"Are you sure itâs a good idea to bring so many people?" The Romantic Scholar asked while fanning herself, acting all elegant and sophisticated. "If someone attacks our base, the people left behind wonât last long."
"There is strength in numbers," Madam Chu calmly answered. "By working together, we can deal with the problem as soon as possible and return before our enemy can react."
Her eyes fixated on the Five Kings who were floating above their head, working together to summon the Twelve Firmament Heavenly Emperorâs inheritance. A spatial vortex was slowly condensing around these five, but it was highly unstable, forcing these vessels to work extra hard to prevent the portal from disappearing for good.
"Youâve left a path of retreat in case something goes wrong, right?"
"Of course," Madam Chu nodded.
"Good." The Romantic Scholar decided not to say anymore. Her role as advisor is to advise, not to tell her superior what to do or treat them as if they were incompetent. Time passed, and the spatial vortex finally stabilized. However, the Two Sovereigns and Three Kings did not immediately leave their spots since they were in a special array.
Instead, Madam Chu cooperated with her King Vessel and led the army toward the portal. She did not immediately enter. Instead, she glanced at Ying Zheng, who held the position of the Third Sovereign. "There is no problem, right?"
"I had triple checked everything, and there is no issue," Ying Zheng replied. As the person at the center of the array, he was more than capable of uttering these words.
"Do it a fourth time," Madam Chu ordered. However, Ying Zheng did not follow her order. Instead, he handed the central control of the summoning array to her. As a ruler, he knows how to ease his superiorâs mind. Madam Chu glanced at him before taking the control talisman. With two-fifths control of the array, the madam felt more reassured after she checked everything herself.
"You did a good job," she praised while handing back the talisman to Ying Zheng. Madam Chu rewarded Ying Zheng handsomely afterward. The Tribunal Lord continued the previous military point system despite the dire situation. After all, more than ever, these soldiers needed a reason to continue fighting. As such, the things available for exchange became even more plentiful.
"Letâs go," Madam Chu ordered, and all the chosen soldiers followed her into the spatial portal. Ying Zheng frowned as he watched the group disappear. Twelve Firmament Heavenly Emperorâs inheritance was very tempting to him, but the Jade Butterfly Pendant had calculated misfortune in this trip. And as much as Ying Zheng wanted to get his hands on such an inheritance that may be perfectly suited for him, he valued his life more.
"Why didnât you go with them?" Dugu Baitian suddenly asked.
"Why do you care what I do?" Ying Zheng coldly looked at him before returning to his spot in the formation, leaving a squinting Dugu Baitian.
"The Twelve Firmament Heavenly Emperorâs Saint Path is perfectly suited for Ying Zheng to find inspiration, yet he gave up such an opportunity. Did he find something?" Dugu Baitian thought. After dealing with each other for so long, he understood what kind of person Ying Zheng was and how he operated.
"Letâs play it safe," Dugu Baitian thought. Just as he was about to focus on the task at hand, Dugu Baitian suddenly sensed something happening to his main body. Without hesitation, he closed his eyes to synchronize. The process lasted a few minutes, and when he opened his eyes, no one noticed the hidden helplessness in Dugu Baitianâs eyes.
"Maybe, this is the only path," he sighed to himself.
...
Madam Chu looked around her with the Dragon-Phoenix Ring floating above everybodyâs head, protecting against a sudden attack. The expeditioners found themselves in this endless plain with nothing but green grass in sight. However, Madam Chu did not have the time to think about this environment as she realized a few things.
First, the power of the True Saint Artifact was reduced to half its previous power. Second, her divine sense or any of her extraordinary senses were limited to a radius of less than 1000 kilometers. Third, the space in this inheritance was reinforced beyond her comprehension; anyway, even if she pushed the artifacts to the limit, she could not break the space â no, she couldnât even bend it enough for small-scale teleportation.
"What a terrifying restriction," the Romantic Scholar commented. "I donât think we can even fly more than one hundred meters above the ground."
Madam Chu frowned. With a flick of her wrist, she created a small bird that flew to the sky. Unfortunately, as soon as the creature reached the hundred-meter mark, a terrifying power blasted it into oblivion. The madamâs frown thickened. That power was enough to annihilate most of the Saints here.
"Do you think this is some kind of test?" the Romantic Scholar asked.
"Maybe," Madam Chu nodded. Right now, there is too little information to go on. "Pass my order: tell everybody to be on guard. Weâre marching forward."
With just a few words, this vast army of thousands of Saints and hundreds of millions of Paragons began a long and eternal march. At first, everything seemed normal until everyone realized the surroundings had remained unchanged. Who were they? Saints and Paragons â Conceptual Beings, many of whom have already begun the process of transcending realities and their limitations. Even if they couldnât fly or teleport, how long can they travel on foot? Yet, after traveling such a distance, the surroundings remained the same.
At that point, many people concluded this was a test of the Twelve Firmament Heavenly Emperorâs inheritance and gritted their teeth to endure. But soon, everybody realized something horrifying: their endurance was running out. The first to feel it was Madam Chu. Throughout this journey, she had kept the army under the protection of the double ring, but after a while, she felt dizzy and almost passed out. And only after the Romantic Scholar pointed out this fact did she realize what was happening, and deactivated the Dragon-Phoenix Rings.
As more and more people started to tire out, Madam Chu had no choice but to stop the army for rest. She thought that by stopping for a few days, everybody could have enough rest to continue this Heaven-forsaken test, but the environment finally changed after more than six hours of rest. The sun finally set, and more importantly, a terrifying cold spread through the night.
"What do you mean someone froze to death?" Madam Chu looked at her advisor. "Is this some kind of joke or prank? If it is, itâs not funny. This is not the time for such childish behavior."
"Madam, do we look like we are joking?"
Madam Chu frowned, "Then, what the hell is going on?"
Everybody was quiet, giving the Romantic Scholar a hidden look. They had a theory, but it was so absurd that they didnât dare state it out loud. "Out with it," Madam Chu suddenly snapped.
"We are losing our powers. To be precise, we are slowly becoming humans again," the Romantic Scholar sighed.
"Whatâs the basis for such a conjecture?" Madam Chu asked.
"First, it was the weakening of our power. Then it was our near-infinite stamina, followed by our natural resistance to heat and cold. And now, more than a dozen Paragons have reported a hunger that absorbing the Qi in the environment cannot satiate."
"Hunger? Show me."
The Romantic Scholar had already isolated the Paragons who were feeling hungry, so it didnât take Madam Chu long to arrive at their tent. A frown was immediately plastered on her face after seeing them. After being so closed, she could feel their bodies instinctively absorbing the surrounding energy, but it did nothing for them. On the contrary, most of these people held a piece of meat in their hands, each enjoying themselves.
"Three more have just been reported to feel hungry," one of the advisors suddenly said.
"Have you tried giving them any pills?" Madam Chu asked.
"Weâve tried â including Fasting Pills, but except for genuine food, nothing else works."
"Do you think itâs only a matter of time before we, Saints, will also feel hunger?"
"...Most definitely," the Romantic Scholar nodded.
"We need to build a food reserve. Have everybody hand over the food in their space ring," Madam Chu ordered.
"Iâm afraid that wonât be enough."
Madam Chu suddenly paused as something dawned on her. Cultivators no longer require food by Tier 4 in most cultivation systems, and Tier 7 at the latest. As for these Immortal Powerhouses? Well, some of them havenât eaten for billions of yuan epochs â yes, billions. Without the need to, why would these people leave food in their storage? They probably have plenty of pills and maybe raw materials, but no food.
"Some people should have the corpses of powerful creatures. Order them to hand anything considered as food over to management," Madam Chu ordered. "What about raw material? Raw spiritual herbs?"
"Weâve tried that, but they also donât work."
"Have you tried cooking them into vegetable dishes?" she asked.
"Hmm, no."