Chapter 1942 : Far Yet Near

Chapter 1,943 So Far Yet So Near Furthermore, within this territory bordering the 3 1000 Immortal Domains, dozens of new Chaos Fiends had emerged—their numbers even surpassing those within the 3 1000 Immortal Domains by a significant margin.

Eldrin had anticipated this outcome. After all, compared to the vast and chaotic sea, the 3 1000 immortal domains were merely a small part of it.

The Chaos Fiendgods have always been the race with the most Great Luo Golden Immortals within the primordial chaos. Yet, the Chaos Fiendgods are further divided into countless sub-races, each faction operating independently without unity. Were it not for this division, how could the 3 1000 Immortal Domains ever withstand the might of these Chaos Fiendgods?

When the kalpic tribulation finally subsided, Lyra gazed at the intelligence report in her hand and sighed with profound emotion. "The number of newly ascended Great Luo Golden Immortals in this kalpic tribulation," she remarked, "ranks third among the nearly 1 100 kalpic tribulations we've witnessed."

Eldrin nodded. During the cosmic kalpa of his ascension to the Dao, the legacy of the Violet Immortal Sovereign had ushered in a golden age—1 that witnessed dozens of Great Luo beings emerging within a single kalpa.

Even if it couldn't compare to its former glory, this occasion could still be considered exceptionally magnificent.

"Though war and chaotic times are brutal, they also forge the finest heroes."

Eldrin let out a sigh, then set down the intelligence report in his hand and asked, "Has the war on the front lines resumed once more?"

"Hmm." Lyra nodded, then spoke: "But the intensity of the war has diminished considerably."

Eldrin nodded, having anticipated this all along.

The war ignited by the Primordial Emperor was destined to diminish in intensity as his resolve for battle wavered.

After all, even if the Great Luo Golden Immortals never fall into the cycle of reincarnation, the ancient immortals and celestial soldiers below are all living beings. Even the Chaos Beast Kings possess intelligence no less than that of ordinary humans.

Many of the fallen immortals were disciples of the Great Luo Golden Immortals, while the vanquished celestial soldiers and generals had been meticulously nurtured by the Great Luo Immortal Lords over time.

All had attained immortality and eternal life, free and unfettered in their carefree existence. Yet now, countless familiar immortals had fallen in this calamity—even the Great Luo Golden Immortals could not remain unmoved.

In such circumstances, realizing that the 2 Primordial Chaos Emperors had no intention of fighting to the death, they naturally refrained from recklessly charging to their doom.

The immortals of the major celestial realms merely held their defenses, their will to fight could have been slightly more resolute.

The Chaos Beast Kings and Chaos Holy Spirits capable of launching offensives would likely see their will to fight waver. Even that Primordial Demi-God would find it impossible to compel them to continue such desperate, all-out warfare.

Lyra surveyed the situation, and after a long while, she finally spoke, "The tides of war are descending into a deadlock and stalemate."

"When both sides could fight no longer, the Chaos Fiends would likely withdraw their troops."

Eldrin studied the map for a moment before finally shaking his head. "If the Blaze Demon God wishes to prevail—let alone drive the Flaming Sovereign out like a stray dog—he must systematically weaken humanity's influence throughout the Eastern Blaze Domain."

"If I were the Infernal Fiend of Estranging Flame, faced with a protracted stalemate, I would deploy a portion of our forces to besiege the main armies across the 30-6 celestial domains."

Then they divided their forces to besiege other scattered immortal domains, shattering this immortal domain and slaying the Great Luo Golden Immortals. Even if they could not kill these Great Luo Golden Immortals, they could still force them to lose their Dao sanctuaries, thus driving them out of the Eastern Li Flame Domain.

At this point, Eldrin took a deep breath, then pointed at the map of the Eastern Li Flame Region....

Lyra glanced over, her expression involuntarily shifting slightly.

She suddenly realized that with the inclusion of Lord Donghua’s Donghua Immortal Domain into the 30-6 Heavenly Constellations Immortal Domains, the 7 Return to the Void Immortal Domains no longer had any powerful neighboring domains to rely upon.

At this thought, Lyra couldn't help but take a deep breath and said, "If they could mobilize a heavily armed force to surround us, wouldn't that be..."

Eldrin nodded and said, "Fortunately, over the years, we have been concealing our true strength. They remain unaware of our actual power."

"If they were to discover our true strength, they would most likely mobilize multiple top-tier Chaos Fiends at the eighth level of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm to besiege us."

At this point, Eldrin patted Lyra on the shoulder and said, "There's no need to worry. With our current strength and the protection of the grand formation, we have more than enough to defend ourselves—unless a Great Perfection Golden Immortal decides to intervene."

Lyra nodded at last. After carefully assessing the strength on both sides several times, she let out a slight sigh of relief.

Although Patriarch Liyan commanded over 2 100 Chaos Fiends, only 2 had reached the Great Perfection of the Golden Immortal realm. These 2 were completely pinned down by the 2 human experts at the same cultivation level, rendering them unable to break away.

Considering the need to besiege all 30-6 immortal domains, there should only be 3 or 4 Great Luo Golden Immortals at the 8th level available to be dispatched.

Without knowing the true strength of the 7 Immortal Domains of the Returning Abyss, it would be virtually impossible to dispatch so many Eightfold Great Luo Golden Immortals to besiege the Returning Abyss Immortal Domain.

At this thought, Lyra (Person Name) spoke up, "What should we do next?"

"Seize the moment to cultivate and make thorough preparations for battle."

Speaking thus, Eldrin returned to the Abyssal Immortal Realm and located the Heaven-Soul Fruit Tree within the Netherworld Celestial Domain.

The Heaven Soul Fruit Tree is a supreme-grade primordial ancient tree for cultivating the divine soul, unparalleled as a transcendent treasure in its efficacy for divine soul cultivation.

Now Eldrin possessed the resources for achieving sainthood through physical cultivation: the Immortal Golden Fruit Tree and the Great Luo Immortal Elixir. For the path of the Great Dao, he had the Primordial Heavenly Spiritual Root Enlightenment Tea. Only for spiritual cultivation did he still lack 1 last Primordial Heavenly Spiritual Root.

After much deliberation, he concluded that the Celestial Soul Fruit Tree remained the optimal choice.

At this moment, he took out the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi Vessel (Magic Treasure), directly nourishing the Heaven Soul Tree (Divine Tree) with the Primordial Chaos Water of Creation (Spiritual Liquid). This allowed the Heaven Soul Tree to break through its own bottleneck and ascend into a Great Ancient Tree of Primordial Chaos (Divine Tree).

After completing all this, Eldrin exhaled a wisp of Primordial Indestructible Spirit Light and, as was his custom, supplemented it with a strand of Primordial Primordial Purple Qi, allowing it to merge into the Heaven Soul Fruit Tree. This aided the tree in advancing to become a Heavenly Spiritual Root.

After the Heavenly Soul Fruit Tree advanced to a lower-grade Heavenly Spiritual Root (Spiritual Root), it could yield 3 'Heavenly Soul Fruits' in 1 kalpa cycle, and could be accelerated to maturity 9 times within that same kalpa.

Eldrin plucked the Celestial Soul Fruit Tree and immediately performed 9 rounds of accelerated cultivation, ultimately obtaining 30 Celestial Soul Fruits.

Anticipating that the great battle could erupt at any moment, Eldrin did not hesitate in the slightest. He immediately summoned the 8 Great Luo Golden Immortals of the Chen Immortal Clan and distributed 3 Celestial Soul Fruits to each of them.

Eldrin set aside 6 of them, then took a deep breath and said, "With these Heaven-Soul Fruits, my soul cultivation should break through to the mid-Great Perfection Stage in at most 1 kalpa’s time."

Upon hearing this, the members of the Chen Immortal Clan (Organization) also revealed faint smiles.

Similar to the Indestructible Golden Fruit, only 3 Celestial Soul Fruits can be refined in a single kalpa. Yet, refining just 1 is equivalent to the Chen Clan's collective cultivation spanning an entire kalpa....

You must understand, the Chen Clan’s foundation within the Great Luo Ancient Sect runs profoundly deep. By perpetually refining the Great Luo’s rare treasure, the Soul-Nurturing Wood, for cultivation, their progress over a single kalpa is equivalent to what ordinary Great Luo Golden Immortals achieve across several kalpas.

At this thought, Qing Ji, who had broken through to the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm relatively late, also remarked with a smile, "It seems that for our primordial spirits and Great Luo bodies to advance to the mid-stage of Great Luo, it shouldn’t take too long either."

Eldrin chuckled upon hearing this. Although Qing Ji had only been a Great Luo Golden Immortal for a single kalpa, her cultivation resources far surpassed what Eldrin had access to in his early days. Now, both her physical body and primordial spirit cultivation were nearing the third level of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm.

After distributing these rare treasures, Eldrin had them each go and refine their cultivation before returning to his cave abode to continue his secluded training.

He first refined 3 Soul Heaven Fruits, then retrieved and refined the Great Luo Immortal Elixir.

In the previous Chaos War, the group slew 7 Great Luo Golden Immortals, allowing Eldrin to refine 30-6 Great Luo Immortality Pills.

As usual, Eldrin distributed 3 Great Luo Immortal Pills to each person, with 9 pills remaining in reserve.

Now that Eldrin had broken through to the mid-stage of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm, he attempted to refine the Great Luo Immortal Pill once more, only to discover his capacity for refining it had increased yet again.

Previously, before reaching the mid-stage of the Great Luo Physique, Eldrin could only refine 3 Great Luo Immortal Pills in a single kalpa cycle. Any further refinement would risk leaving his foundation unstable.

Yet after this breakthrough, Eldrin refined 3 more pellets in succession and discovered no signs of instability in his foundation—clearly, his tolerance for the Great Luo Immortal Pills had significantly heightened.

Thus, Eldrin continued his refinement, and only when he had fully refined the sixth piece did he faintly sense he had reached his limit.

"Upon reaching the Middle Stage of the Great Luo Golden Body, can 1 refine 6 Great Luo Immortal Pills per kalpa?"

A faint smile surfaced as Eldrin murmured to himself.

Yet after a brief moment of sensing, a trace of solemnity surfaced as Eldrin's brow faintly furrowed.

After sensing his own condition, he discovered that after breaking through to the mid-stage of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm, continuing to refine the 10 Revolutions Immortal Pill had become utterly ineffective. At most, it could only restore his stamina but could no longer enhance his power.

In other words, further physical enhancement would now require either refining a Great Luo Immortal Pill or consuming rare treasures like the Immortal Golden Fruit.

Moreover, after this breakthrough, the resources required for Eldrin to advance his cultivation to the next level had become even more staggering.

Having just refined 6 Great Luo Immortal Pills in succession, the foundation of his Primordial Chaos Indestructible Body had only been replenished by 15 percent.

In other words, if Eldrin wished to rapidly break through to the fifth level of the Great Luo Body, he would need to consume at least 40 Great Luo Immortal Pills. This meant he would have to slay a dozen or so Great Luo Golden Immortals to accomplish such a feat.

"It seems that unless we achieve more remarkable gains, the supply of Great Luo Immortal Pills cannot be distributed equally going forward. Priority must be given to supporting my cultivation."

Eldrin murmured inwardly, then slowly exhaled a breath.

He allocated enough resources to the Chen Clan members for them to cultivate up to the Third Perfection of the Great Luo Body. Beyond that, whether they could swiftly break through the main bottleneck would ultimately depend on their Innate Indestructible Radiance.

At this thought, Eldrin took a deep breath and stepped into the Chaotic Heavenly Domain. He harvested the ripened Immortal Golden Fruits, then catalyzed the maturation process 9 more times in succession, ultimately gathering 30 of the golden fruits.

Eldrin then entered seclusion once more to refine the Indestructible Golden Fruits. After consuming another 6 of these divine fruits, he felt the accumulation within his physical body increase by 15 percent, reaching a total of 30 percent of his foundational potential.

It was only at this moment that a trace of helplessness finally surfaced on Eldrin's face.

His Great Luo Physique was indeed formidable, but the resources it consumed were truly staggering.

You must understand, for an ordinary Great Immortal King of the middle stage with an Indestructible Limit foundation, after consuming as many as 12 Great Immortal King Pills and Indestructible Golden Fruits, their physical body should have been more than sufficient to break through to the fifth level of the Great Immortal King realm.

Yet for an ordinary mid-stage Great Luo Golden Immortal, without winning at least 1 or 2 Chaos Wars, it might take 1 100 kalpas to accumulate such vast resources.

Yet Eldrin had consumed 12 pills in quick succession, only to find his foundational energy replenished by a mere third. This indicated that Eldrin would require at least 3 kalpic cycles to break through a single layer of cultivation.

At this rate, breaking through to the Sixth Perfection of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm would require at least 10 kalpas of time, consuming close to 2 100 Great Luo Immortal Pills and Indestructible Golden Fruits.

Eldrin murmured softly, his brow involuntarily furrowing.

The path of physical sanctification consumed resources far beyond Eldrin's expectations, filling him with profound gravity.

2 100 portions of Great Luo Immortal Pills would require slaying dozens of Chaos Demon Gods to gather the necessary materials. Even if half the expenditure were replaced with Immortal Golden Fruits, that would still be no small amount.

Of course, Eldrin's Great Perfection Body was comparable to the seventh level of a Golden Immortal. When converted into the resources required to advance from the seventh level to the Great Perfection stage, this amount appeared rather reasonable.

"Resources, there are never enough resources."

A long while later, Eldrin took a deep breath.

He lifted his head and gazed into the vast, chaotic depths, as if gaining some faint comprehension of the distant battles raging within that primordial turmoil.

"Be it man or immortal."

As long as 1 aspires to break through to higher realms, the scarcity of resources shall forever persist, inevitably plunging them into the relentless tide of conflict.

"Living as a carefree immortal may seem detached from worldly affairs, but as long as conflicts persist in this realm, can 1 truly remain untethered forever?"

Eldrin shook his head, ultimately reining in all his thoughts.

In the years that followed, Eldrin resumed his life of secluded cultivation. He devoted himself to refining the resources within his body—the Soul Heaven Fruit and the Great Luo Immortal Pills—while also sipping Enlightenment Tea to deepen his comprehension of the Great Dao.

Meanwhile, he was also using the Primordial Artifact to constantly temper his body and soul, awaiting the opportunity for his cultivation to break through once more.

In his spare time, Eldrin would expound the Dao to the members of his clan, helping disciples and bloodline descendants temper their foundations.

On the other side, as the intensity of the battlefield seemed to diminish, the Flame-Severing Sovereign ceased issuing decrees demanding Eldrin's participation in the war. Moreover, having witnessed the precedents set by the Chaos Scarlet Wolf King and others, the remaining Chaos Demon Gods dared not intervene again.

Thus, it seemed everything was progressing in a favorable direction, all returning to tranquility and harmony.

In the blink of an eye, 20 million years had passed in such haste.

For Eldrin (Person Name), this span of time was not particularly long, yet for the immortals of the Return to Ruins Realm, these 20 million years had already become an immensely protracted epic....

Apart from those immortals under the protection of great powers like the Chen Immortal Clan (Organization) and the Guixu Immortal Alliance, the vast majority of celestial beings could scarcely survive such an extensive span of time.

Even among Earth Immortals, those capable of living beyond 20,000,000 years are truly exceptional, possessing at least late-stage Earth Immortal cultivation.

In Eldrin's eyes, the Chaos War loomed so close it seemed within arm's reach, ever ready to unleash terrifying cataclysms and the threat of annihilation upon the 7 Great Celestial Domains.

In the eyes of these immortals, this Chaotic War was so distant it had become an ancient legend.

What seems distant in your eyes is but a step away.

In my eyes, it was but a stone's throw away.

This was a stark contrast; only the ever-flowing array patterns of the 7 Great Celestial Domains served as a reminder that this war, spanning tens of millions of years, had yet to reach its end.

Until 30,000,000 years after the end of the kalpic catastrophe, a shocking news echoed from the primordial chaos.

Facing the 30-6 Immortal Domains, the Chaos Fiendgods had long failed to conquer them. In the end, they decided to deploy nearly half of their forces, preparing to flank from the rear and assault dozens of human-controlled immortal domains. Their aim was to seize this opportunity to weaken the strength of the human race in the Eastern Li Flame Domain.

"You were right after all."

Lyra gazed at the intelligence in her hand, her expression grave as she drew a deep breath. "This time, Semi-Ancestor Liyan has dispatched over 60 Great Luo Golden Immortals, with at least 4 of them at the Eighth Heaven of the Great Luo Realm."

A faint crease formed between Qing Ji’s brows before she spoke, “In the Eastern Li Flame Domain, including us, there are now 60-2 immortal domains remaining, with 60-5 Great Luo Golden Immortals appearing in the open.”

"From the very onset of the Chaos War, Half-Ancestor Liyan dispatched an equal number of Chaos Demons to contain us. Now with the additional 60 recently deployed, their forces have doubled ours."

Eldrin gave a slight nod, his gaze fixed on the map and intelligence in his hands as he sank deep into contemplation.

Beside them, Ethan Chen could no longer restrain himself and asked, "Uncle Eldrin, what should we do?"

Eldrin did not answer immediately, instead continuously studying the map of the Eastern Li Flame Domain. After a long while, he finally spoke: "If you were the Chaos Demon God, how would you deploy troops at this moment?"

"Concentrate our forces and advance with overwhelming momentum."

Chen Ethan declared, his gaze resolute.

Eldrin smiled faintly, then shook his head and said, "Concentrating our forces is indeed the safest approach, but we're not fools who would insist on confronting them head-on."

"With the 3 1000 Immortal Realms at our backs, we are not far from retreat. Should they truly advance upon us with slaughter in mind, we need only guide the immortal realms back to the 3 1000 Immortal Realms. In time, we shall reassemble the Grand Array of Immortal Realms and return with vengeance."

Chen Ethan (Person Name) furrowed his brow slightly upon hearing this, naturally aware of the effects of the Celestial Realm's grand formation.

If 1 were to establish a grand Chaos Formation using dozens of celestial realms as its foundation, even confronting a Primordial Emperor would be effortless.

However, this would make the distances between immortal domains as close as the 3 1000 Immortal Domains themselves, drastically reducing each domain's hunting territories and significantly diminishing the resources they could obtain.

But when it truly came to a life-or-death situation, sacrificing their hunting grounds to deploy a grand formation was not an impossible feat.

By that time, it would be nothing short of a pipe dream for these Chaos Fiends to breach the immortal realms—even if they were to triple or quadruple their forces, it would still fall far short.

Thus, if the Chaos Fiends were to unite and launch an assault, it would inevitably provoke the major immortal domains to band together as well.

At this thought, Ethan Chen fell into brief contemplation before speaking, "But if we divide our forces, the Great Luo Golden Immortal, backed by the immortal realm, could withstand at least 3 to 5 opponents of the same realm."

"Could it be..."

Eldrin nodded and said, "He can divide his forces. By concentrating part of his troops to capture a few dominant immortal domains, the other realms that remain untouched may not necessarily come to their aid."

(End of Chapter)

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