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Chapter 367: Chapter 364: Heavy
East Wood State.
Gu Jinlai, controlling the Mystic Bird Fighting Machine, grunted softly as his spiritual fluctuations scattered.
This sudden change caused Zhou Yi, who was right beside him, to pale, "Is the True Spirit damaged!?"
He had already known the operating mode of the Mystic Bird Fighting Machine and quickly realized something based on Gu Jinlai’s condition, "Has a Mystic Bird Fighting Machine been shot down?"
Gu Jinlai closed his eyes and nodded.
While he maneuvered two fighting machines loaded with explosives to pour them into a large group of Devils, he directed another machine to return.
Considering the impending major battle, he had to maintain his condition at all times.
Immediately, he glanced at the four streaks of Qingguang stored in his spiritual world and directly used one of them.
During the time he was busy attacking Mu State, he had accumulated these four Qingguang by personally executing cultivators who betrayed their allies and others during counterattacks.
Besides...
The current situation in Yellow State, Star State, Red State, Jiangzhou State, White State, Blue State, and Lizhou State south of Tianhe was not entirely peaceful, but even if some murderers, without deliberate slaughter, were to kill a few of the chief culprits, at most they would only become Light Red Name.
If those killed were also not good people, they would at most receive a Yellow warning.
Under these circumstances, to obtain dozens or hundreds of Qingguang at one time like before had undoubtedly become very difficult.
Unless he advanced into other states.
Like Yan State.
That undeveloped virgin territory, if cleared once, could not assure numbers like in Lizhou State accumulating a few hundred Qingguang, but acquiring one to two hundred would not be a problem.
Unfortunately...
The threat of Devils from the Three Thousand Marshes was imminent.
The Yan State plan had to be postponed for now.
"Fortunately, I did not choose to personally pilot the Cheng Ying Mecha to Southern Mu State this time. Although the speed of Cheng Ying Mecha is also not slow, its agility in the air compared to the Mystic Bird Fighting Machine is still slightly inferior. If the Mystic Bird Fighting Machine has been taken down, once the Cheng Ying Mecha gets entangled..."
Gu Jinlai had not forgotten that in the area where Yu Lian was located, there were two more Devils with a terrifying aura similar to its.
Especially one of the Devils...
The aura on its body was even more terrifying than that of Emperor Tianji’s elder brother — Blood Demon Emperor Luo Lai.
"Three Demon Emperors."
Gu Jinlai opened his eyes and said solemnly, "In my current reconnaissance, there are a total of three Demon Emperors!"
"Three Demon Emperors!?"
Zhou Yi showed a startled expression.
Human cultivators at the Second Rank were far inferior to Devils, but at the Third Rank, they could gain a significant advantage. This advantage was maximized at the Primordial Spirit True Monarch stage, and even at the early stages of the Devas Stage, the advantage was quite apparent.
However, past the early stages of the Devas Stage, the gap gradually narrowed.
Once the Devil King achieved Undying Demon Body Perfection, or conceived a second type of Demon Body and transformed from Devil King to Demon Queen, the gap was completely leveled.
Even...
Devils gradually regained the upper hand.
Three Demon Emperors were entirely equivalent to three Saints!
"Three Demon Emperors!? This is bad."
Fang Linghai, also located at the command center, turned slightly pale, "I originally thought that the Devils coming to support from the Three Thousand Marshes at most included one or two Demon Emperors, but how could...three come directly? What about the Cangshan Mountain Holy Domain? Did they really move their main forces from the Cangshan Mountain Holy Domain to deal with us in Mu State?"
His guess had some basis.
According to the latest traceable news, the Cangshan Mountain Holy Domain had eight Great Saints.
The Devils from the Three Thousand Marshes had been attacking the Cangshan Mountain Holy Domain for decades, but it was said they still hadn’t completely taken down the Cangshan Mountain Holy Domain, which suggested that the strength of the Devils must be about equal to that of the Holy Domain.
That is, eight Demon Emperors.
In this case, they had suddenly moved three Demon Emperors to Mu State...
Were they giving up continuing the attack on the Cangshan Mountain Holy Domain to focus all their strength on them instead?
"According to your words, the Devils from the Three Thousand Marshes and the Cangshan Mountain Holy Domain have been entangled for decades; the sudden turn of the Devils to attack Mu State, led by three Demon Emperors, leaves only two possibilities."
Zhou Yi said gravely, "One possibility... compared to the sparsely populated but extremely tough Cangshan Mountain Holy Domain, the Three Thousand Marshes Devils might find the far more populous Tianhe and the surrounding regions south of it, with three hundred million, or even four hundred million people, more tempting."
Picking the softer persimmon to squeeze.
Devils also differentiate between where to show toughness and where to show weakness.
"As for the second guess, it is quite terrifying to hear..."
Zhou Yi took a deep breath, "I have seen many places where some Devils, for pleasure or to keep the humans they surround fiercely resistant and their emotions fluctuating intensely, will consciously give them a bit of hope, pretending that they can’t completely take them down, appearing as if with just a bit more effort, humans could completely defeat these Devils..."
This statement, chilling the hearts of Gu Jinlai and others like Fang Linghai, whose knowledge of the world beyond Qiantian was very limited.
"After all, the same applies to spirit, where active spirit is like fresh meat, while those dull spirits are like expired, rotten meat, or dead bodies; although both are meat, their value and taste cannot be compared at all," Zhou Yi spoke solemnly.
"Are you saying... the Cangshan Mountain Holy Domain has already been taken by the Devils of the Three Thousand Marshes? This... this can’t be possible," Fang Linghai’s voice trembled a bit.
"I also hope I am wrong," Zhou Yi said, "Otherwise... these three invading Demon Emperors will only be the first batch of a vast Devil army from the Three Thousand Marshes, and they might not even be the main force... because, to conquer a Holy Domain guarded by eight Saints and to turn a Holy Domain into their ranch, the strength of the Devils must be at least twice, or even three times that of theirs... that is..."
"A dozen or even dozens of Demon Emperors!"
Gu Jinlai said solemnly.
Zhou Yi nodded silently.
There was even something he hadn’t said.
That was...
Demon Emperor.
Gu Jinlai looked up, his gaze spanning southward over Mu State.
He was not Emperor Qian and did not possess his status.
With the dual blockage of the Mu State Demons and the Three Thousand Marshes’ Lucky Qi, he could not "see" the Lucky Qi of the Cangshan Mountain Sacred Land.
The Qiantian Purple Qi Technique was not omnipotent.
After a while, he finally said, "Regardless of whether the Cangshan Mountain Sacred Land has already been breached by the Three Thousand Marshes or whether these three Demon Emperors belong to the main force of the demons from the Three Thousand Marshes, next we must exert all our efforts to crush them."
"To crush the three Demon Emperors...but we...probably won’t have any reinforcements..."
Fang Linghai said in a hoarse voice.
"Reinforcements..."
There are only five Saints in the Qiantian World.
Blood Demon Emperor Luo, Immortal Wu Zhong, Immortal Wunian, Emperor Master Tai Yuan, North King Li Mufeng.
Venerable Xuan Tian and he...
could also be considered as Saint Level forces.
Even so, there are still only seven saints.
Among these seven, Li Mufeng could not arrive in time for reinforcement; the demons at the Endless Mountain were rumored to be restless, it would be good enough if he did not seek help from other forces.
Blood Demon Emperor Luo was a foe, not a friend, and Gu Jinlai even had to guard against them kicking him when he was down.
However, there was news that Venerable Xuan Tian appeared at the True Immortal Palace, apparently having already started his revenge against Wu Tiandi and Emperor Luo, which did ease his mind.
At least with him tied up, Emperor Luo temporarily would not have the resources to deal with them.
As for Tai Yuan, Wu Zhong, and Immortal Wunian...
The matter of Immortal Wushi’s fall had the shadow of the Daqian Royal Family; with Tai Yuan having left the Imperial Capital, both saints were unlikely to let matters rest easily...
"Speaking of which, the most likely reinforcements are actually only Sanqing Hall, but the two saints of Sanqing Hall have spent all their time and energy in recent years comprehending the Divine Weapon, regardless of the mayhem outside, focusing solely on their cultivation unless I’m willing to hand over the Xuan Yue to Immortal Wu Zhong, otherwise, there’s no chance of getting the saints from Sanqing Hall to make a move."
Gu Jinlai slightly narrowed his eyes.
He could feel that Zhou Yi, Fang Linghai, and Gu Qingmei, who was responsible for his safety as the leader of the Demon God Guards, all had their eyes on him.
Others were unreliable.
The only one he could rely on was himself.
"The last time in Starlight City I exchanged three Dao Artifacts, a single strike with each, theoretically capable of annihilating the three Demon Emperors with the astounding power of the Eternal Furnace, but...ever since the Eternal Furnace reached Perfection, the cooldown time of the Undying Eternity Attribute has significantly extended...a repeated use might require half a year, or even a year..."
Would the Demon Emperors wait a year without launching an attack?
Obviously not.
"Unless I can draw the three Demon Emperors together and use the Transmission Characteristic to channel the energy of the Eternal Furnace into the Dao Artifacts in one lethal strike..."
Gu Jinlai thought.
That was the only way.
To draw the three Demon Emperors together...
"We must demonstrate a posture ready for a decisive battle."
Gu Jinlai said gravely, "We will defend East Wood State with our lives, until we force the Demon Emperors of the Three Thousand Marshes to make a move."
He took a deep breath, "In this decisive battle, before the Demon Emperors make a move, we at Lingxiao Palace cannot lose! And...the Demon Emperors must not be forced by me to make a move, if I enter the battlefield first, they can simply send enough Demon Kings to encircle and kill me."
"The Palace Master cannot be the first to enter the battlefield..."
Zhou Yi said with a grave expression, "Besides the Demon Emperors, the Three Thousand Marshes have also brought quite a few Demon Kings, right?"
Gu Jinlai nodded, "The Demon Kings that I have scouted amount to thirty-four."
"Thirty-four Demon Kings!?"
"So...with the Palace Master not entering the battlefield, we need to hold off at least thirty-four Demon Kings leading over a million demons!?"
Fang Linghai’s eyes widened with astonishment.
More than anything, it was disbelief!
Thirty-four Demon Kings and over a million demons!
How could they resist?
What did they at Lingxiao Palace have to resist with?
Gu Jinlai knew how difficult it was to achieve this strategic goal.
But, Lingxiao Palace must hold off the demons below the Demon Emperors, thus forcing the Demon Emperors into battle.
Once the Demon Emperor entered battle, he would step forward, entangle him, to ensure victory, the demons of Three Thousand Marshes definitely had to deploy a second Demon Emperor!
At that time, he would try to play a "decapitation" strike, shifting the battlefield towards where the third Demon Emperor was.
Only then would he have a chance to annihilate the three Demon Emperors.
And in that case, the most critical part of the battle...
"Patriarch!"
Gu Qingmei stepped forward, her expression resolute, her voice ringing firm, "We will hold off all the demon attacks!"
