Chapter 972: Slowly Defusing the Crisis
After a moment of contemplation, Dharma Transmitter Jiang left the Myriad Immortals Alliance Headquarters without a flicker of hesitation, heading straight for the fiends that were ravaging the world.
He showed no trace of hesitation, even knowing that death was the most probable outcome awaiting him.
After all, as the First Dharma Transmitter, he had already "died" more times than he could remember.
Thankfully, he could rely on the methods left behind by the esteemed Dharma Spreading Heavenly Venerate.
As long as the Xuanhuang Realm endured and the Heavenly Venerate's principles remained unaltered, he—whose very existence was bound to the Venerate—could never truly be destroyed.
His state was perpetually locked to a specific point in the past, and he could trigger a[Return to Origin]at will.
This applied not only to him but to the entire Return to Ruins Realm he inhabited.
It was a failsafe the Dharma Spreading Heavenly Venerate had established for the Xuanhuang Realm.
If he ever encountered a problem he truly could not solve, he was to use his own body as a vessel to contain it and bring it back to the Return to Ruins Realm.
There, the mandatory state reset of the[Return to Origin]would ensure its complete and utter eradication.
The Dharma Spreading Heavenly Venerate had comprehended the power of the Return to Ruins Realm's[Return to Origin]after attaining the Dao. It was an insight gained after his spirit roamed beyond the heavens for nearly a millennium, at the very time he re-established the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
The Heavenly Venerate had once told him that even a threat as dire as the True Immortal Script could be dissolved into nothingness through successive uses of[Return to Origin].
"To leave not even a trace of information... this has only happened twice before."
"It seems that behind this turmoil is either the True Immortal Script again, or..."
Dharma Transmitter Jiang cast a glance toward the eastern frontier of the Xuanhuang Realm.
With a cold snort, he resumed his journey.
Spotting a rampaging fiend, Dharma Transmitter Jiang instantly subdued it.
He then dispatched a wisp of his divine sense to probe its interior.
Moments later, the hideous fiend erupted with a thunderous blast.
Dharma Transmitter Jiang's brow furrowed. "Just an empty shell? It fled remarkably fast."
Following this, Dharma Transmitter Jiang performed the same test on a dozen more of the fiends.
The result was the same every time.
"To be so cautious, even in victory..."
"What could their true objective be?"
This unknown adversary made Dharma Transmitter Jiang feel a sliver of pressure, a sensation he hadn't experienced in a very long time.
He could almost envision a dense bank of dark clouds, slowly rolling in from the horizon.
It threatened to swallow the sky of the Xuanhuang Realm in shadow.
"No matter," he resolved. "First, I'll deal with these abominations."
"Once they slip up and reveal themselves, I'll handle them then."
"And if there's truly no other way..."
"...then my only option will be to request aid from the Heavenly Venerate."
With that thought, Dharma Transmitter Jiang crushed another fiend to dust.
He did not continue the hunt himself. Instead, he returned to the Return to Ruins Realm and issued a directive to the Myriad Immortals Alliance Headquarters: a complete and thorough purge of all fiendish abominations across the lands.
The fiends had multiplied into a full-blown plague, leaving the Alliance's local defense forces almost entirely paralyzed.
To quell this chaos swiftly and decisively, a powerful, high-profile leader was needed to take charge.
As the First Dharma Transmitter, Jiang would naturally not take on the role himself.
He polled the other Dharma Transmitters, but only a handful were willing to accept such an arduous and thankless task.
Ultimately, after some deliberation, Dharma Transmitter Jiang decided to assign the responsibility to Dharma Transmitter Feng.
There were two reasons for this. First, Feng had previously made a favorable impression on him. Second, Jiang believed this relatively younger Dharma Transmitter needed more opportunities to be tested and tempered.
"If a second Return to Ruins Realm is ever established, he might even be a candidate for my successor... provided he can pass the trials," Dharma Transmitter Jiang mused.
And so Dharma Transmitter Feng—also known as Mo Rubin, a Law King of the Xuantian Sect—accepted the command and began issuing directives one by one.
With an official decree from the Myriad Immortals Alliance, the Soul Transformation and Dao Integration cultivators who had been cowering in hiding, concerned only with self-preservation, now had no choice but to emerge and take the initiative in purging the rampaging fiends.
By coordinating with the black-robed cultivators of the Era, they began the slow process of exterminating the millions of fiends, who were now much weaker, having lost their central controller.
As the saying goes, an illness arrives like a landslide but departs like reeling in a thread of silk.
The plague of fiends had erupted and swept across the entire Alliance in little more than half a day.
Yet, for the Myriad Immortals Alliance to methodically purge them, the process would consume the better part of a month.
Once all the fiend incarnations had been wiped out, however, the truly difficult problem revealed itself.
What was to be done with the hosts—the cultivators whose minds had been bewitched by the fiends?
With the fiend incarnations destroyed, these cultivators were left as little more than mindless husks.
By all rights, a simple slaughter of these cultivators would have swiftly concluded the disaster.
However, a command came down from the Alliance's highest echelons: no one was to harm these cultivators under any circumstances.
Indeed, those who had already killed some of the afflicted cultivators to vent their frustrations were met with severe punishment.
"Even if they are guilty, they remain members of the Myriad Immortals Alliance until a formal judgment is passed."
"To harm them is to break the very laws of our Alliance."
With the official position stated in such unequivocal terms, no cultivator dared risk public condemnation by slaughtering the helpless, mindless cultivators.
Instead, following orders, they escorted them all to the Myriad Immortals Alliance Headquarters to await judgment and sentencing.
The entire process lasted for more than ten days.
At last, the plague of fiends was brought to a complete end.
The cultivators who survived the ordeal universally praised the Alliance for its benevolence and righteousness.
Then, as a reward for the cultivators who had helped quell the disaster, the Myriad Immortals Alliance bestowed upon them a surprisingly generous amount of contribution points.
The values were far greater than for any ordinary mission, and the scope of who received rewards was beyond anyone's expectations.
It wasn't even necessary to have participated in the fighting; even those who had simply provided intelligence on the fiends' whereabouts received substantial amounts of contribution points.
This left the cultivators who had chosen to watch idly from the sidelines kicking themselves, filled with bitter regret.
Flush with their newfound wealth, the rewarded cultivators flocked to the Tianxuan Mirror to purchase the items they desired.
Just then, the Myriad Immortals Alliance issued another proclamation, declaring that the cause of the fiend plague had been identified.
The afflicted cultivators, it was explained, had been unable to afford the cultivation techniques they desired due to exorbitant prices. This inability had bred deep-seated resentment in their hearts.
This resentment festered over time until they were finally corrupted by a malevolent ancient deity, turning them into its puppets.
To prevent such a tragedy from recurring, the Myriad Immortals Alliance announced that, after a period of painful self-reflection, it had made a decision. Effective immediately, the price of all cultivation techniques sold through the Tianxuan Mirror would be reduced by a third.
The moment the news broke, it sent shockwaves through the entire cultivation world.
A one-third price reduction, after all, was no small matter.
The savings were especially significant for the more expensive techniques.
The cultivators, whose pockets were suddenly full, were sent into a frenzy.
Forgetting all about ordinary supplies, they fixed their attention entirely on the vast library of cultivation techniques now within their reach.
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