The distant ancestors' phantoms seated cross-legged atop the Divine Platforms wore unusually grim expressions.
There was guilty evasion.
There was also undisguisable disappointment, anger at their failure to rise to the occasion.
Not just they, but everyone understood perfectly well.
People were born with a herd mentality.
If everyone throughout the Immortal Domain and all heavens staked their lives and burned their boats behind them,
then almost everyone would instinctively plunge into a desperate struggle without hesitation.
Because anyone who did not would become an outlier.
But if there were two choices,
the first offered a slim chance of survival, requiring them to face mortal danger without looking back and sacrifice themselves for others' futures.
The second was to remain at ease, hide behind the brave, and enjoy the fruits of victory without lifting a finger.
Anyone who was not a brainless idiot
would presumably choose the second.
After all, seeking fortune and avoiding calamity was something rooted in everyone's bones that could never be changed.
Yet even knowing this situation would arise,
Distant Ancestor Yuan Hong and the others had no choice but to offer these two options.
Perhaps someone would ask,
why not simply arrange for every faction to contribute some troops and form the Vanguard Army that way?
Not only would that change the present situation, it would even bind everyone's interests together.
The distant ancestors, who always deliberated carefully, had already considered all of this.
On the surface, this proposal seemed almost perfect.
In reality, it was riddled with holes.
Not everyone possessed the will and courage to face mortal danger head-on.
If they directly imposed such arrangements,
each faction would probably send only its weakest Immortal Emperors and armies.
After all, even if these Immortal Emperors and armies entered the Darkness Abyss and were annihilated,