In the subsequent account by Ruan Bingxin, the casualties in the Cangyuan Cultivation World were briefly mentioned, and they were indeed staggering.
Over the past few decades, more than fifty Nascent Soul Cultivators had perished in the Cangyuan Cultivation World alone, and thousands of Core Formation Cultivators had fallen. The number of Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining Cultivators was countless, making the losses extremely severe.
However, during the same period, many newly emerged high-level cultivators, such as Core Formation and Nascent Soul cultivators, had also appeared. Their frequency was much higher than in the past, and the number of Foundation Establishment Cultivators was even greater.
This was not due to any divine blessing upon the Cangyuan Cultivation World.
Instead, it was because in the face of desperation, the various forces in Cangyuan no longer held back their secrets. They released large quantities of precious pills necessary for breaking through to Foundation Establishment and Core Formation, such as Foundation Establishment Pills and Condensing Crystal Pills, without any prerequisites.
As long as one had military merits, they could easily exchange for them, which led to the emergence of a large number of Foundation Establishment and Core Formation cultivators.
In addition, the Spiritual Pivot Pavilion played a significant role by providing a batch of extremely precious Nascent Soul Formation spiritual materials to those who were listed on the Star Ranking.
Cultivators who could make it onto the Star Ranking were extraordinary in both potential and strength.
Therefore, with the help of the Spiritual Pivot Pavilion, many people advanced to the Nascent Soul stage. These individuals were generally very powerful and later became important combat forces against foreign enemies.
Thus, despite the difficult situation and heavy casualties, the strength of high-level cultivators in the Cangyuan Cultivation World had not significantly weakened.
Especially after more than ten years of precious recuperation, much of its vitality had been restored.
The Spiritual Pivot Pavilion had thus gained high prestige within the Cangyuan Cultivation World. Under its auspices, the most elite Nascent Soul Cultivators from all of Cangyuan were gathered to form the Supreme Elder Council, which unified the command of strategic matters.
Ning Fa calmed the surging emotions within him and asked, "Fellow Daoist Ruan, why were there Sea Race spies in your northern ice plains?"
Ruan Bingxin and the other two exchanged glances. Ruan Bingxin lightly brushed her ear with her hair and said nonchalantly, "That's what we want to know as well. Yesterday, this Sea Race spy suddenly appeared in a critical area of our Ice Spirit Palace. Fortunately, we discovered her in time, and that's how we ended up pursuing her."
Ning Fa's gaze flickered. He could tell that Ruan Bingxin was hiding something, but he didn't press further. However, he had already secretly guessed that the ancestor of the Ice Phoenix clan, Ancestor Bing Chen, might have a significant connection to the Ice Spirit Palace.
At this moment, Ning Fa seemed to recall something and quickly asked again, "Fellow Daoist Ruan, what was the urgent military situation you mentioned earlier?"
Upon hearing this, the expressions of Ruan Bingxin and the other two became solemn. Ruan Bingxin slowly said, "Because recently, the Tianli army's movements on the front line have been unusual.
According to secret reports from some of our embedded scouts, Tianli has begun to mass its troops. Therefore, we suspect that Tianli is likely preparing to launch a new round of large-scale war. The decade of peace should be coming to an end.
So, we are also mobilizing urgently to provide support.
Fellow Daoist Ning can come with us. Currently, our Ice Spirit Palace has a teleportation array that can directly transport us to Shenwu City in the southern part of the Wu Kingdom."
Ning Fa's eyebrows couldn't help but arch.
He didn't expect his arrival to be so timely, just as Tianli was restarting the war. This was good; he could contribute.
With his current strength, coupled with Hei Yu, Blue Lightning, and the soon-to-advance Little Ice, they would absolutely be a significant force.
It would be equivalent to the Cangyuan Cultivation World gaining a Mid-stage Great Cultivator and two Shapeshifting Spiritual Beasts out of nowhere. Especially with the bloodlines of Little Ice and Blue Lightning, even though they were in the early stages, they might still be comparable to Mid-stage Shapeshifting Demonic Beasts.
Of course, it would be best if Hei Yu didn't make a move easily. Ning Fa was still very wary of the mysterious and powerful Nine Immortals Association, and Baili Ming was also the same, especially since his divine soul power was running low.
At this moment, Ning Fa suddenly noticed that Ye Xuanqing was staring intently at him. Her delicate brows were furrowed, and she opened her mouth as if to say something, but ultimately did not speak.
Ning Fa's gaze flickered. He recalled meeting Ye Xuanqing at Ancient Immortal Island before. At that time, she had taken a liking to Little Ice. Could it be that she now wanted to ask about Little Ice? Thinking of this, Ning Fa deliberately pretended not to see.
As they conversed, before long, a majestic snow mountain appeared ahead.
Starting from the mountainside, there were clusters of palaces, with rays of auspicious light, magnificent and beautiful, like a fairyland. This was Binghua Mountain, the mountain gate of the Ice Spirit Palace.
Ruan Bingxin piloted the flying boat straight towards the peak of the snow mountain. As they approached, a white escaping light flew towards them from ahead.
Both sides immediately slowed down. The escaping light circled and landed on the flying boat, revealing an old man in white robes with a childlike face and white hair. He was clearly a Mid-stage Nascent Soul Cultivator, and the spiritual pressure emanating from him was even stronger than Ruan Bingxin's.
He looked at the group, his gaze lingering on Ning Fa for a moment, and immediately asked, "Junior Sister Ruan, has that Sea Race spy been apprehended? And who is this unfamiliar fellow Daoist?"
Ruan Bingxin said in a deep voice, "Senior Brother Mu, that Sea Race spy had many tricks and almost escaped. We didn't capture her alive, but she has been killed."
After speaking, she pointed to Ning Fa and smiled, "This is Fellow Daoist Ning Fa from the Huayu Sect. It was also Fellow Daoist Ning who happened to encounter and kill that Sea Race member."
Then she introduced Ning Fa to him, "Fellow Daoist Ning, this is our Ice Spirit Palace's Vice Palace Master, Mu Nianfeng."
"Fellow Daoist Mu," Ning Fa greeted him with a smile.
Mu Nianfeng looked surprised. He hadn't expected this unfamiliar cultivator to be the one who killed the Sea Race member, especially since he was only an early-stage Nascent Soul Cultivator.
He then looked at Ning Fa with confusion, as if he had remembered something.
At this moment, Li Junrui reminded him, "Senior Brother Mu, this is Fellow Daoist Ning Fa, who mysteriously disappeared over fifty years ago."
Upon hearing this, Mu Nianfeng's expression changed. He finally remembered and looked at Ning Fa with surprise.
"I didn't expect Fellow Daoist Ning not only to have survived but to have also advanced to the Nascent Soul stage. This is truly a joyous occasion."
Afterward, Mu Nianfeng curiously inquired about Ning Fa's experiences, but Ning Fa kept his answers brief.
Then Mu Nianfeng turned to Ruan Bingxin and said, "Junior Sister Ruan, you must have been going to report this matter to the Palace Master, right? There's no need to go. The Palace Master left a few hours ago. The Spiritual Pivot Pavilion urgently invited several Great Cultivators to gather, seemingly for something important. Therefore, we'll also teleport directly to the Wu Kingdom."
Ruan Bingxin was slightly surprised at first, then agreed. The flying boat changed direction and flew towards a certain location.
Ning Fa's expression stirred, and he suddenly asked, "How many Great Cultivators does our Cangyuan have now?"
Ning Fa was curious about this question because, with Spirit Transformation Cultivators being elusive and rarely appearing in the world, Great Cultivators were the peak combat power of this realm. Naturally, they had a significant impact on the war situation.
Before Ning Fa left, as far as he knew, Cangyuan had a total of four Great Cultivators, with one each from the Righteous and Demonic Alliances, the Yunhuang Alliance, and the Ice Plains Alliance.
Great Cultivators should not perish so easily. He wondered if any new Great Cultivators had emerged in these fifty-odd years.
Logically, the probability within such a short period should be low, but given the current special circumstances, the situation might have changed, especially with the assistance of the mysterious Spiritual Pivot Pavilion.
Although Ning Fa had anticipated an increase in the number of Great Cultivators in Cangyuan, Ruan Bingxin's next words still greatly shocked him.
She then said in a deep voice, "Currently, Cangyuan has a total of eight Great Cultivators. Besides the four Great Cultivators we already had, including our Palace Master, three more Great Cultivators have emerged in the past fifty years. Two of them are in the Righteous and Demonic Alliances, and the third is Ancestor Pei.
These three newly advanced Great Cultivators were all thanks to the help of the Spiritual Pivot Pavilion. Coupled with Cangyuan's perhaps still existing good fortune, they were able to advance successively.
As for the last one, he is not a newly advanced Great Cultivator, but has simply been unknown to the public. He is the Pavilion Master of the Spiritual Pivot Pavilion. I believe fellow Daoist Ning will meet them in the future.
Oh, right, besides them, there is also Sword Lord Xu Yi of the Heaven Sword Sect from your Yunhuang Alliance.
Although he is still at the Mid Nascent Soul stage, he has comprehended the third level of Sword Intent, making his strength comparable to a true Great Cultivator. Therefore, we can now consider Cangyuan to have nine Great Cultivators."
After Ruan Bingxin finished speaking, Ning Fa couldn't help but look surprised. While he had expected Cangyuan to have many Great Cultivators, he hadn't anticipated such a large number. This truly exceeded his expectations.
Looking at it this way, the Spiritual Pivot Pavilion seems to be extremely crucial, directly assisting numerous Core Formation Cultivators in breaking through to Nascent Soul, and even to Great Cultivator. This made him very curious about who founded this power.
Ning Fa also couldn't help but think of his son, Ning An. He imagined that with Ning An's talent and the cultivation provided by the Spiritual Pivot Pavilion, it wouldn't be impossible for him to have reached Core Formation after all these years.
Thinking of this, Ning Fa's longing for home grew even stronger.
Ning Fa then paused again. With so many Great Cultivators in Cangyuan, they were still suffering repeated defeats on the front lines. Then, what about the strength of the Tianli Cultivation World?
At this moment, Mu Nianfeng also said with a wry smile, "Fellow Daoist Ning, don't just look at the number of Great Cultivators we have in Cangyuan. The number of Great Cultivators on the Tianli side is even greater.
Just the confirmed number alone reaches twelve, and it's certain that Tianli has even more Great Cultivators than that. The Sea Race also has four Great Cultivators, and they are more powerful than ordinary Great Cultivators.
Therefore, in terms of the number of Great Cultivators, Cangyuan is at a significant disadvantage.
Furthermore, although the number of Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators in Cangyuan is roughly equivalent to that of Tianli, with no significant difference, the strength of both Tianli and Sea Race cultivators surpasses that of our Cangyuan cultivators at the same level.
Thus, on the front lines, we can only adopt a defensive stance, relying on strong cities and formations to resist."
Ning Fa frowned upon hearing this. Although he knew that Tianli's strength was formidable, he hadn't expected it to be this exaggerated, with so many Great Cultivators.
Looking at it this way, it's highly probable that Tianli possesses Upper-tier Great Cultivators, and even peak Great Cultivators are not impossible.
Ning Fa sighed inwardly. It seemed this war would be even more arduous than he had imagined.