"I am Li Yaotie, the personal disciple of the Heavenly Light Sect's Grand Ancestor!"
"Who dares to—"
BOOM!
A flying sword shot forward and, under Li Yaotie's astonished gaze, pierced through his chest, blasting him off the cliff as dust and smoke billowed up.
Li Yaoqing frowned. Bai Rourou narrowed her eyes and looked into the distance.
Branches swayed on the green-misted mountain; immortal phantoms arrived in the snowy sky.
Three Divinity Transformation cultivators, along with more than twenty Nascent Soul experts from the region, had completely surrounded the mountain.
Their oppressive aura made the falling snow hang motionless in the air, which grew as thick as a mire.
They simply floated there, frowning at the strange, mist-shrouded mountain.
From the swirling dust and smoke, a figure slowly walked out.
His powerful body was slightly hunched over. His heavy footsteps pounded the ground, each one seeming to carry the weight of an inner rage.
When he emerged from the smoke, the veins on Li Yaotie's entire body were bulging. Not a single drop of blood came from the wound where the flying sword had pierced him, and the sword itself was still lodged in his chest.
He slowly gripped the sword and pulled it out, not even sparing a glance for the cultivators in the sky.
A low growl rumbled in his throat.
"It seems my status from the Heavenly Light Sect is truly useless."
"Second Sister."
In the distance, Li Yaoqing slowly stood up. She didn't respond, merely staring intently at the powerful experts.
Li Yaotie's face, cloaked in gloom, gradually twisted into a savage grin.
"You told me not to fight so desperately, but I can't. Back then, I charged to the front, not because I was desperate, but because the villagers and my friends in front of me were all dead."
"If I don't fight to the death, what will my old friends—who are holding back these small fry just like us—think of me? I'd truly be a coward then."
The flying sword was pulled out and tossed to the ground.
The cultivators who had come to besiege the three Li family members all had their expressions change. T
hat strike from a Divinity Transformation expert had pierced Li Yaotie's chest, yet they could not find his Divine Soul.
The power of the Divinity Transformation realm was being dissipated within his body by a flame that resembled the fire of a forging furnace.
And then, metal began to form in the wound, sealing it shut!
"You old bastards, I'll give you one chance to run back home. Otherwise…"
A giant hammer appeared in Li Yaotie's hand. He raised it high, staring at the cultivators in the sky like a mad demon as a furious roar erupted from his chest.
"I'm really going to hammer you all to death!"
...
Li Yaoqing, Li Yaotie, and Bai Rourou were in the midst of battle.
At the same time, the entire Duravia Trade Prefecture was thrown into chaos. Countless zombies descended from the boundless Sea of the Dead, pouring into the prefecture.
At that moment, a war of defense began throughout the land.
The great, established clans no longer had the luxury of worrying about the three great powers or Prince Qian.
Those zombies were truly out for their blood.
The cultivators from Azure Cloud began to relentlessly harass them in their home territories, forcing them to return and defend their clans.
Even though the great, established clans each had their own methods—whether it was a formidable grand formation, hiding their entire clan within a bustling mortal city, or being as elusive as the Li family's own Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land—the people of Azure Cloud could always find their weak spots and destroy their foundations.
This was especially true because the Azure Cloud forces had absolutely no fear of death; they would even burn their own blood essence in the moments before a battle.
Prince Qian's Mansion.
"Your Highness, our messengers are still on the road, but a cultivator from the Wu family has already arrived asking for aid! They implore Your Highness to send reinforcements to their clan. The forces from the Azure Cloud's Region Prince Jiang Mansion have destroyed nearly all of their spirit fields!"
"The Liu family is the same! The cultivators of the Ghost Eye Sect, five hundred a day, exhaust their spiritual power and blood Qi to summon a malevolent formation, forcing the Liu family's Divinity Transformation Ancestor to remain and defend his clan. The formation can cast curses, and those who are struck by them must exchange a life for a life!"
"The two great Divinity Transformation clans of Whiteford Regional City dare not come to provide aid. Led by Azure Phoenix Mountain, twenty small and medium-sized sects have sent their elders and disciples to charge into the city.
The Li family's Li Tianyi, Li Tianming, and Li Tianqi are presiding over the battle. They have a divine talisman that specializes in digging up ancestral graves, and comes and goes without a trace. The two Divinity Transformation Ancestors have no choice but to deal with these three."
"The Li family's Li Tianyue is leading Daoist Shanchen of Azure Cloud, along with the cultivators of the Black Tortoise Sect, for a total of ten thousand troops. They have deployed in the Animara Region and are engaged in a bloody battle!"
"Feng Chunlin of the Feng family and Mi Zhunqi of the Mi family, along with Li Kuangren, a Thunder Python, and a Blood Tree, are currently engaged in a bloody battle in the Northern Region!"
"Bloody battle… Bloody battle!"
In the vast Duravia Trade Prefecture, not a single regional city could now come to the defense of the Prince's Mansion!
On this snowy day, Prince Qian nearly ground his teeth to dust.
"How could it be so fast? How did they get here so quickly?!!"
This had completely exceeded his expectations.
He had clearly made his preparations. Taking advantage of the internal strife in Eternal Sun Prefecture, he had only needed ten years to gather a grand army from the twelve regions of Duravia Trade Prefecture and conquer the entire prefecture in a single blow.
No… he didn't even need ten years. Three would have been enough.
Forget three years; even if you gave the chaotic Eternal Sun Prefecture a hundred years, it could never have assembled a force sufficient to invade the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
But everything had happened too suddenly. It was as if, in a single instant, the people of Azure Cloud had swarmed into the entire prefecture, creating the illusion that they had launched a massive invasion and could conquer the whole territory in one fell swoop.
"It was Skynet."
A phantom appeared within Prince Qian's Mansion. He had the appearance of a young man, looking every bit like a banished immortal.
He was the old Palace Master of the Duravia Trade Prefecture's Myriad Dao Immortal Palace, Ming Daozi.
He held a horsetail brush, and his eyes were clear and bright, giving him an air of someone who had transcended the mortal world.
He looked down calmly at Prince Qian, who had already bowed in salute.
"Your Highness Prince Qian, you are a truly interesting character," Ming Daozi began.
"On that day, you spoke with this humble Daoist, claiming that your subordinate, the God of War of Skynet, had turned traitor and was about to slaughter the common people, and you requested that I capture him. So let me ask, where is the God of War now? And why did Skynet's Number One come to find me with a wisp of Divine Soul, intending to kill me?"
"..."
Hearing Ming Daozi's questions, Prince Qian remained silent.
He thought, Of course, it would be an old fool like you, who pays no attention to worldly affairs, who was deceived.
---
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