In Kaiyuan Garden of Yumen Pass, there was a meeting hall where nearly a hundred monks gathered.
All the cultivators present were at the eighth level of cultivation.
Among them are sword cultivators from the Sword Sect, as well as cultivators from other top sects in the Eastern Region, all of whom are high-level cultivators in Yumen Pass.
Once a cultivator reaches the level of overcoming the tribulation, he will fall into endless busyness, either preparing for the next tribulation, or seeking to comprehend the way of heaven and earth and achieve harmony with the way. Everyone is extremely busy, and there are few times when so many people can get together to talk.
The reason why the current situation has occurred is self-evident.
Something big happened!
The atmosphere on the field was very solemn.
"You should all have heard about it." An eighth-level sword cultivator sitting on the main throne, Sunset Sword Master, said solemnly.
He is the cultivator in the Sword Sect who is responsible for commanding and handling the city gate battles in the extraterritorial battlefield.
The handling of such large-scale wars has always been extremely profound and complex.
How to prevent, how to target, how to deploy troops, how to use resources, how to exchange courtesy... There are countless ways to deal with these, which require the monk in charge to have a certain strategic vision and rich experience.
As the saying goes, every profession has its specialties. The cultivation of Sunset Sword Master may not be particularly outstanding among the Sword Sect, but he has extremely rich experience in large-scale battles.
So several peak masters gave this important responsibility to him.
Hearing the question from Sunset Sword Master, everyone else nodded silently.
"The demon clan has divided its troops into 17 groups and marched out at the same time, aiming directly at the 17 city gates on our outer battlefield," said the Sunset Sword Master with a solemn expression. "This is a major move that the demon clan has never made in the entire 20,000 years of Chang'an."
Over the past 20,000 years, the demons have launched countless sieges against the cities of the human race, but most of them were aimed at one city.
Of course, the human race has occasionally attacked the demon cities, and they have had dealings with each other.
However, this was the first time that the demons launched a siege on all human city gates at the same time. No wonder the Lord of Sunset Sword had a gloomy face from beginning to end.
"The evil demons are causing trouble again." Someone in the hall scolded.
"Is the demon clan preparing to start the second war between Taoism and demons?" A tribulation-crossing cultivator from the Xingxiu Sect frowned, with worry between his brows.
"Not like that. Although the demons' actions this time are large, they are also very restrained. Although the number of demon cultivators they sent out is extremely terrifying, they still abide by the unspoken rules between our two sides. Among them, there is no demon cultivator above the seventh rank. The demons still seem unwilling to expand the war, so they still limit the fighting to below the eighth realm." The Sunset Sword Master explained.
"The demons did not send out the eighth-grade, but they did send out nearly 40,000 seventh-grade demon cultivators." Another tribulation-crossing body cultivator who knew the situation said what the other cultivators present were thinking.
"The siege they launched this time is not a minor one, just to consume our strength like before, but a determined one. They want to wipe out all our bridgeheads in the extraterritorial battlefield in one fell swoop, and turn Yumen Pass into an isolated city."
"The demons must have some other plans."
"Such a large sum of money... Even if the demons are far more , with 40,000 rank 7 demon cultivators, the demons would probably have to drain most of the manpower in the city to put together such a lineup."
"With such a large manpower mobilization, we didn't even notice any clues in advance... If our guess is correct, most of the demons' manpower this time should not be drawn from the cities on the battlefield outside the domain, but recruited from the abyss." Another monk who was transcending tribulation added.
After so many years of confrontation with the demons, it is impossible for the human race to be unprepared and wait passively until the demons are at the gates before reacting.
Yumen Pass has always attached great importance to the attention and early warning work on the deployment of demon cultivators in the demon city.
The reason why no one noticed it this time is most likely due to this.
The demons ordered the demon cultivators in most cities to stay put in order to paralyze the human race. At the same time, they transferred seventh-grade demon cultivators from the nearby Burning Moon Region in the Abyss to the battlefield outside the region.
“But no matter what, since the demons have not dispatched the eighth-grade demon cultivators to attack the city, it is impossible for us to dispatch the eighth-level cultivators and take the initiative to escalate the war.” Sunset Sword Master said in a deep voice.
This has always been one of the most important principles for humans to deal with demons - the conflict should not be escalated easily and should be delayed as much as possible.
This puts the human race in a passive situation: since they are unwilling to expand the war easily, they can only wait quietly for the demons to take the initiative to break the unspoken rules and start the second war between Taoism and demons. It can be predicted that they will inevitably suffer a great loss at that time.
But on the other hand, this is also a helpless choice.
Adhering to this principle also buys precious time for the human race to recuperate.
After all, in the first war between Taoism and Demons 20,000 years ago, the human race suffered heavy losses and was severely damaged. Its overall strength was far behind that of the demons .
Once the second war between Taoism and Demons breaks out, if Daozu doesn't come out, they will be exterminated - not only the Demons are unsure whether perish, the human race is the same.
After 20,000 years, the vitality of the human race has gradually recovered, and even geniuses have emerged, showing a trend of vigorous development.
Although there is still a huge gap in strength between them and the demons, the situation is much better than 20,000 years ago.
Avoiding war has both advantages and disadvantages, but as of now, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
The human race's choice of forbearance and not actively expanding the conflict is the best choice made after weighing the pros and cons.
"How many of the seventeen human city gates can we save?" asked the Xingxiu Sect's magician.
In Yumen Pass, although the Sword Sect is the leader and has the strongest strength, in terms of the total number of cultivators, it is his Xingxiu Sect that has the largest number.
The practitioners of magic are the largest group in the world of cultivation. It is not surprising that the Xingxiu Sect, as the most powerful sect of magic practitioners in the Eastern Region, has the largest number of people.
But because of this, almost all of the 17 human city gates have Xingxiu Sect monks holding high positions.
Once all these city gates fall, their Xingxiu Sect will suffer the heaviest losses.
No wonder he seemed to be the most concerned about this matter.
"The demons moved too quickly. By the time we reacted and sent support, sixteen of the seventeen human city gates had already fallen. Currently, only Beihe Pass, which is the farthest from Yumen Pass, has yet to reveal the exact situation. Our personnel are already on the way, and they will arrive soon." The Sunset Sword Master once again dropped a bombshell.
Sixteen of the seventeen city gates fell in one day...
The breathing of the monks present quickened a little at this moment, but that was all.
It’s not that they are indifferent, but at their level, they are already accustomed to life and death and will not lose their composure easily.
When something happens, we think more about how to deal with it afterwards and how to retaliate.
In a word, the human race is bound to suffer this loss.
The question now is how to minimize the losses.
"There is a high probability that Beihe Pass has also fallen." The tribulation-crossing cultivator from the Xingxiu Sect shook his head and sighed.
That's putting it mildly.
In his eyes, Beihe Pass had absolutely ceased to exist.
"Beihe Pass is a city at the forefront of our human race's front line. Its formation is also the most powerful of all the city defense formations. Is there really no hope of defending it?"
Some Tribulation-crossing cultivators were unwilling to see all the small and medium-sized city gates lost, so they asked Sunset Sword Master, "Didn't the Sword Sect secretly plant one or two Tripod-carrying cultivators at Beihe Pass?"
He knew very well that with the strength of the Beihe Pass formation, it could only delay Beihe Pass for a little longer. It would be difficult to achieve a reversal of the desperate situation.
To achieve this, they could only hope that the Sword Sect had secretly stationed one or two eighth-level masters at Beihe Pass.
After all, in terms of status alone, Beihe Pass is the most important of the seventeen cities of the human race.
"No." The Sunset Sword Master gave a negative answer.
He was angry but helpless.
The so-called powerful monks refer to those monks who are experienced in their work, have reached the eighth level of cultivation, have profound skills, are rich in combat experience, and have leadership abilities.
Sword cultivators in the Sword Sect are in short supply and have always been extremely valuable.
Excluding the seven peak masters, there are a total of two hundred and sixty-seven sword cultivators at the eighth level in the Sword Sect, less than three hundred people.
Among them, there are no more than twenty monks who can be called capable ones, which is simply not enough.
The Sunset Sword Master paused and said solemnly, "In this situation, with no advance warning and no news, whether the city gates can hold out until our support arrives can't beg for help from Shangcang, but can only rely on themselves."
"The reason why I called you here today is because everyone here is the coordinator in charge of each sect."
The Sunset Sword Master swept his eyes across the faces of every cultivator present and spoke calmly, his voice containing a frightening fighting spirit, "The demons have been making frequent movements recently, and this time it's even more dramatic. I've already reported this to several peak masters."
Seventeen city gates were attacked at the same time. This was a major event that he could not handle alone. He needed to contact the leaders of all the peaks and even come up with a unified plan.
At this time, he was bringing the rules and regulations that had been unified by the peak masters to inform the monks from various sects.
"The peak masters asked me to inform you that all sects should make war preparations immediately."
"It's time to wake up the monks who are still in seclusion and ask them to come out and be ready for battle."
"Because...the war is about to begin!"
The Sunset Sword Master said coldly: "If not today, then tomorrow."
There was complete silence.
The cultivators from various sects on the scene looked at each other in bewilderment. They obviously had not expected that a mere large-scale siege battle without the participation of any eighth-grade demon cultivators would rise to such a high level in the eyes of the Sword Sect's peak masters.
Yumen Pass has always followed the lead of the Sword Sect.
Therefore, even though they were surprised, incredulous, and had some exaggerated complaints, after a moment, they all responded in unison: "Xingxiu Sect has received the order!"
"Wu Jian Lou has received the order!"
"Chi Ming Sect has received the order!"
“…”
Resolute and loud responses echoed throughout the hall.
…
A moment later.
Nearly a hundred monks have left the hall, and Sunset Sword Master is sitting alone in his seat, thinking quietly.
Whenever he thought about the war between Taoism and Demons that once turned the human race into a den of ghosts, it was about to happen again, and his heart was heavy.
The Lord of Sunset Sword was not sure whether the seven major Taoist sects and Daxia could still guard the border and the human realm without the Dao Ancestor.
He was only sure that the Sword Sect would fight for the human race until the last moment.
If the demons want to pass through Yumen Pass and set foot in the human realm, they must first destroy their Sword Sect.
"If... if the Sword Sect could produce another Sword Immortal before the war starts." Sunset Sword Master murmured, and then sighed deeply.
This sigh is directed at myself.
Because, although he was not sure about his future achievements, he understood that becoming a sword immortal was beyond his reach.
In the battle between Taoism and demons, unless you become a sword immortal, there is a limit to what you can do.
"The Chang'an Sword Immortal has asked Heaven for another three points of luck for the sword practitioners in our world. With such a great increase in luck, it is only natural that another Sword Immortal will appear..." thought the Sunset Sword Master.
In his opinion, if the human race could produce another sword immortal, it would definitely be from their Sword Sect.
There is absolutely no second possibility.
…
Beihe Pass.
The demon clan, which was once on the rise, suffered a severe blow, and for the first time... began to become timid.
The two commanders were killed one after another by Lu Qingshan. At this moment, they were leaderless, like headless flies, and didn't know what to do.
"Kill!" Beiheguanzong's voice of Wu Yan resounded in the ears of every cultivator.
The experienced Wu Yan understood that the demons were in a state of confusion at this moment.
If we attack the demon clan at this time, as long as we gain a slight local advantage, it is possible that a spark will spread all over the prairie, and the local collapse of the demon clan will lead to the collapse of the entire system.
This is a chance to win!
A glimmer of hope for victory created by Lu Qingshan.
He sensed it keenly and tried to grasp it.
The monks at Beihe Pass were getting very excited, and when they heard Wu Yan's shout, their eyes turned red and they were full of fighting spirit.
They were clearly in poor condition, but they were fearless and charged towards the demons who were far superior to them in both numbers and strength.
On the other side, Lu Qingshan mobilized the remaining 30% of his energy and rushed over as well.
It was like two huge torrents rushing towards each other on the river beach, ready to merge.
Lu Qingshan, with eight thousand sword energy threads around him, fought outward from the center of the demon camp.
If one counts the crossing of three thousand cultivators two days ago, he has already been in and out of the demon camp twice.
But this time, it seemed the most relaxed.
Because of this charge, the demon cultivator no longer risked his life to block him, but subconsciously retreated and dodged.
——The residual power of Lu Qingshan from killing Xuandu Demon Marshal still remains. At this moment, there is no commander to order them to stop Lu Qingshan. How could they voluntarily die?
Demon cultivators are also afraid of death.
Lu Qingshan's condition was actually not very good at this time.
The blessing of the Bing character formula has ended, and the combat power has returned to normal levels. Although it is still powerful, it is definitely not as invincible as before.
More importantly, the energy in his body was less than 30% and could not sustain him fighting for too long.
As long as the demon cultivator is willing to sacrifice his life, his magic power will be exhausted in no time.
The problem is, how can the demon cultivators know Lu Qingshan’s current magical power?
What Lu Qingshan showed from the beginning to the end was that he had an endless supply of cards up his sleeve, as if there was no limit.
Once bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of ropes for ten years.
The evil cultivators already regarded Lu Qingshan as an irresistible demon king and no longer had the courage to face him.
"Quick!"
"Hide!"
Wherever Lu Qingshan went, all the demon cultivators retreated.
Occasionally, one or two unconvinced demon cultivators would come forward, and Lu Qingshan would not hesitate to use his energy, or hold his sword forward and sweep it across, with sword energy surging out, instantly splitting their bodies into two, spilling black blood.
Or they would chop down vertically, cutting the charging demon cultivator in half, causing him to explode into pieces and turn into bloody mist.
In fact, if Lu Qingshan insists on killing the enemy with one blow, he will often consume a lot more energy.
But he should have saved his energy, but he did just that.
The reason is very simple. Lu Qingshan can feel the fear of many demon cultivators towards him and they regard him as invincible.
Then he had to deepen this impression at this time and must not let the secret slip.
In other words, he is now like a pig with an onion stuck in its nose - pretending to be an elephant.
…
Lei Xiaoshan.
This is a strange mountain near Beiheguan. Thunder roars can be heard all day long, hence the name.
The void twisted, and a large army of monks suddenly flew over from a distance.
This army of cultivators had more than a thousand people, infinitely close to two thousand. All of them were seventh-realm cultivators. The leader was Li Xixing, an extremely powerful and famous seventh-realm sword cultivator from the Sword Sect.
They are the monks sent by Yumen Pass to support Beihe Pass this time.
"After reaching Leixiao Mountain, we are close to Beihe Pass. We should be able to arrive in another half an hour." Li Xixing shouted, appearing extremely anxious.
Although in his mind, two days had passed, with the current formation of the demon clan, Beihe Pass should have fallen long ago.
But whether Beihe Pass fell is one thing, and whether they tried their best to provide support is obviously another.
Perhaps they cannot change the outcome, but they must do their best to live up to their consciences and to the many monks in Beihe Pass.
"Speed ​​up!" he issued the order again.
More than a thousand rays of light intersected and in an instant flashed across the sky above the rumbling Leixiao Mountain and headed straight for Beihe Pass!