Rumble!

 Five fire-dragons enveloped Zu Huai’en in a sea of fire! At this moment, the scene resembled a movie, just like the Divine Flame Trap of Five Dragons from the Investiture of the Gods!

[1]

Swaths of purple fire lingered upon Zu Huai’en, caging the surrounding fifty meters into a flame sea.

The might of fire flooded the heavens. Zu Huai’en dared not hold the faintest carelessness, and his hands weaved seals at great speed. In a moment, a spiritual pressure of Earth that Xu Yangyi was all too familiar with exploded with a boom!

“Sure enough, it’s middle Foundation Establishment.” He didn’t have one trace of timidness in his heart, but was instead incredibly excited.

“Let me see… how do these monsters ‘Inside” compare to the Foundation Establishment Realm that I’ve experienced such hardship to reach!” His hands pinched, and he laughed coldly, “Congeal!”

“ROAR!!!” The five enormous dragons screamed loudly, their great maws all lunging forward!

“Heaven And Earth Everlasting, Universe-Borrowing Art!” Zu Huai’en laughed heartily, his hands already in the form of afterimages. In the next second, a tremendous boom rang out! Behind him, a wave of qi suddenly exploded! It was like a mountain, like a sea, green jade as a wash, forcibly dashing the five fire-dragons apart to Xu Yangyi’s surprise!

“Receive my move!” Amidst Zu Huai’en’s wild laughter, his left hand formed a seal, and the silhouette of a twenty-meter-tall giant floated into view behinds him. Soon, the giant flashed with red light and instantly sprouted three heads and six arms. One hand clutched onto a fire dragon, and the roar of an explosion immediately followed. The giant and the fire-dragon vanished without a trace!

However, at the same time the two abilities disappeared, a dazzling red light suddenly darted out from between the giant’s brows! It contained countless talismans and frantically rushed Xu Yangyi!

“Well met.” In the same vein, Xu Yangyi had his fill of laughter. This was Foundation Establishment, 

this

 was the Foundation Establishment realm!

No more was he like a Qi Condensation cultivator, struggling through life and death with punches and kicks. On the contrary, he could take a man’s head from a thousand li away!

If he saw this move ten years ago, he would’ve undoubtedly fell back into strategic withdrawal. The red light gushed forth, and the surrounding air hummed and shook! The clouds were all destroyed, vanishing away in a plume of smoke! Nonetheless, he wasn’t the slightest bit afraid right now!

Excitement was the mentality of power in the hands.

Expectation was the drive to eagerly try something.

He didn’t retreat, but rather lightly snapped his finger. The space around his body droned, and an orb of translucent azure qi exploded and safely protected him!

“So this is a defensive qi cover…” He looked around in satisfaction. “It’s not part of any divine ability. As long as one is Foundation Establishment, they possess this power. From here on… apart from heavy firepower, a Foundation Establishment cultivator is already practically invulnerable in this world.”

Swoosh!

 The ray of red light accurately fired into the light screen. Afterwards, like a spring sun turning to snowfall, both sides dissipated.

Two moves. Both of them made one move each, but victory or defeat was indistinguishable. And while their deadlock was merely this move, winds rose and clouds surged when viewed from down below! Great billows stormed forth with majestic power!

“This…” State-Magus looked at the sky in a daze. Currently, a sea of purple fire in the sky became a massive inferno! After Zu Huai’en scattered the flames to drift all around, they actually spread a hundred meters around the horizon!

Yet in the maelstrom of fire, a clear dividing line cleaved the nearby clouds apart. It was as if an invisible, sharp sword chopped out a breadth of the sky! 

“What kind of divine ability is this…?” At the side, State-Magus Cui was likewise staring with wide eyes and an open mouth. In his heart, shock, like a mountain’s collapse, even left one such as him unable to maintain his composure. 

Too terrible… 

The scene before him exceeded everything he understood regarding “qi”!

While the duo in the sky had barely made two moves, this battle today opened a whole-new door for those below. Divine abilities could be used this way; the so-called state-magi weren’t the highest summit at all!

“Master Xu…” Tian Guotao stared intently at the sky, his face carrying incomparable fanaticism. “

This

 is Master Xu’s true power… Strong… so strong! He’s so strong that I practically can’t believe this!”

“I 

must

 be faster, I have to cultivate even faster. Otherwise, Master Xu’s definitely going to abandon me!”

Yet at this time, the surroundings of District A-31 echoed the sound of humming engines. Closely afterwards, dozens of helicopters drew close, forming a black line at the horizon!

State-Magus Cui stared blankly but then ripped his cell phone out from his pocket. With terrible anxiety, he dialed a number!

On a silver-gray helicopter being guarded by all the other helicopters, a seventyish-year-old man looked at this cell phone and picked up.

“State-Magus Cui.” The old man’s voice, while not lost to anger, was still tranquil and imposing. “What in the world is going on over there?”

“Vice Premier…” State-Magus Cui clenched his teeth and looked to the sky. He wanted to speak, but couldn’t utter a word.

What is happening?

A question easily asked… yet what could he say to answer these three short words?

Should he say that someone was flying in front of them? Should he say that the situation in the sky was two spirit-masters fighting?

If he hadn’t witnessed the scene before him with his own eyes, he wouldn’t even believe it!

“Please don’t approach any further. The situation here… Use the satellites to take a look, and you’ll know, sir.”

The vice premier hung up the line and said without any pause, “Order all aircraft that they’re forbidden from advancing. Operate satellite Setting Sun-03 and monitor that region at once. I want a picture in ten minutes.”

“Yes!”

Ten minutes passed quite quickly. It hadn’t even taken ten minutes. In eight minutes, a tablet was delivered into the vice premier’s hand.

Three seconds later, the screen brightened. Even he, the vice premier, couldn’t prevent himself from sharply exhaling upon his first glance at the screen!

What was he looking at?

In the sky… spirit-masters were fighting?!

“No… are they… even spirit-masters?” He looked at the screen in shock. One was a young man, and the other… was State-Magus Zu! In the moment the duo attacked, the clouds in the vicinity quaked apart layer after layer! Unexpectedly, a massive 200-meter cave of clouds was forcibly struck out in the air! He could even imagine what kind of terrible landscape would occur if these divine abilities weren’t in the sky, but instead erupted on the ground!

“Head Chief?” a secretary besides him quickly asked and saw that his expression was odd. Afterwards, the secretary leaned her head forward and brushed an eye over the tablet. However, she didn’t get a clean look because he snapped the screen closed! 

He was reticent. At this moment, it could even be said that a tsunami of titanic proportions had surged up in the vice premier’s heart. Even if his self-restraint was greater, his hands couldn’t help but now shake.

He closed his eyes, and dreadful thoughts emerged in his mind.

If these two fought on the ground… what could be done?

Did the country… have other such terrible figures?

How many could deal with them? One regiment? Two regiments? Was there even one master who could handle the task?

What about stronger weapons? Artillery? Anti-tank cannons? No… artillery wouldn’t do… Even if they were high in the air, anyone could see that their might was even more wild and violent than artillery or even special artillery! In that case… what about cruise missiles?

As soon as this idea ascended, he felt it to be completely absurd.

Dealing with a spirit-master… by using a small-scale cruise missile?

Several seconds later, his eyes had already regained normality. He said in a low voice, “Increase the amount of soldiers…”

“Yes… huh?” His secretary took customary notes, but pushed on her glasses soon afterwards. “But… you have to notify Beifeng’s commanding district officer for that… This is Commanding Officer Cao’s administrative region…”

“Then inform them at once!” The vice premier turned his head back and said resolutely, his voice chopping nail and slicing iron. “Get a… No, immediately summon a regiment! Get the air force, a ground deployment isn’t required! I’ll report to the State Council straight away!”

Before his voice even fell, a domain of glorious azure light suddenly exploded over at his side. In shock, he cast his gaze to the sky. In reality, he was presently being followed by several state VIPs. All of their mouths hung open, and they saw in front of them in the air… the entire cloud bank was now no less than 200 meters in size! A resplendent azure twilight surfaced in the air!

It was like a billowing sea wave, massive like a towering mountain peak, revealed from layer after layer of white clouds. In front of them… it formed a shock wave-like cloud that resembled a small-scale missile!

No one spoke. The vice premier stared for a few seconds and dryly swallowed a mouthful of spittle. His voice was somewhat hoarse. “Meanwhile… evacuate all of Beifeng City’s residents.”

“Yes!”

This time, there wasn’t the least bit objection.

But all of a sudden, the roar of a tremendous beast was heard from the azure twilight! An expanse of red light, like the gaze of hell’s reaper, forcibly cut a passage open in the azure twilight. Subsequently, an endless red light leveled the area and sprang forth! In the sky… clouds were split apart, and hundreds of crimson flying swords hung suspended in the air!

Sword qi populated the air with the density of forests, glimmering throughout the nine firmaments! There were a thousand swords of qi! A thousand Swords of Damocles! They lingered high above the land!

“My god!!!” The vice premier’s pilot was gobsmacked, taking in the entire view in front of him. They were only 1,200 meters away from the battlefield! Their visual was crystal-clear!

Without saying more, the captain reacted and pulled the aircraft back as if he had gone insane!

The vice premier sat down despondently and took a deep breath. He looked at his secretary. “Thirty minutes.”

“In thirty minutes, orders to evacuate this region must go through all of Beifeng City!”

“Otherwise, you better get ready to be sent out.”

Thirty minutes later, military loudspeakers resonated through every nook and cranny of Beifeng City.

“Attention, please pay attention. Because an unforeseen incident has occurred, all residents are to immediately evacuate Beifeng City. Beifeng City’s airliners are all shut down. All residents please head to tollbooth entrances…”

“This is a joke, right?” At a school, a student was on sky platform. In his surroundings, countless people were already holding binoculars and cell phones towards District A-31 with great excitement.

The sound of camera-shutter clicks fell ceaselessly into the ear. This was the closest area to District A-31. They could even clearly see the azure-red brilliance on the horizon.

“Is it a UFO?”

“It’s visitors from outer space, right! It’s definitely space aliens!”

“Is this a supernatural phenomenon?”

“Well fuck, that’s a badass explosion! What the fuck is that thing! Fireworks?”

As the broadcast echoed, no one cared too much. Wasn’t this a joke? The north of Beifeng City was a strategic location. Baizhai City, the State of Shangchen’s capital, was only a city district away. How could this place be evacuated? Based on the old days, didn’t the city already have a setup under the river?

No one paid heed to the broadcast. Instead, they snapped pictures even more excitedly of the faraway sky of exploding azure light and red radiance.

A male student was eagerly taking pictures. After about a minute passed, he suddenly yelped out in surprise as he brought up his cell phone again. Yet he was not alone. Everyone around had discovered something wrong in that patch of the sky.

“No…” A female classmate really was a bit scared. She gazed at the sky foolishly. “This is a joke, right…”

“Dear god…” A male classmate beside her was likewise dumbfounded. Unexpectedly, the scene’s clamor strangely quieted down.

The sky above the crystallized mountain range… was black. As if it was splashed with ink… a pitch-black expanse. A schoolboy looked at his cell phone in amazement. He was certain that it was three in the afternoon right now.

Beifeng City. 15:00 hours. No wind. No rain.

Soon, a penetrating hiss resonated in everyone’s ears throughout all of Beifeng City!

  Spoiler 

1. Few things of note. I may have commented on this in the past, but

Investiture of the Gods 

was a big fantasy novel during the Ming Dynasty. I usually translate this as 

The Godseal Record

, or something of that variation. The Divine Flame Trap of Five Dragons is something also visually featured in video games you can see it through looking this up: 五龍神火罩.

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