Chapter 1378 - 543 Change of Era in the Nine Provinces
After discussing with several of his avatars, Lu Yuan had roughly figured out Taiping Dao’s stance after the war.
Once the main attitude was determined, Lu Yuan entrusted the matters to Qing Guanzi and Yi Dancheng, letting them handle the situation.
He was still in a hidden state at present, and no one in the outside world had noticed his existence.
The official heads of Taiping Dao were still those few avatars.
As the real person, Lu Yuan was like an invisible man, not needing to show his face at all.
However, he was also considering whether he should pick an appropriate time to step out and come to the forefront.
Now, within Changqing Domain, both Jiuzhou Immortal Gate and Changqing Immortal Sect had suffered severe losses in strength after the brutal war, far from their former peak.
The apparent strength of these two Immortal Sects, although still many times stronger than Taiping Dao, was now only two to three times its size.
But this gap was no longer enough to make Taiping Dao feel suffocated and crushed when facing them.
Previously, each of the two powers had a late-stage Earth Immortal grand cultivator, and several Earth Immortals and more than a dozen Human Immortals. Just a fraction of their power could crush Taiping Dao.
Back then, it was in such an environment that Lu Yuan was constantly worried, unable to sleep or eat in peace.
But now.
A great battle took place, three Earth Immortals perished, more than thirty Human Immortals died, and tens of thousands of cultivators were killed in action.
This tremendous loss could be said to have depleted the essence of the Immortal Sects in Changqing Domain.
Their deaths also led to the collapse of the great mountain looming over Taiping Dao, finally starting to crumble.
The shadow that enveloped them gradually dissipated, revealing some sunlight.
The forces that could once have easily crushed Taiping Dao with a flick of their wrist.
Now, even if they exerted all their strength, they could not do anything to Taiping Dao.
Currently, Taiping Dao openly boasted an Earth Immortal and three Human Immortals. Its affiliated sects also possessed five Human Immortals, and there was a Ghost Emperor in Yichuan’s Yin World.
Counting these, that made one Earth Immortal and nine Human Immortals.
Once Meng Jianshan of Jiuzhou Immortal Gate died, with the loss of their strongest combatant, Taiping Dao’s apparent strength could even surpass that of Jiuzhou Immortal Gate.
Even compared to Changqing Immortal Sect, Taiping Dao was only one Earth Immortal short.
But in terms of other Human Immortals and the number of ordinary disciples, they were not weak at all, equally matched in power.
Under these circumstances, unless these two archenemies joined forces, either one of them attempting to attack Taiping Dao would not get any advantage.
Even a slight misstep could lead to a disastrous defeat.
Don’t doubt this possibility.
Without Meng Jianshan, Jiuzhou Immortal Gate was already weaker than Taiping Dao.
They were not only unable to defeat Changqing Immortal Sect, but even when facing the rising power of Taiping Dao, they were at a disadvantage.
Jiuzhou Immortal Gate resembled Shu Han after the disastrous defeats in Jingzhou and Yiling, no longer possessing the momentum of once controlling two provinces and the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains.
They had fallen to the point of pleading for peace with Dong Wu.
But speaking of which, Jiuzhou Immortal Gate indeed resembled Shu Han.
Previously, they not only occupied the entire Western Domain but also extended their influence into the Southern Domain, quite similar to how Shu Han had occupied parts of State Yi and Jingzhou.
Changqing Immortal Sect also resembled Cao Wei, with control over three regions in Changqing Domain and most of the Boundary Domain.
The only difference from the Three Nations was that Taiping Dao, somewhat similar to Dong Wu, didn’t backstab Jiuzhou Immortal Gate.
To some extent, it even helped them, exerting its influence in the south to distract many of Changqing Immortal Sect’s forces.
This allowed Jiuzhou Immortal Gate to attempt its Northern Expedition and then clash with Changqing Immortal Sect at the battlefields of Hanzhong and Xiangyang, resulting in a pyrrhic victory for both sides.
In the end, both suffered heavy losses and their national power was greatly diminished.
However, Changqing Immortal Sect, with its deeper foundations and larger size, managed to endure to the final victory and swallowed Jingzhou and Hanzhong.
Leaving only Jiuzhou Immortal Gate, which retreated to the State Yi, starting to desperately seek help from all directions to preserve themselves.
Yes.
After the terrible defeat, Jiuzhou Immortal Gate had already begun sending Messengers to request external assistance.
And the surrounding forces responded very quickly.
First and foremost, naturally, came the Heavenly River Sect.
Although Huang Yuanxiu was still constrained at home, locked in a standoff with a formidable enemy unable to leave, he still endeavored to allocate two Human Immortals and a thousand disciples urgently to the Western Domain to assist Jiuzhou Immortal Gate.
Both Jade Toad Path and Wind and Thunder Path, upon seeing Jiuzhou Immortal Gate on the verge of annihilation, finally stopped being bystanders and remembered to lend a hand to their fellow Immortal Sect.
These two Immortal Sects also dispatched two Human Immortals and five hundred disciples each to stand by their compatriots.
All this happened within a short span of three days.
For Taiping Dao and Changqing Immortal Sect, it was just a blink of an eye. When they looked back, they saw Jiuzhou Immortal Gate, which had been previously beaten and was in dire straits.
Now it had managed to stand up once again.
With four more Human Immortals and two thousand cultivators added to Jiuzhou Immortal Gate, it suddenly became strong and regained its momentum.
Although still far from its former power, it had changed from being weaker than Taiping Dao to being strong enough to hold its own against them.
Just like Zhuge Liang managing Shu, from the brink of national destruction after a major defeat, it became strong enough to embark on a Northern Expedition, in such a short amount of time.
Except Zhuge Liang relied on his ability and hard work to reorganize and build a foundation from scratch.
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