Grand Ancestor Bai was not unwilling to break out — he simply had his reservations. His worry was that once a breakout was chosen, the Eternal Sacred Land would arrange for their Sacred Land of a Hundred to lead the charge, at which point they would easily be reduced to cannon fodder.
Under the momentum of the greater situation, if the Eternal Sacred Land made such an arrangement, the Sacred Land of a Hundred would have a very hard time refusing. Refusal would easily earn them the label of disregarding the bigger picture.
Under normal circumstances, people might not single out the Sacred Land of a Hundred, but when it came to breaking out, everyone wanted someone else to be the cannon fodder. It was only human nature to hope that the fellow cultivator dies and not oneself.
Grand Ancestor Bai was worried — worried about being turned into cannon fodder.
Jiang Chen saw through the matter with perfect clarity. He understood Grand Ancestor Bai's thoughts and offered a faint smile. "If we don't break out, we simply sit here and wait for death. When they decide to come and carve us up, it'll be entirely at their whim. If we choose to break out, and everyone works together, there may yet be a way to survive."
In truth, Jiang Chen already had some ideas.
However, he still needed to consider how feasible this plan was.
The most critical factor was that he needed a unified attitude from everyone — a spirit of wholehearted cooperation. If people could not pull together, could not weather the storm as one, then any plan would be useless.
If this plan of Jiang Chen's were carried out, he was fairly confident it would succeed. But the worry lay with those who might be secretly colluding with the enemy, creating unexpected complications.
If those people caused problems, it would introduce hidden dangers and uncertain factors.
However, as long as the ten great Sacred Lands held firm, even if some of the second- and third-rate factions wavered, it would remain within a controllable range.
After all, by Jiang Chen's estimation, the enemy that had deployed the Taibai Light-Splitting Convergence Formation and these mists was unlikely to have stationed a massive force here.
They must have some other objective — they simply wanted to trap the people of the ten great Sacred Lands in this place.
Therefore, although breaking out carried risks and they might encounter an ambush, it should all fall within a manageable scope.
Grand Ancestor Bai's brow twitched, and he spoke up. "Everyone, I also support breaking out. However, the specifics of how this breakout is arranged must be clearly defined and fair. Our ten great Sacred Lands have formed an alliance, so we can't favor one over another, correct?"
The Eternal Sacred Ancestor smiled faintly. "So that's what you were worried about?"
Grand Ancestor Bai did not deny it, instead asking, "Then how do you intend to arrange it?"
"Hmph, of course it will be fair — everyone contributes. Did you really think I would arrange for your Sacred Land of a Hundred to lead the charge and serve as cannon fodder?" The Eternal Sacred Ancestor's expression turned displeased.
"If the arrangement is fair, my Sacred Land of a Hundred will absolutely not hold anyone back. We will give it our all!" Grand Ancestor Bai declared as well.
"Good! Then let us work together as one and overcome this crisis!" The Eternal Sacred Ancestor pumped his fist, his eyes burning with resolve. "I refuse to believe that the combined strength and heritage of our ten great Sacred Lands can be intimidated by this obstacle!"
"We weather the storm together, never parting or forsaking one another!"
"We fight to the death, fearing neither danger nor mortality!"
One by one, the Grand Ancestors wore solemn expressions, voicing their determination in short, resolute phrases.
At that moment, Jiang Chen spoke up. "Esteemed seniors, I have a plan for the breakout. If it is properly arranged, it should be able to avoid a great deal of casualties. And if everything goes well, we might even break out with minimal cost and in complete safety!"
The moment Jiang Chen said this, everyone was stunned.