Demon Sword Sect's Undercover

The Northern Territory is in complete chaos.

One monk carries water to drink, two monks lift water to drink, three monks have no water to drink, right now the Northern Territory has three monks...

Yan Sect, Zhao Sect, Lian Sect.

Frankly speaking, among these, Lian Sect's Heartless Dao has the greatest strength, with fourteen Nascent Souls, even one more than Sword Sect. No wonder they want to be the demon overlord of Jinxiu Continent and are dissatisfied with Sword Sect; they even dared to make a move on Wu Sect's Grotto Heaven, their own strength making them so inflated.

Regarding the geographic location of the three major forces, Yan Sect and Zhao Sect are closer to the Yuan Yi Mountain Range, while Lian Sect's Heartless Dao does not border the Yuan Yi Mountain Range. They are located slightly south of the center of the Northern Territory, thus their movements have became a crucial element influencing the Northern Territory's situation.

If they are willing to launch a full-scale attack, with the vast depth of the Northern Territory and its large population base, the three major mighty sects joining together, plus a number of medium and small forces, it would not be too difficult to form a defense against the Mountain Demon and even counterattack.

Unfortunately, the human mind is too complex, they never consider things so simply, while doing one thing they will always think about what else can be accomplished. How can they become the de facto overlord of the Northern Territory while protecting their own territory?

Whether it is the Southeast Daoist's control over the entire continent, or the local strongmen integrating within their own regions, there is a strong streak of intrigue, all hoping to weaken their opponents through the beast tide to expand their own territories.

Because from a historical perspective, the beast tide is nothing more than a tide, and a tide will inevitably recede. In the eyes of demon beasts, the prosperity of the human world is not as valuable as their primordial forests and vast oceans.

Therefore, the humans are not in danger of extinction, so naturally, there is no need to unite sincerely. Achieving their own Daoist purposes is often more important than expelling the beast tide.

The limited beast tides in history have all been like this, not only a clash between humans and demon beasts, but also a reshuffling for human cultivation forces, with humans often valuing the latter more.

Especially for Dao traditions like Heartless Dao, their sympathy for mortals is not that heavy. For their own purposes, what is the loss of a few mortals?

But is this time really the same as the historic beast tides?

The two Dao traditions at the foot of the Yuan Yi Mountain Range have already been overrun. The Mountain Demon's forces advance straight towards the Zhao Sect, both sides are locked in a fierce battle on the vast plains. This is only a probing attack, the true beast tide has yet to form.

In another direction, Yan Sect faces the Mountain Demon army from the Yuan Yi Mountain Range directly. It's inevitable because the territory of Yan Country lies at the foot of Yuan Yi Mountain.

They have held out for half a month, relying on their relatively strong power and the support of a few allied small Dao traditions, keeping the situation under control outside densely populated areas. But no one knows how long this standoff can last. Human cultivators excel in quality, whereas the Mountain Demons excel in quantity, impossible to kill to the last and exhaust completely.

Zhenbei City, one of the formidable cities in the Northern Territory, is also one of the two famous cities of Yan Country, the other being the Capital Fengyuan City; Zhenbei City is built at the foot of Yuan Yi Mountain Range, less than a hundred miles in a straight line from the Mountain Range. The city was originally built to control the Mountain Demons, thus increasingly strengthened and expanded through generations, with high walls and spacious layout. Yan Sect uses it as the first line of defense against the Mountain Demons, hence the heavily garrisoned troops.

It is also the place facing the greatest pressure from the Mountain Demons in this Northern Territory beast tide, with the bloodiest, most tense battles.

There are at least five Nascent Soul cultivators from Yan Sect here, along with over ten other Daoists' Nascent Soul Masters, as well as hundreds of Golden Core and thousands of Foundation Establishment cultivators stationed here. In this time of crisis, smaller Dao traditions have shown more valor than larger forces because they understand the principle that if the lips are lost, the teeth will be cold.

If Yan Sect falls, they cannot withstand the beast tide alone, thus helping Yan Sect is helping themselves.

Because it is essentially a military city focused on defense, its layout is well-planned, different from inland ordinary cities. Everything is prepared for war. The city walls are large and solid, and with internal formations set up, even cultivation creatures cannot destroy it, highly effective against barbarian forces like the Mountain Demons.

Even so, defending such a robust city is difficult. In cultivation warfare, the ability to fly renders old warfare methods obsolete. If it wasn't for the powerful formations of Zhenbei City, they could not hold it with just these people.

Yan Baiyi patrols a section of the western city wall, being a distinguished Golden Core level cultivator of Yan Sect, heavily entrusted with the responsibility for this section of the wall, commanding over twenty Golden Core and a hundred Foundation Establishment subordinates. These days have been very trying.

The Mountain Demons' attacks are unpredictable, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, more like harassing distractions in his view. This is not just his impression, but certain things are hard to change even if understood, because the city holds hundreds of thousands of mortals, giving these cultivators little choice.

The Mountain Demons came too quickly, the residents couldn't evacuate, and evacuating such a huge city isn't something that can be done in a day or two, there's no time.

Furthermore, this city wasn't constructed to be abandoned.

"An unidentified group of flying entities is approaching from the Southwest, fifty miles away." A cultivator stationed in the watchtower on the wall reported through the formation after detecting movement in the distance.

Yan Baiyi remained calm, for him this was just part of the daily routine of battle, "Everyone get ready, Old Hu, take a clearer look, don't be so vague..."

Old Hu quickly replied, "Forty miles, they seem to have encountered a group of Mountain Demons, uh, they're fighting."

Yan Baiyi hesitated a bit. After dealing with them for some time, he found the Mountain Demons were quite intelligent, applying tactical maneuvers skillfully, like intentionally letting human cultivators approach, then deliberately fighting within the line of sight of city guards to lure humans out for an ambush.

In these past ten or so days, cultivators from various countries kept arriving with reinforcement, bravely commendable but not too effective, easily exploited by the Mountain Demons. Therefore, he was undecided whether to go out and provide backup.

Immediately after, Old Hu's report helped him make a decision, "It's a group of Sword Cultivators! Likely from the Grassland side."

Yan Baiyi's heart stirred, hesitating no more, "Come with me, let's go provide backup."

A group followed behind him, flying towards the small battlefield. It didn't take long to cover the several dozen miles, soon seeing a group of sixty or seventy Sword Cultivators locked in fierce combat with over two hundred Mountain Demons.

Without further words, he led the charge while shouting loudly, "Friends from the Grassland, come with us!"