Originally, the strength of Jiuqu League was not as great as Dali Dynasty's, and now, with the southern region falling, nearly half of the cultivation forces are ruined. Relying solely on the leadership of Jade Sword Sect in the north, it would be even more difficult to resist Dali Dynasty.
Under the collapsed nest, how can there be unbroken eggs? If the entire Jiuqu League is destroyed, Taiyi Sect will also find it hard to preserve itself. At that time, would Dali Dynasty spare Taiyi Sect?
At this moment, Meng Zhang's heart even had a hint of regret, wondering if he had chosen the wrong side. If, at the first contact with Wen Dong True Monarch, he had endured the harsh conditions and agreed to join Dali Dynasty, would Taiyi Sect have a better future?
This thought flashed through Meng Zhang's mind, but he quickly dismissed it. What use is there in thinking about this now when things have come to this point?
Moreover, even if it comes to the critical moment, Meng Zhang has reserved a retreat route for Taiyi Sect in the Grand Crossing Cultivation Circle. However, if it comes to that, Taiyi Sect's losses would be extremely heavy. Not only might the sect be completely destroyed, but centuries of accumulated resources and progress would be lost, and they would have to start from scratch in many aspects.
Furthermore, considering the expansion momentum of Dali Dynasty, if Jiuqu League fails to stop its expansion, the Grand Crossing Cultivation Circle might be their next target.
Thinking about all this is useless now. Meng Zhang returned his focus to dispelling the Grand Dao power in his body and healing his injuries.
Back when he was in the Nine Heavens, with Xu Mengying's help, his injuries had stabilized. With a bit of time and effort, he could fully recover. However, when he later had to make a move to save He Luo True Monarch and others, he had to fight with injuries, causing further harm. Now, he had to spend more time healing his wounds.
Fortunately, it seemed that Jade Sword Sect could still stabilize the situation for now and didn't force Meng Zhang to go to the battlefield.
However, after a rough look at these scriptures, he realized that he had greatly underestimated this pile of stuff. The predecessor, Primordial Spirit, who left behind these scriptures, was truly extraordinary. There were two complete sets of cultivation techniques, reaching up to the Primordial Spirit realm. There were detailed descriptions of cultivation at the Primordial Spirit stage.
Especially the recorded Divine Abilities and cultivation insights, they were of great help to Meng Zhang.
Apart from cultivation techniques, there were also numerous contents related to various cultivation hundred arts, covering everything from alchemy to artifact refinement, and they were extremely detailed.
With limited time, Meng Zhang couldn't read and organize these scriptures carefully. He just had a brief look and stored them in the Hidden Scripture Pavilion of the sect. He planned to sort and organize them slowly when he had time.
No wonder True Monarch Mountain Peak fought desperately to seize these scriptures. With these scriptures, not only could he make up for the shortcomings in his cultivation techniques, but he could even use them as the foundation to establish a completely new sect.
While Meng Zhang was in seclusion healing, the situation in Jiuqu League continued to change. After conquering the southern region of Jiuqu League, Dali Dynasty did not stop its conquest but continued its march northward.
The army broke through various obstacles on its way and arrived at the Yellow Lotus Sect's Main Altar below the Yellow Lotus Holy Mountain.
At this point, Dali Dynasty finally encountered resistance. After returning to the Yellow Lotus Holy Mountain, the Holy Maiden of Yellow Lotus Sect, Xu Mengying, announced the death of True Monarch Mountain Peak.
True Monarch Mountain Peak colluded with Dali Dynasty, betrayed Jiuqu League, and attempted to assassinate Xu Mengying, but she successfully counter-killed him. Originally, Xu Haoran True Monarch, who had little time left to live, was waiting quietly for death. However, seeing the drastic changes in the Jiuqu League situation, he forced himself to stand up and help Xu Mengying stabilize the situation within Yellow Lotus Sect.
Although many within the Yellow Lotus Sect's Main Altar still had doubts about the news of True Monarch Mountain Peak's death, Xu Mengying, with her Primordial Spirit cultivation base, forcefully gained control of the Main Altar and took command. After gaining control, Xu Mengying dispatched trusted aides to issue orders to various branch locations.
As long as the branches obeyed the Main Altar, she would forgive the past and accept them back into the fold. Without True Monarch Mountain Peak to oppose her, Xu Mengying, as a Primordial Spirit True Monarch, still had great authority and gained some verbal support from the branch locations.
The long-missing Elder Daoist Master Smiling Lotus from the East River Branch suddenly appeared and voluntarily pledged allegiance to Xu Mengying. Together with Xu Mengying's trusted aides, they returned to the East River Branch and regained control, making the East River Branch loyal to Xu Mengying. As the East River Branch was already a powerful and influential branch, its alignment towards Xu Mengying brought even more branches to her side.
At this time, the army of Dali Dynasty was attacking and conquering the southern cities of Jiuqu League, subduing those who resisted. Some southern branch locations of Jiuqu League were forced to surrender, while others abandoned everything and migrated northwards.
To be honest, with Dali Dynasty's harsh treatment of various cultivation forces, there were likely few cultivation forces willing to willingly submit to them. Dali Dynasty's ruthless and tyrannical nature was no secret, and the upper echelons of major cultivation forces were well aware of it. Especially after the hostilities between Dali Dynasty and Jiuqu League, there were people spreading propaganda throughout Jiuqu League's territories about how cruel and ruthless Dali Dynasty was towards their cultivators.
In the south of Jiuqu League, the newly-conquered territories of Dali Dynasty saw many cultivators unwilling to accept their rule, fleeing northwards in a panic.
While Xu Mengying was consolidating the entire Yellow Lotus Sect, she made her stance clear and chose the side of Jade Sword Sect. Initially, True Monarch Mountain Peak had vacillated between Azure Origin Sect and Jade Sword Sect, playing a waiting game while secretly siding with Dali Dynasty. However, when Xu Mengying took power, she actively aligned with Jade Sword Sect and invited Jade Sword Sect cultivators to join Yellow Lotus Holy Mountain to help resist Dali Dynasty's invasion.
Xu Mengying's attitude was exactly what Jade Sword Sect desired. In fact, after receiving news of the sudden change in Azure Origin Sect, Jade Sword Sect had already taken action. They ordered their various cultivation forces to prepare for battle and also recruited several Primordial Spirit True Monarchs.
Upon receiving Xu Mengying's invitation, Jade Sword Sect's True Monarch Fei Guo led a group of Primordial Spirit True Monarchs to settle at Yellow Lotus Holy Mountain. Subsequently, the cultivator army organized by Jade Sword Sect gradually arrived to help construct defensive lines for Yellow Lotus Sect.
The various cultivators who had fled from the south were intercepted near Yellow Lotus Holy Mountain. After verification, only a few were allowed to continue northward. Most of them were recruited by Jade Sword Sect and joined the temporary defensive lines, ready to resist Dali Dynasty's invasion.
Through various means of coercion and inducement, Jade Sword Sect obtained many expendable soldiers.
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