The voice was old and mighty, stern and strict, unscrupulous and leaving absolutely no room for defiance, yet it also bore a buddhist nature, striking reverence into the hearts of people.
Xiao An backed away, and her expression changed slightly. The Divine Nun of the South Sea brought her palms together. She had draped a worn-down kasaya over her before anyone had realised, which surged from her aura alone. Her figure suddenly seemed huge, no longer the same impoverished nun as before. Instead, she was someone that represented a certain existence, giving off supreme stateliness.
The techniques followed her words, but there were no streaks of light or fancy effects to be seen. However, the scarlet sun suddenly came to a halt, peeling away layer by layer from the outside. At the same time, the heat it gave off rapidly diminished.
By the time it had arrived three hundred meters above the battle formation, it had already been reduced to ten times the size of a regular meteor. It still continued onwards aggressively, but it no longer possessed the same horror as if it could crush and devastate everything.
A streak of light from a sword pierced through the air, and the scarlet sun exploded. The waves of heat rolled out into the surroundings and killed over a hundred Merfolk warriors, but it was not enough to destroy the entire battle formation.
“Amitābha,” the Divine Nun of the South Sea uttered the buddha’s name.
“Bald ass!” Zhu Fen cursed aloud.
“Nicely done, divine nun!” Li Qingshan could not help but praise. It was no wonder “granny” had sought the divine nun’s assistance at such an important time. No great cultivator could be underestimated, but that was even more so the case when it came to a great cultivator who willingly drifted through the world, accompanied by the destitute despite her great powers.
The Divine Nun of the South Sea was neither angered by the cursing nor delighted by the praise. Instead, she turned towards Xiao An. “The Dharmagupta-vinaya is the foundation of my school of vinaya. The school of vinaya is also known as the school of Dharmagupta-vinaya, which you already know. The school of vinaya has four major areas of study, which are the Dharma of Vinaya, the Body of Vinaya, the Conduct of Vinaya, and the Form of Vinaya. The Dharma of Vinaya is the first area of study, as well as the basics. As long as you practise this scripture and push the Dharma of Vinaya to the limit, then you can avert conflict and become impervious.”
“This buddhist disciple understands.” Xiao An brought her palms together and bowed. Although she was a buddhist disciple and not an apprentice of hers, she still referred to herself in a humble manner when receiving guidance from buddhist masters and her seniors, which the Divine Nun of the South Sea enjoyed very much. She did not continue either. Instead, she backed away even further with Xiao An. The attacks of the fire devourers had truly exceeded her expectations. She was not afraid of them, but she was afraid of Xiao An being harmed.
Xiao An originally wanted to use the Chant of Deva-Nāga to assist them in battle, but from so far away, even the Chant of Deva-Nāga was rendered mostly useless. As a result, all she could do was watch the show in peace. She thought to herself, It’s about time.
Zhu Fen became even more furious, but the Divine Nun of the South Sea was simply too far away. He could not get around Li Qingshan and the others to attack her.
“There’s no need to become so worked up, king Fen. All we have to do is stabilise the frontline. Let’s see how many times the old nun can block it!” Zhu Zai communicated. At the same time, she powered the Fire Tablet of Earth and the protective formation. The black smoke from thousands of volcanoes merged into the Fire Dragon of the Land, and its collapsing head rapidly recovered.
It took a tremendous amount of power for Zhu Fen to summon the scarlet sun. If they had been fighting anywhere else, then his battle prowess definitely would have taken a heavy toll, but this was Fire Melt mountain. The raging sea of flames rapidly replenished his energy, allowing him to summon the scarlet sun a second, a third time. Just the first scarlet sun was more than what the Divine Nun of the South Sea could avert even when she used her full strength, forcing her into a quick retreat to recover. Clearly, she could not last in a prolonged battle.
His scarlet sun still had a sizable impact too. Not every Merfolk warrior welcomed death with open arms. The scarlet sun might have been three hundred meters away from them towards the end, but covering that distance would have only taken the blink of an eye. Even if they were truly fearless of death, they would still be alarmed when a lethal attack was right above their heads. Combined with the intense pain like being burned alive, the entire Merfolk battle formation fell into disarray, and the flood that assaulted Fire Melt mountain scattered all over the place.
As a result, the protective formation that was on the verge of collapse lasted a bit longer, and with the depletion of their strength and the loss of Merfolk, their assault would only grow weaker with time, not stronger.
The giant god of fire was revitalised, rushing towards the battle formation. They did not need victory. All they needed to do was continue to wear them down, and the scales of victory would tilt towards them.
The storm whistled and slammed against Fire Melt mountain, but it could not extinguish the four hundred kilometers of flames.
“Defeat is certain for you!” Zhu Yan’s voice turned into a howl from the giant god of fire, and the spear of fire fell. The Fire Dragon of the Land lunged over while brandishing its claws and fangs, opening its mouth wide. The lightning and flames condensed into a sphere that tore through the air.
“Really?” Li Qingshan swung his blade to block the spear. “That’s exactly what I wanted to say. Why don’t you look behind you?”
Ye Duanhai merged with his sword and arrived behind the giant god of fire, about to strike when Zhu Fen flew over as a streak of scarlet light. Ye Duanhai turned around and slashed out. The Sword-splitting sword and the Fire Tablet of Heaven clashed, sending sparks flying. They instantly moved through over a hundred different positions, leaving blurs behind in the air, like their clones were clashing. For a moment, they were evenly matched.
At the same time, Gong Yuan managed to block the ball of fire and lightning, but she was still unable to prevent the repercussions from reaching the battle formation. Immediately, another several dozen Merfolk warriors died in battle, with countless more injured. The assault from the flood became even more scattered.
“That’s what you wanted me to see, Li Qingshan!” The giant god of fire’s spear turned into multiple blurs, dominating the battle firmly. The two fire dragons on it flew up and lunged straight towards the Merfolk battle formation. Ji Changfeng, who had just recovered slightly, waved the Feilian flag in a hurry to block it, but the two fire dragons avoided it all together. They split up and detoured around him, rushing through the battle formation and massacring the Merfolk.
“I’d like to see how you protect these ants!”
“I’m not talking about that behind, but even further behind!” Li Qingshan’s demonic armour collapsed as a consequence of the battle, revealing his devilishly handsome face that smiled away flagrantly.
A strange, green cloud appeared in the cloud layer directly north of Fire Melt mountain, rapidly moving against the wind. A huge, vicious ghost stood in the green cloud, which happened to be the Poison Assimilating Ghost King that the Myriad Poison Ancestor had transformed into. He balled his fists and slammed them against the protective formation, making it shake and hiss as it was eaten away.
Yu Wufeng, who had vanished before the battle, also appeared to the north of Fire Melt mountain. Beside him were the nine cave masters of Savage mountain, and in front of them were several hundred cannons. Their gaping barrels pointed at Fire Melt mountain, all lighting up.
These spiritual stone cannons were the spoils of battle that Li Qingshan had obtained in the Clear River prefecture. They had once achieved tremendous feats for him. They were specially used for attacking cities and seizing territory, but they could not really be used in regular battles. Not only did they consume tremendous amounts of spiritual stones, but they required prior preparation as well. The night roamers had stored them away the entire time. Today, they were finally put to use again.
Swinging the Fogbow sword, Ye Wufeng ordered, “Fire!”
Under the combined efforts of the ten cave masters, several hundred streaks of light whistled out, landing on the protective formation and producing ripples of light. Afterwards, they were immediately filled up with new spiritual stones, all high grade or even supreme grade spiritual stones. At a time like this, no one could care about wasting them anymore. If they lost this battle, Li Qingshan and Gong Yuan could still escape, but they would definitely be dead. They could even be regarded as rather fortunate to be able to launch an attack using these spiritual stone cannons. Only by conserving their own strength as much as possible could they increase their chances of survival.
“Myriad Poison Ancestor!?” Zhu Yan was both surprised and furious. There had been far too many unexpected enemies today. “We’re both honoured guests of the king’s estate, so why are you attacking us? Why!?”
The Myriad Poison Ancestor gave him no answer at all, burying his head in attacking the formation. Like the last straw that broke the camel’s back, the unstable protective formation finally reached its limit under the constant attacks of the Poison Assimilating Ghost King and the spiritual stone cannons.
There was an explosion, which rapidly turned into an earth-splitting rumble, releasing blinding light.
The light dispersed, and the four hundred kilometers of Fire Melt mountain were finally exposed before the storm. The rain poured down, falling onto the sea of fire and falling onto the fire devourers.
The protective formation lasting until now was not thanks to Zhu Zai’s strength alone. Instead, they had gathered the entire race of Fire Devouring Folk to contend against the merpeople, but now that the object they had been supporting the entire time had suddenly vanished, their crazed faces blanked out.
Under the sweeping of the wind, the sea of fire suddenly flared, but that was merely its last dance. The surging flood gushed over, rushing through the sea of fire in an unstoppable manner.
Fire and water encountered one another, leading to surging, white steam that filled the surroundings. For a moment, even the storm struggled to disperse it.
The three Merfolk Kings led by “granny” were all overjoyed. They did not know why the Myriad Poison Ancestor had suddenly assisted them, but they would never let this opportunity slip by. They called out, “Fire Melt mountain has already been breached! Now is the time to avenge our clansmen!”
The morale of the Merfolk warriors was revitalised. They allowed the fire dragon to continue with its rampage, but none of them wavered anymore. They only hoped to do just a little bit more before they were killed.
Li Qingshan could sense that it was not only their hatred that had been roused. A very powerful charm filled “granny’s” voice, completely unleashing the potential of the warriors while their minds wavered and were vulnerable. Before he could even lament about her viciousness, the giant god of fire launched a furious attack.
Tiger’s Fang’s blood-red light had already scattered, no longer enough to directly contend against the spear of fire. If it were not for the protection from the power of Ruin’s End, probably all of his flesh and blood would have been burned away again.
However, this was just the last flurry of rage!
In the sky, the torn-open cloud layer rapidly closed up again. The storm was far too great. Without the formation in its way, it freely unleashed its tremendous might of the world, suppressing the sea of fire.
On the ground, the flood swallowed fire mountains upon fire mountains, severing the black smoke. With every plume that vanished, the Fire Dragon of the Land shrank, producing cries as it refused to accept this situation. It no longer seemed so insolent and mighty anymore.
“Li Qingshan!” Zhu Fen let out a hysterical roar. He had a feeling that this was all because of Li Qingshan. The various cases of misfortune had all begun after he had appeared.
The giant god of fire charged towards Li Qingshan furiously against the storm.
“Oh no, he’s trying to take us down with him!” Li Qingshan’s heart sank, feeling lethal danger. He never expected Zhu Yan to possess such resolve given his identity and cultivation.
The giant god of fire was merged with terrifying energy. Once it was all instantaneously released, it would not just be Li Qingshan. Gong Yuan and the three Merfolk Kings would all face the danger of dying, while the Merfolk warriors went without saying. They would be immediately reduced to ash.
