"Alas, what a pity.
A single layer of Great Luo Golden Immortal cultivation only offers a one-ten-thousandth improvement to me, already at Great Luo Golden Immortal level three."
Yang Hong retracted his hand, a look of regret on his face.
Yin Caiwei, drawn by the commotion, stumbled and nearly fell.
"Husband, are you speaking human words?
You can improve one-ten-thousandth of your cultivation in just three hours, meaning four-ten-thousandths per day. It will only take 2,500 days to break through one layer of cultivation!"
"You—you—you—you still think it's slow? Still think it's too little?"
Yin Caiwei was so envious and jealous that she could barely articulate her words.
Yang Hong walked over and steadied Yin Caiwei, still sighing, "Under normal circumstances, breaking through a layer of cultivation in 2,500 days would be heaven-defying. But this is the era of the Immortal-Demon War.
If we don't possess overwhelming strength that can crush everything, we are just insignificant insects that can be crushed at any moment."
"Alas—"
Yin Caiwei also sighed. She understood this perfectly well.
Yang Hong patted her shoulder, changing the subject, "Has Immortal Venerable Yan Zhou sent news again?"
"Yes.
But this time, the news isn't from Immortal Venerable Yan Zhou. It's from Immortal Lord You Xin, who governs the Far West Immortal Realm. Immortal Venerable Yan Zhou was assassinated by demons."
"That old man is dead? He was a Great Luo Golden Immortal, a being who achieved immortality. As long as the laws he comprehended are not extinguished, and he leaves even a wisp of soul, he can be resurrected. How could he be dead?"
Hearing the word "dead," Yang Hong was startled.
In the Immortal Realm, only the complete annihilation of body and soul is generally referred to as "death." Most fallen immortals, as long as there's a possibility of resurrection, are described as having "perished."
Even for true immortals who condense their immortal infant, killing them is difficult, let alone Great Luo Golden Immortals.
"He is dead!
The demons must have dispatched an Immortal Lord or even an Immortal Emperor, directly extinguishing the last wisp of Immortal Venerable Yan Zhou's soul left in the Central Immortal Realm."
"Holy hell! Aren't we in danger now?"
Yang Hong became even more worried. This time, Yin Caiwei patted his shoulder, saying, "For now, we are safe. The place where Immortal Venerable Yan Zhou died is billions of li away in the southwest, separated by four Immortal Realms. Unless all four of those realms fall, we won't be attacked for the time being."
"No, we cannot let our guard down. We must accelerate the deployment of the 'Boundless Sky Without End' formation. I will hasten the ripening of some immortal fruits, and you have Duan Yujing refine some second-grade immortal pills. Tell the disciples to speed up their planting."
"Very well."
Yang Hong, a Great Luo Golden Immortal, could cast the Spiritual Planting Technique to cover an area of thirty thousand li, simultaneously accelerating the flow of time by three hundred times. In just three days, billions of immortal fruit trees would ripen.
Duan Yujing, at the eighth level of Great Luo Profound Immortal, could refine billions of second-grade immortal pills in just seven hours. Her efficiency was top-notch.
In only ten years, the Creation Forest, spanning a hundred million li from north to south and three million li from east to west, was completed. A 'Boundless Sky Without End' formation, built through continuous stacking and combination, was fully formed!
"Husband—Husband—release the formation's suppression.
I can't move. I truly can't move!"
Although suppressed to the point of immobility, Yin Caiwei's voice was filled with excitement and joy.
The formation could immobilize her. Any Great Luo Golden Immortal demon who entered the range of the 'Boundless Sky Without End' formation would also be suppressed and unable to move.
"Haha—only now are we truly safe."
After releasing the suppression, Yin Caiwei, who was originally at the edge of the Creation Forest, flew back to the floating island on her sword.
To ensure safety, all teleportation arrays within the entire Creation Forest area had been destroyed, preventing demons from sneak-attacking through them.
Previously, several Immortal Realms had fallen because demons had gained control of certain teleportation arrays, launching surprise attacks when those realms were unprepared.
On her way back, Yin Caiwei received another piece of unfortunate news. Her excited smile immediately fell.
"What is it? More bad news?"
Seeing her expression, Yang Hong knew something had happened.
"King Gao Yu, our neighbor, is in trouble. He previously accepted a large portion of the immortals who left my Profound Yin Realm, greatly increasing his strength. Consequently, his defensive territory also expanded considerably.
This time, half of his territory has fallen, and he is requesting reinforcements."
"Don't go—it's just sending yourself to your death."
Upon hearing the request for reinforcements, Yang Hong immediately refused.
"But, we are as vulnerable as lips without teeth."
"It's better to be like lips without teeth than to be directly shattered and swallowed!
Tell King Gao Yu that we are powerless."
The demons were powerful and formidable.
The war had only begun for ten years, yet the demons had advanced relentlessly. In the outer regions of the Immortal Realm, the human race had already lost half of its territory!
Many immortals in the Wild Lands were fleeing towards the Central Immortal Realm.
Over the past decade, immortals, Buddhas, and demons could frequently be seen flying through the air.
"But—"
Yin Caiwei's face showed a moment of struggle before she finally took out her communication jade talisman and rejected King Gao Yu's plea.
She knew that going to support King Gao Yu would give her at least a seventy percent chance of perishing on the battlefield. In the end, she decided to be selfish.
The next day, a dense stream of immortals flew over the Creation Forest, fleeing towards the Central Immortal Realm.
"Old hag of Profound Yin, remember this: as long as I'm alive and you're alive, one day I'll kill you!"
On the seventeenth day, a five-clawed golden dragon flew past the Creation Forest, leaving behind a harsh threat before fleeing.
"Hmph—this stinking mud dragon will die before I do!"
Yin Caiwei snorted coldly and sent out a hand seal of immortal essence. Although it didn't kill the foul-mouthed dragon king, it did extract tens of kilograms of true dragon blood.
"Heh heh—this dragon blood can be used to refine hundreds of Dragon Origin Pills," Duan Yujing exclaimed excitedly, collecting the blood.
Subsequently, Yang Hong and Yin Caiwei joined hands, casting spells to activate the power of the 'Boundless Sky Without End' formation.
Dark demonic clouds had already appeared in the distance. The demons had arrived.
The demonic clouds did not immediately descend upon the Creation Forest but instead rested a thousand li away for seven days before charging towards it.
The width of the demonic clouds was immeasurable, and their depth unknown. As they approached, the sky darkened, resembling the onset of an apocalypse.
Wailing, cackling, and screeching—various strange cries preceded the demonic clouds into the ears of those within the Creation Forest.
Rumble—rumble—rumble—
The ground began to tremble. Countless demons, riding on large and small demonic beasts, charged forward. Their disordered footsteps made the small stones on the ground skip erratically.
However, the moment the demonic beasts and demons entered the Creation Forest, all sound ceased;
The demonic clouds in the sky flew for a million li. Yang Hong looked up. It wasn't demonic clouds at all, but a massive army of flying demonic insects, demonic beasts, and wandering souls gathered together. From the ground, it appeared as a dark cloud.
When the demonic clouds had flown for 2.5 million li, the flying demons within them rained down like a torrential downpour onto the Creation Forest below.
Then, silence fell once more.
No matter how high the flying demons flew, as soon as they passed over the Creation Forest, they would fall like dew. Even if they tried to fly in other directions or return, once they entered the hundred-thousand-li radius around the Creation Forest, none could escape; they all fell.
Upon entering the Creation Forest, the demonic beasts were suppressed by the formation, completely losing their ability to resist. They were then coiled up by the roots of the Sun-Scorching Fruit trees and absorbed underground, becoming nourishment for the trees' growth.
The Sun-Scorching Fruit trees Yang Hong had planted were trees of supreme yang, having also been soaked in Ascendant Liquid. Not only could they counter demons, but they could also convert demonic energy into immortal energy, making the Sun-Scorching Fruits on the trees more lustrous and plump.
For a full two and a half days, the demonic clouds overhead disappeared, and all the demons outside the Creation Forest had passed through.
"How many demonic beasts and demons were there?"
When this wave of attack ended, Yang Hong asked Yin Caiwei, who stood beside him with a grave expression.
"One Jing! A full Jing of demons!"
Hiss!
Yang Hong gasped, quickly forming hand seals.
Ten thousand is one Yi, Yi Yi is one Zhao, Zhao Zhao is one Jing!
Yang Hong couldn't even count the number of zeros, but he knew it was a lot.
As his hand seals moved, the previously silent Creation Forest erupted with terrifying and bizarre roars of demonic beasts. It could be seen that the demonic beasts trapped within the formation began to slaughter each other, fully utilizing the illusion formation.
Yin Caiwei quickly regained her senses. Yang Hong handed over the control of the illusion formation to her and personally entered the edge of the Creation Forest, rushing against time to imbue the immortal blossoms.
He didn't know when the enemy would send more demons to attack, so he had to grow stronger quickly.
The 'Boundless Sky Without End' had already proven its extraordinary power, completely suppressing one Jing of demonic creatures and promoting more seventh-grade immortal blossoms, which would further stabilize the formation.
Thirty years passed in a flash, and the Creation Forest faced its second demonic attack. This time, only over a Zhao of creatures attacked; it was said to be a sweeping squad.
The immortal allies in the three directions near the Creation Forest had all been killed by the demons. The demons began their sweep.
Afterward, a demonic sweeping squad would pass by every thirty years, delivering demonic fertilizer to the Creation Forest. Under the joint cultivation of Yang Hong and others, the Creation Forest completed the advancement of all immortal blossoms to second grade in the ninth year of the first demonic attack.
It took 73 years for the second-grade immortal blossoms to advance to third grade. The two batches of demons sent as fertilizer played a significant role.
Advancing third-grade immortal blossoms to fourth grade took even longer, a full 253 years.
And in just a hundred years, Yang Hong broke through from the third level of Great Luo Golden Immortal to Immortal Lord!
He then broke through to Immortal Emperor in only another 200 years.
Unfortunately, when he broke through, aside from some demons watching from afar and mistaking the Creation Forest for a place where treasures had appeared, no one from the immortal side knew that another Immortal Emperor had joined their ranks.
"Haha—now, the speed of imbuing plants is even faster. I can imbue once every half hour and absorb immortal energy to cultivate. I can imbue ten thousand trees at once. Now, all the spiritual plants in the entire Creation Forest can be upgraded to eighth-grade immortal blossoms!"
Amidst Yang Hong's excited laughter, a emerald green light illuminated a section of the forest.
Outside the Creation Forest, a demonic Lord saw this and became excited:
"Quick, report to the Great Emperor! A treasure has appeared in the Demon Devouring Forest, and it's a treasure of the life element. Please have the Great Emperor come and claim it."
Demonic Emperor powerhouses from the demon race rushed over, only to be annihilated one after another in this small Creation Forest. After a hundred demon Emperors disappeared,
The demon race hastily ended the Immortal-Demon War, which had lasted for 399 years, and returned all the gains from this war. The entire demon race, after millions of years of offense, shifted to a defensive posture for the first time.
When the human Great Emperors arrived at the Creation Forest, they saw a forest where the lowest immortal blossoms were fifth grade, and the highest were ninth grade.
And a newly promoted human Immortal Emperor—Creation Immortal Emperor: Yang Hong!
A legendary Great Emperor who ascended to Immortal Emperor in the year 2023 of cultivation!
(The End!)
(Originally, I planned to write a concluding remark, but I realized I was too incompetent and dared not write one!)
(The writing became quite disorganized towards the end. This little failure will try harder next time.)
(Thank you, readers, for following along for a year.)
(Thank you!)