Shatter!
Li Wei stood in the sky above the city. Ten cubes circled around him, slowly breaking apart. An aura of annihilation began to emanate from them as white light drifted like smoke from the growing cracks.
Down in the city, Li Wei watched the smile on Prince Qian's handsome face freeze, twisting into a look of pure terror.
Just as he had expected.
All around the city, members of the Three Great Immortal Sects had been lying in ambush. As the aura of annihilation washed over them, they could no longer remain hidden, emerging from their formations in a dense, numberless crowd.
"Not good!"
Then, Ming Daozi floated up, swiftly appearing above the great formation alongside an old man—Supreme Elder Puci of the Aeternus Sect.
Ming Daozi pressed his hand against the formation, his gaze locked on the crimson eyes of the figure in the black mist and the ten strange cubes.
He could feel the catastrophic danger radiating from them!
"Fellow Daoist Puci, help me maintain the great formation!"
But in that fleeting moment, a flicker of hesitation flashed in Supreme Elder Puci's eyes.
Prince Qian snapped out of his initial terror.
All around the city, cultivators suddenly appeared. They pressed their hands against the formation, pouring their spiritual power into its core!
"It's useless!"
Prince Qian stared up at Li Wei and said mockingly, "I am well aware of your Li family's methods. The day Senior Baimei fell in the Azure Cloud Region, the sound of those explosions reached our ears. We sent men to investigate, but there was no lingering aura of a Void Refining expert's battle, and the blasts came from different locations. I guessed long ago that you possess some kind of hidden weapon.
"And yet, your hidden weapon couldn't kill Senior Baimei in a single strike. By my estimation, your trump card isn't even as powerful as a full-force attack from a Void Refining expert. You simply used your techniques to get close to him again and again, wearing him down until he died."
"Everything about you is under my control!"
Prince Qian looked at him as if he were a clown.
He savored this feeling of having victory in his grasp, of holding his enemy's fate entirely in his hands.
He could even imagine the helpless expression the Li family's Old Ancestor must be wearing beneath that black mist!
As Prince Qian spoke, Supreme Elder Puci placed his hand upon the great formation.
Ming Daozi was already pouring all his effort into maintaining the formation, and a brilliant radiance flowed within its barriers. With more than a thousand cultivators sustaining it, the array seemed capable of absorbing any and all spiritual power.
Ming Daozi glanced at the Li family members who were still retreating. His gaze lingered for a moment on Li Yunlin, far off in the clouds, where a thunder tribulation had begun to descend.
He was pressed against the barrier of the formation, extremely close to Li Wei.
He took a deep breath, a flicker of pity in his eyes, and sighed sorrowfully.
"Fellow Daoist, you should leave. His Highness, Prince Qian, is magnanimous and virtuous; he is willing to cease hostilities and spare your lives. Must this truly become a battle to the death?"
Li Wei said nothing.
Ming Daozi continued, "Accept the terms offered by His Highness and avert this disaster. This humble Daoist will then persuade the lords of the Duravia Trade Prefecture to give the people of Azure Cloud a path to survival. Your Li family may also depart. Do this, Fellow Daoist, and you will be worthy of honor in the imperial ancestral temple."
"Noisy."
Li Wei's voice was calm.
"You!" Ming Daozi was enraged.
He had already offered them a path to survival, yet the Li family's Old Ancestor remained stubbornly obstinate. Even a Buddha has their limits!
"Fellow Daoist, you refuse to recognize a kindness when you see one!"
Li Wei said no more. He turned to look back at his descendants, who, as if sensing something, were all watching him.
He didn't know what the old comrades from Azure Cloud were facing or where they were, but he knew one thing: every single one of them was counting on him to break this formation and take the heads of their enemies.
Huuu...
He let out a long breath.
Li Wei lowered his head, looking down at Ming Daozi's deeply furrowed brow.
The man had compassion in his eyes. A compassion so great, he was blind to the thirst for power in the Supreme Elder Puci beside him; a compassion so great, he was unaware that Prince Qian on the city wall had long been plotting rebellion.
Prince Qian stared at him with a mocking gaze, as if laughing at his inability to protect his clansmen, laughing at this Old Ancestor for leading his family into a deathtrap.
Li Wei slowly reached for an anti-matter bomb.
"Fellow Daoist..."
Ming Daozi was still trying to display his compassion, but the words caught in his throat.
Everyone in the city stared blankly at Li Wei.
Brilliant light bloomed from the cracks in the cube as the black mist within roiled and collided.
But Li Wei... he placed both hands on his chest and tore it open!
"What are you doing?!"
At that moment, all the Li family members stopped in their tracks. They heard Ming Daozi's terrified roar.
But all they could see was the Old Ancestor's back, wreathed in black mist that billowed in the blizzard like windblown sparks.
Suddenly, a mist of blood filled the sky, like a pebble tossed into a bonfire, sending embers flying.
Silently, Li Wei stuffed the anti-matter bombs into his body, one by one.
He didn't respond.
But he knew what he had to do.
He had to break this formation.
He had to kill Prince Qian, take his descendants home, and do everything in his power to bring those old-timers from Azure Cloud back to their homeland.
His descendants had made a promise to those old comrades: "See you back in Azure Cloud."
If he failed...
Who knew how many of those foul-mouthed old codgers would survive? How many would die in a foreign land, unable to even have their bodies brought home for a warrior's burial, their souls never to return to their homeland?
The aura of annihilation rampaged through his body as he stuffed the last anti-matter bomb inside.
He used his spiritual power to seal his torn chest, his hands now covered in his own blood.
Then, the white light of the annihilation energy began to shine out from his eyes, his nose, and his mouth.
The power of annihilation grew stronger and stronger.
For the first time, Li Wei felt what it was like to have every cell in his body torn apart.
He exhausted all his spiritual power, fusing the anti-matter into a single point. At that moment, even his Divine Soul began to dissipate, fading away bit by bit.
Then, clinging to his last shred of sanity, he wielded the North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear in his left hand and the Heavenly Fire Divine Spear in his right.
With a ferocious roar, he plunged from the sky, crashing down upon the great formation at the city's center!
"Aaaah!!!"