"What happened?"
The nine Mahayana-rank cultivators and the crowd of Heaven Dragon World experts were utterly shocked. How long had these ten Peak Unity cultivators been inside before they came running out so pathetically? Everyone bore hideous blade marks or gaps crushed by the grinding stones. Only seven made it out! The remaining three had turned into a rain of shredded flesh and blood in the sky.
Sure enough, a moment later, two incomplete heads, devoid of all life and energy, rolled out of the passage and floated in the endless void.
The faces of the nine Mahayana cultivators turned as dark as water! Those nine Unity-stage cultivators were all top figures in the Heaven Dragon World! Even if they were suppressed by the world-power of the Star-Sea, this was too exaggerated! What kind of terrifying existence could injure ten Peak Unity experts to this extent so quickly?
Only the three Mahayana Emperor Demons were unsurprised. 'What a joke. Even our Demon Lord's wisp of consciousness was taken out. You whelps dare to act arrogant inside?' Without world-power protection, that wasn't just looking for a fight; it was looking for death! It was lucky the entrance wasn't completely blocked, or they would have all been left inside.
"What happened just now?" a Mahayana cultivator surrounded by a spatial storm asked.
"A cultivator who has comprehended the Great Dao of Life and Death is guarding the entrance with a demonic blade. The moment we entered, he attacked with suicidal intent!"
"The opponent seems to have entered the second stage of the Dao-Merging state. And the demonic intent of that blade is terrifyingly strong. It feels like..."
"Like what? Speak up!"
"It feels no weaker than the demonic intent of Senior Emperor Yuan."
As those words fell, every figure in the Heaven Dragon World that had been standing calmly suddenly looked over. "Is what he said true?" a Mahayana cultivator asked.
In the face of the inquiry, the other surviving experts nodded in unison. Even bitter rivals did not refute the claim.
"And the world-power of the Star-Sea seems to have grown stronger. Even with our world-essence marks, we couldn't completely avoid the suppression. Our power was significantly inhibited! Plus, the opponent is a suicidal madman who fights anyone with his life... so it ended up like this!"
Dammit, who would fight to the death with such a lunatic? They were all leaders of their respective regions with noble status and countless years ahead of them. Who wanted to gamble their life against a madman? If they cooperated fully, they might have a chance, but clearly, they couldn't.
More importantly, any benefits obtained in the Star-Sea wouldn't go to them. Was there anything that could help them break through to the Mahayana stage? If not, it held no attraction for them.
It was truly hard to imagine how such a monster had appeared in the Star-Sea. The second stage of the Dao-Merging state! And in the Great Dao of Life and Death! His level of comprehension was not far from theirs, but because of that special state—and because his Life-Death Dao seemed to be a very powerful branch—he was unstoppable.
That Demon Blade was also very strange. They couldn't understand how a blade could possess such horrific demonic intent. The Star-Sea world had always been monitored by them; existences of this level should have disappeared many tens of thousands of years ago. What was happening inside?
They tried to perform a divination, but the heavenly secrets and Dao-power were chaotic beyond measure, making any deduction impossible.
After learning the details of the battle, the Mahayana cultivators of the Heaven Dragon World fell silent. This was troublesome. The news of the demons' defeat was basically confirmed. And the Star-Sea world had not become weaker; it seemed even stronger!
They knew the combat strength of this demon branch very well. An existence that could nearly wipe them out was not something the few people they brought could easily defeat, especially under world-power suppression. Furthermore, the most troublesome Earth Immortal in the Star-Sea had not yet appeared.
Seeing the Mahayana demons looking pleased at their failure, the three Emperor Demons secretly felt quite good. 'We told you they weren't to be trifled with, but you didn't listen!' Just now, several Peak Unity experts of the Heaven Dragon World had died, and others were heavily injured. Their hearts must be bleeding.
It was extremely difficult for human cultivators to reach the Peak Unity stage. Unlike the demons, who could mass-produce Saint Demons as long as the Demon Nest existed, as long as there were resources.
But before the three Emperor Demons could enjoy themselves for long, the Mahayana cultivators of the Heaven Dragon World—who seemed to have held a secret discussion—suddenly erupted! The nine Mahayana powerhouses surrounded them and gave them a severe beating. They stripped many scales, claws, and horns from their bodies and sealed them. Only when there was nothing left that Mahayana-rank cultivators found valuable did they let the demons go.
The three Emperor Demons were furious but dared not speak. They were truly afraid that if they pushed too hard, these Mahayana cultivators would actually kill them. Left with no choice, they could only flee the outskirts of the Star-Sea and return to the Demon Realm. Their bit of schadenfreude had vanished, replaced by endless humiliation and resentment. The Heaven Dragon World was too powerful and had close ties to many cultivation worlds; even the Demon Nest wouldn't easily touch this colossus.
"Let's return!" the nine Mahayana cultivators ordered after dividing the items taken from the Emperor Demons.
"Sect Master, are we not dealing with the Star-Sea world?" a Unity-stage cultivator asked through transmission.
"Deal with them? How? Do you know how many people would have to die to take it? Even with world-power suppression, whether we can take it is still a question!"
"Will we start a world-level war?"
"We'll see. The cost of starting one is too high, and it's not like there are no other ways. We'll go back and research it further."
With the Heaven Dragon World's strength, winning a world-level war against the Star-Sea was no problem, but the price was too high. Based on today's situation, they would have to pay a massive cost since Mahayana cultivators couldn't intervene. Once their combat power was too heavily damaged, the consequences would be unpredictable. The coordinates of the Heaven Dragon World were not a secret, and the cost of attacking another human cultivation world was also high.
For now, they had to find a suitable way to take the Star-Sea with the minimal cost.
On the other side of the Star-Sea passage, Meng Tianqi let out a sigh of relief when he saw that no one was attacking for a long time. With the world-power's suppression of outsiders, he had barely managed to kill three Unity experts and drive back the other seven through sheer ferocity. He had also suffered significant injuries.
"I hope there won't be another war of this level in the short term."
He could barely persist, but the Star-Sea world could no longer afford it. Without a period of rest, the world's heritage would be completely drained. In this war against the Demon Realm, the potential of the survivors had been squeezed to the limit, and their mental states were stretched to the breaking point. It was hard to predict what would happen if a new war arrived.
One thing was certain: if a large portion of the remaining ten percent died, the world's heritage would be wiped out, leading to a severe generational gap that might take tens of thousands of years to recover from. Conversely, if they could rest, the Star-Sea would undergo a total transformation.
The current Star-Sea world already possessed the potential to shock the universe! It just needed more time to grow. Especially the warriors who had crawled out of that hell!
"Old friend, stay here with me. Until this passage is fully repaired, we won't get any rest."
Stabbing the Demon Blade back into the ground, Meng Tianqi closed his eyes once more. He was exhausted and needed time to recover. But the passage had been blasted open, and repairing it would take at least several centuries. During this time, aside from Qi Ping, only he could guard this place. He didn't trust anyone else unless Ji Qingyue broke through to the Unity stage to take over for him.
This World-Domain War, while a near-death experience, was indeed an opportunity for Void Refinement and Unity cultivators. Without the abundant spiritual energy of the battlefield and the energy devoured from the demons, it would have taken forever to break through given the current resources of the Star-Sea.
Meng Tianqi also thought of the taboo insects Sister Nan was raising. It was better to stay here; if those insects escaped, who knew the consequences? Even if it wasn't the Star-Sea, what if they devoured other worlds and caused a cosmic disaster? From the current situation, even facing the demons again, Meng Tianqi didn't want to deal with those horrific taboo insects, because no one knew how to kill them.
When they were weak, they could be sealed. But what if their numbers and strength reached the Void Refinement or Unity stage? How would one fight then? Uncertainty and despair were the hardest things to bear.
In the blink of an eye, three thousand years passed!
Fortunately, during these three thousand years, the Star-Sea world suffered no more attacks. The Heaven Dragon World, for some unknown reason, did not step here again. Meng Tianqi guarded the entrance with the Demon Blade for three millennia, only encountering the intrusion of a single Void-Aether Behemoth. But the behemoth didn't succeed; instead, it became nourishment for the recovery of Meng Tianqi and the Demon Blade.
With that massive physical supply, Meng Tianqi's injuries had fully recovered, and his cultivation had begun to progress slowly. However, the greatest change was the Demon Blade beside him. A solid black demonic shadow now sat cross-legged atop the blade! With every breath, its aura grew stronger, having recovered to the Void Refinement stage. The current Demon Blade no longer needed to root itself in Meng Tianqi's Dantian to sustain long battles.
The only thing that felt strange to Meng Tianqi was that Bai Liyun's memories still showed no signs of returning.
Because of Meng Tianqi's vigilance, the Star-Sea world entered a true post-war takeoff phase! First, on the world-level, by devouring a portion of the Demon Realm's world-essence, the Star-Sea successfully filled some of its own essence deficit. This ensured the world did not enter a Dharma-Ending Age; instead, signs of spiritual recovery appeared! Under the regulations of the Nine Domains, the world entered a virtuous cycle.
Spirit veins recovered rapidly, and spiritual qi increased. The frequency of natural opportunities and spiritual treasures also rose. The only thing that decreased was the birth rate of specially talented cultivators; in particular, the birth of special physiques dropped significantly, as if the war three thousand years ago had overdrawn that part of the essence.
Fortunately, the impact was not too great. The reduction in genius cultivators did not affect the normal development of the world. As the talent cultivation system improved, construction talent in all fields increased steadily. From core industries like alchemy, talismans, artifacts, and arrays to spirit fields, spirit animal husbandry, and construction, everything improved year after year.
The cultivation world began to see strange and new things that had never existed before. In three thousand years, the entire Star-Sea world had completely changed!
However, the most startling change was the explosive increase in mid-level combat strength! Especially those who returned alive from the World-Domain battlefield; their strength entered an unprecedented period of growth. After returning, everyone's strength grew rapidly, far exceeding those who hadn't entered.
With these cultivators to suppress the world, the Star-Sea world saw no major friction for three thousand years. There was no extreme greed or exploitation from top to bottom, nor was there unregulated mining. Instead, they began to guide people on how to study and reform nature itself to make it more prosperous—because those who returned from the war knew the price of draining the pond to catch the fish, and they knew exactly where the true enemies came from.
Most importantly, they could all clearly feel that the world Qi Ping created was the best choice for almost everyone.
Meanwhile, within the Seven-Colored Immortal Vein of the Nine Domains, Qi Ping, who had slept for three thousand years, finally began to stir.