The Ji City, stationed deep within the Southern Earth Ancestral Acupoint, observed the situation, only manifesting its true form when the Earth Spirit Acupoint was not critically injured to participate.
Rumble!!
This change persisted for three years.
On this day, deep within the Purple Mansion State Earth Ancestral Acupoint, Zhang Jian suddenly had a shift in expression, sensing a surge of dense Demonic Qi from the depths of the subspace beneath Purple Mansion State.
Behind him, the Lotus King Treasure Mirror transformed into a blue Spiritual Light that emerged, reflecting the changes in the depths of the Nether Subspace below, where within the boundless Nether River, a humanoid figure silently manifested.
It was the figure of an Outer Heaven Demon, clad in a gossamer veil that barely covered key parts of her body, with delicate butterfly wings that shimmered like crystalline gossamer growing from her back, and two short antennae protruding from deep within her brow, with pink Demonic Qi swirling around her body.
This was a type of Desire Demon from the Outer Celestial Demon Realm.
It was also a kind of Outer Heaven Demon born from the desires in the hearts of Cultivators and billions of beings.
This was an Outer Heaven Demon, not an Outer Realm Heart Demon.
The Outer Realm Heart Demon is formless and bodiless, unless it matures into a Demon Lord, while most Outer Heaven Demons possess a Demon Body and can alternate between illusion and reality, combining the strengths of both the Outer Realm Heart Demon and Outer Demon Gods, making them quite troublesome.
This Outer Heaven Demon possessed a Dao Practice not inferior, roughly equivalent to that of a Celestial Immortal Realm.
Zhang Jian deduced that this Outer Heaven Demon was likely just a scout under a powerful Demon Monarch, and if not handled properly, it would immediately draw the attention of the Outer Heaven Demon Legion.
He did not want this space-time fissure to become a focus of the Outer Heaven Demons.
Otherwise, he would have no time to comprehend the changes of Heaven and Earth.
The Nine-Colored Divine Light swirled, and the Map of Mountains and Rivers unfolded to seal the rupture in space-time.
That Outer Heaven Demon moved from downstream in the Nether River to the region where the Map of Mountains and Rivers was located but was bewildered by the Nine-Colored Divine Light.
After circling around several times and finding nothing, she left directly.
Zhang Jian observed this change with a slight smile.
Avoiding such trouble is always a good thing.
After all, he still had to frequently free up his hands to repair Donghua Realm’s damaged Earth Spirit Veins.
In the years that followed, the presence of Outer Heaven Demons in the depths of this Nether Subspace became increasingly frequent, like busy bees, constantly searching for flaws exposed in Donghua Realm in order to penetrate and hollow out Donghua Realm’s foundation.
In the depths of the Array of Ten Thousand Immortals, the battle had reached a fever pitch, with more and more powerhouses attempting to thwart Donghua Realm’s ascension, not only from the Demon Realm but also strong Daoist Monarchs from the depths of Void Dimensions, along with Heterodox Sect Great Gods and some Ancient Gods entering the grand array.
From the core depths, endless explosions resounded throughout Heaven and Earth.
Though great enemies had arrived, there were also powerful reinforcements from the Taiqing Celestial Lineage joining the fray.
Zhang Jian even spotted several exceedingly formidable Daoists arriving from the void, one of whom descended like a Kunpeng of the Northern Abyss, devouring boundless void with Immortal Light along his path, countless Outer Demon Gods falling in his wake.
Another was an ethereal Daoist, who seemed like a butterfly transformed from a dreamlike illusion, and with a single sword cut, all Immortals and Demons were scattered into glowing fragments.
These were two exceedingly terrifying existences, whose destructive power was no less than that of the three core arrays within the Array of Ten Thousand Immortals.
However, even with strong reinforcements arriving, the number of Immortal Gods falling within the Array of Ten Thousand Immortals was not insignificant.
In both Heaven and Earth territories, the great arrays in the depths of the firmament were the primary battlefield, and besides the majority of fallen Immortal Gods among the stars, many gods also fell in innate arrays such as the Nine Firmaments, Five Elements, Space-Time, Earth, and Wind Thunder.
As for Earth, it was mainly because of various stars and even Demon Monarch corpses that fell from the firmament, or sudden ambushes by lurking demons on the ground that led to fatalities.
Zhang Jian gazed across the vast Earth, where the sky, although obscured by the Nine Firmaments, had already become tattered.
Crude boom sounds could be heard overhead from time to time.
The Earth itself was also pitted and potholed, with scars of countless bloody battles spread across the Divine Mountains and Great Rivers.
Above the firmament, the stars were sparse, and laws such as Yin Yang, Four Symbols, Five Elements, Space-Time, and others of the Heaven and Earth Dao Laws were still constantly trembling.
Deep within the firmament, blood rain occasionally fell with endless booming sounds.
Truly, an inch of mountains and rivers, an inch of blood.
This Donghua Realm had turned into a meat grinder.
Zhang Jian had also experienced several thrilling Immortal-Demon Wars.
The Demon Spring War in Zhou Mountain Realm was also extremely remarkable in scale.
But compared to this great war in Donghua Realm, it truly paled in comparison.
However, fortunately, he had still managed to protect himself, with the purplish-yellow dragon-shaped Spiritual Light circulating behind his head emanating from the Earth Emperor Treasure Wheel, greatly enhancing, showing he had gained substantial benefits.
Not only had he become more adept at controlling the Earth Emperor Ancestral Qi, but thanks to the various Profound Mysteries of Heaven and Earth resulting from the evolution of the Earth Ancestor Qi Wheel, Zhang Jian also collected numerous samples of Earth Dao Qi and Earth Element Dao Qi.
Zhang Jian felt he no longer needed to spend a lot of time meticulously inferring, and once this crisis was overcome, he could directly manifest his Dao Qi, spreading throughout Heaven and Earth.
This was comparable to laying a solid foundation for his third step towards becoming a Daoist Monarch: evolving Ancestor Qi.
It wasn’t just Zhang Jian who made progress; all other surviving Immortal Gods achieved some gains to varying degrees.
At this moment, Zhang Jian could also sense that the Donghua Realm’s ascension was gradually entering its final stages.
The radiance of the Celestial Realm dimension began to descend from the sky, penetrating through the Yin Yang and Five Elements, and commenced entering the Earth.
The illumination of the Celestial Realm dimension, coupled with the boundless Immortal Light, accelerated the transformative speed of countless laws of the Heaven and Earth Dao in Donghua Realm.
Feeling this change, Zhang Jian’s heart was filled with a sense of relief.
It was like finally having something to hope for.
However, he also knew that a single slip could lead to failure.
Thus, he must remain vigilant in the times to come.
What follows would be most dangerous for those Immortal Gods positioned within the lower-tier arrays, as the situation almost being decided might shift the mindset of those Outer Demon Monarchs and even Daoist Monarch level powerhouses, from wanting to entirely disrupt Donghua Realm’s ascension to seeking a last-minute gain, or trying to sabotage the foundation of Donghua Realm, reducing the benefits of its successful ascension.
Subsequently, Zhang Jian acted more cautiously.
Should another chasm or wound appear upon the Earth, he would refrain from venturing out easily, leaving such ’good deeds’ to the increasingly eager Ji City.
Unless he encountered something like substantial Demon Fiend contamination that Ji City could not handle.
Zhang Jian’s wariness allowed him to avoid a disaster; one day, Ji City, like on any other day, emerged from the Southern Earth Ancestral Acupoint to survey the Earth and repair an Earth Spirit Acupoint fractured from a fallen Demon God’s Magic. However, it encountered a terrifying Demon God descending from the sky.
It was an Outer Demon God with a body covered in countless black scales, seemingly of the Water Race, having gills at the corners of its mouth, and damp Demonic Light instantly turned into a vortex, engulfing Ji City as it was repairing the Earth Spirit Acupoint.
In great alarm, Ji City’s body manifested a golden sword shadow.
It was part of the power from the Xuanyuan Sword, with the sword light slashing toward the Demon God. The Demon God, slightly surprised, immediately chanted incantations, its form merging into the center of a large vortex, only for the sword light to shatter the vortex, allowing Ji City to transform into a stream of light, swiftly returning to the Southern Earth Ancestral Acupoint.
A cold laugh echoed from the shattered pieces of the vortex deep within, coming from the Outer Demon God.
"A bloodline of an Ancient Saint Emperor, truly worth the trip!"
Countless icy blue whirlpools instantly coalesced again, enveloping Ji City. Despite having an Eternal Level Immortal Treasure in hand, Ji City was quickly frozen by the whirlpools.
"Xuan Yu Demon Monarch, release him!"
At this moment, high above in the firmament, the Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow Embryonic Membrane coalesced, covering the depths of the Earth, pressing down on the Outer Demon Monarch.
The Xuan Yu Demon Monarch, observing this scene with an indifferent expression, snorted softly, immediately transforming into a Divine Light, breaking through a space-time fissure, and vanished instantly.
"How dare you!"
From the depths of the void, a thunderous roar erupted, with a platinum-colored Divine Light, resembling thunderbolt, chasing in pursuit, also diving into the space-time fissure.
It was another Daoist Monarch who seemed to have an unusual connection with Ji City.
Witnessing this scene, Zhang Jian was internally shaken and somewhat relieved.
Luckily, having sensed the danger, he had refrained from greed for Destiny and Merit; otherwise, he would have been the one captured.