I tricked you into thinking you had the makings of an emperor, but you actually did it?

“We will also set up a formation in the mountains, but it will be a battle formation and won’t take up too much terrain,” the young man said.

His attitude changed drastically because he felt the pressure Shen Ming had just exerted and knew that the young man in front of him could not be defeated in a short time.

He was lucky; Shen Ming was resistant to gentle persuasion but not to force, so aside from feeling somewhat helpless, he didn't plan to continue his attack.

"That's fine."

Shen Ming agreed, explaining that the battle formation did not require the support of the forces of heaven and earth, and was more like a combined attack method.

To unite the strength of a few people, or even an army, into one force.

The drawbacks are that it consumes a lot of resources and lacks terrain support.

Therefore, these people wanted to use this mountain as a supply base so that they could have a chance to rest.

This doesn't conflict with Shen Ming's grand formation setup; if both sides trust each other, they can even cooperate.

So the young man led his men to choose a spot in the mountains to set up the array's core.

Shen Ming stood atop the mountain, lost in thought.

In most cases, things wouldn't go so smoothly, but with the demon race as a common enemy, everything seemed quite natural.

"Fellow Daoist, you intend to set up the grand formation all by yourself?"

The woman, skilled in stealth techniques, approached him, her face filled with curiosity.

Array masters are even rarer in Baiyujing.

In her memory, setting up a large array on the spot required the cooperation of several array masters.

Shen Ming's age doesn't seem to be that of a master of formations who can wield a formation single-handedly.

Shen Ming responded, but his attitude wasn't very enthusiastic.

"My name is Su Qingqing. We did indeed set our sights on this mountain first, and our continued exploration wasn't without its rewards, but we couldn't compete with the Nine Sects of the Human Race." The woman tried to ease tensions between the two sides.

"You are not disciples of the Nine Sects?"

Shen Ming was somewhat surprised; he had assumed that all the human race in Baiyujing had joined the Nine Sects.

“No, we’re from Torch,” Su Qingqing said.

It turns out that the Nine Sects did not accept all humans, or rather, not everyone was willing to join the sect.

Therefore, there are many independent cultivators in Baiyujing.

Because of the crisis brought by the demon race, the independent cultivators were all in danger and formed alliances.

The Torch is one of many alliances, and all its members are on this mountain.

The leader of the alliance is the young man who was wearing battle armor just now, named Han Lie.

"If you're not one of the nine major human sects, why are you participating in the Apocalypse?" Shen Ming asked.

Upon hearing this, Su Qingqing looked suspicious.

Shen Ming realized that his words had revealed his identity, and said directly, "To be precise, I come from the Taihao Sect."

Su Qingqing exclaimed in surprise, "The Taihao Sect is ranked quite high among the Nine Sects."

Her eyes revealed a mixture of longing, bewilderment, and confusion.

The disciples of the sect always cooperated in groups; none of them acted alone like Shen Ming.

Shen Ming thought for a moment and briefly explained his situation. After listening, Su Qingqing opened her mouth.

"You mean, you just came from the lower realm, and the Taihao Sect sent you to participate in the Apocalypse?" Han Lie suddenly appeared.

Su Qingqing approached Shen Ming, who had been secretly observing her. After hearing what she had said, he couldn't help but reveal himself.

“No, I asked for it myself,” Shen Ming said.

However, Han Lie and Su Qingqing clearly did not believe this, taking Shen Ming as cannon fodder sent by the Taihao Sect and unaware of the crisis they would face in the future.

"Do you know what kind of crisis we're facing?" Han Lie asked.

"The divine realm of the demon race."

“Yes, at the same level, the demon race is much stronger than us,” Han Lie said seriously.

"Just stay put after you set up the formation. If we can handle it, you'll escape this calamity too," Su Qingqing said.

Shen Ming hesitated, not wanting to speak, but he couldn't very well say outright that he was better than all of them.

He returned to the initial question: why did the Torchbearers come to participate in Apocalypse?

Perhaps because Shen Mingdu had already revealed his background, Han Lie thought for a moment and then told him the truth.

"The nine sects have an agreement that the number of disciples in the Divine Path realm they send out must not be less than a certain number. However, some sects are unwilling to send their disciples to their deaths, so they will use large sums of money to invite us rogue cultivators to make up the numbers," Han Lie said.

Upon hearing this, Shen Ming asked in confusion, "But the outcome of the apocalypse will determine when the demon race will not invade."

Shouldn't they send out the sect's elite forces and go all out?

Playing such petty tricks and acting independently will ultimately lead to the entire human race suffering losses.

"At first, some sects couldn't gather enough members, so they invited powerful rogue cultivators. No one objected. But after this started, other sects began to follow suit until everyone tacitly agreed."

Han Lie said, "There's no need to feel sorry for us; we're here for the resources."

“Senior Brother Han is about to enter the True God Realm, at which time he can directly enter the Tower of Heaven!” Su Qingqing said.

If we were to pinpoint the difference between the Tower of Heaven and the Nine Sects of the Human Race, the Nine Sects would be more like academies, while the Tower of Heaven would be a powerful force.

"Is there a reward for surviving?" Shen Ming asked.

"Yes, the rewards are divided into four levels, corresponding to the four realms of the Divine Path."

"If I want all things to be in the earth, to what extent do I need to achieve this?"

"..."

Han Lie and Su Qingqing looked at each other, hesitating about what to say.

"Slay a minor demon god," Han Lie said.

The Demon Court is divided into four heavens, with four Demon Emperors in total, and twelve Demon Gods under their command, all of whom are at the peak of the divine realm.

The Lesser Demon God is at the Heavenly God Realm.

There is a True God Realm between the Void God Realm and the True God Realm, plus the advantage of the demon race among those in the same realm.

The two of them couldn't understand how Shen Ming could have asked such a question.

"It's a bit troublesome."

Having received the answer, Shen Ming acknowledged this point, mainly because there were no heavenly tribulations in the realm of gods.

Otherwise, having already slain someone in the Longevity Realm, he could have used the same trick again, using the Heavenly Tribulation to kill the Lesser Demon God.

The only solution is to rely on the formation.

The problem is that if the formation cannot be moved, there is no guarantee that the lesser demon gods will attack.

Is it just a little troublesome? Han Lie and Su Qingqing were a bit confused.

But considering that Shen Ming came from the lower realm, they assumed that he was unaware of the dangers posed by the demon race.

At this moment, several dazzling sword lights flew past outside the mountain peak, and divine sense swept over Torch and the others, as well as Shen Ming.

Among them, a sword light was like a fleeting glimpse of a startled swan.

She was a female sword cultivator, tall and slender, dressed in white robes that fluttered in the wind, like an immortal walking on clouds.

A long, sharp sword was slung behind him, its sword energy flowing across the sky like water, reflecting a cold light in the sunlight.

Upon seeing this scene, Su Qingqing's eyes involuntarily sparkled with amazement and longing.

It was Wen Qingshu from the Taihao Sect.

She had been searching for the junior brother of the Sword Sect, and at this moment, she also noticed the group of people on the mountain peak.

After scanning with his divine sense, he recognized them as members of the Torch Alliance.

Shaking his head helplessly, he continued his search.

"That's Wen Qingshu from the Taihao Sect, the number one female sword cultivator among the Nine Sects!" Han Lie exclaimed.

Although he recognized him, he never thought he was looking for Shen Ming, because he didn't even know whether Shen Ming was a disciple of the Qi Sect or the Sword Sect.

Shen Ming himself felt that the other person had just happened to be passing by.