Whether for Star Lords of the Star Alliance, deities of the God Realm, or Elemental Spirits of the Spirit Realm, combat and slaughter below the high ranks primarily relied on forces like their vassals, divine servants, and elemental thralls to wage large-scale, high-volume battles.
These vassals, divine servants, and elemental thralls frequently played vital roles during their battles, sometimes even deciding victory, defeat, life, and death.
Once reaching the high ranks, however, the roles and battlefield statuses of these vassals, divine servants, and elemental thralls began to steadily diminish.
The higher the rank of the Star Lord, deity, or Elemental Spirit, the lower the role played by these vassals, divine servants, and elemental thralls.
Taking Star Lords of the Star Alliance as an example, by the seventh rank, vassals could still play a considerable role on the battlefield, but the role and combat power of starships had already begun to surpass them.
Vassals more often had to operate starships aboard them to fight and kill, which better manifested their utility and combat power.
By the eighth rank, the battlefield utility of vassals decreased a step further. Battle arrays formed by starports and starships usually exerted greater force, and vassals mostly had to pilot starports and starships from within them to engage in combat and slaughter.
Furthermore, at the eighth rank, eighth-tier Star Lords themselves often needed to personally participate in combat, and the role played by their own combat power began to grow increasingly prominent.
During his stage as an eighth-tier Star Lord, Liang Ji had already frequently needed to personally take to the battlefield to fight and kill eighth-tier deities and eighth-tier Elemental Spirits.
When it came to the ninth-rank Star Lord level, this shift became even starkest.
Whether it was vassals, starports, starships, or even cultivated Star Palace