Marquis Heavenstar was handsome. As he walked over in the darkness, he smiled and nodded when he saw Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue. “Originally, I wanted to attend your wedding. Unfortunately, I had something important to tend to and couldn’t come.”
“Fighting the demons takes greater priority,” said Liu Qiyue immediately.
“Yes.” Marquis Heavenstar nodded slightly. “I have something to discuss with Meng Chuan. Qiyue, we can have a chat tomorrow.”
“I’ll personally cook tomorrow and have you try it, Master,” said Liu Qiyue with a smile. Liu Qiyue silently left after saying her piece.
Marquis Heavenstar, Zhang Yunhu, and Meng Chuan entered a hall. The three of them sat down as the door closed.
“Uncle-Master, may I know what’s the matter?” inquired Meng Chuan. Marquis Heavenstar had rushed to North River Pass at night, so it had to be a matter of great urgency. If it were a small matter, he would’ve just sent a letter. Meng Chuan couldn’t help but glance at Zhang Yunhu.
Zhang Yunhu immediately said, “Don’t look at me. I’m at a loss as well.”
Marquis Heavenstar’s gaze swept across the two before solemnly saying, “Listen carefully. Only the two of you at North River Pass can know about what I’m going to say. You can’t tell anybody else.”
“Only the two of us will know?” Meng Chuan and Zhang Yunhu exchanged looks. They were shocked.
“After discussing with Black Sand Grotto-Heaven and Two World Island, we have decided to abandon all small and medium-sized city passes in a year’s time.”
Meng Chuan and Zhang Yunhu were stunned by the revelation.
They were giving up after defending the city passes desperately?
“Won’t that mean that nobody will stop the demons from entering on a large scale?” Zhang Yunhu could not help but ask.
“This will be a thousand times worse than unstable World Entrances appearing. Many people will die.” Meng Chuan’s face paled. He knew that the demons had plans to deal with humans! They wanted to wipe out the human race and occupy this world. If they allowed the demons to enter, the consequences would be...
Meng Chuan shuddered at the thought.
“Take a look at this.” Marquis Heavenstar took out two thin dossiers and handed them to Meng Chuan and Zhang Yunhu.
The two immediately began flipping through the dossiers.
Meng Chuan’s expression changed when he read it.
The dossiers described the current situation regarding the demons lurking in the human world.
“In fact, many unstable World Entrances have appeared in the past 800 years. Many demons have already infiltrated our world,” said Marquis Heavenstar. “The total number that has entered our world is much more than you can imagine. However, most are second Firmament demon monarchs. They are weak, and Earth Net’s Godfiends are hunting them down. This causes the demons to hide desperately; thus, they rarely appear in front of humans. Occasionally, they will appear and attack a village fort. After attacking, they will quickly flee the scene.”
“Many village forts were attacked by demons that were hiding in the human world.” Meng Chuan came to a realization. “The three great sects always announced that the attacks were due to an unstable World Entrance that had appeared—which explained away the demons’ sudden attacks and disappearances.”
“Indeed, Unstable World Entrances disappear quickly,” said Marquis Heavenstar. “If people knew that many demons are hiding in remote mountains and lakes, there will probably be even more panic.”
“No wonder...” Meng Chuan nodded slightly. From when he became a Patroller, he had encountered fewer than ten demon attacks that started because of unstable World Entrances. Even if some attacks happened in remote areas and nobody requested for help, it was much more than the number of publicly-known unstable World Entrances.
It was obvious that many attacks on village forts couldn’t be attributed to unstable World Entrances.
“Two World Island can’t hold on any longer?” Zhang Yunhu’s expression changed when he read the dossier. Meng Chuan’s expression changed as well when he read that part.
Great Yue Dynasty was suffering much more than the other two dynasties. They had fewer Godfiends, and many more city passes. This forced Two World Island to deploy all their Great Solar Godfiends to small and middle-sized city passes for the past ten years. They were extremely tight on manpower. For the past ten years, Two World Island’s situation had been worsening every year. They averaged 20 to 30 Godfiend deaths a year.
“Back then, Two World Island’s situation was only slightly worse than Archean Mountain and Black Sand Grotto-Heaven,” said Meng Chuan softly.
Marquis Heavenstar sighed. “Back then, they had enough Godfiends to fend off the demons. However, due to lacking manpower, the number of Godfiends that died in battle increased. With so many dead, the number of Godfiends they could deploy decreased. This led to their current situation.
Marquis Heavenstar said, “Previously, they could still hold on, but the casualties in recent years have indeed increased. Especially the casualties two years ago. Two World Island lost 61 Godfiend disciples. How many Godfiends does Two World Island have? If this went on, all of Two World Island’s Godfiends would be dead in ten years. Even if they aren’t all dead, only three or four years will pass before they can no longer defend against the demons. This will still lead to a complete collapse in their strength.
“Great Yue Dynasty has a total of 93 medium-sized World Entrances in their territory. Even if Archean Mountain and Black Sand Grotto-Heaven were to help them, it would place strain on our available manpower. By doing so, over half of our Great Solar Godfiends would die in battle. The three sects would be severely weakened, and we would no longer be able to defend. When that happens, the demons will begin attacking us in earnest. Therefore, the three sects have decided to abandon the small and middle-sized city passes.”
Meng Chuan and Zhang Yunhu finished reading the dossier. They had a clear understanding of how dire the situation was. They also knew that the three sects had no other choice.
“We will strengthen Earth Net. More Godfiends will become a part of Earth Net,” said Marquis Heavenstar. “We will also monitor all small and medium-sized World Entrances. As long as they enter the human world, we will monitor them! Afterward, we will send powerful Godfiends to kill all that have entered.”
“Humans hold the strength advantage in the human world.” Zhang Yunhu nodded. “Even if we give up small and middle-sized city passes, only third Firmament demon monarchs can enter through those World Entrances. At most, they will be fourth Firmament demon monarchs after breaking through. Human Godfiends can slaughter them easily.”
Still, Meng Chuan’s expression remained grim.
He understood the plan from a rational perspective. This would greatly reduce the death rate of human Godfiends. Since the Godfiends held the upper hand in the human world, the demon monarchs wouldn’t cause too much trouble even if they entered unobstructed.
However, the only problem with this plan was that more humans would die.
“If we continue to defend the mortals, the entire human race will be wiped out in a few decades,” said Marquis Heavenstar. “We have no choice. All we can do is kill the demon monarchs and minimize the damage they can cause.”
“Kill them all.” Zhang Yunhu nodded. “Actually, I already had a feeling that the pressure on medium-sized city passes would increase. I thought that the sect would increase the number of disciples recruited per year.”
“Nurturing disciples takes time and resources.” Marquis Heavenstar said, “Taking in more disciples is a terrible choice. Archean Mountain’s resources would be expended faster than we can accumulate them. In 200 to 300 years, we will risk the Godfiend Blood Pool being drained completely. If that happens, the Godfiend heritage will be severed.”
Zhang Yunhu and Meng Chuan nodded.
In the past, humans had encountered such a crisis. Back then, powerful Godfiends sacrificed their Blood Crystals to refill the Godfiend Blood Pool’s powers; thus, continuing the Godfiend heritage. However, only a small number of Godfiends could be created after doing this.
Currently, the large-scale creation of Godfiends required the sects to balance their expenditure speed with their accumulation speed.
“We have to abandon the small and medium-sized city passes. Once we do so, the areas around small and medium-sized city passes will be uninhabitable. The civilians need to be relocated.
“There are too many people to be relocated.” Meng Chuan and Zhang Yunhu were extremely shocked. Just one area numbered hundreds of thousands of humans. With so many small and medium-sized city passes, the number of people that had to be relocated would be shocking!
Marquis Heavenstar said, “Don’t worry. For the past year, the three major sects have been secretly preparing for this. Food and residential areas have been prepared. For example, North River Pass’s population will be evacuated to the 18 surrounding cities. By scattering the numbers, each city can deal with the influx of people.”
Only then did Meng Chuan and Zhang Yunhu feel relieved.
“From today onwards, I’ll be in charge of North River Pass.” Marquis Heavenstar looked at Zhang Yunhu. “Disciple-Nephew Zhang, you should have already received the order.”