Demon-Suppressing Pass, the central hub of the first level.
"Here, you take a bite, I take a bite.
Then you take another bite, and I take another bite..."
Qianlong sat at the round table. Though he was all alone, he still managed to hold a conversation with himself.
A vast battlefield sand table stood in the center of the hall, with northern and southern ends.
On one side was a lifelike carving of Demon-Suppressing Pass.
At the northern end were the Demon Race's forces.
Over a thousand sword towers stood in orderly rows like a chessboard, while talismans engraved on the ground were arranged in different orientations, forming different formations.
There were five great formations in all.
The fifth was the Five Tigers Overlapping Sheep Formation, the sixth the Six Sons Linked Fragrance Formation, and the seventh the Seven Stars Slash Formation.
The eighth was the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation, the ninth the Nine Luminaries Star Officials Formation, and the tenth the Ambush on Ten Sides Formation.
They were vividly lifelike, each trigram formation condensed from supreme immortal arts, forming one killing move after another.
The Demon Race's side of the board was even more detailed, with annotations and explanations of all kinds.
An ordinary person would feel overwhelmed by a single glance.
Even after studying it for a year or more, they would at most have barely crossed the threshold.
An armillary sphere for keeping time stood nearby, fitted with two rings, one for the sun and one for the moon.
It drove the celestial globe and tracked time without the slightest error.
Beside the sand table, dozens of robed officials of Demon-Suppressing Pass carefully observed, recorded, and assessed the situation.
They compiled their findings into documents and stored them for later review.
This was a protracted war,