"FIRE!" Sky Monarch Bai controlled the Sky Destroyer and cannons charged unleashed beams of mystic light that jetted forth, covering tens of thousands of miles in destructively condensed mystic energy! Each Sky Destroyer was widely considered an Earthly Saint, and this attack would have been enough to send pre-Neo-Dawn era Zhang Ziyi retreating pathetically with fear!
Unfortunately...
These Earthly Saints were not Zhang Ziyi!
Six Demi-Mortal Lords took the lead, each assigned to a beam of mystic energy, unleashing earthen, metal, or water-attributed Minor Ascension Arts, forming defensive barriers.
BOOM!! BOOM!!!
These Demi-Mortal Lords dispelled these attacks. The expressions of the Sky Monarchs and Imperial Monarchs drastically shifted! These Demi-Mortal Lords weren't even in their Demi-Mystic State...yet!
Suddenly, an ominously cold feeling enveloped their hearts immediately! Unfortunately, the arrow was let loose, and they had to fight!
After defending against the Sky Destroyer's devastating cannons, the Earthly Saints blitzed toward the Sky Destroyers, ignoring Yang Chaoyue's.
"Come!" Tian Shangyang executed a Spiritual Spell with a roar, his Aeternal Sky Aura infused within. The incoming Ascended beings, consisting of eight Earthly Saints and hundreds of other Ascended, were buffeted by world-pushing power and their flight speed slowed down considerably.
"Yes!" Tian Shangyang's eyes glowed as he felt powerful stopping this group single-handedly.
"Wait..." The group was halted for about half a microsecond, and then they shrugged off his roar. With blazing eyes and flaring Mystic Auras, they rushed forward at even greater speeds.
"Move!" Tian Shangyang ordered as he activated the Sky Destroyer's defenses, enveloping the ship in a barrier reflecting the vast starry skies. The Sky Destroyer was controlled by the crew and they reacted promptly, rushing toward the Earthly Saints! They were going to ram into the invaders!
The group's response was simple. They dodged! And after surrounding the Sky Destroyer, they began to unleash a frenzy of attacks. It was as if flies were attacking a fishing boat. The size difference was indescribable.
BOOM!!
"AHHH!!!"
A Soul of Mysticism Phase invader was sniped by a slender blue beam from an outpost from a hundred thousand miles away. He lost an arm immediately. "Bastards!" The Soul of Mysticism Phase expert tried to use Temporal Reversion to reverse the damage, yet the Aeternal Sky Aura laced within hindered the process, instantly causing him to lose hundreds of years of life to undo his loss of arm.
The sight was extremely strange as wrinkles formed on the edge of his eyes. "There's Imperial power within these attacks!" The Soul of Mysticism Phase invader shouted. Immediately, those words were like magic as defenses were hurriedly erected by the others.
They originally didn't place much importance on those outposts, but if they contained a type of Imperial strength, they couldn't ignore that. The beams from the outpost had claimed quite a few victims, only able to damage, not enough to kill, but they distracted the attackers, buying time for the Sky Destroyers to unleash all sorts of attacks.
Tian Lingyu had blazing flares unleashed from the hull. Those attacking from the side were terrified as a few Soul of Mysticism Phase experts were outright burnt to death on contact while the Demi-Mortal Lords had to retreat while trying to unleash Temporal Reversion or heal. Unfortunately, the Imperial power was laced in every attack.
"Don't get hit!" A Demi-Mortal Lord shouted. Just as he said that a wide beam enveloped his figure from behind!
Yang Chaoyue unleashed a devastating attack! Despite being ignored, she refused to back down as piloted the Sky Destroyer to push into the enemy. Some of the Ascended beings clenched their teeth at her actions. She had utterly no tact!
The Demi-Mortal Lord came out with tattered robes, his body seemingly transformed into living azure-colored lightning. Demi-Mystic State! He growled at Yang Chaoyue, but then shot toward Tian Lingyu's ship, unleashing a Minor Ascension Art to batter her shield.
"Watch out for the enemy's Earthly Saints!" Tian Weilong said as he shot out of the Sky Destroyer, leaving its control to the young woman Sky Monarch. His fists glowed as draconic might erupted from his body, and he met three Earthly Saints in battle.
Almost instantly, he was severely injured in a few exchanges and had to unleash a terrifyingly powerful self-harming art, sending them back and buying himself some respite. The imposing Dracofist Imperial Monarch landed on the Sky Destroyer frantically and pathetically, his body had fractured and he bled from his orifices. With every breath, blood with spiritual images of dragons flying and roaring splattered the deck.
He was defeated instantly!
"They all have peak Mystic-Earth Armaments!" Tian Weilong warned with a struggling roar. However, the Earthly Saints didn't follow up on their victory as they sent disdainful glances at the Sky Destroyer. They rushed past the great Voidship!
The Earthly Saints were ignoring them! They shot toward the planets, smashing into the planetary formations while the Soul of Mysticism and Demi-Mortal Lords kept them busy. The planetary formations and arrays were experiencing catastrophic damage!
"Bring them into your Internal World and cut off their connection!" An Earthly Saint sent through spiritual transmission to the others. They were trying to take the planets whole!!
The most embarrassing thing was that despite their Sky Destroyers and their Earthly Saint-level cultivation bases, the Soul of Mysticism and Demi-Mortal Lords were occupying their complete attention!
The main differences were the Minor Ascension Arts, high-level Mystic-Earth armaments, and Earthly Saint-level talismans! They used them to resist jointly or outright win exchanges! Meanwhile, the Imperial Clan had no Ascension Art or armaments of that quality that rivaled them. This was a difference in legacy!
"Argh! NO!!!" A reserve Earthly Saint on a planet was slain. Four Earthly Saints breached the planetary barrier and slaughtered all Ascended beings. Two rushed toward the Earthly Saint defender, and while he had valiantly resisted, he lasted all but one and a half exchanges before he was destroyed in body and Mystic Soul!
The planet was seized immediately. They were already establishing a spell to pull the planet into an Internal World!! Meanwhile, an Earthly Saint gestured with her hand as a large hand gripped another planet entirely, formation and all, and he grabbed it along with him as she rushed out of the Aeternal Sky Starfield!!
Her movements were incomparably tyrannical and all their resistance couldn't stop her at all!
Yang Chaoyue immediately went to intercept her with a beam of mystic energy.
The female Earthly Saint wearing Crimson Moon robes ruthlessly glared at Yang Chaoyue. Then, she put on a friendly smile. "Miss Yang, please don't make this awkward for me." Her eyes flitted toward the Neo-Dawn Starfield subconsciously.
"Fuck off! And leave that planet!" Yang Chaoyue didn't care about her words and launched another beam of mystic energy. Weighed down by the planet, the female Earthly Saint defended herself with her Mystic Aura, blocking the attack with ease.
Yang Chaoyue's expression changed. She was strong!
Yang Chaoyue unleashed her Mystic Aura! She revealed seven Mystic Runes! This was two more than she had during her fight with Faye Liying! She left commands for her crew before shooting toward the Crimson Moon-robed woman.
The Crimson Moon Librarian cursed under her breath, "Bitch." If it wasn't for the potential of that supposed Worldly Saint Alchemist's retaliation, she would snuff out this arrogant woman with a single move. In the end, she was helpless as she could only dodge Yang Chaoyue's ravishing and boundless wind power or block it with a single hand. She didn't even have to resort to Ascension Arts. Yang Chaoyue just wasn't that powerful.
Despite receiving Wei Wuyin's advantages, he had only recently entered the Worldly Saint Alchemist level and had skipped the Earthly Saint Alchemist. There simply wasn't enough time or products to rectify her incomparably poor foundation established during her earlier years.
"WATCH OUT!" Two dozen Demi-Mortal Lords jointly gathered and smashed into Sky Monarch Bai and Sky Monarch Kong Yi's Sky Destroyer. The defensive formation was breached and they sent attacks that caused many of the crews to be eviscerated. The two Earthly Saints had to defend themselves against the Minor Ascension Arts empowered by Mystic-Earth Armaments, so the crew was left helpless. Half died within the first barrage, and the Sky Destroyer suffered incredible damage to its hull.
The formations flickered as they seemed to lose a large portion of their functionality.
Tian Muyang fought fiercely. He had already killed dozens of Ascended beings using his power, attracting the attention of three Earthly Saints. The three Earthly Saints rushed him violently and he met them in battle! Unlike Tian Weilong, the Imperial Monarch was holding his own against all three, shocking every last one of the Earthly Saints.
"He has quasi-Mystic-World level Armor!" An Earthly Saint exclaimed as he sensed his attacks lose a significant portion of its strength on contact. Tian Muyang laughed heartily and valiantly, bringing out another quasi-Mystic-World level weapon as well. The fight immediately went to his advantage.
Yang Chaoyue brought out her Infinite Wind Hourglass. It, too, was no longer a simple Mystic-Earth Armament! The Crimson Moon-robed Earthly Saint frowned at the quasi-Mystic-World Armament, but she was only bothered that she hadn't taken the planet away yet. With her free hand, she still casually defended with her greenish Mystic Power. She was extremely powerful!
"They've taken four planets!" Tian Shangyang roared as he was missing a leg and his Sky Destroyer was non-functioning. Within his gaze, four planets were being carried out by various manifestations, some were thick, wound-binding rope, chains, or world-seizing hands. They were all being dragged to the edge of the Aeternal Sky Starfield.
The Earthly Saints realized that they couldn't take the planets into their Internal World while in this region, so they intended to bring them out forcefully first!
"Where's his Majesty?!" Kong Yi shouted as he was blasted by Demi-Mortal Lords, coughing up tons of blood and flying for tens of thousands of miles.
Tian Weilong's bloodied expression twisted as a saddened gleam flickered within his eyes. Few knew the truth; the imposing Aeternal Sky Divine Emperor was throne-bound. The act of using that Mystic World Intent to defend against the Chaos Nova all those years ago was already the extent of his full power and it was not done without considerable cost.
"Who are these invaders..." Tian Weilong cursed as he hurriedly tried to recover his strength. Fortunately, the young Sky Monarch was skilled in handling the Sky Destroyer and kept it from being severely damaged, retreating while attacking and using the various formations with keen precision and impeccable timing! She had already killed dozens of Soul of Mysticism and injured several Demi-Mortal Lord experts!
They simply couldn't give up!
Far away, observing the fighting, Su Nianzu and Jia Yang floated in the Dark Void surrounded by incredible layers of concealment spells.
"Can't believe that 'Wei Wuyin' who supposedly died in the Time Vortex isn't dead. Moreover, he's a more fearsome King of Everlore..." Jia Yang scratched his cheeks. "And he has a lover in this so-called Imperial Clan of Tian Taizong. How troublesome."
He watched Yang Chaoyue fight fiercely. She was definitely a beauty to a degree, but a Worldly Saint Alchemist could do so much better in his opinion. She lacked talent and youth.
"He's said to have over eighty Earthly Saints under his command. A true Saintmaker of unbelievable talent. Moreover, he directly engaged with the Spirit of the Endless Voyage Mirror by himself and even schemed against it. The young man isn't simple." Su Nianzu said without the slightest wisp of contempt or disdain for Wei Wuyin's age or mortal existence, already considering him an equal with his tone. In fact, there were signs of a vigilant air about him.
"Is that Tian Taizong trying to send that Yang Chaoyue woman to her death? Wanting to spur reinforcements from afar?" Jia Yang sniffed and swallowed carelessly. He gave off a very free-spirited air. Despite that, when Su Nianzu mentioned Wei Wuyin's feats, including the reports of his Neo-Dawn Alchemic Expo, there was a faint glint of fearful vigilance within.
They thoroughly investigated this young mortal man and there was something extremely abnormal about him.
"Unlikely. I don't think Tian Taizong is that idiotic to offend World-Saint Neo-Dawn in his current state. At least, perhaps not?" Su Nianzu said while uncertainty shook his tone at the end of his sentence. Wei Wuyin definitely wouldn't let Tian Taizong off if he sent Yang Chaoyue to her unnecessarily death.
Jia Yang gave Su Nianzu a sidelong glance after hearing the title 'World-Saint Neo-Dawn' used so naturally. Clearly, the City Lord of the City of Guardians had already felt strong feelings of admiration for Wei Wuyin's existence. He definitely had his own plans. Perhaps by using this young man as a springboard? The Heavenly Saint Phase was truly too far away from them. Even he, who was the oldest of the group, couldn't find an opportunity to be certain of his ascension. His every instinct told him trying meant certain death.
"That woman has a few life-saving treasures on her person," Jia Yang pointed out. "It'll be difficult for any Earthly Saint to kill her anyway. Regardless, if Tian Taizong doesn't want to show himself, so be it. We'll strip this starfield of its planets and realms, weakening its starfield-wide array and ensuring he doesn't do anything that destroys these precious treasures before we act."
"..." Su Nianzu silently nodded. Then, his gaze drifted to the Neo-Dawn Starfield's Baby Defiant in the distance. The thought of a man that could survive the Time Vortex and escape the Endless Voyage Realm without them realizing, later likely causing the Spatial Vortex and their descent. He instinctively sent a spiritual transmission to the Crimson Moon Librarian and other Earthly Saints. "Don't you harm her. Not a single hair."
Then, and only then, did he feel slightly better.
