Chapter 515 |
The situation of the Immortal Army was far from good.
Mages came in all temperaments, but there was one commonality among them—they were never known for being patient or kind to outsiders.
After the Daoyuan Sect mobilized their hidden ancient monsters to ambush the Mage Legions, those mages who had suffered grievously at their hands realized there was little they could do against Daoyuan. Their anger and frustration instead turned toward the immortals within the Immortal Army who were aligned with Daoyuan’s faction. Particularly, the Free Super Dimensional Mages, who had previously shown faint signs of collusion with Daoyuan, now despised them to the bone. Their methods of revenge were insidious and chilling.
They didn’t openly kill the immortals, but the mages’ means of covert assassination were endless. As a result, by now, very few members of the Immortal Army remained.
Vientiane Heavenly Sovereign could easily imagine the sort of “justice” the mages had meted out, yet she chose not to pursue the matter. Even with her open-minded nature, she harbored resentment toward Daoyuan, Fenghun, and the others.
“The immortals of the Six Great Sects—deal with them as you see fit,” she said calmly. “But return as many of the ordinary cultivators to me as possible.”
It was a reasonable request, and the True Spirit Mages readily agreed.
“Only,” they admitted, “we can’t guarantee how many are left.”
———
Xinyati was as prosperous as ever—more so, in fact. The main body of the stationed army had now fully established its independence, while the original envoy district had been transformed into a sub-plane floating beside the main world.
The ordinary races had no idea what had transpired in the Immortal Realm. They only knew that the demonic beasts and miasma that had long plagued them—bringing their civilizations to the brink of extinction—had suddenly vanished without a trace. They rejoiced.
The disasters they had endured, and the arrival of the mighty mages from the Mage World, had greatly accelerated cultural exchange among the species of the Cataclysm Zone.
These races, none of which possessed a Level-9 lifeform, were weak and fragmented, their systems shattered by centuries of demonic invasion. They held little value. The mages had no interest in attacking them; even when these races offered their allegiance to the Mage World, they were deemed unqualified to join its orbit.
Thus, the Supreme Command decided to turn the sub-plane into a massive hub of trade and interaction—a platform for resource exchange and shared learning under the mages’ unified administration. If the local races wished, they could also pledge themselves to a Super Dimensional Mage as private armies or slaves. The mages neither forced nor refused them.
It was a compromise born of necessity. The Mage World was far too distant from the Cataclysm Zone to govern it directly. Wiping out all their former allies was unthinkable, so this was the best middle ground. Though not direct rule, the mages’ influence would permeate quietly. Over the ages, when these species advanced, their first aspiration would naturally be to join the Mage World.
After a month of rest, the True Spirit Mages displayed their tremendous power before all the envoys—a colossal teleportation gate a million kilometers wide opened, and within it, the scenes of the Mage World were clearly visible.
The mages didn’t make a deliberate show of might; even the ordinary sights of their inner world were enough to crush any rebellious thoughts in the onlookers’ hearts.
In the end, only the Supreme Command remained, along with Nehem—who, after witnessing that sight and achieving sudden enlightenment, returned to the Mage World and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Cataclysm Zone.
Nehem immediately appointed Adam as his chief deputy, ordering all personnel in the Command to follow Adam’s directives.
Adam plunged once more into endless work. Though the Cataclysm Zone’s true threats had been eradicated, coordinating the ever-expanding legions, handling countless requests from the envoys, and distributing newly discovered dimensional coordinates in the distant void—all were monumental tasks.
The extraplanar beings had found a new way to make a living: they joined the legions as guides, asking for little in return—some merely wanted low-level knowledge to ensure their survival, while others even begged to become subordinate races under the Super Dimensional Mages.
External wars had become effortless. The spark of Xinyati was spreading like wildfire. Each day, the Command received massive batches of war reports. Comparing them with the maps transmitted by the Exploration Mages and automatons, projections suggested that the war could be completely won within a century.
The main difficulty now lay with the Free Super Dimensional Mages and their followers.
For legions that hadn’t seen large-scale warfare in countless years, the century-long Cataclysm War had exposed glaring flaws. Many Super Dimensional Mages were running out of resources—so much so that they couldn’t even fund new expeditions to safe planes.
In such a situation, while Super Dimensional Mages could still barely hold out, the ordinary mages could not. Having joined for freedom and profit, they naturally grew restless once both became unattainable.
To handle this, Adam established a new department dedicated to receiving defectors. Those deemed truly talented and qualified were sent directly into the various Holy Towers or into the soon-to-be-established Eighth Holy Tower under his charge. The rest were assigned to the legions of the Holy Tower Super Dimensionals.
Humans—mages included—followed the herd instinct. When they saw the defectors receive better treatment, leaving the Free Faction quickly became an unstoppable trend. The True Spirits’ plan from before the Cataclysm War was now perfectly fulfilled.
Eventually, even many Super Dimensional Mages themselves expressed a desire to return to the Holy Towers. But the screening for them was far stricter—newly ascended ones were accepted only after verification by the Third Holy Tower, while veteran mages required guarantees from at least three Super Dimensionals of the Holy Towers.
Joining Nehem’s command became the most attractive choice. Compared to the old Holy Towers—whose systems were deeply entrenched and hard to enter—the yet-unbuilt, manpower-starved Eighth Holy Tower was clearly the best opportunity.
Nehem had no patience for administrative matters, so Adam became the most sought-after person in Xinyati. Every day, numerous Free Super Dimensionals—whether Level 5 or Level 8—came humbly to seek an audience, lowering themselves in the hope of joining and securing future gains.
At first, Adam was overwhelmed by the volume of requests. Later, he simply adopted the existing regulations of the other Holy Towers, and soon everything was running smoothly.
Eighty years passed in a flash. On the grand map of the Cataclysm Zone within the Supreme Command, seventy percent of the territory was now marked with the banners of the mages. The remaining regions no longer required so many stationed forces.
The mages who had achieved their goals and wished to return home began leaving Xinyati in batches. Adam also recalled the Electromagnetic Legion, the legion under his command that had been fighting on distant planes. After handing over all his duties and successors, he and Nehem finally set out together on their journey back.