Time passed, and a few months flew by in the blink of an eye.
But the Earth Mysticism Realm’s counteroffensive hadn’t achieved much.
Although the Earth Mysticism Realm had discovered the Green Demon Realm’s scheme in time, turning the disadvantage around wasn’t so easy.
Originally, the Earth Mysticism Realm and the Green Demon Realm were roughly equal in strength.
But now, nine of the Earth Mysticism Realm’s affiliated small thousand realms had been invaded by the Green Demon Race for nearly a hundred years.
Over those hundred years, not only had almost all of the human race in those nine small thousand realms been wiped out, but most of those worlds had also been transformed into demon domains.
Of the few remaining small thousand realms, only a purified area about the size of a single city was left.
Even though the Earth Mysticism Realm sent a considerable number of allied Nascent Soul Stage cultivators down to the lower realms, the Green Demon Realm also had just as many Nascent Soul Stage cultivators.
You could say that in the early stages of their descent into these nine small thousand realms, the Earth Mysticism Realm’s Nascent Soul Stage powerhouses could barely make any progress at all.
The reinforcements sent to the four small thousand realms that hadn’t been completely transformed into demon domains were doing alright. Although they could only hold a single city for now, relying on formations to barely fend off the Green Demon Race’s attacks,
at least they weren’t in any great danger.
But in the five small thousand realms that had been completely transformed into demon domains, the Earth Mysticism Realm’s allied Nascent Soul Stage forces were constantly in critical trouble, even with the help of makeshift city formations.
If the Earth Mysticism Realm Alliance hadn’t continuously sent Nascent Soul Stage cultivators down to support them, the allied forces in these five small thousand realms might have collapsed long ago.
After all, once a small thousand realm is completely turned into a demon domain by the Green Demon Realm, it becomes home turf for the Green Demon Race.
When people from the Earth Mysticism Realm enter such a place, they are significantly suppressed.
As a result, in just a few months, the Earth Mysticism Realm lost several hundred Nascent Soul Stage powerhouses in the lower realms.
Most of these losses occurred just after they descended, before the city formations had been properly set up. They had to resist the suppression of the demon domain and engage in chaotic battles with the Green Demon Race, which led to their deaths.
Of those several hundred fallen Nascent Soul Stage cultivators, more than half were disciples of the overlord-level forces.
Faced with such a disadvantage, the higher-ups of the Earth Mysticism Realm naturally weren’t going to sit idly by and watch this situation continue.
At that moment, the sect masters of the eighteen overlord-level forces of the Earth Mysticism Realm, along with other Mahayana Stage powerhouses, gathered together to discuss how to handle the current situation.
After much discussion, Cen Zhe, the sect master of the Xuan Tian Sect, proposed:
“Since we can’t hold back the Green Demon Race’s offensive in those nine small thousand realms, let’s stop trying to hold them head-on. Instead, let’s break up into smaller groups.”
Hearing Cen Zhe’s suggestion, Xian Xuanzi, the sect master of the overlord-level force Xian Xuan Sect from the Central Region, murmured:
“Break up into smaller groups?”
At the same time, a thoughtful look appeared in Xian Xuanzi’s eyes.
The others in the room, though not speaking, were also pondering Cen Zhe’s words.
“Exactly. Break up into smaller groups.”
Cen Zhe picked up the thread and continued:
“Since we can’t take back these nine small thousand realms, let’s have our disciples break up into small groups, destroy the spiritual veins in these small thousand realms, and seize the origins of those spiritual veins.”
“Once we’ve reduced the rank of these nine small thousand realms, we’ll take the opportunity to sever the connection between them and the Earth Mysticism Realm.”
As he finished, a sharp glint appeared in Cen Zhe’s eyes.
Rather than let the demon domain slowly erode things and let the Green Demon Realm lead them by the nose, it was better to endure the pain of cutting off the rot and completely rid themselves of these malignant tumors.
As long as they weren’t trapped in one place, stubbornly resisting the Green Demon Race’s attacks head-on, the Earth Mysticism Realm had plenty of ways for their Nascent Soul Stage powerhouses to hide themselves and move flexibly within the demon domain.
“This…?” After listening to Cen Zhe’s suggestion, the face of the Xian Xuan Sect’s master showed hesitation, a bit of doubt.
Zhan Tai Donghua, the clan leader of the overlord-level Zhan Tai Clan, couldn’t help but question:
“But wouldn’t our Earth Mysticism Realm’s losses be too great this way?”
Losing nine small thousand realms would inevitably have a considerable impact on the Earth Mysticism Realm’s origin. If things went wrong, it could even seriously injure the Earth Mysticism Realm itself.
Faced with Zhan Tai Donghua’s doubt, Cen Zhe retorted coldly:
“Are those nine fallen small thousand realms still our Earth Mysticism Realm’s small thousand realms? If you can’t make a decision when it’s time, you’ll only cause chaos!”
“Five small thousand realms have already been completely transformed into demon domains. The Green Demon Realm’s origin is now trying to quietly erode our Earth Mysticism Realm’s origin through these five major demon domains.”
“Although we have ways to temporarily isolate this erosion, if all nine small thousand realms are fully transformed into demon domains, can we still withstand the Green Demon Realm’s erosion?”
In Cen Zhe’s view, a temporary loss was worth it.
What’s more, after reducing the rank of the small thousand realms that had been turned into demon domains, they would effectively be reducing the rank of the demon domains themselves.
Once a demon domain falls out of the ranks of the small thousand realms, the various energies and rules within it will inevitably recede, and the demonic energy will gradually fade away.
Then, it would be much easier to take back those nine small thousand realms.
Upon hearing Cen Zhe’s words, Zhan Tai Donghua and Xian Xuanzi fell silent. They weren’t short-sighted people and naturally understood the dangers involved.
The reason they spoke up was simply that they couldn’t bear to see the Earth Mysticism Realm, which generations of their efforts had developed, suffer such trauma.
Seeing that Zhan Tai Donghua and Xian Xuanzi no longer objected, Cen Zhe looked around the room and asked:
“What do you fellow Daoists think?”
The Mahayana Stage cultivators in the room exchanged glances for a moment. Finally, the one who had remained silent all along, the master of the overlord-level force Ling Xiao Guan, slowly spoke first:
“Agreed.”
The master of Ling Xiao Guan was the eldest among the group of Mahayana Stage powerhouses.
The maximum lifespan of a Mahayana Stage cultivator is as high as a hundred thousand years, and this master had already lived for ninety thousand years.
The Mahayana Stage is an extremely special realm. The spiritual energy within the body transforms into semi-immortal energy, and there are no subdivisions like early, middle, or late stages.
The Mahayana Stage itself is a state of perfection. Once you enter it, it means you have reached the absolute peak state below the immortal level.
What truly affects a Mahayana Stage cultivator’s combat power, aside from external things like immortal-tier treasures, is the most important factor: the perfected-grade elemental mystical rules they have comprehended.
To break through from the Nascent Soul Stage to the Dongxu (Cave Void) Stage, a cultivator needs to comprehend introductory-level elemental mystical rules. And introductory-level elemental mystical rules correspond to introductory-level minor divine abilities.
When you use a minor divine ability, you are actually drawing on the power of elemental mystical rules.
Later, to break through to the Kongming (Void) Stage, the elemental mystical rules a cultivator comprehends need to reach the minor achievement level.
And minor achievement-level elemental mystical rules allow you to cultivate the corresponding attribute’s minor divine ability to a minor achievement level.
The Tribulation Crossing Stage corresponds to major achievement-level elemental mystical rules, and major achievement-level minor divine abilities.
Finally, when the elemental mystical rules you have comprehended become perfected, and you break through to the Mahayana Stage, and your cultivated minor divine abilities are raised to the perfected level, you will have reached the peak below the immortal level.
After that, if you want to increase your strength further, aside from transforming your own elemental mystical rules into laws and advancing to the immortal level,
the only other way is to continue comprehending other elemental mystical rules and raise those to the perfected level as well.
This way, you can cultivate more attribute-specific minor divine abilities and enhance your combat power.
The master of Ling Xiao Guan had lived the longest. Although he might not necessarily be the strongest among the group, his strength was definitely unfathomable.
No one could know exactly how many perfected-level elemental rule mysteries the master of Ling Xiao Guan had comprehended, or how many perfected minor divine abilities he had cultivated.
So, under normal circumstances, everyone took the master of Ling Xiao Guan’s opinions very seriously.
Seeing that the master of Ling Xiao Guan agreed with Cen Zhe’s suggestion, the other Mahayana Stage powerhouses, who hadn’t had any objections in the first place, also voiced their agreement one after another:
“Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
Seeing everyone else agreeing with Cen Zhe’s suggestion, Xian Xuanzi stopped hesitating and spoke up with his own proposal:
“Agreed. However, we don’t need to break up all of our forces into smaller groups. Half should be enough.”
Hearing this, everyone thought for a moment, understood Xian Xuanzi’s meaning, and nodded in agreement one after another.
After the higher-ups of the Earth Mysticism Realm reached a consensus,
the allied Nascent Soul Stage forces in the lower realms quickly responded.
Before the Green Demon Race could react, the fastest, strongest, and most adept at hiding among the allied forces broke through the Green Demon Race’s encirclement and vanished into the depths of the small thousand realms in all directions.
These individuals carried formation plates and special magical treasures made by the powerhouses of the Earth Mysticism Realm.
The formation plates were to make it easy to re-anchor coordinates and open spatial passages at any time.
The main function of the special magical treasures was to shield against divination by the Green Demon Race, along with having some stealth capabilities.
As for the city formations they had originally built, the Earth Mysticism Realm didn’t dismantle them. Instead, they sent down quite a few formation masters to reinforce the cities they were in.
However, by this time, the people in these city strongholds no longer needed to expand outward. They only needed to rely on the formations to defend their cities and tie down most of the Green Demon Race’s Nascent Soul Stage powerhouses.
Without the pressure of an expansion mission, and with the city formations further reinforced, although there were fewer Nascent Soul Stage cultivators left to defend, the pressure on them was lighter, not heavier.
On the Green Demon Race’s side, they were completely at a loss as to how to respond to the Earth Mysticism Realm’s actions.
Over the following month, the areas within the small thousand realms that had already been transformed into demon domains were repeatedly damaged. Many spiritual veins contaminated by the Green Demon Realm’s origin were destroyed, and their origins were seized.
This situation directly infuriated the higher-ups of the Green Demon Race.
So, the Green Demon Race accelerated their own plan’s progress and slightly modified their original plan.
Three months later, the Green Demon Race no longer besieged the formation-protected cities established by the Earth Mysticism Realm’s powerhouses. Instead, they began guarding demon veins of third-grade and above within the demon domain.
“Demon veins” was the term the Green Demon Race used for the spiritual veins after they had been contaminated.
They had no choice but to guard these demon veins, because if too many were destroyed, the demon domain would inevitably degrade.
This was not something the Green Demon Race wanted to see.
The demon domain was the key to eroding the Earth Mysticism Realm’s origin, so they naturally couldn’t afford to lose it.
However, the Green Demon Race wasn’t just being passive. They also formed their own teams of Nascent Soul Stage powerhouses to track down and hunt the Earth Mysticism Realm’s powerhouses within the demon domain.
Not only that, but after the Earth Mysticism Realm changed its strategy, the Green Demon Race also accelerated another one of its original plans.
One day, three months later, the Green Demon Race in the Green Demon Realm simultaneously
opened numerous spatial passages to the lower realms of the Earth Mysticism Realm. They planned to invade all of the Earth Mysticism Realm’s affiliated lower realms, aiming to tie up the Earth Mysticism Realm’s energy and attention.
But after being outmaneuvered once by the Green Demon Realm, did the higher-ups of the Earth Mysticism Realm not learn their lesson?
