Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Chapter 850: Chapter 527: Retreat_2

“Humph, stop your pretense!”

The Golden Crow snorted coldly, completely unmoved: “That Zhen Yuanzi must be hiding a heaven-shocking secret; not even ten thousand years have passed, and he has already achieved so much. If we do not suppress him now and let him continue to grow, won’t this Earth Immortal Realm eventually become something within his grasp? After much difficulty, we’ve gotten rid of Taihuang Emperor, and now we want to nurture another Taoist Master?”

“Amitabha!”

In response to these words, the Great Sun Mahavairocana remained unshaken as well: “Good begets good, evil begets evil; the Heavenly Dao of reincarnation has its own constants.”

“Humph!!!”

The Golden Crow snorted coldly again, extremely angry, yet he was helpless.

As a Heavenly Venerate, the Buddha Ancestor Great Sun Mahavairocana was in no way inferior to him, the Demon Emperor, and might even be slightly better. Now that he had come to stand guard, protecting the Wandao School, there was nothing he could do.

Just as the standoff between the two continued…

“Screech!!!”

A piercing cry shook the void, as the Phoenix Shadow broke through the void and returned, entering the Earth Immortal Realm without any further response.

Seeing this, the Golden Crow’s expression became even more awkward.

“Amitabha!”

However, the Great Sun Mahavairocana did not care about his feelings: “The dust has settled, Your Majesty, please withdraw your troops. Do not create killing karma without cause!”

“You…!”

“Very well, very well!”

Egged on by this, the Great Sun Golden Crow became even more furious: “I will remember today’s event, and I hope that in the days to come, you do not regret it!”

After speaking, he didn’t wait for the Great Sun Mahavairocana’s reaction and turned to rush into the Earth Immortal Realm.

…

In the Twilight Realm, although the great battle had ended, the people were still busy.

Billions of Academy Monks began to clean up the battlefield, gathering the bodies and Soldier’s Armor of their comrades, along with the countless corpses of demons, simultaneously repairing the Formation and cleaning up the various pollution left by the rampage of the demons, so as not to contaminate the Spiritual Mountain Vein.

Within the Wandao School, Xu Yang stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the blood-stained heaven and earth, speechless for a long time.

A land filled with desolate mourning, a sky painted with blood!

This battle, although the Wandao School was well-prepared, was unable to withstand the deep potentiality of the demons, and still suffered heavy losses under the fierce fighting, not to mention the consumption of pills, talismans, magic artifacts, mechas, formations, Spirit Stones, and Immortal Jades. The loss of personnel alone numbered over a hundred million.

This was only in the Twilight Realm. If one were to count the casualties among other worlds under the governance of the Wandao School, then the number of Academy Monks lost would be at least over ten billion, with casualties nearing a hundred billion.

And most of these were mid to high-order cultivators, with the majority being Nascent Souls and Deity Transformations, and there were not a few whose cultivation had reached Return to Void Union. Even top-tier Mahayana cultivators had lost over a hundred. Many of them were his own disciples that he had personally taught, as dear to him as the Phoenix Song itself.

The losses were tragic!

Compared to the initial battle when he established his way at South Observance, it was countless times more brutal and the losses immeasurable!

But there was no choice; this was the price that had to be paid.

Mercy cannot command an army, righteousness cannot manage wealth!

It’s not as if by retreating to the World of Dao and Law and staying away from the conflicts of the Earth Immortal, one can sleep without worry, peacefully develop, and grow steadily.

That’s an unrealistic pipe dream!

Survival of the fittest, the law of natural selection, is an inevitable phenomenon in nature.

To think that by sealing oneself off and shrinking within One Realm, that there would be no such death and destruction, no slaughter by the demons?

If you do not seek out trouble, trouble will seek you out.

If you do not consume others, they will consume you.

To be complacent, not striving for progress, is akin to seeking death. Once your enemies attack, you won’t even have the strength to resist.

Therefore, one must struggle; there’s no other way. Without struggle, there’s death, without struggle, there’s annihilation.

Had there been no fruit from this competition to strengthen oneself, today’s casualties would not just be tens of billions – rather, the entire Wandao School along with the World of Dao and Law would have faced destruction, leaving nothing but bones.

To avoid that outcome, everything can be the price, everything can be sacrificed.

This is the resolve that a Master of Ten Thousand Paths must have!

…

Although the loss was severe, victory was ultimately achieved.

The fruits of victory were able to compensate for the losses of war and even yield greater benefits.

This time was no exception. The Demon Nation launched a fierce attack while the Academy held firm, taking full advantage of the timing and their geographic position, bolstered by formations, logistical support, enduring such a brutal fight, and grinding away flesh and blood. The demons probably paid a price ten to a hundred times that of the Academy.

Wandao School suffered several billion casualties, while the Monster Nation Demon Abyss lost several hundred billion demons, along with over a thousand Mahayana-level cultivators and nearly a hundred Calamity Realm Demon God Demon Venerates.

It was only because the Demon Abyss had such a deep potentiality that it could withstand the intensity of such a ferocious battle.

Several hundred billion demons, over a thousand Mahayana, nearly a hundred Calamity Realm, not to mention the various treasures, spiritual objects, demon instruments, and demon artifacts they carried, just their corpses alone represented a tremendous harvest, who knows how many materials can be extracted from them.

These materials would be processed through the production system of Wandao School, transformed into pills, talismans, magic artifacts, mecha, and other items, to feed back to the Academy Monks and enhance the strength of the School, achieving the effect of “sustaining war with war.”

And that’s just the several hundred billion demons below the Calamity Realm. Factor in the Demon God Demon Venerates with Calamity Realm cultivation, especially those great demons and great devils who tried to curry favor with the Phoenix Master at the last moment but failed to escape in time, their value is immeasurable.

If one were to coldly consider this as a business, then Wandao School has made a fortune this time.

This is the fruit of victory!

To pluck this fruit, Xu Yang also paid a significant price.

Firstly, there was his Taoism Origin Body, which broke through the realms, revealing his final trump card and greatly increasing the threat he posed.

Compared to the widely known “Zhen Yuanzi” who stirred up the Earth Immortal Realm, the Taoism Origin Body “Li Liuxian” had been quite inconspicuous in recent years.

But being inconspicuous doesn’t mean inaction.

There is a time difference between the Upper and Lower Realms. Three thousand years might have passed in the Earth Immortal Realm, but more than twenty thousand years had gone by in the World of Dao and Law.

In those twenty thousand years, as the Taoism Origin Body, how much progress had “Li Liuxian” made?

Not much, just advanced his cultivation to the third trial of the Tribulation Realm!

The World of Dao and Law was originally a great world, no less impressive than the Earth Immortal Realm. In Ancient Times, there were beings such as the Taiqing Ancestor of Tao among its Immortal Gods, their status goes without saying. But for unknown reasons, the Primordial Spirits fell silent, and the Ancient Immortal Gods ascended en masse, leading to the Five Turbidities Evil Age situation that came afterward.

However, under Li Liuxian’s management, and after the integration with the Primordial Spirit World, signs of “Primordial Spirits Revival” began to appear in the World of Dao and Law, and the status of the world gradually returned, now capable of sustaining Mahayana cultivators and accommodating Calamity Realm Immortals and Gods.

Furthermore, with the effect of “Nascent Soul to Spirit Transformation, Refine the False into Truth” of the Taoist Result, the efficiency of cultivation in the World of Dao and Law might not be as good as the Earth Immortal Realm, but it definitely surpasses the Twilight Realm.

Being the Master of Ten Thousand Paths, with a myriad of Skill Characteristics and the power of Divine Soul provided by the trillions of cultivators in the World of Dao and Law to cultivate from the false, the progress of Li Liuxian’s cultivation is imaginable.

In twenty thousand years, to reach the threshold of the Three Calamities is quite conservative. If one were to take risks and let loose without restraint, even the Five or Six Calamities were within reach.

Xu Yang sent back the Nine Rituals Heavenly Sword and entrusted it to the Taoism Origin Body “Li Liuxian” to wield as the ultimate measure against the demons.

For this, he also conducted a “Migration of the Heavens,” distributing the population of the World of Dao and Law evenly among worlds like the Twilight Realm and others.

There was no other way; the presence of the Taoism Origin Body is associated with the survival of the World of Dao and Law. If it were to leave, the skill characteristics would lose their effects, leading to a massive reduction in productivity, causing a vicious circle that could collapse the world.

Thus, Xu Yang had to relocate the population of the World of Dao and Law, using the resources of various worlds to alleviate the pressure on the World of Dao and Law.

In doing so, he could disengage and whether to face the demons in battle or step aside, he would have no worries.

This significant exposure of his hand would inevitably provoke a frenzy among the demons. In a desperate situation, no one could guarantee what they might do.

One knows oneself best. Although Li Liuxian has the cultivation of Three Calamities and the Nine Rituals Heavenly Sword, his combat power is only above average among True Immortals.

In contrast, on the side of the demons, the Phoenix Master, Demon Lord, and the Great Sun Demon Emperor are all peerless True Immortals, wielding Immortal Treasures like the Godslayer Spear and Phoenix Slash. In terms of strength, they even surpass Ren Baimei of Blue Star World. If Xu Yang were to face them, the best he could hope for is to escape unscathed, with no hope of victory.

This victory was achieved by a trick, using the power of Twilight and Xuanyuan Sacred Method to harmonize with the Heavenly Dao, just barely defeating the Phoenix Master, but failing to capture her.

This reveals the gap between the two sides!

For this reason, Xu Yang had no choice but to seek external help, asking the Great Sun Tathagata to intervene and intercept the Demon Emperor.

Although this favor was evened out by the “Spread of Buddhist Law to the South,” there will inevitably be some involvement in the future.

It was quite troublesome, but no matter what, he had won this battle.

Next, the demons would either go completely mad, mobilizing all their forces for a decisive battle with Wandao School, or they would lick their wounds and recuperate, waiting for the Secret Realm to open again after ten thousand years.

Regardless, Xu Yang would meet any challenge that came his way with appropriate measures. If there’s no battle, all the better, as the spoils of this war would ensure that the Academy’s strength could advance further. If there’s a battle, it’s not a problem either. Of the several trillion cultivators in Wandao School, only several billion were lost—although painful, it’s far from being backed into a corner. Instead, the battle could serve to temper and refine pure gold.

Now it’s up to the enemy to decide!