Chapter 567: The Formation Is Breached
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_
"Activate the formation!" cried Princess Zhang Le as soon as she arrived at the bottom of Qianzhang Lake.
Before her words could fade, she fell tumbling down to the ground. The Primordial Dao of Divinity was indeed extremely powerful and magical, but it would also bring the caster an unprecedented pressure and dreadful side effects. She was already suffering from a serious injury after burning half of the source of her divine soul not long ago, and now with her divine energy completely exhausted, she would not be able to recover even a single thread of her divine energy for the next seven days.
Catfish quickly cupped her up, while Peppermint and Angelica rushed over and kept feeding healing spirit herbs into her mouth.
Lord Xiansheng was quick in action as well. A dozen lightning rays darted out of his fingertips as he pressed his palm on the ground, which instantly activated the dozens of formations they had deployed during the past few days. A deep, muffled rumble echoed out as all the formations were activated, radiating a strange light to blanket the entire bottom of Qianzhang Lake, and casting an ever-changing glow on their faces. In a blink of an eye, the bottom of Qianzhang Lake had turned into a world full of splendid colors.
Patriarch Ji Mie, the Three Evil Daoists from Mount Black Goat, and the Seven Saints of Yaxin Island were among the thirty-odd strongest Heaven Immortals who had survived. At the moment, they had unleashed their immortal items and showered Qianzhang Lake with all sorts of powerful attacks.
The first attack came from Patriarch Ji Mie, in the form of his nine flaming bone swords. They had transformed into nine beams of white light, each measuring at least one thousand feet long, piercing through the water as they went thousands of feet under the lake and smashed hard on the first layer of energy barrier right above the dragon mansion. A loud boom rang out as the water in the lake was thrown high up into the sky while burning like oil. The swords had kindled all the water, causing it to shoot dozens of miles up into the sky like a dazzling, green colored firework, and then fall down in all directions to cover the entire wetland in a raging green flame.
There was not a drop of water left in Qianzhang Lake. When the nine swords hacked on the first layer of energy barriers, the 'Reversing Five-elements True Thunder Formation', a five-colored thunderbolt shot out and collided with them. The powerful impact caused bright sparks to fly out from the swords. Eerie ghost howls filled the atmosphere as countless ghostly figures leaped out of the swords and fled in all directions.
The cultivation technique practiced by Patriarch Ji Mie was part of the Yin Ghost League, and his flaming bone swords were made of human bones, souls, and ghost flame. Yet, unfortunately, it was the true thunder of five elements that the formations had used to attack the enemies. It was an extremely fierce attack that came with pure Yang energy, the bane of all evil beings. As Patriarch Ji Mie was desperate to be the first to attack, six of his flying swords were shattered to pieces by the immense thunderbolt.
He howled miserably as a large amount of blood mist sprayed out of his body. The flaming bone swords were his Prime Magical Items, a set of immortal items which he had spent great effort to craft. Now, as the thunderbolt had destroyed six of them, it had also caused a severe injury to his immortal soul. Tiny electric arcs kept bolting out of his body, making him look like a huge light bulb glowing in the sky.
When he had just thought of flying high up into the sky to heal himself, three green sword beams suddenly came shooting over at him and pierced his forehead, his chest, and his abdomen. The three evil Daoists from the Mount Goat had seized the opportunity to kill him. With any one of them possessing an equally strong cultivation base as Patriarch Ji Mie, how could he survive the sneak attack when he was severely wounded?
"The girl is badly wounded, and sooner or later, she will fall into our hands. The two Dragon Pythons of Fire and Ice are all the better. Isn't it better to have one less contender for such a treasure?" Three evil Daoists shouted out at the same time. The other Immortals who had survived Princess Zhang Le's cruel slaughter were startled at first. But soon, they nodded as they agreed on what the three had said.
But intentionally or unintentionally, these Immortals had moved to place themselves further with one another, and while they continued to attack Qianzhang Lake, they had shifted more attention back to themselves. Imperceptibly, the attack that showered Qianzhang Lake was weaker than before.
Even so, dozens of immortal items still landed on the first layer of energy barrier, along with a crushing blow. Thunderbolts rushed out and knocked tens of lesser quality weapons away, while those better crafted ones had clung themselves on the formation, spitting flames and thunderbolts to weaken it.
Although these Immortals did not attack with their full power as they were keeping a watchful eye on each other, with their strong cultivation base, the first layer of energy barrier could only last three hours before it was completely shattered.
Princess Zhang Le sighed faintly when she saw that the energy barrier was destroyed. Luckily, she had killed seventy percent of the Immortals with the mystic technique. Otherwise, should all the Immortals, over two hundred of them, attack at the same time, the formation would not have lasted so long. And, she felt lucky that these remaining Immortals were guarding against each other, and didn't dare attack with their full power, as it would make the formation last less than two hours.
"We have thirty-six layers of formations," Princess Zhang Le said calmly, "By the look of it, we still have three to four days of time. Let them waste their energy on the formations, and we'll find a perfect opportunity to make an escape."
Gritting her teeth, she said with a cold grin, "Daoist Ling, the man who knows divination, has been killed by Patriarch Ji Mie. So long as we can storm out of the encirclement, we should have a long period of time to recuperate. We would be able to escape this calamity if we are not hunted by some overly strong Immortals."
At that moment, Qianzhang Dragon King carefully leaned over, pointing to the archway as he said, "I am a coward who is afraid of death. Therefore, long ago, I had dug a waterway under the archway, and it leads straight to a great river about three hundred thousand miles from here."
Delighted, Princess Zhang Le gave Lord Xiansheng a glance. Without hesitation, he transformed into a little dragon, less than one foot in length, and plunged straight into the muddy ground beneath the archway. About two hours later, he sprung out from the mud and said in a low voice, "Sure enough, there is a waterway that leads to a great river three hundred thousands miles away. Some parts of it had collapsed from the quake just now, but it is not serious enough to hinder us. We can pass through it safely."
Princess Zhang Le was overjoyed. She looked at Qianzhang Dragon King and said with a smile, "If we can get away with this, I'll definitely reward you handsomely in the future!"
The old dragon king was grinning from ear to ear as he waved his hand repeatedly and said, "Do not mention it! It is my honor to serve you, my fairy and my lord!" Taking a deep breath, Qianzhang Dragon King lifted his head to look at the second layer of energy barrier, which had just been destroyed. "But, these Immortals are so aggressive... My fairy, you should leave here as soon as possible!"
Princess Zhang Le was about to speak when suddenly, a huge pearl, about ten feet in diameter and shining brilliantly as a moon, smashed straight down from the sky. A loud boom echoed out as the pearl pierced through nine layers of defensive barriers, causing the entire Qianzhang Lake and the wetland thousand miles around it to shake violently. The ground was caving in, and the archway that stood before the dragon palace crumbled and collapsed with an unpleasant squeak.
Lord Xiansheng's face fell. Once again, he transformed into a little dragon and dove into the mud, and was back in just a few moments later. "Damn, the waterway has completely collapsed! There is no way to escape!"
The news had taken the color away from Princess Zhang Le's face. Whether there was a waterway under the ground or not was totally different. An intact waterway under the ground could allow them to evacuate Qianzhang Lake as quickly as possible. But, when it was collapsed, if they were to use earth escape art to flee through the ground, the energy wave exuded by them would surely attract the attention of the Immortals in the sky.
None of them had mastered an escape art as incredible as Wu Qi's, so it was impossible for them to not exude any energy wave when they were fleeing through the ground. If the waterway were not destroyed, as Lord Xiansheng, Catfish, Gold Horn and Silver Horn could swim in water and travel thousands of miles in the blink of an eye, it would be an easy task to escape. But, without the waterway, no one could guarantee that they could make the escape under the noses of so many Immortals.
As she stared shockingly at the pearl, which was slowly flying back to the sky, she said with a frown, "Who has attacked us?"
High in the sky, an elegant man in a white robe was seen hovering mid-air with the pearl floating above his head. Looking down at the dumbfounded Immortals, including the three evil Daoists of the Mount Black Goat, he said while frowning, "Even if you have captured these people, there is no way you can safely bring them back to Myriad Immortal Alliance. Leave them to me. A reward such as this is not something you weak ants can touch."
With their jaws clenched, the three evil Daoists stared at the man and growled, "Please tell us your name, Senior!"
The man pointed his finger out, and the pearl gave off a gentle white light as it pierced through nine layers of defensive barriers with another blow. "I am Reverend Yao Yue, an ally of Myriad Immortal Alliance. I suppose you have heard my name before, haven't you?"
Reverend Yao Yue.
Upon hearing the name, the thirty-odd Heaven Immortals' bodies trembled. Without even uttering another word, they summoned back their immortal items and sped away in beams of bright light.
Reverend Yao Yue was a frightening figure. He was a tenth tier Heaven Immortal, and was famous among the allies of Wandering Immortal Hall of Myriad Immortal Alliance for his cruel and merciless approaches. In Great Yu's records alone, he was suspected to be involved in the slaughter of thirty-nine cities in seventeen major provinces. He had been ranked among the top on the official most-wanted list of Great Yu. He was truly a very famous malevolent.
Seeing that all the Heaven Immortals had fled, Reverend Yao Yue laughed pleasingly and said, "Wonderful! Now with all those weaklings gone, it is time for me to capture my prize. Hehe, the three requests promised by those old fools have tempted even me!"
With a guffaw, he pressed his hands down.
The formations deployed by Princess Zhang Le shattered to pieces with a deafening rumble, as if the Mount Tai had crushed an eggshell. Reverend Yao Yue's body flickered, and in the next moment, he was standing before Princess Zhang Le and her company. Even as he appeared, he pointed his finger at them and shot out a beam of spirit light. A spell had confined Princess Zhang Le and her company, taking away their ability to move.
After giving Princess Zhang Le a quick glance, he shook his head and said, "You are truly a beautiful girl. No wonder that useless fool Li Qinghua has named you to be captured alive."
He laughed and said again, "But, a beautiful girl is a thing that I don't take to heart. Well, I can always have plenty of beautiful girls if I want!"
Laughing strangely and with a bright gleam flashing in his eyes, he came before Gold Horn and Silver Horn, whose bodies were stiffened and immobile.
As he caressed Gold Horn and Silver Horn's bodies lovingly, Reverend Yao Yue breathed out a long sigh and said, "Oh my treasures... You are the true treasures! By having both of you captured, the hope of becoming a Gold Immortal is sitting right in my palm now!"
All of a sudden, Reverend Yao Yue pursed his lip and kissed Gold Horn and Silver Horn deeply.