Chapter 931: Battle Needs No Words
Chapter 931: Battle Needs No Words
In the span of a few short breaths, the Holy Embryo soared through the initial stages of cultivation, ascending from a mere mortal to the early Qi Refining stage.
It completely disregarded the existence of the Heavenly Disaster, pushing onward toward the peak of the Qi Refining stage.
Its progress only halted due to the absence of a Foundation Establishment Wonder.
This time, Li Fan didn't select any particularly special wonder.
Instead, Li Fan's true self and his clone combined their power. Wielding the Dao of the Sword, they forged a low-grade Human Treasure out of thin air to serve as the material for the Holy Embryo's advancement.
With this "Sword of Unyielding Will" as its Dao foundation, the Holy Embryo could once again receive the immense cultivation power Li Fan channeled into it.
Transforming the Dao of the Sword into a method for forming a Golden Core was now a familiar, well-trodden path for him.
As for the Grotto-Heaven required for the Holy Embryo to reach the Nascent Soul stage, Li Fan simply carved off a small portion from his own Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven.
...another clone at the early Nascent Soul stage was complete.
Compared to Li Qing, however, the Holy Embryo was absurdly weak.
It possessed the cultivation stage in name only. In an actual battle, the Holy Embryo would likely be no match for even an average Nascent Soul cultivator from the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
But as an expendable asset meant for dangerous missions, it would suffice.
After equipping the Holy Embryo with all necessary supplies, Li Fan guided its unconscious form out of the Spirit Wood Realm.
It only fully awakened after traveling the distance of half a province from the entrance.
The mission parameters flooded its mind, and the Holy Embryo began to make its way, unhurried, toward its destination.
Li Fan then turned to Li Qing. "I've already removed the mark the new protective array left on you," he said.
"But you should avoid going out for the time being. Just focus on refining your Sword Dao."
"I have a feeling that turmoil will soon engulf the Xuanhuang Realm again."
Li Qing nodded slightly.
Li Fan's words were not without basis.
He had just seen a familiar figure within He Zhenghao's memories.
Gongsun Qixuan of the Cong Yun Sea's Heavenly Secrets Hall.
The man's cultivation was not particularly high, nor did he seem especially skilled with array formations.
And yet, he had appeared at the headquarters of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's Array Strategy Hall.
A very peculiar occurrence, to say the least.
Recalling his 115th lifetime, the mutation of the Mysterious Net had been triggered by this very man.
Li Fan was almost certain that there was some subtle, undeniable connection between this man and the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
"Let them fight," Li Fan mused. "The more vicious the battle, the better."
"Show me what trump cards you're all hiding."
Li Fan's gaze seemed to pierce through innumerable spatial barriers, settling upon the border between the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council.
In the Xuanhuang Realm, cultivators like Li Fan, who eagerly awaited a war between the two behemoths, were a rare breed indeed.
The vast majority of cultivators simply wished to live out their lives in peace.
The thought of an all-out war between the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council was something they had never truly entertained.
After all, the moment war broke out, countless lives would be forfeit.
With no irreconcilable conflict between them, why would they resort to war?
And yet, on this very day, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance found its pretext for war.
"The Five Elders Council is to immediately return the lost treasures of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance. Should you refuse, the armies of the Alliance will come to retrieve them personally."
...
The cultivators of the Alliance stared at this abrupt and baffling declaration, exchanging looks of bewilderment.
"The Alliance's lost treasures? What are they? And why would the Five Elders Council have them?"
"This pretext... is a bit clumsy, isn't it?"
Just as the cultivators were puzzling over the announcement, a detailed explanation was swiftly published.
As it turned out, this was no hastily fabricated excuse.
Years ago, when the Five Elders Council was still known as the Ten Great Immortal Sects, they had launched a merciless campaign of annihilation against the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
In those days, the fledgling Alliance not only suffered the tragic deaths of many of its core leaders...
...but it was said that numerous secret treasures also fell into the hands of what would become the Five Elders Council.
Although the Dao Annihilation Calamity later descended and the Ten Great Immortal Sects collapsed on their own...
...and though several thousand years have passed...
...a blood feud of such magnitude does not fade even in a thousand lifetimes!
The leaders of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance have never forgotten that humiliation. They have been secretly building their strength ever since, vowing to one day avenge their past!
Of course, the Alliance was a reasonable power. They were not demanding total annihilation.
If the Five Elders Council would only apologize for the events of the past and return the Alliance's treasures, the matter could be laid to rest!
...
The proclamation quickly spread across the land, but as for the truth of its contents, most cultivators were indifferent.
Anyone with discerning eyes could see it was merely a pretext for the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance to launch a war.
Faced with this unorthodox move by the Alliance, the Five Elders Council was momentarily caught off guard.
It appeared they were mired in internal disputes, as no clear, official response was ever issued.
And so, precisely one day after the Alliance's proclamation...
...the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance launched its attack without warning.
And, as if supremely confident in their own might...
...this war was not waged in secret, as past conflicts had been.
Instead, it was broadcast in real-time to every cultivator in the Alliance via the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Of course, "real-time" was a slight exaggeration; there was a minor delay.
But that didn't stop the entirety of the Alliance's cultivators from flocking to the Heavenly Profound Mirror, buzzing with excitement, to watch the unfolding battle.
The first to enter the fray was none other than the Heavenly Venerate's Dharma Body, which had not been seen for some time.
Compared to its last appearance, the changes in the Dharma Body were immediately apparent.
It glanced down at the earth below, a flicker of contempt in its eyes.
Then, it reached out with its right hand, tugging at the very sky above the Alliance's domain.
Instantly, more than a thousand Sky Patrolling Arrows, which had been on patrol across the Alliance's territory, were yanked from their paths and gathered before the Dharma Body.
The arrows pulsed with silver light, their trails weaving together like fine threads to form a vast net.
The Heavenly Venerate's Dharma Body swung the net once, then cast it out toward the territory of the Five Elders Council!
In an instant, five different columns of brilliant light erupted from below.
They surged upward, attempting to intercept the descending net.
But...
The Heavenly Venerate's Dharma Body merely scoffed. Its form dissolved into a thousand streams of light that shot down to intercept the five columns of radiance.
Blocked by the streams of light, the five radiances faltered for a moment.
And in that brief instant, another Heavenly Venerate's Dharma Body silently materialized!
It appeared directly in the path of one of the Five Elders Council's columns of light—a pillar of violet energy.
BOOM!
Amidst the violent tremors, the feed from the Heavenly Profound Mirror cut out for a moment.
When the image returned, the countless cultivators watching were greeted by an astonishing sight: five distinct Heavenly Venerate Dharma Bodies, each with a different expression, locked in a standoff with the five columns of light!
The entire Xuanhuang Realm seemed to tremble, shuddering from the sheer force of their confrontation.
Meanwhile, Li Fan, back in the Spirit Wood Realm, had already felt a faint premonition. He sensed the life force of Wei Qizheng—one of the Thirty-Three Heavenly Scholars to whom a Final Dissociation Disc was attached—draining away at an alarming rate!
Now, his flame had been completely extinguished. He was dead, his Dao erased from the world.
"This is..."
A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
In his mind, the Final Dissociation Disc pulsed with a soft white light.
It was receiving a massive influx of data.
The data contained every scene Wei Qizheng had witnessed before his death.
"The Alliance's hope of unifying the Xuanhuang Realm rests entirely on you!"
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