Chapter 114 - 113: What is a War Rehearsal?

Chapter 114: Chapter 113: What is a War Rehearsal?

"Alliance Leader, we were a step too late. The Wenda Alliance engaged the Buddhist Sect’s reinforcements before we could."

"Alliance Leader, we captured a few Sword Sect disciples. The day before yesterday, the entire Sword Sect was disbanded. It’s completely empty now..."

"Alliance Leader, after intercepting the Buddhist Sect reinforcements, the Wenda Alliance went to attack the Buddhist Sect itself..."

...

The string of reports brought back by the dispatched scouts caught the Ninth Elder completely off guard.

"Have the people from the Wenda Alliance gone mad?" the Demon Sect Leader said, staring dumbfounded at the Dao Sect’s Mountain Gate, which was on the verge of being breached. "They’re just abandoning the Dao Sect like this? Abandoning their own people? Can they still call themselves the Righteous Dao?"

"Why does it feel like he’s even more wicked than we are?" a Demon Sect Elder remarked.

"Li Hao’s Skill Level has improved so rapidly, stirring up a storm of blood in the cultivation world. He was never on the Righteous Dao to begin with," said an Elder from the Ghost Sect.

"..." The Demon King from the Demon Realm kept his eyes down and his mouth shut, not saying a word.

While traveling, the Ninth Elder had used him as a mount. During the assault on the Dao Sect, he was even forced to lead the Charge into the fray.

If not for the excruciating, life-or-death agony he felt whenever the Puppet Silk was activated, he would have long since ground the Ninth Elder’s bones to dust. He couldn’t care less about his master’s affairs.

"Withdraw the troops!" the Ninth Elder said suddenly, his face as dark as still water.

"Withdraw?" The Demon Sect Leader was stunned. "The Dao Sect is about to fall! We’re withdrawing now?"

"Yes, withdraw. The Wenda Alliance isn’t coming to save the Dao Sect," the Ninth Elder said. "If I’m not mistaken, after he takes the Buddhist Sect, he will likely continue to expand. He might even attack our own Sects."

"So what if he attacks them?" the Demon Sect Leader retorted. "As long as we conquer the Dao Sect and you, Alliance Leader, control their masters with the Puppet Silk, won’t crushing him afterward be effortless?

"Alliance Leader, in thousands of years, this is our only chance to take down one of the Upper Three Sects head-on. We can’t just give up!"

"In just three short months, Li Hao has ascended from Foundation Establishment to the Harmonization Realm, and his followers have all risen by at least one or two major realms. With such a terrifying cultivation speed, do you really think he cares about a few minor territories?"

The Ninth Elder snorted coldly. "What he lacks is time. Give him another month, and I’m afraid the entire Three Evil Sects wouldn’t be enough for him to fight alone."

The Ninth Elder possessed the Puppet Silk, so he naturally understood how terrifying demonic artifacts could be.

He had secretly controlled many people with the Puppet Silk, and the accumulated Demon Qi had allowed him to ascend from the peak of the Void Refinement Realm all the way to the peak of the Harmonization Realm within three years.

When he realized the threat, he seized control of the entire Three Evil Sects in a short period.

After launching the attack on the Dao Sect, the rate at which his Demon Qi increased nearly equaled the total from the previous three years combined.

Realizing this, he even regretted not making his move sooner.

’Otherwise, the entire cultivation world would probably be my puppets by now. How could I have allowed a pipsqueak like Li Hao to run rampant?’

’Unfortunately, I was worried about the Demon Qi backlash and forcefully suppressed my own desires, ultimately backing myself into this awkward, indecisive position...’

’I just don’t know what Li Ye’s demonic artifact is.’

’Is Star Shifting truly one of his Derived Skills, allowing him to raise his Skill Level through battle?’

’This Derived Skill seems a bit too absurd, even more terrifying than my Silk Threaded Ox.’

If the Puppet Silk weren’t egging him on, wanting to control Li Hao and lead them out of this world, deep down, the Ninth Elder had no desire to be Li Hao’s enemy at all.

’Just let him collect enough Demon Qi and leave this world. It would be for the best for everyone.’

But now, he no longer dared to entertain that thought.

’Li Hao is too ambitious. Growing at such a pace, isn’t it obvious he’s coming to devour my Puppet Silk?’

Now, it was a life-or-death struggle between them. He had no room to retreat.

’Right now, the fact that Li Hao doesn’t dare to face me head-on is a good thing; it proves he’s weaker than me.’

’But I absolutely cannot let him continue to grow stronger.’

’Li Hao needs battle to grow. As long as he stops to fight others, I can close the distance between us.’

’If he doesn’t stop fighting and just keeps running while I chase him, then he’ll have no opportunity to grow.’

’One day, he’ll be forced to stop and fight a decisive battle with me...’

The Ninth Elder made a swift decision. "Huo Feng (Demon Sect Leader), Lan Yu (Demon King), pass down my orders! Abandon all disciples below the Nascent Soul realm. Take only those at the Divinity Transformation Realm and above. Everyone, follow me and pursue the Wenda Alliance."

"Yes, sir."

The Elders of the Demon Sect, Ghost Sect, and the others looked at the nearly-conquered Dao Sect and accepted the order with great reluctance.

Their very lives were controlled by the Puppet Silk; they didn’t dare to resist.

The Three Evil Sects had now become the Ninth Elder’s personal dictatorship.

「...」

Seeing their Mountain Gate about to be breached only for the Three Evil Sects to retreat, the survivors of the Dao Sect were bewildered. However, they didn’t dare leave their Sect to investigate, fearing it was a trick.

After waiting for three days with no sign of movement from the Three Evil Sects, the Peak Masters of the Dao Sect finally sent people out to scout the situation tentatively.

They discovered that the Three Evil Sects had indeed withdrawn, and had done so completely.

This only made them more confused.

After they sent people to find out what had happened with the Sword Sect and the Buddhist Sect, the many Elders of the Dao Sect were left in a state of shock and disbelief, feeling as if the world they knew had been turned upside down.

Nevertheless, it was the Wenda Alliance that had ultimately saved the Dao Sect.

When the Dao Sect’s Peak Masters and Elders learned that the Three Evil Sects were pursuing the Wenda Alliance, they conferred for a bit and also dispatched their own high-level members to follow, tailing both the Wenda Alliance and the Three Evil Sects.

Meanwhile, the Sect’s mid-level members went down the mountain to find people from the Wenda Alliance and learn more details about them.

If they didn’t get some answers soon, they felt they would become completely disconnected from the world.

「...」

The Wenda Alliance had been closely monitoring the movements of the Three Evil Sects.

When they learned that the enemy had truly abandoned the nearly-conquered Dao Sect to pursue them instead, the admiration everyone in the alliance felt for Li Ye reached its peak.

At the same time, the relentless pursuit by the Three Evil Sects disrupted their rhythm of growth.

The Sword Sect Leader asked, "Alliance Leader, what should we do? The Three Evil Sects are catching up, giving us no chance to improve our strength. If we stop, they’ll be on us in three days at most."

"Indeed, Alliance Leader. We need to fight to raise our realms," said the Buddhist Sect Leader. "If we don’t battle those small and medium-sized Sects, and they chase us all the way to their own territory, we’ll inevitably be attacked from both front and rear. Plus, we’ve lost the advantage of our own Mountain Gates. Now, even the path back to our Sects has been cut off by the Three Evil Sects."

"Then we’ll turn back and fight them. If we can’t win, we’ll run again. A fight’s a fight, no matter who it’s against," Li Ye said nonchalantly.

The Ninth Elder’s reaction was within his expectations, but his own plans had always been focused on the Mortal World.

After he sent the Sword Sect and Buddhist Sect disciples into the Mortal World to promote the Wenda Alliance, the Demon Qi in his wristwatch had been steadily increasing.

Based on the amount of Demon Qi stored, the duration of time the watch could control had now reached twenty-five minutes.

The cooldown for a one-second Time Acceleration was still three seconds, but he was no longer so worried about a direct confrontation with the Ninth Elder.

’If I can’t win, I can always escape. I’ll just wear down the Ninth Elder’s puppets bit by bit. The longer the time and the battle line are drawn out, the greater my chances of victory.’

Moreover, he had integrated the upper echelons of the Buddhist Sect and Sword Sect. While his high-end combat power might not match the Three Evil Sects controlled by the Ninth Elder, his mid-tier forces could still hold their own against them.

After all, he had personally honed these few hundred mid-tier members bit by bit.

’It’s also time for me to find out what the Ninth Elder’s skills are.’

’Constantly running away like this isn’t a long-term solution.’

Li Ye was the backbone of the Wenda Alliance. Even before he had grasped his Time Divine Abilities, he had already achieved the brilliant feat of defeating the Sect Leaders of the Upper Three Sects single-handedly.

The members of the Wenda Alliance had always had absolute confidence in him.

Now that he had mastered Time Divine Abilities, they couldn’t understand why their Alliance Leader was afraid to face the Three Evil Sects head-on.

Now that their Alliance Leader had resolved to fight, the members of the Wenda Alliance were all rubbing their hands in anticipation, eager to turn around and annihilate the Three Evil Sects immediately.

「...」

「Three days later.」

Just after the Wenda Alliance conquered a small Sect called Celestial Saint Mountain, their escape route was cut off by the Three Evil Sects.

The two sides formed up their ranks, facing each other in a direct confrontation.

Li Ye quietly twisted his wristwatch, causing time to accelerate by five minutes.

Memories of the next five minutes abruptly flooded into the minds of everyone present.

When time returned to normal, the expression on everyone’s face turned incredibly ugly.

’What’s going on?’

’Why do we feel like we’ve already fought a battle when the fight hasn’t even started?’

「...」

’Fuck!’

’I actually lost!’

Looking at the Three Evil Sects, who were in a state of chaos across from him, Li Ye unhesitatingly turned his watch, rewinding time by fifteen minutes.

The members of the Three Evil Sects, who had already surrounded the Wenda Alliance, all showed expressions of astonishment as they rapidly retreated, vanishing from the sight of the Alliance members in an instant.

The members of the Wenda Alliance were also forced to move backward along with the flow of time.

In a moment, everyone had retreated out of Celestial Saint Mountain’s Mountain Gate.

The destroyed Mountain Gate of Celestial Saint Mountain was restored to its original, undamaged state. Even the Sect disciples who had died in battle came back to life right before their eyes, their spilled blood and scattered limbs rejoining their bodies...

Time stopped.

Everyone returned to fifteen minutes prior.

Looking at Celestial Saint Mountain, which they were about to conquer, Li Ye said without a moment’s hesitation, "We’re leaving."

The Nascent Souls on the Nascent Soul Tree behind his head, along with all the Wenda Alliance members who followed him, said nothing as they turned and left with Li Ye.

The newly acquired memories replayed in everyone’s mind, and their expressions were grim.

At that moment, no one was in the mood to speak.

Their Alliance Leader, whom they revered as a god, had been controlled by the Puppet Silk during a direct confrontation with the Ninth Elder and had become one of the enemy’s puppets.

And after their Alliance Leader was controlled, they too had been taken over one by one by the Ninth Elder’s Puppet Silk, becoming helpless puppets themselves...

The pain from their meridians and organs that they felt after being controlled by the Puppet Silk seemed to still echo in their memories.

It was simply unbelievable!

’How could the Ninth Elder be that powerful?’

At this moment, they finally understood why their Alliance Leader had been avoiding a direct fight, why they had been worried about the Three Evil Sects, while the one their Alliance Leader truly feared had always been the Ninth Elder.

「...」

Li Ye was still replaying the battle with the Ninth Elder from his memory.

’The moment the battle began, the Ninth Elder shot dozens of transparent threads at me. The threads were incredibly fast, just a fraction faster than my own movement speed at the Harmonization Realm.’

’And what’s more, my Ten Thousand Swords Spell couldn’t sever those threads.’

’The instant the threads were about to entangle me, I activated my Time Acceleration ability, barely managing to dodge them. I used Instant Teleportation to appear behind the Ninth Elder and launched a fatal strike...’

’But the Ninth Elder’s Life Energy was immense. He managed to lock my fist in place as it plunged into his back, and then he used the Puppet Silk to counter-kill me.’

’The moment I was controlled by the Puppet Silk, I instantly lost control of my body and became the Ninth Elder’s puppet.’

’And after the three-second cooldown, when I tried to use Time Acceleration again, I found it couldn’t break the Puppet Silk’s control over me...’

Fortunately, he possessed the ability to see the future.

Otherwise, if that battle had been real, he would have been finished.

In other words, if he wanted to take down the Ninth Elder, it had to be with a single, decisive blow.

He only had one chance.