Elven cultivators

Five days later, Longcheng finally launched a new offensive.

On the plains, the army of Longcheng still stretched out in a dark mass.

However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the army's formation is significantly sparser than before.

The gaps between the square formations were widened, and the suffocating sense of dense pressure from the first battle was gone.

The changes were most significant in the vassal legions at the forefront.

Their numbers have dwindled by almost half, totaling just over 30,000 at most.

Those Stoneskin Trolls who once served as the vanguard, advancing like a moving wall, are now reduced to a few scattered squads scattered across the front lines.

To fill their void were more hunched-over, poorly equipped ratmen and swamp frogmen.

These hastily assembled soldiers didn't even have standardized weapons; they were clearly cannon fodder sent to fill the front lines.

It is estimated that Longcheng urgently drew some vassal troops from somewhere to barely make up the numbers.

Otherwise, given the previous casualty rate, the vassal army would likely struggle to muster 20,000 troops.

The golem army that followed was reduced to a pitiful two hundred or so.

And without exception, they were all steel golems.

The surfaces of these steel golems still bear traces of welding that haven't been properly polished, mostly emergency supplies cobbled together by Longcheng craftsmen working day and night for the past five days.

However, the Radiant Flame Legion's formation maintained its outward appearance of order.

However, upon closer inspection, the spacing between the dragonborn soldiers was noticeably wider, making their formation much thinner.

The chilling sense of oppression that once pressed in like an iron wall has faded considerably.

Even so, when the members of the Meteor Dragon Society watched the army slowly unfold on the plain through the water screen, they still felt a heavy pressure.

They suddenly found it hard to imagine the terrifying pressure the Silver Moon Clan had endured in the war five days ago, facing the Dragon City army at its peak.

A deep horn sound came from behind the water curtain, and the Dragon City army began its attack.

It was still the vassal army that led the charge.

The ratmen and swamp frogmen were driven to the front, cowering and glancing back every now and then at the gleaming swords of the Radiant Flame Legion behind them before continuing to move forward under the threat of death.

The army's advance was noticeably slower than before, and its fearless spirit had completely vanished.

The Radiant Legion followed closely behind into the battlefield, but their offensive momentum was not fierce.

The dragonborn soldiers no longer charged forward with the same ferocity as before, but instead maintained a relatively safe distance, relying more on spellcasters in the rear and the magic scrolls in their hands to unleash spells.

The crowd in front of the water curtain watched for a while and gradually began to appreciate its flavor.

"Dragon City isn't planning on a serious fight," Cedric frowned. "They probably just want to deplete the magic array's energy and our puppets."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Dragon City clearly intends to use its vassal army, golems, and scrolls to deplete the array's energy, oak guards, and five battalions of divine soldiers.

They didn't expect to break through the defenses with these offensives; they just wanted to bleed the Silvermoon Clan dry at the lowest possible cost.

This is about using resources to slowly wear down the opponent.

In terms of resource reserves, Kreisoron City, which has ruled the Eldron Plains for thousands of years and accumulated countless riches and resources, certainly has absolute confidence.

Having seen through this, the Grand Elder remained calm and did not order an increased offensive. He simply instructed the front line to maintain its current defensive strength and steadily withstand every probing attack from Dragon City.

Neither be rash nor show weakness.

The other elves also remained calm, showing no sign of anxiety whatsoever.

Longcheng wants to fight a protracted war, and so do they.

With the help of spirit-gathering arrays and potions, the warriors of the Forest Guard are getting stronger every day.

Although the talismans and sensing stones in the warehouse are being consumed at a considerable rate, the enchanters are working day and night to produce more.

Most importantly, Anton is currently in seclusion.

The longer it drags on, the greater his chances of breaking through.

Once Anton is promoted to Legendary and emerges from seclusion, the balance of this war will be completely tilted.

Time is on their side.

The battle lasted for more than two hours, after which a low horn sounded and the Dragon City army slowly retreated like a gray tide, leaving behind corpses and shattered armor scattered on the plain outside the forest.

Throughout the entire process, the high-level combatants on both sides seemed to have reached some kind of tacit agreement, and neither side made a move.

Both sides knew perfectly well that once a battle at the gold level broke out, it meant that the war had entered its final moment to determine the victor.

It's not time for that yet.

The water screen gradually faded into silence.

The Grand Elder withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the members of the Fallen Dragon Society: "It seems that you will all have to stay here for a while."

Zig laughed heartily: "Elder, you're too kind. Silvermoon Forest has such a wonderful environment, I wish I could stay a little longer."

The others laughed and agreed.

You can't find an environment with such a high concentration of elemental energy as the Silvermoon Forest outside.

One day of cultivation here is equivalent to ten days or half a month of cultivation outside. They wish they could stay here forever.

……

In the days that followed, Longcheng's attacks came like the tides that rise and fall on a regular schedule, arriving precisely every day.

Every day at noon, when the sun climbs to the center of the sky, a gray torrent appears from the edge of the plain, surging toward the Silvermoon Forest with a dull blast of horns.

The two sides engaged in repeated back-and-forth battles and exchanges in the woodland.

Two hours later, Longcheng will sound the retreat and withdraw to his camp on the plain.

The next day, the same offensive would be repeated without fail.

The war turned into a dull and brutal tug-of-war.

The elven clans quickly adapted to this rhythm.

The elves seized the time between battles to recover and train.

In the evening after the retreat from Longcheng, they repaired the defenses and counted the spoils of war.

The materials captured from the battlefield would be put into refining in the blink of an eye, and transformed into resources for the next battle.

Both sides are waiting.

Dragon City is waiting for the Silver Moon Clan's magic array to run out of energy, or for their resources to run out and their troops to be exhausted.

They firmly believed that their own resources were far greater, and that if they continued to deplete their resources in this way, the Silvermoon Clan would eventually be unable to hold on.

The Silvermoon Clan is waiting for Andon to emerge from the pass.

Every elf believed that when the figure who had repeatedly performed miracles returned from the Underdark, the long-running war would reach a true turning point.

The eyes of many factions on the Eldron Plains are also focused on this forest.

They used various means to spy on every engagement on the battlefield, analyze the casualties and attrition of both sides, and speculate on the final outcome of the war.

Everyone was waiting for the moment when the war would be decided.

……

In the shadowy regions, deep within the city-state.

In a temporarily opened quiet room.

Anton sat cross-legged on the futon, his eyes lightly closed, like a stone statue that had been sitting there since time immemorial.

Within the dantian and dantian, the primordial true essence was no longer the slowly rotating five-colored cloud of light it once was.

It transformed into a vast ocean, interwoven with five colors, formed from pure liquefied true essence.

Five colors of light—red, blue, black, white, and yellow—flowed slowly in the seawater, sometimes merging and sometimes separating, like the aurora silently flowing in the deep sea.

The sea was so calm that there wasn't a ripple, yet it exuded a sense of saturation that was about to overflow.

Every drop of liquid true essence was condensed to the extreme, as if if there were just one more strand, the entire ocean would break through the dam and overflow.

Foundation building complete!

Anton could clearly feel that his physical body, soul, and true essence had reached the limit that his current realm could achieve.

Beyond that, the only path is to condense the elixir.

Only by highly integrating essence, energy, and spirit, and condensing one's life's cultivation and life essence into one, transforming liquid into crystal, can one step into the door leading to a higher realm.

"We've finally reached this point."

Anton opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

Now that everything is ready, we can finally make the final breakthrough.

Without hesitation, he flipped his hand, took out the Condensation Pill, and put it directly into his mouth.

The pill melted instantly upon entering the mouth, and the warm medicinal power poured down from the throat like a flood, but instead of flowing into the dantian, it instantly permeated the internal organs and the entire body.

The next moment, five distinct forces separated from the medicinal power, churning wildly within the body and forcibly expelling the primordial essence hidden deep within the flesh. Like rivers flowing into the sea, they converged in the dantian and crashed into the extremely saturated five-colored true essence.

The true essence, which had already solidified to the point of liquefaction, finally broke through that critical point after absorbing the five primordial essences and the life essence of the whole body.

It began to collapse.

Like a star about to perish, it collapses inward after exhausting all its fuel.

All the true essence, life essence, and primordial energy converged and compressed towards the same central point at this moment.

The volume of the True Essence Sea shrank at a visible rate, from filling the entire Qi Sea, to occupying half the space, and then to being only the size of a fist.

As its volume shrinks, its density increases at an alarming rate.

At the same time, the two dormant forces within the medicine finally stirred.

The yang energy descends from above, while the yin energy rises from below.

Two streams of air, one hot and one cold, acted like two giant millstones, sandwiching the rapidly collapsing true essence crystal in the middle, applying terrifying pressure, and began to rotate, grinding, crushing, and reshaping the rough true essence crystal bit by bit.

With each rotation, impure energy is stripped away and evaporated, turning into tiny, seven-colored specks of light that dissipate from the dantian.

With each rotation, the remaining essence solidifies a little more, and the structure becomes a little more perfect.

Under the grinding of the Yin-Yang millstone, the crystal gradually shrank from the size of a fist to the size of a walnut, and then from the size of a walnut to the size of a longan.

Its shape gradually changed from an initial chaotic mass to a round and regular shape, and fine and intricate patterns began to appear on its surface.

Those patterns were not carved later, but grew naturally during the process of condensing the elixir, which is in accordance with the ultimate principles of heaven and earth and is extremely mysterious.

The entire process was extremely slow, yet unwaveringly determined.

But when this process comes to an end, and the golden elixir is about to be fully formed, the real test will begin.

That is the tribulation of inner demons!