Book 18, Pure Yang, Chapter 36 – The War Changes
Sword Immortal Evergreen paid no attention to the Xia Emperor’s furious roar at all. His eyes flashed with red light; clearly, he had gone berserk. “I, Evergreen, have waited for so many years…and this day shall be my most glorious, most dazzling moment.” He fully released all of his hidden power, and the Immortal swords he controlled transformed into three streaks of azure-black sword-light that pierced through the skies.
“No!”
“Sword Immortal Evergreen…”
“Spy!”
“Traitor!”
The five Heaven Punishers felt completely despair.
They were already in a dangerous situation, having suffered a group a.s.sault by the forces of the Seamless Gate; that was the reason why the Xia Emperor had sent Sword Immortal Evergreen and Fairy Snowdance to reinforce them. If they hadn’t, the five Heaven Punishers wouldn’t have been able to hold on for much longer. Sword Immortal Evergreen had slain Fairy Snowdance, then unleashed an attack that wasn’t one whit inferior to the attacks of True Immortal Whitepole or the Xia Emperor. This terrifying attack was not meant to reinforce them…it was meant to kill them.
How could the five Heaven Punishers possibly resist?
Slas.h.!.+ Boom! Swis.h.!.+
Under repeated a.s.saults from Sword Immortal Evergreen, Zhuyan Apes, White-Faced Flood Dragons, and Empyrean G.o.d golems…the five Heaven Punishers instantly were shattered into tiny pieces.
The local battlefield, which held 30% of the forces of each side, had just changed dramatically!
The walls of the Seamless City.
Daofather Ink Bamboo was watching this entire battle from afar. The G.o.dking had secretly told him long ago that the Seamless Gate had hidden an extremely important chess piece within the forces of the Crimsonbright Realm, a chess piece which, when employed at the right moment, could cause the entire course of the battle to change. As for who that chess piece was, Daofather Ink Bamboo didn’t know. Only the G.o.dking himself knew. Clearly, this was an extremely important secret.
“Eh?” Daofather Ink Bamboo’s eyes lit up. He couldn’t help but feel overjoyed when he saw Sword Immortal Evergreen suddenly kill Fairy Snowdance, then a.s.sault the five Heaven Punishers below.
In the blink of an eye…all five Heaven Punishers were destroyed!
The local battlefield had instantly changed. The Crimsonbright Realm had lost two Pure Yang True Immortals and five Heaven Punishers, whereas the Seamless Gate had not only gained the powerful Sword Immortal Evergreen, the forces that had been a.s.saulting the five Heaven Punishers were freed up as well.
“Launch an all-out attack!” Daofather Ink Bamboo knew how rare an opportunity like this was. He immediately sent out the order.
“Launch an all-out attack!”
The Daofather’s voice rang out in the minds of every single commander, Empyrean G.o.d, and True Immortal of the Seamless Gate.
“Attack!” The Nine Cloudmist Fairies, who had previously been locked into a stalemate, suddenly exploded with power.
“Attack!” The three Diremonster G.o.ds of Mount Dragoneater, who had been battling separately in the region, all revealed looks of joy. Diremonster G.o.d Skyswallower roared loudly, “a.s.semble into formation!” Instantly, the three Diremonster G.o.ds charged towards each other, joining together into formation. Divine power flowed across them like light, quickly transforming them into a towering, bald, three-eyed FiendG.o.d.
The Three-Eyed Demon’s aura was utterly unearthly.
“Attack!”
The various White-Faced Flood Dragons and Zhuyan Apes actually began to crumble.
But as they crumbled…they reformed into multiple Empyrean G.o.d golems. Each White-Faced Flood Dragon instantly transformed into ten Empyrean G.o.d golems!
The entire battlefield had suddenly changed.
“Evergreen!” Even as the Xia Emperor roared with rage, Ji Ning saw Evergreen make his move as well. He was watching the entire battlefield at all times. He couldn’t help but feel disbelief as he saw it happen. Although he didn’t have any positive feelings towards Sword Immortal Evergreen, he had never suspected that Evergreen was actually a spy for the Seamless Gate. Fairy Snowdance had followed him for so long…how could he have been hard-hearted enough to actually kill her?
“Vile creature!” Ning ground his teeth, rage blazing within his heart.
“Launch an all-out attack!” A heartbeat after Daofather Ink Bamboo gave the order, Daofather Crimsonbright’s voice rang out in the minds of his subordinates as well. “Launch an all-out attack!”
“Time to go all out!”
The Crimsonbright Realm and the Seamless Gate almost simultaneously began to launch their most powerful attacks.
Within one of the minor worlds of the Three Realms.
A dirty-looking middle-aged man was displaying his martial prowess, leading a group of beggars at high speed towards a large innhouse.
“Kids, seal that door up!” The dirty-looking beggar called out.
“Yes!”
The group of beggars completely blocked up the doorway, terrifying the guests and customers who had been eating inside it and preventing any outsiders from entering.
“Honorable sir, if there’s something you want, just tell us. Why have you brought so many people to seal off my innhouse?” The innkeeper hurriedly came out, bowing and sc.r.a.ping.
“If the Beggar’s Clan wishes to block your door, we’ll block your door! I’ve never liked you. Today I’ve come to eat something,” the middle-aged beggar barked. “Got a problem?”
“No problems, no problems at all.” The innkeeper felt misery in his hearts; he knew exactly how powerful the Beggar’s Clan was within this city. Fortunately, these people were just here to eat. “If you want something to eat, just tell me.”
“Simple. Gimme…” Halfway through his words, the look on the face of the middle-aged beggar changed.
This was because, right at this moment, a voice rang out within his mind: “Eastbreak, come to the Grand Xia battlefield right away.”
When the Realmwar had first started, he had been told that he would serve as a lethal weapon for the Crimsonbright Realm. To prevent the Seamless Gate from finding out, the only people who were aware of this were two Daofathers and the ‘beggar’ himself. Even the message-delivery system was an extremely secretive one. He had been extremely careful, and indeed, the Seamless Gate hadn’t discovered him.
The beggar raised his head.
A black light flashed.
Boom!
A large rift suddenly appeared in the skies above him. The middle-aged beggar took a single step, soaring into the rift in the skies…and then the ma.s.sive rift vanished as well.
The guests, beggars, and innkeeper were all completely dazed by what they had just seen.
“Clan…clan leader…?” The beggars stared stupidly.
“The person extorting me was…was actually…” The innkeeper was even more dazed.
“A divinity. A divinity!”
“He must have been an Immortal.”
In fact, the countless mortals in the region all fell to their knees, kowtowing. They had seen this Immortal with their own eyes. The ma.s.sive rift in the skies…the aura of power and majesty from it…it had filled the deepest parts of their hearts with utter terror and awe. They would never even think of resisting such power.
The Grand Xia. The battlefield within Whitepole Commandery.
Boom…
A ma.s.sive rift appeared, and the middle-aged beggar with tousled hair appeared out of nowhere. He had been roaming a minor mortal world that was located very close to the Grand Xia, and so as soon as the order had come, he had been able to immediately tear a rift through the Void to arrive here.
“Eastbreak.”
“Eastbreak, the divine archer!”
The forces of the Seamless Gate who saw the middle-aged beggar appear were all terrified.
Eastbreak…
Ever since the great divinity Houyi had vanished, the most powerful divine archers of the Three Realms had consisted of Eastbreak and his peers. Empyrean G.o.d Eastbreak possessed tremendous power, and his heartforce had reached the peak of the fourth level. His divine arrows…they had more than enough power to cause each and every Empyrean G.o.d and True Immortal to feel utter terror.
“So what if Eastbreak has come? We have many allies on the battlefield; two or three Empyrean G.o.ds and True Immortals can combine their power to block his arrows.”
“How can a single Eastbreak possibly have an impact on our great army?”
But just as they were consoling themselves…
The divine archer Eastbreak produced a gray fruit in his hands. He swallowed it, then manifested a silvery-white greatbow as well as a black arrow. He nocked his bow, then drew it, the tip of the arrow covered with a blurry gray energy aura.
“Chaos Daofruit?”
“The power of primordial chaos?”
“Not good.”
The arrow flashed!
It lanced through the skies!
“Argh!!” “No!” Three White-Faced Flood Dragons were pierced by that black streak of light. The three White-Faced Flood Dragons immediately collapsed, revealing the Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals inside.
A single arrow had slain three of the White-Faced Flood Dragons.
Eastbreak pulled back his bow yet again.
“Madman. He’s using both the power of primordial chaos and filling his arrows with heartforce. Given his terrifying archery skills…his arrows are almost comparable to a Daofather’s strikes. They even cause spatial compression; we won’t even have a chance to hide into our Immortal estates. But he’s going after the White-Faced Flood Dragons and the Bifang Cranes instead of us?” The Empyrean G.o.ds and True Immortals were both furious and frantic…because they knew that Empyrean G.o.d Eastbreak was making the right choice.
He was extremely close to the Daofather level to begin with. By relying on the power of the Daofruit of primordial chaos, his full-strength arrow attacks had already reached the level of power a Daofather’s attacks would have. But of course, he paid a heavy price for this; a single chaos Daofruit would most likely only be enough to allow him to shoot two arrows, with each fruit representing a True G.o.d or Daofather sacrificing some of their insights into the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos.
It must be understood that the Empyrean G.o.ds and True Immortals on both sides were moving in pairs or triplets; in fact, some of them were moving in groups of seven or eight. If he used his arrows to a.s.sault Empyrean G.o.ds or True Immortals, they would be able to stay alive by joining forces to defend. Even if he did manage to kill an Empyrean G.o.d or a True Immortal, it wouldn’t have much of an impact on the overall course of the battle.
But by killing White-Faced Flood Dragons, Bifang Cranes, Zhuyan Apes, and such creatures…he was able to slay two or three with each arrow.
Daofather Ink Bamboo, atop the walls of the Seamless City, just coldly watched as this all happened. He smiled grimly. “The Nuwa Alliance really is willing to spend its resources. They are actually using Daofruit of primordial chaos to allow a single supreme archer to have an impact on the entire war. But despite that…he’s only on par with the combined power of the three Diremonster G.o.ds of Mount Dragoneater. Perhaps the three combined are even slightly weaker than Empyrean G.o.d Eastbreak…but they can fight for a long period of time, whereas he is using up a Daofruit every two arrows. Let’s see how many arrows he can shoot!
On the battlefield.
Some of the White-Faced Flood Dragons, Bifang Cranes, and Zhuyan Apes had been voluntarily disbanded when the all-out attack was initiated, transforming into multiple Empyrean G.o.d golems. After all…a thousand Celestial Immortals could command ten of the Empyrean G.o.d golems, while three golems were comparable to each White-Faced Flood Dragon in power. Clearly, using the same number of Celestial Immortals to control the Empyrean G.o.d golems was more powerful and effective.
However…manufacturing the golems was very difficult. Daofather Ink Bamboo was only able to have 20% of his Celestial Immortals control the golems…but despite that, the Seamless Gate’s forces had just been strengthened dramatically.
To put it another way…although Empyrean G.o.d Eastbreak was very valiant, slaying two or three thousand Celestial Immortals with each arrow, his impact merely neutralized the sudden appearance of so many Empyrean G.o.d golems.
Right now, the flow of battle within the area where both sides had concentrated 30% of their forces was extremely detrimental to the forces of the Crimsonbright Realm.
“Careful!”
“Hold on!”
“d.a.m.n that Evergreen!”
The forces of the Crimsonbright Realm were livid.
The three Diremonster G.o.ds of Mount Dragoneater’s power was within their realm of expectations, and they had planned for it. Sword Immortal Evergreen’s betrayal, however, caused their situation to turn uglier than they had expected. It must be understood that in mortal wars, there had been cases where a flag-bearing soldier fell, bringing his flag down with him and resulting in the loss of both the battle and his country.
Sword Immortal Evergreen’s slaying of Fairy Snowdance and the five Heaven Punishers, then continued attacks alongside the Seamless Gate against the forces of the Crimsonbright Realm…it had caught them completely offguard. Unable to reinforce each other in time, they lost another Raindragon, two Pangu War-Formations, and six more Heaven Punishers. Only after such heavy losses was Evergreen forced back by the utterly berserk forces of the Crimsonbright Realm, driving him into the protective embrace of the three Diremonster G.o.ds.
But alas, the state of the battle around Ji Ning had turned horribly grim for the Crimsonbright Realm.
The disparity in power between two sides was now enormous.