Chapter 1763: Interrupted Promotion
Chapter 1763: Interrupted Promotion
Wang Wei watched as the Erudite Duchess and the Slaughter Ancestor rushed out, their bodies riddled with injuries. The duchess was missing an arm, while half of the Slaughter Ancestor’s body was gone. Wang Wei watched them in horror, wondering what had happened to Group C. Who could have injured them to such a degree?
Unfortunately, this was not the time for answers. The two powerful Tribunal Lords rushed out from the void and immediately entered the Heaven and Earth Origin Cycle Array. They immediately called for a retreat, which alarmed the others. Most of the second-step powerhouses were alright since their battle was near the array, but the Time and Heaven Cardinal were far away, near the enemy’s Reverse Black Stone Array.
Despite their worries about the unknown situation, everybody decided to listen to these two. And after returning to the base, the Erudite Duchess took control of the array while the other Lords assisted. Everyone was puzzled by the sudden change in leadership, but they soon understood why their leaders were acting as they were.
A colossal hand materialized between Heaven and Earth. The hand, which contained the power to suppress all the rules and shackles of the universe, targeted the Primordial Expedition. The duchess pushed the array to the limit to block the attack, but with just one strike, a quarter of the formation was destroyed.
"Summon your True Saint Artifacts, or we will all die," the Erudite Duchess yelled. Without much choice, even the Cardinals had no choice but to activate their trump cards. Numerous artifacts that shone with brilliant lights materialized between Heaven and Earth. The duchess connected them to the array to strengthen it.
Boom!
Another 20% of the array was once again annihilated, meaning millions of worlds were destroyed in the process. However, no one paid attention to such a thing. As long as the core area remained intact, the expedition soldiers and generals would remain unaffected. The people who died are the natives.
After establishing the array, Wang Wei had ordered that all the cultivators in these worlds be either killed or arrested to be included in the cannon fodder army. As for the surviving mortals? Wang Wei only needed to use time to brainwash them into believing they were descendants of the Primordial Expeditioners and thus on their side. His original plan was to train the mortals and [Mortal Cultivators] into Kong’s Battle Spirits. However, now, most of them had died in the second attack.
’She can only attack one more time,’ The Erudite Duchess thought. She looked around and saw the pale complexion of her companion. They were the ones who had to bear the brunt of these attacks, and no one could escape unharmed. With a single thought, she sacrificed all the artificial constructs to enhance the array.
Bang!
In the final strike, only 10% of the array was destroyed, bringing the tally to 55%. Although more than half of the formation had collapsed, most of the core area remained intact, meaning most of the primordial beings survived. However, no one displayed an ounce of joy. Everything was proceeding smoothly when this unknown anomaly almost annihilated the entire group.
Wang Wei stood in the command room with a pale expression. Such power was truly shocking, not only in its scale, but also in its sheer magnitude—a terrifying blow to the psyche—to the Dao Heart. Even someone like him, with a terrifying willpower and a Saint Dao Heart, needed a few minutes of meditation to calm down and clear the influence from his mind. Then, he did not hesitate to fly toward the Tribunal Lords.
When he arrived, they were already sitting down and waiting for him. However, the Erudite Duchess and the Slaughter Ancestor did not look injured. Wang Wei did not believe for a second that they had already recuperated. Most likely, they didn’t want to show such a weak side to him. Not just him, but to everyone in the expedition. The last thing anybody needed was the collapse of morale.
"What happened?" Wang Wei directly asked. His words seem to have caused a small domino effect as the other Tribunal Lords also glanced at the Erudite Duchess and the Slaughter Ancestor.
"It’s the missing lord," Slaughter Ancestor sighed. "She was attempting to reach the third step, was swallowing this timeline’s Grand Dao, and learned the secrets of the Dao Quintessence."
"Impossible," Source Qi Cardinal denied.
"All timelines’ Grand Dao are nothing but projection. While they can continue operating the rules of these timelines, they do not contain the true power and essence of Grand Dao," Heaven Cardinal chimed in.
"Don’t you think we know this?" the duchess added. "But somehow, this timeline is different. I don’t know if it happens naturally or the Highest Sovereign found a way to transform the projection into the real thing, but that woman was indeed trying to swallow a Grand Dao which contained a great deal of the original’s essence."
Her words silenced the room. No matter what the truth was, this was bad news for the expedition. The existence of a third-step powerhouse would fundamentally change everything, and if that were true, their only remaining choice would be to end the expedition and return home prematurely.
"You guys survived the encounter, so the enemy must not have reached that step, right?" Wang Wei asked.
"We intercepted and stopped the process," the duchess nodded.
"However, her strength was still beyond our abilities. You could say she is now a False Grand Dao Saint," Slaughter Ancestor nodded.
"What does that mean for the expedition? Can we still deal with the enemy, or do we need to prepare to leave?" Wang Wei frowned. He could not wrap his head around how strong the [False Grand Dao Saint] that Slaughter Ancestor proclaimed is, so he directly asked about the key to the issue.
"Our interruption will result in a terrible backlash," the duchess explained. "So, for a while, she will need to recuperate and won’t be able to do much."
"That’s good to hear," Wang Wei sighed in relief. "But let’s plan for the worst-case scenario. What will happen if she recovers?"
"Her regular strength should be among the best of the second step," the Slaughter Ancestor commented. "And if she wishes, she can tap into a bit of the power of the third step. Although it will not last long, even if it’s just a fraction of a second, it’s enough to annihilate all of us."
"So, we need countermeasures," Wang Wei nodded. "The Heaven and Earth Origin Cycle Array was able to block a few of her attacks. Could we continue using it?"
"Believe it or not, those three attacks were the weakest she could muster due to the current injury," the duchess sighed. Meanwhile, Wang Wei and everybody else’s lips twitched. Those three strikes were already devastating enough, and this woman was telling them this was the enemy in her weakened state?
"We must update the array," the Trinity Venerable added. "I will contribute my understanding of [Trinity], which should give it a great boost."
"I can add [Reverse Causality] to grant it the power to reverse the enemy’s attack,’ the Karma Root Sovereign added.
"I can condense the power of slaughter since the dawn of time to bless the formation."
Wang Wei watched as all the Tribunal Lords offered their own suggestion to the new array, leaving only the Three Cardinals.
"I can provide you with beyond infinite energy," Source Qi added.
"The protection of time: as long as one person is controlling the array, it should reverse to its peak state," Time Cardinal added.
"I’ll work with the duchess to incorporate all these powers into a whole," Heaven Cardinal nodded.
"Then, it’s settled," the Erudite Duchess nodded.
"We can also attack the root of the issue," Wang Wei added, forcing all eyes on him. "If the False Grand Dao Saint’s power originated from Grand Dao, we can accelerate the destruction of the timeline. As the timeline weakened, so will Grand Dao, which in turn will also weaken that woman."
Most of the Thirteen Pillars of Destruction did not survive," the Slaughter Ancestor said. "We will have to rebuild them."
"Will the enemy give us time to prepare?" The True Dream Lord asked. This plan was based on the fact that the False Grand Dao Saint will enter seclusion and not pay attention to the world’s situation. But if she abandons her future and focuses on eradicating them, or even just delays their attacks, everything will be in vain.
"We can’t know for sure, but we can’t also stop our actions just out of fear," the Karma Sovereign added.
"Before we deal with all these issues, we should also deal with the current problems of our soldiers," Wang Wei uttered. "With that attack, I reckon more than 90% of the Paragons have suffered a terrible blow to their Dao Heart. I don’t know how many of them will wake up from it, but I don’t think that number is optimistic."
Wang Wei’s words reminded these leaders of the people’s current situation. The Lords instantly checked the situation and realized the problem was more severe than stated. Many Saints were affected by those three attacks, and their Dao Heart is on the verge of collapsing.