Towering waves of flame crashed against the densely arranged spiritual walls along the East Sea coast, forcibly confined within this small Wanxian Meeting town situated in the lowest depression nearest to the East Sea. In the blink of an eye, several spiritual walls were silently shattered by the sea of fire, sweeping away those immortals who were too close to escape in time. By the time others thought to rescue them, it was already too late.
The sudden mass deaths left no time for fear. The damaged spiritual walls were immediately rebuilt. As the sea of fire grew higher, the immortals could only continue to generously release spiritual energy, stacking the spiritual walls higher and higher, striving to contain the endless fierce flames within this confined area.
The fire points carried by the wind nearly melted them. Although the abundant, misty water-attribute spiritual energy protected everyone, Lu Li could still smell his hair and clothes burning. He looked around and, whether it was his imagination or not, the surrounding immortals seemed much fewer than before. Even the two sect leaders of Wuyue Ting were nowhere to be seen. Had they all been swept away by the sea of fire?
Immortal Cui Xuan walked over to Wu Zhenzi, the vice leader of Xing Zheng Hall, and whispered a few words to him. Wu Zhenzi lowered his head in thought for a moment, then said, “Immortal Cui Xuan is considerate. Although we came to the East Sea in person for that overseas woman, this sea fall is different from others. No one knows when the sea of fire will retreat. If we all leave, how can the spiritual walls hold? Abandoning the root to pursue the tip is meaningless.”
Immortal Cui Xuan whispered a few more sentences, and Wu Zhenzi smiled in realization, immediately flying away on his sword.
Lu Li couldn’t help but feel extremely puzzled. The overseas woman they mentioned must be referring to Jiang Lifei. What did it mean to suddenly withdraw many immortals after the sea of fire arrived? Was it a measure specially prepared to deal with Jiang Lifei?
He suddenly felt Immortal Cui Xuan glance in his direction, a flash of light in his drowsy eyes. Lu Li’s throat suddenly tightened, as if gripped by an invisible hand. He could breathe freely but couldn’t make a sound. He looked at Immortal Cui Xuan in shock and heard this old immortal, who had been unusually fixated on Jiang Lifei from the beginning, say calmly, “I know you have a deep friendship with Jiang Lifei, but in this world, right and wrong come in different sizes. Compared to life and death, fragile emotions are insignificant. Now that the sea of fire is trapped here, you won’t see the foreign people, but the East Sea is vast, and there will always be places along the thousands of miles of coastline where it can break through. When you see with your own eyes your fellow disciples, masters, friends, and cultivators you know or don’t know being killed by foreign people or even find yourself in a desperate situation, perhaps then you’ll understand this greater right and wrong. I’ve sealed your voice to avoid unexpected accidents. Don’t blame me.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a thin white light streaked across the sky in the far distance like a shooting star. The immortals all exclaimed in shock. Immortal Cui Xuan smiled bitterly and said, “Speak of the devil. Look, there’s no sea of fire where the white light passed. The foreign people have broken through the spiritual net. We’re about to lose control.”
Soon after, a small bird folded from white paper came fluttering unsteadily. Sang Hua Jun raised his arm, and the paper bird landed in his palm. Its beak moved, apparently enchanted with a sound transmission technique: “Three hundred miles west of Guangsheng Meeting town, two hundred spiritual walls have been broken. With too many casualties, the situation is unfavorable. Come quickly for reinforcement.”
Before this paper bird finished speaking, another new paper bird urgently flew in, and the sound transmission technique sounded again: “The barrier of Guangsheng Meeting cave has been broken, completely lost. Foreign people are pouring in en masse. Be careful of those white-haired men! The fierce beasts they control are extremely formidable! They fear neither water nor fire!”
Every immortal’s face changed. The area within two thousand miles of Guangsheng Meeting was almost entirely guarded by immortals of that sect. The breaking of the cave realm barrier meant that this sect was almost destroyed. Even if one high-level immortal of the sect was still alive, the barrier couldn’t have been broken. What were these white-haired men? Could they be Yakshas again? Although the sea sect was proficient in beast-taming techniques, that was only in the Central Plains and couldn’t compare to the overseas foreigners. At least those fierce beasts that feared neither water nor fire of the five elements were unheard of.
Countless immortals were already restless, all wanting to go reinforce. Sang Hua Jun said in a loud voice, “This place must contain the sea of fire with spiritual walls. We can’t have fewer people, otherwise, if the spiritual walls collapse and the sea of fire spreads, it will be uncontrollable. There are other stationed immortals along the coast to reinforce. Don’t lose your composure, maintain the spiritual walls well!”
This small town under the jurisdiction of Wanxian Meeting was the lowest and most concave terrain along the East Sea coast. It had been chosen earlier as the best location to seal off the sea of fire. Most of those left to guard here were quite famous immortals from the Central Plains. The sect leaders who came specifically for Jiang Lifei also remained here. Although the sea of fire came fiercely, it was much easier to deal with than the unpredictable heavenly thunder. The spiritual walls gradually contracted, confining the sea of fire within. From a distance, it looked like a fire dragon spanning between heaven and earth.
An immortal flew high in the sky to observe for a moment, then said, “There are four hundred miles of the sea of fire in the East Sea abyss. It will take ten hours to fully come ashore.”
The moment the sea of fire completely comes ashore would be the most likely time for Jiang Lifei and the Yakshas to appear. Ten hours, almost until midnight tomorrow. Who knows if the various places along the coast could safely hold out until then?
Suddenly, a third paper bird flew in urgently, much faster than the previous two. The anxious and fearful voice of an immortal exploded through the sound transmission technique: “The two thousand-mile range of Guangsheng Meeting has completely fallen! Beware of those fierce beasts! They’re extremely troublesome!”
Sang Hua Jun frowned. It was extremely rare to see fierce beasts that weren’t afraid of the power of the five elements. Even the rhinoceros was only formidable because of its horn. In the world, only divine beasts were not afraid of the five elements. For example, the White Tiger was born in response to metal-attribute spiritual energy, and the Azure Dragon was born in response to wood-attribute spiritual energy. Immortal techniques of corresponding attributes did not affect them. What kind of fierce beast was not afraid of both water and fire? He had a vague impression but couldn’t recall at the moment.
Suddenly, a series of ghostly howls and wolf cries came from the distance. Shocking demonic energy seemed to fall from the sky, crashing onto the shoulders of the immortals. It felt like countless cold needles piercing into their bone marrow. Even Immortal Cui Xuan couldn’t help but shudder. Lu Li was almost crushed to the point of vomiting blood by the demonic energy. Fortunately, Mr. Shen immediately set up a water and earth barrier for them, allowing the young disciples to catch their breath.
Everyone felt that the strange cries of ghostly howls and wolf cries were getting closer, seemingly coming from high in the sky. Looking up, they saw several enormous beasts crashing into the spiritual wall, seemingly unafraid of the intense heavenly fire within. Their claws were tightly hooked onto the spiritual wall, emitting a series of teeth-grinding howls like cries.
Seeing that they looked like monstrous snakes, each fierce beast with nine heads, Immortal Cui Xuan’s heart skipped a beat, and he exclaimed in shock, “Are these Jiuying?! I can’t believe such fierce beasts exist in the world!”
The Jiuying was an extremely ancient legend. With nine heads that could spit both fire and water, unafraid of the power of water and fire, it was like the legendary phoenix and qilin that were said to exist but had never been seen. The Jiuying was also just a symbolic existence. Who would have thought that foreign people could control them?
Seeing the Jiuying open their huge mouths to bite the spiritual wall, seemingly absorbing the intense heavenly fire within, he couldn’t help but turn pale with fright and shouted sternly, “Set up the spiritual net! Quickly!”
A dense spiritual net was instantly set up above everyone’s heads. At the same time, the heavenly fire spat out by the Jiuying crashed down. If they were allowed to absorb the heavenly fire and crash it down like this, the immortals would quickly exhaust their spiritual energy no matter how much they had.
Sang Hua Jun was about to call on the Xing Zheng Hall members to eliminate the Jiuying first, as they had many immortals with metal spiritual roots, most suitable for restraining the fierce beast Jiuying. Unexpectedly, Immortal Cui Xuan suddenly exclaimed in alarm from afar, “Be careful! They’re here!”
As he spoke, dozens of human figures darted into the crowd as fast as lightning, coming and going like the wind. Everywhere they passed, immortals were screaming. The joint law defenses were useless. The newcomers could tear apart human bodies with their bare hands. Some had large chunks of flesh torn from their arms, while others had bloody holes opened in their faces. Their speed and ferocity reminded people of the two Yakshas from five hundred years ago.
Back then, just two Yakshas had terrified the Central Plain’s immortal world. How many had come this time?! Would they be able to survive?!
Immortal Cui Xuan swept his long sleeve, forcing back the foreign person lunging at him. He saw that although these dozens of figures came and went like the wind, they were much slower than the Yakshas. Moreover, they all had white hair, and their exposed skin was as pale as snow, incomparable to those Yakshas with bodies shimmering with golden light. He immediately sent out a sound transmission: “They’re not Yakshas! Don’t be afraid!”
It was said that spiritual energy was scarce overseas, so the five-element immortal techniques were not prevalent. The foreign people were mostly much stronger than the Central Plains candidates, each with a copper head and iron bones, preferring to rush up close to fight, completely different from the Central Plains immortals’ style of keeping a distance and battling with techniques.
Seeing two more foreign people lunging at him from front and back, Immortal Cui Xuan let out a roar, his body emanating golden light. Before the foreign people’s hands could touch his body, they instantly turned into bloody mist. The immortals who had been slightly panicked earlier also realized that although these dozens of pale overseas foreigners moved swiftly, they were not very difficult to deal with. Everyone suddenly became brave, and the battle situation reversed in an instant.
Immortal Cui Xuan reached out to capture a white-haired foreigner and said sternly, “Quickly tell those Jiuying to leave!”
The foreigner stared at him fiercely, suddenly opened his mouth, and wailed several sentences in a language never heard before. Not only did the Jiuying perched on the spiritual wall not leave, but they crashed down the heavenly fire even more violently, almost shattering the spiritual net above their heads.
Immortal Cui Xuan flew into a rage, his golden light flashing, cutting the foreigner to pieces. But from near and far, several more ghostly howls and wolf cries rushed towards them. This time, seven or eight Jiuying flew over, also clinging to the spiritual wall, continuously absorbing and throwing down the heavenly fire.
Like a tidal wave, the overseas foreigners swarmed in from the east, roaring in languages no one could understand, like a sharp blade, avoiding the group of immortals stationed in this small town. For many, it was the first time seeing overseas foreigners with their own eyes. Among the dense crowd were all sorts of strange shapes: some were several zhang tall, some looked like meatballs, some had three heads and six arms, and some were covered in hair. These human-shaped monsters gathered together were more chilling than any ugly demon.
Immortal Cui Xuan released a large cloud of golden mist, shredding the strangely shaped foreigners in front of him. But as one fell, ten more lunged forward; as ten fell, twenty more came, seemingly endless. He turned around hastily and saw that the surrounding immortals were all entangled in bitter battles with the foreigners, no longer able to maintain the shattered spiritual net above. The Jiuying absorbed and crashed down the heavenly fire, and screams could be heard continuously. The tragic scene from five hundred years ago was repeating before his eyes, and his wrists couldn’t help but tremble slightly.
Suddenly, a crisp whistle sounded from high above, with a strange melody. The fierce beast Jiuying clinging to the spiritual wall seemed to receive some kind of summons, all raising their nine heads to look up.
A voice as clear as the wind calmly said, “Go back!”
The immortals immediately looked up and saw Jiang Lifei and Lei Xiuyuan, who had been long awaited, suddenly appear high above. She was whistling a strange tune, and the Jiuying reluctantly spread their wings and slowly flew back towards the East Sea.
She also circled the sea of fire trapped within the spiritual wall, flying swiftly towards the East Sea without a word.
The sea of fire hadn’t fully come ashore, and she was going to leave so casually after appearing so casually?! Sang Hua Jun suddenly raised his hand, and a huge black door blocked the path in front of the two. No matter what, they couldn’t be allowed to leave like this today.