Tian Yuan Xian Ji

Chapter 1657 Decision

In Jinan County, in a majestic and spacious hall, the top leaders of the coalition forces gathered together.

"The power of the demons is stronger than we imagined. So far, six Mahayana monsters have been found among the invading monsters, and there are countless Mahayana monsters who have not yet taken action. How should we deal with the offensive of the demons next? What do you think?" Tang Ning sat in front of everyone with a serious expression.

He already knew the overall strength of the demons, but he couldn't reveal everything, so he could only reveal the intelligence he had on the front battlefield.

Feng Jingyuan said: "Based on the current situation, the demon invaders are as strong as us. We can still defend ourselves with our formation, but if we want to attack and recapture the three occupied counties, I'm afraid we will be a little overwhelmed."

Kong Rui said: "This demon invasion is of great magnitude. There are six great demons that appeared in front of the coalition forces alone. We don't know how many more have not appeared. Conservatively speaking, there are at least ten, and it's possible that there are twenty."

Zhu Zhiqing said: "Tianxing, Guyuan, and Changhe have fallen into the hands of the demons, and Yuantian County is also in danger. The demons have not stopped at all and are still expanding their territory. Judging from this situation, they want to swallow Jinan County in one bite."

"Sitting back and forth is not an option. The demons have already built a large number of magic arrays in the occupied areas. Given time, all the spiritual veins in the occupied areas will be polluted and transformed into surging demonic energy. The longer it takes, the greater the loss will be, and this loss is irreversible. We should gather our forces, launch a counterattack, and retake the three occupied counties."

"In the case of not knowing the enemy's specific strength, I suggest that it is better to be cautious. A rash counterattack will result in too many casualties. The demons are now expanding endlessly. We should be on guard and rely on the large formation to deal with them. This is better than actively attacking. When the demons' power is slightly reduced, it will not be too late for us to counterattack."

Everyone discussed this, and after everyone expressed their opinions, Tang Ning spoke up, "Although we still don't know how many troops the demons have, we can be sure that this is a major move by the demons. We must not take it lightly and treat them as nothing."

"The demons must have made full preparations for their invasion of Qingzhou this time. This is different from the last invasion of Fengyu County. We must prepare for the worst."

"This will be a life-and-death battle for Qingzhou. Judging from the current dynamics of the demons, they are obviously not satisfied with occupying a few counties."

"The demons are not mindless beasts. On the contrary, they are very cunning and sly. In the last battle in Fengyu County, they were just a tentative attack in order to find out our details. This time is their real invasion."

"Just now, Fellow Daoist Kong said that the Demon Race conservatively estimates that there are ten Mahayana cultivators, or even no less than twenty. I think the real situation may be even more serious than this."

"I once participated in the Liangzhou coalition forces. At that time, the demons invaded Liangzhou and mobilized a total of thirty-six Mahayana-level cultivators. Until now, the Liangzhou coalition forces have not been able to drive out the demons."

"I have a feeling that the overall strength of the demons invading Qingzhou this time may not be weaker than that of Liangzhou."

"In addition to using the great formation to tightly guard the counties of Jinan County, I decided to immediately send someone to inform Senior Brother Han to set up great formations in other counties and build defensive fortifications. On the other hand, we need to expand the size of the coalition forces. Not only must we gather all the forces of Qingzhou, but we must also seek external assistance, requesting the help of the Xuanmen Allied Forces, the Chamber of Commerce Allied Forces, and the Aristocratic Family Allied Forces."

Everyone was a little surprised to hear this. When they conquered the three counties of Qingzhou, Tang Ning was full of vigor and ambition. He even threatened to behead the Peacock King before advancing his troops. Now his cultivation is higher than before, and his strength is rarely rivaled, but he is so conservative and cautious. Such a contrast surprised everyone.

Feng Jingyuan frowned and asked, "Fellow Daoist Tang, what is the basis for your judgment? How do you know that the scale of the demon army invading Qingzhou this time is no less than the scale of the demons invading Liangzhou?"

"I've already said that the demons are not stupid. They failed in their first invasion of Fengyu County, and they will definitely learn from their experience after returning. This time they are well prepared and must be confident that they can gain a foothold in Qingzhou. No matter what, we must prepare for the worst."

Just as Tang Ning finished speaking, a beam of light descended from outside the hall, and Feng Yuliang strode in with disheveled hair, an extremely pale face, and blood on his chest.

For a moment, everyone's eyes were focused on him. Needless to say, he looked so miserable, he must have been in a big battle.

"Feng Daoyou, what's wrong with you? What happened?"

Feng Yuliang panted slightly. "The leader of the demon army led the elite troops to attack Yuantian County. The leader was a demon cultivator of the late Mahayana stage, another one of the middle Mahayana stage, and four of the early Mahayana stage. Fellow Daoist Jiang and I knew we were no match for them, so we took advantage of the moment when the middle Mahayana stage demon cultivator led two early Mahayana stage demon cultivators to attack the formation and were temporarily trapped in the inner room, and we fled for our lives."

"I was chased by those two great demons. I fought desperately to break through them and finally got rid of them. I barely saved my life."

"Fellow Daoist Jiang is being chased by that late Mahayana demon. I don't know if he is alive or dead. I'm afraid he is in great danger."

A late Mahayana monster. Tang Ning's heart sank. It seemed that the second batch of reinforcements of the demon clan had arrived. According to the intelligence he had obtained from the captured combined demon clan, there were only twelve Mahayana-level monsters in the first batch of monsters that invaded Tianxing County, but there were no late Mahayana monsters. The highest cultivation level was only middle Mahayana.

Now that a late Mahayana monster has appeared, it must be the follow-up reinforcements of the demon clan have arrived. In other words, there are now at least more than twenty Mahayana monsters in the Tianxing County demon clan.

Feng Jingyuan's face was solemn. "How come it's so fast? According to the previous battle report, half of Yuantian County was still in the hands of the coalition forces. How come they have already attacked Yuantian City in the blink of an eye?"

"The elite demons are moving out with unstoppable force. With two Mahayana demons as the vanguard, the defenders along the way dare not resist. Before the news from the messenger can reach you, they are like a sharp knife piercing the city of Yuantian. Fellow Daoist Jiang and I are still hesitating whether to evacuate, but their elite troops have already surrounded Yuantian County, and the four Mahayana demons that have not appeared all this time also appeared under the city." Everyone was silent, and the atmosphere in the hall was extremely solemn.

"Feng Daoist, are your injuries serious?" Tang Ning broke the silence and asked.

"I activated my secret technique, and my blood and essence were consumed too much. I will be fine after resting for a while." Feng Yuliang said solemnly: "Fellow Daoist Tang, I suggest that our division withdraw from Jinan County immediately."

"Withdraw from Jinan County?"

Feng Yuliang said: "The demons are powerful and we cannot stop them with our strength. If we fight like trapped beasts, we will only die. The only way now is to withdraw from Jinan County and gather all the forces in Qingzhou to fight against them. Fellow Taoists, you don’t know that the six great demons that attacked Yuantian County this time have never appeared before, which means that there are at least twelve great demons invading now."

"This is what has been confirmed. Not counting those that have not yet appeared, I estimate that there may be 20 great-advanced monsters from the demon base camp that have arrived in Tianxing County."

"Please think about this, fellow Taoists. Can we resist twenty Mahayana monsters?"

"Fellow Daoist Jiang Yixin is in grave danger now. If a few more people are killed, not to mention Jinan County, even the entire Qingzhou will be lost."

Every time the coalition forces discovered a Mahayana cultivator from the demon clan, they would draw and record his appearance and figure. Therefore, although everyone had never seen the six Mahayana demons in person, they all recognized their appearances.

It has been less than a few hundred years since the three counties of Qingzhou were restored, and the good days of Xingyi Sect's return to Pingyuan County have just begun. Now the demons are invading Qingzhou on a large scale. Feng Yuliang is unwilling to risk his life to defend Jinan County, especially since he has just experienced a battle in which he escaped death.

The hall fell silent again, and everyone had different expressions. The strength of the demons was beyond everyone's expectations.

"I think what Fellow Daoist Feng said makes sense. The power of the demons is beyond our expectations. We cannot contend with them. The most important thing now is to preserve our strength. Let alone our entire army being wiped out here, even if only half of our men were killed or injured, it would be a huge blow to the entire Qingzhou. It would make the coalition army unable to recover and no longer be able to fight against the invading demons. We should abandon Jinan County and gather all our strength, so that we can defend Qingzhou."

Tang Ning knew the true strength of the demon clan. The number of twenty Mahayana demons was a conservative estimate. There were a total of thirty-five of them, and there were even some powerful ones in the Ascension Realm.

Even if the last batch of demons has not arrived yet, the strength of the monsters pouring in now is not something they can handle.

"It would be too cowardly to just hand over Jinan County like this. With our great formation, we may be able to deal with them. Moreover, half of the Qingzhou coalition forces are still in Linzi County. If we put all our forces into Jinan County, we may be able to hold on."

Lu Zhiyuan frowned. As a local sect in Jinan County, he naturally did not want to abandon Jinan. Once they left this place, they would be like rootless grass, and it would be unknown when they would be able to recover it.

"We don't want to give up Jinan County, but the situation is extremely unfavorable now. This is a matter of life and death for Qingzhou and us. We cannot rely on luck. I agree to withdraw from Jinan County." Feng Jingyuan said solemnly.

Zhu Zhiqing continued, "We can withdraw from Jinan today, but we can come back tomorrow. Donglai County has been lost to the Mubei demons for nearly two thousand years, but now it is back in our hands. As long as people are still alive, there is hope. If people die, everything is meaningless. Fellow Daoist Lu, I understand how you feel now, but this matter must be considered from a long-term and overall perspective."

"I also agree to withdraw from Jinan County."

.........

Everyone expressed their opinions one by one, except Deng Feng, who had a gloomy face and said nothing.

"How about this!" Seeing that everyone had expressed their opinions, Tang Ning was the last to speak: "We will inform the Linzi County coalition headquarters of the situation in Jinan County and let Senior Brother Han and the others decide. If they can gather all the forces in Qingzhou to defend Jinan County, we will stay here. If they also think that Jinan County cannot be defended for long, we will withdraw from here."

"Feng Daoyou, since you are injured, you should go to Linzi County to recuperate! Please inform Senior Brother Han of the situation here and ask him to come up with a plan immediately."

"Okay." Feng Yuliang nodded immediately in response.

The reason why Tang Ning asked Han Siyuan to make the decision was simply to take Lu Zhiyuan and Deng Feng's feelings into consideration. The outcome was certain.

Given Han Siyuan's cautious nature, he would never personally take the risk of leading his men to Jinan County to defend the city. Moreover, Feng Yuliang did not agree to defend Jinan County in the first place, and if he reported to Han Siyuan, he would certainly express his own opinions.

Even if they want to evacuate Jinan County, it will not be a matter of a day or a night. All forces in this county must evacuate personnel and materials in an organized manner, which will take a certain amount of time. Although the demons are expanding their territory fiercely, they cannot attack the city of Jinan County in an instant.