Chapter 313: You Go to the Western Desert, You Go to the Northern Plains

[Your joy was incredibly pure. Before you, the Nascent Sword Dao World condensed from strands of sword intent revolved flawlessly under your gaze.]

["Since the Nascent Sword Dao World is complete, the next step is evolving it into a true Sword Dao World. That will be the Void Return Stage..."]

[Your mind was clear. Evolving a nascent world into a complete one required countless trials. Whether it would ultimately succeed even depended on the will of heaven and luck.]

[Every Tier 5 Consummation demon lord of the Demon Abyss Realm had long since comprehended their own nascent world, but in the end, how many of them successfully stepped into the Void Return Stage to become Demon Venerables?]

[However, looking at the Nascent Sword Dao World before you, you felt deeply confident you could evolve it into a true Sword Dao World.]

[To comprehend this Nascent Sword Dao World, you had spent a full six to seven hundred years, abandoning hundreds of other nascent sword dao worlds.]

[Your goal was to make it suit you perfectly while maintaining enough potential to support a complete Sword Dao World.]

[You had stepped into the Deity Transformation Middle Stage at one hundred and twenty years old, and now you were already seven or eight hundred.]

[You had spent such a vast stretch of time...]

[...all for the sake of this Nascent Sword Dao World before you.]

[With a shift of your mind and a casual toss, you threw out the Twelve-Layered Small Pagoda, Ethereal Peak's Upper Realm heritage. It shot away toward Ethereal Peak.]

[Now that you had taken that step, this piece of Upper Realm heritage was naturally useless to you, so you simply returned it directly to Ethereal Peak.]

["I might as well break through directly."]

[Having returned the Twelve-Layered Small Pagoda, you didn't hesitate, immediately beginning your breakthrough.]

[Unlike other Heavenly Monarchs breaking through from the Deity Transformation Middle Stage to the Late Stage, stepping into the Late Stage required you to open up a Nascent Sword Dao World within your own sword dao Primordial Spirit.]

[Buzz— A massive amount of Fifth Tier High Grade resources and treasures appeared before you. Hundreds of years ago, you had already prepared all the resources needed for your breakthrough to the Late Stage. The ancient era was rich in worldly energy and resources, so there was no shortage of them.]

[Deep beneath the Soul Capital, the vast spiritual energy of that Tier 5 spirit vein also began to rapidly converge.]

[Over the past few centuries, you had already nurtured this Tier 5 spirit vein to the Fifth Tier High Grade. With the full support of Ethereal Peak and Extreme Dao Hall, whatever you wanted—as long as it existed in the Human Realm—would essentially appear before you the very next day.]

[You constantly absorbed the vast, ocean-like spiritual energy, gathering it within your dantian. Your sword dao Primordial Spirit sat cross-legged as a Nascent Sword Dao World rapidly took shape.]

[Of course, the commotion caused by your breakthrough was largely concealed by the Fifth Tier High Grade grand array around the Soul Capital. Over the years, several celestial masters from the Array Dao Lineage had visited the Soul Capital specifically to set up formations for you.]

[Aside from You, who was also within the Soul Capital, the gathering of worldly spiritual energy didn't look overly exaggerated from the outside. After all, the vast spiritual energy required for your breakthrough was mostly provided by the underground Tier 5 spirit vein and the massive amount of prepared resources.]

[Therefore, Demon Venerable Guixu, who was watching you from the other side of the two-realm passage beneath the sky, couldn't be certain whether you were breaking through or not.]

[Separated by two realms, even someone as powerful as a Demon Venerable couldn't use many of their methods.]

[Even if he relied on karma, he could only lock onto your position. As for your specific condition... he naturally had no way of knowing.]

["This kind of fluctuation..."]

[You, who was currently recovering from injuries, sensed the commotion in the underground spirit vein and immediately made a guess.]

["Is Master... is Master breaking through?"]

[You immediately left his cave dwelling and arrived outside the one where you were in secluded cultivation. At the same time, he vigilantly monitored the surroundings—especially the two-realm passage beneath the sky—to stand guard for your breakthrough.]

[Since ancient times, a cultivator's breakthrough had always been of vital importance. It was arguably their most vulnerable moment. You felt that he should do something; otherwise, he would be letting down your years of nurturing grace.]

[Meanwhile.]

[Of the two-realm passages currently existing in the Human Realm, apart from the one in the sky above the Soul Capital where you were located, the others almost simultaneously began to erupt.]

[Countless Tier 3 and Tier 4 demonic creatures flooded into the Human Realm with reckless abandon. The same was true for numerous Fifth Tier Early Stage, Mid Stage, and Late Stage demon lords—even if it meant suffering heavy injuries or trading their lives, they charged in all the same.]

["Sever the heavens, sever the earth, sever all living beings, sever all creation!"]

[In the Eastern Wilderness Domain, Heavenly Monarch Juezhen controlled the Quasi-Tier 6 killing array, blocking the first wave of countless demonic creatures charging in.]

[The Quasi-Tier 6 killing array carried earth-shattering lethal power. Even if a Tier 5 demon lord dared to fall into the array, they would still be suppressed and then crushed by its interwoven power.]

["Something's wrong."]

[Heavenly Monarch Juezhen originally thought this was just a normal counterattack from the Demon Abyss Realm. Over the past few centuries, the Demon Abyss Realm had launched one of these every so often.]

[However, as time passed, the influx of demonic races into the Human Realm showed no signs of decreasing. Demon lords appeared one after another, and even Fifth Tier Late Stage demon lords began to descend in succession. Heavenly Monarch Juezhen finally realized the danger.]

[This counterattack from the Demon Abyss Realm wasn't a conventional one—it was a true, full-scale offensive.]

[Rumble—]

[The power of the Quasi-Tier 6 killing array permeated the air, drawing upon the vast worldly power of the Human Realm. One by one, Heavenly Monarchs stood at different array cores, coordinating with the killing array's power to strangle and suppress the endless demonic creatures.]

[Heavenly Monarch Juezhen went nearly mad, even beginning to burn his own Primordial Spirit just to boost the killing array's power.]

[In the end, with the combined efforts of Heavenly Monarch Juezhen and several other Heavenly Monarchs, they managed to trap the demonic creatures within the killing array. Even if a few scattered demonic creatures broke out, they couldn't cause any real harm to the Human Realm; Nascent Soul Stage true monarchs would naturally hunt them down and kill them.]

["What about the Western Desert and Northern Plains...?"]

[While catching his breath, Heavenly Monarch Juezhen looked toward the Western Desert and Northern Plains. Since the Demon Abyss Realm had poured a massive number of demonic creatures into the two-realm passage he guarded, what about the others?]

[He set aside the passage above the Soul Capital for now. The Sword Lord's strength was unfathomable, and it was likely the Demon Venerables of the Demon Abyss Realm weren't willing to send their subordinate demon lords there just to die.]

[As for the passage in the Deep Sea Territory... the area of the Human Realm's Deep Sea far exceeded that of the continents. Even if it was temporarily occupied by countless demonic creatures from the Demon Abyss Realm, it wouldn't have much of an impact on the human race. Humanity's foundation was on the continents.]

[In Heavenly Monarch Juezhen's eyes, even if the two-realm passage in the Deep Sea Territory was breached, the cost was acceptable. It would just mean sending Heavenly Monarchs to launch a counterattack later.]

[It wouldn't be easy for the Demon Abyss Realm's Demon Abyss Banners to thoroughly take root in the Human Realm. They would face resistance and rejection from the world itself.]

[Trying to plant Demon Abyss Banners all over the Deep Sea Territory? That would be absolutely impossible without several years of time.]

[But the Western Desert and Northern Plains... were both on the Human Realm's continents.]

[These two passages were also the very first to be torn open. After hundreds of years of slaughter, the demonic creatures of the Demon Abyss Realm had long since broken out, occupying an area of millions of miles around the passages. With the Demon Abyss Banners taking root, that region of millions of miles was no different from the Demon Abyss Realm's home territory.]

[Heavenly Monarch Juezhen worried... if the Heavenly Monarchs guarding those two locations couldn't hold the line, allowing the Demon Abyss Realm's demonic creatures to fully break out, then the two great domains of the Western Desert and Northern Plains were highly likely to suffer irreversible subjugation.]

[If the Western Desert and Northern Plains fell, the Human Realm's continent would lose two of its five great domains. How long could the remaining three domains resist?]

[Moreover, by spreading the battlefield into the interior of the Human Realm's continents, the longer the fighting dragged on, the weaker the Human Realm's resistance would become.]

['I hope Heavenly Monarch Yangfa... and Heavenly Monarch Three Saints can hold on.']

[Heavenly Monarch Juezhen thought silently. At this moment, no matter how worried he was, there was nothing he could do, nor did he dare leave to provide support.]

[Heavenly Monarch Yangfa and Heavenly Monarch Three Saints were the two Late Stage Heavenly Monarchs from Ethereal Peak and Extreme Dao Hall. Armed with Upper Realm heritage, they had guarded those two two-realm passages until now.]

[The Western Desert.]

[Heavenly Monarch Yangfa stood in the void, a Black Scimitar hovering above his head.]

[In the distance, a terrifying spatial rift stretched beneath the sky. At this moment, countless demonic creatures were continuously charging out from it.]

[An area of millions of miles around the rift had long since fallen, occupied by the Demon Abyss Realm. Standing millions of miles away, Heavenly Monarch Yangfa was surrounded by Fifth Tier High Grade grand arrays that encircled the entire fallen region.]

[Aside from Heavenly Monarch Yangfa, there were over a dozen other Heavenly Monarchs scattered throughout the encirclement.]

["Annihilate!"]

[Heavenly Monarch Yangfa's hair and beard turned crimson as he continuously swung the Black Scimitar above his head. This was also a piece of Upper Realm heritage, possessing incredibly potent offensive capabilities. However, since Heavenly Monarch Yangfa was ultimately not a Void Return Stage Venerable, he fell far short of unleashing its true power.]

[Whoosh!]

[Suddenly, Heavenly Monarch Yangfa's expression changed drastically. An obscured streak of arrow light arrived in an instant. He only had time to channel the Black Scimitar and block in front of himself.]

[Immediately following, a long gray arrow pinned the Black Scimitar. The scimitar was knocked back thousands of miles, finally being fiercely pinned into the waist of a towering mountain.]

["A Void Return level weapon?"]

[Heavenly Monarch Yangfa's face turned pale as he simultaneously looked toward the two-realm passage in the distance.]

[He saw a powerful demon standing a hundred zhang tall and wearing battle armor. Gripping a gray bow in his left hand, a terrifying aura emanated from him.]

["A Tier 5 Consummation demon lord armed with a Void Return level weapon..."]

[Heavenly Monarch Yangfa's expression looked awful. He spat out a mouthful of lifeblood essence, and the Black Scimitar pinned to the mountain's waist soared up once more, returning to hover before him.]

[Right at this moment.]

[A hundred million miles away from this two-realm passage, on the other side of the Western Desert, a spatial rift was torn open beneath the sky once again. A new two-realm passage took shape.]

[A massive number of demonic creatures and demons began to descend into the Human Realm through the passage.]

[Heavenly Monarch Yangfa fell silent. He was already on the verge of failing to hold a single two-realm passage—let alone two?]

["Retreat. Retreat to the Central Continent."]

[Heavenly Monarch Yangfa immediately commanded the other Heavenly Monarchs, and they began retreating toward the Central Continent.]

[Even if the Western Desert fell, they still had the Central Continent.]

[As the most prosperous and fertile land in the Human Realm, the Central Continent had long since been built into an iron fortress over the years by the One Law and One Body factions. As long as they could successfully retreat to the Central Continent, they would still possess the capability to resist.]

[They might even have hope of launching a counterattack to reclaim part of the Western Desert's territory.]

[The Northern Plains.]

[Heavenly Monarch Three Saints' physical body was like a mountain. As a Late Stage Heavenly Monarch of the body cultivation lineage, he wore purple armor and dared to charge right into a group of Tier 5 demon lords to slaughter them.]

[That purple armor was precisely Upper Realm heritage, granting Heavenly Monarch Three Saints immense confidence.]

[Thud! Suddenly, a giant axe cleaved down. Heavenly Monarch Three Saints stumbled abruptly, retreating several steps.]

["A Void Return level weapon?"]

[Heavenly Monarch Three Saints looked into the distance. An equally massive demon lord wielding a giant axe stood there, exuding a berserk aura.]

[From another direction, a third demon lord armed with a Void Return level weapon slowly appeared.]

["Withdraw."]

[Heavenly Monarch Three Saints didn't even think about it before directly pulling away.]

[Relying on a formidable physical body and the purple armor, Heavenly Monarch Three Saints managed to shake off those two Tier 5 Consummation demon lords.]

["The Northern Plains..."]

[Heavenly Monarch Three Saints looked out at the boundless tide of demonic creatures, similarly realizing that the Northern Plains would be very difficult to hold.]

[The vast Demon Abyss Realm.]

[Twelve towering figures stood tall, observing everything happening in the Human Realm through the spatial rifts.]

[In the Northern Plains and Western Desert, which had served as the focal points for the heavy offensive, the situation was progressing very smoothly. Having dispatched several more Tier 5 Consummation demon lords and bestowed upon them multiple Void Return level weapons, the Human Realm's resistance forces were swiftly beaten back.]

[Of course, while continuously conquering the territories of the Northern Plains and Western Desert, the casualties among the demonic creatures were also extremely tragic. Even as the Human Realm's Heavenly Monarchs retreated, they still left countermeasures in critical locations, such as detonating grand arrays and even underground spirit veins.]

[In short, even if it meant mutually assured destruction and turning the Northern Plains and Western Desert into total dead zones devoid of spiritual energy, they were determined to heavily injure the demonic creatures and demon lords of the Demon Abyss Realm.]

["As long as we can occupy the Northern Plains and Western Desert, we can use them as a starting point to spread toward the Central Continent and the Eastern Wilderness Domain. In a few hundred years, we should be able to seize this world."]

[A Demon Venerable spoke up. They truly hadn't wanted to use this kind of forced assault strategy. After all, the losses were simply too immense. After this war, the subordinates of the various Demon Venerables would likely be reduced by more than half.]

[But the twelve Demon Venerables had no other choice. That Sword Lord's strength was too terrifying, making any plots or schemes largely useless. As for stalling until the Sword Lord died of old age? Based on the time the Sword Lord stepped into the Deity Transformation Stage, he could live for at least another one or two thousand years. If he paired that with a corresponding slumber secret art, he could probably live for two or three thousand years. How were they supposed to outlast that?]

[Even Demon Venerables only possessed a lifespan of ten thousand years.]

[As for secretly winning over the Sword Lord... it wasn't that the Demon Venerables hadn't tried, but that Sword Lord simply kept offering various excuses to make them delay their offensive. This was something the Great Desolation Demon Sovereign simply couldn't accept.]

[Among the twelve demon sovereigns, the Great Desolation Demon Sovereign was over nine thousand years old. With only a few centuries left until his lifespan limit, he was counting entirely on occupying the Human Realm to receive the feedback of the Demon Abyss Realm's will and extend his life.]

[Delaying the offensive... made the Great Desolation Demon Sovereign feel threatened, so he refused to accept it. Instead, he opted for a brute-force assault.]

["Soon..."]

[The twelve demon sovereigns stared at the Human Realm. As long as the rest of the Human Realm fell into the hands of the Demon Abyss Realm, what use would it be even if the Sword Lord's strength was unmatched? Could he withstand a siege from an endless tide of demonic monsters?]

[Sheer attrition alone could grind him to death.]

[One month later.]

["Deity Transformation Late Stage!"]

[You opened your eyes, feeling the changes within yourself.]

[Within your Sword Dao Primordial Spirit, a Nascent Sword Dao World revolved. Bolstered by this Nascent Sword Dao World, your offensive might skyrocketed—surging to a terrifying degree.]

['If just the nascent form of a world brings this much improvement, what about a complete Sword Dao World?']

[You thought to yourself, in an excellent mood.]

["Hm?"]

[You looked up toward the outside, sensing the shifts in the Human Realm. Wisps of demonic qi had begun seeping in, affecting the world.]

[You stepped out of your immortal cave and saw You standing guard there.]

["Master, you've come out of seclusion?"]

[Lingering worry marked You's face, but seeing you emerge, he breathed a sigh of relief.]

["Before Master went into seclusion, the Demon Abyss Realm sent massive hordes of demonic monsters to invade the Human Realm. Now, the Western Desert, the Northern Plains... they have mostly fallen. Heavenly Monarch Yangfa and Heavenly Monarch Three Saints have both retreated to the Central Continent Territory..." You spoke rapidly; as a Heavenly Monarch, he naturally knew the latest battlefield intelligence.]

[Hearing this, you felt no anxiety. Instead, you cast a glance at the dual-realm passage situated beneath the vault of the sky.]

[You pondered for a moment. With a shift of your thoughts, a sheathed Heavenly Sword instantly appeared before you.]

[Upon your breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Late Stage, this Heavenly Sword had also undergone the tempering of your Nascent Sword Dao World, significantly boosting its power.]

[You raised your right hand, gently stroking the hilt and the scabbard, and said in a calm tone, "You go to the Western Desert. You go to the Northern Plains."]

[Shing!]

[The scabbard separated from the blade.]

[The scabbard flew toward the Northern Plains.]

[While the blade shot off toward the Western Desert.]

[As for you, you took a single step and vanished from the spot.]

[When you reappeared, you were already standing beneath the vault of the sky, perfectly level with that dual-realm passage.]

[On the other side of the dual-realm passage, Demon Venerable Guixu paused in slight surprise, his gaze meeting yours.]