Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 1908 - 1140: Unpredictable Ghost Sect—Ha, Truly Annoying!

Yue Yao floated gracefully to the front, collected his Lifebound Spiritual Artifact, stored his body in a storage bag, then retrieved a gray pearl and absorbed his Divine Soul into it.

Everything appeared so effortless and casual, yet it felt so elegant.

It was as if she wasn’t killing a person, but offering incense in prayer.

The Void was still shrouded in a heavy mist, as if the silver moon from earlier had never appeared; only traces of aura had yet to dissipate, proving that a battle had just occurred here.

...

The fall of Xing Nan had a significant impact on the situation in the central region of the Wanhua Mountain Range.

Because in this central region, the Unpredictable Ghost Sect only had Xing Nan, a Golden Core Cultivator, stationed there.

His fall meant that in the short term, no one could restrain Yue Yao and Xuanzhen’s actions in the central region.

Thus, the two unleashed their full potential, undertaking grand actions.

Xuanzhen no longer acted alongside Chang Ming and the other two; instead, he let them operate independently. As a result, they sped up the purging of the Yin Soldier Blood Puppets several times over.

Unlike clearing demon beasts with the Yin Soldier army, clearing scattered Yin Soldier Blood Puppets in the woods was much easier.

Because the demon beasts would hide in the woods, whereas the Yin Soldier Blood Puppets moved openly and boldly.

Those unhidden Yin Soldiers were like bonfires in the night, easily detectable by Xuanzhen and the others.

If the number of Yin Soldiers was large, Chang Ming and the others would call for their master’s support; if there were only dozens or one hundred Yin Soldiers, Chang Ming and the others could handle it themselves.

With that, they hunted squad after squad of Yin Soldier Blood Puppets in the mountains, as if it were a hunt.

Meanwhile, Yue Yao continually gathered demon beasts and cultivators at the foot of Taoyuan Mountain, and both were busily engaged in their tasks.

The response of the Unpredictable Ghost Sect was slow, or rather, it wasn’t slow, but their response couldn’t be any faster.

The people of the Unpredictable Ghost Sect were spread out across the Wanhua Mountain Range, making it not easy to communicate.

If Xing Nan were still around, they could quickly send a message to the Soul Refining Hall, but with his death, only some Foundation Establishment disciples remained who found it difficult to report the situation.

The Communication Talisman’s range was too short, and ordinary Foundation Establishment disciples lacked special communication methods, so they had to fly back to the Unpredictable Ghost Sect’s station in the northern part of the Wanhua Mountain Range to report.

This journey back and forth could not possibly be completed in less than half a month, and by the time the Unpredictable Ghost Sect clarified the situation, a month had passed.

By that time, Xuanzhen and Yue Yao had already left the Wanhua Mountain Range.

Yang Zhenshan had advised, "If the enemy advances, we retreat."

With Xing Nan’s fall, the Unpredictable Ghost Sect would surely come for revenge. To avoid being blocked by them, Xuanzhen and Yue Yao wreaked havoc in the Wanhua Mountain Range for half a month before retreating. Yue Yao abandoned the newly established base, leading tens of thousands of demon beasts, mutant beasts, and cultivators to the Wilderness of Ten Thousand Waters.

However, they didn’t enter the Wilderness of Ten Thousand Waters but instead moved south along its edge, entering the Hengshan Mountain Range. After traveling for several days, they returned to Spring Valley.

Although Yang Zhenshan had established an outpost in the Wanhua Mountain Range, he did not abandon Spring Valley, which was a base for maintaining trade with the Hengshan Sect and Wanbao Immortal City; naturally, he wouldn’t abandon Spring Valley.

They returned to Spring Valley, not because their task was complete, but as a strategic relocation.

Yue Yao arranged for the demon beasts and cultivators to settle in the Spirit Source Land. After confirming that no one had followed, Xuanzhen and Yue Yao left the Spirit Source Land with their companions once more.

This time, however, they didn’t depart from Spring Valley but through the Pocket World Gate at the outpost.

Previously, their activities were in the southeast of the central region of the Wanhua Mountain Range, but now they shifted to the southwest of the central region.

Why must they operate in the central region of the Wanhua Mountain Range?

The reason is simple: the Unpredictable Ghost Sect had just taken over the central region, during a time when they were yet to establish a stable foothold, and their forces were at their most dispersed.

In the northern region of the Wanhua Mountain Range, it had already become a land shrouded in Yin energy. Apart from Yin Soldier Blood Puppets, there were almost no other living beings, and no disciples of the Unpredictable Ghost Sect to guard.

Xuanzhen and Yue Yao not only aimed to eliminate the Yin Soldier Blood Puppets but also to gather the remaining demon beasts and cultivators and to capture Yin Soul Ghost Generals from the Unpredictable Ghost Sect’s disciples.

In essence, in the central region of the Wanhua Mountain Range, they could gain numerous benefits, whereas in the northern region, they’d only be able to destroy Yin Soldiers and Blood Puppets, with almost no gain.

While Xuanzhen and Yue Yao were conducting guerrilla warfare in the mountains, the Yin Soldier army from the Unpredictable Ghost Sect was also advancing south towards the Spirit Source Land’s outpost in the southern Wanhua Mountain Range.

Yang Zhenshan personally stationed at the outpost, while Lin Qihe closely monitored the southbound Yin Soldier army from the Unpredictable Ghost Sect.

"Your Excellency, currently the Yin Soldier army is eight hundred miles away from the outpost. At their current speed, it will take them about ten days to reach the outpost!" Lin Qihe said.

"How many troops do they have?" Yang Zhenshan asked.

Lin Qihe pondered for a moment and said, "The first wave consists of around two hundred thousand!"

The Yin Soldier army did not head south all together but was spread from east to west into over ten divisions, each ranging from one hundred thousand to three hundred thousand troops, totaling approximately two million.

The Unpredictable Ghost Sect’s aim was not to slaughter all the demon beasts in the Wanhua Mountain Range but to drive them out and then erect White Bone Pillars to alter the Spiritual Energy environment of the mountain range.

The first wave of the Yin Soldier army facing the outpost would be the first confrontation. Once this wave of around two hundred thousand troops was eliminated, the surrounding divisions would gather.

Thus, the first wave was, paradoxically, the easiest to handle, while subsequent battles would be the toughest.

As the battles continued, surrounding Yin Soldier armies would converge on the outpost, and the Unpredictable Ghost Sect might even mobilize forces from the central or northern parts of the Wanhua Mountain Range for encirclement.

This is why the demon clans couldn’t withstand the Yin Soldier army; the numbers of Yin Soldier Blood Puppets were simply too overwhelming.

Based on past experiences, the ratio of Yin Soldiers to Blood Puppets in the army was about one to twenty, meaning among two hundred thousand Yin Soldiers, there would be around ten thousand Yin Soldiers equivalent to ten thousand Foundation Establishment Cultivators, with the remaining one hundred ninety thousand being Blood Puppets, equivalent to Golden Body Realm Martial Artists and late-stage Qi Refining Cultivators.

In terms of numbers, the Spirit Source Land could not compare to the Unpredictable Ghost Sect, but if it came to just defending, the Spirit Source Land was not without fighting strength.

The outpost was not large, covering just over ten square miles, including the adjacent mountain peaks.

This limited the scale of the battlefield, as even with numerous Yin Soldier Blood Puppets, only a few hundred thousand could be used for siege, with excessive numbers being unable to expand.

The greatest challenge of this war was not merely fending off the Yin Soldier army’s siege but sustaining the defense against continual assaults, which could last months or even over a year.

The protective array was therefore crucial for maintaining such prolonged defense.

Thinking of the array, Yang Zhenshan summoned Ma Qiuyan and Ning Yun and asked, "How is the array setup going?"

Ma Qiuyan and Ning Yun exchanged glances and said, "The array hubs and nodes have been completed, and it’s operational. The next step is connecting it to the Earth Veins and the Spirit Veins!"

"How long will it take to connect to the Earth Veins and Spirit Veins?" Yang Zhenshan inquired.

Large arrays typically need connection to the Earth Veins and Spirit Veins because running them consumes massive amounts of Spiritual Energy, and relying solely on Spirit Stones would require an astronomical quantity.

Of course, the Earth Veins and Spirit Veins have their limits, yet most of the time, an array collapses not due to reaching these limits but because the defensive capability of the array is breached by powerful attacks.

The array set up by Ma Qiuyan and Ning Yun for the outpost was the Yellow Earth Thick Spirit Array, a Third-order Array focused on defense, lacking any offensive power but with superior protective capabilities.

Nonetheless, the array demanded much from the Earth Veins and Spirit Veins. The outpost’s Spirit Vein was only second-order top-grade, but the Earth Veins were very rich; the Earth Veins in the Wanhua Mountain Range were quite substantial, making up for the inadequate grade of the Spirit Vein.