The moment the Imperial Ancestor departed, the Xiahou Ancestor was struck dumb.
"Fellow Daoist, wait!" The Xiahou Ancestor tried to call him back, but the only response was silence—the Imperial Ancestor did not so much as glance over his shoulder.
The Xiahou Ancestor's heart sank instantly. Without the Imperial Ancestor's assistance, maintaining the full power of the sealing formation on his own was all but impossible.
If the Sacred Ground Ancestor managed to break free from the sealing formation, he might very well meet his end right then and there. After all, the Sacred Ground Ancestor's strength surpassed the Xiahou Ancestor's by a considerable margin.
The Xiahou Ancestor seethed with frustration, yet could do nothing about it.
Staring at the sealing formation, the Xiahou Ancestor found himself trapped in an agonizing dilemma. Retreat, or hold his ground?
After receiving Marquis Xiaoyao's telepathic transmission, the Xiahou Ancestor had been deeply worried. But right now he had no way of knowing what state the Sacred Ground Ancestor was actually in inside the formation.
Had the formation already ground him down to the brink of death? Or had he perished entirely?
All of it was unknown.
If he left now and the Sacred Ground Ancestor rallied even a fraction of his strength, the Ancestor would surely break free—and every effort they had made would be wasted.
But if he stayed, he could not sustain the formation alone. And the critical issue was that while he remained stuck here, the Xiahou family was in imminent danger. If he did not rush back to their aid quickly, the Xiahou family, besieged by the Sacred Ground, would eventually collapse under the assault.
This left the Xiahou Ancestor in an impossible bind.
Advancing further was beyond his ability.
Retreating meant the sealing formation would likely fall apart at the last moment.
After a brief deliberation, the Xiahou Ancestor made up his mind: "Remaining here alone is like a lone pillar—it cannot hold. If the Sacred Ground Ancestor experiences a resurgence, I could end up being the one destroyed. I would be better off returning swiftly to the Xiahou family, neutralizing the crisis there, and suppressing the Eternal Sacred Ground. Once the situation stabilizes, I can invite Daoist friends from the other divine kingdoms to come and help."
Thoughts raced through the Xiahou Ancestor's mind, and he quickly settled on his course of action.
He knew that if the Sacred Ground Ancestor truly had a way to break free, whether he stayed or not would make little difference.
He tidied up the formation slightly, reinforced a few key points, and then departed without looking back, heading straight for the Eternal Divine Capital.
His heart burned with urgency. He knew that every minute of delay would only intensify the threat facing the Xiahou family. Surrounded by the army led by the Sacred Ground, how long the Xiahou family could hold out was something even the Xiahou Ancestor himself could not say with confidence.
Not long after the Xiahou Ancestor's departure, within the sealing formation, the Sacred Ground Ancestor—who had been extremely weakened—felt his dharma body sway twice. He extended his spiritual sense outward and discovered that the two divine-path powerhouses who had been stationed outside the formation were both gone.
This strange turn of events instantly reinvigorated the Sacred Ground Ancestor.
During his imprisonment, all the elder subordinates he had brought along had been ground down by the formation until they perished, leaving only him, a Sacred Ancestor of the divine path, still barely holding on.
He had estimated that in another three to five months, he himself would no longer be able to endure.
Yet now, without warning, both the Xiahou family and the Imperial divine-path ancestors had vanished from their posts, no longer applying pressure to the formation.
This meant the restraint imposed on him by the formation would no longer increase.
"What's going on? Those two wouldn't have left without reason. Could it be that the situation at the Eternal Sacred Ground has changed again?"
Inside the formation, the Ancestor had been conserving his strength and paying almost no attention to the outside world. That was why it had taken him a good while to notice their absence.
"Or could this be some kind of scheme?" The Sacred Ground Ancestor's mind stirred, and he began turning the possibility over.
But upon reflection—what scheme could it possibly be?
At this stage, the other side had no need for tricks. As long as they continued pressing the formation, time alone would eventually overwhelm him, the Sacred Ground Ancestor.
Yet at this critical juncture, both of them had disappeared. Instinctively, as a supreme powerhouse, the Ancestor sensed that something must have happened.
"No matter what scheme they may be planning, I must seize this opportunity to gather my strength and try to break this formation's seal!" The Sacred Ground Ancestor resolved inwardly.
…
Meanwhile, at the Eternal Sacred Ground's Xiahou family headquarters, the Sacred Ground's three Great Holy Lords, along with the leaders of various allied forces, had already assembled at the Xiahou family's citadel.
The Great Holy Lord gazed at the Xiahou family's fortress and spoke in a deep voice: "The Xiahou family has the resources to put up a stubborn resistance, but this fortress is far from flawless. Their defenses are insufficient to stop our advance. Let us work together with clear division of tasks and break through this Xiahou family citadel as quickly as possible!"
"Break the city! Break the city!"
War cries surged and passion ran high.
The Divine Vermilion Bird led the charge, soaring into the sky. Wherever it passed, a sea of fire roiled upward and clouds of radiant mist churned—a truly spectacular sight.