Immortal Domain.
The great war in the Duravia Trade Prefecture had raged for three months.
Now, the Immortal Domain was overcrowded.
Led by the Ding family, the majority of the Zhao Clan's subordinate forces had abandoned their clan lands and kinsmen to flee to the Immortal Domain, joining forces to defend against the offensive from Azure Cloud Prefecture.
Within the Immortal Domain, cultivators were constructing spiritual formations, while those who had fled there looked as if they were mourning their own parents.
The raid from Azure Cloud Prefecture had been too swift.
Just as they had begun their preparations for war, the people of Azure Cloud Prefecture had already flooded into Duravia Trade Prefecture like a silent tide.
Even now, the cultivators of Duravia Trade Prefecture do not know that every single cultivator from Azure Cloud Prefecture carried a "Primal Origin Red Leaf"—so many, in fact, that the Li family was left with a bald Old Tree.
Outside the Zhao Clan's Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land, Ding Yuanxiao, along with a host of Immortal Clan heads and numerous Sect Masters, had gathered outside the Zhao Clan's high tower, in a state of utter frantic anxiety.
They could see the members of the Zhao Clan hurrying back and forth within the high tower, yet they, as outsiders, were barred from entering the Zhao Clan's Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land.
"Fellow Daoist, please wait!"
Unable to endure the anxiety in his heart any longer, Ding Yuanxiao stopped a Nascent Soul cultivator of the Zhao Clan.
The Zhao clansman cast an impatient glance at his arm, where Ding Yuanxiao had grabbed him.
Only after Ding Yuanxiao hurriedly let go did the man's expression soften slightly.
"Family Head Ding, is something the matter?"
This expression alone was enough to make Ding Yuanxiao's anger hard to suppress!
The only reason he had agreed to wage war against Azure Cloud Prefecture was that he trusted the Zhao Clan's claim:
That the battle against the Li family would be a victory without suspense, and that once the Zhao Clan unleashed their full foundation, the Li family would be powerless to strike back.
Even when Sun Haotian and Li Changyao stormed into his Ding family estate, he had unhesitatingly led his clansmen to flee here to the Immortal Domain to face the Li family's assault alongside the Zhao Clan.
In the process, half of his Ding family clansmen had been sacrificed.
Yet here, even a mere Nascent Soul cultivator of the Zhao Clan dared to treat him with such disregard!
Suppressing the rage in his heart, Ding Yuanxiao forced a smile.
"Sir, please help me request an audience with the various Clan Elders of the Zhao family to discuss the current state of the war."
"Just wait."
The Zhao clansman responded casually before heading inside.
"You..." Once the Zhao clansman had departed, Ding Yuanxiao's face flushed crimson.
But right now, how could the Zhao Clan possibly have the time to discuss the war situation with him?
The Zhao Clan's high tower led directly into their Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land.
While the Immortal Domain outside was preparing for war, inside the Zhao Clan's Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land, they were frantically gathering resources.
The members of the Zhao Clan were like ants on a hot pan, moving in a chaotic bustle.
Atop the central Eight Trigrams formation, the three Clan Elders of the Immortal Zhao Clan all wore expressions as pale as earth.
They sat cross-legged in a triangular formation, with the Longevity Tablets of their clansmen placed in the center.
After Zhao Qingxia's Longevity Tablet shattered and they witnessed that Human Emperor's Eye, it was as if a chain reaction had begun; the spirit tablets of the Zhao Clan's Divinity Transformation cultivators shattered one after another.
[Zhao Hongchang], [Zhao Guzhou], [Zhao Guping]...
Every single one of them was an outstanding figure among the Zhao Clan's Divinity Transformation cultivators.
Any one of them would have been sufficient to support a great sect or aristocratic family in the Duravia Trade Prefecture or the Azure Cloud Prefecture.
Those as strong as Zhao Hongchang and Zhao Qingxia could even escape from the hands of a Void Refining realm expert, which was precisely why they had dared to send these two to kill the Li family's experts.
Now that so many of the family's powerful experts had died in succession, the three Clan Elders were numb, unable to accept the reality.
They hadn't even had time to react.
Azure Cloud Prefecture was like a black hole capable of devouring everything; before they could even respond, it had easily swallowed their clansmen whole, leaving them not even a chance to escape.
And the ones who made the move were definitely not the Li family's two Void Refining experts.
The Martial Emperor and Zhuo Linlin were right outside the Immortal Domain, their Primordial Spirits fixing their gaze upon the Immortal Domain at every moment!
"Wait... wait for Tingyu and Feimeng to return."
Zhao Jingmiao no longer possessed his initial confidence.
His world had been turned upside down, forcing a strained smile onto his face.
It shouldn't be like this.
His Immortal Zhao Clan had existed for one hundred and sixty thousand years, possessing a foundation unimaginable to ordinary people.
It should have been the Li family shivering in fear under their siege.
Not like the situation now...
"Mm."
Fairy Bai and Zhao Buqun gave a soft grunt of assent, gazing out from the high tower.
Everything had happened too fast.
After Zhao Qingxia's death, they had prepared to flee with their clansmen.
But as more and more of their kin died, they felt as if they had returned to the times when they faced the Fiend and the Human Emperor.
They even... lacked the confidence to escape!
No!
"It's getting dark." Fairy Bai gazed out the window.
The sky was dimming, and dark clouds obscured the sun, concealing a great terror.
From the darkness came a shrieking sound, like that of a life-claiming vengeful ghost.
"Clan Elder, the Li clan... the people of the Li clan have arrived!"
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