Chapter 25: Seeking Reinforcements

The crowd of celestial deities and true immortals below all looked toward Primordial Dao Ancestor.

"I once had the chance to take Ji Ning as a disciple, but among the three candidates back then, I chose Little Wood." Primordial Dao Ancestor smiled, seemingly in a good mood. "I was convinced that Little Wood had more promise than Ji Ning. It seems my eyes were dim."

"Uh..."

The celestial deities and true immortals below were all stunned.

Praising Ji Ning was one thing—after all, Ji Ning had indeed changed the situation in the Great Xia world war. But calling himself 'dim-eyed' was a bit excessive. What status did a Dao Ancestor have? Even if he was mocking himself, doing so because of Ji Ning was rather strange.

"My old friend has better judgment." Primordial Dao Ancestor pointed into the air, and a circular mirror formed, showing a scene of battle. Dozens of celestial deities and true immortals could be seen, over a hundred in number, alongside dragons, serpent-dragons, divine demons, and phoenixes, two sides locked in combat. Primordial Dao Ancestor said calmly, "The great showdown between the Jiuyang Realm and the Gate of Infinity has reached its most frenzied stage."

Everyone below looked closely.

The Jiuyang Realm, ruled by 'Jiuyang Dao Ancestor,' encompassed dozens of major worlds and billions of minor worlds, no less than the Primordial Realm.

"The Jiuyang Realm has nearly eighty celestial deities and true immortals joining the battle?"

"Look, the 'Ninefold Grand Formation' of those eighteen true immortals is approaching the might of a Dao Ancestor."

"They're fighting with utter madness."

"The Phoenix lineage has also mobilized."

This battle...

This great war was far more intense than the Great Xia war.

As the Xia Emperor watched, he suddenly understood. Yes, while he grieved the deaths of some celestial immortals and scattered immortals under his command, the lofty Dao Ancestors had a much broader perspective. In the midst of the Great Calamity, the deaths of celestial immortals and scattered immortals barely stirred any emotion in the Dao Ancestors. Only the deaths of celestial deities and true immortals would catch their attention.

The Xia Emperor felt his side's losses were severe and that he couldn't hold out.

But in the eyes of the Dao Ancestors... in the Great Xia war, the losses of the Gate of Infinity and the Xia Emperor were roughly equal; it hadn't yet reached a critical point.

"The Great Calamity—a calamity that will sweep the Three Realms and ultimately cause countless true gods and Dao Ancestors to fall. And I was so quick to admit defeat? I've been comfortable for far too long; at the slightest setback, seeing no hope of victory, I wanted to retreat." The Xia Emperor thought to himself.

"Xiamang." Suddenly a voice echoed in the Xia Emperor's mind.

The Xia Emperor looked up involuntarily; it was the voice of Primordial Dao Ancestor.

"The war in Great Xia has only just begun." Primordial Dao Ancestor transmitted. "The forces the Gate of Infinity has sent are still small, mainly the Gate of Infinity under the command of Qinghu. That's why we haven't acted hastily... If the Gate of Infinity stops here, so be it. If they mobilize in force, we will help you."

The Xia Emperor was instantly stirred.

"Of course, if you can't withstand even the meager forces of Qinghu's branch of the Gate of Infinity and are defeated, you have no one to blame." Primordial Dao Ancestor transmitted. "You can only blame yourself for not being diligent enough, for not even forcing the Qinghu Gate of Infinity to seek reinforcements."

"Understood." The Xia Emperor nodded.

Looking back...

Indeed, he, Xiamang, had never been able to be ruthless.

He wasn't ruthless enough with his subordinates—he couldn't bear to lose any celestial deity or true immortal, any Xingtian God. But in a true life-and-death war, sometimes sacrifices had to be made. The more he tried to keep everyone alive, the easier it was to lose. The 'Gate of Infinity,' for instance, had 'Blood Cloud Puppets' that were practically sent to die, yet they were very successful; sacrificing just eight Blood Cloud Puppets, they killed one Xingtian God and a legion of divine demons. Such a willingness to fight to the death yielded astonishing results.

He wasn't ruthless enough with himself—he was reluctant to consume a large amount of Golden Core essence to activate the 'Great Xia Realm-Protecting Grand Formation' a second time.

"The Gate of Infinity is fighting on multiple fronts, with war flames spreading across the Three Realms." Primordial Dao Ancestor transmitted. "Their strength is limited. Although their intelligence can estimate the approximate power of your Great Xia and make arrangements accordingly, they cannot afford to be extravagant. If not for the three thousand celestial immortals who were lured away from Great Xia earlier, they would actually be at a disadvantage in terms of strength."

"The highest-level mighty ones of the Gate of Infinity are also making their subordinates fight."

"You, too, must fight."

"Even if some celestial immortals die, or even celestial deities and true immortals, what of it? In the Great Calamity, if we can kill seven or eight of the Gate of Infinity's celestial deities and true immortals while losing four or five of our own, that's still a great victory." Primordial Dao Ancestor's words made the Xia Emperor shudder.

Kill a thousand enemies, lose five hundred of your own—that counts as a great victory.

"The Great Calamity demands the awareness of the Great Calamity. Back in the ancient destruction, you were too weak to participate, so you don't know the terror of the Great Calamity. This is just the beginning... that old fellow hasn't fully awakened yet." Primordial Dao Ancestor transmitted. "When that old fellow awakens, that will be the most frenzied time of this Great Calamity. By then, celestial deities and true immortals will be mere ants, and true gods and Dao Ancestors will fall in great numbers."

"This disciple was wrong." The Xia Emperor fully understood.

He had to be ruthless.

Ruthless with his subordinates.

Ruthless with himself.

Only then could he survive the Great Calamity.

...

Within the Eight Dragons Cloud City, there was jubilation.

The divine demon legions, Yinglong legions, and Xingtian God legions had all disbanded.

"Daoist Beiming, I, Fushui, rarely admire anyone, but this time I truly admire you." After the Yinglong legion disbanded, a graceful woman in black armor flew over; she was a Pure Yang True Immortal.

"Greetings, True Immortal Fushui." Ji Ning said. He was still disguised as a celestial immortal.

"No need for formalities. Leading a thousand celestial immortals and many scattered immortals, I'm not as good as you." True Immortal Fushui studied Ji Ning closely. "To be honest, I suspect you've become a Pure Yang True Immortal."

Ji Ning smiled.

"Ji Ning."

"Beiming."

Voices of surprise rang out; it was Tonghe, Wanshou, Fengdian, Feiyu, and Fuchen, the five of them.

Seeing these five elder brothers and sisters, Ji Ning felt both joy and pain. The pain was that his sixth brother, 'Zhanghong,' had already died.

"Alas, it's a pity the sixth brother cannot see this."

"Zhanghong, he..."

As soon as the six of them gathered, they all soon grew sorrowful.

"War always claims lives." The black-robed Xia Emperor flew over, accompanied by a group of Celestial Immortals and True Immortals, including Zhuan Shui Celestial, Han Zheng Celestial, Huo Yun Celestial, Tian Nong True Immortal, Dong Yan True Immortal, and others.

"Your Majesty." The six of them, including Ji Ning, quickly bowed.

"This time, we have lost many Celestial Immortals, Loose Immortals, and even Fiendgods. Zhanghong is merely one of them," said the black-robed Xia Emperor. "This is only the beginning of the great tribulation. We should all understand that more of us will die."

Ji Ning and the others understood this as well.

Bodhi had already spoken to Ji Ning about this; the two major camps were both determined to destroy the other.

"However..." The black-robed Xia Emperor looked at Ji Ning and broke into a smile. "Haha, Ji Ning, you truly surprised me. Haha, earlier I had already ordered a temporary retreat. Who would have thought you'd give me such a great surprise, even killing a Pure Yang True Immortal."

Earlier, it wasn't just a temporary retreat; the Xia Emperor had essentially intended to withdraw from the entire Grand Xia and concede defeat.

"Now, the one with the advantage is no longer the Void Abyss, but our Grand Xia."

The Xia Emperor looked around and said with a clear laugh, "Now the Void Abyss must be racking their brains over how to contain Ji Ning. Even the combined efforts of Bai Ji True Immortal, Qing Hu Gate Lord, and Du Que White-Faced Jiao only delayed him slightly. They couldn't truly contain him. I'm afraid they'll need another White-Faced Jiao led by a Celestial Immortal or True Immortal to be enough."

"Hahaha..."

"That would make things easy for us; we could go on a killing spree." After all, they still had the Yinglong Legion, two Fiendgod legions, and five other Punishment Celestials, along with many Celestial Immortals and True Immortals.

For a time, the entire atmosphere of the Eight Dragons Cloud City became relaxed.

Killing a Pure Yang True Immortal was indeed a great victory.

...

Void Abyss City.

The atmosphere was oppressive.

"Chi Bing is dead."

"How could this be?" The host of celestial gods and true immortals gathered in the great hall, including White Extreme True Immortal and Green Fox Sect Leader, all with grim expressions.

Although they had killed some celestial immortals and loose immortals of Daxia, they had also lost many celestial immortals and loose immortals on their side; the losses on both sides were roughly equal.

Most importantly—

They had also lost a Pure Yang True Immortal.

"What do we do?"

"That Ji Ning, commanding the Heaven Punisher, has suddenly become so powerful. Just now, White Extreme, Green Fox, and the white-faced Jiao of Duque joined forces, yet Ji Ning still rampaged through them. Our strength is no longer sufficient. If we continue fighting like this, we even risk defeat. I think we should request reinforcements."

"Yes, we must request reinforcements."

"Our strength is insufficient."

One after another, the gods and true immortals spoke up.

Green Fox Sect Leader, however, had a dark expression and said coldly, "Request reinforcements? Is it that easy? Under the God King, there are one hundred Non-Doings, each waging war across many major worlds, and some must garrison already conquered major worlds. Every Non-Doing is in urgent need of manpower and greater strength. Who doesn't hope for support from above? But everyone wants it... and yet it's hard for anyone to obtain."

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

The overall strength of their own camp, compared to that of the Nuwa camp, was actually still at a disadvantage.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have resorted to all sorts of seduction and sowing discord.

Fortunately, their side held an absolute advantage in intelligence and the like. As the saying goes, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' In war, intelligence is of great use. Relying on their superior intelligence, the Non-Doing was able to wage a vigorous struggle against the Nuwa camp. In truth, the Non-Doing's strength was already stretched thin; asking for reinforcements? Difficult.

Last time, because of the 'Daxia World-Protecting Grand Formation,' the God King would rather produce a Chaos Dao Fruit than send stronger forces.

"Green Fox, times have changed. This Ji Ning is a variable, a great variable."

"Yes, report this to the God King."

...

Ji Ning's might was too overwhelming, making the Non-Doing side feel that if they continued fighting to the death, they would likely suffer greatly.

Green Fox Sect Leader pondered.

White Extreme True Immortal also looked at Green Fox. Although he too had taken the God King as his master, in terms of closeness, Green Fox had a closer relationship with the God King; Green Fox was the true sect leader of the Non-Doing. White Extreme True Immortal was merely a temporary commander in the Daxia war.

"Alright, I will report to the God King." Green Fox said solemnly.

Requesting reinforcements made Green Fox feel deeply ashamed.

...