367 Setting Up The Board

"So, should we just distribute our forces to barge into these 'bases' as you describe them to be and get done with them once and for all?"

The first one to let out a question was the Supreme Sword who seemed to be a very direct person with his actions, and while his voice did seem calm, he was in fact not calm at all.

Thanks to his sect being one that focused on developing weapon energy only and excluded any type of elemental practice, it seemed to have been targeted the most when the demons were searching for people to turn into seeds. After all, accepting corruption would change the nature of your element for the fusion process and manifestation of the Dark element.

Being a person who was supposed to have no elemental cultivation to begin with, if you start training it in secret eventually going through the very first stage of demonification, you could freely use that power in secret without having to hide it on the surface by abstaining from battle or making a clone in order to do so.

As such, the end result was that the Supreme Metal Sect not only had two of its five Grand Elders as seeds, but it also had three more seeds within their Elder Council.

Naturally, the result of the Supreme Sword discovering this and confirming it with his own eyes was very apparent on his face which didn't match with his voice, I could even sense a wave of ferocious mental energy radiating off him.

"That kind of approach may have worked if we discovered this much earlier, but we would be just leaving an empty castle for the enemy if we did that now…"

Blade immediately shot off the Supreme Sword's reckless idea, the reason for that was pretty obvious.

"Getting to what we described briefly before, the demons hiding within these bases had already acquired 'keys' through the lives of countless victims that were tricked and controlled. Once we are within their base, they can easily use these keys to get out, while we would still have to satisfy certain conditions to leave, that would be naturally counter-intuitive."

I was naturally the one who explained the reason behind Blade's disagreement, as the one who had the most experience regarding this matter, I no longer bothered to put up airs as I let out all the important pieces of information without bothering about my lack of status in comparison to the rest of those within the hall.

It was true that Blade knew some of these points after mind searching Crane's clone, but as Crane himself was yet to get transported to a base himself, his knowledge about the process itself was shallower compared to me, so we agreed that I would be the one to explain most things.

"I do get what you mean, but there is no way they would be transported out as a whole, even though I'm not particularly educated about the laws of elements, the space element can't cause a big change like that or the fabric of reality itself would have shattered long ago… if we manage to annihilate them quickly enough or even hold them in their place, wouldn't that be taking the battle to them without causing damage to our land?"

���At least he isn't all brawn with no brain…'

Being the leader of a sect on the level of being within the top 3 factions, it would have been strange if he just wanted to act on his whims after keeping his position this long.

"Agreed, while the number of these 'bases' are big, if we do use the help of elites from all of the sects, we can ensure total suppression so that an embarrassing situation like the one you mention wouldn't happen. Isn't striking first one of the very important concepts in war?"

Nodding his head, a bulky guy that was one of the new faces that joined this meeting affirmed the Supreme Sword's suggestion, he was quite a familiar face as well.

'At least they have confidence.'

Looking at the face of the Body Strengthening Sect's sect master that was gleaming with absolute confidence, a small smile appeared on my face.

Though this guy's sect wasn't strong enough to be within the top 10 sects, they easily made it into the top 15, so they naturally joined this meeting thanks to the relationship they had with the main host. It was true that they liked to keep their space from the Elemental Blade Sect, but that wasn't the time for such minor conflicts to cause problems.

It was true that we were no longer understaffed like how the situation played out within the Light Domain, with experts being everywhere within the world of sects, however, I immediately shook my head.

"Naturally, I also understand what you mean, if the process was as simple as you believe it to be, then it's truly better to strike first, but you are forgetting other important factors…"

Overwhelming the bases in sheer numbers was indeed possible, and even keeping them in place was indeed possible, but…

"What I meant about being stuck inside while they can leave easily wasn't about the moment you enter the base, but in the way to it. Don't you remember that the reason behind the demons being hidden under the Demon Nests was their suppression to begin with?"

Not everyone could possibly deal with the trials left to guard the entrance to the bases, it was purposely set as very hard to filter the possible candidates who would be able to annihilate the demons within.

"Not only would those who entered have to clear the first stage of normal 'Dark Nests' in most cases, but some of them couldn't be entered without special requirements being met, and even then the second stage is bound to at least keep half of those who entered stuck indefinitely…"

'Unfortunately, numbers can't solve the problem this time…'

"That's why we…"