Chapter 1357: Throw Myself Out as Bait!
It didn’t matter whether or not Paragon Sea Dream really had planned to flee with the Mountain and Sea Realm, or whether or not she felt the war to be hopeless. As of this moment, her echoing words not only solidified the hearts of the cultivators of the Mountain and Sea Realm, it was also a rhetorical counterpunch that caused the Outsiders who remained behind in the 2nd through 6th Heavens to turn very grim-faced.
Meng Hao breathed a sigh of relief, then looked toward the Ninth Mountain with a complex expression. Deep in his heart, he was convinced that Paragon Sea Dream really had intended to lead the Mountain and Sea Realm into flight.
However, now was not the time to ponder the matter. He settled his thoughts and then focused completely on the spell formation, causing brilliant sunlight to shine out into the starry sky.
Meanwhile, as if giving their reply to Sea Dream’s words, the millions of black cubes floating in the starry sky suddenly erupted with boundless lightning, which then lashed downward and bombarded the Mountain and Sea Realm’s first line of defense. If that were all there were to it, it might not be a big deal, but in addition, the surging energy of a Paragon also erupted out from the 6th Heaven.
A hoarse voice could be heard, filled with seemingly infinite pride, “Still as slippery with words as ever, Fellow Daoist Sea Dream. How amusing.”
The 33 Heavens originally had five powerful Paragons. Of those, one had been enslaved by Meng Hao. That left four, and now… two were present to fight!
The words spoken by this Paragon instantly filled the Outsiders with confidence. After all, if the 32 Heavens sent two Paragons to support them, then how could it be as Sea Dream said, that they had been abandoned?
Their fighting spirit soared. Roaring, millions upon millions of Outsiders charged toward the First Sea, whose waters boiled and bubbled as countless restrictive spells exploded out. The First Mountain and Sea was the first line of defense, and the cultivators there had no time to think or ponder. They could only begin to fight!
Millions of cultivators charged forth in attack. Countless scintillating beams of light shot through the First Sea, joining the power of the restrictive spells and spell formations to unleash carnage upon the Outsiders.
The First Sea seethed as innumerable Outsiders poured into the battle. In the blink of an eye, miserable shrieks and cries filled the air, and countless grievous injuries and even deaths occurred. The First Sea almost instantly turned crimson, making the entire sea look like… a sea of blood.
As for the Paragon who had just spoken out from the 6th Heaven, he did not appear in body. Clearly, his only goal had been to put pressure on the Mountain and Sea Realm, and to calm the Outsiders. Even more so, he wanted to buy time.
Time was needed for the 7th through 33rd Heavens to emerge from the special state created by the magic they had used to evade the destructive tempest.
As for the Outsider Imperial Lords, their number had increased from four to six, and they were making a grand display in battle.
Out in the starry sky, Xuan Fang’s eyes glittered as he looked over at the six Imperial Lords, then pointed in the direction of the sun.
“All of you–” However, before he could finish speaking, his expression flickered. “Not good….”
In that same instant, a glowing shield exploded out from the moon. Ksitigarbha was using all the power he could unleash to utilize the moon’s spell formation power. The moon was devoted to defense, and now it created a shield that covered the Mountain and Sea Realm, including the First Sea.
That shield locked down the Mountain and Sea Realm, and at the same time… cut off all of the Outsiders who were within the First Sea from the others!
It was as if the Outsiders’ huge army had suddenly been cut apart!
One portion was isolated in the First Sea, with the majority of the army being stuck outside. At the same time, Meng Hao sent divine will into the Paragon puppet that was waiting atop the First Mountain. Suddenly, it looked up, its eyes flashing.
The puppet’s face was expressionless, but when Xuan Fang saw it, his face fell. The puppet rose to its feet, the pressure of a Paragon exploding out from the First Mountain to fill the First Sea. Then, it took a step forward.
“Eegoo, what are you doing!?!?” Xuan Fang roared from the other side of the shield. He took a step toward the shield, clenched his hand into a fist, and struck out. The entire shield shook as though it might break at any moment. However, Ksitigarbha’s eyes gleamed viciously, and blood oozed out of the corners of the mouths of the 100,000 cultivators under his command. As a result, the shield stabilized, and showed no further signs of being breached.
Xuan Fang roared with fury as he battered the shield again, but it did no good. He stared viciously at Meng Hao’s Paragon puppet as it took a step forward, then unleashed a fist strike toward the First Sea.
That fist strike contained Paragon power that could shake the Heavens. The entire First Sea sank down, and the Mountain and Sea cultivators were pushed back by an enormous force. In contrast, the Outsiders’ faces flickered with shock and despair.
“NO!!”
“Th-that’s… that’s Paragon Eegoo. How… how could this be possible!?!?’
“Paragon Eegoo has turned traitor!!”
Massive rumbling echoed out as the fist strike descended. The Outsiders began to cough up blood, and cracking sounds mixed with miserable shrieks could be heard as their bodies began to fall to pieces.
After the fist strike landed, a powerful shockwave surged out in all directions like a massive tempest. As it passed over the Outsiders in the First Sea, their bodies were flayed into masses of blood and gore. Their flesh became ash, and their bones were shattered into fragments, leaving nothing behind!
Their magical items, their bags of holding, everything about them was completely destroyed, until nothing was left behind but wisps of smoke.
However, the blood that filled the First Sea remained behind. Not a bit of it faded away, and in fact, it grew thicker, until the First Sea emanated a stench that struck fear into the hearts of the Outsiders on the other side of the shield.
One single punch exterminated all of the enemy forces in the First Sea.
The power of a Paragon, once unleashed… could exterminate Heaven and Earth.
The Paragon puppet slowly looked up, and its eyes were clearly not that of Eegoo, but Meng Hao. The icy madness therein, freezing killing intent which stabbed out of the Mountain and Sea Realm’s shield toward Xuan Fang.
Xuan Fang shivered, and his face darkened, but the killing intent in his own eyes burned brighter than ever as he then turned to look in the direction of the sun, and Meng Hao.
“As long as this kid remains alive,” he thought, “this war will be ten times as hard to win!” After a moment, he looked away. Without speaking another word, he turned his attention back to the shield. He was confident that he would be able to break it open, but he also knew that even if he did, his army wouldn’t be willing to casually step into the First Sea.
And yet, if he didn’t break the stalemate, then despite being able to buy some time, the morale of the troops would be significantly damaged. Furthermore, that would also give time for the Mountain and Sea Realm to make further preparations.
Xuan Fang’s eyes glittered. “We can’t let them dictate the tide of battle. To break this stalemate, I need… to throw out some bait! An Imperial Lord wouldn’t be enough. Only by offering myself up as bait can I force the Mountain and Sea Realm into making a move, whatever it is!”
After a moment of silence, the cultivators of the Mountain and Sea Realm suddenly began to cheer, and their excitement grew. At the same time, the shield began to fade away.
As it did, the Outsiders stared at the bloody First Sea, and just as Xuan Fang had predicted, none of them dared to enter it. Although they clearly outnumbered the Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators, they were the scared ones.
None of them dared to enter, but Xuan Fang did. He shot through the vanishing shield at high speed, and in that same moment, Ksitigarbha suddenly rose to his feet from where he sat inside the moon.
“He actually dares to enter?!?!” he thought, eyes shining with a strange light. However, he hesitated. That hesitation came as he considered whether or not to activate the shield again, trapping the Outsider Paragon inside, and then using the power of the Mountains and Seas to kill him!
Accomplishing that… could potentially end the battle much earlier!
It wasn’t just Ksitigarbha who was hesitating. Sea Dream was frowning, and as for the rest of the Outsider army, they were stunned. However, some of the Outsiders were already beginning to roar, and charge forth to fight.
The six Imperial Lords were also shaken. The only person who seemed unfazed was the other Paragon in the 6th Heaven.
Meng Hao began to breathe heavily; the decisiveness being shown by Xuan Fang caused an icy coldness to glitter in his eyes.
“Offering himself up as bait?”
There was no time for lengthy consideration. Xuan Fang shot into the First Sea and appeared directly in front of the Paragon puppet. As he closed in, he performed an incantation gesture and pointed out, causing the surrounding sea of blood to solidify, almost as if it were being frozen by indescribable coldness.
“Seal!” Sea Dream barked in response, countering his move. Her eyes flickered with a fierce gleam. There was really no choice in the matter. If Xuan Fang was brave enough to offer himself up as bait, and the Mountain and Sea Realm was too cowardly to bite, then how could they possibly continue to fight the war?
Sea Dream normally planned things out carefully, but this situation was different.
Even as Sea Dream’s voice continued to echo out, and before she could act on her decision, the light of the sun around Meng Hao blazed brightly. He had made his choice too, which was… to take the bait!
Ksitigarbha took a deep breath as his cultivation base surged with power. The river of reincarnation appeared, along with the sea of the Yellow Springs, and the numerous underworld palaces. The 100,000 cultivators on the moon all erupted with cultivation base power, pouring it into the spell formation, which Ksitigarbha then manipulated, causing the shield to spring up, covering the Mountain and Sea Realm, completely trapping Paragon Xuan Fang!
In the same moment that the shield appeared, the sun blazed with intense light as an attack was unleashed. An arrow of light shot through the starry sky, and at the same time, Paragon Sea Dream suddenly shot to her feet in the Ninth Mountain, then took a step forward to appear on the battlefield.
Rumbling could be heard as Meng Hao’s Paragon puppet began to fight with Xuan Fang. Even as the spectacular battle began to play out, the sunlight arrow was closing in.
Unexpectedly, Xuan Fang didn’t attempt to evade the arrow. In fact, he didn’t even pay any heed to Paragon Sea Dream.
“Do you people really think I threw myself out as bait to get revenge for the millions of my fellow clan members who have died already? Or perhaps because of this Eegoo puppet?
“Oh, no. No… I came here,” he suddenly looked toward the sun and smiled coldly, “for YOU.” Laughing, he reached up and grabbed the light arrow, crushing it with his hand. A massive boom rang out, and blood oozed out of his mouth as he seemed to be on the verge of exploding. However, a strange light then began to flicker within his eyes.
“Dao of Time, return to the origin, trace this light back, and converge my true form!” Even as he spoke, Xuan Fang vanished!
When he reappeared, he was on the sun, a black pearl in his hand, which he then slammed downward!