Angel, Kali, Yasenia, Tatyana, and the nine leaders arrived at the vicinity of the army and stopped about fifty kilometers away.
Tengliu asked. "Should we deploy a concealing formation? They might sense us otherwise. We are really close, after all."
Kali smiled. "No need for that. This little darling is enough to conceal us."
The leaders looked at the cute human-shaped grey plant monster that appeared. It had a leaf-woven cape that hid its body, only showing its face.
The face was simple: big black pearly eyes, a small mouth, and a cute bob of black leaves as hair. It complemented the grey body quite nicely.
Coraline smiled, finding it cute, and asked. "What is that?"
Kali explained. "It is called [Ethereal Blossom]. It is one of the many creatures I can summon. It's concealing capabilities are top notch."
Well, there was a small lie in her words as the plant creature was summoned by Valeria. However, since Valeria was her summon, this thing being the summon of her summon meant that it also was hers summon!
Convoluted wording aside, the Forest Sky Empress couldn't help but ask them to show it.
Kali, feeling generous, asked it to conceal itself to the best of its capabilities. And, in front of their eyes, the thing disappeared. Their eyes couldn't help but widen.
Kali's arms were still in the same position, clearly holding it, but they couldn't see it or perceive it.
The Golden Body Sect Master praised. "Such a strong hiding ability."
Kali thought. 'This thing is one of Valeria's trump card legions, so it is naturally strong.'
The Forest Sky Empress asked. "Can it attack?"
Kali nodded. "With my current strength, it should be able to kill low-level Epoch Cores easily; I'm not sure if it can instantly kill middle-level ones."
Kali was at the eighth level of the Unification Realm, and she was a seventh-level Fusion Core beast as well. Valeria's strength grew with hers, and so did her abilities, making Ethereal Blossom quite a fearsome plant creature.
At her current level, Valeria could summon ten of them at once. Such a small number for someone of Valeria's level showed just how powerful these things were.
This little thing looked cute, but it was quite a horrific assassin.
With their concealment covered, they stopped worrying and boldly expanded their spiritual sense toward the army.
Angel, helped by Mirrory to look more than 50 kilometers away, exclaimed. "So many people!"
A sea of beast-humans could be spotted, marching along the plains. Their numbers were high enough to appear like a black wave moving along.
Yasenia observed the sea of creatures and nodded. "It is visually impressive. I can give them that. How many are there exactly?"
Tatyana's processing ability was otherworldly, so she could easily count this sea of people. "There are 31,450,000 people. There are about 27,450,000 people weaker than Ethereal Soul, 3,980,000 Ethereal Soul cultivators, and nearly 20,000 Epoch Core people. Within the Epoch Core people, there are 19,000 low-level Epoch Cores and about 1,000 middle-level Epoch cores. The number of high-level Epoch Core people I can sense is 89."
Yasenia's eyebrows shot up. "20,000 Epoch Core people with 89 High-level ones? That's quite a fierce line-up."
For comparison, after a few years of recruitment, Yasenia's power had about 200 Epoch Core people, with only one being high-level Epoch Core as long as we didn't take the maids into account.
Tengliu smiled when she saw Yasenia's surprise. "What, did you think that our powers that have accumulated strength for tens of thousands of years would not have this amount? It's just that they are usually spread around the entire Distancia Continent, so in a single place, there usually are not more than a hundred of them."
Yasenia nodded. Tengliu has shown her in the past how many top-level harpies there were, and it made her realize that the foundation of Distancia's powers was actually extraordinary for a low-level world.
She asked, curious. "How high of a percent have the Garudas and the others mobilized?"
The nine leaders pondered for a second, and Coraline answered. "Probably between thirty or forty percent. After all, they shouldn't have touched the ones stationed in important places. Since he is here personally, taking a large batch of the top powerhouses is understandable, but summoning more than 40 percent would be unreasonable. Moreover, this is not an all-out war or, at least, they don't consider it one."
Yasenia nodded, feeling that it was no wonder these powers looked down on her when she spoke about having become a first-ranked power. "Why is the threshold to become a first-ranked power so low?"
Tengliu laughed. "Well, the differences between first-ranked powers are very vast, but if someone has one high-level Epoch Core, they can probably defend a small part of the continent as long as they don't provoke the wrong person. While the top powers are classified in the public eye, there are plenty of first-ranked powers that don't join any faction, like yours."
Tengliu sighed. "Distancia is vast, after all. Moreover, if we start counting sea Empires... The number of inhabitants quickly goes into the tens or even hundreds of trillions of sentient lifeforms."
Yasenia understood.
Moreover, since these powers didn't know the strength of the maids, they could practically drown a regular high-level Epoch Core with just numbers. Acting high-key at that time probably touched the nerve of many real superpowers.
Yasenia's sect, which had about 55,000 people, was nothing in front of a top power unless the maids were involved.
Still, while it was true that there was no comparison in numbers, it was not the same when comparing quality.
For now, Yasenia's sect was small, with very few experts. However, the test at Yasenia's sect entrance guaranteed that people had enough potential to reach the peak of the Mortal Realms, meaning the Peak-Level Epoch Core.
As a reference, the top powers of Distancia had about 300 high-level Epoch Core people, with the strongest ones having double that number.
Consequently, while 55 thousand were very few people, if those beast humans became high-level Epoch Core people in the future, the meaning of 55 thousand becomes another complete matter altogether.
Not to mention Peak-level Epoch Cores. Some might have forgotten, so it is worth remembering that a titanic power like Tengliu's Harpy Clan only has two peak-level Epoch Core seniors in retirement.
Therefore, because the most talented individuals Yasenia admitted in the sect had the opportunity to break through into the Transcendence Realm, or, in the slang of Body Cultivation, the Undying Monarch Body Realm, fifty-five thousand suddenly became quite a lot of people.
Regardless, this was nothing but unrealized potential for now. Yet, with Yasenia's methods, she had already secured the sect's future, making this potential feel more palpable than it usually was.
Having thought of these things already, Yasenia was not nervous or flustered when she saw such an army.
She knew that she couldn't compare manpower to powers that had been existing for millennia. No matter how "backward" these powers were, they've been monopolizing the talents of the world since who knows when, after all.
After observing the army for a while and making sure they understood their general strength, all of them flew forward.
The leaders asked Kali to stop concealing them with Ethereal Blossom, and their presence appeared not further than five kilometers away from the army.
For them, it looked as if they had suddenly appeared like ghosts, making many top powerhouses with spiritual senses that made them react with hostility.
Of course, this reaction was only momentary. After seeing who they were, they quickly retracted their intentions to attack.
The person with the most authority in Yasenia's group flew forward; it was the Forest Sky Empress.
While all the races had a large amount of influence, the Three Empires, Holy Beast Empire, Forest Sky Empire, and Ocean Chasm Empire were still the worldwide recognized strongest.
As the Empress flew forward, her body released an incomparably domineering aura that flooded the entire army.
"Halt."
A single word filled with authority and imperial power froze the constant march of the army of more than 30 million people.
Yasenia's eyebrow rose in surprise. Until now, this woman had shown a very mild and gentle personality. Now, however, she could see why she had managed to gain the Empress position in a power where competition was bound to be ruthless.
Meanwhile, in the army, the high-level people frowned and flew forward, appearing a kilometer away from her. Still, even while faced with 89 people of the same realm, the Monarch was unfazed.
"Why are you here, Forest Sky Empress?"
The Garuda at the lead was the one who spoke. He was a strangely appealing man. While the head was like all Garuda, being a bird's head, the man's naked body was pure perfection.
He possessed a sleek, unadorned physique that exuded a sense of strength and nimbleness, accentuating the attractive contours formed by his well-defined muscles. Coupled with his supple skin, perfect body proportions, beautiful golden-white feathered wings on his back, and a proud member who could make more than a few females squeeze their thighs with just a single look, he was considered a top-level specimen.
Even with a usually unattractive bird's head, many women and even some men would throw themselves at him with just a gesture.
The woman maintained her bearing without effort, even in front of such extraordinary attraction, and she spoke. "Retreat. We've reached an agreement with the Astral Sky Sect Master, and we promised that no one shall hurt, attack, or bother her power until after the power summit. This agreement was accepted by the Supremes and the World's Arbiter groups. As long as you take your people and leave, there won't be a need to shed any blood today."
The Garuda Patriarch looked behind the woman, and using his high cultivation, he quickly spotted Yasenia and the others. His beak arched in a human-like sneer. "Why would we retreat? That woman has released a plague in our cities, taking the lives of millions."
His voice then boomed with outward indignation. "Who is she to take lives as she pleases and not face repercussions!? Should we, leaders of our powers, not retaliate when our subjects are suffering!? Sisters, Fathers, Mothers, Sons, Children, and Elders, all of them died because of her! That dragon shall pay with her body for all the lives she stole! If not material compensation, she will become a breeding ground until she has repaid all the lives she took, and if it takes her entire lifetime, so be it!"
His aura burst forth with incomparable might and charisma, and the army of 30 million behind him roared to the sky, shaking the clouds.
"That's right!"
"Punish her!"
"She is a sinner and must be punished!"
Yasenia sent a message to the Forest Sky Empress and flashed forward, appearing by her side Forest together with her fifty white-wearing maids.
The moment she stepped forward, it felt like someone had pressed the stop button, as every living being was instantly mesmerized by her divine appearance.
The only thing left in the air were the echoes of their previous cries.
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Kali: This is so exciting. An army of 30 million! It's the second-largest army I've ever seen.
Angel: Right!
Ebirah: Second largest? Which one is the largest?
Author: *Shows an image of the battle between Demons and Phoenixes.*
Ebirah: *O*
Author: I summon you!
Sam Prior: Hello.
Andrea: Oh? A new person.
Sam Prior: Yup. Something was stuck in my mind, and I decided to ask. Please, seniors, take care of me.
Tatyana: Ask away.
Sam Prior: As stated before, the entire body is recreated when ascending to the transcendent stage. My question is if there is a difference/benefit in starting dual energy body cultivation prior to transcendence vs. after transcendence, excluding the increased combat ability and survivability in the mortal realms.
Mirrory: That's a good question. The answer is that the ideal is always to advanced in a balanced way. Balance is the foundation of all things.
Mirrory: However, that doesn't mean that cultivating the Body Cultivation after reaching Transcendence is wrong or bad. The only thing that will change is that when advancing the Body Cultivation to Transcendence, the cultivator won't need to reforge the body but absorb the new tribulation.
Mirrory: This will be explained later in detail, so explaining it now is redundant. However, the Transcendence Tribulation's lightning has a lot of beneficial energy. The reason a cultivator must and can reform the body is because of this abundant beneficial energy that can regenerate the cultivator after being heavily injured.
Sam Prior: Hm. I see. This probably sparked a few more questions than the ones it solved. But since it will be explained, I'm satisfied. Thank you.
Mirrory: You are welcome, junior.
Author: And that's all for today!