Four hundred thousand legion soldiers stood in perfect formation. The lowest among them had reached mid-stage Saint Lord Realm, while the strongest were at the very peak of late-stage Saint Lord. At the very front, several commander-level experts were already showing faint signs of breaking through to the Saint Venerable Realm!
"These..."
"These are what we created after burning through every last scrap of our accumulated resources—the forty-thousand-strong Saint Lord Legion."
In the end, Evan Chu had to admit it was true. But Desmond Mansfield still bit his own tongue hard, unable to believe it.
"Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable!"
"What’s this? This is just the beginning. In the future, if we can get our hands on more resources, I won’t just be able to forge a Saint Venerable Legion—I could even create a Holy Emperor Legion. Or maybe..."
He didn’t finish the last sentence, but even so, Lance Li, Nathan Yates, and the others were already completely stunned. Night Wuming was even more excited—this time, he felt like his gamble had paid off in full! Evan Chu... this guy was just too terrifying!
"With a legion like this, I’m confident we can buy ourselves even more time. As long as the enemy doesn’t send hundreds of Holy Emperors at once, I’m sure I can turn the Flowing-Light Base Star-Region into an ironclad fortress!"
Desmond Mansfield wasn’t just bragging—Warren Wu knew full well that, for the Mansfield Family’s most gifted young master, this was simply the truth.
"Good! Then let’s keep pushing forward! This battle—we will win!"
Thanks to Evan Chu, not only were the upper echelon powerhouses full of confidence—even the rank-and-file soldiers brimmed with hope.
Didn’t you see? In just three short days, a forty-thousand-strong Saint Lord Legion was born! What’s there to hesitate about? Keep fighting! With resources, we could be the next batch of Saint Lords!
The Wan-Xiong Legion, Dragon-Chen Legion, Dark Legion, and the newly consolidated Flowing-Light Legion were all howling with excitement. Some were even hoping the Frostbane Grand Army would arrive sooner.
In reality, even though the Frostbane Dynasty had publicly announced the exact date of attack, with still a month to go, its vanguard forces had already set out. Hearing this, a bunch of small dynasties eager to latch onto Frostbane’s coattails began organizing their own armies to join the vanguard in "punishing the Dragon-Chen rebels."
Evan Chu hadn’t learned of any of this yet. He didn’t linger outside for long—soon, Lord Thunder returned with news, along with Starstones and Star Crystals bought and borrowed from major merchant houses, plus a huge batch of Star Crystals and Starstones directly sent by Star-Treasure Pavilion.
At first glance, this pile of resources looked massive—maybe even more than the combined wealth of Dragon-Chen Hall and the Flowing-Light Dynasty before the war. But Evan Chu knew it was still just a drop in the bucket.
But then Horace Hong, branch master of Star-Treasure Pavilion’s Yellow-Blade Star-Region, showed up in person and handed Evan Chu an enormous gift! Evan had no idea that this gift didn’t come from Star-Treasure Pavilion or the East-Star Prefecture, but from Kellan Lin’s private fortune!
Kellan Lin had lived incognito, growing in the shadows, making countless trips to the central world. There, he’d risked his life in endless treasure hunts and deadly traps, explored ancient tombs from bygone eras, and collected more treasures than he could count. Starstones and Star Crystals were the most common among them.
If there’s anything cultivators crave most, it’s stars—and high-grade stars can drive anyone mad! And if a star is listed on the Star List...
Right now, aside from Kellan Lin and the East-Star Prefecture Master, no one else knew about Kellan’s private stash. Even Horace Hong himself had no idea what kind of treasure he’d just delivered.
"This time, we have to be careful with these resources! How we use them could decide whether we win the final battle against Frostbane!"
Night Wuming frowned deeply—his strategic thinking had its limits, and just saying this was already pushing it. As for how to actually solve the problem, Desmond Mansfield and Warren Wu both fell silent, brows furrowed in thought.
"This time, of course I’ll pick the most promising elite soldiers, but there are two more conditions," Warren Wu began, and Desmond Mansfield immediately added on.
"They need solid foundations and strong mental fortitude—their state of mind can’t be shaky, and their cultivation can’t be too low. Anyone who’s already undergone baptism can’t go again, and this time, we can’t let too many people in for the baptism."
"At most, three thousand."
"They’ll use these resources to break through to even higher realms!"
Evan Chu glanced at the two of them and instantly understood their intent. The Saint Lord Realm... still wasn’t enough for them! To truly go head-to-head with the Frostbane Grand Army, what they needed was—a three-thousand-strong Saint Venerable Legion!
"Alright, we’ll do it that way! But how do we handle these stars? Their grade isn’t low at all."
Even Evan Chu was shocked—there were a total of four thousand eight hundred guest stars, and every single one was high-grade. Some were even faintly stronger than the Blood-stained Demon Star and Crimson Demon Star. It was obvious: if a star had caught Kellan Lin’s eye, it couldn’t be ordinary.
Not only did he possess Half-Step Sacred Emperor cultivation himself, but behind him stood Star-Treasure Pavilion and, as the only son of the East-Star Prefecture Master, one of the Pavilion’s Four Prefecture Masters.
Evan Chu made note of Kellan Lin’s kindness, planning to repay it someday.
"Stars of this grade obviously aren’t for low-level cultivators to refine. I think we should use them ourselves—even if we can’t break through in realm, our combat power will definitely increase."
This time, it was Lance Li who spoke up, believing this was perfectly reasonable. After all, if low-level cultivators couldn’t use them, were they just supposed to sit and watch?
"That’s right—I think so too."
Lance Li’s words didn’t carry much weight, but when Desmond Mansfield spoke up, it was a whole different story. Night Wuming and the Holy Emperors of the Flowing-Light Dynasty were instantly excited. They couldn’t believe that the stars Star-Treasure Pavilion had casually sent over were actually far higher-grade than the dynasty’s original reserves!
"Right! And Flowing-Light Dynasty’s Star-Vault Hall still has some left, but their attributes are strange and most people couldn’t fuse with them, so we didn’t take them out before. Now, though, it doesn’t matter—bring out everything. Whoever can use them, take them!"
Night Wuming was putting everything on the line, betting that victory in this war would make it all worthwhile.
"Thank you, Flowing-Light Holy Emperor. Don’t worry—in the future, Flowing-Light will never be what it once was. Someday, even in the central world, it’ll have a place of its own."
With a wave of Evan Chu’s hand, three thousand elites standing outside the council hall vanished through the Star Gate he opened. Countless experts at peak late-stage Saint Venerable and early Holy Emperor also disappeared.
Of course, all the Starstones, Star Crystals, and stars were also sent into the second floor of the Seven-Star Golden Tower with Evan Chu’s gesture. What would come of these three thousand six hundred people, tens of millions of Starstones, tens of thousands of Star Crystals, and thousands of stars? No one could say yet.
But on the twenty-fifth day after Evan Chu and the others disappeared, Frostbane Dynasty’s vanguard—three great legions totaling 1.3 million troops—arrived in the Flowing-Light Star-Region. Another 500,000 came as self-organized support and punitive forces from various dynasties!