Back to the Starting Point, Comprehending Righteous Yang!
Inside the Barbarian Bone Pass, all was deathly silent.
Several months had passed since the war, Shan Yue summoned the immortals to discuss matters.
Shi Jian, Cang Wuji, and the two Middle Spirit Transformation who practiced the Barbarian Bone Dao and the Dao of Strength gathered in the council hall in the center of the pass.
The atmosphere in the hall was somber; no one spoke first.
Shan Yue sat cross-legged in the main seat, his long, pale hair hanging down. His face looked even older than before the battle. Even though demons have long lifespans, they eventually come to an end. Shan Yue had protected the Mountain Bear Lineage for thousands, even tens of thousands of years.
Its lifespan is already quite short, with only a mere two or three thousand years left.
It may seem like a long time, but for the Spirit Transformation Giant Bear, it is already the end of its life, like the twilight of a dying sun.
Although his Daoist aura at the Perfected Spirit Transformation was restrained like a mountain range, the solemnity between his brows was obvious to everyone.
"Let's all take a look at the news from Peak and Mountain Pass."
The Shan Yue's voice was hoarse. He slightly raised his hand, and Jade Slip flew to all the Nascent Spirit Transformation present. On them were phantom images of mountains and soil, the symbol of the Peak and Mountain Imperial Clan.
Since it was personally initiated by the Peak and Mountain Imperial Clan, it must be very significant.
Shi Jian took the Jade Slip, probed it with his Divine Sense, and his expression gradually darkened.
After the Spirit Race retreated, they did not, as expected, intend to organize a large army to launch a strong attack on the seven northern passes.
Instead, tens of millions of miles south of Marsh Plains, a defensive line stretching for hundreds of millions of miles was built along a Spirit Vein vein that runs east to west.
Above the defensive line, it has been discovered that more than seventy Nascent Spirit Transformation are stationed in various locations, arranged in a tiered, vertical formation, guarding one side of the area.
At the forefront were the attrition forces of numerous vassal minor clans, in the middle were the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Spirit Race Clan, and at the rear were the passes guarded by the Spirit Transformation.
Although the three Dao Venerable were confronting the Dao Venerable of the Beast Realm in the Heaven Beyond Heaven, the Life Dao Array Foundation left by the Immortality Dao Venerable covered the entire defensive line.
Once the battle begins, one can project one's Dao power to briefly buff one's own cultivators.
Even more deadly is that, hundreds of millions of miles behind the defensive line, the Spirit Race has deployed a dense Spirit-Draining Grand Array.
It continuously draws upon the life force of all things in heaven and earth, and supplies it to the rear in a steady stream.
That place was where Bailu Lingyuan secluded himself, hidden deep within the array network, with the entire clan protecting him.
Shi Jian looked at me silently without saying a word.
Cang Wuji cursed first, "These Spirit Race bastards, they cower when they can't win, risking their lives to raise that little brat Lingyuan."
Shan Yue didn't respond to his vulgarity, but instead looked at Shi Jian: "Shi Jian, as the master of the Thunder Vein, what's your opinion?"
Shi Jian remained silent for a moment, then shook his head slightly.
"Difficult to handle."
"The Spirit Race has made it clear that they will not engage in a direct confrontation with the various races of the Beast Realm. More than seventy Nascent Spirit Transformation have laid out a defensive line, extending hundreds of millions of miles inland."
"If we want to launch a direct assault, we'll have to commit all our troops to the seven passes."
"But once the entire army marches south, the Spirit Race only needs to hold their ground and wear down our forces. If this drags on for three to five years, the Spirit Stone reserves, Spirit Vein production, and warship losses of all our tribes will be completely depleted."
"By then, if the Spirit Race launches a counterattack, they may not even have a way to retreat."
"The essence of war remains resources and consumption; if the gains are disproportionate in the end, the hearts and minds of all peoples will inevitably be divided."
Shan Yue nodded; this was what worried him.
The Spirit Race is not afraid of attrition. Life Dao cultivators are naturally adept at protracted battles, and their recovery ability far surpasses that of other Dao cultivators. Coupled with their methods of plundering the life force of all living beings in the world, the Spirit Race's endurance is virtually limitless.
In contrast, the Beast Realm requires massive amounts of resources to maintain its seven fortified cities.
Although the six royal families are each powerful, they can transport supplies from the Beast Realm to the Dao Realm. Each teleportation requires a large amount of Spirit Stone to drive the spatial channel.
Even if resources are acquired locally, it requires a long time and large-scale cultivation, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive, yet difficult to achieve results.
The longer the battle lines are stretched out, the greater the logistical pressure becomes.
"What if we don't fight?" asked the Nascent Spirit Transformation who practiced the Barbarian Bone Dao.
Upon hearing this, Shi Jian's lips twitched slightly.
"If we don't fight, the Spirit Race Clan can peacefully raise the Bailu Lingyuan behind the defensive line."
"Those Spirit-Draining Grand Array are relentlessly drawing away life force day and night. The spiritual Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi within hundreds of millions of miles of the southern Dao Realm is visibly depleting."
"In another thirty to fifty years, if Lingyuan truly attains the Treasured Earth Dao Fruit..."
He didn't finish speaking, but all the generals in the hall understood the consequences.
Once the Treasured Earth Dao Fruit is seized by the Spirit Race, the Earth Dao will have one more enemy Dao Venerable.
Although the Peak and Mountain Imperial Clan has three Dao Venerable — Earth Virtue, Xuan Tu, Return to Earth— the Emperor is the strongest Dao Embryo who holds the three major positions.
However, the Treasured Earth Dao Fruit has been vacant for a long time. If it falls into the hands of the Spirit Race, it would be like sticking a knife into the Earth Dao, which would be a great danger!
This will create another obstacle for the Emperor if he wants to advance further in the future.
Silence fell over the hall once more.
Cang Wuji was gnawing on a savage beast bone, the crunching sound particularly jarring in the silence, and he said with extreme irritation:
"So now, we're stuck on two fronts."
"If we fight, it will eventually turn into a messy war that our clan can't afford to drag on; if we don't fight, we can only watch Lingyuan prove his Dao, which would be a greater loss for our realm."
The Shan Yue closed its eyes briefly. "That's not all."
He raised his hand, and a map of the Dao Realm appeared in the void.
On the map, the crimson territory of the Beast Realm occupies the north, while the emerald green territory of the Spirit Race covers the south.
Between the two sides lies a narrow gray area; that is the uninhabited, isolated zone where they are currently locked in a standoff.
Meanwhile, the territories of the eight native clans in the eastern and western parts of the Dao Realm Dao Realm have shrunk considerably, becoming just a few large, isolated patches of color.
"The Emperor is also facing a dilemma."
The Shan Yue's voice was very low, as if these words should not be spoken here.
"Continuing to invest will mean a full-scale war between the two realms."
"The three Dao Venerable of the Spirit Race have already restrained three of ours in the Heaven Beyond Heaven. If the Beast Realm sends reinforcements, the Spirit Realm will surely follow suit."
In the end, both sides poured all their resources into a desperate fight in the Dao Realm, and neither side came out on top.
"The other seven realms won't stand idly by either; the True Dragon of the Vast Realm, the Heaven Realm's Yu Tian, Human Race's Changqing... are all watching."
"If the Beast Realm and the Spirit Realm fight to the death, that would be a true dead end."
After hearing this, Shi Jian was well aware of the current situation.
The emperor dared not gamble.
The Spirit Race dared not gamble either.
Both sides knew that if it escalated into a full-scale war between the two worlds, it would be a fight to the death, but neither side could afford the cost.
The Spirit Race fears the Beast Realm will mobilize all its forces, while the Beast Realm fears the Spirit Realm may have a hidden hand behind the scenes.
And so it remained in this stalemate.
You build your defenses, I'll guard my fortress; neither dares to make the first move, neither is willing to back down. What's most distressing is that the Spirit Race are secretly accelerating the cultivation of their Lingyuan.
Every passing day is giving the Spirit Race more leverage.
Cang Wuji threw the bone away, extremely annoyed.
"So we traveled thousands of miles to the Dao Realm just to sit here and watch the Spirit Race raise their people? The Li Yuan Giant Beast Clan was wiped out, and our realm exerted great effort to seize it, only to have the fruits of our labor ultimately plucked by a bunch of sycophants from the Spirit Realm!"
"I can't swallow this!"
Shan Yue opened his eyes and glanced at him. "Cang Manzi, what's the rush? The higher-ups will decide these matters."
"Prior to this, all units should hold their positions at the passes, take turns resting and recuperating, and refrain from any unauthorized cross-border provocations, thus creating time for conflict."
As for Shi Jian.
Shi Jian looked up.
"How are your injuries now? And how is your third Immortal Foundation being formed?"
"The third Immortal Foundation [Righteous Yang Lightning] has been 80% solidified. The injury is not serious; it will heal completely in a few more years."
The Shan Yue nodded, its pale, massive claws tapping lightly a few times on its knees.
"Take good care of yourself and recuperate. There probably won't be any major battles for the next few years. You can take this opportunity to condense your third Immortal Foundation."
"This battle is far from over."
"If you reach the Late Spirit Transformation as soon as possible, our side will have one more powerful force; once you reach the late stage, you will also be qualified to choose treasures from the clan."
Shi Jian responded, and the group of Nascent Spirit Transformation dispersed from the council hall.
In the months and even years that followed, the entire front indeed fell into a state of utter silence.
The Spirit Race remained calmly behind the defensive line, neither attacking nor provoking. Occasionally, they would send out a few Nascent Soul squads to patrol and scout in the no-man's-land or to test the strength of the Beast Realm's defenses, but these were all minor skirmishes.
The Beast Realm also remained inactive.
The seven fortified passes, like seven rivets, stretch across the northern edge of the Spirit Marsh Plains. The Nascent Spirit Transformation take turns on duty, the Core Nascent Soul patrol, and the Golden Core demons repair the city defenses day and night.
Shi Jian quietly recuperated and cultivated in the Lingshan cave abode behind Barbarian Bone Pass, and now his three Immortal Foundation are slowly running.
The Righteous Yang Lightning became increasingly concentrated, but whenever he tried to completely integrate and unify the righteous and intense Daoist essence into one, he would...
This often leads to failure at the last minute, and an imbalance in the three fundamentals.
The more Immortal Foundation one cultivates, the greater the repulsion; one must integrate the power of these Immortal Foundation and make them all work for one's own benefit.
This step is neither particularly difficult nor easy.
The difficulty lies in the extremely fierce and unyielding nature of the Righteous Yang Lightning, which is completely different from the calmness of the Purple Pivot Lightning and the condensed and powerful nature of the Purple Firmament Lightning.
These three elements coexist, but if not handled carefully, they can become mutually exclusive.
Shi Jian closed his eyes and pondered, repeatedly reflecting on the insights he had gained from several bloody battles in recent years; the fierceness of [Righteous Yang Lightning] did not necessarily mean it had to contend with Purple Pivot and Purple Firmament.
Uprightness does not mean rejecting everything.
Rather, it is about embracing everything while still retaining one's original intentions and sharpness.
He attempted to operate the Daoist principles of the Righteous Yang Lightning in a completely new way, no longer allowing the three Immortal Foundation to follow their own paths, but instead using the [Purple Pivot Lightning] as the central hub to control the [Purple Firmament Lightning] and the [Righteous Yang Lightning].
Both thunderbolts are yang thunderbolts, which are fierce and aggressive, while the Purple Pivot Lightning is mainly for control; Shi Jian mainly uses the Purple Pivot Lightning for control, and uses it to control Purple Firmament and True Yang.
The three are nested in layers, each complementing the other.
The Daoist energy within his body surged for a moment, then subsided.
Although it didn't work out, it did give me some ideas.
The Immortal Foundation is formed from nothingness and is never something that can be achieved overnight, especially since he was cultivating Immortal Foundation below the Divine Firmament Dao Fruit.
Each one is a pure and righteous branch of Yang Dao of Lightning.
It is already quite remarkable that we have been able to steadily reach this point.