116: Incoming, incoming

In West Sacred Continent, four first-tier powers, thirty-six second-tier powers, and countless smaller forces spanned endlessly, controlling the entire territory.

Among the thirty-six second-tier powers, six were Demonic Path forces. Where there is Yin, there is Yang; where there is Righteous Path, there is Evil; where there are Daoist Immortal Families, there are naturally also Evil Demonic Heretics.

Originally, ten thousand years ago, West Sacred Continent still had a first-tier Demonic Path force, the Heavenly Devil Sect, but after the Heavenly Devil Sect disintegrated for unknown reasons, the Demonic Path in West Continent declined. While Nascent Soul Cultivators still remained, no Soul Transformation Divine Venerable had been born since then.

With the decline of the Demonic Path, time rolled forward. A thousand years ago, thirty-six forces suppressed West Sacred Continent, with the Demonic Path occupying six. Although fewer in number, their combat strength was formidable. Demonic Cultivators were cruel, often using living beings for blood sacrifices, which was intolerable to the Righteous Path.

However, a battle between the Righteous Path and Demonic Path could not be easily initiated. If it led to widespread devastation, it would not only incur immense sin but also potentially result in their own demise. Therefore, even with the weakened Demonic Path, a precarious balance was maintained.

But three hundred years ago, the situation changed. Righteous Path Geniuses erupted like a gushing well. Not only did the number of Golden Core Immortal Masters increase by dozens, but within a mere thousand years, Yuanfu Sect, Vajra Sect, and Beast Controlling Sect astonishingly gained three more Nascent Soul Cultivators.

The balance was completely shattered. The already precarious Demonic Path became like flies and mosquitoes before the Four Great Sects. The Demonic Lord Wushan, the leader of the struggling Demonic Path Nascent Soul Cultivators, fell into the hands of two Nascent Soul Immortal Masters from the Vajra Sect.

With the Demonic Path's leader gone, only a few elderly and frail Demonic Cultivator Nascent Soul Great Masters remained. They led numerous young demonic brats to hide in the extreme north, near the North Sacred Continent, in the Yellow Sand Border, no longer posing a threat.

And the original Demonic Cultivator Dao fields were naturally completely divided up by the Righteous Path Sects.

The strong grew stronger, and the weak grew weaker. As of today, out of the thirty-six second-tier forces, only twenty-seven remain, and only fifteen are qualified to participate in the Jueling Realm matter. One cannot help but lament the changeable nature of the world.

Currently, the Six Demonic Sects in the Yellow Sand Border are led by the Demonic Sword Sect, which produced a Genius Disciple with a Metal Heavenly Spiritual Root and extraordinary Sword Cultivator talent. He cultivated for just over two hundred years and already formed a Golden Core, terrifyingly powerful.

He is a prominent figure on the entire West Continent, just like the contemporary Martial Immortal Li Lingji, whose reputation has soared.

People of the Demonic Path have always been puzzled as to why Righteous Path Sects constantly have Immortal Seeds with beautiful Aptitude appearing, with Foundation Establishment and Golden Core Cultivators being born in batches as if they were free.

Because the forces participating in the Jueling Realm were all required to sign a Dao Law Vow, including the newly arrived Immortal Seeds and even Martial Artists, they all swore to keep the secret of their birth. The matter of the Jueling Realm could not be spoken or written down. Low-level Disciples did not know where these Immortal Seeds came from, and Nascent Soul Great Masters had no need to reveal or expose the secret. Thus, after two or three hundred years of effort, the Demonic Path's attempts to uncover this matter yielded nothing.

The Demonic Path itself was weak and could not enter Righteous Path territory to capture people, so this secret was successfully kept for nearly a thousand years. Until now, the Jueling Realm seems to have been exposed, and the Demonic Path has launched a major attack, almost emptying their entire resources.

They not only dispatched six Golden Core Cultivators in one go but also a Golden Core Spirit Beast capable of traversing the Void Realm, the Void-Piercing Forest Owl.

The Righteous Path Sects, on the other hand, did not anticipate such a sudden change. Originally, receiving those who Transmigrated was just a routine matter every hundred years. For Foundation Establishment Cultivators, they might have seen it once or twice in their lifetime, nothing major. Who knew the Demonic Path would attack?

The Golden Core Immortal Masters of the Four Great Sects looked at the aggressively approaching Demonic Path members, and Li Lingji's heart filled with an ominous premonition.

It seemed those fellows clearly intended a surprise attack, aiming to capture all the low-level Cultivators from various forces in one fell swoop.

While their few Golden Core Cultivators could still flee, what about these low-level Cultivators and the Transmigrated Immortal Seeds?

Li Lingji urgently asked, "Great Master Zhizhen, Great Master Weiran, Immortal Master Baiyuan, what do you think we should do?"

Great Master Zhizhen, with his ears drooping, scanned the surroundings. With so many people, how could the four of them possibly protect everyone? And there were no Formations or advantageous terrain to hold out and wait for reinforcements.

It truly was a difficult choice.

Immortal Master Baiyuan was a Heaven-Overturning White Ape who had formed a Demonic Core and cultivated a human form, indistinguishable from the Human Race except for a few monkey hairs on his temples. He was once a Spirit Beast of a certain Elder from the Beast Controlling Sect, and though his master had died, the blood pact remained. He had now been promoted to an Elder of the Beast Controlling Sect himself.

He said, "Given the current situation, with the Demonic Path possessing the Sky-Void Flying Ship and the Void-Piercing Forest Owl, a large-scale escape would only make us targets for the two. It's completely unfeasible. We can only let the forces from each Sect, along with the Immortal Seeds they've gathered, scatter and flee. The few of us will do our best to hold them off for a while, especially to stop that Void-Piercing Forest Owl from devouring our Immortal Seeds again."

Among the people swallowed by the Void-Piercing Forest Owl just now, a significant portion clearly wore the uniforms of their Beast Controlling Sect. Now, there were probably fewer than twenty Beast Controlling Sect Innate Martial Artists and Immortal Seeds remaining on the field.

Great Master Zhizhen showed a pained expression, then sighed, "Amitabha, this is the only way. Donor Li should have no trouble dealing with that Heavenly Demon Sword Child. I believe the Void-Piercing Forest Owl is that Heavenly Demon Sword Child's Spirit Pet. These two will be entirely Donor Li's responsibility."

"I will stop Lady Huayang and the White Bone Demonic Buddha. As for Daoist Yin Ya and Blood Wuya, they will be handled by Great Master Weiran and you, Baiyuan. As for the Sky-Void Flying Ship and that potentially existing Golden Core, we will act according to the situation!"

"The commotion from the Nascent Soul's earlier attack was so great that if we can just hold on for a short while, with the speed of Immortal Master Xueyang and the Nascent Soul Cultivators, they might be able to keep all of them here."

Great Master Zhizhen quickly analyzed the situation. The Demonic Path experts were still far away, but their escape light was incredibly fast. It would probably take less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn for the Transmigration to complete, and there was no time to send them to the Lower Realm now.

They all instructed the forces from their respective Sects to scatter and flee in various directions.

Chen Cuo's location: He led White Egret and three young apprentices, quietly slipping to the edge of the Formation. That strange bird had given him quite a shock, and he was also afraid that it would swallow him whole, which would be disastrous.

The Formation's blockade quickly opened, and in an instant, several streaks of spiritual light flew towards them. The green gem White Egret wore glowed, and soon, a beautiful woman in a white dress, emitting a faint orchid fragrance, approached.

This woman was Bai Tang of the Bai Family.

Beside Bai Tang were Disciples from Lingbao Mountain and Cultivators from two other Families, traveling together.

Although the Lingbao Mountain Disciples' attire varied, they all had a forging furnace pattern embroidered on them, which was presumably the symbol of Lingbao Mountain.

Then Bai Tang came over, coldly glanced at White Egret and Chen Cuo, smiled at the three children, and quickly explained the situation.

"Now that everything is clear, we must hurry. I hope you won't drag us down!"

Before her words faded, she took out a flying shuttle, which grew from small to large, taking several people aboard. It moved at an extremely fast speed, fleeing rapidly in one direction. The people around them followed suit.

Their speeds were one faster than the other, as they all led their Family members and scattered.

...

"Hehehe, how clever. First, fire two shots to test the waters, aiming for the most crowded areas. Then, let the lads attack. Bring back the women and children, and those Martial Artists will serve as Cultivation Materials, excellent resources indeed!"