Heavy Casualties! The Truth Behind the Grand Plan

"Senior sister."

Chen Dengming landed on the Longevity Hall square, his gaze fixed on the corpses of Fu Changyin and Jiang Jian lying on the ground.

Both of their bodies were covered by a large white cloth.

In another corner, there was a pile of mutilated corpses, burned by the Samadhi True Fire. These were the four Nascent Soul Evil Cultivator who had been killed by Fu Changyin using the Mad Heavenly Dao.

A faint spiritual aura was emanating from Fu Changyin and Jiang Jian, but it could be sensed that the aura emanating from them was slowly fading.

The Physical Body of these two people are about to completely lose their vitality and Spiritual Qi.

For Nascent Soul True Lord Monarch, even if their Physical Body were torn to pieces, let alone its current intact Physical Body, as long as their Nascent Soul Divine Soul remains, they can recover through elixirs or Technique Method and will certainly not perish.

However, although their Physical Body are intact, their Life Force is rapidly fading, which only indicates that there are problems with their nascent Nascent Soul and divine souls.

"Their bodies were reconstructed using the Life Returning Pill, but even though their bodies were reconstructed, their Nascent Soul were already gone."

Su Yan Yan's beautiful eyes welled up with tears as she lowered her head and said, "Their Nascent Soul have all perished under the repeated crushing forces of Heaven's Will. Senior Brother's soul may have been destroyed, while Second Senior Brother's soul may have survived. But we need to contact Master to confirm the specifics."

"How could this happen?" Chen Dengming's eyebrows furrowed, and he clenched his fists.

Even if Heaven's Will is fickle, they are, after all, inheritors of the Immortal Celestial Lineage.

Heaven cherishes life Heaven's Will believes that there is always a way out, let alone those who are inheritors of Immortal Celestial Dao Power.

Chen Dengming had also suffered terrifying attacks from repeated crushing blows from the will of Heaven's Will, but after the Heavenly Dao sensed the Immortal Celestial Dao Power within him, Heavenly Dao still left him a glimmer of Life Force.

How could this time be?

"Because of the Heavenly Dao Blood," Su Yan Yan suddenly transmitted her voice.

"Heavenly Dao Blood?"

Chen Dengming was astonished; this was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing. How could the Heavenly Dao have blood?

At this moment, Su Yan Yan turned to thank the Nascent Soul Nascent Soul True Lord from the Shu Sword Pavilion, Tiandao Sect, Five Elements Escape Sect, and Flying Star Island who had come to her aid in time.

Everyone immediately understood that Su Yan Yan had something to discuss privately with Chen Dengming.

After exchanging a few polite words with bows, Mo Jiazheng, the Supreme Elder of the Shu Sword Pavilion, said, "To prevent those Outer Domain Evil Cultivators from making a feint and then returning, we should stay for another day to await new instructions from the Cultivator Alliance. This will also be a good opportunity for us to help your sect treat the wounded and rebuild the Mountain Protecting Formation!"

"Thank you, Elder Mo, and thank you all, fellow Daoists!" Chen Dengming solemnly thanked the group of Nascent Soul Nascent Soul True Lord.

"Sect Leader Chen, you're too kind. It's only right!"

"Sect Leader Chen, please accept my condolences!"

The group of Nascent Soul offered a few words of comfort, then flew away from Longevity Peak, leaving the space to Chen Dengming and Su Yan Yan.

"I never expected that True Lord would perish like this."

Mo Jiazheng turned his head and looked in the direction of Longevity Peak, letting out a sigh.

The other Nascent Soul True Lord around them also felt a sense of unease.

To them, Changqing True Lord Fu Changyin was once considered a senior, having lived for over two thousand four hundred years.

It was thought that the next Spirit Transformation of the Longevity Sect would likely be True Lord, but unexpectedly, this ancestor, who was practically the living history of the Longevity Sect, has fallen today, leaving people with a deep sense of regret.

"If one cannot Spirit Transformation, one will ultimately turn to ashes."

Red Lotus True Lord Mi Changzai shook his head. Witnessing the fall of a senior who had reached the Nascent Soul Perfection was a great shock to his mind.

"Even those Spirit Transformation may have their own troubles. I wonder how my ancestor is doing now. I always have a sense of unease."

Shen Ruo, the Star Hermit of Flying Star Island, frowned as she looked at the now-silent Spirit Thunder Layer in the distance, feeling a strong urge to fly over and check on the situation.

He had seen his ancestor Star Cloud Dao Lord, roar in pain from afar, and now that he hadn't seen his ancestor reappear for so long, he had a bad feeling.

"Junior Brother, I've never truly come into contact with the Heavenly Dao Blood either. I've heard there are two versions of this Heavenly Dao Blood."

After the group of Nascent Soul True Lord left, Su Yan Yan turned to Chen Dengming and said in a gentle and soft voice, "One theory is that this Heavenly Dao Blood is the resentful blood of the Heavenly Dao before it transformed into the Dao."

Once upon a time, there was a powerful celestial being who wanted to get close to a cold and emotionless celestial being. He imitated the method of severing the three corpses, cutting off his three evil desires, and merging with the Dao to become one with the Dao of Heavenly Dao.

These three evil desires, along with the discarded physical body, ultimately transform into the Heavenly Dao Blood, filled with insane malice.

Another theory suggests that the Heavenly Dao Blood was formed from human greed and evil desires.

Humans plunder heavenly materials and earthly treasures, taking whatever they want, even exploiting people to the point of depletion. This is human nature—to take from those who lack and give to those who have too much.

Over time, the merciless Heavenly Dao have also given rise to much resentment, which will manifest as natural disasters to punish humanity at certain times.

In those places of great calamity, blood rain will appear, and within the blood clouds that condense from this blood rain is the Heavenly Dao Blood."

Chen Dengming was utterly astonished; how could the Heavenly Dao Blood be formed in such a way?

Regardless of the outcome, this Heavenly Dao Blood doesn't sound like a good thing; it symbolizes evil desires and misfortune.

"Then why is it that Senior Brother..."

Su Yan Yan frowned and said, "If the Heavenly Dao Blood is released, there will surely be a bloody disaster, and it may even completely awaken the Heavenly Dao."

This thing is an evil object that can injure the enemy by eight hundred while harming itself by a thousand, and may even be rejected by the Heavenly Dao.

In that previous situation, the Senior Brother would not have used the Heavenly Dao Blood unless he was forced to.

But it was precisely because the Senior Brother used the Heavenly Dao Blood that he successfully stopped the thirteen Nascent Soul Evil Cultivator, and even used the will of the mad Heavenly Dao to suppress and kill several of them."

She paused, her voice low, and looked sadly at Jiang Jian's corpse, saying, "But the result of provoking the Heavenly Dao to its madness is terrible. Although the enemy cultivators paid the price, our Senior Brother was also crushed by the mad will of the Heavenly Dao."

Under those circumstances, the madness of the Heavenly Dao had not dissipated. If this situation persisted for too long, a natural disaster would surely follow. My Second Senior Brother also paid with his life to avert Heavenly Dao great calamity.

A hint of doubt flashed in Su Yan Yan's beautiful eyes.

Chen Dengming's heart skipped a beat. "But what?"

"However, the Heavenly Dao's extremely frenzied will suddenly subsided rapidly. I vaguely sensed that the Heavenly Dao was being attracted by something and shifted its attention. That's why my Second Senior Brother's soul did not perish. I personally witnessed his soul depart, probably attracted by the Longevity Incense in front of the Heavenly Longevity Hall."

At this point, Su Yan Yan's bright, beautiful eyes met Chen Dengming's pair of fierce eyes, and both saw the worry in each other's eyes.

The Heavenly Dao suddenly shifted its attention, and at the same time, the soul of the Second Senior Brother Jiang Jian, escaped a calamity, seemingly attracted by the Longevity Incense. It is very likely that the First Ancestor intervened at that crucial moment.

However, facing the Heavenly Dao, which has gone mad due to the Heavenly Dao Blood, even the Longevity Dao Lord, the First Ancestor Lu Xiucheng, might not be able to resist it, and an accident might very well occur.

Not to mention, the First Ancestor at that time may have been engaged in a fierce battle with the Demon Lord from another realm.

"We can also look on the bright side; perhaps we have already won, even at a heavy price."

Chen Dengming, with a solemn and serious expression, recounted what Ji Zhixing, the deputy palace master of the Body Saint, had said earlier.

If the Outer Realm Devil Venerable has indeed escaped, the passage through the curtain has already closed.

So the current situation may not be as bad as we imagined.

After Chen Dengming finished speaking, he saw that Su Yan Yan was deep in thought.

He immediately turned his head, looking down at the Mountain Gate in disarray, and then at the distant Sky Dome filled with dark clouds, where not a ray of sunlight could be seen.

Suddenly, Spiritual Light formed a dense band of light, spreading intense spiritual power. They appeared from the dark horizon, roaring in with tremendous force.

A dozen or so incredibly powerful beams of light rushed forward at breakneck speed, and among them were auras that Chen Dengming recognized.

Chen Dengming's eyes flashed, and he said in a deep voice, "The reinforcements from the Counterattack Cultivator Alliance have finally arrived. Now that they're here, I can finally go and search for the First Ancestor with peace of mind."

Su Yan Yan's expression tightened upon hearing this, and she frowned, saying, "At this moment, the situation is still unclear. We don't know if those Outer Domain Evil Cultivators have truly withdrawn, or if the Great Curtain Passage has been closed. Perhaps there's a trap involved. You can't get involved in the vortex of Master and the other Spirit Transformation."

Her beautiful eyes were misty, but she turned away so that Chen Dengming wouldn't see her expression. "My Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother have already met with misfortune. You are the sect leader, and I don't want anything to happen to you. The future Dao Child of the Longevity Sect has not yet been chosen, and this is your responsibility."

Chen Dengming's eyebrows furrowed slightly, then relaxed helplessly as he looked at Su Yan Yan's slender yet stubborn back.

In the dim light, it seemed as if this figure overlapped with that slender yet stubborn figure from the past.

They all appear delicate and pitiful on the outside, but possess a tenacious and stubborn nature.

However, the former was as insignificant as a blade of grass, with extremely poor aptitude, yet stubbornly turned towards the sun, pursued the path of immortality, and tried his best to stagger and catch up with his back.

The latter was the Third Ancestor of the Longevity Sect, who had no shortage of resources and Daoist techniques, and whose aptitude was exceptional.

She could have pursued immortality without worry under the protection of her Senior Brother and master, but instead she found herself in a chaotic world. Now that her two Senior Brothers are gone, she, as the Third Ancestor, has to shoulder the responsibility of supporting the Longevity Sect and constantly assisting and reminding Chen Dengming to be a good sect leader.

"Don't worry, I'll send my clone to investigate. There are many better and safer ways."

Chen Dengming's words came through.

Su Yan Yan breathed a sigh of relief, then turned her gaze to the many cultivators who were rapidly approaching from afar, and pondered.

"Let's first find out the specifics from the Counterattack Cultivator Alliance. This incident was too sudden for us."

The reinforcements from the Counterattack Cultivator Alliance arrived rather late; they were more like there to clean up the Battlefield, as the enemy cultivators had already been driven out.

Chen Dengming wanted to politely thank Zuo Qiu Ling and the others who came to his aid, but he found that he was no longer in the mood to say thank you.

Even deep down, a trace of displeasure remained.

If Zuo Qiu Ling and the others had arrived earlier, perhaps the first ancestor Fu Changyin, would not have had to pay the price with his life.

However, he ultimately did not voice this resentment, keeping it to himself and letting it slowly dissipate.

He was naturally aware of this unexpected event and could not blame others. It is human nature to be guided by emotions, but one should not lead to mental bias, otherwise one's spiritual practice will easily encounter problems.

When the cultivators who arrived, including Zuo Qiu Ling, saw the devastation at the Longevity Sect and the corpses of Fu Changyin and Jiang Jian, they were all deeply saddened.

They were all shrewd and perceptive, and at this moment, they didn't say anything provocative like "you're late."

After some words of comfort, they spontaneously dispersed to help treat the wounded and search the surrounding area.

Zuo Qiu Ling secretly approached Chen Dengming and handed him a long wooden pole.

"Take a puff? It's quite an interesting thing in the mortal world. Paired with the spiritual leaves carefully cultivated by the Heavenly Fragrance Sect, it's very popular in the Southern Cloud Sea. It can relieve stress."

Chen Dengming glanced at it.

It was unexpected that Zuo Qiu Ling, the Grand Elder who had reached the Nascent Soul Perfection, could be so down-to-earth and unpretentious. One could feel the other party's care and goodwill from her.

He shook his head. "I never smoked in the mortal world, and I certainly won't now. I'm fine."

Elder Zuo, you should tell me now, what exactly is going on this time?

Zuo Qiu Ling looked solemn, as if he were even more preoccupied than Chen Dengming.

He lit his pipe with Fireball Technique, took a puff, and exhaled a cloud of soothing smoke. He said in a deep voice, "By the time we learned of the situation, it was already the time when your Longevity Sect was attacked."

As you know, our Cultivator Alliance's original plan was to start the war a month later, gathering a group of Nascent Soul True Lord and a large army to take over the Mingyun Mountain Range, and then attack the Northern Region.

But what you don't know is that this is just the plan on the surface.

Chen Dengming, "On the surface?"

Zuo Qiu Ling nodded, his face grim in the smoke. "This plan is not so simple. On the surface, it is to attract the main force and attention of the Outer Domain Evil Cultivator here."

In reality, Senior Qu from your Four Regions will secretly join forces with Mingguang Shangren from our Four Seas, as well as that Venerable Lord, to launch a surprise attack on the Great Curtain Passage in the Western Regions. Their aim is to destroy that passage in one fell swoop, cutting off the escape route of the Outer Domain Evil Cultivator, and also preventing the Outer Realm Devil Venerable from further infiltrating through the Great Curtain.

If this plan succeeds, although many Outer Domain Evil Cultivators are still very powerful and pose a threat, they will be trapped like turtles in a jar.

Zuo Qiu Ling coughed, sighed, and said, "But unfortunately and unexpectedly, before our plan could be implemented, the Outer Realm Devil Venerable led so many powerful cultivators to attack your Longevity Sect."

The Outer Realm Devil Venerable is likely targeting the three Dao artifacts currently in Senior Lu's possession, as well as the Immortal Celestial Lineage.

If he were to eliminate Senior Lu and obtain the Three Palaces of Fortune, Longevity, and Life, given time he could devour the Immortal Celestial Lineage, and no one would be able to subdue him.

By the time we discovered the situation, it was already too late.

Even Senior Mingguang and Senior Shenjian were simultaneously attacked by the Three Saints Dao Lord and the Five Elements Sword Lord.

Only Senior Qu had already infiltrated the Western Regions three days prior, preparing for our attack a month later.

If we send him back, it might be too late, and we won't be able to gain much advantage for ourselves in this sudden war.

However, if he were to launch a surprise attack on the Great Curtain Passage while the Western Regions were vulnerable, he might be able to salvage the situation or even destroy the Great Curtain Passage ahead of time.

Chen Dengming suddenly understood, and the slight annoyance that had been rising in his heart vanished. "So, the reason your reinforcements are so slow is because other areas have also been attacked."

Zuo Qiu Ling shook his head and said sadly, "The City of All Immortals, which had only been built in the Four Domains for a year, has been destroyed."

The Demon Outer Realm Devil Venerable is indeed powerful in his seduction; there was a traitor among us who revealed that Mingguang Shangren and Divine Sword Dao Lord were both stationed in the City of All Immortals.

With so many Spirit Transformation cultivators clashing, even Senior Mingguang and his group would find it difficult to control the situation.

Zuo Qiu Ling suddenly smiled. "The City of All Immortals is now in ruins. All the cultivators there, including the three Nascent Soul cultivators, are dead. I have a nephew there. That brat always likes to show off. I told him not to come to the Four Domains."

Chen Dengming was taken aback and didn't know what to say for a moment.

I was just wondering what Zuo Qiu Ling meant by suddenly laughing.

In retrospect, it's a bitter laugh.

He couldn't help but utter two words.

My condolences!

"No problem."

Zuo Qiu Ling took another puff of his pipe, forgetting to exhale the smoke for a moment, letting two plumes of smoke escape from his nostrils. His resolute and dignified face seemed to show signs of aging, and he suddenly laughed.

"Even Nascent Soul True Lord can die, let alone that arrogant brat. Do you still remember the Evil Origin True Lord, Chou Dayi?"

"He was one of the three Nascent Soul who died last time, the one who was so energetic and red-faced with you."

Chen Dengming was speechless for a moment.

Thinking of his deceased Senior Brother Fu Changyin and Jiang Jian, whose soul was the only thing left.

Life is so fragile.

The Nascent Soul True Lord, once someone to be looked up to, can die so easily in this great battle.

He understood that Zuo Qiu Ling was also trying to comfort him.

The other party truly lived up to his reputation as an elder who had lived for over a thousand years and seen it all. Even after his own death, his nephew offered him words of comfort.

However, Chen Dengming had an exceptionally strong State of Mind and quickly returned to normal.

The two exchanged information for a while, gaining some useful insights from each other.

Zuo Qiu Ling learned from Chen Dengming that the Great Curtain Passage might have been closed and the Outer Realm Devil Venerable had escaped, which proved that the Qu Shenzong had likely succeeded.

Chen Dengming learned from Zuo Qiu Ling that the reason why the Outer Realm Devil Venerable suddenly launched an attack was likely because he had secretly cultivated a Flesh and Blood demon body capable of withstanding the immense power of the Devilish Immortal Way immortal through other unknown means, and possessed the cultivation level of a half-step into the Dao Integration Realm.

In addition, the Venerable Lord Dongfang Huayuan also seems to have encountered a terrifying and unknown powerful enemy. A soul scroll he left in the Counterattack Cultivator Alliance has cracked, and the situation is very bad.

Upon learning this news, Chen Dengming was greatly alarmed.

Although Dongfang Huayuan has only recently entered the Spirit Transformation Realm, his strength in the Human Dao, Human Immortal Orthodox Lineage, is undeniable.

Even a peak Nascent Spirit Transformation like Qu Shenzong wouldn't be able to Dongfang Huayuan to the point that his soul would be affected. Even if he couldn't win, Dongfang Huayuan could still escape.

The Outer Realm Devil Venerable was at the half-step into the Dao realm, was capable of doing so, but at that time, the Outer Realm Devil Venerable was clearly fighting against the First Ancestor Lu Xiucheng.

So, who on the enemy side could have caused Dongfang Huayuan be in such a sorry state?

When Zuo Qiu Ling revealed this information, he was clearly also very puzzled and shocked, unable to guess what other top experts the enemy had.

Based on this situation, even if the Outer Realm Devil Venerable was indeed driven out and the Great Curtain Passage was destroyed, the Four Seas Four Regions still paid a heavy price.

The two guessed and guessed, but ultimately couldn't figure it out, so they parted ways.

The most urgent task is to deal with the current chaotic situation.

After confirming the situation of the Longevity Sect, Zuo Qiu Ling still had more matters to attend to, such as finding the Qu Shenzong in the far Western Regions to ascertain the true situation of the Great Curtain Passage.

Chen Dengming then dispatched his clones to search for the whereabouts of the First Ancestor.

If the Longevity Jade Seal and the Heavenly Dao were still functioning normally, he could easily contact the First Ancestor through the Heaven's Will.

But with the current madness of the Heavenly Dao, Chen Dengming dared not risk offending anyone.

However, besides creating clones, he also has other methods, such as using the Heart Flame of the Human Heart Hall to find the First Ancestor and ascertain the condition of Dongfang Huayuan.

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