After the banquet, Monarch Nine Heavens and Xi Tianyi didn't take any action and stayed within the Eight Pillar Sect. Even when the Anti-Earth Alliance doubled their offensive, the Eight Pillar Sect didn't mobilize the two monarchs from the Buzhou Immortal Sect. Instead of reassuring the Anti-Earth Alliance, this only made them worry more.
And they were right to worry. On the surface, the two foreign monarchs and the other true immortals stayed in Reversed Heaven Abode residence of the Eight Pillar Sect, never leaving and only allowing a few certified cultivators to enter. In truth, Monarch Nine Heavens and Xi Tianyi weren't residing in the Eight Pillar Sect at all.
Tai Wuling would know. He was one of the two dispatched to guide them through the Earth Continent along with Yang Linyin. They were to show Monarch Nine Heavens the strategic points to mark for future spatial relays.
Naturally, this was done in secret, so all members changed into disguises. Surprisingly, Xi Tianyi had actually gone along and dressed in some black Daoist robes. Since Monarch Nine Heavens had been reclusive and few knew his appearance, he didn't change his appearance much.
Tai Wuling did his best to ignore Xi Tianyi. Honestly, why was he following along with Monarch Nine Heavens? Not like he could help, or maybe the two stayed together for safety.
Whatever it was, Xi Tianyi was content not to interact with Tai Wuling, something he was grateful for, but not to Xi Tianyi. He glanced forward at the leading figure dressed in dark blue. At least there was one perk to this mission.
Yang Linyin preferred to stay in their male form and rarely showed their female form. In fact, Tai Wuling hadn't seen their female form ever since they returned to the Eight Pillar Sect.
"What is it?" Yang Linyin asked as they turned around. Currently, the group was flying close to the ground to avoid unnecessary attention.
"What? Is something wrong?" Tai Wuling asked.
"Yes, you've been staring," Yang Linyin said.
"Oh, I'm trying to soak up the image before you go back. It's rare that I get to see you like this after all." That earned him a punch from Yang Linyin. As it was their female form that focused on spiritual cultivation, it didn't actually hurt that much. In hindsight, he should have kept his true feelings on the matter.
Tai Wuling opened his mouth to apologize but froze. Was that a blush rising up on their face? Before he could ask, he heard a chuckle behind him. Turning around, he saw Xi Tianyi hiding his mouth behind his fingers. "True love is wonderful."
Shame flushed through Tai Wuling. He couldn't believe he allowed Xi Tianyi to see that. Xi Tianyi only knew Yang Linyin as a male and probably saw their disguise as something fully external and not internal.
Was he making fun of him? Did Xi Tianyi think he was homosexual? Because he wasn't! Xi Tianyi didn't know when to stop and looked like he wanted to say more. 'I'll kill him.'
Luckily, before wrath could overtake Tai Wuling's mind, Jiang Daoyi pulled on Xi Tianyi's sleeve and shook her head. Magically, Xi Tianyi raised an eyebrow, but no words left his mouth.
Tai Wuling also calmed down during this time. He couldn't help but take a few more glances at Jiang Daoyi. She was too good of a woman for Xi Tianyi, like laying pearls before swine.
He huffed and focused back on the mission. The group consisted of himself, Yang Linyin, Monarch Nine Heavens, Xi Tianyi, Jiang Daoyi, and Wang Feili, an ancient true immortal from the Eight Pillar Sect. The group was kept small to prevent the Anti-Earth Alliance from discovering them.
In terms of strength, unless an immortal emperor showed up, they should have no problem since they had two immortal monarchs, one who specialized in the Law of Space, so escape was no problem.
Still, Tai Wuling didn't trust Monarch Nine Heavens. Leading the foreign immortal to help up setting spatial relays almost meant exposing the strategic locations to an outsider. The sect naturally also knew of this downside, but that was probably why they planned to eliminate Monarch Nine Heavens in the first place.
The Eight Pillar Sect locked down any sort of communication with the world outside the Earth Continent. Their position as the hegemonic sect wasn't for show. So, even if Monarch Nine Heavens mastered the Law of Space, he wouldn't be able to pass off the information to the Buzhou Immortal Sect.
Speaking of which, Tai Wuling turned around to stare at Xi Tianyi, who was habitually staring into the distance. Yang Linyin also noticed. "What's wrong, Monarch Xi?"
"You don't sense it?" Xi Tianyi asked.
Tai Wuling frowned and then looked at Monarch Nine Heavens. If anyone in the group should have sensed something, shouldn't it be the master of space? He turned to look toward Yang Linyin.
Yang Linyin took out the Eight Way Mirror, a monarch-level immortal artifact used to sense the surrounding. The sect had lent it to them specifically for this mission, and it could detect almost any concealment technique at the immortal monarch level and below.
When Yang Linyin shook their head, Tai Wuling snorted. Figured that the wastrel would want to look more impressive than he was, sensing a threat when no one else could. He looked at Xi Tianyi, who shrugged, infuriating Tai Wuling even more. 'You got exposed, and you don't even care?!'
Tai Wuling suppressed the brimming rage in his body and forcibly turned his head away. He had more important business than arguing with a manchild.
The group followed Yang Linyin toward their next point. The locations they were sneaking to mostly concerned critical points to assault the Anti-Earth Alliance, and they hardly visited any of the Eight Pillar Sect's strategic locations.
Once they reached it, Monarch Nine Heavens knelt at the location. He reached into his robes and pulled out what seemed to be a seed. The seed was blacker than black, almost like a hole in reality, but if one peered into it, they would see a whole galaxy.
Monarch Nine Heavens dropped the seed into the ground. It melded with the ground, disappearing into nothing.
Once Monarch Nine Heavens finished, the group turned to leave for the next point of interest. Of course, since this was so close to the enemy stronghold, they had to be sneaky about it.
Just as the group of six prepared to leave, Xi Tianyi suddenly grabbed Jiang Daoyi and hid behind Monarch Nine Heavens. Tai Wuling's instincts went crazy. He moved in front of Yang Linyin and activated his Five Element Barrier technique.
The next thing the group knew, a four-layer mandala formed of four different flames crashed into them.
Tai Wuling couldn't believe it. His Five Element Barrier was formed from qi of the five elements, like a pseudo fifth-step immortal monarch's qi. He layered concepts of the five elements into his technique with a concept of earth as the core, making it indestructible to all things. Yet, under his disbelieving eyes, he saw that his Five Element Barrier was burning under the five-colored flame.
"Hraaahhh!" Tai Wuling roared and raised the power of the Five Element Barrier to the maximum.
When the four-colored fire finally disappeared, Tai Wuling released the Five Element Barrier. Sweat coated his entire body, and he panted like crazy. He turned around. "You alright?"
Yang Linyin stared at him. "You saved me again."
Tai Wuling shook his head. "But I couldn't save Wang Feili."
The two turned toward the ashes of their companion. Unlike Tai Wuling, who reacted after seeing Xi Tianyi take action, Wang Feili was already incinerated before he realized what had happened.
Tai Wuling glared at Xi Tianyi. "Why didn't you warn us?!"
"Didn't you ignore my warning?" Xi Tianyi asked.
Yang Linyin and Tai Wuling recalled the time Tianyi kept looking in a certain direction and how Yang Linyin used the Eight Way Mirror to survey their surroundings but came with nothing. Their faces turned ugly.
"You still could have said something!"
"I could, but you looked like you wouldn't listen. Why should I waste my words for a futile effort?" Xi Tianyi asked with a shrug, causing Tai Wuling's rage to increase. "Still, shouldn't you be focused on the attackers instead of me?"
Xi Tianyi's words reminded Tai Wuling, and he turned toward the source of the attack. Since the fire possessed the ability to overcome his barrier, then the attacker should be an immortal monarch.
He raised his guard and focused on the attackers. A group of immortals came into his view. The one that caught his attention was the man in the lead. He had a handsome face and exuded a valiant temperament. In his hands was a black and silver spear.
Tai Wuling could only sense true immortals and no immortal monarchs. He couldn't believe it. Could a true immortal, even an immortal lord, display such a powerful technique?
"It's impressive you were able to deflect my World Incinerating Mandala," the man at the front said as he scanned Tai Wuling's group. He blinked when he saw a certain scion. "Xi Tianyi?!"
Xi Tianyi waved. "Yo! Didn't you hear? Due to an agreement between our sects, we're here to aid the Eight Pillar Sect. Speaking of which, I didn't expect you to be here, Yan Nie."
"Yan Nie?" Yang Linyin repeated. "Divine Flame Immortal Lord?"
Tai Wuling's expression turned even graver. Of course he had heard of the Divine Flame Immortal Lord, shortened to Divine Flame Lord. The Divine Flame Lord was someone of their generation and suddenly appeared on the Anti-Earth Alliance side one day.
Despite his unknown origins, he showed extremely high combat capabilities and even managed to fatally injure an immortal as a transcending mortality saint. He gained his title due to the powerful flames he wielded, which were unique to him.
Now, it seemed that the Divine Flame Lord had origins in the Heaven Continent. Or, at least visited there before coming to the Earth Continent.
"We should probably leave," Monarch Nine Heavens said. "If we delay any longer, their reinforcement might arrive, and it'll become troublesome by then."
"No, I can't leave before I make that bastard pay!" Tai Wuling shouted as he charged at the Divine Flame Lord.
Five differently colored lights, each representing one of the five elements, appeared on the tip of Tai Wuling's figure. He clenched his hand and punched forward, meeting the Divine Flame Lord's spearhead.
Flames burst, and Tai Wuling flew back several meters. He looked at his hand to see it smoking and with some burn lines but otherwise fine. "Tch!"
The five different-colored lights on his fingers changed to black, representing water. Tai Wuling attacked again. Only this time, the water burst out from his palm, coating his arm and body like armor.
The Divine Flame Lord brandished his spear, and a fiery glow encased his spear before striking forward. Unlike the previous clash, Tai Wuling hadn't been knocked back by the confrontation.
What the Divine Flame Lord faced wasn't just a regular water-based attack but one fueled by all the other elements. To Tai Wuling's shock, despite the apparent stalemate, he was actually at a disadvantage.
'Just what is that flame?' Tai Wuling wondered. His master, Emperor Infinity, had informed him that he had the ability to compete against immortal monarchs, yet, here he was, being pushed back by another true immortal.
Tai Wuling possessed the dao chaos spiritual root, the only one to possess a dao root. His opponents should be those in a higher realm than him, not those in the same realm.
He roared. "I'll defeat you!"
The water shroud covering turned red and converted to flames. Yet, that only made it worse. Tai Wuling sensed the fire fueled by the five elements prostrate itself in the face of the Divine Flame Lord's fire.
The fire around him dispersed, leaving him defenseless. As one who experienced countless battles, the Divine Flame Lord would not miss this chance. Three more fires emerged atop his spear tip as it pierced forward to deliver the finishing blow.
Just as it seemed that the spear would pierce his heart, Yang Linyin appeared in front of Tai Wuling. They held the Eight Way Mirror in front of them, and the space between them and the Divine Flame Lord cracked like glass.
"Linyin?" Tai Wuling shouted.
"Shut up!" Yang Linyin said. They turned toward Monarch Nine Heavens. "What are you doing? Hurry up, take us and leave!"
"No, you don't!" the Divine Flame Lord said. A fifth fire appeared at the tip of his spear. Now, there were five differently-colored flames: red, black, white, yellow, and green.
Tai Wuling realized why his five elements fueled water and fire loss to the Divine Flame Lord. His foe also merged the other elements into the fire, and he was further ahead.
"World Incinerating Mandala!"
