Jiang Chen’s speculations made sense.

Ziju Min frowned. “So if we rush to those two sacred lands at full speed, we may be able to get there before Lightford does, right?”

“We may.” Jiang Chen nodded. “Take a look at the map. There’s a large distance between each of the sacred lands. He can’t go visit all of the other nine in a short period of time. Even though he’s powerful, he needs time to conquer a sacred land. At most, he would’ve taken over two to three during this time.”

“That’s right. It hasn’t been long. He couldn’t have done more than that.”

“It’s said that Lightford’s assigned two divines to each of the sacred lands, which means that he’s sent twenty gods in total. After we killed and captured the ones sent to attack Eternal, there should be eighteen left. If nothing goes wrong, the ten sacred lands’ elites should be able to deal with the ones sent to attack Abyssal and Nirvana. Ten forefathers are more than enough to take down two divine cultivators. They wouldn’t be able to flee unless some of the forefathers aren’t doing their job.”

That left about a dozen gods under Lightford’s command.

Perhaps some of those who’d fled from Sandplain would return to Lightford. Perhaps those who hadn’t taken Lightford’s side would be talked into helping him.

That, however, were unlikely to happen.

So at the end of the day, Lightford had less than twenty divines on his side.

Jiang Chen sighed. “Lightford’s thought himself into a corner. The fugitives he recruited are a disparate group. There’s no place for strategies and plans. He should’ve brought all of them to sweep the ten sacred lands in raids and looting. Separating them makes them vulnerable, which gives us a chance to catch our breath.”

Jiang Chen was right. If Lightford had launched a full frontal attack in the beginning, things wouldn’t have ended well for the ten sacred lands given the pitiful number of divines they had on their side.

Lightford had once had a clear advantage. Unfortunately, he’d failed to make the best of his cards and ended up suffering for it. He couldn’t be blamed, not really. He hadn’t made the wrong call, per se. He just hadn’t expected a wildcard like Jiang Chen.

If not for Jiang Chen, Lightford would’ve dealt with the ten sacred lands back in Sandplain. There wouldn’t be this much trouble for him to take care of afterwards.

Divine Kasyapa watched Jiang Chen with a smile. The young man was thorough and confident enough to make even a group of seniors listen to him with rapt attention. He asked in an amused tone, “So what do you plan to do, Jiang Chen?”

Jiang Chen smiled. He could tell that Kasyapa was testing him.

“There are many options available to us. The safer approach is to rush to the two sacred lands to meet up with the ten forefathers. The riskier way is to locate Lightford and launch a surprise attack, killing as many divines as we can. If we fail, at least our enemies will be kept on their toes.

“However, the two options are either too conservative or too risky. I don’t plan to pick either.” He concluded with a serene smile.

He wasn’t picking either?

That was a distinct surprise. They believed the conservative option was the way to go. Once meeting up with the ten sacred lands’ elites, the rest would fall into place. They couldn’t lose.

Plainly, Jiang Chen disagreed.

“That means you have a better idea?” Divine Kasyapa smiled knowingly.

“I believe the best thing to do is to race Lightford. Act faster and more efficiently than he does. We should rush to the sacred lands before he can gather his people and kill or turn them, weakening his forces as quickly as possible. Those divine cultivators are separated in each sacred land. They’re easy to deal with when divided. Once Lightford gathers them, they’ll be much more powerful and destructive.”

Divine Kasyapa clapped and laughed. “Good! Exactly what I’m thinking.”

“You have the same idea, Divine Kasyapa?”

“That’s right!” Kasyapa nodded. “This is the smartest and most appropriate plan. We’ll become stronger in comparison if we weaken Lightford, and we may gain more strength during the process. If we recover three sacred lands along the way, Lightford will have six less divine cultivators on his side.”

There were nine other sacred lands. It wasn’t impossible for them to take on three sacred lands before Lightford attacked, if they were quick. In addition, the sacred land alliance would be dealing with the two other sacred lands.

In the end, Lightford might be left with only men returning from four sacred lands.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

That would be the most ideal scenario.

Of course, things wouldn’t necessarily go that way. In truth, Jiang Chen believed it’d be good enough for them to dispel the attacks on two sacred lands.

Meeting up with the ten forefathers might be the safest approach, but at the same time, Lightford would be able to gather his people as well. That meant the enemy would be as strong as ever.

Casualties would be unimaginable when fights broke out. Whether they ended up winning or not, the battle would take a great toll on them since neither side was greater than the other.

Attacking Lightford directly, on the other hand, was too risky. If the fugitive leader had gathered more than four gods already, it’d be unlikely for the sacred land defenders to catch Lightford by surprise. They might even end up losing.

After all, they were barely enough to defeat Lightford when he was alone. If he had help, things would be very difficult.

Realization dawned on them as they listened to Jiang Chen’s analysis. It was true that this strategy was the most appropriate one for the current situation.

They would be taking out the hidden threats and tipping the scales between them and Lightford.

Meeting up with the ten sacred lands and bringing them the news that Lightford had spearheaded the attacks himself might actually be bad for morale.

If they could eliminate the attackers at two sacred lands before meeting up with the main group, at least there would be some good news along with the bad ones. The alliance’s spirits wouldn’t suffer as much.