Something abruptly registered on Jiang Chen’s consciousness. There was a sudden surge of demonic energy less than a hundred miles away. They’d erased their tracks almost to perfection, but it was definitely a trap. 

Confident in the Immaculate Robe’s stealth abilities, he decided to see his mission through to the end and ventured even deeper inside.

He admired the robe once more. How else could he casually slip within a dozen miles of demons lying in wait?

The whole enemy force, from the third celestial demon forefather to Goldenhowl, was wholly ignorant of his presence. However, he sweated bullets the moment he sensed them.

By his estimates, there were eight gods in hiding, all of them with respectable cultivation, including his old acquaintance Goldenhowl and someone else that didn’t pale in comparison.

One single Goldenhowl was enough of a headache. He certainly wasn’t keen to deal with an.

Demons sure are wily. The wood tribe’s survivors must have arrived. How else would they know of my itinerary? Judging from their trap, they look certain I’ll pass by here.

Once again, relief washed over him.

Eight gods were too many to touch, not to mention those he’d left behind were waiting for him to escort them to Winterdraw.

Repressing his urge to turn their ploy against them, he retreated furtively, only hastening his steps once out of enemy range and quickly making his way back. When Ziju Min and An Kasyapa saw his expression, they realized something was afoot and made inquiries.

Jiang Chen ordered with a sweep of his hand, “We can’t go through Bluesmoke. We have to circle around. There’s no time to lose, we leave right this second!”

There were many possible routes for a detour. They simply had to travel a little longer inside the sea mist, perhaps experience a little more trouble and waste a little more time, but they’d reach their destination in the end nevertheless.

Sure enough, it took them more than half a day and a wide detour before they finally returned to Winterdraw.

Once close to the island, Jiang Chen chose not to approach immediately, worried as he was by another possible ambush nearby.

Fortunately, the demons had seemingly decided against it, opting to focus their attention elsewhere. Or perhaps they’d been worried he was already back within Winterdraw’s walls. Their ambush would then serve no purpose but to raise the alarm or result in casualties.

“They seem genuinely wary of me now. In the future, I’ll need to find better ways to deal with them.”

Many signs pointed at the demons keeping a closer eye than ever on him and going so far as to alter their plans. Even someone as arrogant and unyielding figure like Goldenhowl had agreed to cooperate with others. What did that signify?

The answer was self-evident. His enemies had realized the menace he represented. They’d no longer give him easy chances to kill their forefathers.

Bad news to be sure, but at the very least, they’d finally reached Winterdraw without a hitch.

The island bustled with activity. Many forces from the various sacred lands had arrived ahead of him.

The first item on the agenda to tackle after his return was an inspection of every newcomer. Not that he was a bad host, but that he couldn’t afford the tiniest speck of negligence in current times.

A single demon slipping inside the island would have unimaginable repercussions for their defenses.

Thankfully, no spies had infiltrated the sacred lands’ ranks. It seemed that these factions had carefully combed through their own people.

Winterdraw’s fighting potential increased explosively with the new arrivals.

Out of the ten sacred lands, a total of six were in Winterdraw as of this moment. Everlasting had been the first to turn up, followed by Radiance and Sunrise, and lastly, those from Eternal, Martial, and Abyssal that the young lord had brought with him.

In the end, Flora decided against joining.

The young lord had no regrets. It had been their decision to make.

He reorganized the sacred lands’ troops and put Ziju Min in overall charge of them. Eternal was the nominal alliance leader and the man a divine realm cultivator. No one would object to his nomination.

The group of divine cultivators led by An Kasyapa was undoubtedly the island’s primary strike force, but he wasn’t satisfied with this little bit of battle capability.

He secretly ordered Xia Tianze and the other ancient cultivators to come and reinforce the island as well.

There were currently quite a few gods in the human domain, including the ancient founding elders such as Xia Tianze, Jiang Chen’s followers Lan Tianhao, and the group that had escaped from Boundless Prison. All put together, it was a group considerable enough to perhaps rival the demons in number, if adding Jiang Chen and the four sacred beasts into the mix.

Still, there was a considerable disparity in combat strength. Perhaps three to five initial gods like Lan Tianhao were required to face a single ordinary demon god. 

Other than Xia Tianze, humanity’s true supreme fighting force consisted of the young lord and the four sacred beasts. The others fell short of that standard.

An Kasyapa already ranked at the top of the group, but an ordinary demon forefather was his limit. Stronger opponents were beyond his ability to handle.

Of course, not everything was doom and gloom. The young lord gifted away many of the divine decrees at his disposal to those who showed promise.

In time, more and more human gods would swell their ranks.

And now that all of the ingredients for the Divine Transcendence Pill were ready, the pills would enhance the strength of the human gods as well.

At his command, Everlasting’s cultivators refined weapons. It was time to work the pentecolor crystals he’d obtained from Eternal’s Cloud Camel Mountain into anti-demon armaments.

Once crafted, they’d be a tremendous help in curbing the demons’ abilities in battle.

Of course, he didn’t put all his eggs in one basket. He summoned all of the gods and prompted them to find a way to incorporate the crystals into their favored weapons and treasures.

Their equipment would then be likewise strengthened with anti-demon properties.

He wasted no time after putting everything in order. Every second mattered in his race to reach ever higher cultivation.

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