After two days, they had gathered everyone they could find. Su Fan's Martial Alliance could provide over seventy people, forty of whom were core members, and the remaining thirty-plus were freelancers who had taken on missions.
Liu Yong and his group had borrowed nearly a hundred experts from various prominent families. While these families didn't have many top experts individually, their sheer number meant that each family could contribute four or five individuals.
Furthermore, Su Fan abandoned his initial plan to seek help from the Super Management Bureau. The bureau had few experts, and even fewer could come, so their assistance would be minimal.
Including the members of the Long family, they had assembled over two hundred people.
Among them were fifteen experts at the Tianji realm, including the ten elders of the Long family, the patriarchs of several major families, and Lin Yao.
There were twenty-five experts at the Tianquan realm, with the Long family again forming the majority, including Long Jianye.
Seventy experts were at the Yuheng realm, and the remaining over a hundred were at the Kaiyang realm. This was unavoidable, as some families could only offer individuals at the Kaiyang realm.
The main force was led by Su Fan himself, along with Long Aohai, Liu Yong, Xing Dao, and Xu Dali.
They were all experts at the Tianxuan realm, forming the vanguard of the group.
"Since we're setting the battlefield inside, let's go in now. We can still set up some formations before the enemy arrives," Su Fan said to the assembled crowd.
By this time, everyone present knew the entire story. No one chose to back out, which was good news. Su Fan had feared that some might waver upon learning the truth.
"Su Fan, my Zhang family juniors had a conflict with you in the past. After this battle, we'll consider it settled, and we'll go our separate ways. How about it?" a martial artist from the Zhang family in the capital said to Su Fan, his voice deep.
After learning of Su Fan's strength, he had been worried that Su Fan might seek retribution for past grievances. Upon understanding the full situation, he had resolutely decided to stay, specifically to resolve the enmity with Su Fan.
"All who stay today are heroes. Regardless of past grievances, I promise here and now that after this battle, all will be forgotten!" Su Fan said to the assembled crowd with a heavy expression, giving them his assurance.
"Good, let's go in," Long Aohai nodded and said to Su Fan.
Su Fan nodded slightly. Long Aohai executed a movement technique, opening a portal.
Most of the people present were seeing a portal for the first time. Although Su Fan and the others had described it, seeing it in person still felt incredible. Such a magical sight was unprecedented for them.
However, what followed would shock them even more.
As they passed through the portal, the environment around them instantly changed, transforming into a vast, snow-covered plain.
"Is there really such a magical place? Amazing!" everyone exclaimed.
Only by experiencing the portal could one truly appreciate its magic, the ability to travel from one place to another in the blink of an eye.
"Everyone, don't be in too much of a hurry to be amazed. Let's get started on setting up defenses," Liu Yong said to the assembled crowd.
Although Liu Yong was also visiting the Ancestral Land world for the first time, he showed no surprise, having been mentally prepared.
Together, they began setting up defensive formations around the area.
Su Fan laid out numerous illusion formations, concealing killing formations within them, waiting for the enemy to enter.
Time flew by like a white steed. In the blink of an eye, five days had passed. The defensive formations were fully in place, and they were awaiting the arrival of the Heavenly Dragon army.
"This is bad! The prophetic dream has changed!" Xing Dao suddenly found Su Fan, his face filled with urgency.
"What is it?" Su Fan's brow furrowed as he pressed Xing Dao for details.
"Just now, I experienced the prophetic dream again, but the scene in the dream has changed!" Xing Dao said, sounding anxious.
"Don't rush. Tell me what it has changed into," Su Fan urged Xing Dao to calm down and explain. The change in the prophetic dream meant that their efforts were having an effect.
"In the dream, the enemy never arrived, and all our preparations were in vain. But when we returned, the real world had already been invaded by the enemy. Humanity suffered heavy casualties. Without experts, the martial arts world was completely crushed. By the time I returned, it was too late. That 'Destined Su Fan' had already taken complete control of all of China!" Xing Dao's words left Su Fan utterly stunned.
"What!" Su Fan was shocked that 'Destined Su Fan' had entered the real world without using the portal.
"Where did they go through?" Su Fan pressed Xing Dao.
However, Xing Dao shook his head. His prophetic dreams could only foresee upcoming events; the specifics were beyond his control.
"You all go back and check various regions for any anomalies. I will go inside to search for him!" Su Fan said gravely to Liu Yong and the others. If Xing Dao's prophetic dream was accurate, then 'Destined Su Fan' had another way to enter the real world.
Su Fan thought about it carefully and felt something was amiss. Firstly, only Guang Long knew the location of this portal. Even if Guang Long had told Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yuan surely wouldn't have told 'Destined Su Fan', right? If 'Destined Su Fan' didn't know the location, then how did he get through?
"Could he have discovered another portal?" Su Fan mused, frowning.
"Long Aohai!" Su Fan immediately called for Long Aohai. The portal was created by the Long family's ancestor, and only they would know if there was another one.
Long Aohai arrived shortly.
"Tell me, how many portals did your ancestor create!" Su Fan demanded of Long Aohai.
"Just one. We, the Long family, have always guarded it. There are no other portals," Long Aohai stated confidently.
"Are you sure?" Su Fan frowned. If there was only one portal, then how did 'Destined Su Fan' get through?
"I'm sure! The Long family's ancestral teachings only mention this one successful portal... Wait! It seems there really are other portals..." Long Aohai's voice faltered as he recalled something.
"Why didn't you say so earlier! Where!" Su Fan's eyes widened, as if he wanted to tear Long Aohai apart.
"I just didn't think it was necessary. The Long family ancestor's teachings mentioned that after several attempts, he only succeeded with this one portal. All previous teleportation formations failed. The most successful one before this only opened halfway, creating a one-way portal. The ancestor deemed it unsatisfactory and destroyed it. It's destroyed, so there shouldn't be any problem, right?" Long Aohai explained to Su Fan.
"No problem? Then tell me, what about Xing Dao's prophetic dream! 'Destined Su Fan' must have found that portal and repaired it!" Su Fan said with a heavy heart. They had prepared for so many days, only for all their efforts to be in vain due to a single oversight. Now they faced the crisis of not knowing where the enemy would attack from!