Chapter 1708 — Mountains Layered, Rivers Doubled, the Silver River Pours Down

"The Yuan World needs a victory!

A dazzling triumph to lift the hearts of all!

" In the South Sea, where islands lay strewn like stars, great and small, the Crimson Emperor and the Bright Emperor stood before the Five Dragon Isles. The remnant clansmen of Chiming had transformed into gods with three heads and six arms, had burst out from the islands, and were locked in a bloody battle upon the sea against the thirty-nine army marquises of the Heavenly Court.

In truth, any single one of those marquises, drawn out alone, commanded more gods and demons than the whole of the Chiming Suspended World. The host of gods and demons in the Chiming Suspended World was equal only to a single one of the heavens. Though the Chiming clansmen were fierce and battle-hardened, their fleshly bodies and primal spirits uncommonly powerful, able to fight three at once, before the enemy's superior numbers they remained as precarious as a stack of eggs.

That the Crimson Emperor and the Bright Emperor had held out until now was owed to the support of the Southern Emperor, the Vermilion Bird.

The Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird had few troops, but her daughter Yan'er was one of the generals most highly regarded by the Jingping Heavenly Venerate Mu. Though her cultivation had been delayed a time by the bearing of a child, her cultivation and realm had already reached the Emperor Throne, making her one of Jingping's rare Emperor Throne powerhouses. She had led her troops here, and with the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird holding the position, they had formed a pincer with the remnants of Chiming, pinning down the strength of the Heavenly Court's thirty-nine army marquises.

Otherwise, the Chiming Suspended World could hardly have held out until now. Yet even with Yan'er supporting the flank, victory remained desperately difficult for the Crimson Emperor and the Bright Emperor.

The two Heavenly Emperors of the Chiming era had been dead far too long; though they had been reborn, their cultivation and their arts and divine powers had fallen behind the times. In these years they had absorbed the Jingping Reforms and grown with startling speed, but they still lacked time.

And the Heavenly Court would not grant them time!

Each of the Heavenly Court's thirty-nine army marquises was anchored by an Emperor Throne powerhouse, and with the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu, whose cultivation and strength were unfathomable, added to their number, the Crimson Emperor and the Bright Emperor had no chance of victory at all!

"The Yuan World needs a great victory. " Yan'er's gaze fell upon the Red Emperor's host, which held the rear, where flames soared to the heavens, phoenixes danced, and fire blazed so fiercely that it set the sea boiling.

Within the flames, a nine-headed phoenix soared in a vision among the heavenly palaces.

"The Red Emperor Qi Xiayu is a hidden piece that the Moon Heavenly Venerate and I planted together. " The Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird came to her side, her gaze also resting upon that nine-headed phoenix.

"She is a disciple of the Moon Heavenly Venerate and myself, planted within the Heavenly Court.

If she were suddenly to lead her forces into battle, we could strike from three sides at once!

Breaking the thirty-nine army marquises would cost us very little! " Yan'er said, "Then why has the Red Emperor not acted? What is she waiting for?

" The Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird hesitated, then said, "In those years she betrayed the Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign and threw in her lot with the Supreme Emperor of the South, and was captured by the Crown Prince Mingya, whereupon she betrayed the Supreme Emperor of the South and pledged herself to the Heavenly Court.

This was the stratagem the Moon Heavenly Venerate and I devised. I fear she. .

.

" She did not wish to say more.

Yan'er said, "You fear she has grown reluctant to give up the power and privilege of the Heavenly Court? " The Southern Emperor nodded. "The Heavenly Court has already named her a Heavenly Venerate—beneath the Heavenly Emperor, and above countless living beings and gods alike! Once one becomes one of the Ten Heavenly Venerates, steeped in power and privilege, there is no turning back.

To make her turn back, to become once more the hidden piece of the Moon Heavenly Venerate and myself, there must be a great victory to change her heart!

And yet this victory.

. .

" Yan'er's heart sank.

And yet this victory could not possibly appear in the South Sea.

For now, the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu had not yet made up her mind. If she made up her mind and personally led the demigod host of the Southern Heaven into battle, that would be the moment she became one of the Ten Heavenly Venerates in truth, with no possibility of return! Where would the victory come from that decided the fate of the Yuan World and of Jingping?

The Western Land. Even surrounded by lovely women, Yue Tingge wore no smile upon his face at this moment.

He raised his head and gazed up at the heavens above, where the White Emperor had led twenty-seven army marquises in raising the walled city of bronze and iron.

The battle between the two sides was about to erupt. Emperor Yanfeng had issued an edict placing Yue Tingge in charge of the war in the Western Land, yet only after Yue Tingge arrived did he discover that of all Jingping's territories, this was the weakest link. When the Yuan World broke its seal in those years, the Western Land had been left hanging in isolation, no longer sharing a border with Jingping, and had become an exclave.

That the Western Land endured at all was owed to Xiong Qi'er, mistress of the True Heaven Palace, and to Xu Shenghua of Shangcang, who held it in their grasp; Jingping had also built teleportation portals to ease travel and trade.

In the Jingping Reforms, the Western Land had become a vital link. Yet after all, it lay too far, and with Xu Shenghua absent, the defense of the Western Land had become the greatest of difficulties.

The Western Land possessed two holy lands, the True Heaven Palace and the Shangcang Academy, and fortunately the Western Emperor White Tiger had established a third holy land here as well; many of the White Tiger god clan's women, fierce in battle, made their home here too.

Yet the troops were truly too few. The towering mountains, lakes, and rivers of the Western Land had all been awakened by its women and transformed into giants that propped up heaven and earth; every tree and blade of grass became a soldier, and so they contended with the White Emperor's great army.

Yue Tingge had once been the First Heavenly Master of the Heavenly Court, of fearsome renown, yet even the cleverest housewife cannot cook a meal without rice—the Western Land had too few gods and demons, and even he found himself stretched thin. Fortunately the women of the Western Land were exceedingly skilled in the art of spirit-summoning; a touch could transform mountains, rivers, grass, and trees into living beings.

But even so, Yue Tingge struggled greatly, and moreover, though the Western Emperor White Tiger sent down a projection, her true body had not come, and her support for the Western Land was slight.

"The White Tiger hesitates. She believes Jingping may not win, and so she is unwilling to send her main forces here.

" Yue Tingge knew this well.

By now the Western Land had established a Spirit-Energy Transmigration Bridge with the Western Pole Heaven, and it would not be difficult for the Western Emperor and the White Tiger god clan's host of the Western Pole Heaven to descend. The reason the Western Emperor White Tiger delayed was that she believed Jingping was certain to lose, and she did not wish to stake all her hopes here.

"At this moment, on whichever battlefield, a single victory—one great victory—could reverse this unfavorable situation!