The Sect Master of the Northern Branch of the Heavenly Dao Alliance unfurled the Great Kui Ox Drum, placing it at the prow of the flagship. The morale of the cultivators belonging to the Northern lineage surged immediately.
Seeing this, the various Sect Masters and Titans from the other lineages were unwilling to be outdone, each presenting their sect's ancestral artifacts and treasures. Since ancient times, the two Immortal Alliances possessed many great divine ability artifacts, not acquired from the Demon Saints, but forged from rare, thirteen-tier and above heavenly materials and earthly treasures from the East Sea.
For this decisive battle against the demons, the high echelons of both the Heavenly Dao Alliance and the Heavenly Demon Alliance had brought forth their ultimate, hidden artifacts.
Although these great divine ability artifacts could not unleash their full power due to the insufficient cultivation of their wielders, they were far from insignificant. In the ensuing grand battle, they would serve as the core offensive instruments for the cultivators of every faction.
On the demonic side, after an extensive period, the tide of demon cultivators and sea beasts was finally assembled. The moment this assembly was complete was the moment the battle would commence.
From the direction of the Blood Sea, the pitch-black tide of beasts began to press forward along the entire front toward Linhai City.
In the East Sea cultivator formation, directives were issued by the high commands of the two Immortal Alliances. Upon the war-drum platforms at the prows of the ten flagship vessels, the commanding horns and war drums of the various Sect Masters and Titans sounded in unison—a clear, resonant call to arms.
“Hooooo~, BOOM!... BOOM!... BOOM!”
All the divine ability warships began to beat their magical drums, gradually weaving a deep, magnificent, and deafening soundscape that spanned the heavens and earth within a thousand-mile radius of Linhai City.
This was a massive-range mana sonic wave, capable of shielding their allied cultivators from being suppressed or influenced by the imposing might of the enemy.
“Fight to the last drop of blood!”
Countless cultivators roared their defiance.
Only through bloody combat could the surging, irrepressible anger within their hearts be vented.
Only through bloody combat could the shame of the defeat at the Blood Sea be washed clean. This was to ignite the greatest morale, to guard the very foundation of the East Sea Cultivation World where countless East Sea cultivators had grown and perished. Guarding this foundation was essential to continue pursuing that ethereal, elusive path of cultivation for which countless cultivators struggled ceaselessly.
“ROAR!~”
As if in response to the immense momentum displayed by the East Sea cultivators, within the demonic beast tide that had already closed to within a hundred miles, countless beast roars converged into a single, heaven-shaking bellow. Accompanied by a gust of foul wind washing over them, this sound manifested as a ferocious, primordial beast stretching a thousand miles long, ready to devour anything that dared obstruct its path.
“Heavenly Dao Alliance, Heavenly Demon Alliance, Decree Issued!”
At this very moment, above the warship formation of Linhai City, immense Heavenly Dao Edicts and Heavenly Demon Edicts, glowing with brilliant light and bearing the respective insignia of the Heavenly Dao Alliance and the Heavenly Demon Alliance, materialized. Two aged yet solemn voices echoed throughout the ranks of the cultivators.
Under the sound of the war decrees, the cultivators of the East Sea formation fell into silence.
All that remained echoing between heaven and earth were the increasingly approaching beast roars and the surging cadence of the war drums.
“BOOM!~ All East Sea warships… activate protective shields, prepare ship cannons, target fifty miles directly ahead!”
With the first beat of the drum, luminous barriers enveloped all the warships, and the muzzles of the spiritual energy heavy cannons on their hulls began to gather dazzling, multi-hued light.
“BOOM!~ All cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage, prepare to engage!”
With the second beat, the majority of the main fighting cultivators had already summoned or prepared their respective flying swords, talismans, and magical abilities.
The beast tide surged forward, reaching the fifty-mile range before the warships—forty miles... thirty miles... twenty miles.
“BOOM! Fire!”
The third beat rang out.
The command was given.
From the remaining heavy spiritual energy cannons on the battlements of Linhai City, and across the hundreds of miles of arranged warships, countless light beams, large and small, from the spiritual energy heavy cannons erupted, unleashing a dazzling, blinding torrent aimed squarely at the overwhelming tide of approaching demons.
The demonic forces were equally resolute.
Across the sky and the sea surface, innumerable demon birds and beasts at the Golden Core realm, and demon cultivators at the Nascent Soul realm, simultaneously spat out their demon cores. These converged into a rampaging, ferocious tide of demon cores, colliding head-on with the barrages from the warships’ spiritual energy cannons.
“KRAKOOM!~”
The earth-shattering explosion and the blinding white light that followed almost rendered all East Sea cultivators and demons deaf and blind.
And after this cataclysmic burst of spiritual energy, as the violent residual shockwaves impacted the already erected protective shields of the warships—
The Nascent Soul cultivators of the East Sea forces discovered with shock that tens of thousands of sea beasts and demon birds within the fifty-mile radius, along with a small number of shape-shifting demon cultivators who had rushed too far ahead, had been reduced to ash and smoke in this bombardment, completely vanishing from existence.
The demon cultivators habitually drove their lower-tier beasts to charge first. Those beasts at the front were large in size but held lower cultivation levels. The demon cultivators positioned further back were unable to attack and naturally suffered the brunt of the exchange, resulting in vast numbers of beasts being sacrificed as cannon fodder.
The concentrated firepower of thousands upon thousands of warships, fielding tens of thousands of heavy cannons, possessed a terrifying might. Let alone shape-shifting demon cultivators or beasts, even a thirteenth-tier Demon Saint could not withstand such dense barrages of light energy cannons; ten Demon Saints could be blasted to death this way.
Of course, Demon Saints were not foolish enough to willingly endure a synchronized barrage from the entire fleet assembled by the strength of the East Sea Cultivation World. The flight speed of the East Sea warships was simply insufficient to catch a Demon Saint, posing no real threat to them.
...
“Kill!”
Following the first full cannon salvo, the beast tide within the fifty-mile range suffered catastrophic losses. As the command was issued, the Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators, who had been prepared on the peripheries of the warships, immediately charged forward, plunging into the surging beast tide.
“Fellow Daoists, follow this old man and charge through!”
“Does this East Sea Cultivation World of ours allow beasts like you to soil it? If you wish to die, this Daoist Lord will grant your wish!”
“The blood debt from the fall of Black Sand City must be paid in blood by these demon cultivators today, an offering! Kill!”
After the initial bombardment, the front lines of the beast tide suffered grievous losses, and their fierce momentum momentarily stalled. However, the beast tide behind them showed no sign of stopping.
The morale of the East Sea cultivator formation soared higher, their shouts of killing shaking the heavens.
Amidst the battle cries of the charging Nascent Soul cultivators piercing the high heavens,
The main and secondary spiritual energy cannons on the warships began to perform targeted, autonomous strikes.
At this moment, no one cared how many spirit stones were being consumed per shot. Every Golden Core cultivator manning the cannons sought only to unleash the greatest number of the most lethal energy blasts in the shortest possible time, maximizing the drain on demonic strength to secure an advantage for the East Sea faction.
Ye Qin stood at the prow of the Purple Sword Palace flagship and could clearly discern the features of the beasts at the very front. He had to forcefully restrain the urge to strike, battling down the inherent fighting spirit within him.
Sect Master Zhou stood before the Great Kui Ox Drum at the ship's prow, and together with several other late Nascent Soul cultivators, they channeled their mana to manipulate the drumstick, which was fashioned from the remains of the Great Kui Ox Demon Saint. With a mighty “BOOM!”, it struck the surface of the drum.
As the drum sounded, a visible wave of crimson light rippled outward, centered on the Great Kui Ox Drum.
Almost simultaneously, all the lower-tier demon birds and beasts within a scope of several dozen miles let out cries of terror. Ignoring the commands of the shape-shifting demon cultivators behind them, they fled in disarray towards the rear and the seabed, severely disrupting the formation of the beast tide.
Even high-tier demon cultivators displayed expressions of deep dread under the resounding beat of the Great Kui Ox Drum.
The charge of the beast tide in the vicinity of the Purple Sword Palace flagship, spanning several dozen miles, nearly suffered a complete collapse in morale. Under the bombardment of the warship's heavy spiritual energy cannons, they became nothing more than living targets that were hit with near certainty.
“Fellow cultivators of the Northern Lineage, fight to the death without retreat, kill!”
Seeing the supremely advantageous situation created by the Great Kui Ox Drum, Ye Qin did not let the opportunity slip by, issuing his command without hesitation. As the Elder in charge of battle orders for the Purple Sword Palace, he naturally assumed the role of the commanding elder for the Northern Lineage cultivators, possessing the authority to direct and deploy forces on the battlefield.
After issuing the command, Ye Qin personally mounted his sword and led a squad of Nascent Soul cultivators charging out.
“Fight to the death without retreat, kill!”
From all the warships of the Northern Lineage, the first wave of participating Nascent Soul cultivators roared in unison and charged forward together.
...
“Kill!”
For an entire day and night, Ye Qin fought amidst the chaotic battlefield, pausing for hardly a moment. His eyes were bloodshot from the killing, and his entire being was steeped in a dense aura of slaughter.
The Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators surrounding him cycled in waves. Many cultivators retreated due to depleted mana, while others withdrew due to severe injuries or broken artifacts. The entire sea surface was littered with the floating corpses of sea beasts, demon birds, and East Sea cultivators; the seawater had turned an uncanny, red.
Ye Qin did not need to retreat from the front lines. He possessed supreme-grade spirit wine that could instantly restore all his mana. He wielded five small divine ability-level artifacts that suffered no damage even after fighting fiercely for a full day and night. He did not even feel fatigue; if he sensed depletion, chewing a piece of Vermillion Fruit flesh instantly replenished his boundless vital energy.
The late Nascent Soul cultivators who fought alongside Ye Qin, retreating and re-engaging several times, looked at him with expressions that had transformed—incredulous, even reverent.
He was truly an untiring God of Slaughter, fighting at full capacity without rest. He was indeed the Elder in charge of battle orders for the Purple Sword Palace, fighting with such fierce, persistent madness that there was absolutely no one else like him in the entire Northern Lineage of the Heavenly Dao Alliance.
Ye Qin’s small divine ability-level Great Five Elements Sword Formation was comprehensive in both offense and defense, unleashing one fierce move after another, as if protected by five demon cultivators possessing divine abilities. Ordinary demon cultivators and beasts could not withstand him in a one-on-one confrontation, falling within a few breaths. Even several powerful demon cultivators attacking together could not overcome him.
...
Ye Qin’s gaze was scarlet and burning, yet his heart was profoundly calm.
This clamorous, killing battlefield seemed distant now.
In his sight, there were only the successive waves of demons and herds of beasts charging in to surround him.
As for everything else, he had long forgotten.
He forgot Linhai City, forgot the warships behind him, forgot the successive waves of Nascent Soul cultivators behind him.
On this chaotic battlefield, the chaotic influx of spiritual energies became remarkably clear within his mind.
He experienced a profound and subtle enlightenment; everything in this heaven and earth, every single strand of spiritual energy, seemed to present itself in his consciousness.
It was marvelous!
Without hesitation, he swallowed another piece of Vermillion Fruit flesh, allowing the savage vital energy to surge through his meridians. His cultivation at the sixth layer of the Nascent Soul stage faintly hinted at a breakthrough. His frenzied killing was coupled with no turmoil in his Dao Heart; rather, it was exhilarating, and the vital energy from the Vermillion Fruit was rapidly absorbed.
If he fought for just a few more hours, he would break through to the seventh layer of the Nascent Soul, leaping forward to become a late Nascent Soul cultivator.
As for whether other cultivators would suspect or notice the Vermillion Fruit—
At this moment, he gave it no thought; he had forgotten. Perhaps unconsciously, he felt these things were no longer important. The most crucial thing was cultivation; he was cultivating at an astonishing pace on the battlefield, enhancing his cultivation and his Dao Heart.
“Feather Barrage!”
Ye Qin exclaimed with a clear shout.
Under the full exertion of his mana, the Golden-Eyed Feather Brilliance Sword, with its entirely golden blade, suddenly swelled to nearly two hundred zhang in size.
Within the dazzling golden light of the blade, the ethereal image of a Golden-Eyed Eagle unfurling its wings appeared. Hundreds of golden sword feathers, each several feet long, formed a massive, exquisitely beautiful Feather Brilliance Sword Wheel—a total of several hundred golden sword beams, each several feet long.
With a sharp “swoosh” slicing the air, they instantly shot out into the surrounding beast tide.
“Pierce...!”
Within a three-thousand-zhang radius, the herds of low-tier beasts charging at the front glowed faintly, attempting to resist these sword beams. Their physical defenses, under the assault of the golden sword beams, were torn apart ruthlessly, as if they were mere paper.
Amidst a series of dense piercing sounds and the shower of demon blood that filled the air, dozens of demon birds and sea beasts fell from the sky or sank into the seabed; more beasts suffered injuries to varying degrees.
This was the innate divine ability of the Golden-Eyed Eagle demon cultivator, and also its strongest offensive spell. At this moment, the sealed demon spirit within the small divine ability golden sword had become one of Ye Qin’s potent offensive weapons. The power unleashed was no less than that of a twelfth-tier demon cultivator.
“Mystic Spirit Earth Armor!”
Immediately after unleashing the Feather Barrage, Ye Qin casually controlled the Mystic Spirit Earth Turret Sword to grant himself a layer of thick armor.
Accompanied by layers of undulating mystic-yellow halos, chunks of mystic-yellow earthen armor of varying sizes, shimmering with light, enveloped Ye Qin, transforming him into a giant encased in Mystic Spirit Earth Armor nearly several dozen zhang tall.
The attacks launched by the swarms of beasts merely stirred up yellow ripples upon striking the Mystic Spirit Earth Armor.
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