Unlike the projections summoned from the Immortal Sect Armory, these strangely dressed and peculiarly equipped cultivators possessed virtually no combat technique to speak of. They relied entirely on the superiority of their gear to gain the upper hand in battle.
Yet they possessed an odd trait.
They were utterly fearless of death.
When a comrade was slain, they showed neither sorrow nor pain; instead, derisive sneers and loud laughter broke out across their faces.
Even when their own deaths arrived, they felt no terror.
Only a tinge of regret and indignation.
Under the combined might of multiple resistance forces, the offensive of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals was finally halted.
In fact, signs emerged that the front lines were being pushed back.
At this moment, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals made a rather unexpected move.
Rather than stubbornly holding ground and pressing forward, they quit while they were ahead. Just as they had arrived, they covered one another and carried out an orderly retreat.
At that point, the broadcast in the Heavenly Profound Mirror abruptly cut off.
This sudden reversal immediately sparked outrage among the cultivators who had been watching the live broadcast with bated breath.
"That's it? Retreating over one tiny setback?"
"There's still a fight to be had! Why pull back?!"
"Are they really that terrified of dying? If you cowards don't dare fight, I will! Send me to the front!"
"Who ordered the retreat? They ought to be executed!"
...
Outrage surged through the crowds, yet it could not alter decisions on the battlefield.
That very day, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals issued another public notice.
It stated that the recent days of combat were merely a demonstration of their might and a mild warning to the Five Elders Association.
Their previous promise still held: so long as the Five Elders Association was willing to surrender the Immortal Alliance relic, everything remained open for negotiation.
Should the Five Elders Association persist in obstinacy, the Alliance might drop by every few days to reap some spoils.
War or peace rested entirely upon the Five Elders Association's choice!
Plainly, this announcement was a naked threat.
In the past, the Five Elders Association would have treated such words with utter contempt, perhaps even issuing an equally biting announcement of their own to trade barbs and ridicule.
Times, however, had changed.
The Alliance's surprise strike had genuinely rattled them.
Other tactics were one thing.
Yet that giant net of Sky-Patrolling Arrows, cast in conjunction with the Heavenly Venerables' dharma manifestations, had actually exerted an influence over all five Longevity Heavenly Venerables!
Unlike the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable, who was essentially a myth within the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, the five Heavenly Venerables genuinely existed and actively ruled over the Five Elders Association.
From time to time, Heavenly Venerable Edicts were handed down.
It was fair to say that the five Heavenly Venerables occupied a position of absolute authority in the hearts of the association's cultivators.
One could well imagine how earth-shattering it was for them to realize that the Alliance's weapons could inflict harm upon these godlike beings.
In their panic, it was understandable that they had been blindsided and allowed the Alliance to drive straight through their lands.
Though they had eventually come to their senses and launched a counterattack to temporarily repel the Alliance, chaos continued to spread throughout the Five Elders Association during this period while the Heavenly Venerables' authority remained incompletely restored.
Cultivators accustomed to the Heavenly Venerables' laws found themselves exposed for the first time to the true Xuanhuang Realm, devoid of the Venerables' principles.
The impact on them was nothing short of staggering.
For instance, cultivators in the Country of Truth suddenly discovered that they could lie.
In an environment where every single soul had unconsciously believed that falsehood did not exist, the power of a lie was devastating.
Once cultivators tasted the advantages brought by deception, lies spread through the former Country of Truth at a truly terrifying speed.
It was foreseeable that until the Heavenly Venerables' power was restored, such turmoil would never subside on its own.
As the saying went, the strong commanded respect.
Now that the Alliance possessed the strength to strike a fatal blow against the Five Elders Association, the association had no choice but to bend.
More crucially, the Five Elders Association did not know that the Thirty-Three Immortal Chosen capable of triggering the Heavenly Venerables' dharma manifestations had already perished to the last man.
From their perspective, those dharma manifestations were just like the Sky-Patrolling Arrows—a power that could be deployed again at any moment.
Thus, the Alliance's threat was something they had to confront.
Two days later, an envoy delegation of over a dozen cultivators from the Five Elders Association arrived at the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Nominally, they came for friendly consultations; in truth, it was a humiliating plea for peace.
Moreover, they actually brought along the so-called "Immortal Alliance relic."
This provided the Alliance cultivators with plenty of amusement for quite some time.
The negotiations lasted for seven full days.
The general public was kept in the dark regarding the specific terms of the agreement.
Clearly, however, the Alliance was exceedingly satisfied with the price extracted from the Five Elders Association.
Not another word was spoken about demanding justice.
Once the envoy delegation departed with tails tucked between their legs, a large-scale bestowal of rewards began.
The black-robed cultivators were never mentioned; instead, extensive reports were broadcast to the public introducing the supreme commander of the campaign against the Five Elders Association.
Dharma Transmitter Jiang.
The Sky-Patrolling Arrows and the Heavenly Venerables' dharma manifestations—which had played a pivotal role in the surprise assault—had all been orchestrated by his hand.
This was also the first time a Dharma Transmitter had appeared before the eyes of the Alliance public.
Li Fan gazed at the widely circulated image: a lean, middle-aged man of entirely unremarkable appearance, save for the goatee on his chin, which stood out above all else.
"Strange. Why would a Dharma Transmitter, who traditionally maintains a low profile, choose to reveal himself?" Li Fan frowned slightly, puzzled.
Across his previous cycles of reincarnation, this had never occurred.
Li Fan guessed that it might be connected to Mo Rubin, who had possessed the young Dharma Transmitter.
Power struggles existed even among the Dharma Transmitters.
Mo Rubin's attempt to control the Heavenly Profound Mirror through a formation may have stoked a sense of crisis in certain individuals.
Hence, this campaign—to amass merits and solidify his own standing.
Yet deep down, Li Fan felt something was amiss.
The plans for the Sky-Patrolling Arrows and the Immortal Chosen had been laid well in advance.
They had clearly been premeditated for a long time.
Mo Rubin disguising himself as a Dharma Transmitter was only a recent development.
*Or perhaps...*
*Could it truly have been for that so-called 'Immortal Alliance relic'?*
Li Fan's attention suddenly shifted to what every cultivator in the Alliance had assumed was merely an excuse.
*If it's real, what on earth could warrant such immense trouble from the Alliance?*
*Looks like it's time for our Myriad Realms Association to make a move once more.*
With that thought, his clone, Li Qing, took the cue. He stepped out of the Spirit Wood Realm once again and headed straight for the territory of the Five Elders Association.
The Sky-Patrolling Arrows had already been exhausted, and the method of covertly leaving marks in the border defense formation had been broken by Li Fan using the Terminal Dissociation Disc.
Li Qing encountered no trouble along the way.
Having just secured a major triumph, the Alliance was visibly less guarded, allowing Li Qing to effortlessly breach their perimeter and slip into the Five Elders Association.
The border provinces had been plundered clean by the Alliance; sweeping through with divine sense revealed not a single living soul.
Employing secret contact arts, he pushed steadily toward the heartlands of the Five Elders Association.
Only after traversing five provinces did signs of cultivators begin to appear once more.
Chapter 936