“Vassal clan of the Linghu, Li Clan! Heaven And Earth Borrowing Art!” a woman’s voice echoed, and dozens of female cultivators ascended. In the air, their clothes shed away one after another, and they transformed into cuckoos that were several meters in size. All of them threaded their way out from their clothing!

With their cries, the tide of Linghu Clan cultivators below shockingly turned bright with blood-red light, the power of their charge increasing even more!

“Linghu Clan’s Dark Hall!”

“Linghu Clan’s Enforcement Division! KILL!!!”

“Vassal clan of the Linghu, Ye Clan! Follow me and charge!”

Wuooo… Wuooo… 

A low-pitched bugle horn sounded. The several-thousand-rider charge was like a quaking tide. With one glance, the scene seared itself into memory for all eternity!

Dark clouds loomed oppressively over cities, the gleam of armor shimmering like golden scales!

[1]

“Heavens…” Inside the Featherwood Guard, all of the Xingtian Legion’s cultivators watched the scene before them. All of them were dumbfounded.

Naive.

Their past selves had been too naive.

Even if they’d defeated the Screaming Wind Legion twice, and even if the Nalan Clan’s Reincarnation Puppet had fallen at their feet. They’d also heard that some holy maiden of the Nalan Clan had also been killed by Branchmaster Xu… and yet, they now knew what a true war of cultivators looked like.

Trembling hands tightly clutched at Spirit Accumulation Cannons, but instead calmed down. There was no retreat now! The Linghu Clan had encircled them like a tide, from the four reaches to the eight bounds. To fall back a step symbolized death!

Spirit cannons gathered motes of white light, but one cultivator came to a sudden realization.

There was no order!

Up to this moment… Branchmaster Xu still hadn’t relayed orders to defend! Only then did he seem to understand why there had just been a special order a while ago.

At the edge of the sky, the White Tiger Hall’s master palace was already colored red, illuminated by blazing fire all around. Nonetheless, not one of the ten-odd people inside the master hall spoke.

An old man in the middle, the Linghu Clan’s clan elder, was shakily clutching a talisman. “Ladies and gentlemen… wait…”

“Brace yourselves for another moment…”

“Chaofeng has already passed on information. In ten minutes, the Featherwood Guard will be certainly breached… When the time comes…” He tightly gripped the talisman in his fingers. “We can immediately use the Mass Transference Formation and phase-shift away. Our White Tiger Hall still has one last move! It can definitely hold fast to the Featherwood Guard!’

“Branch Master…” In the Featherwood Guard, Mo Yeyu’s eyes were already crimson. Everything before his eyes promised to sear itself in his memories forever. The endless horde of demon cultivators, various kinds of strange and bizarre siege artifacts, and streaks of qi that spanned across the horizon. However, why hadn’t Xu Yangyi attacked yet?! 

Everyone looked to Xu Yangyi, but he said nothing. Events had already come to this, arrived at his last step. In the same vein, the demon slayer’s eyes were reddened.

His spiritual sense was fully unleashed, seemingly searching for something. In short time, a rumbling explosion came from a corner of the Taiyi Everlasting Array!

It was a hole, no less than a meter in size. Without missing a beat, countless booms rang out, and black light splattered through the air! In an instant, numerous holes exploded on the entire array!

Swoosh… 

An enormous eye happened to glance over a hole. Soon, a furious sky-shaking roar thundered straight at them!

“Roaaar…” Within the sealed space, an angry howl reverberated, causing numerous peoples’ clothes to kick up. The Taiyi Everlasting Array stood at the peak of crisis!

Yet Xu Yangyi was still pinching the Eight Trigrams between his fingers! He wasn’t alarmed, but rather a bloodthirsty smile perked up at the corner of his mouth.

“You’ve taken the bait…”

“All of you… have finally taken the bait!”

“

This 

is the Xingtian Legion’s first battle against another power, but it also quite likely… the ending battle over the heavenly paradise!”

“Pass on my command!” He whipped his head around, his eyes like fire. “Have all cultivators head underground!”

Everyone stared blankly.

Why?

Although they could evade this calamity by going below… then what was the significance of all the previous attacks and defenses?

Hiding was the most sensible choice, but no one could bear this scorching humiliation!

“Didn’t you hear what I said?” Xu Yangyi glared daggers at the crowd. “I don’t have the effort to explain it to all of you. Go straightaway, right now!” No one moved. He closed his eyes. As he opened them, there was already an extra item in his hand. “I’ll say it again.” The blue light in his hand was like a tidal wave, as if it was a flower in full bloom. “If you don’t leave, then just die here.”

At some unknown time, Li Zongyuan had ran out, his complexion an earthy color. Upon seeing 

that

 object, his lips began to quiver.

But for everyone else, as they took in the view of the item in Xu Yangyi’s, they were hardly able to believe their eyes!

“That’s… T-T-T-That’s…” Lord Zhao’s voice fell into disarray, thick with confusion. In this moment, he forgot about the siege, forgot about Xu Yangyi’s order. He merely fixed his eyes on the item before him.

“Fuck… me…” Chu Zhaonan said nothing either, only bluntly expressing what he now wanted to do.

“My god…” Luo Sanfeng, Qin Xueluan, Mo Yeyu, Jun Man, Xuan Chengzi, Quan Ningyue, and Gao Ye all spoke out in unison.

Only Xuan Chengzi was somewhat unperturbed, sluggishly gazing at the object. “That’s… a Core Formation demon core…”

Yes… this was Jadewave’s origin crystal!!!

In this moment, everyone present understood Xu Yangyi’s idea! He wanted to detonate Jadewave’s origin crystal, thus destroying 3,000 people with one core!

Within and beyond the walls of the Featherwood Guard… corpses were doomed to lay strewn throughout the plains, blood flowing to form rivers!

Lord Zhao and Xuan Chengzi considered the issue a level deeper. If the plan merely ended here, then Xu Yangyi could’ve just acted when the Linghu Clan had sealed away the world. Why had he waited for this opportunity now to take out the origin crystal?

“Opportunity… opportunity…” Lord Zhao’s gaze twinkled. Afterwards, he stood up with a pale face, his lips trembling uncontrollably. It was not much less than in comparison to Li Zongyuan.

Five seconds later, Chu Zhaonan broke into a shiver, and his mouth opened wide. He looked at Xu Yangyi incredulously!

Indeed… opportunity!

For this opportunity!

“The Linghu Clan and the White Tiger Hall are definitely in contact.” Xu Yangyi looked at everyone and said indifferently, “I’m going to make the White Tiger Hall see that the Xingtian Legion can only be destroyed after its exhausted all its strength.”

Why?

This was no plan to make the enemy wary of attacking, so innocents wouldn’t be harmed! It was to tell everyone that this was the Xingtian Legion’s last move!

And after this move… the Xingtian Legion’s command plate ready for the taking!

Xu Yangyi’s strategy of revealing weakness before the enemy had been employed to the utmost. However… Chu Zhaonan and Lord Zhao both knew that a fiend was still hiding underneath the Xingtian Legion!

A true fiend!

The Demonheart Seed Magik!

The White Tiger Hall was certain to recklessly hurry over for an easily obtained command plate… This was their asset to continue the game. If the Linghu Clan came, the other three clans were all sure to rush over as well!

The command plates of the White Tiger Hall and the Xingtian Legion were both right before their eyes, the allure of the heavenly paradise! They couldn’t 

not

 come!

And then… 

Fireworks… 

Thump… 

Lord Zhao’s legs finally went weak and he sat down. Speech failed him. For the first time, he looked at Xu Yangyi with total respect.

This was too insane… but it really would work!

What kind of thoughts and considerations could plan the gamble of such a grand wager?

No… from the start, the Xingtian Legion had always been playing weak. Then that wasn’t to say… 

“You… since the beginning…” Chu Zhaonan’s throat was somewhat sore, and he looked at Xu Yangyi with rounded eyes. “You’ve been planning all of this?”

Xu Yangyi looked beyond the cover of spiritual light, and his gaze chilled. He immediately followed with laughter, “Not completely… This is war. How to reach this step was only a general plan. There were a lot of unexpected variables that happened in between. It wasn’t until now that calculations were more or less completed.”

As the only three people aware of the situation, Lord Zhao was reticent and Chu Zhaonan stared long and hard at Xu Yangyi. Was something like this even human? Xu Yangyi had perfectly used all the resources at his disposal! If his plan truly succeeded… then when the three other clans came… 

When kings came to visit it was a day of blooming fireworks. 

At that time, this plan of utter perfection… would only leave one power left in the heavenly paradise! All of Longsu Province would be under Xu Yangyi’s control!

“Old… I’ve gotten old…” After a few seconds, Lord Zhao let loose a deep sigh, “As Lian Po himself was old… I truly didn’t expect that not only was the Taiyi Everlasting Array bait… but even a core’s explosion to kill those three thousand people outside was one as well… The goal is to have the four clans at the horizon see, and tell them we don’t have anymore battle power… To place our command plate before their eyes… and wait for them to come take it. 

They

 are your goal…”

[2]

“Layer after layer of deep penetration, layer after layer of enticement… Amazing, truly amazing… This old man concedes defeat.”

“Amazing.” For the first time, Chu Zhaonan expressed heartfelt admiration to Xu Yangyi and gave him a thumbs up. “You got a big heart, and so is your courage is great. You’re too ruthless; I can’t compare.”

“Then hurry up and go.” Xu Yangyi said to everyone in front of him. “Brother Chu, you stay behind.”

There was nothing else to say. Chu Zhaonan licked his lips. Likewise, he could even be counted as convinced by this grand plan.

He could pretty much guess what Xu Yangyi needed him to do… Jadewave’s origin crystal only lacked a person capable of shooting it. And he, was no doubt the best candidate. Upon musing that he was able to participate in such a blood-boiling scheme, he felt his hands itch.

In the outside world, the screen of black light was shaking on the edge of collapse, but it hadn’t scattered.

“How much longer?!” Linghu Chaofeng shouted to Linghu Qian.

“Three minutes!” Presently, Linghu Qian was also dripping with sweat and gritted out, “The formation’s next defense will come in three minutes!”

Three minutes… 

Linghu Chaofeng’s eyes were completely red, and his gaze wandered over to the distant White Tiger Hall in the sky. Under the attack of three artifact spirits, the white tiger manifestation was already riddled with wounds and scars. He knew that the Linghu Clan’s life and death completely rested on him! Compared to him, time hung even heavier for the people inside!

Now, before his eyes, this nameless grand array was also on the verge of breaking! Already, there were thousands of holes and marks on it. Endless white qi gushed out from under the cover of black light and shot straight out for dozens of meters. The formation base of the array had been damaged and was slowly disappearing.

Nonetheless… he couldn’t afford to wait for this “slowly”!

“By my name of Linghu Chaofeng.” After his chest violently heaved up and down, he suddenly crouched down and bit into his palm, his teeth even tearing his flesh into pulp. Blood flowed steadily, and he exerted every fiber of his being to draw a strange formation. “With my essence as sacrifice, my blood as guide… the spirit harmonizes with my body…”

“Young Clan Elder!”

“Young Clan Elder, you can’t!”

Some people quickly cried out in alarm!

“BACK OFF!!!” Linghu Chaofeng shook his comrades away, his eyes consumed by scarlet. “Every second is vital… but have you broken down the grand array?!”

“Spirit Harmonization!!!”

As his roar of anger followed, the seed spirit artifact in the sky glanced down below. Very soon… Linghu Chaofeng’s arm soared up! The cut was as smooth as a mirror. The white tiger devoured the arm! In the air, it chewed on the limb, causing droplets of blood to splatter everywhere!

“ROAR!!!” After the spirit swallowed the arm, its bulk swelled up as if it had been inflated! At the beginning it was still 200 meters, but now it had already expanded to around 400 to 500 meters!

A thunderous howl rang out. Shortly, it opened its mouth for the first time.

“Twisted Immortal Cannon…” Linghu Chaofeng’s blood-ridden eyes looked to the Featherwood Guard. “

This

 will crush your last straw to death…”

1. This is a poem by Tang poet Li He (790-816 CE).

2. “As Lian Po himself was old - 廉頗老矣” Lian Po (327-243 BCE) was a famous general of Zhao. He eventually went over to the State of Wei because the King of Zhao started to distrust him. This phrase originates from a minister visiting Lian Po once he had relocated to Wei. The king wanted to see if Lian Po could still fight as a general. This phrase is used to describe that while Lian Po is old, he still wants to fight.

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