Attack the World, Attack the Heart
In the Vast Void, several Daoists were conferring with one another. One of them said, "Celestial Xia is raiding our Myriad Ways. The various world-ways have set up layer upon layer of defenses and are resisting them step by step, which should slow their advance. But we must free those two Dao-Calming Treasures as soon as possible. Only then will we have a chance of defeating them."
Someone asked, "How many more days will it take?"
The man who had spoken earlier replied, "At least one month."
"Can it not be faster?"
All the Daoists present shook their heads. It was already impossible to go any faster. They had accelerated the process by taking certain risks; otherwise, it would have required at least a hundred-odd days.
After a moment of silence, someone said, "Celestial Xia will need at least half a month to breach the outer defenses. Our people can retreat to the Upper Three Worlds and the Two Halls, then hold out for another half month without issue. This time, we should be able to keep the enemy outside."
They believed that Celestial Xia breaking through within a month was only possible under the most ideal circumstances—something that was practically impossible. No matter what, as long as those below could carry out their decrees, holding on for a month would not be a problem.
The only issue was that the one-year cycle would soon arrive, and there was no avoiding it. Variables might arise then, so lately they had been doing everything they could to calculate what lay ahead.
At that moment, one of them said, "Those skilled in calculation can no longer hold on for many days. If they all perish, it may affect our subsequent calculations. In my view, we can