For a full three seconds, the standoff held, but ultimately, Gu Xichen's accumulated power proved superior; his finger strike pierced the wind shield and blasted directly toward Maia. The colossal wind shield disintegrated, and a gale surged outward in all directions. Firelulu, who was tending to Sharu, cried out as he was blown hundreds of meters away by the rushing tempest.

The focused energy shot straight at Maia. She had no time to activate any other ability. With a sharp cry, a blinding white light flashed between her brows, and a shield forged purely from concentrated spiritual energy manifested before her. The finger strike slammed into the white shield. Maia’s body shuddered violently, and she staggered back more than a dozen paces before tumbling down from the high volcanic rock platform.

The spiritual energy shield vibrated frantically, trembling at thousands of times per second, jarring Gu Xichen’s Xue Po Shen Zhi (Snow Soul Divine Finger) strike off course, sending it slanting to the side. Like a raging dragon, the finger strike swept past the volcano crater of Triangle Hell Island… a section of the mountainside was pulverized into dust by that single blow. The surging, erupting lava instantly cooled, frozen solid by the extreme low temperature contained within Gu Xichen’s attack.

Thick, viscous blood spurted from all seven orifices of Maia’s face. She was different from the deformed creatures engineered by her and Ulysse; though her spiritual power was formidable, she was not skilled at employing it directly for attack or defense.

The Xue Po Shen Zhi was fierce, sharp, and possessed extreme penetrating power. Although the spiritual shield Maia focused all her strength to deploy was comparable in sheer magnitude to the finger strike, this unfamiliar defensive method still inflicted significant damage upon her.

“Gu Xichen!” Maia was caught up in a violent gust of wind, soaring hundreds of meters high. Looking down at Gu Xichen on the ground, she shouted fiercely, “You are formidable! But, enough! Today has been sufficient; you should yield! Do you truly believe you can take on the combined might of us all alone?”

Gu Xichen rapidly retreated to the side, and as he passed the heavily injured Colonel Lin Han, he took the opportunity to stomp down hard on the Colonel’s head. This single kick ensured Colonel Lin Han would remain unconscious for three to five days, and even upon waking, he would suffer severe concussion. As he retreated, Gu Xichen chuckled, “You have already lost one; what more can the remaining three of you do to me?”

Maia, soaring high above, snapped back, “Lin Han is a mere waste; we never counted on him anyway! Apart from a passable amount of brute force, he is useless! Gu Xichen… surrender!” The white light on Maia’s brow grew increasingly intense, and brilliant white rays surged forth from around her body. Thousands of water puppets, about a meter tall and composed of white, rippling water, with strong winds swirling around them, descended from the sky with a whoosh. The four thousand-plus water puppets densely surrounded Gu Xichen from every direction, and all raised their hands simultaneously as Maia shouted.

A massive suction force erupted from the core of these water puppets, causing the surrounding seawater to churn and surge madly. Vast amounts of seawater flew skyward, rushing into the bodies of the water puppets. The puppets, originally only about a meter high, rapidly swelled to three meters tall after absorbing the massive influx of seawater.

At Maia’s command, the thousands of water puppets lifted a few meters into the air, encircled by strong winds, and surged toward Gu Xichen in a dense, overwhelming wave.

Nearby, Firelulu had channeled all the life energy from the surrounding vegetation into Sharu. Sharu, whose lower body was severely injured, rose unsteadily from the ground, his face grim. The two exchanged a glance; Firelulu rapidly melted into a patch of tall grass, while Sharu strode backward in retreat, though his gaze constantly flickered warily toward the ground.

A water puppet swung its fist down fiercely toward Gu Xichen. Gu Xichen nimbly evaded the slow lunge and followed up with a kick to the puppet’s torso. A powerful surge of Gang Qi erupted, causing the puppet’s body to explode, scattering countless water droplets with a loud bang in all directions. Vast plumes of cold air burst from Gu Xichen’s body. With a mocking smile, he circled the water puppets rapidly; the once aggressive constructs were awkwardly frozen solid into statues of ice.

Xin Jia burst forth from the ground, laughing heartily. He swung his iron chain, smashing the frozen and immobilized water puppets into pieces.

In the blink of an eye, Gu Xichen and Xin Jia had jointly annihilated the army of water puppets summoned by Maia. Gu Xichen laughed loudly, “Maia, my abilities perfectly counter your Realm Puppets. Do you have any other trump cards? Heh heh, is this all the strength you possess? Then I am truly disappointed!”

A muffled sound of objects breaking the air traveled from afar. Sharu, over a thousand meters away, hurled dozens of crystals toward Gu Xichen. Gu Xichen spun left and right frantically; crystal shards, swift as lightning, whistled past his body, blasting huge craters into the ground where they struck.

A cold glint flashed in Xin Jia’s eyes. He clenched his right hand violently toward Sharu over a thousand meters away.

Seeing Xin Jia suddenly extend his hand, Sharu shrieked with lingering terror and leaped dozens of meters into the air. Synchronized with Sharu’s cry, a burst of strong light shot from his brow, and dozens of crystal-men puppets, about five meters tall and radiating shimmering light, emerged. Following Maia’s example, Sharu revealed his status as a Realm Master without hesitation. These crystal-men puppets advanced toward Gu Xichen with slow, heavy steps; each footfall sank deep into the earth.

This time, Xin Jia did not unleash stone spears or earth spikes. Hundreds of fist-sized, bluish-black stones erupted from his palm. With a roar of anger from Xin Jia, these stones shot toward Sharu at a speed matching Sharu’s flying crystals. Sharu, preoccupied with releasing his realm puppets, shrieked; his body twisted violently in mid-air, but he ultimately failed to dodge one of the large stones, which accurately struck his lower abdomen, already severely wounded.

Amidst a terrifying explosion, Sharu wailed as he was flung over two hundred meters away. Clutching his profusely bleeding lower body, he howled miserably, his body convulsing and trembling violently on the ground, like a mud loach just pulled from the water. Sharu’s eyes rolled back as he screamed hoarsely, “Kill them! Kill them! Kill them all!” Dozens of crystal-men simultaneously raised their arms. Bright purple halos flowed back and forth between their limbs, accompanied by a muffled hissing sound. Vast sheets of purple beams shot silently from the crystal-men’s hands. The overwhelming rain of purple light descended upon Gu Xichen like a spectacular meteor shower. Gu Xichen urgently grabbed Xin Jia’s hand. Xin Jia scooped up a handful of dirt and flung it toward the sky, pulling Gu Xichen rapidly underground.

The continuous hissing sound echoed ceaselessly. Tens of thousands of holes, as thick as a child’s arm and impossibly deep, were bored into the ground. Large amounts of steam vented from these holes, and soon, the openings were filled with churning lava.

Sharu’s legs twitched violently a few times. He roared, “Purple Light Death God, fuse… Kill those two bastards… Destroy Triangle Hell Island if you have to, just kill them!”

Dozens of crystal-men abruptly turned and moved toward each other, slowly merging into a massive mass of purple, flowing substance. As waves of bright light pulsed from Sharu’s brow, this purple fluid rolled rapidly, and soon a colossal crystal giant, nearly a hundred meters tall, began to rise. The body of this giant was a magnificent deep purple, with countless dazzling purple halos churning ceaselessly within it.

Maia, flying overhead, let out a cold sneer, laughing aloud, “Then let’s destroy Triangle Hell Island!”

From the pulverized remains of the Yin puppets on the ground, countless white lights soared up. As Maia waved her hands, the sea surrounding Triangle Hell Island began to roil, producing massive waves several meters high. Hundreds of tornadoes materialized over the water, sucking vast quantities of seawater into the sky to coalesce into a giant sphere of water. The white lights rising from the ground rushed into the water sphere, and dark tornadoes, accompanied by a deep rumble, flew into the sphere as well. Maia shrieked with chilling laughter, plunging her entire body into the water sphere. A deafening dragon roar echoed from the sky—the water sphere had transformed into a Western dragon over three hundred meters long, entirely black and wreathed in countless furious winds.

The dragon’s enormous maw opened and closed, and Maia’s voice issued forth from within, “Mr. Gu Xichen, your power commands my respect… Now, allow me to salute you with my strongest Realm Puppet, the Storm Water Dragon! The maximum offensive power of the Storm Water Dragon is equivalent to a full-power strike from a peak Mars-level expert!” On the ground, Sharu’s Purple Light Death God slowly ascended into the sky, borne upward by an invisible force, leaving the ground slowly but resolutely. The Purple Light Death God extended its arms toward the earth, condensing a massive ball of purple light between its palms. Sharu, who moments before had been weeping while clutching his lower body on the ground, had somehow scrambled onto the head of the Purple Light Death God and was clinging there. He stared down at the ground, his vacant eyes filled with fierce, savage killing intent. His white underpants were soaked in blood, and droplets continued to stream down his legs.

Firelulu appeared at the distant edge of the island, his arms crossed over his chest, watching the massive Storm Water Dragon and the Purple Light Death God in the sky, showing no intention of cooperating with their attack.

Colonel Lin Han, beaten to a pulp on the ground, suddenly disintegrated into a cloud of fine sand that slowly seeped into the earth. A hazy yellow light flashed momentarily on the ground—Gu Xichen and Xin Jia reappeared, emerging from the crater of Triangle Hell Island. Xin Jia grabbed Gu Xichen’s feet and threw him skyward with all his might. Simultaneously, Gu Xichen stamped his feet down hard, the combined burst of power launching him hundreds of meters into the air.

Just as Gu Xichen rose, his body was about to dissipate, and he began to fall back toward the ground. Xin Jia struck his waist chain, and the chain shot skyward with a whistling sound.

Tapping his feet in succession on the chain, Gu Xichen propelled himself hundreds of meters further along its diagonal ascent, instantly leveling out with the Storm Water Dragon.

He formed an arcane hand seal and rapidly chanted an esoteric spell. A dark cloud materialized out of thin air beside Gu Xichen. Howling cold winds blasted out from the cloud, and in an instant, countless ice chunks the size of human heads, mixed with snow and sleet, hammered down upon the Storm Water Dragon. The surrounding air temperature plummeted, and nearly half the dragon’s body instantly froze over.

Maia roared in surprised anger. The Storm Water Dragon’s massive body struggled to turn. Its great mouth opened, and a black, viscous water sphere, dozens of centimeters in diameter, mixed with countless wind blades, formed in its throat. The water sphere continued to compress, and the dragon’s body rapidly shrank until it was only about a hundred meters long. All the massive volume of seawater composing the dragon’s body was compressed into this water sphere of mere tens of centimeters in diameter. The compression was so extreme that countless strong electrical currents shot out from within the sphere, each spark trailing a raging gale in the surrounding air, with numerous wind blades scattering wildly around the currents.

Gu Xichen seemed not to notice this fatal water sphere, nor did he seem to notice that the Purple Light Death God had also turned, aiming both hands at him.

He focused only on chanting his spell, slowly solidifying an ice bomb over ten meters in diameter that hovered above his head.

Maia and Sharu both burst into laughter. The water sphere in the Storm Water Dragon’s mouth and the purple orb between the Purple Light Death God’s hands shot out simultaneously.

One black light and one purple light easily shattered Gu Xichen’s body. Two intensely bright, straight beams shot out beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Speckles of fine ice crystals could still be faintly seen drifting down from the sky—was this the last remnant of Gu Xichen left in the world?

The ten-meter diameter ice bomb, trailing dense cold air, slammed into the chest of the Purple Light Death God. The immense impact blast pulverized the Death God’s upper torso. Sharu, who had been perched atop its head, spat out a mouthful of hot blood. He roared, “Why didn’t his final strike target you?” Maia merely responded with triumphant laughter!

Xin Jia, standing at the volcano rim, stood frozen for about two seconds. Then, he let out a mournful howl—his body dissolved into a stream of earthy yellow light and vanished.

The panting Maia and Sharu slowly descended back to Triangle Hell Island. They stood on small mounds several hundred meters apart, staring blankly at each other for a moment, before simultaneously erupting in irrepressible laughter. “Indeed, our formidable strength was what ultimately decided the outcome!”

Almost as their wild laughter peaked, three torrents of Qi Cyclone Slashes whistled toward Sharu’s body, while three bluish-black crystals were already mere inches from Maia’s chest.

The surrounding tall grass trembled, countless blades snapping at the root. The sharp leaves transformed into countless flying swords aimed at the necks of Maia and Sharu.

Firelulu, cackling wickedly, charged toward a thicket of bushes. He remotely manipulated countless grass blades to launch a furious, relentless assault against Maia and Sharu.

But two thick, powerful hands suddenly drilled up from underground. Lin Han’s muffled roar echoed from below, “Firelulu, you lost again… You fools! Did you mistake my Realm Puppet for me? Damn idiots!”

Violent earth energy surged into Firelulu’s legs, blasting his flesh and skin to shreds.

Firelulu shrieked, furiously sweeping his hands toward the ground. Dozens of flower vines shot into the earth at a speed at least ten times faster than when Firelulu had attacked Gu Xichen! A crisp sound of flesh being pierced echoed, and the hands grasping Firelulu’s legs instantly loosened and retreated rapidly back into the ground.

Firelulu leaped dozens of meters into the air, shouting fiercely toward Maia and Sharu in the distance, “Lin Han isn’t dead! He was his Realm Puppet!”

Maia and Sharu, whose combat suits were now slashed with dozens of rents and bleeding profusely, immediately attacked Firelulu.

Dozens of Qi Cyclone Slashes and nearly a hundred crystals roared toward Firelulu in a dense wave.

A tremendous roar echoed from beneath the earth. Dozens of sharp stone spears and earth spikes erupted simultaneously beneath Maia and Sharu’s feet. However, they were prepared; they leaped up as soon as the ground showed any sign of upheaval. Maia sneered acerbically, “Colonel Lin Han, we’ve known about this move for ages! Don’t you have anything new?”

In an instant, the four figures—Maia, Sharu, Lin Han, and Firelulu—plunged into a frenzied melee.

Having eliminated the great foe Gu Xichen, they now turned to fight for the interests of their own factions.