When the truth of the matter was revealed to the Union Government, Jiang Shan immediately held a video conference.

The final outcome of the discussion was that the actual situation would be shared with all the Virtual Gods, but it was not to be disclosed to the lower levels.

There were too many individuals below virtual god-level. If the news spread, it would only cause widespread panic; things would also be difficult to control.

Besides, this war with the invaders was essentially a battle between gods, and the outcome depended on high-level combat strength above virtual god-level. It did not matter if the common people were aware of the actual situation or not. To avoid civil unrest, concealing the truth was the best way of dealing with things.

After determining their plan of action, at noon that day, Dongfang Bai gathered the group of people in the Abyss Brink together.

When many of the Virtual Gods present saw the serious expression on Dongfang Bai's face, they could already basically guess that the announcement this time would not bring good news. Many of them felt a little nervous.

"What I want to announce this time is bad news. After hearing it, I hope that you will keep calm and not panic.

"The highest combat strength of the invaders that we are facing this time is not low-rank True God level as previously expected, but high-rank True God level—it might even be ninth-rank True God..."

As soon as Dongfang Bai said this, almost everyone present was confused.

It should be noted that low-rank and high-rank were two completely different things.

There were no True Gods in the gravel world. If the enemy were low-rank True Gods, they might be able to rely on Mr. Fu and several other concealed high-rank Virtual Gods to serve as the core of a battle formation. In a situation like this, there might still be a chance of winning.

However, if the enemy were high-rank True Gods, it meant there was no chance of turning the tables.

It should be noted that no matter how strong a battle formation was, there was also a limit to how far abilities could be improved.

Judging from the current situation of the gravel world, even if Mr. Fu—who was a Virtual God rank-9—and several high-rank Virtual Gods served as the core, joining forces with all the Virtual Gods in the gravel world to form a battle formation, the highest level that the final formation could hold out against was third-rank True God. Any higher rank and it would be impossible.

If they encountered fourth-rank True Gods, they would barely have the ability to fight them, let alone if they encountered high-rank True Gods above the seventh-rank.

"We're done for; we haven't a hope. Let's go home to wash up and sleep, at least I can rest for a few days."

"Then what did we come here for? What was the point of everything we've done over the past few days?"

"If our enemies are only low-rank, we may be able to turn the tables if everyone works hard. But with high-rank True Gods, it's no longer a disparity that a battle formation can hope to bridge!"

…

Seeing the hard-won unity from the past few days instantly dissolving, Dongfang Bai clenched his fists. He had expected this situation to happen.

"The enemy's strength is far beyond our expectations; we could even say that we have almost no chance of winning. But is everyone really willing to just hand over our world, our hometowns, to these invaders from the great world?!

"Once our world becomes a vassal world, all of our resources will become fair game for the invaders. Not just the various minerals—the crystal cores in various monsters, and even the Godheads in our bodies, will become their hunting targets.

"More than that, some cultivators may even be sold as slaves by these invaders, and female cultivators are likely to become targets of assault. They don't care if the living entities of a vassal world live or die, much less about the dignity of these people.

"It's even possible that after hundreds of years, they will exhaust all the resources of this world. To prevent us from taking revenge, they will slaughter all the living entities in our world!

"Are you willing for our future to become like that?!

"We may die if we resist. But if we don't resist, all of us—even our children and grandchildren—will live a life worse than death itself!"

…

Even Lin Huang was affected by the inflammatory nature of Dongfang Bai's speech.

Many of those present who had already planned to give up renewed their fighting spirit once more.

Resistance might lead to death, but at least it would be a dignified death.

Instead of being hunted down like dogs, it was better to fight to the death like a wolf now.

However, there were also a few people who were not inspired by Dongfang Bai's speech and chose to withdraw to wait and see.

"The Emperor's Heart will be sending today's news to all the Emperor's Heart Rings of those at virtual god-level, but it will be sent in encrypted form. The message cannot be forwarded and will be automatically deleted within ten seconds after it has been read. I hope that everyone will not disclose the news to relatives and friends below virtual god-level to avoid causing unnecessary panic.

"If it's discovered that anyone has deliberately spread the news to the lower levels, causing riots, we will execute this individual immediately!"

Actually, Dongfang Bai had kept some things to himself. For example, the Emperor's Heart would monitor all the Emperor's Heart Rings for all virtual god-levels—all keywords related to the invasion of the great world would be blocked, and the corresponding information and records would be automatically deleted, and so on.

Less than half an hour after Dongfang Bai had finished speaking about the invaders, the Union Government also issued an announcement for all those at virtual god-level.

Outside of the Abyss Brink, everyone who read this announcement was stunned.

By the time people regained their senses, the news had been automatically deleted, and many people immediately contacted the Union Government to clarify the matter. Everyone who received the answer broke down to some degree.

On the side of the Abyss Brink, seven people beat a retreat and voluntarily withdrew from the operation.

As for those who stayed, most of them did so not because they had been swayed by Dongfang Bai's speech, but because everyone had analyzed the pros and cons of the matter.

If they stayed and resisted, they could at least fight freely.

If they did not resist, they might be able to eke out an ignoble existence for a little. Once the invaders had won, sooner or later they would wipe out the remaining Virtual Gods in the gravel world and eliminate any destabilizing factors. There were only two possibilities then—either be hunted or be a slave.

Those who were able to become Virtual Gods were powerhouses in terms of their mentality. After countless battles, they rarely retreated without putting up a fight. So, even if theoretically they knew the chances of winning were zero, most people still chose to bite the bullet and tough it out. For them, retreating without putting up a fight was a path taken only by the weak.

Upon seeing that most of the people had stayed, Lin Huang felt slightly more relieved. He had actually been a little worried that the news would cause everyone to fall apart. After all, their opponent was a strong enemy and they had almost no chances of winning. Fortunately, everyone's mentality had basically steadied.

In the faces of many people, he even saw their determination to pledge their lives for the cause.

"Everyone is very motivated—at least this is good news," Mr. Fu smiled and said.

"Yes, I've been worried that everyone's mentality would break down before the war started." Lin Huang also smiled and nodded, "From the looks of things, these people are not afraid."

The two were chatting when suddenly, several spatial fluctuations occurred.

Almost at the same time, spatial fluctuations were reported in three different locations. Lin Huang immediately explored the surroundings with Divine Telekinesis and found that there were fully eight space rifts emitting fluctuations...