"What are you waiting for? Fire! Fire at will!" Faced with the overwhelming pressure unleashed by the trio's outburst, the Soaring Crane disciples and Flower Plucking gang members wavered, leading Sacrificial Knife elder to roar for his troops to regain their composure—reminded that they stood on Thunder Spiritual Arks, the legions regained their wits. Their leaders took charge, aiming the cannons peeking out of the hulls at the White Immortal sect's three masters.
Sparkling orbs of sky-blue energy gathered at the cannons' mouths, the spirit stones and arrays powering the ships flashed at regular intervals, and following a breath of charging time, a deluge of lightning beams rained on the White Immortal sect's trio. In essence, they couldn't avoid it—or at least, the enemy troops thought so. After all, if they did, the White Immortal sect at their back would suffer wanton devastation—a result that neither Hanxing, Zi Yao and Guang Fanghu should have been willing to suffer.
And as the enemy leaders had expected, as the lightning beams rained on them, Lord Hanxing, Guang Fanghu and Zi Yao didn't attempt to avoid the charge. Better, Lord Hanxing tapped his storage ring, summoning silky white drapes that he waved at the lightning strikes. To the enemy troops' surprise, mystical energies surged from the white drapes, forcing the multitude of lightning beams to converge into a single, colossal elemental strike that still aimed for the trio. The surprise didn't stop here, for as the lightning ray of destruction neared its target, the drapes expanded to over 20 meters of length. The lightning beam hit home, but instead of blasting its way through the piece of fabric, deflected by the artifact's energy, it shifted targets, dropping straight at the mountain peak where Xinzi and co. still stood.
"We're finished."
"No…help! Help! Someone save me!" Chaos broke in the audience and, regardless of background, titles or cultivation bases, the audience's members ran for their lives. And who could blame them? A random lightning beam from a Thunder Spiritual Ark could reduce the average Nascent Soul expert into ashes. Even the White Immortal sect's secluded Nascent Soul formation masters wouldn't dare to meet a Thunder Spiritual strike head-on, to say nothing that Hanxing's drapes had condensed the many beams into a single, deadlier ray.
At this point, even Xinzi couldn't stay stoic—for while the Funerary Rite could enable him to resist the beam, hundreds if not thousands of his newly formed army members would perish in the process. However, Xinzi's apprehension only lasted for one second. With Dong Ling in their ranks, If Gang Fanghu didn't lose his composure, this beam couldn't threaten them in the slightest.
And indeed, as the strike neared its new target, lithe figures leaped out of nowhere. A veil of darkness rose from the ground, casting a nightmarish dome that met the enemy strike in a collision of profound forces. A rumble of ear-splitting blasts followed. The grand veil swallowed it all, preventing the tiniest of ripples from reaching those it sheltered. The lithe figures didn't linger, vanishing as fast as they'd appeared.
Most didn't even have the time to catch a glimpse of their presence, and those who did couldn't grasp the curves. Xinzi fared no better, barely catching a glimpse of the purple veils that covered those figures' faces.
'As expected, this was all staged. The wolves rushed into the lambs' pen, unaware that veiled tigers hid in their midst. Past today, the Soaring Crane mountain and Flower Plucking gang will vanish from this land. The Dark Moon cult might not hold on for much longer.' Xinzi thought. And though he was the first to come to this conclusion, he wasn't the only one. High in the air, the drunken sloth, Zi Zuixian, thought the same. Likewise, the golden core level White Immortal sect elders realized that their masters had kept them in the dark, and all along, planned to use the Yin-Yang Controller selection to dispose of all their foes.
Instantly, the enemy troops panicked. Their leaders refused to accept reality and motioned for more strikes to follow. "Damn you wretches, continue! Again!! A…GAIN!!!" They did continue, but it was all for nothing. No matter how many beams the Spiritual Arks fired, Hanxing would redirect them at the mountain peak, where Zi Yao's Purple Veils maintained the defensive array, nullifying every single one of the enemy's attempts.
Left without recourse, they floundered. The trio gave them no opportunity to regain their wit and, riding the momentum, appeared before their target. Guang Fanghu raised his right hand, and the rage he kept bottled up exploded in an eruption of bright golden flames. The flames morphed into a blazing sword, and as panic spread through the enemy troops, a sword box flew out of Guang Fanghu's storage ring, unleashing a cluster of flying swords that formed murderous arcs around the patriarch.
[Sweltering Heaven Sword Formation]
Guang Fanghu's hands moved in wild, bending shapes. Swords and flames moved alongside him, merging into a brand-new cluster of burning blades that swirled around a great flaming sword. The searing blade arcs and great sword dropped on the Thunder Spirit Ark, prompting a frantic response from its leaders.
"Shield! Shield!" Instantly, the Thunder Spirit Ark tapped in its defensive arsenal, casting a lightning energy shield that met Guang Fanghu's sword formation. The two formations collided. Searing gusts of wind rolled through the atmosphere. Tiny cracks formed across the energy shield, but still it held.
In the distance, two swords flashed in Zi Yao's hands. The Greater Spirit Snake Sword in the right, and a sparkling blue lightning sword in the left. Runic seals formed by the Yin Matriarch's side, and as her curls danced on an arcane tune, she arched her head back—glanced at the sky.
[Violet Dawn Fusion]
The eerie moon that till now covered the sky in darkness broke down—forced open by the bright violet rays that pierced through the heavens above. The light wrestled with the darkness, shoving it aside to bring forth a violet dawn.
Zi Yao's swords flew out of her hands, coiled as they rose into the sky and merged…into a colossal, violet boa. Purple lightning flickered across the boa's scales. Its slit eyes locked on the Thunder Spirit Ark, and instantly, its captains raised their defensive shields. In an ironic twist of fate, violet lightning rained from the sky, dropping alongside the boa—and aiming for the ark. The boa's tail coiled Zi Yao, but its maw opened at the ark, with a hunger fit for an ancient voracious beast.
Clearly, the vulnerable Zi Yao was this formation's core. But whoever attempted to harm her would have to go through the boa first—a daunting task.
Lightning and boa slammed into the energy shield, sending the ship rolling back with wild tremors. Cracks spread just the same, but still the Spiritual Ark held on. Amazed, the Nascent Soul enemy leaders looked slack-jawed at Guang Fanghu and Zi Yao, whose strength defied all their expectations.
"They have not even reached the peak of Nascent Soul, yet their strength already compares to a Spiritual Lord's. Why? Damn…damn!"
"The energy supply isn't enough. We cannot afford any more mistakes. Retreat and wait for Soaring Crane to arrive!" The Flower Plucking gang's new leader said. However, the most senior Sacrificial Knife vetoed him instantly.
"Nonsense! Will they let us retreat because we want to? Our energy reserves cannot endure many more of these strikes. We have to shift this battle's momentum before it is too late. All disciples, obey my order. Pour your qi into the vessels. We will charge them with the shields and bash them with brute force!" The man said, and begrudgingly, Soaring Crane and Flower Plucking disciples obeyed the order.
The Spirit Arks shone with splendid blue light, and with unprecedented momentum, bolted at Guang Fanghu and Zi Yao. As if fearful of a direct confrontation, the two fled in different directions—zigzagging across the sky.
"You won't get away!" The enemy leaders screamed at the top of their lungs. The flying ships moved faster—their hurls approaching dangerously close to their respective targets. Meanwhile, Lord Hanxing, who'd mainly been playing hide and seek with his enemy ship, vanished, and appeared above their mast. His white drapes expanded once more, this time covering the ship and trapping it in wild suction force.
"What the…" The leaders wouldn't have time to see through Hanxing's aim, that again he waved his silky drapes, hurling the Thunder Spiritual Ark into the distance.
To the enemy's surprise, Guang Fanghu and Zi Yao's zigzagging led them to one another. And as the three ships barreled at the sect masters, they stood back to back. Intertwining columns of yang and yin qi soared into the sky, Guang Fanghu and Zi Yao broke down into particles of Yin and Yang Qi, fusing to become a taiji diagram that rotated at an absurd speed.
[Yin-Yang Sword Array]
"Oh…no."
Nigh-limitless greatswords blending light and darkness shot out of the taiji diagram. A road of black and white energies followed, welcoming a large amorphous beast that leaped out of the diagram to meet the three ships alongside the black and white sword meteors. The fifth-level of the Yin-Yang Sword Array dropped on the enemy troops, carrying with it a might akin to a Divine Transformation level expert's full-force. The ships…crumbled instantly, with them bringing down over 18,000 lives.
