The war council convened at dawn, less than twelve hours after Lin Feng's meeting with the Crimson Empress. The expanded attendance reflected the operation's scope—representatives from Celestial Dawn, Frozen Sky, and Azure Sky filled Patriarch Cloud Heaven's strategy chamber to capacity.
Patriarch Cloud Heaven presided with Grand Elder Bingxin to his right and Patriarch Zhang Tian to his left, the three of them representing the alliance's combined leadership. Elder Wei, Mei She, and four other Celestial Dawn elders completed their sect's delegation. Frozen Sky had sent three Cloud Transformation level commanders in addition to Bingxin. Azure Sky brought Wei Shen and four tactical specialists.
Lin Feng stood near the center of the chamber with Yun Qingxue, their presence commanding attention despite their relatively low cultivation levels. Everyone in the room understood that the coming operation would center on Lin Feng specifically—he was both the primary target and potentially their most valuable tactical asset.
"Intelligence summary," Patriarch Cloud Heaven began without preamble. "Lin Feng, please present your complete assessment of the Crimson Empress's capabilities and probable operational plan based on your direct interaction."
Lin Feng had spent the night organizing his observations into coherent tactical analysis. His consciousness divided automatically as he began speaking, three streams focused on presentation while six monitored the room's reactions and one maintained overall tactical awareness.
"The Crimson Empress operates at Sovereign Monarch Level 6, possibly higher," Lin Feng said. "Her spatial manipulation capabilities are sophisticated enough for continental-range teleportation without detectable disturbance. She demonstrated perfect spiritual energy control throughout our conversation—no leakage, no unconscious fluctuations, absolute mastery that suggests centuries of refinement."
He paused, allowing the council to absorb those details before continuing.
"Her operational plan involves simultaneous assaults on five locations: Celestial Dawn, Frozen Sky, Azure Sky, and two smaller allied sects. Total force estimate remains approximately three hundred demonic cultivators ranging from Divine Domain Level 4 to Cloud Transformation Level 3. However, she personally committed to leading the operation that targets me specifically, which means Celestial Dawn faces the highest concentration of elite force."
"How many cultivators do you estimate she'll dedicate to Celestial Dawn?" one of Frozen Sky's commanders asked.
"At least one hundred, including herself," Lin Feng said. "The remaining two hundred distributed across the other four locations—approximately fifty per target. She's concentrating force where her primary objective exists rather than distributing evenly."
"Which means the other locations face more manageable assaults," Patriarch Zhang Tian observed. "Fifty demonic cultivators per location is significant but defensible with proper preparation. The real tactical problem is Celestial Dawn facing one hundred plus the Crimson Empress personally."
"Exactly," Grand Elder Bingxin confirmed. "Which requires us to concentrate defensive resources at Celestial Dawn while maintaining sufficient force at other locations to prevent catastrophic losses."
Elder Wei spread a detailed map across the central table, showing Celestial Dawn's defensive formations and surrounding terrain. "Current defensive assessment: We have one hundred Divine Domain cultivators from Frozen Sky stationed throughout the sect, fifty Azure Sky cultivators positioned within strike range for rapid reinforcement, and Celestial Dawn's own forces—approximately forty Divine Domain level defenders plus twenty Cloud Transformation cultivators including Patriarch Cloud Heaven."
"Combined force of two hundred ten defenders against one hundred attackers," one of Azure Sky's tactical specialists calculated. "That's better than two-to-one numerical advantage, but the cultivation level disparity creates problems. The Crimson Empress alone could potentially defeat fifty Divine Domain cultivators if they're not coordinated properly."
"Which is why tactical positioning matters more than raw numbers," Lin Feng said. "We need to use Celestial Dawn's defensive formations to create force multiplication, channel attackers into kill zones where our numerical advantage becomes overwhelming, and most importantly, prevent the Crimson Empress from engaging multiple defenders simultaneously."
"How do you propose preventing a Sovereign Monarch from engaging whoever she wants?" Mei She asked.
"By making me sufficiently threatening that she has to focus on eliminating me first," Lin Feng said calmly. "If she commits to personal elimination attempt against me specifically, that removes her from general combat for however long it takes to complete that objective. During that time, our defenders face one hundred demonic cultivators without her support—manageable odds given our numerical advantage and defensive positioning."
The chamber fell silent as everyone processed this proposal. Lin Feng was suggesting he serve as bait against a cultivator two full realms above him—Divine Domain Level 7 versus Sovereign Monarch Level 6. The cultivation gap was massive, normally representing insurmountable power difference.
"You would be facing her alone," Yun Qingxue said quietly, her voice carrying controlled fear despite her tactical understanding. "Even with all your capabilities, the power differential is too great for sustained engagement."
"I don't need to defeat her," Lin Feng clarified. "I need to survive long enough that her absence from the main battle allows our forces to defeat her subordinates. Once her demonic cultivators are eliminated or scattered, she loses operational capability even if she kills me afterward. The strategic objective is eliminating her Eastern Continent force, not necessarily surviving the engagement."
"Unacceptable," Grand Elder Bingxin said flatly. "You are my formal disciple and represent significant investment of training resources. Additionally, your unique capabilities make you valuable beyond this single operation. We will not design strategy that assumes your death as acceptable outcome."
"Then we need tactical approach that allows me to survive engagement with Sovereign Monarch while still drawing her away from main battle," Lin Feng said. "Which means developing capabilities specifically for fighting opponents multiple cultivation levels higher."
"You've done this before," Patriarch Cloud Heaven observed. "Tournament matches against Feng Chen and Shen Long, both cultivation levels above you. What principles did you apply in those engagements?"
Lin Feng's consciousness streams immediately recalled those battles, analyzing the tactical principles that had allowed him to compete against stronger opponents.
"Three core principles," he said after brief consideration. "First: Maximize mobility to prevent opponent from applying their full power. Second: Exploit terrain and tactical positioning to create temporary advantages. Third: Use unpredictable techniques that force opponent to fight defensively rather than pressing their power advantage."
"Those principles work against opponents one or two levels higher," Wei Shen said. "But the gap between Divine Domain Level 7 and Sovereign Monarch Level 6 is fundamentally different. It's not just more power—it's qualitatively different capabilities. Sovereign Monarchs can manipulate reality itself in ways Divine Domain cultivators cannot counter."
"True," Lin Feng acknowledged. "Which means I need to develop capabilities that transcend normal Divine Domain limitations. Specifically, I need to advance my three auxiliary paths—spatial mastery, formation creation, and consciousness expansion—to the point where they provide tactical advantages even against reality manipulation."
"You have two weeks," Grand Elder Bingxin said. "What advancement is realistically achievable in that timeframe?"
Lin Feng had been calculating this since leaving his meeting with the Crimson Empress. His consciousness streams had worked through multiple scenarios, evaluating progression rates and breakthrough probabilities.
"Spatial mastery: Current range is twenty meters for detailed perception, possibility of extending to fifty meters with intensive training," Lin Feng said. "Teleportation range could increase from seven meters to fifteen meters, possibly twenty if I achieve breakthrough insight. Most importantly, I might develop spatial anchoring—creating fixed points in space that allow instant return even from significant distance."
"Spatial anchoring would provide emergency extraction capability," Elder Wei said, his formation expertise immediately recognizing the tactical value. "If the Crimson Empress overwhelms you, spatial anchor allows instant retreat to prepared defensive position."
"Exactly. Second path: Formation creation," Lin Feng continued. "Current capability is creating original formations that function as spatial structures. With intensive study and practice, I might develop real-time formation deployment—constructing defensive or offensive formations during combat without pre-preparation time."
"That would be unprecedented," one of Azure Sky's specialists said. "Even master formation creators require minutes or hours to deploy complex arrays. You're suggesting combat-speed formation creation?"
"My formations work differently than traditional arrays," Lin Feng explained. "I'm not imposing symbolic structure on reality—I'm identifying and reinforcing existing spatial configurations. That process is faster than traditional formation deployment because I'm not building from nothing. With sufficient practice, I might reduce deployment time from minutes to seconds."
"And the third path?" Patriarch Zhang Tian asked.
"Consciousness expansion," Lin Feng said. "Current capability is three-perspective unified awareness through dao companion bond. With intensive training, I might achieve four or five perspectives independently—perceiving reality from multiple viewpoints simultaneously without requiring external support."
He paused, then added the crucial detail: "Multi-perspective awareness provides tactical advantage against reality manipulation. If the Crimson Empress distorts space around me, single-perspective consciousness might be fooled. But multi-perspective awareness would detect inconsistencies between viewpoints, allowing me to identify and counter the manipulation."
Grand Elder Bingxin leaned forward, her expression showing intense interest. "That's sophisticated tactical thinking. You're not trying to match her power—you're developing capabilities that make her power less effective against you specifically."
"Exactly," Lin Feng confirmed. "I cannot win through superior cultivation or overwhelming force. But I might survive through superior tactics and capabilities she doesn't expect."
The council spent the next hour working through detailed training schedules and resource allocation. By the time they concluded, Lin Feng had a comprehensive two-week preparation plan:
Week One Focus: Spatial Mastery and Consciousness Expansion
Six hours daily: Intensive spatial perception training, pushing range limits Four hours daily: Consciousness expansion exercises with Yun Qingxue Two hours daily: Combat practice against multiple opponents simultaneously Two hours daily: Recovery and meditation
Week Two Focus: Formation Creation and Combat Integration
Six hours daily: Real-time formation deployment practice Four hours daily: Integrated combat training combining all three auxiliary paths Two hours daily: Scenario practice against simulated Sovereign Monarch opponents Two hours daily: Final preparation and strategic planning
"This schedule is brutal," Mei She observed. "Fourteen hours daily of intensive training for two consecutive weeks. The risk of spiritual exhaustion or cultivation deviation is significant."
"The risk of death if I'm underprepared is higher," Lin Feng said simply.
"He's right," Yun Qingxue added. "And I'll be supporting him through synchronized cultivation every evening. Our dao companion bond can accelerate recovery and reduce exhaustion risks."
"Then we proceed with this plan," Patriarch Cloud Heaven said. "Lin Feng will dedicate himself to personal advancement. The rest of us will fortify Celestial Dawn's defenses, coordinate with allied forces, and prepare contingency plans for every scenario we can anticipate."
As the council dissolved, different groups splitting off to handle their specific preparations, Lin Feng found himself alone with Yun Qingxue in the corridor outside the strategy chamber.
"Two weeks," she said quietly through their dao companion bond. "Two weeks until you face someone who could kill you with a single technique if you make one mistake."
"I know," Lin Feng responded. "But I've faced impossible odds before and survived through preparation and tactical intelligence. This will be the same."
"Will it?" Qingxue's consciousness conveyed her deep fear. "Feng Chen and Shen Long were tournament matches where losing meant defeat, not death. Elder Shadow's pocket dimension was infiltration where you could escape if things went wrong. This is different. The Crimson Empress isn't trying to defeat you—she's trying to kill you. And she has the power to do it."
Lin Feng pulled her into an embrace, their physical contact deepening their bond beyond words. "Then I need you to do something difficult," he said aloud. "If the battle goes badly, if I'm losing and extraction isn't possible, I need you to let me go."
"No," Qingxue said immediately, her voice sharp.
"Listen," Lin Feng insisted. "If I'm defeated and the Crimson Empress moves to finish me, I need you focused on your own survival and helping coordinate the remaining defense. I don't need you trying desperate rescue that gets you killed too. Promise me."
Through their bond, he felt her absolute resistance to this request—everything in her rebelled against the idea of abandoning him to death.
"I can't promise that," she said finally. "If you're dying and I can save you, I will. Even if it means risking my own life. That's what dao companion bond means, Lin Feng. We don't abandon each other, ever."
Lin Feng absorbed this declaration, feeling the depth of her commitment. Part of him wanted to argue, to insist she prioritize her own survival over futile rescue attempts. But another part—the part that understood what their bond truly meant—recognized that asking her to abandon him was asking her to violate the fundamental nature of their relationship.
"Then we both survive," he said finally. "No heroic sacrifices, no last stands, no accepting death as inevitable. We prepare for two weeks, fight with everything we have, and both come through the other side alive."
"Together," Qingxue agreed.
"Always together."
The first week of preparation began immediately. Lin Feng threw himself into spatial mastery training with an intensity that bordered on obsessive. Six hours daily, he pushed his spatial perception to its absolute limits, extending his detailed awareness from twenty meters toward fifty.
The progression was agonizing. Each additional meter of range required exponentially more spiritual energy and concentration. By day three, he had extended his range to twenty-five meters—five meters of progress that had consumed more effort than reaching twenty meters originally.
But the effort was worth it. Extended spatial perception meant earlier warning of threats, more time to respond to attacks, better tactical positioning during combat. Every additional meter could mean the difference between life and death against an opponent as overwhelmingly powerful as the Crimson Empress.
Grand Elder Bingxin supervised the training personally, pushing Lin Feng harder than any instructor had before. She created increasingly complex spatial exercises—formations hidden at maximum range that he needed to identify, cultivators moving through his perception radius that he had to track, spatial distortions that he had to detect and analyze.
"Spatial perception at this level isn't just about range," Grand Elder Bingxin explained during one brutal training session. "It's about resolution, processing speed, and pattern recognition. You need to perceive threats before they reach you, analyze them faster than they can execute, and recognize attack patterns before they complete."
Lin Feng pushed harder, his consciousness streams working in perfect coordination to process the overwhelming amount of spatial information flooding his awareness. By day five, his range had extended to thirty meters with noticeably improved resolution. By day seven, he reached thirty-five meters and could track five simultaneous moving targets within his perception radius.
The consciousness expansion training occurred every afternoon, four hours with Yun Qingxue focused entirely on developing additional perspectives beyond their current three-perspective capability.
This proved even more difficult than spatial mastery. Adding perspectives meant fundamentally changing how his consciousness processed reality—not just seeing from more viewpoints but actually thinking from multiple frameworks simultaneously.
"The key is recognizing that perspectives aren't separate," Qingxue explained during one session, her understanding of this principle more intuitive than Lin Feng's analytical approach. "You're not dividing your consciousness—you're recognizing that your consciousness already exists in multiple perspectives. You just need to acknowledge them simultaneously rather than switching between them."
Lin Feng meditated on this insight, his nine consciousness streams each attempting to develop their own perspective while maintaining unified awareness. The sensation was disorienting—like trying to be in multiple places at once while remaining singularly himself.
But gradually, over days of intensive practice, he began to feel additional perspectives emerging. Not fully formed yet, but present—ways of perceiving reality that existed alongside his primary viewpoint without conflicting with it.
By the end of week one, Lin Feng had achieved four-perspective awareness: his own viewpoint, Qingxue's perception through their bond, and two independent abstract perspectives that saw tactical situations from different conceptual frameworks.
Four perspectives meant he could observe combat from: ground level (his viewpoint), adjacent position (Qingxue's viewpoint), aerial overview (abstract tactical), and temporal analysis (seeing how current positions would develop over next few seconds).
Against reality manipulation from a Sovereign Monarch, this multi-perspective capability would provide critical advantage. The Crimson Empress might distort what Lin Feng saw from his primary viewpoint, but discrepancies between four independent perspectives would reveal the manipulation immediately.
The combat practice sessions every evening brought everything together—spatial perception, consciousness expansion, and his existing capabilities of consciousness division and void techniques.
Mei She orchestrated these sessions with ruthless efficiency, pitting Lin Feng against multiple opponents simultaneously under increasingly difficult conditions. Three Divine Domain Level 6 cultivators attacking in coordination. Five Level 5 cultivators with specialized techniques. Seven Level 4 cultivators in chaotic melee.
"You need to maintain tactical awareness while overwhelmed," Mei She explained. "The Crimson Empress won't politely engage in single combat. She'll attack with her full power while her subordinates create chaos around you. If you can't function under those conditions, you won't survive the first minute."
Lin Feng fought until exhaustion became spiritual depletion, then recovered through synchronized cultivation with Qingxue before fighting again. Each session revealed weaknesses that needed addressing, gaps in his tactical approach that could prove fatal against sufficiently powerful opposition.
By the end of week one, Lin Feng felt fundamentally different than he had before training began. His spatial perception, consciousness expansion, and combat coordination had advanced more in seven days than in the previous month of normal cultivation.
But he was also aware that week two would be even more brutal.
Week two began with formation creation training, six hours daily focused entirely on developing real-time deployment capability.
Elder Wei supervised this training directly, his centuries of formation expertise providing guidance that no one else could offer. "Traditional formation creation requires preparation time because you're building symbolic structures that reality must accept," Elder Wei explained. "Your void-enhanced formations work differently—you're identifying existing spatial configurations and reinforcing them. That should be faster, but you're still treating it like traditional preparation."
"How do I make it faster?" Lin Feng asked.
"Stop preparing," Elder Wei said simply. "Stop planning the formation before you deploy it. Instead, perceive the spatial configuration you need and reinforce it in the same moment. Perception and deployment as a single action rather than sequential steps."
Lin Feng attempted this approach repeatedly, his consciousness streams working to integrate spatial perception with formation deployment seamlessly. The first attempts failed completely—formations collapsing before fully forming, spatial configurations reinforcing incorrectly, spiritual energy wasted on incomplete structures.
But gradually, through hundreds of repetitions, he began to develop the instinct Elder Wei described. Perceive and reinforce simultaneously. See the potential configuration and make it real in the same instant.
By day three of week two, Lin Feng could deploy simple defensive formations in under five seconds—not yet combat-speed, but dramatically faster than his previous minute-long deployment time.
By day five, he achieved three-second deployment for basic formations and ten-second deployment for complex multi-layer structures.
By day seven, his fastest deployment time was 1.5 seconds for simple formations—approaching true combat-speed capability.
The integrated combat training during week two combined everything into coherent tactical system. Spatial perception to detect threats. Multi-perspective awareness to process tactical situations. Real-time formation deployment to create advantages. Consciousness division to coordinate responses. Void techniques for offense and defense.
Mei She brought in increasingly sophisticated opponents—Cloud Transformation Level cultivators who could actually challenge Lin Feng's capabilities, forcing him to use his full tactical arsenal to survive.
"You're not fighting to win," Mei She reminded him repeatedly. "You're fighting to survive long enough that surrounding situation changes in your favor. Every second you survive against superior opponent is a second your allies have to defeat their opponents and come to your aid."
Lin Feng internalized this principle, adjusting his combat style from aggressive technique deployment to tactical survival. Mobility over confrontation. Evasion over blocking. Creating disadvantage for opponent rather than seeking advantage for himself.
The Inverse Void Dao philosophy applied to combat: liberation through refusing to be pinned down, strength through not requiring specific conditions, success through making opponent's advantages irrelevant rather than matching them directly.
On the final day of week two—the day before the Crimson Empress's operation was scheduled to begin—the alliance conducted a full-scale defensive exercise. Two hundred cultivators positioned throughout Celestial Dawn, coordinating through formation-linked communication, responding to simulated assault scenarios.
Lin Feng participated from his designated position—a reinforced chamber at Celestial Dawn's center that provided maximum defensive advantage while remaining accessible enough that the Crimson Empress would commit to engaging him there.
The exercise revealed remaining weaknesses in coordination and positioning, but overall demonstrated that their defensive preparation was sophisticated and comprehensive. If everything went according to plan, they had reasonable chance of defeating the demonic cultivator force even with the Crimson Empress's personal participation.
If everything went according to plan.
But Lin Feng's tactical awareness recognized that plans rarely survived first contact with enemy action—especially when that enemy was a Sovereign Monarch Level 6 cultivator with centuries of experience and sophisticated strategic thinking.
As sunset approached on that final day, Lin Feng found himself alone in the reinforced chamber that would serve as his combat position, reviewing his preparations one final time.
Spatial Perception: Thirty-five meters detailed range, fifty meters approximate awareness. Sufficient for early threat detection.
Consciousness Expansion: Four-perspective unified awareness. Adequate for detecting reality manipulation.
Formation Deployment: 1.5 seconds for simple formations, ten seconds for complex structures. Combat-viable but not optimal.
Combat Coordination: Tested against multiple Cloud Transformation opponents. Functional but not guaranteed against Sovereign Monarch.
Escape Capability: Spatial anchoring technique developed but untested under combat conditions. Unknown reliability.
Support Network: Yun Qingxue as primary anchor, Grand Elder Bingxin as secondary, two hundred allied cultivators positioned for coordinated defense.
Probability of Survival: Unknown, but higher than before two weeks of preparation.
Yun Qingxue entered the chamber, her presence immediately detected through their dao companion bond before she physically arrived. She settled beside him without words, their bond conveying everything that needed to be said.
"Tomorrow," she said finally.
"Tomorrow," Lin Feng agreed.
"Are you ready?"
Lin Feng considered the question carefully, his consciousness streams analyzing from multiple angles. Was he ready to face a Sovereign Monarch Level 6 cultivator who had personally committed to his elimination? Was he prepared to fight for his life against overwhelming opposition while coordinating allied forces and maintaining tactical awareness?
"No," he said honestly. "I'm not ready. Two more weeks of preparation would help. Two more months would be better. Two more years might make me genuinely confident."
"But we have what we have," Qingxue said.
"But we have what we have," Lin Feng confirmed. "And what we have is sophisticated defensive positioning, allied support, two weeks of intensive preparation, and my consistent record of making impossible things possible through tactical intelligence."
"The impossible made possible again," Qingxue said softly.
"Exactly."
They spent that final evening in synchronized cultivation, not to advance their cultivation levels but simply to reinforce their dao companion bond. Tomorrow would test that bond to its absolute limits—maintaining anchor while Lin Feng faced a Sovereign Monarch, providing support while managing her own defensive position, coordinating extraction if everything went catastrophically wrong.
When dawn arrived, bringing with it the day the Crimson Empress had promised to attack, Lin Feng and Yun Qingxue stood together at the center of Celestial Dawn's defenses, ready to face whatever came.
The impossible was approaching.
And Lin Feng intended to make it possible one more time.
End of Chapter 68
Next: Chapter 69 - The Crimson Assault