“Ancestral Master, didn’t Mister Jiang already agree to help?”

On the way back to the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, Jin Sidao could not help asking the Ten Thousand Swords Daoist upon seeing his frown, “Mister Jiang always fulfills his promises, and he would not be going back on his word since he said that he would help.”

Respect toward Jiang He filled his eyes.

The Ten Thousand Swords Daoist flashed a pained smile. “The kid is certainly peerless in power, but his cultivation is limited and is merely a True Immortal. Even if he had the power to counter the Golden Immortals, the Hundred Races would not mobilize less than three hundred Golden Immortals once they invade, not to mention their millions of True Immortals and Heavenly Immortals. How is Jiang He supposed to stop them?”

Sigh!

Breathing a long sigh, the Ten Thousand Swords Daoist added, “Moreover, things aren’t looking good at the celestial battlefield, and there is a limit to how many people they can send away. In fact, we have returned as a vanguard, and by using the backup plans that the superior beings had left in the grotto-heavens and the authority of the Star Map, it would not have been a problem that there are just a few of us Golden Immortals, dozens of True Immortals, and hundreds of Heavenly Immortals to defend the homeworld.”

“But now, half the Golden Immortals and Ture Immortals have been killed, with less than 150 Heavenly Immortals left.”

“I just hope that the elites sent from the Celestial Battlefield can return as soon as possible.”

Jin Sidao became quiet then.

That sounded very serious.

No, it did not just sound serious—that was reality.

Even so, he was still quietly holding out hope in Jiang He.

Ahem!

That was when the Ten Thousand Swords Daoist smiled at him. “Young Jin, it has really has been more than two thousand years… with you leading the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, not only have you kept it from falling apart, but you have also allowed us to shine and move ahead of the other sects and factions. That is why I’ve decided to bestow upon you some providence to become immortal.”

Delighted, Jin Sidao promptly conveyed his gratitude.

Then, the Ten Thousand Swords Daoist said quietly, “Still, that would cost a lot. If we can’t recoup that amount in time before the Hundred Races arrive…”

“Cost?”

Feeling generous after becoming richer, Jin Sidao waved grandly and said, “You just have to ask, Ancestral Master. I have nothing but immortal crystals now, and I could give you up to fifty thousand immortal crystals to help you recover.”

Secretly delighted, the Ten Thousand Swords Daoist decided that it was not nice of him to set up his juniors like this, and quickly said, “Since Jiang He gave you one inferior-grade premium flying sword and one inferior-grade premium armor, I could give you three sword talismans, and these could burst out with a strike matching a True Immortal’s power during critical moments. I’ve also brought some Sword Dao resources with me on this return, and you could pick three to cultivate.”

“Thank you, Ancestral Master!”

“By the way…”

The Ten Thousand Swords Daoist’s tone shifted as he asked, “While I’ve been visiting the other factions and sects recently, I noticed that all Sufferance cultivators, including those of our sects, had all reached ninth-retribution…”

***

Meanwhile, in outer space, a dark figure abruptly appeared upon an asteroid fragment.

His whole body was no different from a black shadow and once he appeared, the light around him were distorted and altered, making it even harder to spot.

He had been roaming rapidly through outer space, but did not affect anything even as he flew, even half a spatial ripple.

After wandering through outer space for several hours, the dark shadow quickly retreated and was gone without a trace.

***

In Lingzhou City on Earth, Wang Hou, who was cultivating in his training room in the Martial Arts Department, was using a portion of his mind to observe outer space by using the authority of the Star Map.

His vision changed then as a vast map of outer space appeared.

Soon, the scenery disappeared, while Wang Hou opened his eyes with a flash of surprise.

What happened?

That feeling just now…

Could it be a random feeling?

Still, his observation came up fruitless.

Wang Hou would not have minded it if it had happened any other time, but now he did not dare to be reckless after he had learned about the Hundred Races Alliance as well. He quickly whipped out his phone and gave Jiang He a call, and after hearing the usual ‘The number you have dialed could not be reached’, he left a message saying, “There’s something unusual in outer space, but I did not see anything.”

Hanging up, Wang Hou took a deep breath to compose himself before sitting down to meditate.

“My cultivation has reached its limit now… improving further would be to truly gain Dao through martial arts.”

Wang He had a profound providence.

He had cultivated a hundred years in the Star Map and had a profound grasp about martial arts. Combined with Jiang He’s Tea of Enlightenment, he gained further epiphany in martial arts and realized how he should transcend beyond Paragon in martial arts, to reach a realm where no martial elite had been before.

Killing his thoughts about the unusual movements in outer space, Wang Hou was aware that even if the Hundred Races Alliance descended upon Earth, his bit of strength was not enough.

That was why he must ascend in time.

If he could do that before the Hundred Races’ invasion, his control over the Star Map might not just be limited to using it as an eye in the sky, and wielding it with great effect to subjugate any opponents.

***

Oom!

Space itself rippled.

The black shadow rapidly traversed through outer space and landed on an asteroid fragment after flying for untold million miles.

It was located at an asteroid belt, with asteroid fragments floating all around.

Whoosh!

In the instant that black shadow landed on the asteroid fragment, a dozen more figures quickly appeared.

“What’s the situation, Shadow Vengeance?” a burly figure who looked like a brown boulder asked.

Then, the one named Shadow Vengeance turned into a handsome black-clothed man, whose gaze gleamed as he said, “The dimensional seal around the humans’ homeworld is falling apart but not fully down yet. That is why warping our legion instantly to the humans’ homeworld and catching them off-guard would prove difficult… but we could reach that planet as long as we journey across the void.”

“Oh?”

A man with a vertical pupil asked, “You Shadows are adept at infiltration and spatiality. Perhaps you are unable to do it despite your abilites?”

“It would be difficult. Moreover, I vaguely sensed that someone was watching me in secret.”

“Oh!”

A champion whose whole body was shrouded in Demonic Qi, wearing pitch-black armor and carrying a blood-hued blade sighed, his tone turning then as he coolly said, “The Sky Demons are such a bunch of trash… would we be in this situation if they hadn’t startled the humans?”

“They don’t even consider the terrible casualties that the Hundred Races Alliance had suffered on the humans homeworld. Did they think that they could take advantage of it even if they could charge inside the humans’ homeworld?”

This was a Demon elite.

As a matter of fact, the Hundred Races Alliance was founded by the Gods and Demons.

Of course, there were not actually a hundred different races either, as there were only eightyish races in total.

Furthermore, the other races were not actually powerful enough to be mentioned in the same breath as Gods and Demons. In fact, the other eightyish races were merely their vassals.

And this group of beings were the scouts of the Hundred Races Alliance.

They had infiltrated the Solar System to gather intelligence.

The Demon elite coolly added then, “With the human homeworld now on alert, taking it would cost us several more times or even ten times more of our resources. If the Sky Demons had reported this to us early on, so we’d gather the Alliance quickly and mobilize our legion to charge straight to the humans’ homeworld, they definitely would not be able to respond.”

“There is no need for further words now that things have come to this.”

Another handsome man dressed in snow-white clothes spoke.

He was an elite of the Gods and was holding a foldable fan. It had a Yin Yang realm map drawn upon it, depicting many figures as well as multitudes of mountains and rivers. Upon a close look, one would find that the scenery and figures were moving around.

Fanning himself, the God elite spoke nonchalantly, “We would have to conquer it by force now that things have come to this. Come, let’s return to rendezvous with the legion.”

***

“We, the common folk, are feeling blissful today…”

Jiang He hummed a soft tune as he harvested the immortal crystals in his farm.

The sun was blazing high above just then.

Although he was not afraid of the scorching, Jiang He put on a straw hat for appearances’ sake.

It was weaved from purple bamboo, which meant its defense could match premium-grade soul treasures.

After plucking one full batch of immortal crystals, Jiang He had Dumbo plant another batch.

There was no helping it, since he had too many immortal crystals.

Even with five hundred thousand of these, he could only plant twenty thousand each batch, not to mention that it would take two and a half hours for them to be ripe. Jiang He even counted that he would only be done harvesting all of them after two and a half days.

“Sigh…”

Jiang He took off his straw hat and wiping the droplets of sweat on his forehead.

It’s so hard on me.

Those prodigy devils just had to sit cross-legged everyday to gain enlightenment and cultivation, thereby improving the realm of their ability. On the other hand, he had to work every night in his farm and try to enjoy himself under the sun. In the end, despite improving his cultivation quickly and almost reaching Golden Immortal…

He did not experience much pleasure in cultivation.

“Forget it…”

“I’ll look for that pleasure later.”

“I need to improve up to full-fledged Golden Immortal as soon as possible before setting up an ambush against the Alliance. Otherwise, there would be no peace at all once those beasts charge into Earth, and when that happens, there is no returning to these peaceful days of farming.”

He naturally could not afford to waste his time while waiting for the next batch of immortal crystals to ripen.

Jiang He stepped out of his farm and was about to brew some Tea of Enlightenment for himself when his mobile phone rang.

“Hmmm?”

“A voice message from Minister Wang?”

Jiang He’s expression changed drastically after listening to the voice message.

“This…”

“Isn’t this a little too quick?”

“Wasn’t the Alliance supposed to arrive half a month later?”

Taking a deep breath, Jiang He looked up at the blue skies above and muttered, “Whatever, guess I could depart ahead of time to prepare my set up in outer space.”

As for planting immortal crystals?

He just had to carry his farm around with him, since it would not get in his way anyway.