“Cahoots?” the Cloud Goddess asked. She gazed down upon Emperor Begonia, like a human looking at an ignorant bug. “That would be inaccurate. For me to be in cahoots with the Buzhou Immortal Sect would have to mean that I was never on their side.”
As the realization set in, horror dawned on the members of the surviving Five Element Sect and Drifting Feather Sect. They stood there in the air as reality hammered their minds like the cruel mistress she was.
Of the numerous immortals that had gathered at the former headquarters of the Cloud Goddess Cult, only a percentage remained. Of the original sects that made up the Anti-Heaven Alliance, the Jade Cauldron Sect had completely fallen. The Nihility Sect and Cloud Goddess Cult had retreated to safety, leaving behind only five war formations.
Of the five forces that made up the Anti-Heaven Alliance, two were already against them. It would have been a hilarious joke to anyone who heard it, but the survivors weren’t laughing.
Of the millions upon millions of cultivators, less than one percent remained. One of the monarchs controlling a war formation couldn’t withstand the impact of the revelation and felt his willpower shatter. His eyes dulled as he lost all control of his functionalities. His body began to decompose at an accelerated rate while immortal qi evaporated from his flesh.
He had lost his will to live and died.
The controller of the remaining war formations, Monarch Fiveseal, the Five Element Sect Master, the Drifting Feather Sect Master, and the grand elder of the Drifting Feather Sect, didn’t blame the fallen monarch. They, too, felt a numbing sensation in their mind. Were their willpower a micron weaker, they might have followed his fate.
From his position, Emperor Begonia didn’t show too much change in expression. He only frowned. “Why did you join?”
Sect Master Xia raised his arm before the Cloud Goddess could answer. “You’ve already asked your question. Allow me to ask ours.”
“What did Buddhism offer you to join them?” Sect Master Xia’s words caused even the true members of the Anti-Heaven Alliance to stare at Emperor Begonia. The interactions between forces of the Huang Realm and the Buddhists have always been very minimal. Any and all attempts by Buddhism to entrench themselves in the Huang Realm had always been met with vehement retaliation by the Buzhou Immortal Court.
If the Buzhou Immortal Sect discovered a bodhisattva, the Buddhist equivalent of an immortal, they would use all their resources to hunt them down. Even if the Buddhist was part of a first-rate or even hegemonic sect, the Buzhou Immortal Sect would attack, regardless of the consequences. Their actions would be even more crazy if it was an immortal monarch or emperor that joined Buddhism.
Not even mortal organizations with relations to Buddhism would be spared. The Buzhou Immortal Sect would exterminate every mortal related to the act, even if they were mortals that never cultivated. In fact, it wasn’t just the Buzhou Immortal Sect, but the Cultivator Alliance also partook when they still had ruled the Mortal Continent.
Recalling this information, perhaps this was the first clue to the true ties between the Buzhou Immortal Sect and the Cultivator Alliance.
“Don’t make baseless accusations,” Emperor Begonia vehemently denied. “You probably aren’t too sure. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be asking.”
Sect Master Xia shook his head. “No, the reason I’m asking is because I’m sure you have a clone or avatar currently in the Pure Lands Pseudo System. Even if you’re captured, you’ll probably choose to suicide.”
A few seconds of silence passed.
Finally, Emperor Begonia chuckled. That chuckle transformed into an uproarious laughter that reverberated for hundreds of meters. When the mirthless ended, Emperor Begonia glared at Sect Master Xia and the others from the Buzhou Immortal Sect. The whites of his eyes had turned blood-red. Had it not been for the immortal aura cladding him, outsiders would have thought his inner devil consumed him.
“Don’t act innocent now,” Emperor Begonia said, his voice echoing. “The hatred of massacring my Begonia Tower must be returned tenfold!”
Sect Master Xia’s expression didn’t change. “Since you don’t want to say, then you don’t need to continue living.”
With those words, the air changed But suddenly, a streak of lightning appeared from afar and struck Sovereign Xi, encasing her in electricity. Those nearby could feel the power of punishment emanating from the lightning. The immortals near her distanced themselves. A second passed, and Sovereign Xi disappeared from everyone’s view.
Emperor Begonia didn’t miss this chance. If they waited for Sovereign Xi to recover, their chances of survival would become far lower.
“Attack!” Emperor Begonia shouted. With a wave of his hand, twelve immortal monarchs, one immortal emperor, and over a thousand true immortals flew out of the Soul Pagoda. They quickly gathered together and formed the Golden Light Begonia Emperor War Formations.
Sect Master Xia raised the realm artifact in his hand into the air, and thousands of true immortals appeared. They grouped with pre-assigned immortal monarchs and started forming the war formations.
Monarch Fiveseal didn’t want to obey Emperor Begonia’s orders, but he had no choice. The Anti-Heaven Alliance’s best chance at survival lay with Emperor Begonia and his forces. Still, it was a shock that Emperor Begonia could command thirteen immortal monarchs after the fall of the Begonia Tower.
He controlled the Five Element Emperor War Formation forward towards the Buzhou Immortal Sect’s forces. Most of the Buzhou Immortal Sect monarchs were almost finished forming their war formation. Monarch Fiveseal didn’t think he had the ability to halt the progress, but he definitely wouldn’t let Sect Master Xia stop the formation of the Golden Light Begonia Emperor War Formations.
Although he questioned why Sovereign Xi disappeared instead of attacking like Sect Master Xia, Monarch Fiveseal didn’t have time to ponder as he and Sect Master Xia clashed. His eyes widened at the resounding force hitting him. No wonder Sect Master Xia had decided to obstruct the war formation instead of forming one himself. He was already an immortal emperor!
The Five Element Emperor War Formation Monarch Fiveseal commanded slammed into the ground, but that one instance was already enough. The Buzhou Immortal Sect formed ten emperor war formations, while the Begonia Tower formed thirteen emperor war formations.
The Nihility Sect Master and Monarch Fiendclaw didn’t form a war formation. Instead, they merged with the space, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. As monarchs specializing in assassination, war formations undermined their assassination techniques. Only in very rare cases could a war formation prevent any aura from leaking out, but by that point, the controller of the war formation would likely not need the formation’s aid in the first place.
Still, that wasn’t the worst part for Monarch Five Seal. The Buzhou Immortal Sect’s war formations had exceeded the threshold of an immortal emperor. They crossed into the level of an immortal sovereign in terms of pure power. And what did the Anti-Heaven Alliance have?
Four emperor war formations close to destruction, thirteen Golden Light Begonia Emperor War Formations, and one immortal emperor.
Monarch Fiveseal frowned. He knew the Buzhou Immortal Sect had more forces than this, but where did they go? Did they have so much confidence in the Cloud Goddess that they only brought this many war formations? Sure, it was likely to guarantee victory, but what if they focused on escape?
The immortal monarch’s eyes widened. He wanted to contact the Five Element Sect, but Sect Master Xia’s interference prevented his action. “Hurry, contact the sect and see if they are under attack!”
The Five Element Sect Master, Drifting Feather Sect Master, and grand elder of the Drifting Feather Sect Master felt their hearts plummet into their stomach after hearing his shout. However, they didn’t have time to communicate, as the Buzhou Immortal Sect’s war formation and the Cloud Goddess attacked.
Likewise, Emperor Begonia and his thirteen Golden Light Begonia Emperor War Formation met them head-on. After a brief clash, Emperor Begonia sneered. “Who are you trying to fool with that blustering aura? Those war formations are only at the half-sovereign level!”
Emperor Begonia's words brought a brief comfort, but not much. Although a half-sovereign sounded impressive, they didn’t possess half the strength of a true immortal sovereign. It was actually closer to twenty to thirty percent, but that didn’t matter to Monarch Fiveseal. He doubted his damaged war formation could even resist even a single direct attack.
Just as Monarch Fiveseal prepared to support the Golden Light Begonia Emperor War Formation from afar, the world changed. Brilliant beams of violet, gold and silver rained down, and before he knew it, the world changed—not figuratively, but literally.
The destroyed land of the Cloud Goddess Cult vanished, and they found themselves on verdant plains. From afar, Monarch Fiveseal even caught sight of forest and a city farther down. His first thought was that someone had used the Law of Space to teleport them, but unless the caster’s strength exceeded his targets by a huge margin, it was impossible to teleport them without warning. And if the caster had such strength, they wouldn’t need to teleport them somewhere far away. They likely possessed the strength to destroy the Anti-Heaven Alliance alone.
Perhaps the caster was someone friendly to them?
Monarch Fiveseal cast that thought aside soon after because he saw the war formations of the Buzhou Immortal Sect attacking them as if nothing had happened. After the first clash, Monarch Fiveseal felt a deepening pit in his stomach.
The world was hostile to them, literally.
War formations weren’t only powered by the cultivators that made it up, but also by absorbing the ambient spiritual qi around it. The more exquisite and profound a war formation was, the less cultivators needed to form it. This was because the war formation would draw the lacking energy from external sources. However, the spiritual qi of this world rejected them and even harmed them upon absorption.
Did they shift from the Huang Realm to another realm?
Monarch Fiveseal’s willpower faltered at the bleak situation. Only pure stubbornness kept him going and resisting. However, the foreign realm restricted the strength of the Anti-Heaven Alliance’s war formations while boosting the Buzhou Immortal Sect’s war formations.
Unknown to Monarch Fiveseal, he wasn’t the only one shocked by the change in scenery. The Cloud Goddess stared at her palms. She could see and feel the flow of faith within her body, but her connection to her believers and the flow of faith turned dim. If she fought against an immortal sovereign, no, even an immortal emperor would have a chance to destroy her current form. As a divinity, her means of resurrection were unmatched by immortals, but they were complicated, to say the least.
The Cloud Goddess stared at Xi Mengfei, who was standing above the battlefield. She looked down upon everything, seeming more divine than the actual divinity present.
Mengfei’s eyes narrowed as she saw a humanoid golden war formation with a single horn growing out of its forehead. Her figure disappeared from the air and reappeared in front of the formation. She swung her arm, a black crystalline sword materializing in her hand during the process.
A slash formed and bisected the Golden Light Begonia War Formation, separating its chest from its abdomen instantaneously.
Compared to her strength when she fought against Emperor Yanxu of the Numinous Sword Sect, it was like night and day. When Mengfei fought against him, she was still in the process of rapid growth after entering a new realm, but now, over a hundred years had passed. Her strength had naturally progressed beyond imagination.
The Golden Light Begonia Emperor War Formation disintegrated, revealing the true immortals and one immortal emperor, Emperor Soulfish. Mengfei ignored the fleeing true immortals and focused on Emperor Soulfish. “Last time you managed to escape, but you won’t be so lucky this time.”
Emperor Soulfish didn’t waste any words, and he turned around, attempting to escape. Before he could move far, his body froze in space.
Crack!
CRACK!!
CRACK!!!
The space around Emperor Soulfish fractured like a mirror, distorting his figure. The cracking sounds intensified, and so did the number of fractures and bits. It was evident that Mengfei could kill Emperor Soulfish as easily as killing a chicken. Still, he didn’t want to die meaningless like this. He still had someone he needed to protect.
Emperor Soulfish’s body split into tens of red fishes, each one bearing a horn on its head. They attempted to swim away from the spatial fractures—keyword, attempted. Though they attempted to swim away, they moved at a snail’s pace and could not escape the spatial fractures.
Mengfei narrowed her eyes, and the cracks multiplied, causing the space to look like a strange kaleidoscope of twisting and merging fish parts. The color dulled and directions reversed. She raised her hand and clenched her fist. The distortion shrunk until it was but a dot. Then, it disappeared altogether.
On a sparsely populated island on the endless seas, a brown-haired girl, who appeared in her teens, smelled a flower. She wasn’t the most beautiful woman, but she possessed a purity that few could match. Despite never having cultivated, her level of existence was comparable to a true immortal—sharing longevity with heaven and earth.
Without warning, a giant crystalline sword over a hundred meters long materialized in the sky and stabbed down. The brown-haired girl dropped the flower and fell onto her butt. She stared, wide-eyed, as the sword descended. When the crystalline sword disappeared, the girl stumbled back onto her feet and ran toward where the sword had stabbed.
“Qiu!” Chun shouted as she arrived at the mansion her friend had built.
Chun didn’t have much memories before meeting Qiu, but according to him, they had known each other for decades. However, she died and Qiu spent a long time reviving her. Since then, they had been living an idyllic life on the island.
No matter how much she called, Qiu never answered her. Chun spent days searching for the red-robed boy, but the result was the same. She collapsed and leaned against the walls of the mansion. The moonlight cascaded through the torn roof and illuminated her sullen form.
Chun perked up as she heard footsteps echoing in the hall. Her eyes lit up as she turned to face the source with excitement, but bewilderment appeared on her face as a white-robed figure emerged from the shadows.
“Who are you?”
