Although this famous Insect Hall Master, Sister Nan, did not take action often, every time she did, it left a deep impression.
Everyone was very much looking forward to how this beautiful Hall Master would perform in the World-Domain Battlefield. In a situation where resources were sufficient, the combat power of an insect cultivator was terrifying among those of the same rank; few people would provoke a powerful insect cultivator.
However, the attention on this only lasted for a short time. After discussing knowledge about insect cultivation, Sister Nan's Time-type demonic insect, and Qi Ping's Golden Marrow Bees that had once swept through the Star-Sea, people returned their focus to themselves—those who should practice, practiced, and those who should catch up with friends, did so.
Everything would have to wait until they returned alive.
At such a special moment, knowing that thousands of hardships lay ahead yet having no choice but to face them, during these quiet moments when life might be entering its countdown, many people truly realized the value of time and how much life they had wasted in the past.
Previously, they had been obscured by various trivialities, such as face, external competition and value systems, and tiny bits of profit... Looking back now, these were all unimportant things that seemed quite laughable.
At this moment... they finally clarified their true hearts.
In this special situation, their cultivation realms naturally reached a higher level.
This also made many people feel it was a pity. If they could have reached this state normally, they might have already ascended to a higher realm.
But everyone understood: without such a desperate situation, who could have such a clear state of mind?
Whether it was right or wrong, better or worse, perhaps one simply had to go through it once.
At least now, they could be certain that every companion by their side was dedicated to resisting the enemy, and behind them was a home they cherished and needed to protect.
During the period since the Star-Sea Nine Domains were established, they had truly witnessed a completely different era—an era where one could strive to catch up and bloom with personal brilliance in a magnificent age, and also a place where one could lie flat and live without worry.
How could such a home and such a magnificent age not be cherished?
And there were people like the Star Emperor Bee Daoist, the Great Manager of the Star-Sea Lin Yue, and the sword-wielding guardian of the Star-Sea's peace Wang He, who worked tirelessly for the Star-Sea Continent. How many eras had the Star-Sea Continent waited to finally have them?
"After this battle, I wonder if I'll have the chance to return for a look..."
"Slay the enemy, and then live! In such an age rarely seen in eternity, I will step by step, by step, reach the peak of the Immortal Path!"
"Demonic scum, come! I will use your blood as nourishment for my child's growth..."
"After this, I want my name to be eternally remembered in the Star-Sea! My swordsmanship will also be remembered forever!"
"I shall surely step upon your corpses to forge my throne of blood!"
Streaks of special conviction surged between heaven and earth at this moment.
Some were high-spirited, some were resolute in the face of death, some were full of attachment and regret, and others were filled with cold killing intent...
However, only Qi Ping, who practiced the Path of All Living Beings, could perceive these. They were like the richest fertilizer, continuously prompting his Grand Dao to sublimate and transform, with various special insights constantly condensing within his heart.
'This state is actually quite good!'
Feeling these convictions of all life, a smile couldn't help but appear on Qi Ping's lips.
Going through this once was much better than living like a stray dog in a hopeless dark forest.
At least the positive emotions among them far outweighed negative ones like fear and despair.
'Why do I feel that the will of the Star-Sea Continent's heaven and earth seems much more active and youthful? Could the will of living beings also affect the state of a world?'
Qi Ping could not distinguish whether this was because more newborns were being born or because of the influence of these convictions—or perhaps both.
In all the records, research on the relationship between heaven and earth itself and living beings was too scarce. Previously, it seemed everyone's focus was either on cultivation or survival. Even when they had leisure, they spent it in ways that dissipated their pressure; who would truly have the mind to deeply study such things?
Therefore, many deep-level matters regarding the world itself required Qi Ping to explore them himself.
However, from the information Qi Ping currently understood, those who truly went deep into a specific field mostly achieved surprising results. This time, many people in the Star-Sea Nine Domains relied on such research to obtain a vast amount of contributions and sufficiently high prestige, taking positions they could hardly have imagined before.
Under this incentive, various fields were continuously developing more cutting-edge things. Some of these things made even Qi Ping highly expectant, because they truly gave him some excellent insights, playing a crucial role in his cultivation and comprehension.
Furthermore, while Qi Ping was continuously sensing this special conviction of all life, a good news arrived from his main body in the Star-Sea Nine Domains: the attempt to decompose the demon corpses was successful!
However, only a large portion was successfully decomposed. A small portion of special demonic power remained that could not be decomposed no matter what. That was one thing, but this power also seemed to have a "pollution" characteristic, capable of gradually eroding everything it touched.
Qi Ping tried everything he could find around him—metal, weapons, Spiritual Treasures, stones, various types of spiritual power, even the language of prayer itself... everything he could contact could not resist the erosion of this power!
The higher the realm of the demon corpse, the stronger this erosive power it carried!
Even Qi Ping's two special mysteries of the Five-Colored Celestial Light—Life and Extinction—could not resist the erosion of this power.
'What exactly is this soul-assimilating erosive power that cannot be resisted by any means? Why are there no records of any related information in all the manuals?'
'Is it because I, as an Earth Immortal Druid, am more sensitive to this area that I could discover this special power?'
While this terrifying power made Qi Ping feel a sliver of unease and fear, it also piqued his interest.
He had finally found a power that could be completely unaffected by any Immortal Dao methods, and it seemed to have a countering effect on all Immortal Dao methods.
Furthermore, judging by the current situation, this power had not reached a point where it was easy to lose control.
'Although it cannot be completely controlled by Immortal Dao methods and cannot be fixed by anything, I can study its activity and reaction patterns, and then use spiritual power or other baits to guide this power for my own use...'
Realizing this power could potentially be used by him, Qi Ping's rejection of it was no longer so violent.
With a broader field of cognition, he began to realize that even the world he was in might not be entirely trustworthy—for example, the ubiquitous spiritual power or the entire cultivation system might contain hidden traps or deep pits.
Or perhaps this system that had existed for countless years had already been thoroughly researched and had methods to perfectly counter it.
In such a case, the best way was to introduce and research new powers.
'In the future, perhaps I can set aside a special experimental field in the Star-Sea Continent to study this power, or even spend rewards to let a group of people try to practice and utilize it... Perhaps this World-Domain Battlefield will allow the spiritual power cultivation system and the powers existing in the demons to clash and create different sparks?'
In an instant, Qi Ping thought of many possibilities regarding this special power.
'This power that can erode and assimilate everything shall be called Taboo Demonic Power!'
In Qi Ping's view, blind rejection was not the true Grand Dao. Only by being good at accepting and utilizing all powers, pushing them to the extreme, could one truly possess the power to control and respond to everything.
Having seen enough of the dark side of the cultivation world, Qi Ping could no longer comfortably cultivate by following the rules, as he always felt this would lead into a marshy abyss from which he could never escape.
'But let's wait until this war is won. If we lose, everything will be for naught...'
'Fortunately, besides the Taboo Demonic Power, most of the substances within these demon corpses can be decomposed and absorbed by the earth veins. With this batch of power, after a while, it will allow the Star-Sea Continent to give birth to more Fortune and raise the quality of the spiritual veins by another level!'
Qi Ping could clearly feel that as those demon corpse essences were continuously decomposed by him, the power of heaven and earth was steadily rising.
As his decomposition speed became faster and faster, this rising speed also increased, although compared to the overall intensity, this increase was not particularly obvious.
But having confirmed this, Qi Ping no longer feared becoming weaker as the war progressed. Having a source of power replenishment versus not having one were entirely different levels.
'With this power replenishment, regardless of the situation in the World-Domain Battlefield, the Star-Sea Nine Domains can serve as the final fortress.'
After confirming the final fallback, Qi Ping secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
But thinking of the vast number of Star-Sea cultivators destined to fall within the battlefield, Qi Ping couldn't help but sigh again.
Unfortunately, he had no other choice. He had already brought out all his animal companions except for the Earth-Vein Ants needed to stabilize the ground—the Little Immortal Tiger, the Void-Fish swarms, the Golden Marrow Bees, the Military Conquest Stone Spirit... even all the spiritual plants he had nurtured during this time. Every one that had developed intelligence had been enlightened by Qi Ping into Treant Warriors!
Thinking of this force, Qi Ping's confidence grew slightly.
The massive number of spirit seeds accumulated by the Star-Sea Continent over such a long time had been swept clean by him. Therefore, the number of spiritual trees with sentience born during this time was countless. Although their current strength was not high, their sheer numbers were enough. These enlightened Treant Warriors would be sufficient to share a portion of the burden.
'Right, I can filter out those with the strongest assimilation and devouring abilities among the spiritual trees, then create a spell that can devour demonic power, and finally engrave this spell into the trees' bodies...'
'Then I'll throw this batch of trees into the World-Domain Battlefield and see if they can devour their way into becoming true monsters. Anyway, I have the demon corpse essence as samples now...'
After thinking it through carefully, Qi Ping felt it was very feasible. This kind of massive war in the World-Domain Battlefield would not end overnight, so starting the research now should still be in time. In any case, only a crude devouring spell and a transformation/absorption spell model were needed.
With his current accumulation of spells, creating such a spell model was not a difficult task.
He only needed to implant such a spell model into Treant Warriors who possessed devouring and assimilation talents, and let them fight and devour frantically.
Facing a situation where they were outnumbered, this method of combat might be the most effective.
'The primary ability of this spell must be devouring; the higher the strength of devouring the demons' power, the better. But the transformation after devouring is equally important—some should be used for oneself, while others can be used to return the enemy's force as an attack...'
'Should this power be used for tempering the body or for raising the realm? Which kind of refining method can smoothly suppress this power?'
'No, that's too complex. Low-level Treant Warriors would find it hard to perfectly match that...'
'I can try every kind of model, and then they can choose the spell model that best suits them...'
Having a direction, Qi Ping couldn't wait to start his research.
This was a critical moment with plenty of research samples; research progress at such a time was the fastest. Every subversive and targeted spell model had the potential to turn the tide of the battle.
'Also... once the World-Domain Battlefield opens, I must constantly pay attention to the combat information sent back by those warriors using special communication talismans. At the same time, I must remind them to immediately send back their combat experience against the demons and any situations they find that can counter the demons. Those who send back key information can be rewarded with massive contributions... I'll have people arrange this now. This is very important; it can allow for the research of a large number of methods targeting the demons in the shortest time.'
Qi Ping immediately set to work, sending messages to the communication talismans of various managers like Lin Yue, ensuring every warrior below prioritized this situation. For any outstanding contributions, the rewards would be unlimited!
Soon, the hundreds of millions of Star-Sea cultivators within the city all received this news. They all secretly noted this matter that could both guard their home and earn massive rewards.
In Qi Ping's view, this was the advantage humans had over those demons. Although low-level demons were numerous and massive, their chaotic intelligence was always a point that could be targeted—even though this trait made them ferocious and unafraid of death.
So, how to exert the advantages of the Star-Sea Continent and the human race in every key point and every possible place... these points of strength combined might just be the key to turning a disadvantage into a victory.
Under this special pressure and state, a month passed in the blink of an eye.
By this time, everyone could clearly feel that dark sky that could press down at any moment. Once it did, countless people would be ground to dust.
Everyone had finished catching up with friends. They were all adjusting their states, striving to wait for that moment to descend in their best condition.
Qi Ping, the Demon Blade Dao Lord, the Life-Death Dao Lord, and several others guarded the very front of the Immortal-Slaying City.
Finally, after another two days passed, an incomparably massive spatial vortex abruptly manifested before the Immortal-Slaying City...
The entire world roared and trembled at this moment!