Chapter 974: Tightening the Noose, A Firm Stance
Editor: Henyee Translations
At the same time, in the territory of the Sacred Skeleton Sect, outside the Bone Demon Ridge, forces of the righteous path had already a.s.sembled.
This place, known as the Bone Demon Ridge, was the ancestral land pa.s.sed down through generations of the Sacred Skeleton Sect.
Surrounding the area, countless white bones piled high created an eerie and terrifying atmosphere, where not a single blade of gra.s.s grew for hundreds of miles around.
The Sacred Skeleton Sect, an ancient ent.i.ty within the demonic forces, had never been eradicated.
Their techniques, all related to bones, were imbued with the rules of withering, silence, and indestructibility.
Representatives from the Haoran Sect and Thunderclap Valley were now in a standoff with the demonic cultivators of the Sacred Skeleton Sect across the void.
Over the past few days, the clashes between the righteous and the demonic had escalated from lower to higher-level cultivators.
Under Jiang Chengxuan’s command, a lightning-fast raid was launched on the Sacred Skeleton Sect, pinning the demonic cultivators right at their doorstep.
“Head of the Haoran Sect, people of Thunderclap Valley, what are your intentions with this sudden attack on our Sacred Skeleton Sect?” bellowed a white-haired cultivator from the front lines of the demonic cultivators.
He was the leader of the Sacred Skeleton Sect, Saint Skeleton, a peak Dao Mastery.
Now, he was manifesting a gigantic skeletal figure looming ominously behind him, radiating a chilling aura.
“The path of your so-called ‘Bone Doctrine’ is utterly without moral foundation, entirely vile! You’ve long since broken any so-called truce with such heinous acts!”
“We of the righteous path spared you before, not so you could intensify your wicked deeds!”
Jiang Chengxuan immediately retorted, his words sharp as blades.
“Enough talk. Today, the Sacred Skeleton Sect shall be exterminated!”
Without any hesitation, at Jiang Chengxuan’s command, countless cultivators from Haoran Sect and Thunderclap Valley surged forward.
The battle between good and evil was reignited.
Traditionally, because the righteous factions each had their own agendas, as long as the demonic path did not provoke excessively, no one would take it upon themselves to eradicate them to save the common folk.
Thus, this sudden unity among the righteous forces caught the demonic factions off guard.
At this moment, not only was the battle raging at the site of the Sacred Skeleton Sect.
Across the Floodgate Realm, demonic forces were facing sudden attacks from the allied righteous sects.
For instance, at the territory of the Ghost Hall, cultivators from the Pantheon Sect were clashing with the Nether Ghosts.
In the lands of the Joyous Union Valley, the Qian family and the Feitian Sect were joining forces to combat,
Slaughtering duos of lascivious cultivators from the Joyous Union Sect.
However, compared to the ruthless Sacred Skeleton Sect, their opponents were not so harsh.
Unlike Jiang Chengxuan, who was determined to crush his enemies utterly.
Nevertheless, the righteous made no compromises in their attacks, aiming to severely wound or cripple the demonic cultivators,
Preventing them from causing any obstruction during the upcoming great calamity.
After all, this was the only effective method currently available to deal with the calamity, and the previously powerless sects were now wholeheartedly driving out the demonic cultivators.
The fierce battle raged for days, resulting in countless demonic cultivators dying.
In the battle against the Sacred Skeleton Sect, Jiang Chengxuan exhibited divine prowess, demonstrating his mastery of the Dao in front of all for the first time.
With a barrage of powerful techniques and the formidable Five Elements Cycle, he was unmatched.
Even Saint Skeleton, a veteran Dao Mastery, was forced into a continuous retreat.
The outcome of the remaining battles, needless to say, heavily favored the numerically and qualitatively superior righteous side.
Whether it was Thunderclap Valley or the Haoran Sect, after several major battles,
The power of the entire sect had greatly increased.
The disciples’ cultivation had significantly increased due to the resources and treasures the sect offered them.
War, after all, is a contest of wealth and resources,
And with the righteous sects on the rise, demonic cultivators of the same level could hardly compete.
The victors of the first battle were the forces of the righteous alliance,
Not just the Sacred Skeleton Sect, but also the Ghost Hall and the Joyous Union Sect were beaten back.
And the war was far from over.
To prepare for the great calamity, the righteous side adopted a do-or-die att.i.tude,
Only by pushing the demonic cultivators to their limits could they rest easy.
After all, this was a campaign crucial to the fate of the sects and the entire Floodgate Realm.
The next morning, the righteous sects launched yet another attack on the demonic forces.
This time, the battle raged on for days and nights until the demonic cultivators were forced to retreat in defeat.
The day after, the third full-scale a.s.sault on the demonic forces commenced, followed by a fourth and fifth over the ensuing days.
These relentless battles instilled fear among the demonic cultivators.
They wondered what had prompted the righteous alliance to pursue them with such unyielding determination.
After several defeats, the power of the demonic path had been severely weakened,
Whereas on the righteous side, the continuous combat only served to strengthen their resolve and capabilities.
This relentless pressure forced the demonic forces to finally break.
Facing the overwhelming might of the righteous sects, the demonic factions had no choice but to show weakness.
“We should talk! Do you really want to push us to the point of mutual destruction?” the demonic cultivators proposed as they faced another crushing defeat by the righteous alliance’s forces.
Jiang Chengxuan and the others had antic.i.p.ated this moment of weakness from the demonic path. They had prepared their strategy well before the campaign against the demonic cultivators began.
“There’s nothing to discuss! You have only one option—to leave the central lands and go to the borderlands! Never to return!”
“The territories for the demonic path have already been delineated; you are not to cross these boundaries!”
At the negotiation table, members of the righteous alliance spoke in unison.
They took the potential backlash from the demonic forces seriously, which is why they stopped short of completely annihilating them, fearing it might provoke greater turmoil.
Moreover, with the great calamity approaching, although they all agreed on expelling the demonic cultivators, they wished to avoid excessive losses.
The best solution was to confine the demonic forces to barren lands where they could not thrive, and to strictly prohibit them from stepping out of their a.s.signed regions.
This was the baseline agreed upon before the war; if the demonic side did not accept it, the righteous were prepared to fight to the end, even if it meant making significant sacrifices.
This was the singular goal of the righteous union—to compress the living s.p.a.ce of the demonic cultivators.
Such demands were, unsurprisingly, infuriating for the demonic cultivators.
Asking them to voluntarily abandon territories they had controlled for years was deemed excessively harsh.