platform cultivators, because that was in their nature!
When it came to combat power, resolve to fight, and numbers, humans were far inferior to demons.
A human once estimated that if considering groups of the same number and cultivation level, a group of devils would need three to four groups of human cultivators to deal with them.
Fortunately, this situation existed only in the middle and lower echelons. High-tier devils had intelligence and more resources, so they weren’t as crazy, but they were more cunning and insidious. For this reason, some considered that the real frightening devils of the Primordial Fog Domain weren’t the Archdemon or Lesser Demon Lords, but those seemingly average devils.
Proof of this could be seen in the fact that in the history of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm, there was no lack of examples of domains crushed by demon armies, but an extremely small number of examples where just a few Titans were able to conquer a domain.
Thus, Wei Tianchong wasn’t wrong, but it was a meaningless observation.
Yun Tianlan said, “The spatial barrier between the planes has weakened to the maximum extent, and the Primordial Fog Domain has begun its all-out invasion. There is no more need to distribute our defenses. Shaoming, it’s time to bring everyone together.”
Qi Shaoming bowed. “Upon receiving the news, I sent out the order. All cultivators are currently gathering at Skybrink Ridge.”
Skybrink Ridge was to the south of Heavenweave Ridge. The plan drafted by Yun Tianlan and Tang Jie called for humans to not back away in front of the Primordial Fog demons, instead fighting for every inch of soil with them.
In the past, they didn’t know where the devils would appear, so they had to scatter their defenders. But now that the demons had gathered a great host and direct battle became unavoidable, there was no choice but to gather all their forces.
However, there were many who objected to this.
The Beast Refining Gate’s Mu Ziyang said, “I have always believed that the Primordial Fog invasion force is at its strongest right at the beginning. At this time, it is better to avoid direct confrontation. Once the battle lines are extended and the demonic energy has weakened, we then use formations to combat them. In addition, we can also use the parity in higher-tier combat forces to seek opportunities to weaken the foe.”
“I agree.” Ye Yun and Blossom Queen Ran Qing were in support of Mu Ziyang’s proposition.
Yun Tianlan shook his head. “The demons of Primordial Fog are infamous for their tenacity. They can survive in the barren wastes of the Primordial Fog Domain, so the Stellar Chiliocosm is basically a paradise for them. To be honest, those demons are so tenacious that they could survive simply by eating the dirt. And their reproductive capabilities mean that they can rapidly breed if given a little time. At that point… we can only hide away deep underground where they have no interest and try to survive. May I presume that none of you want this?”
Ye Yun immediately said, “Brother Yun is right, but the risk is too great. If we are so anxious to seek battle, there will be no hope if we are defeated. On the other hand, dragging out the lines of battle and using a strategy of ‘divide and conquer’ is more reliable. The demons of Primordial Fog might be able to reproduce quickly, but that still takes time, and it’s impossible for them to grow faster than we can kill. So long as we can keep the tide in our favor, we should be able to pass the Primordial Fog Calamity with no problem.”
At this point, Tang Jie came in. “If we were only seeking to overcome the Primordial Fog Calamity, then Senior Ye’s strategy would naturally be the safest. But what if our goal is to completely exterminate the demon army?”
Everyone turned to Tang Jie in shock.
Since as long as anyone could remember, humans had always used attritional strategies to get through Primordial Fog Calamities, exploiting time and space to endure the one hundred years until the spatial barrier began to strengthen again and render Spatial Gates unstable, forcing the demon armies to retreat. At that time, the humans could once more take control over their worlds.
But Tang Jie had an even greater goal. He had no plans to stall, instead seeking to kill all the invading demons, which an attritional strategy clearly wouldn’t be able to do.
Tang Jie’s words made everyone understand why Yun Tianlan and Tang Jie had decided on this plan.
Huang Wuji asked in confusion, “Why must we exterminate all the invading demons?”
Demons weren’t fiends. They didn’t have fiend pellets, so there was no benefit to killing them all. The goal in wars with the demons had always been survival and survival alone.
Tang Jie raised an eyebrow, considering his reply before answering, “Because only then can we invade the Primordial Fog Domain.”
“‘Invade the Primordial Fog Domain’?” Everyone was stunned.
“Yes, ‘invade the Primordial Fog Domain’. Only then can we truly understand the nature of the world.”
“‘Understand the nature of the world’?”
“Yes.” Tang Jie’s voice deepened. “Do you all think that you truly understand this world? In truth, we’re not even close to doing so. We only live in the sunny and peaceful side, never seeing the darkness beneath. But a world, a complete world, has both light and darkness. The Stellar Chiliocosm is one part of this world, but so is the Primordial Fog Domain, no? One positive, one negative, and only together are they complete. We’ve understood enough of the positive plane, so it’s time we understood the negative plane…”
“And once we understand it?” Huang Wuji asked.
“After we understand it…” Tang Jie muttered, “Only by truly understanding the world can we see through the Heavenly Dao.”
The Court of Myriad Domains.
Seated high on his throne, Yu Cheng calmly issued his decree.
The Immortals of the court were all stunned by this order, one of them even asking, “Your Majesty, isn’t this decision a little too premature? The demons have all the momentum on their side at the moment, so directly confronting them is very risky. Even if we win, it will come at a great cost. Why not go for the safe and steady approach? After a hundred years pass, we will have won without even fighting…”
“Because I want extermination, not victory. I want offense, not defense. I want to invade the Primordial Fog, for only there can I achieve my dreams…” Yu Cheng gazed profoundly into the distance.
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