Chapter 1744 — You Are Not Worthy
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
Five days later, the remnants of Wuyou Township finally arrived at the Lanfeng Valley. The ambushes, raids, and losses along the way had left the great Wuyou army with less than thirty percent of its original strength.
Fortunately, Wei Suifeng, the Northern Emperor Xuanwu, the Southern Emperor Zhuque, the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu, and others had led the Jingping army to rendezvous with Di Yiyue and his forces, deterring the Heavenly Court's divine and naval armies from acting rashly, which was the only reason they had been able to reach the Lanfeng Valley at all. Whether it was Wei Suifeng's troops, the soldiers under the Northern Emperor, or the warriors of the Southern Emperor, the Crimson Emperor, and Wuyou Township, morale was uniformly low.
This was especially true of Wei Suifeng's troops—the Yulin Guard, whose cultivations had mostly been at the Jade Capital and Lingxiao realms, a ferocious force capable of doing battle with Heavenly Venerables. Now every last one of them had plummeted directly to the God-Slaying Platform or Nine Hells Platform realm, their cultivation and strength severely diminished.
Many soldiers of Wuyou Township had likewise cultivated to the Jade Capital and Lingxiao realms, and in this moment they too had all been cut down to the God-Slaying Platform realm. Even the mighty—the Martial Celestial Master Zhuo Cha, Yan Yunxi, Di Yiyue, the Indra Heavenly King Li Youran, the Azure Emperor, Tian Shu, and others—had all been reduced to the God-Slaying Platform realm! Yet the most pitiful of all was not them, but the Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu.
Qi Xiayu had originally cultivated nine Heavenly Palaces and refined a Minor Heavenly Court, and now she too had fallen directly to the God-Slaying Platform realm, stripped of three and a half realms of cultivation!
They were, after all, the leaders of their respective armies, and their Dao hearts were extraordinary—they would not collapse on the spot. But the blow to the soldiers of each army was devastating.
There was no path forward in cultivation any longer, and the commanders of every army had been weakened so severely—if the Heavenly Court were to attack again, how could they possibly resist?
What was more, the Left Guard of Divine Strategy had already led the great army of the Youdu demon race to the rear of the Lanfeng Valley, forming a pincer attack with the Heavenly Court's forces from front and back. Above were the Xuandu armies, below were the Youdu armies—a complete encirclement was in place!
This battle offered no hope. It drained many of their courage to fight on.
By contrast, many Jingping soldiers were not greatly affected. First, Jingping had existed for a relatively short time, and few among them had cultivated to the Jade Capital, Lingxiao, or Imperial Throne realms; those who had reached the Heavenly Court realm numbered only Shen Mu himself.
Second, the Jingping reforms had added the Four Heavenly Gates realm, the Heavenly Sea realm, the Nine Hells Platform realm, and other realms to the Heavenly Palace system. Even without the Jade Capital, Lingxiao, Imperial Throne, and Heavenly Court realms, the impact on them was minimal. There were moreover some generals—such as the Ming Emperor, the Crimson Emperor, Shu Jun, Granny Zhu, Zai Fu, Li Zheng, and others of the older generation—who had never walked the traditional Heavenly Palace system.
They walked the Dao Realm system instead.
Though the Primordial Human Emperor had walked the path of the Heavenly Palace system, he had walked the path of cultivating both Heavenly Palace and Dao Realm together.