"I see. I presume you"ve gathered all of us here to discuss how we should reinforce them, then," the red-faced elder said with a nod.
"Indeed. Heavenlean City is the only major human settlement near our city, so we have to save it. The city was able to survive the entirety of the last devilish tribulation, and on this occasion, all they actually require are a few high-grade cultivators to replenish the grand elders they"ve lost," Elder Gu sighed.
"So what you"re suggesting is that all we need to send out are a few Body Integration Stage cultivators," Buddhist Monk Jin Yue mused with a contemplative look in his eyes.
"That"s exactly what I"m thinking. After all, our Deep Heaven City is the ultimate target for the devilish army. It"s necessary for us to save Heavenlean City, but at the same time, we have to make sure we don"t fall into a trap where too much of our forces are diverted away to reinforce them. Heavenlean City isn"t lacking in low-grade and mid-grade disciples, and the city itself also possesses powerful defensive prowess. All we have to do is send over two or three Body Integration cultivators to reinforce them. That way, we"ll be able to help them tide over this perilous situation, while also ensuring that we"re not weakening our own forces too much," Elder Gu replied, having clearly thought extensively about this matter in advance.
After hearing Elder Gu"s proposal, all of the elders naturally began to discuss their options, but in the end, it was decided that Elder Gu"s proposed course of action was the most feasible one.
However, all of the elders then began to argue about who was going to be sent to reinforce Heavenlean City.
"You want me and Fellow Daoist Yu to go and reinforce them? I don"t think that"s a good idea. It"s not that I"m unwilling to take the risk; as you know, I"m currently overseeing a very important matter, and I can"t leave at a crucial juncture like this," a white-haired middle-aged man said with furrowed brows.
Elder Gu had just suggested for him and another elder to go and reinforce Heavenlean City, and he had refused without any hesitation.
"I"m sure you know what I"ve been up to, Brother Gu; my Celestial Fragrance Pills are also at a crucial stage in their refinement, and if I leave now, all my prior efforts will go to waste," another elder, presumably Elder Yu, also refused with a shake of his head.
"Then what about Brother Qin and Brother Lei?" Elder Gu turned toward another pair of elders with furrowed brows.
Reluctant expressions appeared on both of those elders" faces in response.
"I"m afraid we"ve hit a dead-end, then. Fellow Daoist Jin Yue, myself, and the others are responsible for overseeing the defense of Deep Heaven City, so we certainly can"t leave," Elder Gu said as a displeased look appeared on his face.
"I"m willing to make the trip, Brother Gu. I"m good friends with Fairy Lin of the Heavenly Sovereign Sect, so I would be happy to lend them my a.s.sistance," Fairy Silver Light suddenly said.
"That would be great! I"m sure you"ll be welcomed with open arms there. However, it won"t be enough to send you on your own; we have to at least send another person with you." Elder Gu was given a ma.s.sive pleasant surprise by Fairy Silver Light"s decision to volunteer herself, and he reflexively cast his gaze toward Han Li as he spoke.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this. He knew that he most likely wouldn"t be able to escape this task, so he also volunteered himself. "I"m also willing to make a trip to Heavenlean City. Ever since I came to Deep Heaven City, I still haven"t done anything, and this would be a chance for me to make myself useful."
"You have my thanks, Brother Han. You"re a mid-Body Integration cultivator, and you once fought on equal footing with a late-Body Integration cultivator, so I"m sure Heavenlean City"s troubles will soon be no more with your a.s.sistance!" Elder Gu was very elated that Han Li had also stepped up to accept the task.
Han Li smiled, and replied, "Heavenlean City is a very important human settlement, so it"s only right that I do my part to help it in its time of need. The situation sounds quite urgent, so how about Fellow Daoist Silver Light and I set off tomorrow?"
Even though he was going to have to directly face high-grade devilish beings during this trip to Heavenlean City, no devilish beings aside from Sacred Ancestors would be able to pose any threat to the current Han Li, so even though he knew there would be some risk involved, there was no fear in his heart.
"That would be best. However, the Elder Devil Race has already cut off long-distance teleportation, and the teleportation formations in the city won"t be able to take the two of you directly to Heavenlean City, so we can only send you to the secret teleportation site located the closest to there. From there, you"ll have to fly the rest of the way to the city," Buddhist Monk Jin Yue said in an apologetic manner.
"That"s alright, with Brother Han and my abilities, I"m sure the remaining portion of the journey won"t delay us too much," Fairy Silver Light said in a nonchalant manner, and Han Li didn"t see this as a problem, either.
Thus, having made those arrangements, all of the other elders were quite relieved, and they began to discuss strategies to counter the Elder Devil Race"s attacks, which were only becoming fiercer and fiercer.
However, despite the elders" vast wealths of knowledge and experience, they were completely stumped by these armies of countless low-grade devilish beasts. Even though Deep Heaven City had prepared an astonis.h.i.+ng supply of spirit stones, more than 10% of this supply had been exhausted by the countless formations that were set up around the city. This didn"t seem to be much of an issue until one considered that according to past conventions, a devilish tribulation would generally last over 100 years. Less than a year had pa.s.sed since the commencement of this devilish tribulation, so how could the elders not be concerned?
Han Li suddenly smiled, and said, "There"s no need to be overly concerned about this, fellow Daoists. Even if there really are virtually infinite low-grade devilish beasts in the Elder Devil Realm, I"m sure it"ll require a lot of effort and resources for the Elder Devil Race to search for and tame these beasts. On top of that, it definitely won"t be a simple matter for them to bring these devilish beasts into our Spirit Realm. After all, even though the resistance from the power of our realm has abated significantly, some of it still remains, and it has to be an extremely great burden for the Elder Devil Race to transport so many low-grade devilish beasts between realms. Otherwise, they would simply overwhelm us from the get-go rather than go through all this effort to test out our defenses."
"We"re naturally aware of this, but this devilish tribulation is truly more fierce than we antic.i.p.ated, and we don"t know if the resources in our Deep Heaven City will last," Elder Gu said with a wry smile.
"Compared to the armies of devilish beasts and the high-grade devilish beings that have already appeared, I"m more concerned about just how many of the Elder Devil Race"s Sacred Ancestors will be able to descend into our realm," Fairy Silver Light said in a grim voice.
"What do you mean by that, Fairy Silver Light?" Han Li asked.
"In past, once the devilish tribulations have reached approximately the halfway mark, the power of our realm will no longer be able to prevent the true bodies of the Sacred Ancestors from descending into the Spirit Realm, but for some reason, only a few of them are able to descend into our realm each devilish tribulation. In the past, we were able to keep these Sacred Ancestors at bay by joining forces with the other Grand Ascension Stage beings of the nearby foreign races, but seeing as this devilish tribulation is far more perilous than previous ones, the number of Sacred Ancestors that descend into our realm could quite possibly be increased as well. There doesn"t have to be too many; if more than 10 Sacred Ancestors appear in our realm at once, then our human and demon races will definitely be crushed," Fairy Silver Light explained.
Elder Gu wasn"t surprised by Fairy Silver Light"s words at all. Instead, a cold light flashed through his eyes as he said, "Fellow Daoist Jin Yue and I have actually developed theories in the past about why this is the case, but the holy island should"ve set up countermeasures for such a scenario; all we have to do is prepare as best as we can."
Fairy Silver Light"s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and after a brief pause, she said, "That"s true. The holy island has many individuals of vast wisdom from our two races; seeing as they were able to predict that this devilish tribulation would be different from previous ones, I"m sure they"ve prepared measures to address the situation. In that case, I"ll be taking my leave now so I can prepare for the trip to Heavenlean City tomorrow."
Elder Gu and the others naturally all agreed to this arrangement. Not long after she left, Han Li also took his leave, citing the same alibi.
Less than half a day later, Han Li returned to his cave abode before immediately summoning Hai Yuetian and Qi Lingzi. After bestowing upon them some treasures and pills, and giving them some further instructions, he returned to the top floor to meditate.
This trip most likely wasn"t going to be a very perilous one for him, but it would naturally still be best for him to ensure that he was in prime condition before setting off.
The next morning, Han Li flew toward the hall where Deep Heaven City"s teleportation formations were situated.
Several hours later, he was greeted by the sight of a white-robed woman wearing a mask standing outside the hall.
Han Li landed beside her before cupping his fist in a salute. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Fellow Daoist."
"Not at all, Brother Han; I only just got here as well. Let"s set off," Fairy Silver Light replied in an indifferent manner.
Thus, the two of them made their way into the hall, where several guards were already waiting for them. As soon as they entered the hall, the guards immediately extended respectful salutes toward them, and their leader said, "We"ve already prepared the teleportation formation, and the place you"ll be teleported to will be around a month"s travel away from Heavenlean City. In order to keep that teleportation site a secret, it hasn"t been used ever since the commencement of the devilish tribulation, so please do take care in case the teleportation site has already been exposed."
"Are you saying we could be teleporting straight into an ambush from the Elder Devil Race?" Fairy Silver Light asked in a cold voice as she raised an eyebrow.
The guard"s heart jolted upon hearing this, and he hurriedly explained, "The location of the teleportation site is extremely secretive, so that shouldn"t be the case; I"m only stating a very unlikely hypothetical situation."
"There"s nothing wrong with the teleportation formation, is there?" Han Li asked in a calm voice.
"Definitely not; we"ve just tested it not too long ago," the guard replied in a confident manner.
"As long as the teleportation formation is fine, even if there"s an ambush on the other side, Fellow Daoist Silver Light and I will be able to take care of ourselves. Prepare the teleportation formation right away," Han Li instructed.