"W-what...is going on here." As soon as the mist connected with their skins, the enemy troops could feel it worm its way towards their dantians. Their eyes stretched at this alarming sensation, and as panic spread through their limbs, they shook like homeless lads in a brutal snowstorm, unable to prevent their cultivation bases from dropping at an alarming rate.
Divine Transformation cultivators fell by one realm. Dao Revelation experts fell by three levels. Void Tribulants fell by two levels, and the lone Integration realm elder by one. The lower the cultivation base, the faster it dropped, and by the time the Shentu troops took notes of the shadowy mist's crippling properties, it was far too late.
"Retreat! Retreat!" the 14th elder screamed at his troops, but at that time, a cluster of sanguine clouds assembled in the sky, each concealing a scarlet star at its center. Shining with a mysterious blend of Blood Energy and Soul Force, those scarlet stars rippled with violent and maniacal powers—as if each had been created to inflict no end of mental and physical abuse on all those that stood in their owner's way.
One armored figure stood at the center of this nebulous phenomenon. Concealed by the sanguine sky, that figure held a double-edged battle-ax in one hand, rode a boulder-sized sanguine cloud, and in poise, stature, or aura, echoed martial excellence.
Her eyes shone with red fiendish rays, mirroring the maniacal violence that oozed from her scarlet stars, and as she stepped forward, though he firmly believed that her cultivation didn't exceed his, the 14th Shentu elder stepped backward.
'Shift to the original plan. Use the Transmission Mirrors to alert the elder council of the enemy forces.' The 14th elder ordered and snapped his fingers, summoning six tall golden mirrors that filmed the ongoing conflict and fed all the info to the Shentu clan's elder council. At the same time, the 14th elder manipulated the Collapsing Wind Formation, forcefully whirling out of the shadowy mist's range, and rising up the sky to stand closer to the spatial rift—just for safety sake.
"What a pointless struggle. After being infected by our abbot's Crippling Mist Towers, unless you receive the antidote straight from his hands, or spend centuries of secluded cultivation to purge the poison, you'll never be able to recover your cultivation base. And even if you can successfully cleanse the poison, in this life, you'll never make another cultivation breakthrough," Tusha said, and as the Shentu loyalists' eyes stretched at her brutally honest revelation, the infernal nun took another step forward.
Undulating waves of red mist and nebulous starlight rotated her form, coalescing with her battle-ax. From ordinary steel, the blade took a sanguine hue, loud, screeching sounds pealing from the edges as Tusha ambled at the opposing army.
"In this life, we will never make another cultivation breakthrough? No. Impossible. She's just trying to destroy our morale. Brothers of the loyalist faction, don't let that woman's words affect your composure. Although I can't make sense of her cultivation, the aura fluctuates at the early stage of Integration. I alone am more than enough to deal with her. And with our Collapsing Wind Formation to rely on, even three such opponents aren't our match. So stay strong—strong and steady in your belief that victory will be ours!" The 14th elder addressed his troops.
Roused up by their leader's words, the Shentu loyalists ignored the Crippling Mist infesting their dantians and locked their Spiritual Senses on Tusha. The nun's lips curled up, and she took another step forward, the intensity of her savage aura skyrocketed. Her cultivation level stayed the same, yet the 14th elder felt as if he'd been hurled into the jaw of a titanic monster.
Sweat trickled down his cheeks, but aware that troop morales relied on his poise, he pulled in a deep breath, steadying his racing heart.
At that time, several additional figures appeared at Tusha's back, hovering above the city gates. One slender purple-haired woman, with white and lilac robes fastened by a purple belt and long ribbons, landed by Tusha's side. Her late-stage Divine Transformation cultivation base didn't startle the 14th elder. But in the shadows of that aura, he could feel thousands of mightier lifeforms ready to emerge at any time.
That woman, Zi Feng, stretched her hands out, summoning 6,000 armored war maidens dressed in magnificent crystal armors that shimmered in Divine Light.
Right afterward, a pair of twins made their entrance, in tandem summoning 30,000 slender dancers equipped with provocative light armor. They too shone with divine light, adding to the Shentu loyalists' terror.
"30,000 mid-stage Nascent Souls, 6,000...peak-stage Void Tribulant puppets, 6...6,000," the 14th elder couldn't believe his eyes, and before the two opposing factions had traded a single blow, the enemy's morale collapsed.
The Nascent Souls, they could still accept. But where...where did they find the materials to craft 6,000 peak-stage Void Tribulant puppets. Moreover, those divine armors weren't there just for show, adding to the puppets' individual battle-prowess. And if not for their' clear lack of soul, the 14th elder wouldn't have been to differentiate the puppets from genuine human lives.
"You don't seem to be getting it. I don't need to deceive you...because you're all dying today," Tusha said and brandished her battle-ax.
"Retr—" aware that the situation was going from bad to worse, and from worse to catastrophic at an absurdly fast pace, the 14th elder suppressed his pride and urged his troops to retreat.
Or well, that was the initial plan. But barely had the first syllable crossed his lips that another fantastical phenomenon cut him short.
The sky darkened, zigzagging lightning and roaring thunderbolts flashing as the shadow of a colossal reptile formed up above. Heat, drought, winds, tsunamis and frigid cold, all the meteorological disasters known to man joined the brewing thunderstorm, fusing with the colossal reptile to slam into the spatial rift.
One loud deafening bang shook the land, and before the 14th elder's petrified gaze, an explosion of berserk magnetic waves spread through the rift, disturbing the spatial coordinates. Now, should the Shentu loyalists attempt to flee the scene, at best, they'd land in some foreign territory with serious injuries. At worst, they'd perish in a chaotic spatial storm.
Seventeen figures appeared in the sky, the 15 Li nuns, led by Dong Ling and Chun Xu. The two sneered at the Shentu loyalists, in silence daring them to use the rift.
Now, they had two choices, use the Void-Shredding Claw to stabilize the rift, or rely on its demonic powers to resist their enemies.
They wouldn't have the time to choose. A battalion of 100 Cow Demonesses appeared in the sky, each equipped with Divine Transformation cultivation base. Tens of thousands of white-winged experts followed suit, supported by a massive armored lion that licked his lips in anticipation of the carnage to come.
"Attack," Tusha ordered, and the Liberation Temple's divinely infernal armies descended upon the Shentu loyalists with an irresistible momentum.
