Chapter 1854: Precedent

As long as Zixuan demon cultivators were not given the opportunity to register on Wanxiang Island, then even if Zixuan Island had more powerful cultivators, there would still only be three officially recognized Moon-level guardians.

"Conquering Zixuan is no easy feat," Tang Jun frowned. "Over the years, I've traveled to many spiritual islands, including several top-tier ones. Their defensive arrays have accumulated power over long ages, operating at full capacity at all times, making their defenses extremely strong. For now, it's virtually impossible to break them unless a Sun-level cultivator intervenes."

This was undoubtedly what troubled Lu Ye. He was exceptionally skilled in combat, showing no fear even when facing the Zixuan fleet alone and achieving considerable results. However, in conflicts on Wanxiang Sea, simply killing enemies was ineffective, unless one could wipe out all Zixuan demon cultivators.

Luan Xiao'e said, "If Junior Brother truly intends to conquer Zixuan, all cultivators from our Three Realms Island must be mobilized. Not only that, we'll also need to borrow troops from Four Directions Island. With five Moon-level cultivators and four thousand others, if we play our cards right, there might be an opportunity."

Upon hearing this, Lu Ye slowly shook his head. "That's not advisable. The defending side already holds an absolute advantage in warfare. I previously scouted Zixuan's defenses a bit, and their fortifications are no joke. If a large army were to attack, there would be significant casualties before even getting close."

He Baichuan suggested, "What about infiltrating Zixuan again, like last time? You have the Small Flower World; you could bring people in as a surprise attack, disrupting them from within."

This time, before Lu Ye could speak, Tang Jun shook his head. "That won't work. Zixuan's scale and foundation are completely different from Baiyue's. Putting aside whether Lu Ye even has a chance to infiltrate Zixuan now, given their heightened vigilance, even if he did, the Small Flower World has limited capacity and cannot hold too many cultivators. If those people were to scatter inside Zixuan, they would likely be completely wiped out."

Lu Ye had returned mainly to brainstorm ideas, as he had no clear direction himself. Unfortunately, his discussion with the island's Moon-level cultivators yielded no breakthroughs.

With no other option, they dispersed.

The Talent Tree avatar was monitoring activity on Zixuan Island, but for now, nothing was apparent. It seemed that after suffering such a significant loss, Zixuan was also hesitant to act rashly.

It made sense. Zixuan had initiated the conflict, assembling a massive fleet, only for Lu Ye to single-handedly fight his way back, resulting in the death of a late-Moon-level cultivator and hundreds of Star-level ones. His powerful method of slaying Yuan Che undoubtedly made the Zixuan Moon-level cultivators extremely wary. Until a suitable countermeasure against him emerged, Zixuan would absolutely not send out troops again.

With countless cultivators now observing the situation, Zixuan must be under immense pressure. After all, they had already issued threats. As a top-tier spiritual island, having someone block their doorstep meant losing face, and it wouldn't be easy to regain it.

Unless Lionheart himself intervened, no one from Zixuan had the courage to face Lu Ye one-on-one. However, given Zixuan's current closed-door stance, Lionheart also seemed to have reservations.

As if sensing Lu Ye's frustration, Tang Jun brought several pots of wine to him a moment later. In the past, he rarely stayed on Three Realms Island, usually moving among the various spiritual islands in Wanxiang Sea. But with the current tense situation, he dared not venture out casually.

The elder and the younger sat opposite each other. Tang Jun had found some snacks from somewhere, and they ate and drank, completely at ease.

"Actually, I've been thinking, it's not us who should be anxious, but Zixuan," Tang Jun said with an air of confident strategizing. "Look, you're blockading Zixuan's gate, preventing their cultivators from going out. Their reputation as a top-tier power and spiritual island is at stake. They can endure this for a while, but certainly not for too long. So, if we just wait and see, they will definitely make a move, and that's when we'll find an opportunity for a breakthrough."

Lu Ye naturally understood this principle, but the key was how long they would have to wait. A year, two years, or three to five years?

If Zixuan were to lower itself and endure for so long, Lu Ye couldn't afford to wait.

Wei Po had died tragically right before his eyes. The incident was sudden, and Lu Ye had no idea Lionheart would commit such a cruel act, leaving him no time to rescue Wei Po.

Although he had no personal relationship with Wei Po, and they had barely interacted, ultimately, Wei Po was a cultivator of Three Realms Island, Luan Xiao'e's junior martial brother. His life and death concerned the honor of all cultivators on Three Realms Island.

"I'll make a bold guess: before long, someone will come to mediate," Tang Jun said, picking up a roasted spiritual fruit resembling a peanut and tossing it into his mouth.

Lu Ye silently took a sip of wine. "When we fought Baiyue, someone also came to mediate."

He remembered the person introduced himself as Huanglong Guchuan, a lobbyist invited by Yu Huan. Lu Ye had ignored him, and Guchuan, seeing Lu Ye's resolute attitude, had said no more and departed freely.

"If it's just one person mediating, you can disregard them. But what if there are two, three, or more? What if someone even invites Mangdang?"

Lu Ye looked up at him.

Tang Jun continued, "This is very likely to happen. The connections between these top-tier spiritual islands are very close. And speaking of unrelated matters, your display of power this time was impressive, but that terrifying record also truly makes others wary. If you can block Zixuan Island's gate today, will you block other top-tier spiritual islands' gates one day? Everyone says you are the foremost person below the Sun-level. You are only at the mid-Moon-level now. If you advance to the late-Moon-level later, won't you completely dominate all Moon-level cultivators? The survival of Zixuan Island might not directly involve the interests of other powers, but with a variable like you appearing in Wanxiang Sea, they must take precautions. If the situation develops to the point where all powers wish for Three Realms Island and Zixuan to cease hostilities and make peace, then we will have no choice. Because if we don't comply with their wishes, Three Realms Island will become the public enemy of the entire Wanxiang Sea. Where would we then find a foothold in this vast Wanxiang Sea? Furthermore, we must also consider that old fellow Yuan Du; that scoundrel will definitely be instigating things from behind the scenes."

Lu Ye narrowed his eyes, looking at Old Tang. "I feel like you're a lobbyist yourself right now!"

Old Tang tossed another spiritual fruit into his mouth, crunching it loudly. "Right? You can already feel the pressure from the overwhelming tide. I'm just analyzing the future possibilities with you, but this possibility is truly going to happen, and it won't be too far off!" His expression turned serious. "So, if we truly want to take Zixuan, we must act swiftly. We need to settle the dust before that possibility arises. Only then can we silence everyone!"

Lu Ye nodded, understanding Old Tang's intention in telling him all this.

Although he had been somewhat eager to conquer Zixuan Island, he hadn't truly realized these potential issues. But listening to Old Tang, he immediately understood that this matter truly could not be delayed.

"Have there been no instances of top-tier spiritual islands being breached in Wanxiang Sea?" Lu Ye asked. Old Tang had been traveling around Wanxiang Sea for years, making countless friends, and was certainly much better informed than he was.

Tang Jun shook his head. "No, it has never happened. Because under the existing rules of Wanxiang Sea, no power can break a top-tier spiritual island's defensive array, so conquering them is out of the question. So, young man, if we can achieve this, it would be an unprecedented feat. The prestige of Three Realms Island, even if not officially a top-tier spiritual island, would surpass one." As he spoke, he changed his tone, appearing contemplative. "However... although no one has ever conquered a top-tier spiritual island, there have been instances where a top-tier spiritual island's defensive array failed."

"Oh?" Lu Ye's spirits immediately lifted. "Tell me more!"

Tang Jun said, "Actually, it wasn't really destroyed, but rather it had a problem and was shut down, then subsequently repaired... Have you heard of Illusion Sea Island?"

Lu Ye nodded. "Of course."

There was a finite number of top-tier spiritual islands in Wanxiang Sea, and Illusion Sea Island was one of them. Even if Lu Ye were more uninformed, he would have heard of it.

"Is it said to be the smallest of the top-tier spiritual islands?"

"That's right," Tang Jun nodded. "Among all top-tier spiritual islands in the entire Wanxiang Sea, the largest is undoubtedly Wanxiang Island, as it's the spiritual island occupied by the native star system's forces. While other top-tier spiritual islands vary in size, the differences aren't significant. Only Illusion Sea Island is remarkably small; even now, it only has one thousand cultivators stationed there."

Being able to accommodate only one thousand stationed cultivators, its scale was indeed not large.

"You're quite proficient in array formations, so you should understand one thing: the longer a defensive array accumulates power, the stronger its defense becomes."

Lu Ye nodded. He naturally understood the operating mechanism of defensive arrays. Simply put, a defensive array is both a grand array and a container. The energy generated within a spiritual island, apart from what cultivators use for cultivation, is generally absorbed and stored by the defensive array within its foundations, thereby maintaining the array's operation. Therefore, the longer a defensive array exists, the more energy it stores, the stronger its defense becomes, and the longer it can be maintained.

This was also the fundamental reason for the huge disparity between Zixuan Island's and Baiyue Island's defensive arrays. The former's defensive array had been operating for tens of thousands of years, while the latter's had only been for eight hundred years; they were simply incomparable.

By the same token, when Lu Ye had led people to destroy Baiyue Island's array foundation hall, it was equivalent to destroying several of the array's energy storage points. While making the defensive array unstable, it also greatly weakened its defensive power, which allowed He Baichuan to lead troops to forcefully breach the Baiyue array from the outside.

"Illusion Sea Island originally didn't have a thousand cultivators stationed there, but five hundred. Because the living quarters for cultivators needed to be reasonably laid out, five hundred was actually just right. As a result, a problem arose: the energy consumed by five hundred cultivators cultivating on the island wasn't enough. More energy was being absorbed and stored by the defensive array. At first, there were no issues, but over time, the array foundations storing energy reached their limit, and the entire Illusion Sea Island's defensive array began to operate at super-capacity. While its defensive power significantly increased, it also came with the risk of collapse. Under duress, the cultivators of Illusion Sea Island deactivated the defensive array, dispersed all the stored energy from the array foundations, and reconfigured the setup. Since that incident, Illusion Sea Island has transferred in more cultivators to be stationed, specifically to consume more of the energy generated within the island. To this day, Illusion Sea Island's defensive array has had no further problems."