Chapter 445 - 443: Preparation

Chapter 445: Chapter 443: Preparation

Reality is not a game.

Especially in a world as vast and boundless as the Immortal Cultivation Realm.

It wasn’t a matter of simply annihilating the enemy’s main force and watching a region on the map quickly turn red, signifying it was occupied territory.

In fact,

even the Demonic Alliance wouldn’t dare to entertain such a notion.

The world was too large,

and the Cultivators at the top were too few to control the vast, endless land.

For the Immortal Cultivation Forces,

controlling the various resource points was enough.

As for the even larger regions, a mix of mortals and Low Tier Immortal Cultivators,

neither the Righteous Alliance of the Tian Nan Domain nor the Demonic Alliance of the Nanyue Kingdom

had the ability to penetrate deep into these vast lands and control every corner.

They could only let things run their course.

As a result, apart from a few key strategic locations being lit up on the map, the vast remaining areas were all blank.

It was for this very reason

that even though Broken Soul City had been captured for over a year,

not long ago,

when Shen Changchuan arrived, he had still witnessed Demon Cultivators from the Demonic Alliance attacking patrol Cultivators from the Righteous Alliance outside the city.

This was because

beyond Broken Soul City lay vast stretches of "wilderness," which were designated as neutral "Foggy Areas" on the map.

Moreover, due to the Nanyue Kingdom’s harsh natural environment,

these vast wildernesses were sparsely populated even by mortals.

The surrounding Foggy Areas were mostly desolate Barbaric Lands, devoid of human life.

Swamps, miasma, dense fog, and Low Tier Demon Beasts ran rampant.

This allowed the Demonic Alliance’s Demon Cultivators to secretly traverse the expansive Foggy Areas, making it nearly impossible to detect them as they approached for sneak attacks or sabotage.

If a battle went poorly,

they could simply retreat back into the Foggy Areas.

Unless they were pursued by someone of a much higher Realm who could crush them with absolute power, there was nothing to be done.

Over the past few days,

Shen Changchuan, while in Broken Soul City, had also learned

that these guerrilla tactics employed by the Demonic Cultivators had caused considerable trouble for the Righteous Alliance.

Of course,

the Righteous Alliance was not entirely without a solution.

The response from the Righteous Dao of the Tian Nan Domain

was to dispatch Cultivators to sweep through mortal settlements and strategic points, then garrison key locations, systematically squeezing the operational space of the Demonic Cultivators.

After all,

due to the Nanyue Kingdom’s harsh natural environments,

vast swaths of the map were treacherous wilderness unsuitable for human habitation.

Human settlements occupied only a small fraction of the land.

And Demon Cultivators were obviously not supermen who didn’t need to eat or drink; they needed places to rest and resupply when crossing the uninhabited wilderness.

To say nothing of anything else, the Demon Beasts hidden in the wilderness alone were enough to force Demon Cultivators to remain constantly vigilant while crossing vast tracts of it,

and they would occasionally be forced into battle.

Whether they were exhausted or injured, they needed a safe place to recuperate.

Evidently, only human settlements offered the possibility of resting in peace.

Thus,

as long as the Righteous Alliance swept through the local forces in all the human settlements,

either conquering them or wiping them out completely,

and brought those settlements under their control,

it would maximally compress the space where the Demon Cultivator Alliance’s members could operate and rest.

The trouble in Broken Soul City would then be naturally resolved!

This was also the reason why, previously,

his master, Master Wandering Dragon, had led a group of Dragon Cloud Sect Disciples out to attack and garrison a key location.

The place his master and the others were garrisoning was a crucial transportation hub for a very important human settlement.

Of course,

this was all a bit of a digression.

This time,

the reclusive Demon Cultivation Clan that Gu Xuanqing and the Ancient Sword Sect Disciples had encountered

was one they had run into during this campaign to attack human settlements and reduce the Demonic Alliance’s operational space.

That place

was a straight-line distance of more than ten thousand li from Broken Soul City.

If one included the detours required to bypass dangerous marshes, uninhabited wilderness, and forbidden zones shrouded in miasma and poisonous gas, the journey would be over twenty thousand li!

"That’s quite a long way..."

Shen Changchuan murmured under his breath, his brow furrowed as he considered the situation.

According to Gu Xuanqing,

after his group from the Ancient Sword Sect suffered a major setback there, they immediately retreated.

They had performed a Soul Search on the memories of several enemies and only then learned that the little things that had caused them so much trouble were the Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ants!

Unable to deal with the creatures, they had no choice but to leave a few people behind to watch from a distance in secret,

while the rest of them retreated to regroup and recuperate.

They would consider how to deal with the situation later.

The location was a bit far,

and the timing seemed a little too coincidental.

’I posted the mission a month ago. The Demonic Alliance might already know about it...’

’This could be a trap!’

Shen Changchuan stroked his chin, lost in thought.

It wasn’t that he was paranoid,

but he knew very well how much the Demonic Alliance hated him.

A Gu-controlling Secret Technique and a method for mass-producing Gu Insects

had directly changed the tide of the war.

’No matter what I do, I have to prepare for the worst.’

But soon,

Shen Changchuan temporarily set this worry aside.

Because,

he had a Treasure Map.

The place indicated on the Treasure Map was right near Heaven’s End Valley, where the reclusive Demon Cultivation Clan was entrenched!

’I got this Treasure Map not long after I broke through to the Soul Emergence Realm. The Demonic Alliance couldn’t have known about the threat I posed seven or eight years ago and set a trap for me back then... right?’

Shen Changchuan held a somewhat worn-out Jade Slip, his Divine Sense sweeping over the map recorded within.

A glint flashed in his eyes.

This Treasure Map

was something he had obtained years ago, not long after his breakthrough to the Soul Emergence Realm. On his way back from an auction in Fangxian City, he had slain a group of Demon Cultivators who tried to rob him.

He had found it in the Storage Bag of a female Cultivator among them named Shi Miaoying.

That group of Tribulation Cultivators

seemed to be in collusion with the Demon Cultivators of the Nanyue Territory, as their Storage Bags contained several Demon Artifacts.

However, even though he had acquired the Treasure Map back then,

the situation at the time meant that

Shen Changchuan had no intention of heading to the Nanyue Kingdom to investigate and search for treasure.

So he had set the matter aside.

Until today,

when Gu Xuanqing mentioned the name Heaven’s End Valley,

Shen Changchuan finally remembered this Treasure Map

and retrieved it from a corner of his Storage Bag.

’I don’t know the full story behind this Treasure Map, but it points to a location in the wilderness near Heaven’s End Valley. Perhaps it’s related to the Demon Cultivation Clan in the valley itself...’

’Regardless, maybe I should go take a look...’

The thought flashed through Shen Changchuan’s mind.

The speculation was rather baseless, but he had a gut feeling that his premonition might be right.

The Treasure Map might indeed be connected to the Demon Cultivation Clan itself.

And if that were the case,

then the possibility that Heaven’s End Valley was a trap set by the Demonic Alliance was greatly reduced.

Because that would mean

the reclusive Demon Cultivation Clan had been entrenched there for a long time,

and was not some fabricated entity created by the Demonic Alliance as a trap for him.

’Besides, the Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ant is crucial for refining the Void Escape Gu, and more importantly, it’s the key to victory in the centennial grand competition ten years from now!’

’Even if there’s still danger, as long as there’s news of them there, I have to take the risk and go!’

Soon,

Shen Changchuan made up his mind.

’But before that, I need to be fully prepared...’

A glint flashed in Shen Changchuan’s eyes.

Fortunately, according to Gu Xuanqing,

it would be at least half a year before they gathered forces again to attack Heaven’s End Valley.

He could use this time to prepare thoroughly.

He would increase his combat power as much as possible.

For example,

by cultivating a few more Tier Two Top Level Magic skills...