There were no surprises about why they were so emotional. Aside from Abyssal and Nirvana, the sacred lands were uniformly conflicted about what had transpired.

The main force had only managed to recover those two locations during this period of time. Their third target had been Radiance, and their fifth, Void.

It would’ve been impossible for them to recover even half of the sacred lands in practice, since Lightford was on the march as well.

Thus, Jiang Chen’s salvation of Void was something that the faction’s members were genuinely grateful for.   The same was true for those from Sunrise and Radiance.

Those who had been left to protect those two lands had already relayed their stories to their respective forefathers. Reuniting with their once-lost peers proved to be a tearful moment.

Jiang Chen had pulled a serendipitous conclusion out of despair.

The Eternal young lord cupped his fist modestly. “Honorable seniors, I only made the choices most appropriate to the bigger picture.”  

He was being entirely honest. The four sacred lands under Lightford’s control had been passed over out of anticipated futility.   

What he’d been able to do instead was to visit the ones that Lightford hadn’t yet gotten to. Thankfully, he had managed to arrive at them earlier despite starting out later, slaying or converting six gods total in the process.

This was a significant blow to Lightford’s numbers. The old man definitely had fewer than ten gods at his disposal now.

Jiang Chen surmised that out of the four sacred lands’ garrisons under Lightford’s command, there were only eight gods in total. Even if the two gods that had fled from Sandplain could join him in the end, that made only ten.

As time passed, the possibility of that was becoming ever lower. Divine Kasyapa and Yu Gong’s disguises would have been long unmasked otherwise.

The Eternal forefather was in a rather good mood. Jiang Chen’s actions cemented Eternal’s status as leader of the alliance.

Though they also stole his thunder somewhat, he saw no reason to mind that. Jiang Chen’s talent and potential were so clear-cut already. There was no reason that he, a forefather, should fight for the limelight with a young genius.

No matter what, Jiang Chen and the Eternal Sacred Land were synonymous right now. This was an undeniable fact.

Ziju Min described vividly to the forefathers what had happened after they’d split near Sandplain. How Jiang Chen had returned to the Eternal Sacred Land and fought the invaders there, cutting down Lightford’s gold and silver enforcers.

How, after that, he’d maneuvered against Lightford to the point of driving him off.

The entire story was a rather exciting one. The forefathers were uniformly speechless after hearing it, the scene taking on a peculiar air.

The silence stretched on with the audience struggling to digest what Ziju Min had related.

After a long while, the Eternal forefather laughed readily. “You’ve fought against Old Lightford then? How strong is he, exactly?”

“Mid divine realm, by my reckoning,” Jiang Chen responded seriously. “No question about it. His abilities are unparalleled.”

The revelation astounded every listener.

Mid divine realm meant at least fourth level! No cultivator in the ten sacred lands could match that.

The blood went out of everyone’s faces. Their expressions collectively tensed. The quoted level presented a tremendous threat, both physically and psychologically.

Even when fighting alongside each other, a handful of forefathers couldn’t guarantee victory over a mid divine realm cultivator. Lightford alone could hold up more than half of their force!

If he’d marshaled all his men at the outset and ordered a frontal assault, the ten sacred lands would’ve been completely helpless. The gods on the enemy side far surpassed those on the ten sacred lands’.

Thankfully, Old Lightford hadn’t chosen to brute force a victory using raw numbers alone, instead choosing a more strategic approach at Sandplain.

The reason for doing so was clear enough. The old man hadn’t wanted to whittle away too much of his own forces. Formations and poison were much more labor-saving methods of hamstringing the ten sacred lands.

At the same time though, this had afforded the sacred lands considerable ability to counterattack. To be more precise, it had afforded 

Jiang Chen

 that ability.

“Jiang Chen’s fought Lightford once before, so he must know what the old man’s capable of already. Now that we’re gathered here, there’s no better time for us to face off against his remaining armies once and for all. Only with him dead will Myriad Abyss have peace. Only with him gone will we be able to turn our attention to the offworld battlefield once more!”

“Yes, only death will resolve this deep-seated problem. No sacred land alone can stand against that old bastard. We ten sacred lands have allied with each other already. Now is the time to make good on it!”

The sacred lands’ spirits were high.

The Eternal forefather nodded. “Good. Old Lightford is a public enemy of all the sacred lands. He’s wronged each and every one of us in turn, taking away the lives of many of our best. Only his death will satisfy our need for vengeance. It’s him or us!”

Jiang Chen swept his eyes across the divine forefathers’ faces one by one. They were raring for a conclusive fight, one and all. Their anger had been fully roused.

They knew full well through personal experience that a living Lightford meant trouble for the sacred lands. None of them could stay selfish anymore.

All of them had fallen victim to Lightford’s raids, regardless of whether or not they were currently recovered.

“My friends, this senior deserves majority credit for holding off Lightford from the Eternal Sacred Land.” Jiang Chen glanced at Divine Kasyapa, smiling. “He is styled Divine Kasyapa and has been on bad terms with Lightford ever since their days in the Boundless Prison. His cultivation is only a hair below that old bastard’s. Without his generous assistance, Eternal wouldn’t have endured as long as it did, nor would we have been able to kill god after god. Indeed, we owe much to him in our recovery of Sunrise, Radiance, and Void as well.”

The Eternal, Radiance, Sunrise, and Void forefathers all stepped forward soberly, offering him their heartfelt thanks.

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