Urban Peerless Expert

The mirror shone with brilliance, revealing a blurry figure that became clearer as more spiritual power was injected, rapidly transforming the hazy image into clarity.

It was a middle-aged man, emanating a faint golden radiance, cloaking him in a misty haze, obscuring any true discernment.

Above his head flowed light-shadow, sketching a barely visible Dharma Aspect, imposing an infinite oppressive aura.

Shepherd Heavenly Monarch, holding the Golden Token, bowed and saluted, "Subordinate Shepherd Heavenly Monarch has urgent matters to report to the Emperor!"

On the golden mirror, the middle-aged man's voice was ethereal and airy, as if coming from beyond the Nine Heavens.

"Speak!"

Shepherd Heavenly Monarch reported, "Our Immortal Realm's great army has been in bloody combat with the Demon Race's great army for half a month, finally breaching the Demon army's camp. The Demon Race suffered countless deaths and injuries, ultimately deciding to withdraw to the Demon World. However, right after their withdrawal, an anomaly appeared at the Immortal Demon Channel; the overlapping plane area expanded infinitely, and the channel itself also widened. Now, the Immortal Demon Channel has expanded to be at least hundreds of miles wide and is still continuing to expand..."

The light-shadow made it impossible to see the Immortal Emperor's face clearly, nor could one discern his expression.

"The Demon Race just retreated, and then this anomaly appeared?"

Shepherd Heavenly Monarch answered, "Yes, I find this matter extremely peculiar; it's as if an invisible being is watching over the battlefield, manipulating the overlapping of planes. It does not wish for this war to stop here, so I rushed to report this to the Emperor, hoping for the Emperor's directive."

The Immortal Emperor calmly asked, "Continue the attack, can it be done?"

Shepherd Heavenly Monarch answered succinctly, "Naturally, it's possible, but after battling for half a month, our army suffered heavy casualties. If we continue the attack, the Demon Race has no way out, and they will naturally fight desperately, which may lead to even more deaths and injuries, and the outcome becomes unpredictable."

The Immortal Emperor, silent for a few seconds, then spoke, "Then let's stop for now, and observe the changes."

Shepherd Heavenly Monarch's eyes relaxed, he bowed and said, "Yes!"

The Immortal Emperor spoke again, "I will meet the Demon Emperor, you guys guard the defense line, wait for my orders."

"Yes!"

The golden light faded, the mirror shattered, turning into countless light points, vanishing into the air, the Golden Token returned to its original condition.

Shepherd Heavenly Monarch turned his head towards the Seven-colored Immortal Monarch and others, "Hold the defensive line, observe the changes, let's first see how much this area needs to change before it stops."

The Seven-colored Immortal Monarch and the other three naturally had no objections.

"Okay!"

At the horizon's end, the black area continued to grow, but everyone could feel that as the area grew larger and the Immortal Demon Channel wider, the rate of expanding was slowing down.

Lin Chen frowned, "The speed has slowed."

Chu Jiaxue pondered, "As the overlapping plane becomes larger and the overlapping area greater, wouldn't it require more energy to overlap further?"

Zhen Liuxue agreed, "Very likely. Previously it was just a very small channel, like a heavy door with only a small gap. Pushing the heavy door further open requires increasing force, thus as the overlapping plane area grows, the speed slows down."

Nalan Wushuang spoke gravely, "From where does this power originate?"

Everyone looked at each other in dismay, unable to think of an answer.

From objective facts, this matter seemed unrelated to both the Immortal Emperor and the Demon Emperor. If they truly had the capability, they would have taken actions more aligned with their own interests.

If this affair excludes the Immortal and Demon Worlds, and the driving force behind it belongs to some unknown third party, then the thought itself is terrifying.

There's no need to overly assume the worst. As long as there really exists this unknown third-party force, the situation where 'when the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman profits' makes everything much simpler.

Currently, the Immortal and Demon Worlds are fighting fiercely, with many Quasi-Saints injured and combat power diminished. The armies have suffered heavy casualties. Once the worlds are thoroughly connected and clashes resume, this war may only end when one side is completely annihilated.

"Let's observe how things unfold."

Lin Chen, while pondering over the situation, comforted everyone, "Neither the Immortal Emperor nor the Demon Emperor are fools. Given the strangeness of this situation, they will surely investigate first. We just need to maintain our readiness and be prepared for battle."

Zhen Liuxue asked, "These three years, you've been cultivating whenever you had time. How has it been?"

Lin Chen said with a laugh, "Reaching the Daluo Peak is not that easy. Even though I have enough cultivation resources, enhancing spiritual power takes time. Without special opportunities, improving through regular cultivation is slow."

"I don't even know how far I am from reaching Daluo Peak. Since I haven't reached the limit, I can't possibly know where it is. It might happen tomorrow, or it could take ten years, or even a hundred years."

Chu Jiaxue sighed, "Can't the Immortal and Demon Worlds coexist peacefully? They've fought so much, so many have died, and in the end, isn't it back to square one?"

Lin Chen replied with a bitter smile, "It's back to the starting point, but the situation has greatly changed from before. The Immortal Realm is still vast and sparsely populated with many domains. Compared to the Immortal Realm, the Demon World has far fewer resources. Cultivators are fighting tooth and nail over resources. This war has helped solve a major resource crisis for the Demon World."

Chu Jiaxue understood naturally. When societal conflicts grow too large to handle, war often becomes the only solution.

Either fight to claim more resources or use war to dissipate societal conflicts.

"Ah..."

Chu Jiaxue sighed and said no more.

Orders from Shepherd Heavenly Monarch soon followed; retreat to a safe distance, set up camp, heal, rest, and await new orders.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, because after half a month of brutal fighting, everyone was either injured or utterly exhausted. Continuing to fight under such conditions would only drastically increase the likelihood of a crisis.

As a Vice Corps Commander, Lin Chen had considerable freedom. He rushed to the frontline to personally observe the changes in the overlapping area of the planes.

Although the expansion of the overlapping area was gradually slowing, it still continued resolutely. Over a few days, this area had expanded by at least a hundredfold. The Immortal Demon Channel, located at the center of the area, had also expanded by several hundreds of times. It had now expanded to at least a few thousand miles.

Originally, there was a Teleportation Gate within the Immortal Demon Channel that separated the two worlds.

Though passing through the Teleportation Gate leads to another world, it is, after all, just a gate, and both sides are ultimately not connected. However, with the continuous expansion of the Immortal Demon Channel, the Teleportation Gate underwent eerie changes.

Previously, the gate was a dark, lightless vortex. Now, as it expanded, this black vortex seemed to be continually stretched, gradually becoming thinner until eventually, it turned into an infinitely transparent "membrane."

How transparent and thin is this membrane?

It has become so thin that it appears non-existent, like a layer of air. Standing on this side of the Immortal Realm, one can directly see through this transparent membrane to the other side—the Demon World!

These two worlds, now connected by this seemingly nonexistent transparent membrane!