Chapter 265: Battle Situation

Volume 3: A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Volume 3

According to the "Great Evolution Art," once the first layer is mastered, the divine sense of the Nascent Soul becomes effortless. Reaching the second layer allows for the splitting of hundreds of divine senses, and the third layer, like Senior Martial Brother Lin, enables the splitting of several hundred.

When Han Li imagined the scene of controlling several hundred mechanical puppets simultaneously in combat after reaching the third layer, even he found it somewhat abnormal.

However, Han Li estimated that such an abnormal ability would only allow one to dominate temporarily during the Foundation Establishment stage. By the Core Formation stage, unless one could refine hundreds of third-tier or higher puppets, each on par with a Foundation Establishment cultivator, controlling more would be futile against the full power of a Core Formation cultivator. Han Li vividly recalled the scene when Fatty Lei swept aside hundreds of Level Two puppets from the Thousand Bamboo Sect that day.

If refining Level Two puppets required high-grade magical artifact materials, then refining even higher-tier puppets would surely demand at least top-tier magical artifact materials! This implied that for a Core Formation cultivator specializing in puppetry to overpower other Core Formation cultivators, as they might have done during the Foundation Establishment stage, they would need at least hundreds of sets of top-tier magical artifact materials. This realization left Han Li stunned for quite a while.

Not to mention the materials wasted on failed refinements, and the hundreds of powerful souls that would be virtually impossible to find. This was probably why the Thousand Bamboo Sect's puppetry art was little known. After all, a sect's strength was still primarily assessed by the number of Core Formation cultivators it possessed. If the Thousand Bamboo Sect was powerless to contend with other sects in Core Formation battles, then even if its Foundation Establishment disciples were formidable, it could only remain confined to one area, dominating a single region.

Of course, these were just Han Li's conjectures after cultivating the Great Evolution Art and the puppetry art. However, the fact that puppetry could significantly boost Han Li's strength during his Foundation Establishment stage was undeniable! Therefore, Han Li was currently not concerned with future implications. After all, this war in the cultivation world, which had stirred up several nations, had only just begun!

Not long after Han Li arrived to guard this spirit mine, a major battle involving a sneak attack and ambush unfolded between the Six Devilish Sects and the Seven Sects of Yue State, on a desolate, remote mountain. Han Li had gradually learned the specifics. It turned out that Spirit Beast Mountain, one of the Seven Sects, was originally a branch of the Devilish Dao's Spirit Taming Sect. It was a hidden sleeper cell planted in Yue State by the Devilish Dao thousands of years ago. With the Six Sects' invasion of the Seven Sects, this hidden move was naturally activated. The Devilish Dao hoped it would achieve the same miraculous effect as taking down Jiang State and Cheqi State in one fell swoop that day.

However, unknown to them, the upper echelons of Spirit Beast Mountain, after thousands of years of lineage, no longer wished to consider themselves part of the Spirit Taming Sect, nor did they want a sudden supreme overlord above them. Consequently, after communicating with the other six sects, they employed some unknown method to trick the Devilish Dao cultivators into believing they were sending people to ambush a stronghold of the Seven Sects' cultivators. The thousands of cultivators on the sneak attack were ambushed midway by the Seven Sects' cultivators. With an absolute advantage, they launched a fierce counterattack, inflicting a significant loss on the Devilish Dao, even resulting in the deaths of two Core Formation cultivators on the spot.

This heavy blow to the Six Devilish Sects naturally led to great celebration and boosted the morale of the Seven Sects! Enraged, the Six Devilish Sects launched a massive offensive. The Seven Sects, not to be outdone, arrayed their formations to meet the attack. The two sides clashed at two border areas between Yue State, Jiang State, and Cheqi State. Over a dozen major battles ensued, with casualties reaching tens of thousands of cultivators. Even seven or eight Core Formation cultivators perished, making the conflict extremely brutal!

The fearful expression of the cultivator who delivered spirit stones that day, as he recounted the events, shocked Han Li and the other cultivators present, making them secretly grateful not to be embroiled in a battle of that scale. Just seeing how many Core Formation cultivators had died made it easy to imagine how terrifying the scene must have been!

However, the Six Devilish Sects, truly one of the two major powers in the Southern Heaven Region, possessed strength incomparable to that of Yue State's cultivation world. After seven or eight battles, the Seven Sects clearly could no longer withstand the relentless assault from their opponents. If not for the Seven Sects having foresightedly deployed several grand restriction formations on their territory, allowing them to rely on these formations to resist stubbornly, they would likely have been defeated and fallen long ago. Even so, the Seven Sects would not be able to hold out for much longer.

However, just as Yue State was in a precarious situation, cultivators from the two neighboring medium-sized states, Yuanwu State and Zijin State, finally arrived to provide support, having been invited by the Seven Sects. It turned out that even before the war with the Six Devilish Sects began, the Seven Sects had wisely dispatched eloquent individuals as envoys to both states to request aid. Upon receiving this message, the cultivation sects in these two states naturally feared that if the Devilish Dao conquered Yue State, their own states would also be annexed. Thus, the envoys didn't need to expend much effort in pleading for aid; instead, sharing a common hatred for the enemy, the majority of cultivators from both states gathered and rushed to support Yue State under the cover of night.

With the addition of cultivators from these two states, the disparity in strength between Yue State and the Six Devilish Sects was finally not too great. Relying on the power of their defensive grand formations, the Seven Sects actually managed to withstand the Devilish Dao's offensive. This shattered the Six Devilish Sects' intention to conquer Yue State in one fell swoop. The conflict between the two sides fell into a stalemate, turning into a war of attrition. While large-scale battles became less frequent, small-scale surprise attacks increased concurrently behind the lines of both Yue State and the Six Devilish Sects. In particular, areas producing raw materials and spirit stones became primary targets for ambushes by both the Seven Sects and the Devilish Dao.

However, Han Li's spirit stone mine, perhaps due to its distance from the battlefront, had miraculously not yet been harassed by the enemy. It was known that other spirit stone mines of similar scale had already been ambushed three or four times. However, the more this was the case, the more uneasy the Seven Sects felt about the location. Half a month prior, they had dispatched another group of over twenty cultivators as reinforcements, led by a late-Foundation Establishment cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain. As a result, the spirit mine's defenses were greatly bolstered! Yet, Han Li sensed an impending storm, prompting him to cultivate the Great Evolution Art even more diligently. The breakthrough to the first layer was now clearly within reach.

Among this second batch of Qi Condensation cultivators who arrived as reinforcements, Han Li surprisingly encountered an acquaintance: Zhong Wu, the plain-looking man he had met during the Bloody Trial. Zhong Wu also recognized Han Li. However, upon seeing Han Li's current Foundation Establishment cultivation, Zhong Wu's expression shifted through several shades of surprise, jealousy, and envy, truly astonishing Han Li. Finally, Zhong Wu gave a wry smile, stepped forward to bow to Han Li, and, with a hint of reluctance, addressed him as 'Senior'. Han Li, suppressing his smile, simply acknowledged him faintly. Recalling Zhong Wu's varied expressions, Han Li, who had been meditating, couldn't help but smile knowingly and opened his eyes. At that moment, his mental state was not suitable for continuing to cultivate the Great Evolution Art; he decided to wait until his mind settled down.

Time flew by. Han Li spent another month in this routine: a small portion of his time on guard duty, and the majority on cultivating the Great Evolution Art and crafting puppet beasts. By then, he clearly sensed that the first layer of the Great Evolution Art was on the verge of completion. This filled Han Li with both surprise and joy!

To be fair, Han Li's aptitude, whether for cultivating Five-Element Dao Arts or Azure Essence Sword Arts, had always been somewhat mediocre! However, cultivating the Great Evolution Art had been remarkably smooth, without the slightest feeling of difficulty. It felt almost effortless, like water flowing into a channel, which not only excited Han Li but also left him secretly amazed. Furthermore, after more than a dozen failed attempts, the first Level Two puppet beast was finally refined two days prior. Although it was somewhat cruder and felt slightly less powerful than the puppets of the Thousand Embroidery Sect and others, this still made Han Li beam with joy. He planned to mass-produce them once he had other cultivators bring him more raw materials.

However, today, as Han Li was meditating in his quiet room, a sudden, extremely sharp whistle pierced the air outside, followed by someone shouting loudly: "It's bad! The Devilish Dao is attacking! Everyone out, prepare for battle!" Han Li's heart tensed, and he walked out of his quiet room with a solemn expression. At this moment, the Seven Sects' cultivators, who had been resting quietly in their various earthen caves, emerged with similar solemnity as Han Li. After exchanging glances, they all exited their dwellings.

Xuan Le of the Masked Moon Sect and Lu Tianmeng, the late-Foundation Establishment cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain, floated expressionlessly beneath the Four Fiends Formation, gazing towards the top of the grand canyon. Behind them, the dozen or so cultivators on duty looked somewhat uneasy! But upon seeing Han Li and the other reinforcements emerge, their expressions visibly steadied. Following Xuan Le's gaze, Han Li indeed spotted enemy traces above the grand canyon. Their numbers appeared small, only twenty to thirty individuals. However, Han Li knew very well that since they dared to infiltrate so deeply behind enemy lines for a sneak attack, the attackers were likely all at least Foundation Establishment cultivators, and wouldn't bring along Qi Condensation 'drag-alongs'. Therefore, they were still at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength! This battle was likely not going to be easy!