Strike First and Stir Up Trouble!

After the war subsided, the group took away a large amount of treasures and supplies and then left together; having achieved their goal, they sought nothing more.

The golden-haired giant ape, leading the three Nascent Spirit Transformation under the Ape King's command, bowed and took their leave; the Tiger Emperor and the four Nascent Spirit Transformation of the Black Eagle also dispersed.

After the great battle ended, in accordance with the established plan, all parties dispersed and dispersed.

To avoid a counterattack from the Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan, we await further reactions from all parties.

Two weeks later.

Shi Jian and his group of four bears have returned to their base to rest.

In the distance, four suns of different colors set behind the western mountains, while the remaining gray-yellow clouds pressed the sky very low. The intermittent light within the mountains created a sense of tranquility.

Shi Jian landed on the stone platform of the main peak. As soon as the lightning arc around his body subsided, he felt a slight ache in his internal organs. Although he had not suffered serious injuries in the previous battle, the continuous activation of the Purple Pivot Lightning Immortal Foundation and the Dao Artifact flying sword had caused significant damage to his Daoist aura.

Shan Li wasn't much better than him.

His foundation was already unstable at the Early Spirit Transformation, and this battle was another full-force use of the Ten-Thousand-Layered Edge Immortal Foundation. At this moment, his face was slightly pale, and the earthy yellow Daoist aura on his body appeared and disappeared intermittently.

"Go back to your respective cave abode to recuperate."

Shan Yue glanced at the crowd. "This surprise attack was swift and decisive. For the next few years, all factions in the Beast Realm will lie low, awaiting further developments."

Cang Wuji nodded slightly, then transformed into a beam of light and vanished into the mountain's belly.

In the previous battle, he and Shi Jian joined forces to kill the giant beast that had built a High Ramparts and Peace, Ultimate Force Dao and expending a great deal of energy.

The torso still bore the erosion of the Treasured Earth, the bones faintly glowed with a mysterious light, and some of the flesh had turned into solid rock.

Shi Jian and Shan Li exchanged a glance, said nothing more, and returned to their cave abode to recuperate.

Shi Jian sat down cross-legged, with purple-gold lightning arcs slowly flowing around his body; the damage to his Immortal Foundation and Daoist essence was greater than he had expected.

Activating that Dao Artifact flying sword was extremely taxing on his mind. After all, it wasn't his natal weapon. Forcibly driving it with the energy of Dao of Lightning was like using an axe as a needle. He had enough brute force, but he wasted an extra 30% of his Dao essence.

However, the gains were considerable.

Inside the jade bottle was a ball of Dao of Lightning essence, containing the accumulation of over a thousand years of Radiant Yang Lightning Immortal Foundation, which was the perfect auxiliary material for him to comprehend the Purple Firmament Lightning.

Shi Jian took out the jade bottle, let the lightning arc seep in, and guided the essence to slowly merge into his body.

Radiant Yang Lightning and the Purple Pivot Lightning belong to the Divine Firmament Dao Fruit and share the same Daoist origin; once their essence enters the body, it is greedily devoured by the Immortal Foundation, like parched land meeting sweet rain.

He closed his vertical pupils and immersed himself in cultivation to stabilize his injuries.

In the blink of an eye, several years have passed.

When Shi Jian emerged from seclusion, the Daoist essence within his body had not only returned to its original state but was even more refined than before the battle; the essence of the Radiant Yang Lightning had been completely refined, and the Daoist essence of the Purple Pivot Lightning Immortal Foundation had become even more profound.

It faintly shows a tendency to extend towards the second Immortal Foundation, the Purple Firmament Lightning.

He's one step closer to the Middle Spirit Transformation.

He flew to the main peak, where the Shan Yue before the stone wall, its expression solemn.

The map on the stone wall has changed since a few years ago.

On the outskirts of the Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan, the markers for those outposts all changed color, and nine out of ten of the original Spirit Transformation lights were gone.

"So, all four routes were victorious back then?" Shi Jian asked.

The Shan Yue nodded, its finger tracing the map line by line.

"Recently, news came back that Yuan Bugui, leading eight Nascent Spirit Transformation, annihilated two Nascent Spirit Transformation from the Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan, and also killed three of their vassals."

"Kui Lang and Red Scale joined forces and also destroyed two Nascent Spirit Transformation; Chi Gang made the greatest contribution, personally killing one Nascent Spirit Transformation."

"Finally, the Tiger Emperor and the Black Eagle joined forces to capture a fortress and kill three Nascent Spirit Transformation, achieving remarkable results."

Shan Yue paused, "However, the Tiger Emperor Lineage also lost a Nascent Spirit Transformation, and the Black Eagle side also had one person seriously injured."

"This time, the four forces combined their efforts and killed nine Nascent Spirit Transformation from the Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan, and fifteen Nascent Spirit Transformation from the various smaller clans' vassal states."

"As for our side, we only lost three Nascent Soul Spirit Transformation and severely injured five fellow Daoists."

This is a huge profit no matter how you look at it.

With each of the nine Li Yuan Divine Spirit Transformation who dies, the stakes for future competition for the Treasured Earth Dao Fruit will inevitably decrease.

Not to mention those fifteen vassals, which were probably the entirety of what the Li Yuan Giant Beast could muster; now that the core has been drained, the remaining scattered troops are no longer a threat.

And Cang Wuji, without anyone noticing, had come over.

"The outer perimeter of the Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan has been almost completely wiped out; it's estimated that some of their direct descendants perished in battle, and most of their vassals were also killed."

"What remains are the most crucial batch..."

"It's not just the periphery."

Shan Yue laughed, "According to the message sent back by Yuan Bugui, after we launched our four-pronged attack, the other forces followed suit."

Shi Jian's heart skipped a beat.

Shan Yue continued, "On the Human Race, at least several Nascent Spirit Transformation were dispatched to take advantage of the weakened outer defenses of the Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan and devour three Spirit Vein clusters in the southeast."

"There were also spirits and monsters from the Spirit Realm, and Nether Realm cultivators—more than ten forces, large and small—all swarmed in."

"In just a few years, it is estimated that nearly 70% of the territory surrounding the Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan has been divided up."

The Beast Realm took the lead and ate the biggest slice of the pie; the other forces followed suit, getting the scraps; given this situation, it's likely that Yuan Bugui and the Peak and Mountain Imperial Clan had already planned it all out.

The forty-two Nascent Spirit Transformation fired the first shot, completely shattering the outer defenses of the Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan; no matter how shrewd the forces behind them were, they were merely picking up the scraps left by the breach in the Beast Realm.

But the more people take advantage of the situation, the weaker the Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan becomes; the weaker they are, the less resistance they will face in the future struggle for supremacy in the Beast Realm.

Killing several birds with one stone is something that the Beast Realm is happy to see.

"What about the gray lizard?" Shi Jian asked.

"No news yet." Shan Yue replied calmly, "They've probably retreated to lick their wounds. The Substitute Death Secret Method cost them most of their cultivation; it won't recover for at least several hundred years."

"The Death Dao is the main cultivation Dao Path in the Nether Realm, but the Nether Race does not control all of the Death Dao; there is one Death Dao Fruit held by a certain Dao Venerable in the Dao Realm, but this person's whereabouts and identity are mysterious and unpredictable."

"That dead lizard must have been a master of its kind."

Shi Jian nodded, deciding to put the matter aside for the time being.

Shan Li arrived at this time, stood in front of the stone wall for a moment, and suddenly said, "The Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan has retreated to its core, losing all its outer territories; however, their core area is still guarded by more than ten Nascent Spirit Transformation."

"Furthermore, although Dao Venerable Liyuan's origin has declined, he has not yet completely perished."

"This battle is far from over."

Shan Yue gave a soft "hmm": "The situation has now been torn apart. All races are temporarily lying low, digesting their own spoils of war."

"The essence of Dao Venerable Liyuan is still declining, so there's no rush; the more he weakens, the more the morale of the Giant Beast Clan will crumble."

"That will be the time to truly reap the rewards."

"Although our Beast Realm is leading this struggle, each race has its own agenda, and preserving our own strength is the primary goal."

No one said anything more; self-preservation was their top priority, and seeking personal gain was their primary objective.

The Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan were colossal creatures that once dominated the Dao Realm for ten thousand years.

Now, the outer territories have been lost, nearly half of the direct lineage of the God-level Spirit Transformation have been wiped out, and the vassal clans have either been killed, subdued by other clans, or scattered and fled.

In just a few short years, this once mighty clan has fallen from a dominant force in the Dao Realm to a destitute army besieged in a lonely city.

The root of all this is simply the decline of Dao Venerable Liyuan's essence.

When the big tree falls, the monkeys scatter.

Rise and fall are cyclical, it has always been so.