On the sea.
The battle between those at nine awakenings never broke out in the end.
A long blast of a ship's horn interrupted the standoff.
A yacht approached from the distance, slowly passing along the edge of the battlefield.
A dozen or so people sat or stood aboard, exchanging looks with those across the battlefield.
They had no intention of approaching, yet Sword Crane and Marshal Sun braced as though facing a formidable enemy.
The yacht faintly emanated the auras of no fewer than three at nine awakenings: the Pope, Old Bat, and the Holy Arbiter.
And then there was the Great Sage.
Four at nine awakenings, plus Eve from Eden, whose cultivation had already reached pseudo nine awakenings.
Against a lineup like that, Sword Crane could only guarantee her own safe escape.
White Garment's Immortal Ascension had drawn out almost everyone in the West at nine awakenings.
"Let's withdraw."
The Great Sage glanced back at the people on the yacht and, supporting Qiao, said gravely, "The outcome is still undecided. Let's pull back and regroup first."
"But..." Qiao cast an unwilling glance at the three at nine awakenings behind him. "Why don't we press on? As long as we kill Sword Crane and Sun, Kou Island will be ours!"
With four at nine awakenings against Sword Crane and the Fox Immortal, the Federation certainly held the advantage.
But he had overlooked one thing.
"The Pope and the others won't act."
The purpose of this attack on the Dragon Kingdom was to stop White Garment.
Victory or defeat on the main battlefield was not actually that important.
What would truly decide this war was whether White Garment could successfully achieve Immortal Ascension.
"If we fight Sword Crane and this one from the Ma Family now... we'll lose at least