Li Qingshan burst out of the ocean alone, and an extremely magnificent scene unfolded right before him. The ocean was furious, the waves churning like cascading mountains. The sky was furious, the rain pouring and the thunder roaring. He felt utter delight and could not help but roar out, flapping his wings of wind and throwing himself into the storm.
Ji Changfeng controlled the gales and flew through the storm. His green robes and white hair fluttered in the air. He waved the Feilian flag from time to time, emitting a whistling gust of wind.
He was known as the Wind Gale King, but compared to the force of the entire storm, he was completely insignificant. However, he understood the nature of wind extremely well. During the past few days, he had been constantly tracking and observing the growth and expansion of the storm. Every single gust of wind he created struck a critical point, ingeniously changing the storm’s direction. It was only a matter of millimeters, but a few thousand kilometers out, that was the difference of several hundred kilometers.
Suddenly, he saw a figure flying over through the storm. Not only had the roaring storm failed to influence his speed, but it even made him more nimble instead, arriving right before him in the blink of an eye.
“You’re here!” Ji Changfeng gazed at Li Qingshan, quite surprised. Originally, he thought Li Qingshan was only paying him lip service when he said he would lend a hand. However, Li Qingshan’s ability to control wind had far exceeded his imagination.
“I’m here!” Li Qingshan nodded.
Ji Changfeng gave some slight guidance, and Li Qingshan understood how he could influence the storm. He opened his mouth and emitted a spout of wind that whistled over five kilometers away. It was no less effective than the gales Ji Changfeng’s Feilian flag produced. He even had a bit more control over it.
Daemons did not know many techniques like humans, but they possessed a natural advantage when it came to their grasp over their innate abilities. The tiger demon controlled wind like how the spirit turtle controlled water, and the tiger demon was at the fifth layer now, so it was even stronger than the spirit turtle.
“Nice!”
Ji Changfeng could not help but praise. Originally, he found it rather difficult to control the direction of the storm. He only went to great lengths for the sake of revenge. Now that he received some powerful assistance, he possessed utmost confidence. He guided Li Qingshan in greater detail through his soul sense.
“The same gust of wind as before, just a hundred a fifty meters to the south-east. Make it slice it along the circular flow of the storm…”
Ji Changfeng had lived on the South sea for a millennium after all, so he possessed a great understanding of the way storms operated. He also had his own set of views about the nature of wind.
Having received the Wind Gale King’s hand-to-hand guidance, Li Qingshan’s understanding of wind deepened. Wind is invisible, vast and unending, constantly on the flow. Its nature is vastly different from water and fire. Water primarily sinks, fire primarily rises, while wind primarily spins…
After breaking through to the fifth layer of the tiger demon, he had never found the time to consolidate his cultivation. He used this opportunity now to rapidly absorb and learn the information, constantly adjusting how he flapped the wings of wind. He felt like he had become wind itself, dancing through the world freely, completely untethered and untetherable. Once wind lost its freedom, then only demise awaited it.
Insufficient daemon qi had always been his greatest shortcoming. In the beginning, he would have to rest after using the Tiger Demon’s Breath for a while, but gradually, he learnt how to use this storm. He sucked in a deep breath, and the fierce wind flowed into his mouth before he blew it out again. It was an endless cycle.
The Tiger Demon’s Breath no longer came off as sharp as before either. Instead, it moved more to his will, like a long snake slithering through the storm.
Ji Changfeng personally witnessed Li Qingshan’s growth. He thought, This child’s future is limitless. It’s no wonder that he managed to make such a great name for himself in the south in such a short amount of time.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dragons of lightning struck the ocean, scattering a region of dancing, electric snakes. Blue light rippled under the torrential ocean. Gong Yuan led the merpeople and advanced with the storm along the turbulent flows of the ocean, adding a hint of splendour to the storm.
With enough might to swallow the world, the storm approached the north.
Between the sky and the sea, Ye Duanhai stood with his hands behind his back. The sea wind swept up his large cloak, and the ocean below began to surge. An expanse of black clouds in the horizon crawled over, rapidly amassing like a mountain and sweeping over like a blanket.
A streak of white light arrived. Yu Wufeng said, “Master!”
“You can return to the sword pavilion!” Ye Duanhai said without even looking back. This battle was extremely dangerous. Even as a great sword cultivator, he felt endangered.
“Wufeng is willing to enter battle with master!” Yu Wufeng disobeyed his master for once.
“Then come!” Ye Duanhai did not run his mouth. As sword cultivators, they each had their individial resolve and pride.
In the storm, Li Qingshan clasped his hands at Ye Duanhai from afar, turning around and calling out, “Xiao An!”
Xiao An immediately understood him. She took out the Blood Oath Scroll and gently drew her finger over a blood-red figure. The figure rapidly faded and vanished.
Yu Wufeng lightened up inside. With the invisible restraint gone, he experienced a whirlpool of emotions. He soon stabilised his feelings and saw the pathway to the third heavenly tribulation.
Before the storm could swallow them, the two of them rushed into the air on their swords and arrived above the clouds. Glancing out, the storm had not completely left the ocean just yet. They could not help but lament about the unbelievable might of the world.
The storm was already a one-in-a-century event, but spurred on by Ji Changfeng and Li Qingshan, it became even more powerful, sweeping straight towards the nine provinces.
On the shore of the South sea, the towering trees suddenly began to shiver. The fierce wind whistled over, growing more and more intense. The proud sun in the sky was gradually swallowed by the dark clouds. The entire world became dim, filled with the roaring of gales. Even the thunder seemed to lose their sound, only able to prove their existence through the constant flashes.
In the moment the storm arrived on the shore, thousands of colossal trees snapped, collapsed and were uprooted!
Li Qingshan used the Profound Light Illuminates All to gaze at Fire Melt mountain several thousand kilometers away. “Are you ready?”
On Fire Melt mountain, the three Fire Devouring Kings overlooked all the fire devourers. A fiery-red ribbon was tied to the head of every single fire devourer. This was the fire devourers’ mourning ceremony for their loved ones. The plague had killed over sixty percent of the fire devourers there. The more frail they were, the harder it was for them to avoid it.
Flames of anger burned in the eyes of every single fire devourer. Their red hair rose and rippled like torches. The ribbons made from stone cloth turned bright-red in the flames, just like fire!
“The Merfolk are coming.”
Zhu Yan sat on a fiery-red rock and said only that with his head lowered. What answered him were thousands of furious bellows, like the eruptions of thousands of volcanoes.
They did not need any further encouragement or motivation. Fury and hatred was the best fuel there was, making the hearts of every single fire devourer burn until they almost melted.
Zhu Yan covered his forehead with his hand. Between his fingers, his eyes burned like flames. All he saw were black clouds swallowing the horizon in the south, sweeping aside everything in its path and casting the shadow of war.
Zhu Fen let out a furious roar and leapt into the sky. He pointed the Fire Tablet of Heaven at the starry sky, and thousands of sparks rose up. They lit up as thousands of scarlet stars, and the sky became resplendent.
Zhu Zai patted Zhu Yan on the shoulder and flew down from Fire Melt mountain, dropping down on one knee and plunging the Fire Tablet of Earth into the ground.
Rumble. The ground shook violently.
Rumble! Every single volcano in the four hundred kilometers of Fire Melt mountain began to erupt. The ground cracked and lava flowed freely. There were even many new volcanoes being formed, destroying and swallowing the structures and reducing it to a burning sea of flames. For the sake of this battle, the fire devourers had already cast aside everything. They had the resolve to perish together with their enemy.
Only the main peak of Fire Melt mountain remained silent as if it was culminating in something…
Zhu Yan suddenly tightened his grip around the Fire Tablet of Man. A roar erupted from the volcano behind him, even drowning out the eruptions of all the other volcanoes. A huge, scarlet hand suddenly grabbed the edge of the crater, and soon afterwards, a colossal head that resembled a small mountain poked out, its simple facial features warped with fury. It climbed out of the crater, and its scarlet body stood sturdy like a mountain with two fire dragons coiled around it.
The fire devourers all knelt down in worship, chanting Zhurong’s name.
This was the giant god of fire that Li Qingshan had once fought, except it now possessed a much clearer face and an even larger body, as well as unprecedented intelligence, or perhaps better described as divine nature.
The giant god of fire opened its mouth and rolling flames surged out. Its chest heaved before it suddenly let out an earth-splitting roar, “Fight!”
“Fight!” The fire devourers all roared together.
Zhu Yan stood up and glanced deeply towards the south before turning around and entering the giant god of fire’s body.
Immediately, the giant god of fire’s face became even clearer, bearing some resemblance to Zhu Yan’s. Its body became even more consolidated as if it was alive. It leapt out of the crater and stood within the sea of flames.
At that moment, the sea of fire that spanned four hundred kilometers seemed to gather towards it. The two fire dragons emitted a great cry.
The storm swept over, obscuring the starry sky and swallowing Fire Melt mountain in a single gulp.
Between the mountainous clouds, the three Merfolk Kings led all the Merfolk warriors into assuming a battle formation, gathering all of their strength together. Under their urgings, the torrential rain turned into a turbulent flood, gushing towards Fire Melt mountain wave after wave and slamming against the protective formation!
Li Qingshan was also stunned by this sight. This was a legendary war between gods. As it seemed, it was not without reason that otherfolk were known as godfolk in the ancient times. Only a flood like that condensed from such tremendous power had a chance at taking down Fire Melt mountain.
No matter how vicious the storms of nature were, it was impossible for them to directly take down the royal court of the fire devourers. It could only suppress and destroy their natural advantage. The central force for taking down the mountain was the battle formation.
At this moment, he suddenly raised his head.
The scarlet stars twinkled through the thick clouds and rained down!
A meteor smashed an opening in the tall, mountainous cloud in its way with a long, fiery tail, rushing straight towards the battlefield. Thousands more meteors followed closely behind, obliterating the cloud.
Compared to the meteors seen on Giant Ship island, the meteor shower this time was at least ten times denser and more vicious! Indeed, last time was only a hurried sneak attack, and it had been carried out over the ocean. Meanwhile, the attack this time had been prepared a good while ago, unleashed under the geographic advantage of Fire Melt mountain.
A whip-like tornado whistled out, and the first meteor exploded in the sky.
