An Shouchang Restores His Cultivation

Ten more years passed in the blink of an eye.

The war situation was far from optimistic. Aside from the Demon Province, which had yet to be invaded, cultivators from the Western Regions and the Central Divine Land had almost all retreated into defensive positions, unable to step foot outside.

During this time, Mo Tianxiao had stayed in contact with Zhou Muxi, keeping abreast of the battle developments at all times.

Although the Central Divine Land possessed formidable strength, under the fierce assault of the Shamor Clan, its major top-tier powers had suffered devastating losses. They could only huddle together for warmth, relying on their accumulated foundations to barely hold back the Shamor Clan's advance.

Meanwhile, most of the Western Regions had already fallen. Because the wandering cultivators' alliance had its headquarters there, the alliance and the Great Thunderclap Temple were the two top-tier powers still putting up a desperate fight.

The Shamor Clan's forces had also been steadily growing. Over a million cultivators had willingly submitted to them, becoming slaves who helped attack the Xuanhuang Realm.

This outcome was unavoidable, and Mo Tianxiao understood it completely.

At present, every major power could barely cope with the Shamor Clan's offensives. Under such circumstances, none of them had the spare capacity to look after other cultivators.

Not every power could be like the Demon Sect, which pooled the resources of the entire Demon Province to establish a secure defense line, sheltering all cultivators within the province.

Nor could every cultivator face death with equanimity.

Currently, aside from the demon race, the Demon Province was the safest place in the entire Xuanhuang Realm.

Many cultivators who had narrowly escaped disaster all tried by every possible means to seek the Demon Sect's protection, but very few could safely make the journey from other regions to the Demon Sect.

"Swish!"

A figure appeared atop the high platform of the sect's plaza, their gaze fixed on the back of the person ahead, as a voice rang out, "Tianxiao, what is the current situation?"

Hearing this, Mo Tianxiao turned around and hurriedly stepped forward, a hint of delight appearing on his face. "Elder An! Your cultivation has recovered?"

An Shouchang nodded. "Indeed. I didn't expect it to take this long."

More than ten years had passed in the outside world, yet over a hundred years had elapsed inside the Time Tower. If it had taken this long just to recover from the pinnacle of the Saint King realm to the quasi-Emperor stage, then Elder Gu and Aunt Lin's attempts to break through to the quasi-Emperor realm would likely take even longer.

Mo Tianxiao sighed inwardly, then recounted everything that had happened in recent years to An Shouchang.

"Now that Elder An has recovered his cultivation, I wonder whether the previous sect master of the Righteous Essence Sect has recovered his own strength as well."

Naturally, Mo Tianxiao knew that a quasi-Emperor of the Shamor Clan had died in the demon race's territory. At this point, the Shamor Clan had only ten quasi-Emperors, while on the Xuanhuang Realm's side, the known quasi-Emperors were only An Shouchang and Yue Tianxing, whose recovery was still uncertain.

An Shouchang gazed toward the distant horizon and began, "Aside from me and that old geezer Yue Tianxing, the old Daoist at the Celestial Secrets Pavilion should be recovering too. Both the Righteous Essence Sect and the Celestial Secrets Pavilion have plenty of good treasures—enough for them to restore their cultivation in a short time."

"With three quasi-Emperors, we can barely tangle with the foreign race."

"Changsheng and that young lady from the Jade Pool Heaven Palace are talented. If we can buy a little more time, they should be able to break through to the quasi-Emperor realm."

Mo Tianxiao wore a thoughtful expression. "I'm afraid the foreign race won't give us that much time. I recall Senior Xuan mentioning that these invaders can only remain in the Xuanhuang Realm for a hundred years at most."

"Now that over ten years have passed, that leaves at most eighty-some years before they have to leave. So within that eighty-year window, they will definitely try every means to squeeze as much value out of the Xuanhuang Realm as possible."

Eighty years in the outside world meant eight hundred years in the Time Tower. In that time, would the First Elder and Aunt Lin truly be able to break through?

The quasi-Emperor level involved the power of laws, and laws were something one could only comprehend on their own. If Mo Tianxiao could currently refine Emperor-grade pills, he might be able to help them.

Unfortunately, reaching the Emperor-grade alchemy level would probably require even more Villain Points than he had needed to rise to the Saint King realm.

The further one advanced, the more pronounced the gaps between realms became, and the Villain Points needed to raise various abilities increased at a steep rate.

"With their talent, eighty years should be enough."

An Shouchang estimated their breakthrough time based on his own experience. "However, you're right, Tianxiao. If the foreign race realizes we're stalling for time, they might resort to more violent measures."

"Tianxiao, what do you think we should do?"

An Shouchang looked at Mo Tianxiao, a hint of assessment in his cloudy eyes.

Mo Tianxiao took two steps forward, clasping his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the interlocking formation array as he said in a deep voice, "If we keep lying low, the Shamor Clan will only grow more aggressive. Already a million cultivators of the Xuanhuang Realm have been enslaved and turned against us."

"The longer we delay, the less favorable it may be for us. Now that Elder An has recovered, why don't we get in touch with the two senior experts in the Central Divine Land? If they too have recovered, I think we should try taking the initiative to strike first."

"The three quasi-Emperors who came to probe our Demon Sect were frightened off by my bluff. They must have reported back that I possess a trump card for a devastating attack. If they want to seize the Demon Province's resources, they will definitely send a single quasi-Emperor to force me to expend that card."

Mo Tianxiao turned, looking at Elder An with a sly smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "With the assistance of the two senior experts from the Central Divine Land, three quasi-Emperors should be more than enough to take down one of their quasi-Emperors."

"That way, the Shamor Clan would be left with only nine quasi-Emperors. Our human race would have three quasi-Emperors, and the demon race has Senior Spirit Tree, so the Shamor Clan wouldn't dare attack them recklessly.

Among the demon race, I know Senior Sun, who is also a quasi-Emperor."

"At that point, with four quasi-Emperors opposing the Shamor Clan's nine, the gap remains large, but when it comes to Saint realm combat strength, they are nowhere near our numbers.

As long as we can find a way to consolidate the high-end combat power of the Xuanhuang Realm, the Sha mo Clan won't be able to do anything to us for the time being. If we can keep the stalemate going, victory will ultimately be ours."

An Shouchang stroked his beard, a contemplative look in his eyes. "This plan could work, but uniting the entire Xuanhuang Realm would be no small feat, and the foreign race won't just sit by and watch us gather our strength."

Mo Tianxiao nodded in agreement. "That's true. So for now, we don't need to think about consolidating all high-end combat power. We only need to secretly gather the few quasi-Emperor seniors."

"Quasi-Emperors can easily move around without being detected by the Shamor Clan, and since they don't yet know the Xuanhuang Realm still has quasi-Emperors of its own, we can capitalize on that information gap."

An Shouchang seemed to approve of this approach. "I have some ties with Master Tianji. I should be able to persuade him. As for Yue Tianxing, he was always the orthodox leader of the righteous path, and our two sects have never gotten along. He might not trust this old man."

Mo Tianxiao grinned widely. "Leave Senior Yue to me. I'm sure Senior Yue is a man of vision and understands the current situation. Only by uniting can we escape being the fish on the chopping block."