With Devil Concord’s challenge ringing through the air, the shriveled old man frowned, but he soon spoke with a tranquil tone, “We will have the fight with the three great Heavenly South cultivators sooner or later. However, I must remain behind to direct the battle and cannot fight. I’ll have to trouble Sect Master Fang to occupy one of them. It should prove an easy task given that you’ve cultivated the Heavenflash Devil Arts to its peak stage and can take in the Heavenfiend Devil’s true Qi into your body.”
“Since I’ve already come to an agreement with you, I will be taking action. I also wish to test the abilities to the top Devil Dao cultivator in the Heavenly South.” The black-robed man spoke with a cold tone. With green light glowing from his eyes, black Qi began to slowly ascend from his body before he took off in the direction of Devil Concord. As for the scholarly man surnamed Zhong and the short man surnamed Bu, they wordlessly flew after him in streaks of silver and red light.
When the three great Heavenly South cultivators saw this, they hastily pursued them. The six of them then disappeared into the clouds without further trace of them.
Not long after, the color of the nearby sky began to chance in color. It turned from fire-red one moment to pitch-black, another with thunderous explosions echoing across the skies. Flashes of light would occasionally flash and illuminate the clouds.
As six late-Nascent Soul cultivators began to fight, the battle between the cultivator and spell warrior armies on the ground and lower sky unfolded.
However, it was vastly different from a battle between a small number of cultivators, when they would approach and strike one another when they were in range. Instead, both armies chanted various incantations and first activate various defensive formations around themselves, slowly raising a huge light barrier at the center of two armies, shrouding their main forces.
It was clear to see that the cultivators had finished setting up their defenses first. However, that doesn’t mean that the cultivator’s elemental Daoist techniques are superior to the spell warrior’s spirit techniques. This display of speed was only because a majority of defensive spell formations were made from formation tools.
With the initiative seized, Long Han — the commander of the Heavenly South Army — resolutely gave the order to begin the attack.
The first wave of attacks were to be launched by over ten rare far-range treasures, the huge gong Han Li saw earlier being one of them.
At that moment, the platform supporting the gong was already placed at the very front of the army division. It floated off the ground as if weighing nothing and stopped about a hundred meters in the air with eight large yellow-clothed men standing guard around it. As for the large man that had been sitting at its side, he was now stood at the gong’s side with a three meter tall iron hammer in his hand, his eyes still closed.
A short distance away, there were two men that were raising a twenty-meter-tall triangular banner that s.h.i.+ned with black light. There was a vivid and lifelike black flood dragon embroidered on top of it.
Farther away, there were nine red-clothed young women that were holding up a tray covered in red cloth that seemed to conceal something underneath. They were arranged in a strange formation as they gently floated in the air.
Among them were three embroidered-robed old men were each carrying a gourd half their height on their backs. They walked at the very front of their troop. These three groups were amongst the first to hear the order to attack.
The large man standing next to the copper gong suddenly opened his eyes. An aura of yellow light suddenly emitted from his body, and he swung the large hammer at the center of the gong as fiercely as he could. A blinding golden light glared for just a moment before disappearing. In the instant the golden light appeared, it had dissolved into specks of starlight before launching themselves towards the enemy. But just as soon as it flew about forty meters, the golden specks had turned into clouds of golden mist with a series of pops. The large man struck the bronze gong repeatedly, launching barrage after barrage of golden specks from the gong. The golden mist soon turned into a wave as it rushed towards the spell warriors.
The triangular black banner was wildly shaken by the two cultivators underneath it, releasing a black flood dragon out of seemingly nowhere. The flood dragon flew through the air, leaving behind threads of azure and black smoke from its mouth. Then with a fierce gust of wind, a black windstorm formed, blowing rock and sand all around it and preventing nearby cultivators from watching it.
The young red-clothed women simultaneously rested their hands on top of the large tray they were carrying and uttered pleasant incantations. In a flash of red light, nine brilliant red copper plates flew out from the tray and began to twirl around each other in the air.
They were all meter-long fire-red mirrors that s.h.i.+ned with spirit light. Countless fist-sized firebirds emerged from them, their bodies and mouths all burning with flame. With a series of clear cries, they shot towards the spell warrior army like arrows.
The three embroidered-robed old men stood in a triangle formation before taking out the giant gourds on their back. As soon as they were opened, a bone-piercing icy white Qi instantly spread to an area in front of it, covering it in a layer of frost. The frost quickly spread towards the spell warriors.
The strike from these exceptional treasures occurred at nearly the same time the spell warriors managed to raise their own spell formation barrier. Even under the shriveled old man’s command, their only option was to endure. In the following instant, the golden mist, the black winds, and the firebirds all struck the spell warrior barrier with their attacks, causing it to tremble.
When Long Han saw this, he immediately ordered for the second wave of attacks before the first wave of attacks was over.
These wave of large-scale attacks were conducted through the use of secret techniques by the joint efforts of each sect. Various colored beams of light and overflowing devilfire shot out from the cultivator army, striking the spell warrior army immediately after the first wave of attacks. These attacks struck true once more, relentlessly damaging the spell warriors’ defensive barrier.
The shriveled old man wore a gloomy expression on his face. He completely didn’t expect that the spell techniques would activate so slowly and leave the spell warrior army vulnerable. Under such vicious attacks, his spell warriors were suppressed — without the opportunity to withdraw or launch a counterattack. These fearsome large scale attacks were something that even a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn’t dare to receive without the protection of a spell formation. The shriveled old man turned to the black-robed woman at his side. “Madam Lu! It seems we will need you to use your huge beasts, else we won’t be able to hold our ground.”
The woman smiled and carelessly said, “Since our sect master has lent them to you, feel free to use them. There is no need to tell me personally.”
The shriveled old man nodded and immediately gave the order. A series of bellowing roars shook the skies, followed by the appearance of over ten huge silhouettes. They forcefully blocked the various attacks from hitting the spell warriors. These giant armored beasts immediately rushed in the direction of the cultivator army as soon as they appeared.
With their appearance, the cultivators split off their attacks with some of them attacking the beasts while others relentlessly attacked the spell warrior army. Several high grade spell warriors quickly flew out at that moment , taking advantage of the weakened a.s.sault. As they flew, they tossed several tens of various colored beads into the air and began to mutter an incantation.
An inconceivable scene occurred before them. A few of the beads directly bore into the ground and disappeared from sight while a few others resolved in the air while wrapped in azure light. There were also those that produced clear water, pulsed with dazzling light, and emitted raging flames.
Soon after, these beads transformed into the form of demon beasts, such as thirty-meter-long yellow pythons, twenty-meter-tall fire wolves, transparent azure rocs, blue demon tortoises covered in icy mist, and much more.
As soon as these demon beasts appeared, they followed after the huge armored beasts and charged straight towards the cultivator armies.
Because of the innate defenses of the huge beasts along with armor and defensive spells, they were able to continue their charge despite the battered conditions of their bodies.
As for the strange beasts following after them, they were on the brink of destruction. Although they possessed a fearsome aura, most of their bodies scattered after a single attack, turning them into specks of spirit light. With their form dissipated, the beads fell onto the ground, completely void of any spiritual Qi.
The high grade spell warriors didn’t seem to mind this in the slightest. They raised their arms once more and tossed out another batch of pellets. With another incantation, the strange beasts came to life and fearlessly charged forward. When this occurred, many cultivators appeared alarmed and drew more attention towards these beasts, reducing the number of attacks on the spell warrior barrier.
Long Han’s expression sank. He hastily thought to give orders, but he hesitated.
With this difficultly acquired opportunity, the shriveled old man gave the order to begin their spell technique a.s.sault. In an instant various-colored spirit lights glowed. As incantations were chanted, three-meter-wide fireb.a.l.l.s and icicles the size of trees began to form from thin air.
“Spirit technique spell formation!” When Long Han saw this, he muttered to himself. Knowing that he was incapable of suppressing their attack, he hastily sent a voice transmission. Suddenly, the rare treasures ceased their attacks and their owners hastily withdrew back into the ranks of their troops before returning back into the barrier.
At that same moment, over a thousand cultivators flew out from the barrier, each holding a meter tall formation flag. They quickly formed an astonis.h.i.+ngly huge spell formation in a quick shuffle. The formation flags were then thrown in the air, forming a layer of rainbow light above the cultivator army, providing an additional barrier against the Moulan attack.
At that moment, several hundreds of huge fireb.a.l.l.s and icicles struck down, enveloping their surroundings in waves of fire and mists of ice.
As for the huge beasts and the hollow demon beasts, they were already halfway to the cultivator army. Only the eight strongest of the huge beasts remained, and a majority of the second wave of hollow demon beasts had already been wiped out.
However, the demon beasts were completely fearless in the face of the vast cultivator army and continued their overbearing charge.