Chapter 439 ·The Great Battle to Seize the Pass
Chapter 439: The Great Battle to Seize the Pass
“Good, good, good. There is actually such a reckless fool in this world!”
Mo Buyun was overjoyed. He decisively transmitted his voice through divine sense, ordering the allied cultivators to change their target.
Slaying the Mirror Moon Sect's cultivator army was certainly a great merit, but how could it compare to slaying the Mirror Moon Dao Child?
On the Blood Fate Sect's Bounty Ranking, Mirror Moon Dao Child Chen Ziang ranked fourth, standing in the same tier as the peak Nascent Soul True Monarchs of the Earth Evolution Realm. Capturing or slaying him would earn three Grade-A Merits.
One had to know that a single Grade-A Merit could be exchanged for enough cultivation resources to allow an early-stage Nascent Soul True Monarch of the Blood Fate Sect to advance to the middle stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.
And three Grade-A Merits were enough to exchange for a ‘Blood Sea Baptism’, allowing a late-stage Nascent Soul True Monarch to enter the Blood Sea, comprehend the Dao, and break through their realm.
However, although this bounty was tempting, one still needed to be alive to claim it.
Mo Buyun was cautious by nature. After weighing his own strength, he naturally was unwilling to take risks lightly. Unfortunately, Chen Ziang was young and hot-blooded, actually daring to ride a flood dragon and charge through the pass alone.
Faced with such an opportunity delivered straight to his door, how could he possibly miss it?
“Very well!”
As soon as Mo Buyun's voice fell, the Blood Fate cultivators guarding the main pass of Severed Dragon Cliff immediately changed their techniques.
“Rumble!”
The cliff on the inner side of Severed Dragon Cliff's city wall surged with blood waves reaching the heavens. An altar founded upon the blood souls and corpses of millions of living beings emitted a buzzing sound.
This Blood-Transforming Pagoda Slaughtering Life Platform was a battlefield killing weapon meticulously crafted by the Blood Fate Sect. Its grade reached the fourth-grade middle tier, possessing multiple abilities such as Blood Sacrifice Replenishment, Slaughtering Blood into a Domain, and Myriad Souls Blood Explosion.
Unlike ordinary battlefield killing weapons, the might of the Blood-Transforming Pagoda Slaughtering Life Platform did not depend on the strength of the cultivators carrying it, but rather on the number of cultivators who fell and were blood-sacrificed on the battlefield. The more cultivators that fell and the higher their realms, the more formidable the might that the Slaughtering Life Platform could unleash.
The only flaw of this treasure was that it was far too sinister. It made no distinction between friend and foe, forcibly extracting the bodily blood essence of all fallen cultivators on the battlefield and storing it within the Blood Transformation Pool, condensing Pagoda Blood Fiend capable of killing Nascent Soul True Monarchs.
During the previous siege, the Blood Fate Sect had already slaughtered the cultivators within Severed Dragon Cliff's main pass once, allowing the Blood-Transforming Pagoda Slaughtering Life Platform to accumulate sufficient Pagoda Blood Fiend.
“Buzz!”
Under the control of the many Blood Fate Sect cultivators, the three blood pillars atop the Blood-Transforming Pagoda Slaughtering Life Platform trembled violently, shifting their target and locking onto Chen Beiwu riding toward them upon the flood dragon.
The next instant, an extremely condensed Pagoda Blood Fiend, no more than three feet in diameter, shot forth. Its speed was so fast that ordinary Nascent Soul True Monarchs could not even capture it.
Smelling the nauseating scent of blood fiend, Chen Beiwu's expression remained unchanged as he casually offered up the Heavenly Evolution Star Constellation Disc.
With Golden Egg, Iron Egg, Xuele, and Zhiling protecting him, there was no need for him to personally deal with the Pagoda Blood Fiend that corroded everything and polluted the spiritual mechanism of Heaven and Earth.
“Boom!”
Golden Egg activated the Three-Aspect Indestructible Mystical Ability and forcefully clashed with the Pagoda Blood Fiend in the most savage manner, shattering it.
However, the reason the Pagoda Blood Fiend was renowned and extremely difficult to deal with was precisely because of its terrifying corrosion, which was as difficult to sever as a parasite attached to the bones.
That was a power of blood fiend sufficient to cause the spiritual mechanism of Heaven and Earth to decay and extinguish all vitality.
“Zzz!”
As the Pagoda Blood Fiend exploded, the radiance of the scales covering Golden Egg's body trembled slightly, before they were rapidly corroded by the blood fiend. Drops of foul-smelling, viscous blood condensed out of thin air.
‘What strange blood fiend!’
Golden Egg's dragon pupils narrowed as it felt surprised.
What did indestructible mean?
Three lives sharing one existence, indestructible and undying.
Even a full-powered strike from a middle-stage Nascent Soul True Monarch would find it difficult to shake the formidable defense of the Three-Aspect Indestructible Mystical Ability.
Yet now, the Three-Aspect Indestructible Mystical Ability it had activated had actually been broken by the Pagoda Blood Fiend!
Instinct told Golden Egg that if it did not suppress the Pagoda Blood Fiend in time and allowed it to continue spreading, its overall combat strength would decrease by at least thirty percent.
‘Excellent, it actually didn't dodge?’
Seeing this scene, most of the doubts in Mo Buyun's heart vanished, and a smile appeared on his face.
Those who stay near vermilion become red, and those who stay near ink become black.
This Mirror Moon Dao Child was a reckless fool, and the three-headed flood dragon he rode was likewise a hard-headed fourth-realm Demon King, actually choosing to receive the Pagoda Blood Fiend head-on.
But that was perfect. Today was clearly destined for him to use the corpses of this man and dragon as the stepping stone to advance himself.
At the critical moment, Xuele took action, activating the Five Qi Life-Transforming Mystical Ability and striking Golden Egg's scales with one palm.
“Zzz!”
As a burst of bloody aura rose, the dragon scales covering Golden Egg's body immediately became as pristine as new, radiating a gilded radiance.
‘What kind of plant and wood demon spirit is this?’
Mo Buyun's divine sense locked onto Xuele, and stormy waves surged within his heart.
With his vision, he could naturally tell that this healing was not a matter of isolating or blocking the corrosion, but of completely purifying it!
And this meant that the Blood Fate Sect's vaunted Blood-Transforming Pagoda Slaughtering Life Platform was useless against the Mirror Moon Dao Child.
“No wonder he dares to charge the pass alone.”
Mo Buyun's eyes flickered, but he soon returned to calmness.
Severed Dragon Cliff had a full army of ten thousand cultivators, with him and True Monarch Red Dragon stationed there. No matter how strong Chen Ziang was, his only outcome would be retreating in defeat.
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
“Clang!”
On the other side, three thousand Red Sun Sect cultivators each performed their respective duties, their auras connected. Under the guidance of twelve Red Sun Generals, they simultaneously drew their bowstrings, pouring all the magical power within their bodies into the bows.
The twelve Red Sun Generals at the forefront had solemn expressions and synchronized movements as they simultaneously drew the Scorching Profound Bows.
“Red Sun Arrow Formation—Flame Refining the Nine Heavens!”
A thousand bows rang together, their sound like tearing silk!
Countless crimson streaks of light shot from the bows, connecting head to tail and condensing into a firestorm that blotted out the sky and sun.
Amidst the boundless firelight, twelve streaks of arrow light were the most scorching. Even the three thousand torrents of fire could not conceal their dazzling brilliance.
And the targets of these arrow lights were not Chen Beiwu, but the Mirror Moon Sect army that had been obstructed and restrained by the Six-Yin Clear Radiance Severed Dragon Absolute Formation.
Before the arrows even arrived, the vast Scarlet Sun intent capable of melting gold, refining iron, and burning everything already ravaged Heaven and Earth.
Wherever the firelight passed, space distorted. Even the Crescent Moon Dao Soldiers forming the army's momentum felt a chill in their hearts, while their faces burned with pain.
Without a doubt, this was the Red Sun Sect's secret inherited combined arrow formation, Flame Refining the Nine Heavens. It gathered the strength of twelve Golden Core True Persons and three thousand Red Sun Sect cultivators, fused formation arts with fire techniques, and caused every arrow released to possess power comparable to a Golden Core strike!
The twelve Flame Refining Arrows that controlled the arrow formation were even more powerful, comparable to a furious strike from an early-stage Nascent Soul True Monarch.
Without exaggeration, faced with this technique, even though the five hundred Crescent Moon Dao Soldiers were controlled by five Upper Moon Generals and could temporarily erupt with combat strength approaching that of a middle-stage Nascent Soul True Monarch, they still felt a wave of despair.
‘Damn it!’
Shu You did not sit around waiting for death. She wanted to command the Soul-Eating Beast to rescue them.
Jiang Yuyan and Yu Pan exchanged a glance and also prepared to act, intending to block the firestorm that could ignite everything.
Indeed, they could not stop those twelve Flame Refining Arrows, but they could at least block part of the firelight and save some of the sect's cultivators.
“Woof, woof, woof!”
Just then, barking sounded, and a black shadow shot out from behind Chen Beiwu.
Chen Beiwu did not turn his head and continued activating the Heavenly Evolution Star Constellation Disc. He trusted his contracted companion.
In the eyes of the Mirror Moon army, they saw only a black dog standing in midair, blocking their path and facing the sky-filling firestorm that burned everything.
The next instant, the Great Heavenly Pure Purgatory Aspect descended!
Iron Egg transformed into a God of Flames. Crimson-gold firelines continuously circulated behind it, while Great Heavenly Calamity Fire surged, stirring the momentum of Heaven and Earth's spiritual mechanism.
Within the calamity fire, a towering Dharma Aspect, a Heaven-Burying Fire Hound, suddenly took shape.
It was approximately ten thousand zhang tall, its enormous body composed of vaidurya, its fur dark gold in color and radiating an extreme temperature.
Its eyes were divine, martial, and domineering, like the great sun. Flowing flames formed a mane around its neck, moving with the spiritual mechanism of Heaven and Earth. The pressure of a fourth-realm Demon King that it emitted could swallow the Eight Wastes, making it the sole focus of the entire Heaven and Earth.
“Woof!”
Iron Egg did not become careless. After activating the Great Heavenly Pure Purgatory Aspect, it also fully circulated the Jade Clarity Thirty-Six Divisions Primordial Unity Immortal Art 《Crimson Radiance Nine Luminaries Swallowing Sun Nirvana Scripture》.
Using this Immortal Art as the guide and supplementing it with the Immortal Art Mystical Ability 【Swallowing Sun Nirvana】, Iron Egg commanded its Dharma Aspect, surging with imposing momentum as it directly charged toward the sky-filling firestorm.
‘Seeking death. It's merely a fire hound that has just entered the fourth realm, yet it dares to clash head-on with the Red Sun Arrow Formation.’
The hidden True Monarch Red Dragon sneered contemptuously, shifting his gaze away from Iron Egg and toward Chen Beiwu.
He had only one opportunity to launch a surprise attack and needed to find the perfect moment for a fatal strike.
That old undead Blood Origin True Monarch might be cowardly, but if he could force the Mirror Moon Dao Child to reveal his trump cards, he might not be unable to attempt killing him by force!
But at this moment, True Monarch Red Dragon's spiritual instinct trembled, and he instinctively looked toward Iron Egg.
“Boom!” Time seemed to stand still.
Under the incomprehensible gazes of the Red Sun Sect cultivators, the sky-filling firestorm was like a mud cow entering the sea, madly pouring into the Great Heavenly Pure Purgatory Aspect without even creating the slightest ripple.
No, something was wrong!
As the sky-filling firestorm disappeared, the aura of the Heaven-Burying Black Hound grew increasingly formidable, reaching the level of a late-stage Nascent Soul True Monarch. Even True Monarch Red Dragon felt an intense crisis of life and death.
“Not good!”
True Monarch Red Dragon's heart tightened. He abandoned his plan to ambush Chen Beiwu and instinctively formed hand seals. Even at the cost of exposing his whereabouts, he did not hesitate to cast the fourth-rank Mystical Ability 【Fire Bath Burns the Citadel】, enveloping the entire Severed Dragon Cliff and forming a crimson defensive barrier.
“Quickly activate the Six-Yin Clear Radiance Severed Dragon Absolute Formation for defense!”
True Monarch Red Dragon's divine-sense transmission sounded in Mo Buyun's heart.
Without a doubt, mobilizing the Six-Yin Clear Radiance Severed Dragon Absolute Formation for defense at this moment would undoubtedly reduce part of the great formation's might, allowing the Mirror Moon Sect army to break free of its restraints.
Although Mo Buyun did not understand True Monarch Red Dragon's intentions, he did not hesitate. He decisively offered up the formation flags and activated the great formation of Severed Dragon Cliff.
The next instant, Heaven and Earth underwent a drastic change.
The three thousand Red Sun Sect cultivators stared in horror, dumbfoundedly looking at the terrifying black hound that blotted out the sky and sun, their hearts filled with disbelief.
‘This... How is this possible!’
‘What kind of monster is this? It can even rebound the Red Sun Arrow Formation!’
It was not only the Red Sun Sect cultivators. Including Mo Buyun, all the cultivators of the three-sect allied army felt their hearts jump.
There was no other reason. As the Heaven-Burying Black Hound raised its head and howled toward the sky, a crimson-gold firestorm that enveloped Heaven and Earth descended with a thunderous crash.
That crimson-gold firestorm was almost identical to the Red Sun Arrow Formation unleashed by the Red Sun Sect cultivators. The only two differences were that its color had become crimson-gold and its might had skyrocketed, like the King of Hell descending to claim lives.
“Boom!”
The sky-filling firestorm crashed down.
Without giving the three-sect allied cultivators time to react, the corners of Chen Beiwu's mouth lifted slightly. The Heavenly Evolution Star Constellation Disc in his hand trembled faintly, drawing upon the radiance of the stars throughout Heaven and Earth and instantly seizing control of the Six-Yin Absolute Formation.
Yes, that was right. The Six-Yin Clear Radiance Severed Dragon Absolute Formation was a fourth-rank absolute formation laid down by the sect at Severed Dragon Cliff.
How could the sect's higher-ups possibly not have secretly prepared a contingency, leaving behind a method capable of casually destroying the formation, or even seizing control of it?
Of course, the cultivators of the Blood Fate Sect, Red Sun Sect, and Azure Spirit Sect most likely understood this as well.
It was simply that seizing control of a high-rank formation was not an easy matter. Not every fourth-rank upper-grade Mystical Formation Master could decipher the core of an absolute formation under the killing pressure of an army of more than ten thousand cultivators and activate the hidden contingency within the formation core.
Logically speaking, under the guard of the three-sect allied army, the Six-Yin Absolute Formation enveloping Severed Dragon Cliff could completely become an iron wall that the Mirror Moon cultivators could not cross. Even a fourth-rank supreme-grade Mystical Formation Master would find it difficult to activate the hidden contingency of the formation.
Taking a step back, even if an accident occurred, the three-sect allied army could also cut off the spiritual-mechanism supply of this absolute formation at any time, causing it to become paralyzed instantly.
Precisely because of this, when Mo Buyun discovered that the Six-Yin Absolute Formation was no longer under their control, his expression changed slightly. He immediately ordered the logistics cultivators to cut off the supply of spirit stones while simultaneously activating the fourth-rank upper-grade great formation deployed by the Blood Fate Sect.
“Six-Yin Absolute Dragon, Clear Radiance Locks the Moon!”
But Chen Beiwu was faster. With Xinxing's assistance, the formation hand seals he struck had already landed upon the Heavenly Evolution Star Constellation Disc.
“Boom!”
Within Severed Dragon Cliff, extreme cold descended.
Streak after streak of Six-Yin Fiend Radiance shot into the sky, breaking through True Monarch Red Dragon's Fire Bath Burns the Citadel and freezing the entire Severed Dragon Cliff.
“Kill!”
The Crescent Moon Dao Soldiers, whose restraints had been completely removed, activated their Mystical Abilities under the leadership of the Upper Moon Generals and continued their charge, intending to break through the main gate of Severed Dragon Cliff in one stroke.
“Azure Spirit cultivators, activate the Myriad Azure Everlasting Spirit Ancient Wall!”
At Mo Buyun's command, five thousand Azure Spirit Sect cultivators responded in unison, forming hand seals and striking them into the ground.
Rumble!
The earth trembled. Formation diagrams of azure-green color emerged one after another, rising from the ground along Severed Dragon Cliff's important defensive nodes and core formation-eye regions, forming a pale-azure barrier.
The Myriad Azure Everlasting Spirit Ancient Wall was the Azure Spirit Sect's pass-guarding Mystical Treasure, possessing the abilities of Endless Life, Transforming the Earth into a Forest, and Sealing the Myriad Mystical Arts.
Activated by five thousand Azure Spirit Sect cultivators, it could further manifest the Everlasting Spirit Ancient Wall, blocking and isolating attacks from the five elements.
The Azure Spirit Sect cultivators believed that with them guarding the pass, even if a peak Nascent Soul True Monarch took action, it would be difficult to break through the defense of the Myriad Azure Everlasting Spirit Ancient Wall.
However, the expansion speed of the Myriad Azure Everlasting Spirit Ancient Wall was far inferior to the combined assault of Chen Beiwu and Iron Egg.
With the Myriad Azure Everlasting Spirit Ancient Wall enveloping the area, the regions where the Azure Spirit Sect and Blood Fate Sect cultivators were located might remain safe, but the area where the Red Sun Sect cultivators were stationed was in dire straits.
“Boom!”
The sky-filling firestorm suddenly exploded and sprayed outward, falling upon the Severed Dragon Cliff city wall platforms and passageways.
A dozen or so Red Sun Sect Foundation Establishment cultivators joined forces to offer defensive spiritual artifacts, barely blocking a streak of firelight, only to be stained by drops of splattering sparks.
These sparks formed from the Great Heavenly Crimson Radiance Nirvana Fire seemed to possess a life of their own. They instantly followed the cultivators' circulating magical power through their meridians, expanding as they corroded, igniting their magical power and burning ever more fiercely.
In an instant, the rolling flames engulfed the dozen or so Foundation Establishment cultivators, burning them to nothing before continuing to expand and spread.
‘Damn it!’
Seeing this scene, the expressions of the twelve Red Sun Generals changed slightly. They cooperated with the three thousand sect cultivators to unleash the combined defensive Mystical Ability 【Red Sun Flame Aura】.
They could not concern themselves with those Red Sun Sect cultivators stationed separately on the outer perimeter and could only prioritize the overall situation.
“Red Sun forms the screen, Flame Aura forms the barrier!”
“Rise!”
As the cultivators' voices fell, a crimson barrier unfolded from above the heads of the three thousand cultivators like an enormous inverted bowl, isolating everything.
However, Iron Egg's Great Heavenly Crimson Radiance Nirvana Fire was different from ordinary true fire. The more fire it encountered, the stronger it became, and its might could burn the heavens and boil the seas.
In barely an instant, one Red Sun Sect cultivator after another discovered that the Fire-Attribute techniques they were so proud of had not only failed to protect them, but had instead become nourishment for the enemy's Mystical Ability, causing the might of the Red Sun Arrow Formation reflected by the black hound to grow increasingly formidable.
“No!”
“Save me!”
Amidst the panic, the Red Sun Sect cultivators' formation immediately scattered.
One Foundation Establishment cultivator after another had their eyes bulging with rage, only able to cry out half a sentence for survival before all turning into charred corpses and falling.
Seeing this scene, True Monarch Red Dragon was furious, but he could only decisively sacrifice one arm to save the other, striking more than a thousand sect cultivators away with one palm to prevent the flames from spreading.
There was no other way. That strange flame, which grew more vigorous when exposed to fire, was terrifying to the extreme. Even as a Nascent Soul True Monarch, he did not want to become contaminated by it in the slightest.
“Buzz!”
In merely a breath, by the time the Myriad Azure Everlasting Spirit Ancient Wall had completely closed, the three thousand Red Sun Sect cultivators atop Severed Dragon Cliff had suffered heavy casualties, with only a little over one thousand remaining.
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