Forefather Celestial glumly looked over his troops assembled below him and declared, “Everyone, there’s an abundance of evidence proving that Jiang Chen has returned to Winterdraw. According to scouting reports, the island has seen a lot more activity lately, and the aura around the area has strengthened substantially.

“This tells us a large group of human cultivators have gathered there. It seems that the humans have discovered our gathering of troops and have been readying themselves for our invasion. Unfortunately, we’ve been in the dark the past half month and allowed them the time to prepare.”

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Anger boiled in his belly. He’d made yet another mistake. He’d planned to kill Jiang Chen first, but his people hadn’t seen even a shadow of the young man after half a month.

Perhaps Jiang Chen had already safely returned to Winterdraw.

“What if he hasn’t arrived at Winterdraw, Forefather? Without him, any preparations the humans make will be futile.”

“That’s right. As long as we take Jiang Chen out of the picture, the human race will pose no threat to us no matter what they do.”

“Perhaps we should test the island’s defenses with a probing attack, Forefather. Maybe the humans have simply put up a front and will fall easily.”

Speculations were thrown all around.

Forefather Celestial fixed a dark glare on the third forefather and the others. “I sent you to ambush Jiang Chen. You whiled away half a month without achieving anything. You should receive a demerit for this failure, but I’m willing to give you a chance to redeem yourselves. I’ll entrust the attack on Winterdraw to you. Do you have the courage to take on this mission?”

The third forefather asked, “Just the eight of us with ten thousand something men, Forefather? That can’t be enough, can it?”

“Hmph, I’m ready to attack Winterdraw as well. You’re but the vanguards. I’ll take charge and deal with that Jiang Chen myself!” He’d run out of patience.

He wasn’t interested in playing hide-and-seek with the human. He would kill the young man, invade Winterdraw, then the human domain, and destroy all of humanity!

“Prepare the troops,” he ordered. “We’ll divide our army into three and attack Winterdraw with all we have!”

......

Winterdraw bustled with positive energy as of late, especially since three days ago. After exiting closed door cultivation, Jiang Chen summoned all of the divine cultivators on the island and gifted each person with a Divine Transcendence Pill.

The exquisite, perfect pill and its tremendous energy was mesmerizing to behold.

“No one can predict how the war against demons will end or what the future entails. As leaders of the human race, we inherit the duty of those who came before us. We must be able to face the future generations with our head held high. The Divine Transcendence Pills are rewards not only from me, but also the human race. I expect only one thing from all of you: when we finally fight the demonic army, I want you to give it your all. We will not allow any demons to enter the human domain unless it’s over our dead bodies!”

Most of the cultivators gathered here held similar beliefs. There were no rotten apples among them. The divine cultivators, especially, had undergone several trials.

Jiang Chen’s solemn tone put a serious expression on everyone’s face.

“We follow the young lord to death against the demons!”

“To the death, to the death!”

Their expressions varied. Some were serious, some smug, others calm, and some had a carefree grin on their faces. Nevertheless, they all agreed on one thing: If they failed to defend Winterdraw, the war would be lost!

Only by blocking the demons at the island would the human race have a chance to survive.

Jiang Chen was pleased with everyone’s reaction. He lifted a hand. “Take your pills. The effects will be apparent within three days.

“Don’t be so pessimistic either. Winderdraw’s defensive formations are more powerful than we think. Even the demonic army won’t break through that easily. Besides, we aren’t going to sit idle and wait for them to take down the formations either.”

Winterdraw’s defenses might not rival the Great Formation of Heavenly Soul Confinement, but it was Senior Pei Xing’s life’s work. Jiang Chen had explored the full extent of their potential.

The formations would at least be able to withstand the demons’ all-out attacks for a couple of months. More importantly, Jiang Chen wasn’t going to just let them do that.

As soon as the demons attacked, he would find a way to retaliate.

Time passed quickly. One after another, the divine cultivators emerged from seclusion with bright smiles.

The pill had done their job. All of the gods had ascended to another level. There were no longer any first level divine realm cultivators on the island.

The third level gods took longer to cultivate since the leap between the third and the fourth level was much more significant. Their progress was substantial on a qualitative level as they entered mid divine realm.

The one who improved the most was An Kasyapa. He’d ascended to fourth level divine realm under Xia Tianze’s guidance, and the pill further pushed him to the fifth level.

That was quite a pleasant turn of events for him.

He felt he’d be able to fight Lightford head-on if the old man had still been alive. In fact, only top level demons could intimidate him, and he was able to rival mid level demons.

The four sacred beasts hadn’t taken a Divine Transcendence Pill. They didn’t need any after each of them consumed an Amaranthine Clouddew Fruit.

Their progress, however, was much more remarkable than that of the regular human cultivators.

After returning to Winterdraw, the Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise both reached peak fifth level divine realm. They were just one step away from ascending again.

Meanwhile, Long Xiaoxuan ascended to fourth level divine realm, and the Astral White Tiger was very close to making the same breakthrough as well.

The main reason for their tremendous progress was the life essence they’d gained from the demons. The divine beasts were much more efficient in consuming the ridiculously nutritious life essence than humans.

The true dragon, especially, benefitted the most from the life essence. Jiang Chen had a feeling that Long Xiaoxuan would soon catch up with the bird and the tortoise in cultivation, which he was most pleased with.

The four sacred beasts had finally matured. They would play an essential role in his future plans. He was another step closer to implementing the next phase of his plans.