86: The Battle of Two Territories

“I’m giving you a task: attack Luo Li Manor. Your Tiangang Sect is ranked sixth; dealing with a force ranked eighth shouldn’t be difficult, right?”

“This…”

“Not difficult!”

Tiangang Old Ancestor hesitated for a moment when he heard this, but when his eyes met Xu Qing’s, his heart trembled, and he quickly responded.

He knew this was their pledge of allegiance.

“I hope you don’t disappoint me!”

After Xu Qing finished speaking, his phantom disappeared, then transformed into more than ten streaks of light. Two of them shot into the glabella of Tiangang Sect Master and Venerable Tianhai, while the others flew out of the palace.

Tiangang Sect Master and Venerable Tianhai trembled, their faces turning ashen. They had been forcibly subjected to Divine Soul seals.

After a long wait, the traces of Xu Qing completely vanished, and the three of them looked at each other.

“Old Ancestor, do we really have to fight Luo Li Manor?” Tiangang Sect Master asked.

Luo Li Manor’s strength was even weaker than Tiangang Sect’s; they had three fewer Venerables in their Sect, and their Old Ancestor was only at the Early Stage of Profound Venerable, while their own Old Ancestor was at the Middle Stage of Profound Venerable. While killing him might be out of the question, suppressing him was certainly achievable.

“Do you have any other choice?” Tiangang Old Ancestor said coldly.

“Gather the Sect’s powerhouses and march on Luo Li Manor. Tell the people below that the first battle’s offensive must be swift and fierce, taking several domains in quick succession, then slowing down the pace!”

Upon hearing this, Tiangang Sect Master knew what the Old Ancestor intended. The initial battle was for the Xu Family to see, and afterward, they would adopt a delaying tactic.

This approach was to wait for the people from the Hall of the Gods to arrive. Once the Xu Family was annihilated, the Divine Soul seals in their Sea of Consciousness would naturally dissolve.

“What about the main Sect…”

Hearing this, Tiangang Old Ancestor pondered for a moment before making a decision.

“Hasn’t that relic in the Luo Li Great Domain appeared? Let Jing Hai go explore the relic, and Tianhai will go to protect him!”

“What? Old Ancestor, Jing Hai is…”

Tiangang Sect Master’s expression changed drastically.

“Then should I let Qingyun go instead?” Tiangang Old Ancestor’s face darkened.

“This… I… I understand!”

Tiangang Sect Master immediately shut his mouth, because the Qingyun mentioned by Tiangang Old Ancestor was his son. Thus, he could only acquiesce to Tiangang Old Ancestor’s plan.

“Only the three of us know about this matter. If a fourth person learns of it, you both know the consequences!” Tiangang Old Ancestor’s gaze swept over them, icy cold.

The two naturally understood the consequences of this matter and nodded repeatedly, promising to keep it a secret.

Cloud Mist Mountain, Taiji Hall!

Xu Qing opened his eyes, a profound smile appearing on his face.

He didn’t care whether Tiangang Old Ancestor was sincere or not. All he wanted to do was drag the forces behind the two families into the conflict, making them fight among themselves.

This would prevent them from having the leisure to deal with the situation in the Southern Territory. Otherwise, if forces kept sending people to cause trouble in the Southern Territory every few days, though he wasn't afraid, it would be annoying.

Currently, he needed time to comprehend the Chaos Concept, and his younger brother needed to comprehend the Destruction Concept. Therefore, he had no mind to deal with these people.

As for the Seven Kill Lineage, they were also preparing for the Grand Competition and needed time. After the Grand Competition, they would also need to travel to various Great Domains to find promising talents to fill the Star Guardian ranks. Therefore, the Xu Family should not make a move during this period.

Additionally, as a newly promoted Great Domain overlord, the Xu Family would naturally be investigated by various forces. At this time, if two Great Domains erupted in war, the Great Domain aisle would inevitably close, hindering the arrival of other forces and protecting the Xu Family from their probes.

Afterward, Xu Qing closed his eyes and continued to Cultivate.

Chaos refers to a state before the world began, a chaotic state without rules, order, or form.

This made it extremely difficult for a cultivator to grasp Chaos. Many eras have passed, and while there have been many powerhouses who cultivated Chaos branches, only a few have truly understood and comprehended the Chaos Great Dao.

From the books in the Scripture Pavilion and the Hall of Hundred Arts, Xu Qing learned that, to date, the only true existence to comprehend the Chaos Great Dao was born before the Dark Era!

The Dark Era was an era before the Archaic Era. Here, an era does not mean 129,600 years, but rather an epoch composed of dozens, or even hundreds, of ages.

To date, the Eternal Continent has experienced the Eternal Era, the Desolate Ancient Era, the Archaic Era, the Dark Era, the Ancient Era, the Primeval Era, the Middle Ancient Era, and the Near Ancient Era.

Currently, it is the ninth age of the Near Ancient Era, which is also known as the Emperor Fall Era, because no Great Emperor has been born in this era. The most promising Tianwu Era also lost the possibility of an Emperor appearing due to a great war.

With so many eras having passed, and not a single person having comprehended the Chaos Great Dao, the difficulty of the Supreme Dao is evident.

Although one could comprehend the Chaos Concept after achieving Major Achievement of the Chaos Dao Body, to reach that step, Xu Qing would need to be at least in the Saint Realm. By then, it would be too late to take the Chaos Great Dao as his Natal Great Dao.

The Chaos Thunder Emperor, for this very reason, only broke through that final barrier just before his death.

Xu Qing naturally did not want to follow in his footsteps.

Xu Qing condensed a dark profound Qi flow in his hand. For a moment, space showed signs of collapse, and all rules appeared to be decaying!

This was an inexpressible Qi flow, without a fixed form or nature, in a constant state of flux and movement.

It occasionally emitted mysterious power, like destruction, yet also like new life, making one feel it was unfathomably profound!

This was the Chaos Qi that the Chaos Dao Body itself possessed. Xu Qing could use it, but he had not comprehended its underlying principles.

In the Heaven and Earth Dao Pagoda, there were no cultivation methods for the Four Supreme Daos. Apparently, even a powerful Imperial Weapon was not qualified to touch the Four Supreme Daos.

Therefore, Xu Qing could only use the most fool method: comprehending the Chaos Qi he carried within him.

Although this method was slow, it was ultimately much faster than going to the Heaven and Earth Concept Pool.

While Xu Qing was in seclusion, the situation in the two surrounding Great Domains changed dramatically. Venerable Tianhai fought against Luo Li Manor in the Green Lake Domain, using a Profound Venerable Weapon to kill an Elder of Luo Li Manor, as well as many Heavenly King Deacons.

The cause was the emergence of the Green Lake relic. When Tiangang Sect’s Divine Son, Jing Hai, went to train, he and Luo Li Manor’s Young Lord fought over an Opportunity. Jing Hai was defeated and killed, which enraged Venerable Tianhai, leading him to slay the people of Luo Li Manor.

As soon as the news broke, Luo Li Manor was furious and dispatched powerhouses to pursue the Tiangang Sect group. In the end, only Venerable Tianhai escaped back to the Tiangang Sect Great Domain.

Afterward, Tiangang Old Ancestor demanded that Luo Li Manor hand over their Young Lord, but the latter was extremely protective of his own, so they naturally parted ways unhappily.

The matter would not end there, of course. Besides being Tiangang Sect’s Divine Son, Jing Hai was also the descendant of a powerful and influential figure within the Divine Sect behind Tiangang Sect.

He was originally intended to become the Tiangang Sect Master, achieve some political successes, and then receive rewards from the Divine Sect upon returning. However, he died in the Land of Thousand Domains.

With this connection, Tiangang Sect naturally would not let the matter rest. And Luo Li Manor had always been protective of its own, plus its backing was no weaker than Tiangang Divine Sect, so it naturally wasn't afraid of the latter's retaliation.

Therefore, both Great Domains were busily preparing, and a great war was on the verge of breaking out.

Soon, the war erupted.

While Luo Li Manor’s powerhouses focused their attention on the border regions of the two Great Domains, Tiangang Sect poured into Luo Li Manor’s Bi Xia Domain from the Canghai Domain of the Profound Ancient Territory.

On that very day, they annihilated the Venerable-level force, Bi Xia Sect, in the Bi Xia Domain, and then consecutively destroyed nine Heavenly King forces. Afterward, before Luo Li Manor could react, they successively captured the Wujin Domain and the Mangshan Domain.

By the time Luo Li Manor wanted to invade, Tiangang Sect had already sealed the Great Domain aisle, forcing Venerable powerhouses to forcefully break through the Great Domain barrier and construct a Great Domain aisle.

However, this would require a considerable amount of time and treasures.

Therefore, the main battlefield for both sides shifted back to the border regions.