Chapter 1930: Chapter 1876 – 1877 Escalation of Conflict, Dark Clouds Gathering

“The appearance of warships signifies the transformation of battle methods in the world today. Perhaps duels between individual strongmen remain unchanged, but the warfare between great powers will never be the same again.”

“Single-handedly breaking through an army! The era where one person can stand against a million troops is over, perhaps such glory belongs only to Taoist Monarchs. For True Immortals, the moment warships were born, they could no longer truly dominate the Realms of Heavenly Seas.”

This was the assessment made by some strongmen when, the moment the warships were born, a Supreme Strong person commandeered an army, piloting a warship to crush a native True Immortal level strongman’s power.

They believed that the emergence of warships was epoch-making, breaking the True Immortals’ monopoly over world expansion, and granting Spirit Realm Supreme Strong the true qualification to rival True Immortals.

Perhaps individual valor still exists, but in the contest between great powers, the role of these warships is exponentially magnified. The strength of certain forces is no longer solely reliant on the status of their strongmen, but also on the quantity and power of their warships.

Although since the emergence of these warships, they have evolved from the first generation to the current sixth generation, because of the original suppression by many Taoist Monarchs, the temporary peace among the powers within the Divine Land World meant the true opponents of these warships were those strongmen from native worlds. Instances of full-fledged fleet battles between commanders were few and far between.

It could even be said that not long ago, when the Jade Emperor Buddha Sect’s coalition fleet annihilated two fleets from the Heterodox Alliance sub-branches, it was the largest clash of fleets in millennia.

Even though in this clash the Jade Emperor Buddha Sect’s coalition crushed a lower-tier fleet with higher-tier warships, making it hardly a match of equals, the brilliant combat achievements and high efficiency left countless strongmen in awe, understanding that the initial predictions were not wrong.

Now, the Heterodox Alliance has launched a counterattack, dispatching a True Immortal Sixth Layer Heaven strongman to command a fleet centered around two fifth-generation warships. In terms of numbers, they differ from the Jade Emperor Buddha Sect’s coalition, but on a tier level, they could be considered equals.

Everyone watched with wide-open eyes, focusing intensely on the actions of both sides this time, eagerly anticipating the battle and wishing to verify if their predictions were correct.

If the predictions are confirmed, then for all forces, there would be a necessity to allocate more resources to constructing more warships, even at the considerable expense required for the sixth-generation warships.

After all, even for some Top Immortal Sects, with inexhaustible resources at their disposal, cultivating a True Immortal Strong of the True Immortal Sixth Layer Heaven level is not something achieved merely by amassing resources.

If it were the previously peaceful era, they might not need to rush, but seeing how the world’s situation is shifting and how all forces are itching to go to war, with battle imminent, enhancing their own strength quickly becomes the primary concern for all forces.

If these fleets can truly exert power comparable to a True Immortal Sixth Layer Heaven, these immortal sects will spare no expense in building them.

Because realistically, cultivating a strongman at the True Immortal Sixth Layer Heaven level is exceedingly challenging compared to simply expending resources, which can always potentially be regained.

Moreover, this surprise attack by the Jade Emperor Buddha Sect coalition against the Heterodox Alliance has impacted the plans of many strongmen within various forces, making them realize several things. Even though they have been awaiting the arrival of the war, they realized the preparation they had done for it was insufficient.

It’s like this time when they launched their raid, which was so swift that it quickly annihilated the fleet of the Heterodox Alliance.

Such surprise raid tactics are nothing unexpected, but using fleets–a nascent strategy–achieving such success in such a short time shocked all parties and made them aware of the era’s changes.

Compared to these events, the antics orchestrated by certain Taoist Monarchs in the Dragon Saliva Realm seem laughable.

This time many strongmen from various forces realized that as they grew stronger, the implementation of some tactics and plans had also undergone massive changes. As they continually reviewed and deduced, they found that if they were in the position of the Heterodox Alliance, they would have no effective response to such an offensive.

In the end, it all boiled down to the function of warships being magnified without limit.

Previously, to break through a Second Rate world, even if several True Immortals took action, if the opponent had a True Immortal or Gods overseeing with array defenses, it could not be breached in a short time.

Even if they could ultimately conquer those worlds, the time and cost involved would be nowhere near this current, thunderous momentum.

The era has changed, and strategic plans need changing too; otherwise, they might suffer disastrous setbacks.

Many strongmen of the immortal sects began contemplating how to deal with such sudden assaults.

Thus, much attention was drawn this time to Xue Wuheng’s army, eager to observe the battle conditions between both sides, using it as a reference for future endeavors.

Strangely, however, even though Xue Wuheng had led the fleet out, the pace was extremely slow, each step cautiously taken, taking over a month to cover the distance typically traversable in three to five days.