From the day that the formation core was completed, Han Li's trio had begun meditating at the foot of the giant tree instead of residing on the massive cloud to guard against sneak attacks by high-grade devilish beings.
The backup holy tree was the foundation of this formation core, so the core would remain intact as long as the tree still stood.
As for the thousands of warriors accompanying Han Li's trio, they had been distributed onto the nearby mountains surrounding the formation core.
Daoist Xie had been instructed to reside within a certain building on the massive cloud, and with his incredible powers, it was naturally a simple task for him to replicate the aura of a mid-grade human cultivator.
Aside from Grand Ascension Stage beings, it would be virtually impossible for other cultivators to glean his true cultivation base, so even though Cao Ji and Fei Xiaoxi had seen Daoist Xie on several occasions, they paid no heed to him and simply regarded him as a member of Han Li's entourage.
Ever since the completion of the formation, news surrounding the battle between the united and devilish armies had been constantly pouring in, and Han Li's trio was carefully monitoring the situation.
According to the news they'd received, the battle between the united and devilish armies had been extremely fierce, and only after both sides had expended close to 20% of their troops did the united army begin to retreat.
On this occasion, three Sacred Ancestors had appeared in the devilish army alongside over 20 Sacred Ancestor clones and hundreds of devilish lords, thereby giving them a clear advantage when it came to high-end power.
Through the fierce battle that had taken place thus far, the united army had managed to fool the devilish army, and the latter immediately set off in pursuit as the united army began to retreat. Meanwhile, the united army was retreating as it battled, engaging in battles of different scales against the devilish army every day while gradually shifting the battlefield toward the formation in a discreet manner.
Time slowly passed, and the frequency of news arriving from the battlefield was steadily increasing as the two armies drew closer and closer to the formation.
Atop a giant mountain within the formation stood Elder Han of the Wood Tribe on a massive platform that had only recently been erected.
Not far ahead of him was a formation that was only around 40 feet in size, around which sat eight Wood Tribe elderly men, all of whom had their eyes closed and were holding a white wooden disc in one hand, while constantly making hand seals with the other hand.
Beams of white light would occasionally be released by the wooden discs before converging above the formation to form a large light screen. At present, Elder Han was staring intently at the scene unfolding on the light screen.
There were countless specks of light spread all over the screen, all of which were either purple or green in color.
The specks of light would occasionally intertwine before quickly separating like a pair of armies constantly clashing with and retreating away from one another. However, all of the specks of light were gradually moving toward a certain direction, and when they finally entered a giant diagram, all of the specks of light suddenly vanished at the same time.
At this moment, the eight elderly men opened their eyes, and the wooden discs in their hands dimmed while the light screen disintegrated into nothingness.
"Everything is progressing smoothly. Thank you for your hard work, masters," Elder Han said with an extremely polite smile.
"There's no need to thank us; the survival of our Wood Tribe hinges on this battle, so it's only to be expected for us to give everything that we have. However, I must remind you that this simulation was based on the current circumstances; if anything were to change, then the result could immediately be altered," one of the elderly men replied.
"I'm well aware of that. The next few days will be of vital importance, so I'll have to trouble you to simulate the movement of the armies every day to prevent the direction of the battle from straying out of the realm of our control," Elder Han replied as he cupped his fist in a serious salute.
"All eight of us have some aptitude when it comes to divination, but there are countless powerful beings involved in this battle, so there are far too many volatile factors. As such, we can only do our best, and the results of our simulation should only be referenced rather than fully trusted," the elderly man said with a shake of his head.
"I'm aware of that as well, but doing something will surely be better than doing nothing," Elder Han replied with a wry smile.
Even though there was no way to glean the outcome of a battle of such a massive scale through divination, it was very plausible for one to simulate the progression of the battle through divination to make some accurate judgments.
These eight elderly men were the most renowned divination masters of the Wood Tribe, and they had made countless important contributions to the Wood Tribe.
They were granted the title of the Eight Wood Spirit Disciples by the panel of elders, and due to the overexertion of their life force through many years of divination, they had become extremely wizened in appearance.
It was exactly due to this that the Wood Tribe had refrained from employing the services of the Eight Wood Spirit Disciples prior to this, but as a result, their grand elder fell into a trap sprung by the devilish army, and not only was he severely wounded, most of the Wood Tribe's territory was lost to the devilish army.
Thus, in this vital battle, the elders of the Wood Tribe had no choice but to enlist the services of the Eight Wood Spirit Disciples in case any further mishaps occurred.
Following the departure of the Eight Wood Spirit Disciples, several Wood Tribe elders immediately approached Elder Han from nearby, and they began to discuss some important matters.
……
Meanwhile, high up in the air above the border of the Wood Tribe's remaining territory and the territory claimed by the devilish army, Mo Jianli was hovering as a faint silver shadow within a dark cloud that was around an acre in size.
Countless arcs of silver lightning were flashing in and out of the cloud before hurtling into the distance, where a giant inky black sword that was over 1,000 feet in length was plunged firmly into a mountain close to 10 kilometers away.
Standing atop the hilt of the sword was a thin devilish man in a dark green cloak, and he was releasing streaks of glacial sword Qi with both hands.
Each streak of sword Qi was several hundred feet in length, and they eradicated all of the oncoming bolts of silver lightning.
……
In the air above a massive lake, two mountainous wolf projections were locked in a ferocious battle.
One of them was silver in color and around 4,000 feet in length with streaks of white light flying out of its mouth, while the other was completely inky black and had balls of baleful Qi erupting out of its mouth in retaliation.
The pair of giant wolves were able to slice massive gashes into the air with swipes of their claws, and conjure up bursts of powerful shockwaves and fierce winds to attack one another.
The battle taking place between the two giant wolf projections was extremely brutal, but regardless of what injuries they sustained, they were able to instantly regenerate.
Their battle had razed everything within a radius of around 100 kilometers to the ground, and within the belly of a nearby small mountain, Patriarch Ao Xiao sat within a temporary formation with his eyes tightly shut.
His entire body was giving off a faint silver light, and he was making a hand seal with both hands.
Thousands of kilometers away, Yuan Cha was seated in a temporary secret chamber over 10,000 feet below a swamp. The entire secret chamber was enshrouded in complete darkness with the exception of the purple devilish patterns on her body, which were flashing with a faint light.
……
Within a mysterious space, two gigantic beings were facing one another from several kilometers away.
One of them had crimson skin with a pair of black curved horns on its head and a pair of fleshy wings on its back. Its pupils were of a light golden color, and it had its arms crossed with a cold look on its face.
It was appraising another giant with inky-black skin that was riddled with golden and silver devilish patterns. This giant's upper body was completely bare, and the only item of clothing it wore was a beasthide loincloth.
The two giants were glowering at one another with their massive eyes, and astonishing auras were emanating from their bodies.
In the air between them, a pair of crimson monsters that resembled both wolves and apes were battling a massive three-headed golden tiger.
The three creatures were also locked in an extremely fierce battle, and they appeared to be evenly matched.
……
Just as the united army had planned, the three Sacred Ancestors within the devilish army were being kept at bay by the three Grand Ascension Stage beings of the united army.
As such, all of them were occupied and unable to assist their respective armies.
Meanwhile, tens of millions of devilish beings were being slowly led toward the formation by the united army.
If the devilish army were to enter the super formation without any Sacred Ancestors to lead it, it would undoubtedly be severely ravaged, and it seemed that everything was progressing in the united army's favor.
However, there were currently over 1,000 devilish flying carriages traveling rapidly around the united army along the outskirts of the battlefield.
These flying carriages were all triangular in shape and completely grey with peculiar devilish patterns engraved onto their surfaces.
There were close to 10,000 devilish beings on these carriages, and every single inch of their bodies were covered in masks and robes, revealing only pairs of cold crimson eyes.
What was even more unsettling was that despite the large number of devilish beings on the carriages, the entire group was traveling in a completely silent wraith-like manner.
