The sect master nodded upon hearing this. He had considered this matter and naturally knew that Lu Ye was correct, which is also where his concerns lay.

"Moreover, although the Righteous Blood Sacred Land is named after the word 'Righteous Blood' and led by Senior Brother, in reality, it's not just he who contributes, but also those top-notch seniors with great strength. Therefore, the power of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land should not become the exclusive property of our sect; it should belong to all of the Nine Provinces. Now, as the two major camps put aside past grievances and work sincerely together, it is really inappropriate for our sect to act in a manner that might provoke jealousy. If we were to gather the forces of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, perhaps no one would speak openly, but who knows what thoughts they'd harbor deep down."

The sect master nodded again, showing a pleased expression. The disciple he had inadvertently recruited in Evil Moon Valley had grown up, now able to consider things comprehensively.

Lately, every time he reminisced about that day's scene, he could only feel fortunate that Lu Ye chose the Righteous Blood Sect. Otherwise, he would have truly regretted losing such an excellent disciple, uncertain which sect might benefit instead.

"Thirdly, the benefits our sect has gained from this expedition are already substantial. Just to mention one aspect, the extensive territory I've demarcated already surpasses our current grade level, and even exceeds all 1st grade sects. In this regard alone, others won't say anything because the disciples of this expedition have made significant contributions, and this is what our Righteous Blood Sect deserves."

He spoke calmly, as the facts spoke for themselves.

"But if we were to accept the forces of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, it would also mean accepting the common people from over there. Though the Righteous Blood Sacred Land is indeed small, it is densely populated with a large number of people, equivalent to annexing another piece of territory, which would appear rather greedy."

The sect master responded happily: "It's rare for you to consider things so thoroughly. In fact, your Senior Brother also mentioned that he does not recommend I consolidate the forces of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, citing similar concerns as yours."

Lu Ye smiled, saying: "Being of the same sect, naturally we think alike."

Thus, the matter was decided. The Righteous Blood Sect would remain the Righteous Blood Sect, and the Righteous Blood Sacred Land would remain the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, without merging the two. There was no need to intentionally proclaim anything about this; once the affairs in the Blood Refinement World settled, the Righteous Blood Sacred Land would choose a piece of territory in the Nine Provinces to establish a sect. Then, the cultivators within the Sacred Land would transfer to this new sect in the Nine Provinces.

The Blood Refinement World is not suitable for cultivators to remain for long. There might be no issue temporarily, but over time, as the foundations of this world fail, its level will continue to drop. If cultivators continue to live in this world, their cultivation will become difficult, and reaching the upper realm will be hopeless—a situation no cultivator can tolerate.

The Nine Provinces cultivators scattered all over began gathering again, the gathering point being the location where they first entered the Blood Refinement World, by the Heavenly Augury Pilars.

At the location of the Heavenly Augury Pillar, there were numerous bustling cultivators, with Lu Ye leading a large group actively setting up arrays in the Lock Horns Grotto Heaven.

The array being set up was very simple, just a Great Spirit Convergence Array.

The mechanism of this array is straightforward; it is used for converging spiritual energy and is mainly an auxiliary type big array, usually serving other formations within and facilitating their operation.

The locations of Heavenly Augury Pillars generally follow this pattern, with the purpose of the array being to gather spiritual energy in preparation for the impending halt of the Blood Refinement World.

Unlike the Nine Provinces, the Blood Refinement World is constantly in motion. This is why the Nine Provinces cultivators initially observed the star attributed to the Blood Refinement World growing brighter, because it constantly approached the Nine Provinces, and as the distance decreased, its view became increasingly clear.

If one likens the entire Blood Refinement World to a large ship sailing in stellar space, its course happens to be aimed directly at the Nine Provinces World. If left unchecked, this huge domain would directly collide with the Nine Provinces.

At that time, it would surely lead to a disaster of world destruction.

The Blood Race has been entirely obliterated, now with only Lann Qiyue left alive among them. After three months of warfare, victory was hard-won, and the Nine Provinces cultivators hoped not to witness the tragic scene of their homeland's destruction.

Fortunately, Number Nine had long had a contingency plan for this scenario.

But it required some effort from the Nine Provinces cultivators, so this matter was spread through Lu Ye's word.

Due to the simplicity of the formation, setting it up was not difficult; the challenge lay in covering a large area because an enormous number of cultivators would gather around each Heavenly Augury Piliars.

Thus, after more than ten busy days, the Great Spirit Convergence Arrays were set up around over a hundred Heavenly Augury Pillars.

Within the array's coverage area, cultivators sat cross-legged, regardless of cultivation level, concentrating patiently waiting.

Here, at the Lock Horns Grotto Heaven, gathered not only cultivators from the Righteous Blood Sect and Ziwei Dao Palace, as the numbers from these two sects were really too few. Many other sects' cultivators came to help as well.

Lu Ye sat directly in front of the Heavenly Augury Pillar; since Number Nine must avoid being seen, all matters were left for him to guide.

What he needed to do was wait for Number Nine to give a signal at the appropriate time.

While waiting, the battlefield marking suddenly showed movement. Upon inspection, Lu Ye found that Number Nine's signal had arrived.

He immediately shouted in a low voice, "Begin!"

At the same time, he poured spiritual energy into the Great Spirit Convergence Array below him. With his actions, all cultivators activated their spiritual energy, injecting it into the array.

Meanwhile, above the Heavenly Augury Pillar, clouds gathered, and vast nature's spiritual energy was drawn by an invisible force, all converging toward the Heavenly Augury Pillar.

The entire pillar seemed like a black hole devouring everything, absorbing any amount of spiritual energy poured into it.

Beside Lu Ye, Yiyi and Amber were also striving desperately, contributing their share of power.

The Heavenly Mechanism Pillar trembled incessantly, complex and intricate patterns appearing upon it, as if something were about to break out from within the pillar.

This situation continued for a long time...

Indeed, something did burst forth from the pillar; it was a pillar of light shooting up to the sky, piercing the clouds, stretching continuously. The brightness of this light pillar was clear even from a million miles away.

Right after the Heavenly Mechanism Pillar here erupted with light, light pillars burst forth from Heavenly Mechanism Pillars all over the Blood Refinement Realm.

In an instant, heaven and earth trembled.

Were one to look down from the stellar space, at this moment, the Blood Refinement Realm seemed as if it were pierced by hundreds of gigantic light swords!

The power of all cultivators flowed out like a flood breaking through a dam, forcing everyone to quickly swallow elixir pills or grasp Spirit Stones to recover as best they could.

Above the hundreds of light swords inserted in various parts of the Blood Refinement Realm, spirit power light bands gently floated. As time passed, the trembling of heaven and earth became more obvious, more violent.

All living beings within the Blood Refinement Realm involuntarily felt as if they were riding in a speeding carriage swiftly decelerating.

In the Nine Provinces, over recent months, there was anxiety among the people.

Even common folks who had never practiced cultivation noticed anomalies in the stellar space. Initially, the circumstances weren't clear, just that a star in the night sky was growing brighter.

But as time went by, the true nature of that star gradually revealed itself.

Today, even in broad daylight, as long as one looked up, they could see a gigantic silhouette in the Void from different angles. This silhouette was becoming clearer and larger.

Inevitably, some news got spread around, and people learned that it was a domain similar to the Nine Provinces, another realm from the stellar space.

Now this realm was approaching the Nine Provinces, and it seemed it wouldn't be long before they collided head-on.

Even the most ignorant commoner knew this would trigger some catastrophic disasters, naturally leading to panic and unease.

Despite some cultivators staying back in the Nine Provinces trying to console, the situation hardly improved. It could only be maintained without spiraling out of control, but for how long could this status quo be kept, no one dared to assure.

If it reached the point where the pressure of despair caused a collapse of public morale, it would be a disaster for the Nine Provinces human race, even without the collision of realms.

In truth, the cultivators who stayed back also felt uncertain, as they couldn't establish contact with the Blood Refinement Realm and thus had no idea of the expedition's progress.

They were even less clear on how to make such a massive domain deviate from its original trajectory to avoid the location of the Nine Provinces.

Everyone waited anxiously, trying their best to fulfill their duties as cultivators and comfort the easily panicked common folks.

All over the Nine Provinces, at every moment, people looked up to watch, but each look only brought deeper despair because compared to the last observation, that gigantic silhouette seemed larger and clearer, meaning the realm was getting closer to the Nine Provinces.

Even those Spirit Stream Realm cultivators were affected, leading to chaos across the entire Spirit Stream battlefield.

Until this moment, bursts of exclamations came from all corners of the Nine Provinces.

Because suddenly, pillars of light visible to the naked eye appeared on that gigantic silhouette, followed by the second, third... hundreds!

No one knew exactly what happened, as the appearance of these light pillars was so sudden, without the slightest sign beforehand.

But soon, high-level cultivators sensed an exciting scene, perhaps unnoticed by ordinary people and cultivators with insufficient training. Still, they clearly judged that when those hundreds of light pillars appeared, the speed at which the Blood Refinement Realm was approaching the Nine Provinces rapidly slowed down.

It was as if an invisible force restrained the forward movement of the Blood Refinement Realm.

As time passed, the speed of the Blood Refinement Realm nearing the Nine Provinces slowed further until it completely stopped, moving no closer to the Nine Provinces at all.

Observing this point, the Divine Sea Realm strong cultivators were all invigorated. Although they didn't know exactly what transpired in the Blood Refinement Realm, judging by the result alone, the expedition of the Nine Provinces cultivators must have achieved unprecedented success, and now the Blood Refinement Realm was likely under the control of the Nine Provinces cultivators; otherwise, such a situation wouldn't have arisen.

They immediately sent out messages, which, after several transfers, quickly reached the ears of ordinary people.

From this point, the fearful and uneasy atmosphere that lasted for several months was swept away, and for a moment, the entire Nine Provinces celebrated universally, with everyone seemingly getting a life for free.