When experts clashed, a millimeter was enough to determine victory and defeat.
Ye Zichen heard that crisp shout too. He didn’t know who’d called out to Gu Li, but the instant Gu Li froze, Ye Zichen saw that this was a once in a lifetime chance.
The Xuan-Yuan Sword instantly appeared in his hand, its holy golden sword light surging at Gu Li like a wave.
Danger!
Fortunately for Gu Li, he too had been through countless battles both big and small. The instant the Xuan-Yuan Sword’s light flew towards him, he sensed a threat. His scalp went numb, and his hair stood on end.
He pushed with his remaining hand, and just as the golden light was about to swallow him up, a pitch-black sword landed in his palm.
Boom!
The collision was deafening, the sound reverberating throughout the mountain. All of Gu Li’s allied experts – Demon Emperor Kui Lin, the Special Emissaries of the Left and Right, the Kings of the South and West – were visibly frantic.
But to Ye Zichen and his allies, the sound was like a signal to start their counterattack.
“Kill!” Hu Bazi stood in the skies and roared. The forces of the Profound Pavilion and Upheaval Alliance didn’t hesitate; they charged, slaughtering their way in the enemy.
Yang Jian and the other imperial-level experts, meanwhile, were busy handling the King of the South and the other top enemy experts.
“Don’t try anything funny.” Just as the Demon Emperor was about to check on Gu Li’s condition, a cold presence locked onto him, making him freeze involuntarily. When he turned around, he saw Su Yiyun grinning coldly at him, his body emanating dark purple energy. It looked almost like demonic miasma.
A similar energy lingered around Demon Emperor Kui Lin.
“The new Emperor Hades!”
“You’re that disciple who disappointed my master for ten thousand years,” said Su Yiyun, his eyes flashing with cold light. “You hurt him so badly, yet he couldn’t bear to cleanse the sect of your filth. Now, I’ll just have to do it in his stead.”
“With just you?” Kui Lin sneered.
“I won’t know until I try.” As he spoke, Su Yiyun seemed to grow dozens of arms. It was as if all of the sky was his plaything. Wave after wave of ripples coursed through the air, stirring up the sky.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. By the time Kui Lin realized what was happening…
He was already in a massive formation of heavenly flames.
“Go on, enjoy the burn of heavenly flames!”
Meanwhile, the shockwaves generated by clashing with Gu Li’s sword lingered, stubbornly refusing to fade. By now, neither the demons nor their allied yao had any time to concern themselves with Gu Li’s life and death. They clearly held the advantage in numbers, and yet, they couldn’t squeeze up enough manpower for the job.
“My children, kill for me!” shouted the Great Sage, plucking hairs and scattering them.
“You little bastards, I’m going to cut you up! Just try and stop me!”
….
Up in the air, the imperial-level experts were locked in bitter combat. Ye Zichen seized the opportunity to slip his hand into his pocket and toss a little black treasure pagoda into the sky.
It instantly expanded, growing tall enough to pierce the very clouds themselves.
“Gather!” An enormous suction immediately appeared at the base of the pagoda, sucking Su Yan and the other captives inside.
“Foolish!” Suddenly, a streak of pitch-black sword light shot out of the area obscured by the powerful collision.
Clang!
Ye Zichen held the Xuan-Yuan Sword horizontally, guarding his chest and blocking that dark light. At the same time, Ye Zichen saw a figure hurtling towards Su Yan at top speed.
“Sword Slash Maelstrom!”
He slashed the still horizontal sword.
The instant he did so, countless miniature copies of it appeared in the air. One, two, three…. In just a breath of time, the air around Ye Zichen was filled with too many illusory swords to count with the naked eye.
He pointed the true holy blade, and every last sword shadow short towards his target.
To prevent the shockwaves from hurting Su Yan, Keke, and the other captives, Ye Zichen stretched out his hand and created an energy barrier around them.
Sword energy burst with a mighty boom. Gu Li, who was right at the center of the blast, was left with heavy injuries.
Ye Zichen couldn’t possibly give him the opportunity to recover. He launched himself towards the ground and flung the Xuan-Yuan Sword with all his might. It landed, lodging itself in the earth right beside Gu Li. However, Ye Zichen arrived shortly after. He drew his sword, then pressed it to Gu Li’s throat.
“If you don’t want him to die, stop, all of you!”
Actually, Gu Li’s cultivation wasn’t all that high.
His wanton arrogance came from his subordinates. Without the Special Emissaries of the Left and Right to protect him, taking him captive wasn’t particularly difficult.
Ye Zichen had created an arm of pure divine power to replace his missing one. It currently had Gu Li by the throat.
Gu Li’s black robes had been torn to shreds by now, especially on his back, displaying several wounds so deep, even his bones were visible. His injuries were terrifyingly severe.
Gu Li’s allies, both demon and yao, froze. No one would have guessed that Gu Li and Ye Zichen’s duel would end so quickly, but it seemed Gu Li had already been captured. His allies dared not attack recklessly. Instead, they fearfully retreated.
“Ye-zi.” Yang Jian and the Great Sage landed too. When he saw the captured Gu Li, the Great Sage raised his staff as if to crush his head in.
“Monkey, you’d better not….” Yang Jian hurriedly pulled him back. “If your staff lands, you’ll shatter his skull.”
“Leaving someone like him alive will only bring trouble. Better to just kill him and be done with it,” snorted the Great Sage.
Although he’d been captured, and although his face was pallid, he laughed in disdain. Seeing this only pissed the Great Sage off even more, but Gu Li didn’t seem to care in the slightest. Although his breathing was shallow, his jeers were still rife with mockery. “If you’ve got balls, go ahead and kill me. If I die, none of you will leave this place alive!”
“Gu Li.” Suddenly, a trembling voice emanated from above.
“Don’t go over there! It’s too dangerous!”
Two women floated in the skies over the ruins of the fox clan’s back mountain. One was Xiao Yumei, while the other was the girl Ye Zichen had bumped into on his way back from the Outside: An Lu.
They were here primarily because An Lu requested it. That worked for Xiao Yumei; she was worried about the situation here too, so they decided to go together. After delegating the alliance’s affairs, they both rushed over.
An Lu was struggling relentlessly in an attempt to reach the front lines, but Xiao Yumei was holding onto her tightly, preventing her from doing anything foolish.
After repeatedly struggling but failing to break free, An Lu could only watch helplessly as Ye Zichen’s attack swallowed Gu Li up.
Crystal-like tears dripped, one after another, down her cheeks.
But at that moment, something boomed in the skies. Xiao Yumei squinted and stretched out her divine sense. She immediately picked up on a vast army, at least ten million strong, rushing in from the surrounding areas.
Based on their auras, every last one of these new arrivals was a yao expert.
Even more terrifying, several of these presences made even Xiao Yumei feel suffocating pressure.
“Zichen, there are experts here!” Worried, Xiao Yumei sent him a divine sense transmission.
Ye Zichen froze. He, too, sensed the space shaking violently around them. The kings of the Southern and Western Kingdom had already led almost their entire armies here. Could these be the troops they’d left behind to hold down the fort?
