NOVPUB
Chapter 219: Chapter 216 The Mountain Rain is Coming
Dragon Sparrow Manor quickly received news of Ye Dongliu’s failed plan, with over a hundred people perishing miserably.
In the meeting room, the atmosphere turned heavy.
Accompanied by a flash of sword light, Long Xiangtian, who had left only a day before and originally planned to cooperate with the Demon Demon King in Tianhe, also returned to Dragon Sparrow Manor.
"Enough with the long faces,"
said Long Xiangtian in a deep voice as he landed in the midst of the gathering, "Abandon all illusions and brace for the most severe challenge ahead."
With that, he took a deep breath, "Awaken the patriarch."
The patriarch.
Another Venerable Daoist Ye Qianqiu, Manor Master Long Yinfeng of Dragon Sparrow Manor, elders such as Xue He and Long Xuanguang, all had solemn expressions simultaneously.
They knew whom Venerable Daoist Long Xiangtian referred to as "patriarch."
Sparrow Sword Immortal Huo Yuqing.
A figure who, a century ago, had already made a name for herself in the world and who held the esteem of everyone present as their ancestral master.
During her most glorious days, she even participated in the campaign against Emperor Tianji.
"The patriarch is entirely reliant on a special cultivation technique to reduce her heartbeat and breath to the bare minimum, sustaining her life in wait for the Creation Immortal Fruit from the Sanqing Holy Temple, which blooms and bears fruit every thirty-three years. She intends to trade for the Immortal Fruit, using its power to extend her life by another sixty years."
Sword Master Xue He hesitated, "There are still a few years, even a decade, until the fruit matures. If we awaken her now and she has to endure a great battle... it’s uncertain whether she can last until the day the Immortal Fruit matures."
"We have no other choice,"
said Long Xiangtian expressionlessly, "You must have received the message as well. The armies from Starlight City and Lingxiao City are gathering towards Baihe City. Once their assembly is complete, they will surely march along the roads at the foot of the Yunqi Mountains from Que Xian City into our Dragon Sparrow Manor’s territory. Not to mention whether the Divinity Transformation Immortals from the Purgatory Sect will begin the war, just the pairing of Xin Tianqi and Gu Jinlai from Star State alone is beyond our capability to confront."
As he spoke, he glanced at Ye Qianqiu, "I can fend off Xin Tianqi, but can you hold back Gu Jinlai?"
Ye Qianqiu thought back to the recent news he had received...
Ye Dongliu promised a Spiritual Artifact, uniting twelve Divinity Transformation Cultivators including themselves to launch a simultaneous sword strike, and still couldn’t inconvenience Gu Jinlai in the slightest.
Twelve flying swords!
Even if they were flying swords of Divinity Transformation Cultivators, their power was still far beyond his Primordial Spirit Sword Control when it came to numbers.
If their twelve flying swords couldn’t affect Gu Jinlai, neither could his Primordial Spirit Sword Control.
If even their mightiest sword technique couldn’t harm Gu Jinlai, how could he possibly stop this Lord of Star State Gu?
"Although Elder Ye sacrificed himself, he probed Gu Jinlai’s limits. After blocking twelve flying swords, Gu Jinlai was also severely injured and even spat blood. Thus... if we have twelve Divinity Transformation True Men cause a distraction, with Venerable Daoist Ye taking the lead in the attack, perhaps we can breakthrough Gu Jinlai’s defenses and annihilate him with a single strike,"
Long Yinfeng said.
"Then, how many lives are you willing to sacrifice?"
Long Xiangtian looked at him.
"I agree with Venerable Daoist Long’s reasoning,"
stated Ye Qianqiu at this time.
Facing Gu Jinlai...
Even with many Divinity Transformation Cultivators by his side, he still lacked full confidence.
The cases of Wang Yinfeng and Ye Wuxia served as a grim reminder.
With two Primordial Spirit True Monarchs plus seven Divinity Transformation Cultivators - even if one Primordial Spirit True Monarch were to be equated to five Divinity Transformation Cultivators, that would still be one Primordial Spirit and twelve Divinity Transformation figures.
Both Venerable Daoist Wang Yinfeng and Venerable Daoist Ye Wuxia had failed, and he didn’t believe he could perform any better than them.
Even though Gu Jinlai had the advantage of the "Heavenly Sword" at that time.
"Dragon Sparrow Manor is now facing a matter of life and death. Awakening the patriarch may lead to missing out on the maturation of the Creation Immortal Fruit, but if we do not awaken the patriarch now... once we suffer a defeat on the frontline and incur heavy losses, even if we awaken the patriarch later, we might not be able to turn the tide,"
Ye Qianqiu stated gravely, "Venerable Daoist Wang, Venerable Daoist Ye, and recently, Elder Ye, their deaths undoubtedly mock our erroneous decisions regarding Gu Jinlai. Had we recognized Gu Jinlai as our greatest enemy early on in Lingxiao City, had we, four True Monarchs, joined forces with twenty Divinity Transformation Cultivators, he would not have had a sliver of a chance."
"Indeed, even while hunting a rabbit, the lion uses all its might. We frequently preach this saying, but our pride as members of the Six Great Immortal Sects still led us to underestimate our opponent Gu Jinlai, resulting in a serious blunder and an impending disaster. If we are unable to realize our mistake and acknowledge the error now, Dragon Sparrow Manor may be doomed to become history,"
Long Xiangtian declared.
The elders exchanged glances.
With both Venerable Daoist elders having spoken, it was not their place to refute.
"Then let’s follow the Venerable Daoist elders’ decision,"
Long Yinfeng said.
"Almost all of the forces from Lingxiao City and Starlight City have been deployed, mobilizing 40,000 elites, 120,000 regular troops, and 40,000 civilians, totaling 200,000. Among them are thousands of accomplished Demon God Guards and Meteor Star Guards, along with Qi Refinement, Gang Condensation, and Hugging Pill Realm experts from the local Sects and the Purgatory Sect. Judging by their movements, they will launch an attack within three to five days. Should we hold our ground at Que Xian City or..."
Long Xuanguang inquired in a probing manner.
His words also drew the attention of everyone present.
Long Xiangtian pondered for a moment and said, "After the patriarch awakens, recovering his cultivation will require some time. Although it’s only about three to five days, to be safe, we should allow for more time. Therefore, the battlefield will be set in our Jiangzhou Capital, Dragon Roar City."
"I think so too. Our Dragon Roar City was built with the intention of resisting the devils from the Yunqi Mountain Range, and its location already leans towards Star State. Even if we make the capital the main battlefield, at most we would lose Que Xian City and four other cities. In addition, we can evacuate in advance... so the losses won’t be too significant. Moreover, using Dragon Roar City as the battlefield will allow us to take advantage of the Dragon Mysterious Array, which will enhance our collective might, further increasing our chances of victory," Long Yinfeng said.
"The Dragon Mysterious Array, huh."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
This formation allowed those who practiced top-tier cultivation techniques from Dragon Sparrow Manor to draw upon a trace of the formation’s power, similar to how Devas leveraged the momentum of Heaven and Earth.
Although it was only a part of the array’s power, it could still enable the related cultivators to perform at one hundred and twenty percent, or even one hundred and fifty percent, of their capabilities.
Under such augmentation, even an ordinary Monarch like Ye Qianqiu dared to have a head-on confrontation with Top-grade Monarch Xin Tianqi.
"Although this passive defensive stance may seem somewhat humiliating, losing the face of top-tier sects such as Dragon Sparrow Manor, it’s all worth it... for ultimate victory!"
Long Xiangtian hammered down his decision: "That settles it then, prepare for war with all haste. I shall go and request the patriarch to come out of seclusion."
...
While Dragon Sparrow Manor commenced urgent preparations as if facing a formidable enemy, Gu Jinlai and his group had already crossed Tianhe.
During that time, some devils were drawn by the congregation of spiritual Qi emitted from the multitude of Heavenly Masters and seemed poised to ambush them halfway.
But because the powerful Upper-level Demons and Middle Level Demons were all contained by the Champsosaurus King and rooted deep within the Champsosaurus Swamp without emerging, ordinary devils and Lower Demons alone couldn’t pose any substantial threat to Gu Jinlai and his team.
The surging ordinary devils and Lower Demons, and even two Middle Level Demons, were yet to approach the group before they were blasted to smithereens by Gu Chifeng and Gu Qingmei, who carried Short Range Defense Cannons.
Under the metal storm, even Middle Level Demons struggled to withstand the onslaught without cultivating the Undying Demon Body.
Crossing Tianhe, they then entered the territory of the Yellow Sky Sect.
Considering that the Divinity Transformation Cultivator Yu Fan from the Yellow Sky Sect had narrowly conspired with Ye Dongliu from Dragon Sparrow Manor, Gu Jinlai ordered a detour to avoid the core area of the Yellow Sky Sect.
Although this meant taking a longer route, the group finally stepped into Star State’s territory.
Upon entering Star State, people like Gu Chifeng, Si Tianyan, and Cheng Wanli visibly let out a sigh of relief.
For them, Star State was their stronghold.
It was only here that they had truly entered their own territory.
Should anything unexpected happen, given their control over the land of Star State, they could respond swiftly and call for reinforcements.
In reality, reinforcements were not needed.
Not long after the group entered Star State, a dust cloud billowed in the distance. 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝒑𝙪𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝙢
Then, a streak of sword light was seen breaking the sky and approaching rapidly.
Recognizing this sword light, Cheng Wanli exclaimed with joy, "The Star Lord! It’s Lord Star Lord! Lord Star Lord has come to meet us."
His words brought relief to over half of the people present, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
Primordial Spirit True Monarch Xin Tianqi.
Despite Gu Jinlai’s brilliant track record of vanquishing two Primordial Spirit True Monarchs, achieving this feat amidst the encirclement and assassination attempt by two Primordial Spirit True Monarchs and seven Divinity Transformation Cultivators, he was after all not a Primordial Spirit True Monarch himself.
Moreover, the reverence for Primordial Spirit True Monarchs had long been ingrained in everyone’s hearts. The appearance of Xin Tianqi was akin to administering a strong dose of confidence, greatly stabilizing their minds and spirits.
"Governor Gu,"
Xin Tianqi arrived on his flying sword and quickly descended in front of Gu Jinlai: "Welcome back."
"Star Lord Xin."
Gu Jinlai gave him a slight nod: "Thank you for the reception."
"It’s what I should do."
Xin Tianqi said.
Gu Jinlai turned to the Heavenly Masters from Purgatory Sect behind him: "Gentlemen, now that we have entered the territory of Star State, would you accompany us to Lingxiao City to see the changes there, or return directly to Purgatory Sect?"
After exchanging glances, the leader among them, the Great Heavenly Master, bowed and said, "Purgatory Sect is adjacent to Star State; we can make our way back to the sect by ourselves. We’re grateful for Heavenly Monarch Gu’s care along the journey."
"It’s only right,"
Gu Jinlai said with a slight nod.
The group parted ways and left the main cohort.
Xin Tianqi watched the exchanges between Gu Jinlai and the people from Purgatory Sect without interference.
Even though Purgatory Sect was one of the Ten Great Demon Sects, with his status, were there really any significant distinctions between the orthodox and demonic sects in the world?
Although Star State had been restored, after all, it was a hub connecting five top-tier powers. In this situation, maintaining a harmonious and friendly atmosphere with one or two neighboring powers to ease some of the defensive pressure was necessary.
