Meanwhile, the great battle between the Void Refining cultivators was taking place within a pocket of space.
Wielding his sword, he continuously shattered the black orbs and summoned countless sword phantoms. Ming Daozi, who was locked in a magical duel with the Boss of Skynet, also perceived the state of chaos outside this space, and his expression filled with utter terror.
Hundreds of thousands of disciples from the immortal sects... they should have won no matter what!
They stood on the side of righteousness, and yet now they were retreating, with a constant stream of deserters!
The Boss of Skynet laughed savagely. "I told you long ago—you people are fragile!"
"The Three Great Powers have long been rotten to the core. All that's left are a bunch of selfish, greedy cowards."
"The shattering of the great formation threw your minds into chaos."
"Then the arrival of the Demon Clan flustered you all over again. At that point, you began to doubt whether you could actually win this war."
"The real killing blow…"
..
Outside the pocket of space, Daoist Mingtai stared intently at the people of Azure Cloud fighting desperately within the city, especially the frenzied members of the Li family on the battlefield.
Li Dalong and his wife had joined forces, relying on their extreme speed to do everything they could to rescue their comrades.
Li Yaozu, who specialized in breaking formations with his sword, now found there were no formations left to break. He silently shouldered his sword box, soared into the air, and vanished.
Daoist Mingtai guessed that he had most likely gone to find Prince Qian.
Li Yaoqing, controlling the 'Mountain God,' had stepped into the city, a god of slaughter through and through.
Li Yunlin's thunder was still wreaking havoc.
The Li family's Seven Ironclads and the Blood Demon Lord were bloodthirsty and frenzied.
Li Tianyi and Li Tianqi were still fighting the enemy alongside their Profound Seals.
Li Kuanghua, riding the Flood Dragon, was sweeping through an area of the battlefield with the Divine Tree.
And then there were Li Tianyue and Li Chang'an...
They were powerful, yet they did not lack the wisdom to deal with strong enemies. They dared to fight and risk it all.
"This family..."
Daoist Mingtai gave a bitter laugh. "Their true killing blow was the sea demons from the Eastern Sea, and the Wu Clan and demonic cultivators who arrived last. The initial frenzy of the Li family members didn't just throw Ming Daozi's heart and mind into chaos; it did the same to all the disciples of the Three Great Powers."
"They began to doubt whether they could actually win, and they feared death. From the moment they started receiving benefits from Prince Qian, they had become selfish. People like that have no conviction, no faith."
"The messages from their clans, the sea demons from the Eastern Sea, the invasion of the Wu Clan, and the demonic cultivators—none of it might have been real. They might even have known it was all a scheme, and perhaps even guessed that there were spies within the Three Great Powers. But this gave them a reason to retreat—a very noble-sounding reason: to return to their clans and protect the Duravia Trade Prefecture, to resist the foreign invaders."
Fairy Hongxiu was lost in thought for a long time.
Then, her expression turned somber. "They just want to live. Because in this battle, facing madmen like the Li family, they weren't sure if they could survive. Perhaps from the very moment the Li family's Old Ancestor shattered the great formation, they had already been scared out of their wits."
At this moment, the two of them thought of one person: Ming Daozi.
That fellow who had the appearance of a saint, yet was so unbearably fragile.
After Prince Qian arrived, had the Three Great Powers not become a microcosm of Ming Daozi himself?
...
At this time, on the border between Eternal Sun Prefecture and the Duravia Trade Prefecture, the Azure Cloud Army was stationed, locked in a standoff with the cultivators from the great aristocratic clans of the Duravia borderlands.
In the end, they had not charged in. Within the twelve regions of Duravia, every great aristocratic clan had its own formidable abilities. Leaving aside the Void Refining realm experts, these aristocratic Immortal Clans were, in some ways, even stronger than the Three Great Powers.
After all, the majority of the disciples within the Three Great Powers were the descendants of these very same great aristocratic clans.
Even the hot-tempered Ye Xiu, who had come with the Azure Cloud Army, did not recklessly charge into the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
The elders of the Myriad Arts Sect had departed without even his knowledge; when he finally found out, all that remained was a letter they had left behind.
The letter urged him by all means not to be impulsive, explaining that the method being used for this great war was the one that would incur the fewest casualties.
Once Prince Qian was dead, the Three Great Powers would be a group of dragons without a head, and sooner or later, the Duravia Trade Prefecture would belong to the people of Azure Cloud.
If all the people of Azure Cloud were truly sent to fight a desperate battle, they would all be wiped out.
"Brother Ye."
Li Yunbing looked at the letter clutched in Ye Xiu's hand and said in a grave voice, "With only them charging in, the forces of the Duravia Trade Prefecture won't be on full alert. But if our entire army were to go in, we would, on the contrary, be endangering them, as well as all of us from Azure Cloud. Stationing our army here is the best choice. This way, our forces inside have a chance of success, and the people of Duravia Trade Prefecture will be forced to hold back."
BAM!
As he was speaking, Li Yunbing froze, his head snapping to the side.
The hot-tempered Ye Xiu had smashed a fist into Li Yunbing's face.
"Son of...!"
While Li Yunbing's eyes were still vacant from the blow, the veins on Ye Xiu's forehead were bulging.
He slammed Li Yunbing down onto the deck of the spirit ark.
Ye Xiu viciously grabbed Li Yunbing by the collar and roared, "You bastard, you knew all along, didn't you? Senior Shanchen, the Jiang family's Ancestor, that Old Ghost Tianye... they all went in! This was your idea, wasn't it?!"
"Sacrificing our own people while you hide in the rear—do you have any fucking humanity left? The actions of a despicable villain!"
Ye Xiu slammed his fists into Li Yunbing's face, one after another. Li Yunbing did not say a word.
When Ye Xiu finally stopped, Li Yunbing spat out a mouthful of bloody spittle.
Looking at Ye Xiu, who had slumped dejectedly to the ground, he straightened his collar and raised an eyebrow.
"Have you calmed down now? It's better that you're calm. With our army deployed here, if their Divinity Transformation cultivators were to attack, your presence at least provides some deterrence. And don't hit me again. I need to maintain my dignity to keep our fellow Daoists from Azure Cloud in line. Otherwise, they'll end up being just as reckless as you."
"You..."
Seeing Li Yunbing's expressionless face, Ye Xiu clenched his jaw and finally asked dejectedly, "Why didn't you send me in?"
"You're still young. You have a long life ahead of you, and a great future."
Li Yunbing offered no further explanation. Fortunately, at this moment, all the cultivators from Azure Cloud were holding the line at the border; no one had seen him, the great Prince Jiang, getting beaten.
He slowly walked to the prow of the Spirit Ark and looked down upon the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
Ye Xiu was still glaring angrily at Li Yunbing's back.
But Li Yunbing seemed completely unaware, his gaze fixed only on the mountain garrisons of the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
All he knew was that the Great Dao must be fought for.
Perhaps in the days to come, the border between Eternal Sun Prefecture and the Duravia Trade Prefecture would cease to exist. Those mountain garrisons would vanish. The Duravia Trade Prefecture would take on the name of Azure Cloud, and this border would be moved elsewhere.
The descendants of the people of Azure Cloud would be able to freely set foot upon this land, and here they would find Secret Realms, spirit ore mines, and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
The people of Azure Cloud would no longer have to fear an attack from the armies of the Duravia Trade Prefecture, nor would they have to worry about some Prince Qian or the Three Great Powers.
Perhaps, one day, the descendants of Azure Cloud might even be cultivating within those very same sects.
But for now, the people of his family were fighting a great battle deep inside that territory.
Ye Xiu was furious, and Li Yunbing could understand why.
Because... sometimes he, too, wanted to act on impulse like Ye Xiu—to charge into the Duravia Trade Prefecture and fight a satisfying, unrestrained battle against the enemy.
But for this cause, he was willing to be an inhuman, despicable villain. And if so, what of it?
---
Donate on Ko-fi ➡️ [https://ko-fi.com/darktea] ⬅️
Get Early Access to 60 Chapters: Search for "Dark Tea" on Ko-fi (Explore tab) and join my membership to read ahead!