Chapter 1702: New Division Department Head

Fan Leiwei looked at the almost collapsed array with gritted teeth. To say he was unwilling was an understatement. Many of his peers sneered at him and thought his success was due to his doting father and grandfather, but he knew they were just jealous. At the academy, he has proven that his talent stands at the pinnacle of countless timelines, which is why he was chosen for such a critical mission. However, ever since landing in this place, he’s been outmatched by that woman.

Fan Leiwei exhaled deeply. He glanced at Qiyuan: "Tell Empress Wu that our battle isn’t finished. I may have lost today, but we’ll see who has the last laugh." Without waiting for an answer, Fan Leiwei activated a Void Breaking Talisman to return to the base, leaving a puzzled Qiyuan. However, now was not the time to think about these useless things.

Qiyuan found the last array node and used it to tear apart the entire formation. His first thought was to capture this thing and have the Divine Manufacturing Division study it. But as he sensed Wan Yanmei’s gaze on him, he realized he would not be able to safely teleport it into his pocket dimension in such a short time. As such, he scanned the entire thing and remembered every detail to create a blueprint before annihilating the base and everybody involved.

Crack!

Qiyuan glanced at the sky. As expected, Wan Yanmei’s sword pierced the [History Lock]. Heavenly Dao tried to intervene and stop things, but it was useless. Whatever power Wan Yanmei used was not only potent but also of the highest essence.

’Fate Eye.’ Wan Yanmei contacted him through a communication technique.

’I’ve retrieved the information we need,’ Fate Eye calmly answered.

’Why am I sensing a but?’

’The Metal Saint probably won’t survive.’

’This was to be expected,’ Wan Yanmei replied. The attack she just used borrowed a significant amount of power from the Metal Saint. With such a great weakening, she expects the Buddha Saint to take this opportunity to eliminate it.

’Tell the Chaos Demon God to try to rescue it.’

’It’s probably useless,’ Fate Eye replied. ’From what I can see, he’s doing the bare minimum — the same for the other side.’

’Try anyway,’ Wan Yanmei uttered. Now that she had achieved even one of the second objectives, all other issues would no longer be as significant as before. Of course, Wan Yanmei would not stop her actions. Now that she had more time, she wanted to eliminate these top powerhouses and pave the way for the future.

However, less than a second after releasing a terrifying killing intent that turned the world red, Wan Yanmei received an urgent summons back to the base. She frowned before looking at the other commanders. After a brief communication, they decided to return. As soon as they returned to the [Black Dimension], the source of the emergency was immediately apparent.

A towering, radiant golden tree stood at the center of the base, radiant and enticing Dao Rhymes and Dao Sounds that had enveloped the entire base. Such a beautiful creation could enchant anyone, and it did. Most of the soldiers and officers remaining in the base stood around the tree’s roots and meditated. However, only a look of horror appeared on Wan Yanmei’s and the commander’s faces.

"These bastards weaponized the Dao Tree," Wan Yanmei cursed before she immediately sprang to action. A terrifying power capable of erasing everything between Heaven and Earth manifested from her jade-like palm to annihilate this tree from existence. Sadly, her attempt was useless.

"Such power..."

"I’m afraid this is not just a weapon, but a means for Grand Dao to regain the authority it has lost," Cui Yi commented.

"Some of these people can still be saved, but we must act expeditiously," White Saber added. This tree had corrupted the people, forcibly turning them into Heaven Will Emperors. No, at least Heaven Will Emperors can still utilize their Grand Dao Source, but the people affected by the tree might not have this ability.

"In that case, let’s seal it," Wan Yanmei said. Many of the officers in the base were her people with immense backgrounds, so no matter what, she couldn’t allow their Dao Path to be severed. So, Wan Yanmei made the most ruthless choice: she sacrificed the Metal Saint — who was destined to die anyway — to use its power and sealed the tree.

Once the tree was no longer an imminent threat, Wan Yanmei focused on saving Fan Leiwei and the people in his department. Of all the people available, the Fan Clan is the one most likely to cause trouble, and more importantly, she needed Fan Leiwei’s help to purify the rest of the base. And as fate would have it, the Flame Chaos Demon God returned, and Wan Yanmei enlisted his help to ensure success.

Heavenly Court, War Room:

Qiyuan had returned to oversee the situation. This grand battle had ended, with both sides suffering victories and defeats, and now, it was time to deal with the aftermath. As he was dealing with the situation, someone suddenly appeared in the room.

"Saint...Are you alright?"

"I’m fine," Maitreya waved her hand, not minding all the blood. Although she was a monk, she had survived her fair share of intense battles.

"Are you sure?" Qiyuan continued. According to his theory, Saint Battles are extremely dangerous because every injury is an [Existence Injury] and requires a lengthy recovery process. Although a Saint won’t die if their [Existence] is destroyed, they will also experience Limbo, and the time needed to revive is even more terrifying than Paragons — especially since Saint Tier resources seemed scarce in the primordial timeline.

"No need to worry," Maitreya reassured. With the exchange list, she can recover before the expedition. "What’s the situation?"

"Our casualties were immense, and most of our Primals were injured," Qiyuan sighed. "Not to mention the loss of protection from the [History Lock] means we will no longer have the information advantage."

Maitreya frowned. All the other losses were acceptable except for that one. The removal of that lock not only meant their enemy now knew more information about them, but many secrets about the primordial timeline would be revealed. For example, Wang Wei brought information about the Genesis Age from the Prehistoric World. If the Infinite Divine Court is capable enough, they could use divination to retrieve that information and use it to their advantage, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Who knows what kind of secret some people in this world know?

"We need to upgrade the Divination Department," Maitreya commented.

"If not for the upcoming expedition, I would have sent Wang Wei to take over," Qiyuan said while shaking his head.

"We can’t wait that long."

"Then, what do you suggest we do?"

"Isn’t there an Old Man Tianji in the lower dimension?"

"Him?" Qiyuan frowned. "But he’s only a Great Emperor, and you should also understand his connection to the Star-Gazing Pavilion."

"With a bit of time manipulation, I can push him to the Peak Paragon Realm. Then, I’ll use my status as a Guardian to turn him into Heavenly Dao’s Vessel before putting him in charge of the Divination Department," Maitreya explained. "As for his status — that’s exactly why I’m doing this."

"You want to allow foreign interference?"

"We are rapidly approaching the point at which we cannot hold on for long," Maitreya explained. The Infinite Divine Court is not only vast, but its strength is highly concentrated. They have only sent an insignificant portion of their troops, and yet, these people have caused so much trouble to the Eternal Ascension World. If things continue like this, it’s only a matter of time before the world suffers too much damage, and by then, foreign powers will intervene whether they want to or not. After all, Grand Dao wants to be victorious, and she doesn’t care who brings that victory.

"We can still hold on for a while," Qiyuan suggested. "I’ve crippled their current legion, so for a while, there won’t be much fighting. It would be best for you to leave a powerful seal in the Black Dimension to buy us even more time."

"No, now is the perfect time," Maitreya shook her head. " Most of the Saints will participate in the expedition, and we can use this time to deal with internal troubles and conserve strength for when they intervene." Her decision was not just because of current events, but a result of multiple things. First, her strength has reached the limit. Secondly, Wu Hong was almost ready.

According to Maitreya’s calculations, by the time the expedition ends, Wu Hong — and maybe even Wang Wei — should reach the threshold of sanctification. As long as one of them can become Saints, the new age will begin, and the interests of the citizens of the Eternal Ascension World can be guaranteed when competing with foreign powers. And all Maitreya has to do is limit the strength of the foreign powers participating while protecting these two.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.