When the canopy-like black storm disappeared, the entire land became rowdy as a few forces beamed into lights and flitted fiercely towards the Meteorfall Battlefield. The sight was incredibly spectacular.
The army of the Daluo Territory acted under Mandela's command. As she waved her hand, the army flitted over the large crack, which was about 10,000 feet deep, before they rushed onto the battlefield.
When the army reached the battlefield, everyone could feel a sharp chill engulfing them. The cold was odd, as it was unblockable by any strong spiritual energy. This phenomenon caused the army to be slightly disorganized, but the sensation was quickly calmed down under the lords' control.
Mu Chen was standing at the forefront of the Nine Nether Troop. He was looking at the gray sky with a stern look on his face. His sense for spiritual energy seemed to be greatly disturbed here. The chilliness from the cold seemed to surround him, and he could not shake it off. Although it appeared that the cold inflicted no real harm, it caused Mu Chen to feel ill at ease.
"Be careful. Thousands of top powers left their lives on this battlefield, and that is why the natural spiritual energy here seems to have mixed with the thoughts from the dead. It is rather troublesome, as it is invisible and intangible. If one gets too much of it, it will enter into the body and consume your spiritual energy. Eventually, it will significantly damage your combat effectiveness," Nine Nether reminded the troop from the sidelines.
"To resolve this hidden danger, you will need to rely on the supreme yang power."
"Supreme yang power?" Mu Chen's heart skipped a beat. His spiritual energy had cultivated the Unperishable Flame and the Netherworld Thunder Heart before. To a certain extent, they could be the natural enemies of these strange forces.
When he thought of this, he activated his mind power, and a purple flame flashed through his body. His body was filled with heat, and the chilliness disappeared completely. A pleasant and comfortable feeling passed through him, relieving the troubled expression on Mu Chen's face.
"No wonder it is a forbidden place," Mu Chen sighed softly. This Meteorfall Battlefield was indeed a forbidden place. They had just entered the battlefield, and the first thing they met was troublesome energy that even tyrannical spiritual energy could not stop except by using some special power.
To resolve the chilliness, Mu Chen started to look around the battlefield. Currently, the Red Plains that the army was on seemed to be washed over and covered with layers of blood. There were huge and hideous-looking cracks, as if they were scars on the Earth entangling themselves. It was such a horrifying scene.
It was hard to imagine how destructive the wars were when they broke out in ancient times.
"Oh, why didn't we see those bones from the extraterritorial races?" Mu Chen looked at the white bones occasionally exposed on the ground. He knit his brows and felt something was amiss. After a short while, he finally realized that he had not seen any bones here that belonged to the extraterritorial races.
This was apparently illogical, as it was impossible to have only the bones of their people in the Great Thousand World when such destructive wars broke out.
"The extraterritorial races were very wicked. Once they died, their bodies melted and turned into corpse gas. The corpse gas was extremely poisonous. Once it spread, the entire spiritual energy in the world became eroded and polluted. Absorbing the energy would be impossible for cultivation," Nine Nether explained.
Nine Nether pointed to the land and continued, "Meteorfall Battlefield was once polluted as well. But after the war, many top powers used their Grand Super Power to nurture the land to its original state. Even so, it took thousands of years to regain its spiritual energy here."
Polluting the spiritual energy?
Mu Chen could not help but change the expression on his face. Deep horror and seriousness were swirling within his eyes. The reason why the Great Thousand World could become a gathering place for many lower planes was partly due to the existence of its high-end spiritual energy. The extraterritorial races turned out to be so vicious that they simply wanted to utterly obliterate the source of all the practitioners in the Great Thousand World.
Mu Chen could imagine that this would be a fatal blow to the world if most of the regions in the Great Thousand World were to lose their spiritual energies.
Without the spiritual energies, the Great Thousand World would definitely not be a match for the extraterritorial races. The entire Great Thousand World would be controlled by them, and those who had lost their spiritual energy would be at their mercy.
"They are really vicious," Mu Chen said in a low voice. It was no wonder that all the practitioners in the Great Thousand World regarded the extraterritorial races as their foes. Back in the ancient times, they even abandoned all their grievances and joined forces to work against the attacks of the extraterritorial races.
"In that ancient war, although it seemed that we had won, in fact, it was not a win according to the information I got from the old books in the family." Nine Nether let out a soft sigh.
"Not a win?" Mu Chen gave her a stern look.
"The Great Thousand World of today is only half of what it was in the ancient times," Nine Nether said.
Mu Chen suddenly narrowed his eyes, and a surge of fear appeared on his face. He looked at Nine Nether incredulously. He asked with difficulty, "The remaining half…"
Nine Nether answered, "It was, of course, occupied by the extraterritorial races. Even though we had repelled the aggression, we had also suffered heavy losses. There was insufficient strength to recover the lost land, and all we could do was guard the remaining continents."
Mu Chen kept quiet as he was quite shocked. Although he had not interacted with anyone from the extraterritorial races, they were still the biggest weight in the hearts of the top powers in the Great Thousand World. It was like a fishbone getting stuck in the throat.
"But don't worry too much about it. Even though numerous top powers from the Great Thousand World perished in that ancient battle, we still have a galaxy of talents and big shots such as the Martial Ancestor—the father of Lin Jing, whom we met in the City of Trade. Or the Flame Emperor from the Endless Fire Territory, whose daughter was the girl you met at the Dragon-Phoenix Rift. Or the caretaker from the Land of All Tombs. Last but not least, the Green Shirt Sword Saint from the Sword City..."
Nine Nether smiled. "All these great people were considered the invincible masters in the ancient times. Their strength can never be underestimated. If the extraterritorial races were to create trouble, these people would definitely help."
Mu Chen nodded. As he listened to Nine Nether reciting all the big names from the Great Thousand World with her rosy lips, he could not help but feel excited about it. This is how it should be when one became a top power.
He was hoping that one day, he would be able to stand on the top of this world without any fear of obstacles lying in front of him.
Phew...
Mu Chen took a deep breath to suppress his excitement. That was his goal, to become stronger. He had the confidence to reach that level, and he believed that he could do it. But he needed time to grow.
Right now, he needed a chance to make himself stronger.
The people from the top level of Daluo Territory gathered on a hilltop in the Red Plains. Mandela was standing at the highest point with her hands clasped behind her. She may have seemed small in size, but the sense of oppression she exuded could even make top powers like the Third Prince lower his head in respect.
"We have entered the Meteorfall Battlefield. I can sense that the rest of the people have stormed into this place. The current battlefield has turned into a war zone." Mandela's faint voice resounded in everyone's ears.
"We will start following our plans now. The Third Prince and I will detect the secret hiding location of the Earthly Sovereign, and the mission for snatching the Meteorfall Alchemy will fall on everyone."
Mandela looked closely at everyone. "I hope you all will not let me down."
"We will do our best!" the lords said with stern voices.
Mandela nodded before she waved her hand, and light rays beamed towards the lords.
Mu Chen and the rest of them felt something in their hands. The rays turned into scrolls with a simple map on each one of them. Apparently, everyone had a different piece of the map.
"There is a relic on each of the maps in your hands. This is the only information we have currently, and if you want to get more information about the relics, you will have to explore on your own."
"Yes!" The lords all nodded.
Mandela did not speak any further. She swept her golden gaze on the lords and paused briefly on Mu Chen. Her chin dipped quite unnoticeably to remind him to be careful.
Mandela's move was very subtle, hence none of the lords noticed. After all, she could not show any differential treatment at this time.
Mandela took a deep breath and said, "Since the instructions are clear, all lords will lead your various troops and set off."
The lords nodded and headed back to the place where their respective troops were. As the commands were issued, the earth rumbled, and beams of light flitted out from the main army of the Daluo Territory. They were howling like the wind in all different directions.
Mu Chen and Nine Nether did not go their separate ways, as the Nine Nether Troops would be split as well. This would not be a good move for them. After all, to fight single-handedly in this Meteorfall Battlefield had no benefits at all.
Therefore, both of them combined their troops, and the soldiers flitted out at a hand signal. The scene was spectacular.
As the troops left the main army one by one, the size of the original army shrank rapidly. Mandela stood on the hill, looking in the direction where the troops had left. She tightly clenched her small fist.
The stage was finally set for the Big Hunting War.