The four sacred beasts took Jiang Chen’s orders quite seriously. If they’d seen him as a friend and companion before, the potential and fortune he exhibited now induced them to rely on him.
The multiple sorties against the demons had taught them that the young man was a cut above their existence. They couldn't begin to imagine how promising he was.
Without him, would they have been able to win against the golden demons? The monster demons? How about the titan demons?
Certainly not.
Without the Amaranthine Clouddew Fruits that Jiang Chen had given them, they wouldn't have improved so quickly either. Before making Jiang Chen’s acquaintance, Long Xiaoxuan had been sage realm. The Astral White Tiger, an undiscovered cub. Even the Vermilion Bird had been merely on the verge of divinity.
Only the Black Tortoise had been a god in its own right.
After consuming the fruit, their strength and capacity both noticeably increased. In the same way, their bloodlines had been purified. Both undeniable facts allowed them to see themselves in a better light. Jiang Chen was the only one who could help them to continue to improve.
In the fight against the demons, they wouldn't have been able to win by themselves. Jiang Chen had been the foundation in every battle.
The four sacred beasts and the Goldbiter Rats continued to fiercely fight on, the young lord wielding his Great Veluriyam Torch all the while.
The demons knew the huge threat he presented, but they couldn’t do a thing to him – even their forefathers had been powerless. Despite their ferocity, they had met their match and more today. The vicious rats were especially troublesome.
Increasing numbers of demonkind lost their lives.
The same was true of the Goldbiter Rats, but they never lacked for numbers. There were so many of them that they had no problem with a war of attrition.
The land was so devastated that it seemed something had harrowed it all over. The wreckage of war was littered everywhere. However, there was something conspicuously peculiar about the scene: aside from blood here and there that hadn’t yet dried, nothing remained of the dead.
The corpses of demons and rats alike had been cleaned up.
Goldbiter Rats had a habit of eating their own dead. They didn't like leaving the corpses of their kin strewn in the wilderness, and considered the process a kind of honoring their departed comrades.
As such, the rats benefited the most from the victory.
Aside from the demon forefathers’ essences, the sacred beasts cared for little else.
After the battlefield was picked clean, the Flora holdouts opened their defensive formation to receive Jiang Chen. What they witnessed had completely astounded them.
Jiang Chen felt no emotion at the fact that the once-proud Prime Gao had discarded his arrogance before him. He was above petty squabbling now.
“We meet again after many years, Prime Gao.” He greeted the prime with a faint smile.
“Yes. Thank you for your honor and integrity in coming to our aid, young lord Jiang Chen. All of Flora Sacred Land is grateful for it.”
This was polite enough, but distant still.
Jiang Chen maintained his faint smile. “Friends, I thought that Myriad Abyss could at least offer considerable resistance against the demonic invasion. I’m surprised to see that reality hasn’t matched up with my expectations.”
Flora collectively reddened at this statement. Indeed, its members had conducted themselves quite pathetically during the demonic siege.
Though it had always prided itself upon being the strongest of the ten sacred lands, its vaunted strength was nothing before the might of demonkind.
Watching the way that Jiang Chen had fought the demons just now showed a world of difference. Whether they admitted it or not, he and they were in different leagues.
It was a gap that couldn't be filled, no matter how hard one tried.
Shi Xuan stepped forward. “I appreciate your clemency in allowing me to return home, young lord Jiang Chen. We see now that we lack far too much compared to the demons. You, on the other hand, slew them almost trivially. It seems you are in a very favorable position to take them on!”
“If the ten demonic tribes gather together, they will still be far stronger than we are,” Jiang Chen responded coolly. “We only barely won against three tribes’ main forces because we gathered almost all of our best. I’m still unsure whether they’ve kept anything back. Things wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly if the enemy had been more prepared.”
At this point, he had a rough understanding of the demons’ current capabilities.
They hadn’t recovered their ancient strength just yet, and were far fewer than compared to back then. Most importantly, the demons had no idea what exactly the humans were capable of. This was why they had split up in the first place.
It was common knowledge that the humans’ strength had receded to an immeasurable degree after the ancient demon-sealing war. The fact that Jiang Chen had reactivated the Great Formation of Heavenly Soul Confinement and decided to turtle up seemed living proof to the demons.
It was reasonable for them to underestimate their enemy, considering these things.
Even in the ancient era, the demons had been the strong belligerents. A number of other factors had contributed to their defeat, but they had undoubtedly possessed the advantage in raw strength.
Each of Jiang Chen’s victories against the demons in the modern era had been based upon the strategy of striking the few with the many. Dividing and conquering through stratagem and trickery, if one would.
He had done this both in the human domain and in Myriad Abyss Island.
In the battle near Rejuvenation, he’d feigned weakness.
At the Immortal Sacred Land against the golden demons, he split up his targets and picked them off one by one. Even so, Goldenhowl had fought them to a standstill.
Against the monster and titan demons, he had used their disagreements to take the initiative.
It was a valid claim that Jiang Chen had never won against the demons in a forthright, pitched battle. The demons were too strong for a victory to be decisive. He couldn't afford an extended war of attrition.
