Dragon Shadow Ferry! September 27th, 3744, in the Age of Holy Word! The Fourth Expeditionary Army of the Demon Sealing Empire, the Proud Heaven Legion, finally launched the assault on Yuncheng! It was in this battle that shook the continent that the new generation of Fire Element Heavenly Demon, Nine Luminaries Divine Truth, making his debut on the battlefield, unveiled an unprecedented aerial combat technique, later known to posterity as Dragon Shadow Ferry!
Before the emergence of Nine Luminaries Divine Truth, no one had ever conceived that the Dragon Shadow Sword Art, one of the four ultimate techniques of Marfa, possessed such astonishing aerial combat potential. This led to a situation in later generations where Biqi Heavenly Demon Warriors proficient in the Dragon Shadow Sword Art became the most capable aerial combatants among all Heavenly Demon Warriors! In later years, they were vividly nicknamed the Dragon Shadow Heavenly Demons! The meaning being: A celestial demon who transforms into a dragon’s shadow, soaring across the firmament! —The Book of Sand—Nine Luminaries Divine Truth
All the ears could register was Da Lei’s heavy, ragged breaths and the indistinct whistle of the wind. Amidst that roar, as jarring as a clear-day thunderclap, Da Lei’s speed escalated to an unbelievable realm after stepping through the void!
Yet, at this moment, I felt not a trace of joy or excitement. Though I could not grasp what had truly transpired, the boundless grief and tragic solemnity contained within Da Lei’s ferocious roar struck a chord deep within my heart like a heavy hammer!
For the first time in my life, I felt a pain akin to a knife slicing through my heart—a sorrow born of absolute despair, unwillingness, and helplessness! Was this the irresistible powerlessness and heartache one felt when a most beloved kin faced imminent death?
Unknowingly, Da Lei had become my most vital companion!
In that instant, I saw with terrifying clarity that Da Lei was desperately burning the last embers of his life force. But all I could do was cling tightly to the saddle, waiting silently for the moment Da Lei’s life fire would be utterly consumed! I did not know what force drove Da Lei to charge forward with such reckless, all-consuming desperation, but I knew this would be the final, ultimate sprint of Da Lei’s existence! His most determined, most hopeless! And yet, his most magnificent sprint!
Tears fell without conscious command. A deafening buzz filled my head, as if a taut lute string had snapped within my mind. My consciousness began to blur, my vision instantly shrouded in a crimson haze.
“Prepare the entire army for the charge!” Gazing at the streak of bloody light arcing across the sky toward the enemy formation, Jin Yao clenched the Frost-Condensing Greatsword in his hand, suppressing his grief: “Once General Fire Element breaks into the enemy lines, attack immediately.”
“Yes!”
The thunderous beat of drums echoed across the heavens! The soldiers of Prague, already arrayed and ready, stared intently at the figure stepping down through the void! All were silently offering prayers!
“Please, Xingchen, you must win.” Feng Qingtian, Tong Lei, and the others were impossibly tense, their chests feeling ready to explode.
The main lines of the Proud Heaven Legion!
All the mages involuntarily looked toward the sky! Mo Luo Aotian’s active interception temporarily calmed the anxious mages. Each suppressed the fear boiling inside them, focusing single-mindedly, chanting long incantations, pouring all their effort into accumulating magical energy! The magic, already condensed to its limit, was tightly controlled, awaiting the final, fatal strike! There was absolutely no way they could allow that terrifying monster to penetrate the main formation!
Closer, ever closer! Like a massive tidal wave! As the figure rapidly approached, an overwhelming surge of killing intent suddenly washed over them! It maniacally assaulted the minds of every soldier of the Proud Heaven Legion! Everyone felt a suffocating pressure, an unbearable heaviness!
Ah! What potent killing intent! Mo Luo Aotian’s eyes flashed instantly, his pupils contracting violently beyond conscious control! Ah! What kind of aura is this!
Desolate! Tragic! Gruesome! Mixed with an exceptionally dense aura of slaughter! In the fifty years since becoming a Heavenly Demon Warrior, Mo Luo Aotian had felt fear before. But the man and steed hurtling toward him like a meteor brought a savagery and madness capable of shattering the entire world! This still left Mo Luo Aotian utterly aghast! It was as if what descended from the sky was not a single rider and horse, but the Netherworld Death God, who held all living beings in utter contempt! Annihilate the living! Slaughter the realm!
Mo Luo Aotian fiercely suppressed the impulse to turn and flee recklessly, violently spurring his battle qi to meet the charge!
Fifty meters! Forty meters! Thirty meters! With every step closer, Mo Luo Aotian felt himself drawing nearer to that terrifying vortex of death! But the dignity of a Heavenly Demon Warrior! The responsibility of the Commander of the Proud Heaven Legion! All these compelled Mo Luo Aotian! He absolutely could not retreat, nor could he allow defeat!
Twenty meters! Ten meters! Nine meters! The bloody streak of light suddenly flared! A sharp, piercing whistle, laced with the turbulent battle qi of a monstrous wave! It descended like the thunder of the Nine Heavens! “Roar! Fire Phoenix Soars to the Heavens!” Mo Luo Aotian! The battle qi driven to its peak exploded in that instant! As if a brilliant, scorching sun detonated in the sky! Simultaneously!
Within the Mage formation! “Blazing Flames Incinerate Heaven! Launch!” Mo Luo Tianfeng suddenly waved his Blood Drinker! From the mage formation shot a massive, dazzling fireball. The terrifying fire magic energy almost burned away the surrounding air! The astonishing heat caused the fireball, even in its high-speed flight, to appear blurred, distorted, and rippling! This was the strongest combined killing move that Heavenly Demon Warriors and Heavenly Rainbow Archmages could unleash: Fire Phoenix Soars to the Heavens! Drawing on the immense magical energy provided by four Heavenly Rainbow Archmages and six Cardinal Priests, and integrating the powerful battle qi of the Heavenly Demon Warrior himself, enhanced by the special battle qi-to-magic conversion of the Heavenly Demon Wings on the Heavenly Demon Armor, this move became the most terrifying ultimate technique of the Heavenly Demon Warrior!
The Heavenly Demon Wings on his back suddenly unfurled! Resembling a pair of immense, fiery wings! CRASH! With a muffled boom that shook the firmament! The immensely potent Blazing Flames Incinerate Heaven fireball finally struck Mo Luo Aotian’s stalwart body! WHOOSH! Amidst the blinding flash of light! A massive, colossal Fire Phoenix soared toward the heavens, meeting the figure descending through the void at an astonishing speed! BAM! With an earth-shattering roar! The Fire Phoenix that erupted from nowhere instantly shattered the bloody streak of light that flew toward it! Its momentum undiminished, it struck directly toward the red ball of light descending from above!
In the boundless void, Mo Luo Aotian, transformed into the Fire Phoenix, caught sight of a single sword! A longsword entirely azure, yet exuding an eerie, blood-red glow—the Crimson Blade! He had seen this sword before! It was this very sword that had killed Lan Ling before his eyes! It was this sword that had caused the mages of the once-invincible Proud Heaven Legion to tremble with fear! Now, this sword shone once more with that blood-red, eerie radiance, rushing toward him like a soul-devouring demon! Everything seemed exactly like that nightmarish scene in Cicheng! Closer! The sharp edge pulsed with a frantic, burning killing intent! Suddenly, six golden streaks of light shot forth with startling speed, then slammed violently into Mo Luo Aotian’s body as he soared into the sky! These were the Dragon Shadows cast by Xingchen’s Dragon Shadow Sword! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! All the Dragon Shadows that struck Mo Luo Aotian were repelled; they were utterly incapable of impeding the madly surging figure of Mo Luo Aotian! In the blink of an eye! The gigantic Fire Phoenix instantly closed the distance with the man and horse stepping down through the air!
“Roar! Die, monster!” Mo Luo Aotian roared wildly. The Well in the Moon seemed to whip up a storm of sword energy, transforming into a long dragon, crashing toward the single figure flying toward him! SWOOSH! The sword energy slashing out narrowly missed cleaving the figure!
However, in that blinding flash of lightning and flint! A golden light shot upward from the blood-red mass of light! ROAR! Then, an explosion instantly followed! This roar was like ten thousand peals of thunder merging into one! Even Mo Luo Aotian, who had long adapted and possessed astonishing resistance to sonic waves, felt his entire being on the verge of being violently torn apart! Ah! The Beast King’s Lament! Mo Luo Aotian reacted immediately! BAM! CRUNCH! Mid-air, a blurry smear of crimson exploded! Countless fragments flew outwards like scattered petals! It was the sword energy unleashed by Mo Luo Aotian, which had successfully struck Da Lei! But the astounding explosion of sword energy had pulverized Da Lei’s body! However, the sonic attack Da Lei launched desperately before death—the Beast King’s Lament—had equally caused Mo Luo Aotian’s concentration to shatter! But as a Heavenly Demon Warrior, his superior willpower allowed Mo Luo Aotian to forcibly resist the sudden paralysis and ringing in his ears, yet even so, that once swift attack could no longer be maintained coherently! Though his mount was killed instantly, the rider on its back escaped harm and ascended high into the air! Continuing his swift descent toward the mage formation of the Proud Heaven Legion!
Mo Luo Aotian reacted with godlike speed! As if he had already predicted Xingchen’s move! The Well in the Moon twisted violently, carving a bizarre ‘C’ shape with astonishing swiftness, and another Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi shot out like a cannonball from a muzzle! “You cannot escape,” Mo Luo Aotian snarled madly! This sword energy attack, combined with the power equivalent of ten Heavenly Rainbow Archmages, was astonishingly destructive; even a Heavenly Demon Warrior struck by it would certainly be annihilated! And under Mo Luo Aotian’s control, this force exhibited unimaginable might! The Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi whistled through the air, exhibiting a lithe quality and awareness as if it possessed life! After flashing a graceful arc in the sky, it shot straight toward the rapidly descending golden figure! At this moment, Xingchen was suspended in mid-air, with nowhere to gain leverage! How could he evade!
“Die, monster!” On the ground, all the mages of the Proud Heaven Legion roared wildly! None were more nervous and terrified than they! They felt like prisoners awaiting final judgment! All hope was pinned on that single, serpentine Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi! “Dodge it quickly!” From the direction of Yuncheng! All the Prague soldiers couldn't help but cry out in alarm! “Ah! He can’t dodge it.” Mu Yao was utterly aghast; even the battle-hardened Mu Yao could not imagine how anyone could evade such an attack in that state! “Xingchen!” Feng Qingtian and Tong Lei cried out loudly!
Just as Xingchen was about to be struck squarely by the Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi! Mo Luo Aotian could already picture Xingchen being blown to pieces! Feng Qingtian couldn't bear to watch the scene of Xingchen being smashed to dust and closed her eyes in despair!
Hah! With a muffled shout in mid-air! A streak of golden light suddenly materialized beneath Xingchen’s feet! It was one of the six Dragon Shadows that Mo Luo Aotian had sent flying—returning instantly beneath Xingchen’s feet! BAM! Step! Xingchen, who was stepping on the void, landed precisely on this sudden Dragon Shadow! SWOOSH! His body, which had been unable to find purchase, suddenly executed a mid-air change in direction! The lightning-fast Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi passed through only a residual image left hanging in the void! It then vanished into the distant sky!
Ah! This sudden turn of events shocked Mo Luo Aotian! “Ah! It’s Dragon Shadow Ferry!” Tong Lei roared madly! “Ah!” Ji Du, Jin Yao, and the others could hardly believe their eyes! “Dragon Shadow Ferry,” Luo Hou muttered.
On the ground, everyone staring at the two flickering figures in the air was struck dumb! This incredibly perilous aerial chase battle had far surpassed their wildest imagination! Who could have thought that Xingchen could change direction mid-air without any surface to push off from! Staring at the golden figure that had so gracefully evaded his attack, Mo Luo Aotian’s pupils suddenly burst open, revealing fierce, horrified light! ROAR! Unwilling to concede defeat, Mo Luo Aotian wildly brandished his long saber! Five Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi struck out like five precisely aimed air-to-air missiles, flying toward Xingchen with astonishing speed! Simultaneously, Mo Luo Aotian himself could not stop his momentum and flew past Xingchen! Victory or defeat hinged on this moment! This was Mo Luo Aotian’s last chance!
Hah! Xingchen descended through the air, his longsword dancing lightly! Another Dragon Shadow! Like five agile goshawks, it circled Xingchen at high speed, and at this critical moment, yet another Dragon Shadow appeared beneath Xingchen’s feet! The remaining four Dragon Shadows oddly lined up in a row, forming a ladder twenty meters long, pointing diagonally toward the top of the mage formation! Everyone who witnessed this scene was horrified beyond measure! The five Dragon Shadows seemed to have constructed a celestial ladder ascending to the clouds in the void! No one doubted what kind of display Xingchen, with his skill, could manifest upon this heavenly ladder!
Ah! Seeing the astonishing arrangement of the five Dragon Shadows, how could Mo Luo Aotian not understand Xingchen’s intention? If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Mo Luo Aotian would never have believed that such an unbelievably miraculous aerial technique as Dragon Shadow Ferry could exist in this world! So, the Dragon Shadow could be used like this! But now that he realized it, it was far too late! At this moment, Mo Luo Aotian had no recourse. His only hope was that one of the fired Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi strikes would hit Xingchen!
BAM! Step! Xingchen, stepping on the void, actually stepped on a Dragon Shadow again, executing another mid-air course correction! SWOOSH! One of the five Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi instantly pierced through the spot where Xingchen’s residual image lingered in the sky! But the other four continued to pursue Xingchen’s figure! And Xingchen, stepping in the air, exploded forward, executing a light leap, and with astonishing speed, stepped through the air onto the extended third Dragon Shadow! SWOOSH! In a flash of lightning and flint, Xingchen shifted sideways once more to evade the passage of the Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi, while his entire body flew toward the top of the mage formation as if stepping on air! And trailing behind him were still three Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi strikes! But now, aided by the Dragon Shadows! Xingchen moved as if on solid ground! With several swift jumps and dodges! The golden figure flashed through the penetration paths of the Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi like a golden sea swallow racing through a raging storm! He instantly shook off the remaining three Dragon Shadows! Finally, when Xingchen stepped onto the sixth Dragon Shadow! His entire body finally reached the airspace above the mage formation! And the final Dragon-Shaped Sword Qi passed through the last afterimage that Xingchen had conjured, vanishing into the heavens!
And Mo Luo Aotian, having overshot his trajectory, could only sigh in frustration! In the end, he was still evaded! Could this truly be the will of Heaven!
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