Chapter 1689: Please Begin Your Performance

Old Madam Zhu transformed, performing a highly complex maneuver. She deployed twelve Bloodfang Guards and three groups of small spiders to manage the grand formation, thereby freeing up more personnel for pill refinement.

By sunrise the next day, the Imperial Dewfall paused, leaving everyone utterly exhausted.

However, with time short and the task critical, pill refinement could not cease for a moment!

He Lingchuan divided everyone into two groups: one for pill refinement, one for rest, rotating every three hours.

As soon as night fell, the Imperial Dewfall descended once more, seemingly eager to return.

This time, it intensified further, reaching the intensity of a heavy downpour.

Anyone standing outdoors would be drenched completely, from head to toe, inside and out, in less than ten seconds.

To be drenched by the Imperial Dewfall—what luxurious joy it was!

Who could have imagined such a thing in the past hundred years?

From that night on, there were virtually no monster invasions. With spiritual rain pouring across this world, it was freely available everywhere, making any scramble for it unnecessary.

Another day passed.

And another.

The joy of having their faces washed by the spiritual dew remained.

Fortunately, that night, another two hundred Black Armored Soldiers arrived. With more personnel at He Lingchuan's disposal, the pressure of collecting and refining the spiritual dew significantly decreased.

However, the pill furnaces could not rest.

After all, they were not immortal treasures like the Qiongshi Pill Cauldron; prolonged, high-intensity refinement with fierce flames would inevitably damage them.

From the fourth day onward, furnaces began to explode or rupture in succession.

If one broke, it was immediately replaced, as stock was plentiful.

During these nights, the entire world seemed to quiet down.

The space between heaven and earth was filled with the fresh scent of spiritual rain.

By the seventh day, the Imperial Dewfall's flow gradually diminished.

On the night of the ninth day, the very last drop fell before dawn, and then it was over!

From beginning to end, this round of Imperial Dewfall lasted for nine full nights!

Its duration and abundant flow were unprecedented in over 150 years.

By the tenth sunrise, seventy to eighty furnaces had been rendered useless. Everyone's eyes were bloodshot like a rabbit's, with dark circles beneath them.

After the last batch of pills was refined, He Lingchuan himself could no longer endure it, and he ordered a three-day holiday for everyone to recuperate their vitality.

Everyone was both pained and delighted, remarking that while the Imperial Dewfall was wonderful, a few more sessions like this would surely cost them their lives.

However, their recovery from fatigue was much quicker than anticipated.

Even someone as robust as He Lingchuan, who previously subjected himself to such brutal exertion, would take at least a dozen hours to recover, given it was a double torment, both mental and physical.

This time, however, it took a maximum of five hours.

Other Black Armored Soldiers were full of vigor in under ten hours.

The underlying reason was the greatly improved environment; everyone could feel the spiritual energy swirling around their nostrils with every breath they took.

They breathed spiritual energy during the day and at night;

They breathed spiritual energy while eating and while practicing their cultivation;

They breathed spiritual energy while gambling, and even… uh, while on the latrine. What a novel and luxurious experience!

The full nine-night eruption of Imperial Dewfall directly elevated the spiritual energy in the human realm by several levels.

Previously, when spiritual rain descended, it would saturate the land, and its essence would only dissipate into the air much later. This time, however, such saturated irrigation filled the air, soil, and water with dense spiritual energy.

Even ordinary mortals, typically insensitive to such things, could personally feel its presence.

Moreover, this was just the beginning. As time progressed, more spiritual energy would be released from mountains and earth veins, further significantly increasing the spiritual energy concentration in the world.

Such an environment would allow spiritual energy to gradually permeate the bones, muscles, and meridians of living beings, making their bodies stronger and their lifespans longer.

In simple terms, it meant a higher starting point and better prospects for development.

For cultivators, this was the truly desirable world, as their potential upper limits had been raised.

The demise of merely one true god, several lesser gods, and their subordinate deities brought such profound benefits to the human realm. He Lingchuan was filled with endless longing for the ancient times!

How abundant must the spiritual energy have been in that era to support immortals and mythical beasts in unleashing world-destroying powers, and to nurture divine beings like the Black Dragon!

He Lingchuan also clearly understood that a dynamic of rise and fall had been established; these good times would continue, and the spiritual energy of the world would keep recovering.

Starting from this massive eruption of Imperial Dewfall, the entire world would be vastly different.

Unless—

Unless the human realm's spiritual energy was swiftly plundered again and channeled to the Divine Realm.

One hundred and fifty years ago, the human realm also experienced such a spiritual energy recovery and had a similar opportunity, but failed to seize it properly.

The Divine Realm and this realm, the Sky Demons and the human realm, had always been engaged in a vast, fierce, yet silent competition.

A competition for spiritual energy and for vital survival resources.

And the core factor determining the success or failure of this competition was becoming increasingly evident.

During the Imperial Dewfall, everything in the human realm seemed to pause; once it concluded, the world returned to its clamor.

In the half-month since He Lingchuan left Yaoguo, news from the south had been arriving steadily.

Duocheng was very close to Yaoguo's border, which facilitated his receipt of first-hand intelligence.

On the night of the Yaoguo Palace incident, Bai Tan seized Tianshui City. In the following ten days, he continued his efforts, capturing three surrounding counties and seven townships at a faster pace than He Lingchuan had anticipated.

This achievement was primarily secured within two days of the coup, as the Imperial Dewfall then intensified, making combat difficult for armies.

It was clear that Bai Tan must have rehearsed these military and political strategies for seizing power countless times in advance to execute them with such swiftness and decisiveness.

His initial weakness of insufficient troops at the outset of his uprising was greatly mitigated after capturing Tianshui City.

The generals and officers of Tianshui City, compelled by circumstances, led their troops to surrender to him. Additionally, Bai Tan's original position as head of the Ministry of Justice meant that the city patrol and various prefectural constables were already under his direct authority.

The rapid expansion of Bai Tan's forces also benefited from the eager participation of displaced people.

By leading the displaced to fight wealthy families, redistribute property, and uncover hidden granaries, Bai Tan gained immense prestige among them, enjoying unparalleled popularity for a time. The chaos in Tianshui City shattered the previous power structure, and the displaced, who had once suffered contempt and been treated worse than dogs in Tianshui City, now found a new path to upward mobility—

This path was to join Bai Tan's army, achieve merit, gain wealth, and transform their lives!

"Do you want to find a way out? Do you want to step on those who looked down on you? Then join General Bai's great army!"

Bai Tan's public relations efforts were also effective; he recruited nearly five thousand soldiers within three days, seventy percent of whom were displaced people.

In fact, according to He Lingchuan's estimation, Tianshui City's potential was far greater. However, Bai Tan did not recruit more, clearly retaining some reserves.

This was a very wise approach.

Recruiting soldiers was not a simple numbers game; enlisted soldiers required pay, training, and management. The more there were, the greater the burden.

Bai Tan had just secured Tianshui City, and there were far too many matters to organize.

Meanwhile, along Yaoguo's northern front, Luodian launched a major invasion.

After driving away Yuwen Yong, Qu Ruhai, the Left Zongzhang of Luodian, personally led his large army south, pushing straight to the mouth of the Fuan River in one fell swoop.

If they embarked from the Fuan River mouth and sailed east, disembarking at Zhuxian Port, it would be only eighty li from Tianshui City! Moreover, the Fuan River mouth was a very busy waterway; the Luodian people would only need to acquire dozens of large ships to transport their vanguard across.

Unfortunately, that 'only need to' scenario was not feasible.

General Zhongwu, under the pretense of 'aiding the king,' returned south two steps ahead of Luodian, effectively taking all the boats from the Fuan River mouth.

When Qu Ruhai arrived at the riverbank, he saw only two or three small boats at the dock, completely insufficient for transporting a large army!

If they were to fell timber and build ships on the spot, it would take at least two months.

Thus, Qu Ruhai decisively abandoned the water route and prepared to bypass it by land.

Luodian also had its own calculations: Yaoguo had just undergone internal strife, and the situation would not clear up quickly. If they couldn't capture Tianshui City immediately, they would simply slow their pace and observe the changes.

In any case, as they advanced south, they would seize all the cities and counties along the way.

All these territories would belong to Luodian in the future.

However, Qu Ruhai's calculations didn't last long, as General Zhongwu suddenly turned north to intercept the Luodian army.

Qu Ruhai was furious.

Brokered by Qingyang, the two sides had recently cooperated in Yaoguo's northern territories, successfully outmaneuvering Yuwen Yong; yet, as soon as Zhongwu turned around, he drew his blade against them, showing no respect whatsoever.

Of course, Qu Ruhai was not foolish; he understood Zhongwu's delicate situation.

With the death of the Yao King, Zhongwu's feigned act of 'aiding the king' transformed into a genuine one. If he were to lead his troops back to Tianshui City, he would face legal difficulties:

If he lost, there would be nothing more to say.

However, even if he defeated Bai Tan, Zhongwu could not assert his authority by holding Tianshui City. It was the capital of Yaoguo, and he was a Bixia native, a foreigner; his claim to power would be even less legitimate than Bai Tan's, making it very difficult for the Yao troops under his command to elect him as their king.

He had abandoned Yuwen Yong and the northern Yaoguo campaign to head south. If he didn't fight Bai Tan to the death, his claim of 'aiding the king' would be baseless, and his 'aid' would be seen as fleeing battle!

Furthermore, other factions in Yaoguo were also stirring. Zhongwu certainly didn't want to be the first to clash with Bai Tan, only for a third party to reap the benefits.

He could neither fight nor stay.

Therefore, for him, the simplest solution was to turn north and fight Luodian, which at least provided a justification: 'resisting foreign aggression.'

The Yao army under his command didn't have much objection to this. Warfare inherently depended on opportune timing, favorable terrain, popular support, and luck. Yaoguo's capital had already been seized by Bai Tan, and the country was in turmoil. As a commanding general, Zhongwu naturally had the right to decide when to bide his time and when to avenge the Yao King.

Of course, He Lingchuan knew well that both Zhongwu and Luodian had maintained close ties with Qingyang and jointly participated in the Yaoguo coup. So, was Zhongwu's decision to turn back and avoid engaging Bai Tan at Qingyang's behest?

Even He Lingchuan couldn't determine this. But he was clear on one point:

Zhongwu, under the pretext of resisting Luodian, remained in Yaoguo, certainly harboring ulterior motives.

Good generals are opportunists; Zhongwu would not miss a new turning point if one arose.

This was the performance of an ambitious man.

With the Yao King dead and the Yao court experiencing a coup, the country lacked a supreme ruler.

Consequently, some people in Yaoguo began to harbor active ambitions.

After Tu Han and Shan Zerong led one thousand four to five hundred people in escaping the Yao Royal Palace and withdrawing from Tianshui City, they recruited soldiers and horses along the way under the pretense of 'punishing the rebels.' They then joined forces with the remnants of Yuwen Yong's troops who had retreated from the northern border, reorganizing into a new power.