While Tang Jie was quietly cultivating in the mountains, the curtains had risen on a war that involved all of the Blood River Domain.
In this war, the only neutral faction was the Celestial Flame Pagoda.
Before the start of the war, the Flame Celestial Sovereign had ended his “travels” and returned to the Celestial Flame Pagoda to once more manage its operations.
In the face of the current situation, rather than joining in, he had announced his neutrality and advocated for restraint and rationality from all sides for the sake of all the inhabitants of this world, after which he lay back and watched the show.
Thus, the City of Freedom became the only haven for humanity, with numerous humans gathering there every day, and the Flame Celestial Sovereign’s strict orders ensured that nobody dared to kill anyone there. But outside the city, the three races battled it out each day.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the dual forces of the fiends and demons had pushed back the humans. Having lost the ten-some border cities, Thousand Autumns City included, the human forces had begun to retreat inward, and the front lines were drawing closer and closer to the human capital city.
On the map of the Blood River Domain, the yellow area representing the humans was shrinking almost every day, while the red and black areas representing the fiends and demons had expanded to the point of almost covering the entire map.
The fiend and demon armies were taking three cities a day, each of them competing against the other for human territory. Their greatest hindrance wasn’t the resistance of the human cultivators, but the small tricks played by their ally.
Although Tang Jie had hidden himself to cultivate the World Descender Mantra, his clones had been constantly roaming the world. With his profound cultivation and deepening understanding of the Dao, when he wasn’t involved in mass creation, he could easily create a few long-lasting clones. These clones could not only last a long time, they could freely transform and had also transcended the previous limits on combat power. So long as they were restricted to below Celestial Heart, they could fight against ordinary cultivators. If he was willing to use some essence blood, he could even create long-term Celestial Heart clones.
On this day, Tang Jie was still cultivating in the mountains when he suddenly frowned, then he smiled and said, “You’re here, so why do you insist on these little tricks?”
He snapped his fingers, and there was a yelp as somebody in the distance tumbled out of the void.
It was Yiyi, waving her small hands and shouting, “Ouch, ouch! Big Brother, you’re so awful for bullying me around.”
Another voice rang out in the distance. “So, you failed, right?”
Another person emerged, confidently striding through the air and instantly closing the distance: Xu Miaoran.
Coming up to Tang Jie’s side, Xu Miaoran said, “Yiyi recently comprehended the Dao of Wind and became able to transform into a breeze, which is excellent for infiltration. I made a bet with her that it was impossible for her to get within twenty thousand feet of you as a gust of wind without being detected, and it seems I was right.”
In the Great Stellar Chiliocosm, assassination had never required a cultivator to get close to the target. It was just that the closer one was, the higher one’s chances of success, and the greater the power that could be applied. Thus, the ability to conceal oneself and approach the target played a major role in one’s ability to kill.
With Tang Jie’s strength, Yiyi would never be able to trick his eyes and ears, even with the Dao of Wind, which was why the distance at which she was discovered was the crux of the bet.
Yiyi was very confident in the Dao of Wind and felt like she could get within twenty thousand feet of Tang Jie before she was discovered, but Tang Jie had found her out long before that, which was a major blow to her confidence.
She gloomily flew over, pouting all the while.
Tang Jie laughed. “Silly girl, this wasn’t your mistake. It’s just that when you enter my Primal Divinity core, I would discover you even if I didn’t want to.”
The Primal Divinity core was the region a cultivator could control.
For example, the span of a Spirit Ring cultivator’s Spirit Ring was their core. In their core, they were at their strongest.
A Spirit Ring cultivator’s core was only several dozen feet in radius, but a Violet Palace cultivator could use their Divine Soul to extend this to a thousand feet. An Immortal could have a core thousands of feet in radius, and even their level of control was greater. In this range, all existences had to obey the Immortal, down to a blade of grass. In this region, the Immortal was the emperor. Only another Immortal could resist, with cultivators below that realm barely being able to use spiritual energy. This was how Tang Jie had dealt with the Hemos hunting squad—an easy task for any Immortal Platform expert who wanted to act from the shadows.
Tang Jie had mostly been able to fight against Immortals while at Violet Palace because he fought with his body and with Dao Arts, rarely relying on spiritual energy.
The girl felt a little better after hearing Tang Jie’s explanation.
Then she realized something and exclaimed, “Eh? When did your Primal Divinity core reach twenty-two thousand feet?”
A normal Immortal could control an area between eight thousand and twelve thousand feet in radius, with the most outstanding being able to reach fifteen thousand. While Tang Jie had three times the Heaven–Man Union zone, this was an estimated comparison to the lowest end of the range, making it around twenty thousand feet. This was why Xu Miaoran had said that Yiyi could get no closer than twenty thousand feet. ŘåℕＯʙЁs
But Yiyi had been discovered at twenty-two thousand feet.
The Primal Divinity core would expand as the Immortal grew stronger, but as he hadn’t advanced to the next level, it should have been limited. She hadn’t expected Tang Jie’s Primal Divinity core to expand so greatly in this time.
Xu Miaoran also frowned. “Strange—your aura seems weaker.”
This was the work of the World Descender Mantra, weakening the body and strengthening the Godhood, going to the extremes of what it meant to be a law cultivator.
“I’ve just made some progress in cultivating a rather unique art. Right, why did you come today?”
Yiyi answered, “All the work has been done, and the three races are at war. Why haven’t you come yet?”
Xu Miaoran added, “With the fiends and the Demon Gate working together, the human cultivators are bound to lose. It’s about time we came forward and they invited the Rosecloud Domain to intervene. So we’ve come to ask you what you intend to do.”
Tang Jie chuckled. “You’re afraid that we will intervene too late and the humans will be exterminated before we can do anything?”
Xu Miaoran smiled. “I suppose you can see it that way. Do you think differently?”
Sure enough, Tang Jie shook his head. “You’re looking down on the humans too much. They were able to last for several thousand years among the fiends and demons as the weaker party, so you really think this is all they’re made of? Let me ask you: what’s the current situation?”
Yiyi spoke up. “The human cultivators have been routed, and the fiends and demons are conquering everything in their path. The situation seems hopeless for the humans.”
Tang Jie asked, “Has Guang Yuan intervened?”
“No.”
“Any major battles?”
Xu Miaoran answered, “None. The front line is constantly receding, and the humans haven’t fought a single major battle, showing no guts or glory at all. All the humans are in panic and calling Bao Qingsong incompetent.”
Bao Qingsong was Guang Yuan’s disciple and the leader of the human alliance. He was a formidable Soul Projection cultivator who was also intelligent and wise, and he had quite the prestige among the human cultivators.
But this war had been a major challenge to his reputation, and his turtle strategy was resulting in the fastest defeat in human history, much to everyone’s dismay and discontent. Bao Qingsong had yet to reach the level of speak-not, think-not, or else his ears would be on fire by now.
This was why Yiyi and Xu Miaoran were so certain of defeat and had come to Tang Jie to ask about the next step.
But Tang Jie shook his head. “You underestimate Bao Qingsong. I’m sure that the humans are no match, but not that they would be defeated so thoroughly. In my view, Bao Qingsong is planning a major counterattack which might be able to salvage the situation.”
“Is Bao Qingsong capable of this?” Xu Miaoran asked in surprise.
“To be more precise, it depends on whether he can grasp this opportunity.”
“What opportunity?” Yiyi asked.
“The key is the Demon Gate. To save the humans, the Demon Gate has to stab the fiends in the back, joining the humans against the fiends.”
“But the Demon Gate was enraged by Jin Tianya and no longer wants to be friends with the humans.”
“Then make them hate the fiends even more! Sometimes, rather than promising anything, it’s easier to just incite a fight between two dogs…” Tang Jie profoundly said.
Xu Miaoran’s eyes lit up. “Human territory is the bone.”
“Correct! The Demon Gate is attacking the humans to prevent the fiends from becoming too powerful. Bao Qingsong is choosing to retreat, giving up large amounts of territory, which is the bone. Now, the two races are fighting over territory, which is worsening relations. If Bao Qingsong plays up his side’s weakness and plays a few more small tricks, he can definitely start a fight between the fiends and demons.”
“I see!” Yiyi clapped her hands in realization. “At that time, the humans will strike, beating them both back and teaching them a harsh lesson, turning defeat into victory.”
“Wrong,” Tang Jie replied. “If that happened, humanity would be finished.”
“Eh?” Yiyi and Xu Miaoran were stunned. “Then what should they do?”
“Negotiate peace.”