The information obtained from the devil was as such

Name - Rong Zong.

A native of Bemonia plane. The Bemonia plane was apparently a secondary plane that the devils had conquered. Rong was someone born from one of the devils who had raped his mother. He grew up in slums and gutters. His plane was a secondary plane - it was comparable to Aterna at its peak. The heaven-and-earth energy was abundant and so, cultivation was easy. Many people cultivated and so the overall level of the plane was not bad. By the time Rong gained awareness, the plane had been turned into a base for the devil's army. Rong managed to cultivate and enter the devil army as a weak soldier. He went on expeditions to the nearby planes. He survived in countless planar wars, he killed countless people. As he performed well, he obtained more resources from the army. This helped him to cultivate and perform better. He walked the path of a warrior. He obtained power eventually and became a captain in the devil's army.

About the scope of attack:

This was not an attack! Rong was the captain of a platoon of soldiers who were basically scouts. But this was planar war. Even the scout team had more than a million soldiers! This was because secondary planes were huge! The population was simply astounding. Before the invasion began, the devils would always gather entire data about the plane. The powerhouses, the cultural values, religious beliefs and as such. Conquering a plane was a huge project. It generally took hundreds of years to conquer even a tertiary plane. A primary plane's invasion battle would easily last for thousands of years, if not more. Rong himself was more than a million years old! Thus, he had participated in several planar battles. Right now, they were fighting a planar war against a secondary plane - Listinia. This was a plane that was fairly close to Aterna. At that time, they obtained a voice transmission tipping them off about a secondary-plane that was badly broken and only had the defence of a tertiary-plane. The Colonel in the army was the main powerhouse who was leading the battle against Listinia. He was a transformation realm expert with three transformations! He was very powerful. In fact, his power was already reaching the level of plane-will of a tertiary plane! He did not believe this information and had asked Rong and more than ten other scout teams to search. Rong and two other captains had brought their teams to Aterna.

The reason why they barged into the plane was because of their confidence. As long as they could confirm that they had found the correct plane, they could ask for backup. After all, an injured plane was a rare thing. But confirming the scope of a plane was hard. One way would be to take a look at the plane-core and the other would be to take a look at the plane-will's power personally. Once the plane-will was pushed enough, it would erupt with its original power confirming their speculations. Thus, they had decided to forcefully see the level of plane-will's true power. The method was indeed feasible but Michael's presence had turned the tides.

This was already enough hard for the current Aterna. Three scouting teams would mean three such powerhouses. Adding the entire army, it would be a pyrrhic victory at best. But this was only three of the ten scout teams under the main army! There was even that Colonel that was so strong that he could directly fight the plane-will. Thinking of this, all the immortals were already terrified. But what came next was even more shocking!

Michael enquired about the cultivation realms and the scope of the entire devil army.

The cultivation realm after the immortal realm was the transformation realm. But, it was not a single realm but rather a stage of cultivation. Apparently, anyone below the level of transformation was said to be in the mortal stage. This meant that the immortals of Aterna were only mortals in the eyes of these formidable powers. The cultivation realms were actually like this:

Consolidation Realm - It required consolidating one's body or soul. (Knight + King + Emperor / Mortal, Viscous, Solid)

Purification Realm - It required cleansing one's body and soul. (Saint, Sublime)

Law conception Realm - It required attuning oneself with the laws that one cultivated. (Perfect)

Law condensation Realm - It required condensing the energy of laws to form law energy. (Immortal)

This was the mortal stage of cultivation. At this stage, one was still a mortal. The reason for that was simple - at this stage, one could be killed very easily! Even if one had condensed the laws, the law energy could be contaminated by other's laws. Thus, being killed at this stage was quite common. Also, once one reached the peak of the mortal stage in body and soul cultivation, one would be called demi-ascendant. This was because once one reached law condensation in both body and soul, one would stop having any apparent weaknesses. Then being killed by mortal methods was very hard. Also, the laws in body and soul would resonate making the power of such people increase by leaps and bounds! Thus, a demi-ascendant was not a simple addition of law condensation body and soul. They had stronger bodies and souls! Rong was a demi-ascendant. Michael with the help of his treasures and the plane-will was also at the same level of power. Of course, at the same level, the combat power might end up being different and in the myriad planes floating in the law-ocean, there were countless geniuses around. But this was only the first stage and even demi-ascendants were not a match against the ascendants.

The ascendant stage was the second stage of cultivation. It was the stage where one used the laws from law ocean and formed law marks. According to cultivation practices, one could undergo a total of 8 transformations. The first four were known as the lower transformation or lesser ascendant stage and the later four were upper or greater ascendant stage. But not everyone could undergo the upper transformations. Very few geniuses in the countless planes managed to go through all 8 transformations. Mostly, these came from super-forces of the dominions who had significant powers in the super-planes.

After the ascendant stage was the legendary third stage - divine stage!

Even Rong had only heard of it in rumours and stories. He had never seen a divine powerhouse. It was said that all super forces of the 26 dominions had divine powerhouses. Divine stage cultivators were so rare that they were almost never seen. But their powers were simply mind-blowing. A divine powerhouse could directly destroy a primary plane with the flip of a hand! Even a super-plane would fall if two divine powerhouses fought on the plane itself! They were able to affect the law ocean and even bend it to their will. They were the rulers and masters of their territories - the overlords in their dominions. Their powers were in a totally different league and hence they were called divine! The devil army too had divine cultivators but they were never really seen. Even the generals and great generals of the army were greater-ascendants only. It was because divine experts did not need the strength of numbers!

Michael also learned that while cultivating one's body and soul were paths of cultivation, there were other paths as well. Body path and soul path were mostly used in the mortal stage but in the ascendant stage, people generally used other paths. Before Michael could extract any more information about the different paths from the devil Rong, the three hundred soul-experts coughed blood and fainted with their soul aura completely dim. Before the devil could regain his freedom, the different immortals standing there bombarded him with their attacks. They kept doing so till the man was completely disintegrated.

Silence hung in the air. The different immortals looked at each other but no one could say anything.

One independent immortal started laughing hysterically while looking at the gate in the skies:

Hahah, what a cruel joke?! I cultivated all my life, thousands of years! I walked the edge of life and death to gain resources. And I became an immortal. But today, I realize that I was a frog in a well! I called myself immortal when my own plane had people who could kill me! I dared to call myself immortal? Haha, what a joke the heavens have made of us?

His words contained deep pain and anguish that resonated with others as well. The information revealed was currently known only to the immortal-stage powerhouses of the plane. If the weaker members got to know, the entire morale would hit rock bottom!

But right now, these so-called immortals themselves were disheartened. How could they fight? The enemy was someone who could fight the plane-will. Hell, there were enemies that could wipe out the entire plane with the snap of their fingers. What was this if not the power of gods? Was this not divine? Indeed, the name was apt. In fact, even greater ascendants were already gods to the Aternians.

At the moment Igor said:

This is not unknown. In the ancient records, it was written that there were countless powerful people in the law ocean. Beings who could destroy the plane with their stomp. We thought that the records were exaggerated, but now it seems that there indeed are beings like that - gods who rule above mortals like us.

His words caused many people to lose even more hope. Even ancients in their prime with the plane-will intact were not the devil's match. What could they do?

Suddenly, Michael's voice echoed

There might be gods out there, even beings more powerful than gods. There might even be higer stages than the so called divine. There might be no end to this. But that does not mean that we can give our heads to them without a fight! I know that the devils are strong but they are not the only ones who are strong. If that had been the case, this devil's memory would not have mentioned other powers. There are other powers out there that can resist the devils. Also, its not like we are facing divinities or ascendants right now. The army across that gate is something that we can take on. As long as we can kill them all, the chances of another scout team appearing in a few years is too low. Did you not hear that even a tertiary plane needs hundreds of years to properly conquer. I reckon that even information collection would take more than 50 years. Thus, as long as we can deal with this calamity, we will have the time to think of further action. The ancients have a teleportation formation that can be our chance to make contact with powers other than the devils. Igor, tell them.

Following this, Igor told them about the teleportation formation and the required space crystals. Michael said

These devils have space-rings that they wear. The devil Rong had one as well. Inside his ring, I found a few space crystals. I don't know how large this amount is but the arrival of this scouting army is actually a blessing for us. As long as we can take their crystals, we might be able to send more than one person. Then, we might have even better chance in gaining support from other powers.

Astang : But the other powers are not going to help without anything in return.

Michael : I guess we will just choose the lesser of the two evils.

Michael's reassurances and plans made these warriors who had lost their spirit regain their vigour. They became extremely excited as they thought about the possible chance of exploring other planes. All of them were at the top of their own world. Who did not want to progress further? Who did not want to become stronger? The arrival of devils could even be said to be a fortuitous encounter! As long as they survived, they would be able to become stronger. To these guys who had stagnated for many years, this was like a gust of fresh air.

But as they left, Igor and Michael started talking about things that others did not know.

Michael : Is it ready?

Igor : Yes! I have made all the arrangements. We will be able to deal them a huge blow!

Michael : I am going to abruptly open the sky-gate. This will allow the devils to descend. But only powerful ones would be able to descend without any problems. The weaker ones will suffer injuries. This will also startle them. We will begin the operation then. As for the mole, how are his movements recently?

Igor : He is indeed suspicious. Of course, Grimjoy himself is tailing him. There is also my old ancestor. He is constatly keeping an eye out. There is no way for him to escape. Once we find out the mechanism, we will kill him for sure.

Michael : I initially wanted to use the newly developed interrogation formation. But we are not sure. Offending him for no reason is not good. Anyway, keep Grimjoy there. I have a strong hunch. As for the rest, plan together with Kandrif. I will decide the plans of travel later. Now, let's give these devils a grand welcome!