The armies of the Yin Yang Sect, Kui Lian Sect, and the Fang family returned to their respective homes through the teleportation array in Dongmo City.
The demon army also returned to the Liu family, following Liu Naiweng.
A great battle thus concluded.
The Huo family and the Kaitian Sword Sect arrived late. After being reprimanded by Liu Naiweng, they returned to where they came from.
This time, the two families failed to participate in the great battle. Instead, they exposed their collusion with the Liu family and the demons. They gained no merit for assisting the demons but incurred infamy, making it a loss rather than a gain.
This was the price the two families paid for their hesitation.
The battle in the desert, as the sun rose, spread throughout the entire Leifeng Continent.
The entire world learned that the Liu family colluded with demons, constructed a teleportation channel, and brought demons to the Leifeng Realm.
It was Wan Lei who, risking his life, led Fang Xiaoyu into the desert to inform the outside world with firsthand intelligence, allowing them to prepare to resist the demons at the earliest opportunity.
It was Wan Lei who, under the siege of dozens of demons, led Fang Xiaoyu and his three tribulation-transcending subordinates, while fending off enemy attacks, repaired the teleportation array in Dongmo City. Through a near-death experience, he successfully guided the army into the desert.
It was Wan Lei, with his mere Grand Ascension realm cultivation, who fought Liu Naiweng, a peak Tribulation Transcending expert, for three hundred rounds, suffering heavy injuries.
It was Wan Lei who, when the Demon Lord descended, fought desperately into the enemy ranks and shattered the teleportation array with lightning, causing the Demon Lord to be swept away by spatial turbulence, just like last time, and unable to enter the Leifeng Realm.
In both anti-demon wars, Wan Lei made outstanding contributions.
This time, he directly saved the Leifeng Realm from peril.
Everyone understood that once enemies from the Immortal Realm descended, the Leifeng Realm would surely be overturned, and everyone would become slaves to the demons.
After this battle, Wan Lei's reputation reached its zenith.
People spread the word, and in their conversations, Wan Lei was no longer just the young prodigy of the Central Region, nor the bully who liked to rob others. His merits and strength made people regard him as a savior.
His ability to shatter the conspiracy between the Liu family and the demons single-handedly, his own Tribulation Transcending combat power, and his three Tribulation Transcending subordinates were enough to earn the admiration of countless people.
And riding this wave of popularity, a piece of news also spread.
That is, Wan Lei did not return to the Fang family, nor to the Yin Yang Sect, but went to the Thunder Emperor Hall.
He intended to rebuild the Thunder Emperor Hall during this time of great enemy invasion, restore the glory of the Thunder Emperor, and lead the cultivators of the Leifeng Realm to resist the demons together.
This news drove many people in the Leifeng Realm into a frenzy.
The Thunder Emperor was everyone's faith, the god in their hearts. In the past, the Thunder Emperor alone suppressed all dissent, eliminated the Evil Moon Sect that plagued the common people, established the Thunder Emperor Hall, and reshaped the power structure of the Leifeng Realm.
His might was immense, his methods unfathomable, and he was respected by all under heaven.
Now, fifty thousand years later, Wan Lei, the direct descendant of the Thunder Emperor, in this time of invading enemies and rebellious major forces causing widespread panic, rebuilt the Thunder Emperor Hall. This undoubtedly lit a beacon of hope and light for the people of the Leifeng Realm who had lost it.
Yes, at this moment, people desperately needed a leader to guide them and tell them what to do.
And it would be even better if this leader and this force were the Thunder Emperor Hall, which had once led the Leifeng Realm.
Moreover, the Thunder Emperor Hall at this time possessed five Tribulation Transcending combat forces, making it the number one power in the Leifeng Realm.
As for the Liu family, which was now aided by demons, they were certainly much stronger than the Thunder Emperor Hall. But they were the enemies!
With the orthodox bloodline and strength, no one could object or find a reason to oppose Wan Lei's rebuilding of the Thunder Emperor Hall.
Many people hated the Liu family's betrayal and the demon invasion. Those who had been living carefree lives began to gather towards the very center of the Central Region.
There stood the tallest mountain.
There stood the largest hall.
There lay their spiritual faith.
Wan Lei had been extremely busy these past few days.
He first visited the Heavenly Array Pavilion and extorted a large sum of array materials under the condition of releasing Feng Zhenzi.
In reality, this was just talk. With the war breaking out, he could not keep the Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Array Pavilion, an important combatant, locked up indefinitely and thus lose the support of the Heavenly Array Pavilion.
And Wan Lei's rebuilding of the Thunder Emperor Hall required the reconstruction of the mountain protection array. As a teammate, the Heavenly Array Pavilion could not refuse to support it.
Both sides were pleased.
The Heavenly Elixir Pavilion donated some elixirs, the Heavenly Soldier Pavilion donated many magical treasures and weapons, and the Heavenly Machine Pavilion sent an elder and two third-generation disciples to help.
As everyone knew, the Heavenly Machine Pavilion only had two third-generation disciples, who were a couple.
The Yin Yang Sect and the Kui Lian Sect dispatched some elders and disciples to help. The Fang family, even more so, spared no effort, providing both money and manpower, and even sent their army to help defend.
Wan Lei was the son-in-law of the Fang family, and Fang Xiaoyu was their daughter. If the Fang family didn't support him, who would they support?
This new Thunder Emperor Hall was tied to the Fang family on the same ship.
Wan Lei had too many things to do: arrays needed to be constructed, halls and temples needed to be repaired, people from various families helping needed to be arranged, and rogue cultivators coming to pledge allegiance needed to be settled and integrated.
Even many families and sects under the jurisdiction of the Liu family, Huo family, and Kaitian Sword Sect, upon hearing that their main families had rebelled and joined the demons, were filled with righteous indignation and rushed to the Thunder Emperor Hall with their entire families and sects to join.
There were too many large and small matters. The establishment of a peak power was not something that could be accomplished with just a few words.
Wan Lei did not trust the people from the Heavenly Array Pavilion to construct the arrays, so he focused most of his energy on building the protective arrays.
Fang Xiaoyu was Wan Lei's capable assistant, handling all the major and minor affairs.
But as smart as she was, she was still a child. She was often overwhelmed, doing one thing while neglecting another. Fortunately, Xi Ren Yuan Jun and Bu Zhi Huo Qing Wu had experience in managing families and could help out. Especially Xi Ren Jun, who had been managing the affairs of the Xi family for many years, found such tasks easy to handle.
Fang Xiaoyu directly appointed Xi Ren Jun as the Grand Steward of the Thunder Emperor Hall, and his loyalty was naturally beyond doubt.
These four people followed Wan Lei, though it was out of necessity. Due to the contract deep within their souls, they dared not have any thoughts of defiance. Moreover, according to the description of the Fate Governing Diagram, if Wan Lei died, they would also die. Therefore, after recognizing their situation, the four of them simply submitted.
To motivate the four to work actively, Wan Lei personally promised to take them with him when he ascended to the Immortal Realm in the future.
They had heard about the Immortal Realm in recent days. They knew it was the most powerful and supreme great world in the boundless universe, incomparable to the Great Jin world and the Leifeng Realm.
There, they could obtain better resources for their cultivation and achieve far more than they could in the Great Jin world.