Chapter 677: The Moment of Desperation
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_
By igniting the wood-elemental energy in the east part of the formation with fire, Wu Qi had instantly disrupted the energy flow of the entire formation. Then, he directed the raging flame that originated from the wood-elemental energy to the west part of the formation and burned the metal-elemental formation base to ashes. With the destruction of the eastern and western formation bases, the energy of the entire formation was immediately thrown into chaos, while the vast energy in the northern and southern formation bases froze like glaciers.
The formation continued to absorb natural energy from thousands of miles around; but there was no way these energies could be released, because they could no longer be converted into bolts of thunders to attack the enemy. Meanwhile, the energy inside the northern water-elemental formation base and the southern fire-elemental formation base was compressing and freezing up rapidly. Gradually, a dark, frosty cloud formed in the northern sky and engulfed the mountains within thousands of miles like an iron curtain; the southern sky was red due to a huge fiery cloud, whose color was deepening like a glass of milk with blood being constantly added to it.
The width of these two masses of energy had reached thousands of miles, and they were getting thicker at a steady pace while continuing to be compressed. They had turned into two energy storms that could explode at any time. As soon as someone broke into them and emanated a tiny ripple of energy, they would explode immediately, ripping all the immortals trapped in them into pieces. Even Gold Immortals would turn around and flee in the face of such a terrible mass of energy.
The eastern part of the formation had turned into a sea of fire. The combination of wood-elemental energy and underground fires, as well as dozens of volcanoes that were spewing lava, made it hot enough to melt any metal in mere seconds; even the clouds in the sky were gone. Neither immortals nor mortals could pass through this area. Meanwhile, the white metal-elemental energy that filled the western part was rapidly dissipating with the fires unleashed by Wu Qi. He carefully controlled the intensity of the fire, making the mountains in the west a passageway that even mortals could pass through.
With a loud bugle call, flying ships of all sizes charged into the formation with tens of thousands of soldiers on board, veiling the sky like a dark cloud. Arrows rained down like a storm and bone talismans turned into hurricanes to increase their velocity; mighty generals in golden armors attacked the enemy with heavy, specially made weapons. The ferocious assault immediately sent the immortals fleeing in confusion.
The immortals in control of the formation on the mountain were struck by the backlash caused by the energy that was out of control now, and dozens of the strongest ones were killed on the spot. Their bodies exploded, generating a blast that was so powerful that many palaces and pavilions on the mountain, as well as many cave abodes and secret hiding places inside, were shattered to pieces. Most shocking of all, the whole mountaintop, about tens of miles high, broke off because of the explosion; then slowly tumbled down and crashed into the ground, filling the air with a thunderous rumble. The ground was shaking violently while the sky was blanketed by dust and smoke and flame.
The despairing generals and soldiers who had been trapped inside the formation since the start of the battle cheered wildly. Mustering the last bit of strength in their bodies, they began a new round of counterattack against the immortals and itinerant cultivators who were besieging them. The last batch of bolts and arrows were released and the last few pieces of bones talismans were thrown out, while the few surviving Oracles conjured a great sea of flame with their last drop of magic power and killed thousands of weak itinerant cultivators in just a flash.
Wu Qi ordered his soldiers to make the flying ship hover above the trapped generals and soldiers. At this moment, from the thirty thousand soldiers who were trapped here, about five thousand were killed, eight thousand were seriously wounded, and the rest were lucky enough to stay alive and unhurt. All the wounded and dead were brought up to the ship at top speed. Afterward, he ordered the ship to make a dash for the immortals and itinerant cultivators who had been thrown into a confusion on the mountain.
There was a large stockpile of weapons on the ship. Caring not so much as to wipe their sweat or catch their breath, the generals and soldiers who had just boarded the ship immediately collected bundles of special arrows and bolts from the storehouse. They then rushed to the murder holes opened on either side of the ship and showered the immortals who were flying everywhere in the sky with a furious attack. The Oracles, who were panting heavily and had exhausted all their magic power, downed the potion that could instantly replenish their power in one gulp. Then, they snatched a large number of lethal bone talismans and various powerful magical weapons, storming angrily up the upper deck; they began to attack the immortals from the murder holes there as well.
Outside, thousands of immortals and itinerant cultivators surrounded Wu Qi's flying ship, showering it with countless powerful offensive spells. Although the ship's flight speed was very slow, and could be considered one of the slowest military flying ships in Great Yu, it had an amazing defense. None of the attacks could even make a dent or scratch on its outer shell, just creating bright sparks.
Some immortals were attacking the ship with their flying swords, the quality of which were slightly inferior. The swords struck the ship, causing no damage at all; then bounced back and broke into pieces. A few of them suffered a great loss because of this, as the swords they had refined with their life force were destroyed, causing a backlash that made them cough up blood and nearly fall off the clouds they were riding.
Even more alarming to these immortals was the fact that not only had the formation been destroyed, but the energy within it was also in chaos. Metal-elemental energy was completely gone, wood-elemental energy was being constantly transformed into raging firestorms, and water-elemental energy in the north and the fire-elemental energy in the south had compressed into two terrible energy bombs. No one could absorb any energy from the atmosphere. The earth-elemental energy in the center region was still calm though, and the broken formation was still constantly extracting earth-elemental energy from the ground and releasing it into the atmosphere.
However, earth-elemental energy could only be used at most to cast various defensive spells. For ordinary immortals, their most common attack methods were flames, flying daggers, ice, and the likes. But now, without being able to absorb any metal-elemental, fire-elemental, or water-elemental energy from the atmosphere, the overall strength of these immortals and itinerant cultivators was immediately reduced by at least half.
After just a quarter of an hour, Wu Qi's flying ship had approached the broken mountain by several dozen miles. A deck at the bottom of the ship was removed, exposing three polygonal crystal pillars arranged in a triangle; inside them, countless runes were flashing while numerous tiny electric arcs were constantly darting out. Behind the pillars was a huge crystal, in which, a large group of Oracles constantly poured boxes of energy stones and immortal stones into a burning cauldron.
This was the only weapon of mass destruction that this flying ship was equipped with. Its name was 'Spirit Slaughtering Thunder', and was crafted by Oracles specializing in the thunder-elemental magic from the Directorate of Celestials and skilled craftsmen from the Military Court. The principle it used was actually very simple: after a great amount of energy was accumulated, it was converted into a powerful thunderbolt through a formation and released toward the target. The whole process was exactly how an immortal released an immortal thunderbolt.
However, when immortals attacked with thunderbolts, they needed to consider the backlash of energy and other complex issues; this weapon had no such concerns. It was made entirely of the strongest materials found on Pangu Continent, and a wisp of innate energy was even added to it during the crafting process. After providing it with enough energy stones and immortal stones, the power it generated could instantly kill a top-tier Gold Immortal who was protected by an excellent immortal artifact!
But, it had one weakness. Although it was extremely powerful, it required a skilled Rune Master to re-engrave a new set of energy concentration array inside each time it was used. In other words, the Jade Armor Dark Turtle flying ship could only launch an attack in a battle; but if the attack hit the target accurately, it could deal an incredible amount of damage.
The whole ship was covered in a strong light. A five miles in diameter violet thunderbolt squeezed out of its bottom, and quickly expanded to a hundred miles wide. With a dull roar of thunder, the ship soared dozens of miles up into the sky before a thunderbolt whistled through the air toward the mountain that had broken.
In the blink of an eye, countless immortals and cultivators vanished into nothingness along the thunderbolt's flight path. Several Gold Immortals who had been exhausted from fighting with Great Yu's generals wailed as they watched the thunderbolt approach. They were too weak to even take out their Gold Immortal Artifacts and defend themselves, and could only struggle feebly before dissolving into a cloud of smoke.
The thunderbolt smashed into the waist of the mountain at a slanting angle, and came out of the other side. Amidst a deafening rumble, the thousands of miles wide mountain collapsed and sunk into the ground: the last base of the fog formation was finally destroyed! Thousands of Heaven Immortals and itinerant cultivators on the mountain were turned into ashes by the mighty attack, and the few Gold Immortals with the strongest cultivation bases were wounded to varying degrees.
With a shrill howl, these Gold Immortals summoned the nearby survivors and prepared to find a way to escape.
They could not escape from the west because Wu Qi's flying ship was in the way, and tens of thousands of vigorous generals and soldiers were charging toward them from behind it. Neither could they escape from the north and south, where the water-elemental energy and fire-elemental energy were frantically compressing. What awaited them in those two directions were two huge energy bombs, which, if touched, could explode instantly and drag everyone into a raging energy storm.
The only way to live was in the east!
But, the wood-elemental energy in the east was burning furiously, and there were dozens of giant volcanoes spewing hot lava and deadly gases. Even the void was distorted by the incredibly high temperature. On top of that, there were nine huge fireballs in the sky which continuously shot down countless fire arrows. That region had become a world of fire at this point.
But, they could only escape from there! There was no way out anywhere else!
One of the strongest Gold Immortals threw his head back and roared, then headed east with a group of immortals and itinerant cultivators who looked lost. As he sped along, he glanced back over his shoulder at Wu Qi's ship and growled, "Count yourself lucky today to have been able to destroy my formation! I'll surely take my revenge in the future!"
Wu Qi smiled and shook his head as he watched the thousands of immortals fleeing in desperation. 'I'm lucky to have been able to destroy your formation? How could it be luck? It's just that your formation is too simple! I wouldn't have been able to destroy it so easily if you could complicate it by adding other changes instead of simply using the energy of five-elements!'
'As I had expected, they did escape from the east!' Wu Qi whistled softly and closed his eyes. He could not bear to see what was about to happen.
The fire surged and the whole sky was obscured by flames. Immortals fleeing from the eastern part of the formation howled and wailed as they burned to ashes in the sea of fire. Except for those Gold Immortals and their close disciples who were protected by them, all the other immortals and cultivators of Myriad Immortal Alliance vanished into the lava hell.
Moreover, just when the group of about a hundred Gold Immortals rushed out of the sea of fire that stretched for thousands of miles with their close disciples and friends, they were greeted with yet another Jade Armor Dark Turtle flying ship. The air rang with shrill ghost screams, and the Gold Immortals, who had exhausted their powers, howled in despair.
Blinding purple light erupted from at least seventy percent of the Gold Immortals. They were burning their immortal souls!