At the same time as the voice from Windy Cool Mountain rang out, as if in a distant echo, a furious roar also came from the giant boat speeding in from the south.
"Kill these Demon Clan thieves who would destroy our South Sea!"
Simultaneously, from the Demon Clan army caught in the middle, a stern shout also shook the heavens and the earth.
"The South Sea cultivators are in rebellion! Annihilate them all!"
...
Li Yan was once again locked onto by a Nascent Soul cultivator. Although he was alarmed, he could only resign himself to fate, hoping that another Nascent Soul cultivator from Windy Cool Mountain would intercept this person.
As he flew, he felt the Divine Sense assaulting him suddenly pause. Then, in his perception, from the north and south, baleful auras shot into the sky one after another.
For a moment, Li Yan didn't know what had happened. His whole mind was a bit muddled. Even the cultivators chasing him from behind had all stopped in mid-air.
'No way. For my sake, the Nascent Soul cultivators on both sides are going to fight to the death?'
An unbelievable thought flashed through Li Yan's mind. The next moment, three voices, rolling like thunder, entered his mind from the sky.
"Decisive battle? The South Sea cultivators are in rebellion?"
Hearing these shouts, Li Yan still couldn't react for a moment. After a pause of several breaths, he finally regained some clarity.
He quickly swept his Divine Sense to the south. Finally, at the very limit of what his Divine Sense could reach, a giant boat appeared. On it were more than a thousand cultivators, heading north at extreme speed, carrying a rolling killing intent.
...
In the sky above Windy Cool Mountain, Wei Zhongran stood in the air holding his twin hammers, along with more than four hundred Golden Core cultivators.
These cultivators had all been teleported in from two other defensive points and from the rear within a short two hours. This was almost more than half of all the Golden Core cultivators on the entire Desolate Moon Continent.
One must know that even for a sect like the Malevolent Spirit Sect, Li Wuyi's formation of a Golden Core forty years ago was the only one.
To mobilize so many Golden Core cultivators at once, this was not just the Four Great Sects, but the entire Desolate Moon Continent using all its "stock." This had already touched the very foundation of the Desolate Moon Continent's cultivation world.
If, after this battle, even just a hundred or so were killed or injured, it would damage the foundation of the continent's cultivation world, and who knows how many years it would take to recover its vitality.
This was also the main reason why countless small and medium-sized sects had disappeared after the Demon Clan's first invasion tens of thousands of years ago.
Among them, there had been no lack of Golden Core, or even Nascent Soul stage mighty figures. These were geniuses born after several generations, dozens of generations, or even hundreds of generations. But in a single battle, they perished, completely strangling their sect's hopes of rising.
"Li Yan, you must be careful!"
Wei Zhongran's low voice suddenly sounded in Li Yan's mind.
Wei Zhongran had already learned of Li Yan's position from Ancestor Mo Qing. After sensing Li Yan's aura, he had quickly scouted Li Yan's surroundings and felt slightly relieved.
At this point, the great battle had begun, and no Golden Core or Nascent Soul cultivators were paying attention to Li Yan anymore.
After saying a few quiet words, he turned his thoughts to the impending great battle.
As the person in charge on the surface at Windy Cool Mountain, he had naturally received more information during the day.
After that Mid-stage Nascent Soul expert from "Luoshu Lake" returned to the South Sea, he had secretly contacted three friends, three Nascent Soul cultivators, through special means.
They too had escaped the clutches of the Demon Clan and were in deep hiding. For nearly a month, they had secretly contacted trustworthy cultivation sects and families.
Then, the four of them, all Nascent Soul cultivators, had acted separately to remove the restrictions on them.
Of course, there were some restrictions on people that they were also unable to remove. Those were restrictions planted by Demonic Generals and foreign cultivators more powerful than themselves.
Often, these people were highly cultivated and had great prestige in the South Sea, and they would not be easily sent to the battlefield.
The Demon Clan was saving them as pawns to play a decisive role at the most critical moment.
Faced with this situation, they would also place a protective restriction on the other party.
One day, when the Demon Clan triggered the restriction on them, this protective restriction would automatically activate in defense. Although it couldn't break the restriction, it could temporarily prevent the Demon Clan's restriction from taking effect.
Once the great battle between the two sides began, the world would be in chaos, and the fighting would be extremely fierce. The Demon Clan couldn't possibly track down every single South Sea cultivator who had been planted with a restriction to find out why they hadn't obeyed orders.
Faced with the contact from the Mid-stage Nascent Soul from "Luoshu Lake," no one wanted to live under the enslavement of a restriction.
The lifelong pursuit of a cultivator was the Way of Eternal Life. With a glimmer of hope, sixty to seventy percent of the cultivators would choose to cooperate with the Mid-stage Nascent Soul expert from "Luoshu Lake" and his side.
As for those who were too hesitant and wavering, with the vision and means of the four old monsters led by the "Luoshu Lake" Nascent Soul, they would certainly not let any news leak.
They would rather kill by mistake than let go of any potential hidden dangers, and they would not leave any clues behind afterward.
Before they contacted a sect, they had already made plans to annihilate it. The four of them would act together. As long as the other party was not a Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator, with the element of surprise on their side, they were still somewhat confident.
But this was not a hundred percent certain. After all, killing a Nascent Soul cultivator was very difficult, but there was no absolute certainty in anything in this world.
For the past month, they had been constantly confirming information. The number of Nascent Soul cultivators in the entire South Sea was originally around twenty.
Five of them were from the Supreme Mystery Teachings and had already fled with their Spirit Transformation ancestor.
Adding to that the reclusive sects that had hidden in extremely remote places, and those who were traveling and had not yet returned, only eight Nascent Soul cultivators had fallen into the hands of the Demon Clan. And among these eight, there should be about three to five who possessed great secret arts and divine abilities. Although they were powerless against a Spirit Transformation cultivator, as long as they were not facing one directly, they could temporarily suppress the activation of the Spirit Transformation cultivator's restriction at a critical moment through their great secret arts or the peerless magical treasures they carried.
The more heaven-defying a cultivator's cultivation was, the more they wanted to ascend as soon as possible. Under a superficial submission, they were constantly looking for opportunities to escape.
Therefore, the sects where these five Nascent Soul cultivators were located were likely to be wavering, so there was no need to contact them.
As for the last three Nascent Soul cultivators who had fallen into the hands of the Demon Clan, they could only be left to their fate.
The thousand or so cultivators gathered this time were from some of the sects that the four Nascent Soul cultivators trusted the most.
After they had removed the restrictions on the Golden Core cultivators, those Golden Core cultivators had secretly pledged their allegiance. They secretly and actively removed the restrictions on their subordinate sects or direct descendants, preparing to go into battle at a moment's notice.
Therefore, the cultivation world of the South Sea was now in a state of chaos, with turbulent undercurrents.
The Demon Clan had not been able to gain complete control. And with the cultivators who had hidden earlier, plus those whose restrictions had recently been removed, the number of cultivators was already immense.
This was the power of a Nascent Soul cultivator. They could almost single-handedly create a monstrous vortex.
The voice transmission Wei Zhongran had received from Xiao Yaoyuan during the day was not just to have him arrange the mission to destroy the "Heaven-Shaking Thunders."
It also told him that the South Sea side planned to launch an attack from the south at dawn the next day. At that time, both sides would dispatch a large number of Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators, aiming to decide a victor at these two levels.
Or rather, in this one battle, the number of Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators on one side would be drastically reduced.
For this battle, a large number of Golden Core cultivators would be teleported to Windy Cool Mountain that day, and many Nascent Soul old monsters would also secretly gather there.
Therefore, the higher-ups had demanded that they must destroy the high-power magical treasures in the hands of the Demon Clan before dawn, so as to avoid heavy casualties on their own side during the great battle.
But the attack now appearing from the south was much earlier than originally planned. It was likely that as soon as the news of the "Heaven-Shaking Thunders" being destroyed was confirmed, the higher-ups had decided to advance the great battle.
Foundation Establishment cultivators could no longer participate in this battle. If they were to join, the aftershocks from the clashes between mid-to-high-level cultivators alone could kill a large number of them.
So, this battle would be mainly between Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators. The Golden Core cultivators would charge and fight below, while the Nascent Soul cultivators would fly to the ninth heaven to duel.
'Will the Spirit Transformation ancestors appear? If so, the entire Desolate Moon Continent might collapse!'
This thought occurred to many cultivators, including Wei Zhongran. Such matters were likely unknown even to Nascent Soul cultivators.
If a Spirit Transformation ancestor were to act, that would be the true final, decisive battle, a fight to the death.
...
Faced with the sudden pincer attack, although there was some chaos in the Demon Clan's army, neat formations were quickly established in the air.
Facing the pincer attack from the north and south, the Demon Clan army also left the cultivators below the Demon Lord level in the camp.
In the air, dozens of Demonic Generals and foreign Nascent Soul cultivators formed the lead. Behind them were nearly four hundred South Sea Golden Core cultivators who had been placed under restrictions, numerous Demon Lords, and foreign Golden Core cultivators.
At the front of the formation, a slender man in a green robe squinted his eyes and swept a glance over the Golden Core formation behind him. Then he spoke to a large, stout Demonic General at his side.
Judging by their attitudes, they didn't seem worried about the impending great battle.
"Lord Le, in this great battle, we have also honored our original alliance agreement. We hope that after this battle, we can capture the Ten-Pace Courtyard. At that time, that place will belong to us. And forcing open the passage to the Secret Realm will also require Lord Tu Tai's assistance."
This person was a Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator under the command of First Sir. They had already figured out the situation of the Secret Realm during this period.
However, the only two places on the entire Desolate Moon Continent connected to it were the Malevolent Spirit Sect and the Ten-Pace Courtyard. Now that they were fighting in the territory governed by the Ten-Pace Courtyard, they were naturally eyeing it first.
"Fellow Daoist Tang, you can rest assured about this. My Demon Clan has always been most faithful to its promises."
A rare smile appeared on the stout Demonic General's face.
The slender, green-robed man opposite him had the same cultivation level, and he cultivated an Ancient Immortal Art. His strength was extremely tyrannical; even he was not confident he could defeat him.
Only the strong could earn the respect of the Demon Clan. Now, on the eve of a great battle, the two were actually making small talk. At their level of cultivation, they had long since regarded the lives of others as mere grass.
The slender, green-robed man nodded after hearing the other's renewed promise. Today, they had sent out seventy Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators. Although it was not their entire force, it was still a heavy investment.
They had gone through many hardships to return to the Desolate Moon Continent. Just in the offensive and defensive battles they had participated in recently, their lower-level cultivators had also suffered considerable casualties.
Now, the remaining two hundred-odd low-level disciples were something the three ancestors were unwilling to part with under any circumstances. They were the sparks to continue their lineage.
The three ancestors had repeatedly warned him that once they entered the Secret Realm, they were to immediately terminate their cooperation with the Demon Clan. They did not believe in any so-called alliance oaths.
He then changed the subject. "Why haven't the few Nascent Soul cultivators from the South Sea been transferred over? They could still be of some use."
"Although what Fellow Daoist Tang says is reasonable, Lord Tu Tai believes it is better not to have them come."
"Oh? I would like to hear the details!"
The slender, green-robed man naturally wanted to pull in more pawns to consume the strength of the Desolate Moon Continent's cultivation world. Whether it was the South Sea cultivators or the northern Three Great Sects, the more that died, the better. This had a great bearing on their future plans. Of course, they were also considering how they could divide and rule with the Demon Clan in the future.