At the center of this group was a black devilish ark that was several times larger than the flying carriages around it. Most of the ark was concealed within devilish Qi, but there were some devilish beings that were visible on the ark, and their auras suggested that they were far more powerful than the devilish beings on the flying carriages.
All of a sudden, an elderly voice rang out from the giant ark. "How long until we reach Cottonwood City? The united army's three Grand Ascension Stage beings are all absent, and I had to expend a massive price to return to the Spirit Realm without being detected by the Wood Tribe, so failure is not an option here!"
"At our current speed, we'll get to Cottonwood City in around half a month, Master Tun Tian," an extremely respectful male voice replied.
"That's too slow! Yuan Cha and the others may not be able to buy me that much time. Speed up and make sure we get to Cottonwood City within 10 days. The holy tree is far more important to the Wood Tribe than you can imagine, and if we destroy it, the Wood Tribe won't be able to protect their remaining territory any longer," the elderly voice commanded.
"But Master Tun Tian, this is already the fastest speed that the Crescent Moon Flying Carriages can travel at while remaining hidden. If we go any faster, we might not be able to avoid detection from the Wood Tribe," the male voice replied hesitantly.
"That's alright, the united army is already being forced into retreat, so it's gathering all of its forces. As long as we exercise some caution, there won't be any issues. Besides, even if we encounter any Wood Tribe spies, I'll make sure they don't manage to escape alive," the elderly voice chuckled coldly.
"In that case, I'll relay your orders to everyone right away, Master Tun Tian," the male voice replied in an elated manner.
Shortly thereafter, the devilish ark and all of the flying carriages tremored slightly before accelerating drastically, but at the same time, they began to emit a faint buzzing sound that made them a lot less stealthy and inconspicuous.
……
Seven days later, Han Li was meditating at the foot of the giant tree when his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he immediately opened his eyes, as did Cao Ji and Fei Xiaox, who were seated on either side of him.
The three of them then looked up in unison, and after the span of just a few breaths, something came hurtling toward them from afar.
Azure light flashed, and a streak of sword Qi that was several feet in length arrived.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly as he swept a hand toward the distance, and the streak of sword Qi circled around in the air above the valley before descending toward the massive tree.
Han Li made a grabbing motion, and a small azure sword projection appeared in his hand, within which was contained a white jade slip.
He rubbed his hands together, and the azure light instantly faded, leaving only the small jade slip behind.
Han Li picked up the jade slip before adhering it to his own forehead, then injected his spiritual sense into it.
Cao Ji and Fei Xiaoxi both turned toward him with serious expressions, and a short while later, Han Li removed the jade slip from his own forehead before tossing it toward Cao Ji.
"The devilish army will be entering the formation in two hours, and the formation's power will be fully activated in half a day with the aim of killing at least two-thirds of the devilish army."
After inspecting the contents of the jade slip, Cao Ji was quite elated, and he tossed the jade slip to Fei Xiaoxi as he said, "So the devilish army really did fall for it. If we really can deal them such a heavy blow, then even if we can't recover the lost territory, we'll at least be able to ensure that the devilish army won't be able to launch any further attacks in the near future."
"In that case, we'll just have to activate the power of the formation at the agreed time. Once all 36 points are activated, the fate of those devilish beings will be sealed!" Fei Xiaoxi also said with a smile after injecting her spiritual sense into the jade slip.
"Prior to the complete activation of the formation, we can't let anyone leave this place, so tell everyone to be on high alert," Han Li instructed.
"Yes, I'll relay that order right away and arrange some people to implement it," Cao Ji agreed.
Most of the troops in the formation core were Wood Tribe beings, so it was naturally only fit for him to issue the order.
"I'll go examine the restriction to see if there are any areas that require addressing," Fei Xiaoxi volunteered.
"Alright, thank you for your efforts, fellow daoists. I'll be staying here; make sure to inform me if you discover anything abnormal," Han Li replied with a nod.
Thus, Cao Ji and Fei Xiaoxi rose to their feet before flying away.
As for Han Li, he closed his eyes with a calm expression once again, seemingly completely unperturbed by the approaching devilish army.
……
Half a day later, a string of rumbling booms suddenly rang out as countless massive trees emerged within the area encompassed by the Wood Realm 36 Extremes Formation.
Each of these trees was as thick as a water tank, and they grew to over 1,000 feet tall in the blink of an eye, creating a boundless forest.
All of the devilish beings traveling through the air were instantly forced to plummet down onto the ground as soon as they entered the formation, regardless of whether they were using flying treasures or movement techniques.
Only those who were at or above the Spatial Tempering Stage could just barely remain hovering in mid-air, but the magic power this expended was several times that of what it normally was.
Devilish beings were generally very tough and hardy, so most of them survived the fall, but this still sent the devilish army into a panicked frenzy.
In contrast with the devilish army, the united army knew what to expect, and they were able to make composed descents as soon as the flight restriction appeared.
Within the forest, countless specks of green light flashed, and the united army instantly vanished.
Even the Body Integration Stage devilish lords were unable to sense even a single enemy in the forest with their enormous spiritual sense.
However, it was only in the next instant that the fearsome power of the formation began to make itself known.
First came a burst of indescribable energy fluctuations that suddenly began to spread from the center of the formation. The fluctuations quickly swept through all parts of the forest, and extremely pure wood-attribute spiritual Qi emerged before gushing into some particularly massive trees in a frenzy.
A loud rumbling boom rang out, and those massive trees suddenly were suddenly uprooted before transforming into wooden giants that were around 1,000 feet tall, all of which charged toward the devilish beings caught within the formation.
After absorbing some wood-attribute spiritual Qi, the other trees in the forest also grew at a rapid rate, and they either swept their branches toward the devilish beings or fell upon them as massive logs.
The devilish army was caught completely off guard, and they quickly suffered countless casualties.
However, there were also quite a large number of high-grade devilish beings who had entered the formation, and they immediately began to issue orders, urging everyone to adopt defensive formations to protect themselves.
Unfortunately for them, the formation's power far exceeded what was being displayed here. Almost as soon as the devilish army eradicated the wooden giants and nearby trees, gusts of fierce white winds suddenly swept through the air up above before forming a series of massive wind dragons that pounced toward the devilish beings down below with ferocious might.
Following the wind dragons, countless green leaves emerged out of thin air, then transformed into sharp blades that rained down in a torrential downpour.
Over 10 waves of different attacks were unleashed in succession, and in the wake of the carnage, the only devilish beings that remained were either extremely powerful themselves or were being protected by powerful high-grade devilish beings.
Even though the formation was extremely powerful, targeting so many devilish beings at once naturally expended an astonishing amount of energy.
Even with a vast number of spirit stones, spirit veins, and the pure spiritual power provided by the 36 backup holy trees, the formation was unable to unleash any further attacks and could only just barely trap the enemy as it slowly recovered its energy.
At the rate at which the formation was recovering, it would take at least half a day before it could unleash another wave of attacks.
As for the devilish beings outside the formation, all they saw was a flash of green light, following which an extremely thick green light barrier appeared before them, and they instantly lost contact with their brethren on the other side of the barrier.
These devilish beings naturally began to attack the light barrier in a fit of bewilderment, and they were confident that the barrier wouldn't be able to last for long in the face of their combined attacks.
However, right at this moment, countless giant light formations suddenly emerged in front of the light barrier amid a flash of white light.
Some of the high-grade devilish beings immediately identified these formations, and they hurriedly yelled, "Those are teleportation formations! Attack them!"
However, it was already too late.
White light flashed from the light formations, and countless troops from the united army appeared before immediately charging toward the remnants of the devilish army.
