170. Dragon Light
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As the gongs and horns of war rang through Sky Realm's skies, the confused Sky General reappeared somewhere else.
He was the Merman amongst the three Sky Generals, and was the third Sky General in the past who had worked with Immortal Jin, turning the tide against Bailong.
And now, not knowing where the War Deity's rendezvous point was, he reappeared in the Floral Palace and knelt, bowing to one of the Floral Elders.
He explained the meeting in full detail...
"If they have a plan I don't know about, then they might already suspect me! We must warn the Mistress!"
"Waste!" The Floral Elder waved a hand, sending him skidding painfully across the floor. "How could you give yourself away
"You -!" The Sky General glared up at the Floral Elder, but the Floral Elder narrowed his eyes.
"Hmm? Do you want to rebel?" The vision of a beautiful blood red bloom appeared to hover before the Sky General.
A firm reminder of his blood-flower oath with Zhurong Fen.
The Sky General swiftly got on his knees and bowed.
Then gritting his teeth he said,
"I don't dare! Please spare me!"
"Hmph. As long as you realize your place!" The bloom vanished and the Elder swivelled, walking away.
"Sky Realm is sealed, so we can't even reach the Mistress... Join the Border Defense and pray your stupidity doesn't lead to loss, or I'll crush your Blood-flower Petals myself!"
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Meanwhile, the Sky Soldiers were already tracking down the demons and slowly overwhelming them.
The Sky Soldiers swarmed the demons in highly coordinated attacks, using their vast numbers to tire them out or drain them, before dealing a killing blow with a Grand Immortal, or one of Bailong's formations.
A horde of demons had made their way into Central Sky Realm by now, but their paths were blocked by even more Sky soldiers and the War Deity who personally coordinated their attacks.
Here and there in the city, a flash of colour would erupt as one of Bailong's formations was put to use, either chaining the demon in place like the one Kai Zhen had used, or sending them into an endless void, or one which could slow the target's movement...
There was even a formation which affected the target's core, making their qi flow in disarray, and this left them vulnerable to weaker opponents.
As for the regular Immortals, they were swiftly being led into formations set up at intervals through out the City, and these formations teleported them right into Caoyang were no being under the heavens above thirty years old could ever breach!
Soon, the demon aura within Central Sky Realm began to dwindle.
The War deity stood high up in the sky, watching over the battle below.
As a member of the original 'Emperor's Circle', Old man Bao had naturally approached him.
But with different instructions...
Bailong (Luoyin) had sent him a personal letter, not urging him to help out in the Mortal Realm like the rest, but warning him to prepare for a sudden attack on Sky Realm.
"I suspect this *Cloaked Woman might make a move for the Sky Throne...!" The letter had read, and it also warned him that in the past thirty thousand years, the Cloaked Woman had likely taken steps to create an army of Universal tier demons...
(*This was before the found out Zhurong Fen's identity)
Since then, the War deity had resurrected most of the formation drawings Bailong had created during the civil war, infusing them with his aura and Old man Bao's aura to make them even more formidable.
In addition, Old man Bao had brought a batch of Luoyin's new talismans and formations, along with the strategies on how to tackle the Universal Tier demons, defend Central Sky Realm, and use Caoyang as a safety shield.
And as for the traitorous soldiers in their midst, they had secretly begun tracking anyone who had visited the Floral Realm multiple times within the past ten thousand years.
This tactic led to the Merman Sky General almost at once, and through him, it was only too easy to track his underlings.
They had secretly been eliminating the traitors long before the battle, while the Merman Sky General had been isolated and kept from all their plans.
"That fellow..." The War deity shook his head at present. "Even as a mortal, he is something else!"
But just when things seemed to be going in their favour...
There was a sudden burst of demon aura, and this was promptly followed by a massive explosion which instantly shattered its surroundings for a mile, the afterwave spreading even further for miles and miles.
This was instantly followed by another similar burst of demon aura and then the explosion which leveled its surroundings and spread over several miles.
There was a third burst and explosion.
And then another...
And another...
"Report!" A Sky Soldier appeared, linking his thumbs in a salute. "The demons within the City have begun self-destructing once we corner them! This is causing more damage than the soldiers can handle! We've already lost almost three hundred thousand soldiers from just those five explosions!
"The formations are also getting destroyed!"
The War deity fisted his hands. "Heartless! She would even destroy her own followers to win!"
His gaze swept downwards across the shattered districts of Central Sky Realm, where smoke and demonic residue still wove about, rising through the air like soulless wraiths.
Just one High Grand Immortal's self-destruction was rumoured to level mountains, so it was no surprise that five demons on a similar level had reduced Central Sky Realm to this state.
Bailong's formations were powerful, but they were built to capture, restrain, and suppress - not to withstand the suicidal destruction of such power demons.
And now the enemy had turned that weakness against them, spreading hopelessness and fear amongst the Sky Soldiers...
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Back in Yu Shui City, Zhurong Fen smirked.
"No matter what the War deity or that foolish brother of mine try to do, they won't succeed! Sky Realm will fall, the Mortal Realm will fall, and the world will be ruled by Yu Wang!"
She drew in a delighted breath and raised a hand.
"Unfortunately, I don't have time to toy with you anymore...
"So die for me!! Yin Xiaolong!!!!"
She squeezed her fist and the large block of ice hardened even further, crushing Luoyin within.
Large cracks began to appear across the surface of the hardened block, and soon, the ice shattered completely, along with Luoyin...
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Meanwhile, the chaos around the Arena had quietened, with the Mortals gone, and the immortals and demons fighting in other regions of the City.
At first glance, one might even believe no souls were present at the Arena...
But at the center of Luoyin's shield, Weiyan sat in the Lotus position, her eyes shut and two fingers raised in concentration.
Before her sat the Starlight Furnace which was now life-sized, and it hummed with a powerful aura,
Around her, Yinying and the Swallows sat in a circle, with Yan Lutian sitting right behind her.
All were meditating as well...
The dragon pearl within Weiyan suddenly flared, and in the next second an excruciating pain struck, causing a spray of blood to burst from her lips.
"My Lady!"
"Cousin!" Yinying and Yan Lutian called out.
'A-Yin!' Weiyan's eyes widened as the starlight furnace violently vibrated in place, flashing a dangerous red colour, and the pearl flared again, making it feel as if every one of her bones were being broken one after the other...
'No!' Weiyan gritted her teeth and hastily resumed her position.
This pain was nothing... In fact, she was grateful for it, because as long as the Dragon Pearl remained, then Luoyin surely had a breath of life!
"Continue!" Weiyan ordered as she cast a few hand seals.
'A-Yin! You must return...!'
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Back at the now frosted clearing, Zhurong Fen glared down at the shattered pieces of ice, so frozen that even the bright red blood had somehow vanished.
"Hmph. Such a gruesome death is exactly what you deserve for my endless years of failure!"
And with that, she swivelled, turning to walk away and find Yan Liwei.
But after just a few steps, Zhurong Fen halted on her own, her eyes slightly narrowed.
She had been so triggered by Zhang Luoyin's challenge that she had jumped into this one-sided duel without thinking much.
But now that she was calmer, she couldn't help feeling there was something wrong with her victory!
No matter what, the Yin Xiaolong she knew was indeed extremely clever...
Clever enough to acknowledge an opponent's strength, and certainly clever enough to know his own limits...
Even as the mortal 'Zhang Luoyin', he had only displayed the same level of wisdom and cunning so far, if not more.
So...
Did it make sense that such a person would challenge her so blatantly?
And even if he did...
By the time it became clear he couldn't win, he should have attempted to teleport away, or reverse-summon Old man Bao to himself, or reverse-summon himself away from here at least.
In fact, through out the fight, Zhang Luoyin hadn't used as many tricks as he was known for...
Which was the problem.
Knowing who Yin Xiaolong/Zhang Luoyin was, Zhurong Fen was fairly certain he would never be so foolish as to come here without some form of backup plan!
Her gaze darted around.
She had carefully watched during the fight to ensure there were no formation flags in sight, but her expression shifted as a faint glow spread beneath her feet.
'There's indeed a hidden formati-!'
"Too late." Luoyin's voice echoed around the city as the ground lit up beneath, revealing bright sea-blue lines and causing the chunks of ice on the ground to rattle.
Next thing, a suffocating pressure descended without warning, crashing down upon Zhurong Fen and nearly forcing her to her knees!
At the Arena, the lid of the Starlight Furnace burst open with a sharp crack, and a brilliant blue radiance surged out, engulfing the space before shooting straight into the heavens like a towering pillar.
Spirals of dazzling blue and gold light coiled around it, rising in elegant arcs, while the phantom of a colossal white dragon emerged, circling the pillar with an immense aura.
At the clearing, the pillar of light could be seen from afar, and Zhurong Fen watched in shock and horror as the dragon suddenly broke away. It roared silently, descending and tearing through the air as it flew directly toward her.
The spirals of blue and gold followed in its wake, twisting and weaving through the air like living threads, and as the dragon approached, its form shattered apart into countless blue will-o'-wisps which gathered and reshaped into the form of a human figure.
There was a blinding burst of light and Zhurong Fen instinctively raised her arm, shielding her eyes from the brilliance.
And by the time she raised her head, the light had cleared to reveal an utterly unharmed Luoyin hovering there.
Two fingers of his right hand were raised in a simple hand seal, calm and composed as ever, and his eyes slowly opened, revealing brilliant golden irises.
Zhurong Fen's brows drew together in disbelief as his hair slowly turned its original colour, the silvery white creeping from the roots outwards to the tips, and his tattered robes were replaced with a pristine set of elegant light blue robes.
"It can't be...!" Zhurong Fen shook her head, her voice trembling as she felt that all-too-familiar aura rolling off him, steadily filling the space.
"How are you still alive?!" She demanded, forcing herself upright as she resisted the crushing pressure, her expression full of fury and confusion.
"How are you an immortal again...??!!"
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