Chapter 597: Frontline

The people of Tang Nation were more cunning than Li Qi had imagined, and their methods were even more bizarre than Li Qi had anticipated.

Just like that, an army disappeared right under their noses.

At the same time, it tied down Li Qi, the main commander, and suppressed Shen Shuibi, the Balancer, and the Realm Lord of the Heaven-Binding Eye, these three Rank Five cultivators!

And they themselves only lost a few dozen people.

While Li Qi had been trapping this army for three days, the Tang army had already quietly Transmigrated Li Qi's perception and entered the interior of the World Cluster Formation!

Li Qi could have noticed it; he could have seen the Tang Nation people quietly entering. Using the World Cluster Formation's perception and the True Knowledge Dao Resonance's analysis capabilities, he could have issued an early warning. Not every Human Dao army possessed that level of stealth ability.

However, his True Knowledge Dao Resonance had been tied up by this Tang Nation detached army for these three days. It was this slight difference that allowed the Tang Nation people to successfully slip in.

Just a little bit, just that tiny bit, and he would have noticed something was wrong.

Now that Shen Shuibi had unraveled the Golden Core Formation, when Li Qi redirected his attention to other areas, he finally realized that the Tang Nation people had already advanced. In a little more time, they would succeed in their surprise attack and force the other worlds in the World Cluster to engage in battle!

So Li Qi immediately gave the order: “Quick! Everyone, get ready! The Human Dao's surprise attack is imminent!”

Just after Li Qi issued the order—

Only a few hours passed.

The real engagement began.

It was no longer the surprise attack by a detached army of ten thousand, which belonged to special operations with specific missions.

It was real war.

Through the World Cluster Formation, Li Qi felt millions of worlds simultaneously let out a roar!

Counting carefully, there were 9,327,235 worlds engaging in battle at the same time.

These warring worlds simultaneously sent Li Qi battle alerts and their observations of the Human Dao's traces.

This was predetermined: worlds that first discovered Human Dao traces could bypass hierarchy and directly report information to Li Qi through the Formation, allowing Li Qi to get the news immediately.

However, information on the scale of tens of millions still gave Li Qi a headache.

He immediately ordered: “Lower the priority of warnings; let their respective superior worlds handle them. Battle has officially begun; all units prepare.”

Then, Li Qi no longer paid attention to the outside. He decisively immersed himself in the Formation, dedicating himself entirely to processing information.

Countless worlds, countless battles.

Not all Human Dao people were so elite. They also had other worlds, and those worlds willing to follow the Human Dao.

These numbers were also very small, but without exception, they were all elites, at least of the Fu Cao Yi Realm Rank of world, with many powerful individuals, and their fighting will was extremely firm.

Soldiers fighting for a meal were the weakest; they could flee at any time, and might rout if casualties reached five percent.

Soldiers fighting for money, for profit, in other words, mercenaries, were slightly better, but still unwilling to risk their lives, generally able to hold out until ten percent casualties.

Soldiers fighting to protect their homes and country were even better, more organized, generally able to hold out until losses exceeded thirty percent before routing.

Soldiers gathered for a great cause, for others' grand ideals, for building a better world, were very good, very good. While they would gradually weaken, they could often fight to the last man.

And soldiers fighting for their own Dao, for their own beliefs, for their own unwavering grand ideals, could do so without regret even if they faced certain death, advancing one after another, never retreating.

Although Li Qi currently controlled many worlds, most were for profit, a small portion for 'others' grand ideals,' for the Shaman Dao's goals.

Only a very small portion could reach that final level, fighting for their own Dao.

But the Human Dao was different.

The entire Human Dao army, including the worlds following the Human Dao, were all the type who would face death without regret.

This was very, very terrifying.

Even if the Human Dao's military strength was not significant, roughly only one-tenth of Li Qi's, coupled with the Human Dao's military Formations, it created an overwhelming advantage on the front lines.

It was truly overwhelming. After Li Qi took over the entire battlefield, in just one hour, over a million worlds had collapsed and suffered damage.

It wasn't that they couldn't win, but rather... they fled.

Li Qi simply couldn't control them. These people's fighting will wasn't strong. The Human Dao army was surrounded by ten times their strength, yet they still fought to the death without retreating. But these armies often began to lose control after only twenty percent casualties.

It must be known that in large-scale army operations, discipline and Formation are the most important.

Once the Formation begins to crumble and the Formation cannot be maintained, then no matter if you have ten times or a hundred times the numbers, there is only death.

Despite having only one-tenth the numbers, they forcefully achieved a casualty ratio of one to one thousand.

For every Tang Nation person killed, they had to pay a thousandfold in casualties.

It should be noted that in the path of cultivation, the Human Dao excels at gathering the strength of the masses, while Shaman Dao practitioners tend to be more solitary.

But at this moment, the Human Dao was entirely composed of elites, while the Shaman Dao had a huge number of people, of mixed quality.

It made it seem as if Shaman Dao was the one 'relying on the strength of the masses.'

However, in reality, this was the essence.

The 'masses' in the Human Dao's eyes had extremely high requirements.

Those considered 'human' by the Human Dao were considered the elite of elites throughout the Myriad Realms.

Conversely, because Shaman Dao believed all things were equal and had their place, even worlds considered natural resources by the Human Dao could participate in the war.

Li Qi controlled the World Cluster Formation, maintaining the suppression of the light band, while simultaneously transmitting orders: “Hold steady, everyone hold steady. If the Formation collapses, everyone will die. Don't collapse due to fear. You've all cultivated to Rank Nine; can't you distinguish this much benefit and harm? Hold on, we can encircle and kill them! We can form a numerical advantage on all battlefields!”

Then, he quickly issued a map of the encirclement force distribution, requiring each world to go to predetermined strategic locations to cut off the Human Dao's overall Formation.

This order was transmitted to the Rank Five Realm Lords, and then passed down layer by layer by the Realm Lords, eventually breaking down into specific combat missions to be executed by the soldiers.

Li Qi was immersed in the command System, completely abandoning his perception of the outside world.

Outside, however, Shen Shuibi began to issue commands.

She said to the Realm Lord of the Heaven-Binding Eye: “Find someone to send him back to the main army.”

Then, she said: “We... continue forward. The combat mission has been issued; we must go to the Bingchen Shuo Zone.”

The Balancer and the Realm Lord of the Heaven-Binding Eye bowed in agreement, then received their missions and departed.

The war had already begun.

Tens of millions of worlds were already engulfed in war. Of course, the civilians had already been relocated; these worlds had long been transformed into war fortresses.

On the Human Dao side, there was no such thing as a 'world' at all. Everything was a massive war fortress floating in the Void Realm. World-class giant ships could only serve as patrolling escorts beside these fortresses.

These fortresses were integrated for offense and defense, like floating Heavenly Palaces in the Void Realm.

At this moment, a reconnaissance team from the Jia Yin Three Realms was observing the Human Dao's gradually 'spreading' front line from a distance.

This reconnaissance team consisted of three people, all typical Jia Yin Three Realms inhabitants, with slender bodies, silver-white fur, and owl-like faces.

They had been lurking for a long time before finally reaching the front line. However, upon arriving at the front line, one of the scouts felt his body go limp.

He looked at the scene in disbelief and said to his captain, his voice trembling: “Captain, is that... what we're going to face?”

It was true; that thing could only be described as 'spreading.'

At the very center, it seemed to be where the Human Dao's city 'Gansong' was located. There, countless Spiritual Artifacts surged forth, towering into the sky. Centered around this, at intervals of approximately twenty thousand li, a spherical object revolved. This sphere was a Spiritual Artifact assembly line, constantly devouring matter and producing brand new Spiritual Artifacts.

These Spiritual Artifacts would be picked up by transport mechanisms below and then transported to the boundary, where assembly would begin. At a speed of several li per second, they would gradually expand into the Void Realm, as if... growing.

Looking again at this entire war fortress—

This was a fortress even larger than a world, styled in the typical Human Dao fashion of upturned eaves and painted walls.

Upturned eaves and chiwei, jade steps and dark flat surfaces, green jade gates and vermilion pavements, rafters and purlins.

Azure smoke and golden tigers, jadeite and bronze sparrows, illuminating the cosmos, with Qi rushing to the Big Dipper.

Layered roofs and inverted eaves, endless pavilions occupying the azure sky, continuously extending outwards, seemingly without end.

Looking even further, one could see that within a range measured in light-years, the celestial stars hung low, and all worlds were swept clean.

The Greater Yin and Greater Yang looked left and right, a hanging Heavenly Palace, a clear moon in the azure sky, and deep purple and clear green, calmly watching myriad stars worship the Big Dipper.

It was truly... myriad stars worshiping the Big Dipper.

Countless stars, pulled by the gravity controlled by the war fortress's Divine Ability and Dao techniques, 'fell' from the Void Realm towards that war fortress. But they didn't land on the ground; instead, they would be torn apart and swallowed by the floating Spiritual Artifact assembly lines along the way.

This was why the Human Dao wanted to modify the Great Dao and erase all world barriers.

Because with world barriers, matter was contained within them, and for the Spiritual Artifact assembly lines, it was 'very hard to chew' this way.

Yes, it was that simple.

So, as long as the fruit's skin was peeled off, the rest was easier to eat.

Even if this directly led to the collapse of countless worlds, with all life within them perishing in Outer Void.

What did perishing matter? Weren't corpses matter?

Similarly, demon beast corpses were used daily to make Spiritual Artifacts, and various plants were often used to make tools, such as the most typical wooden sticks.

Since these were acceptable, why not the corpses of other living beings?

It made no difference; they were all matter.

Thus, these substances were scattered, then compressed and condensed by gravity, becoming stars, which were then pulled down by the Human Dao's 'gravitational' hand, forming this spectacular scene of 'myriad stars worshiping the Big Dipper.'

Honestly, if one didn't consider the reasons behind it, just looking at this scene alone, it was truly breathtaking, almost beyond anything the three-person team had ever imagined.

It was difficult to describe this scene before them: such dense stars, such a dense galaxy, like a Heavenly River descending from the sky and scattering among mortals.

What 'seems like the Milky Way falling from the Nine Heavens'?

No, sorry, there was no 'seems like.' This was the genuine, real descent of countless Milky Ways.

The falling Milky Way splashed countless starlight ripples, and eventually, these ripples dissipated, leaving behind only the Human Dao's war fortress.

Hearing his subordinate's words, the Jia Yin Three Realms captain gave a wry smile: “Yes, that's the enemy we're facing, but... fortunately, behind us, there's someone as strong as them. You saw the last challenge letter, we successfully accepted it, didn't we?”

At this, the remaining two team members relaxed a little.

The giant phantom from last time had given them some confidence, it was just... not entirely sufficient.

Because they had personally witnessed, and could even say experienced, the scene where the Human Emperor's handwritten letter shook all the heavens and subdued everyone.

The Human Emperor's威压 was so terrifying; even though it was just a handwritten letter with no destructive power, it still caused such terrifying consequences.

But that giant phantom Dharma Idol, while it accepted the challenge letter, was indeed somewhat bland, without any strange special effects or terrifying oppressive feeling.

Although they all knew in their hearts that being able to accept the challenge letter meant the gap between the two sides wasn't that large, for these ordinary Rank Seven scouts, compared to the so-called 'essence,' they felt more tangible reality from the more direct oppressive feeling and scope of influence.

“Alright, confirming the Human Dao's expansion rate is enough. Let's go first, don't get too close,” the captain said, then his body flickered, transforming into a streak of light, and quickly departed.

This was a special ability of the Jia Yin Three Realms people. As pure Yin Qi spirits, they could transform into Qi, and from this, developed a complete set of fast escape techniques.

However, halfway through their escape, they suddenly felt themselves being bound by something.

This made the three of them break out in a cold sweat!

They were discovered!?

If they were discovered by the Human Dao, they would likely die a very miserable death.

During this period of war, many scouts had already been lost.

They immediately stopped, no longer attempting to escape, because it was meaningless. It was better to fight with their lives, perhaps they could still die with some value.

However, what surprised the three-person team was that after they stopped, it was not an attack from the Human Dao that arrived.

But a message.

The team captain first looked around, then cautiously opened the message.

They were going to die anyway, so they might as well see what was real.

However, after opening the message, he suddenly rejoiced.

“It's from a world oppressed by the Human Dao,” the captain said to the other two.

This letter was left by the resistors in the Human Dao area who had not yet surrendered. They must have been looking for Shaman Dao scouts for a long time!

Yes, the Human Dao had destroyed so many worlds, but there were still some high-Rank cultivators, such as Rank Six and Rank Five Realm Lords, who had not all perished.

Instead, they had gathered behind enemy lines and were now calling upon Shaman Dao, preparing for joint action!