At first, the Divine Envoy seemed thrilled to hear Li Chang’an’s reply.
But before he could fully express his excitement, he tensed up again.
Without a doubt, Li Chang’an’s willingness to help was incredible news.
After all, the Fusang Tribe had supported Li Chang’an for so many years, and this was the first time they had ever asked for his help. It finally proved they weren’t worshiping a useless god.
But before the Divine Envoy could even smile, he heard Li Chang’an say that he couldn’t move and needed to be carried to the battlefield...
Hearing this, the Divine Envoy immediately fell into Despair again.
—The reason for this was actually very simple.
After all these years, their Guardian still hadn’t achieved its Transformed Form. Yet the enemies they were about to face were all seasoned veterans who had, creating an insurmountable gap between them.
Under these circumstances, even with Li Chang’an’s help, it would be nearly impossible to turn the tide of battle.
However, at this point, the Fusang Tribe had no other choice. A new Guardian wasn’t easy to find, especially with war on the verge of breaking out.
In the end, all they could do was make a last-ditch effort.
Men were dispatched to lift Li Chang’an and run toward the front lines.
To annihilate the Fusang Tribe once and for all, several neighboring tribes had formed a temporary Alliance. They dispatched a grand army of thirty thousand elite soldiers, attacking the Fusang Tribe from four directions.
As the main instigator of the war, the Lanji Tribe sent out their Guardian God, not wanting to give the Fusang Tribe any chance to turn the tables.
The thirty-thousand-strong army surged forward, charging toward Santi Town, the heart of the Fusang Tribe’s territory.
The Fusang Tribe had barely managed to gather eight thousand people. They defended the high ground on several hills not far from Santi Town, attempting to use the terrain to their advantage against the Alliance’s attacks.
However, the war had already become a life-or-death struggle. The enemy certainly wasn’t going to abandon their assault just because they met resistance.
At this moment, the hills where the battle raged were a scene of utter devastation.
The corpses of men and beasts lay strewn about, their dark red blood staining the ground. The nauseating stench of rot and decay filled the mountain air.
The Fusang Tribe’s army might have been able to hold out for another ten days or so. But with the arrival of the Lanji Tribe’s Guardian God—a blue carp several meters tall—the battlefield changed. It rampaged across the field as if it were completely unopposed.
The tide of the war turned in an instant, and the Fusang Tribe suffered devastating losses.
By the time the Divine Envoy arrived at the battlefield with dozens of people carrying Li Chang’an, less than half of the eight thousand soldiers sent by the Fusang Tribe remained.
When they saw their kinsmen appear carrying the Guardian God, the Fusang Tribe’s dismal morale finally saw a flicker of improvement. The soldiers cheered and rejoiced, pinning their hopes on their Guardian God to rewrite the desperate fate before them.
Only the chieftain of the Fusang Tribe, a few Elders, the Divine Envoy, and a handful of others knew the truth of their situation.
’The Guardian God’s arrival won’t necessarily end this battle.’
’On the contrary, this is likely a prelude to the Fusang Tribe’s complete annihilation.’
After all, as long as the Fusang Tribe’s Guardian God remained unseen, the enemy, no matter how audacious, would always hold something back out of caution.
Even if everyone suspected the Fusang Tribe was a paper tiger whose strength had waned, as long as their Guardian God remained hidden, that sliver of doubt and fear in the other tribes would never vanish.
But the moment their Guardian God appeared, they wouldn’t even have to fight. The truth of the Fusang Tribe’s weakness would be laid bare, leaving them with no room to maneuver.
When Li Chang’an appeared, both sides of the heated battle paused for a moment.
The blue carp flew into the air, gazing into the distance. When it saw Li Chang’an’s intricate and complex draconic form, the carp’s entire body shuddered, and a look of deep dread filled its eyes.
It could tell from Li Chang’an’s form alone that he was no ordinary being.
A shiver of fear ran through it.
However, when it focused its senses, it found that Li Chang’an’s body emitted no aura of a living being. The terror on its face instantly vanished, replaced by wild joy. It let out a low growl, "A puny Demon that hasn’t even reached its Transformed Form dares to call itself a Guardian God? To think the great Fusang Tribe has fallen this far! How fate mocks them..."
’Not even in its Transformed Form?’
Hearing these words, the soldiers on both sides of the battlefield were all in an uproar.
Many looked Li Chang’an up and down again. Only then did they notice that while his body was crystalline and looked incredibly lifelike, he couldn’t move on his own!
When they first saw him, everyone had overlooked this detail.
It wasn’t until the Guardian God of the Lanji Tribe pointed it out that everyone realized the truth.
Once they confirmed that Li Chang’an was indeed merely a Guardian God that had not yet achieved its Transformed Form, the reactions from the soldiers on either side of the battlefield were starkly different.
The morale of the Alliance troops on the Lanji Tribe’s side surged.
Their eyes lit up as they stared at Li Chang’an.
In stark contrast, the newfound momentum of the Fusang Tribe’s soldiers vanished in an instant. Every one of them stared at Li Chang’an, their gazes filled with utter disbelief.
Obviously, the vast majority of the Fusang Tribe’s soldiers did not know Li Chang’an’s specific situation.
Information about Li Chang’an was only known in detail by a very small number of high-level members within the Fusang Tribe; ordinary members had no idea that the Guardian God they worshipped was just a Cultivator at the Dao Entry Realm.