Book 23, Endwar, Chapter 26 – Unexpected Events
The white-robed Ji Ning and the black-robed Ji Ning were standing shoulder-to-shoulder, staring towards the Seamless Gate. Although they were in the process of withdrawing, Ning’s heartforce was still kept active, continuously rippling out as he kept a careful watch over the region.
At a time like this, there was no such thing as being too careful. The enemy forces still had the Lord of All Fiends, after all?
“Eh?” Ning suddenly frowned slightly. Just now, there seemed to have been a small ripple…but the ripple was so hidden and secretive that he couldn’t completely detect it.
Ning glanced all around him, rather puzzled. As he did so, he told himself to be even more careful.
BOOM!!!!!
Suddenly, a towering explosion of natural energy manifested in the form of an endless sea of flames and a boundless sea of water. The massive attack swept towards the grand army of the Nuwa Alliance as well as the major powers of the Seamless Gate, catching both sides completely off-guard.
“Fuxi, what are you doing?!” Three Purities, Tathagata, Shennong, and the others were all shocked.
“No…!”
The Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Nuwa Alliance were completely caught off-guard. Initially, they weren’t too worried as Fuxi was on their side; when he used the Waterflame Apocalypse Formation in the past, he had made sure that the water and the fire would stay away from them. This time, however, the water and the fire swept straight through their ranks. By the time they realized what was happening, it was far too late.
“Why?!”
“No!”
“Fuxi?!”
All sorts of agonized cries rang out as countless Immortals and Fiendgods perished to the endless floods of fire and water.
Suddenly, circles of icy energy began to swirl around the area, furiously ablating the power of the Waterflame Apolcaypse Formation. It managed to block and stop parts of the water and the flame.
One frozen lotus after another was hanging in midair, emitting enormous amounts of frozen energy that completely blocked off the effects of the Waterflame Apocalypse Formation. Ji Ning was using his power as a first-tier Ancestral Immortal to control this treasure, which Fuxi was merely controlling his formation with the power of a third-tier Ancestral Immortal. Thus, although Fuxi’s formation was far more formidable, Ning was still able to withstand it.
“Why has this happened…” Although Ning had managed to block the attack, he was still in a dazed state of disbelief. He had become even more cautious when he had sensed that ripple of power, but when Fuxi struck he was still momentarily dazed. Although he quickly recovered and moved to stop the attack, a large number of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals still perished.
“Senior brothers Lord Jiang and Junwu…” Ning’s heart was filled with pain and confusion.
In that brief moment, the terrifying power of the Eternal Kindlefire and Arcane Moonwater had caused more than thirty thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals to die! Far more died in that instant than had died during the entire war. Many of Ning’s good friends, as well as many of the drinking buddies and conversation partners he had met while wandering the Three Realms, had died. In fact, many of the disciples of Mount Innerheart had just perished as well.
Whoooooooosh. The thirty-six frozen lotuses hovered in the air, surrounding the Nuwa Alliance’s army and defending them from the Waterflame Apocalypse Formation.
The entire Nuwa Alliance was in a state of disbelief.
The deaths of so many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals had dazed them…but for Fuxi to be the culprit had completely struck them dumb.
“GONGGONG!” An agonized scream rang out. Shennong stared in disbelief at Gonggong, who was standing right next to him. Gonggong had a cold look in his face, and his right hand…had pierced directly into Shennong’s chest.
Boom! Shennong’s entire body disintegrated. As Shennong died, a look of agony and pain was in his eyes as he murmured his final words. “Gonggong is dead…”
“Die,” Gonggong said coldly.
“Kill!”
“Kuafu, what are you…!”
“Thundergod attacked me first!”
“Kill!”
The major powers of the Nuwa Alliance suddenly found themselves thrown into chaos as a furious battle broke out within their own ranks.
This was all too sudden! Ji Ning, Lord Tathagata the Buddha, Daoist Three Purities, Buddha Jueming, Houyi, and the others were all stunned. Fuxi had first activated the ‘Waterflame Apocalypse Formation’ and attempted to wipe out all their Empyrean Gods and True Immortals with utter cruelty…and then Elder God Gonggong and other major powers had suddenly attacked them!
“Stop this!”
“Stop fighting!”
Ji Ning, Buddha Jueming, Daoist Three Purities, Lord Tathagata, and the others began to make their move. They had been vigilantly watching their surroundings, and so they knew exactly which major powers had attacked first. Thus, they immediately attacked the offenders.
“Let’s go!”
“Withdraw.”
The ambushers quickly began to withdraw from the ranks of the Nuwa Alliance.
“Stop right there.” Elder God Gonggong’s body suddenly transformed to become a million kilometers tall, waves swirling around his entire body as though he was an ocean world unto himself. His palm swung out, and as it did it seemed to be a massive tidal wave that was crashing towards his foes.
BOOM!
Ning’s Triult Swords transformed into that semi-translucent golden sword, then struck directly against that titanic tidal wave.
Rumble…
His attack was actually stopped!
“Gonggong is actually this powerful?” Ning was stunned. Previously, Gonggong had battled against Old Man Yuan for quite some time. From what Ning could tell, Gonggong didn’t seem to be that powerful, appearing to be weaker than Ning himself. But now, it was evident that Gonggong definitely had the power of an elite Elder God. In fact, no one in either alliance had anyone who was definitively more powerful than Gonggong right now.
Only the deceased Lord Demonheart was unquestionably more powerful than him, while Houyi had been heavily injured and was no longer capable of slaying any Elder Gods.
“Ink Bamboo, you…!” Keeper Everwood stared in disbelief at the distant Daofather Ink Bamboo. “Y-you…”
“You hid your power quite well.” Daofather Ink Bamboo gave him a cold glance, then quickly fled.
“Kill!”
“Senior apprentice-brother, you…!”
The major powers of the Seamless Gate were suddenly thrown into turmoil as well as they began attacking each other. The Lord of All Fiends was completely stunned.
“Chase him down!” The Lord of All Fiends quickly came back to his senses. His eyes became filled with fury and murder as he chased after the major powers who had just launched sneak attacks against their friends.
“You can stop right there.” Old Man Yuan, who was within the Seamless Gate’s ranks, said these words softly as he flicked out his horsetail whisk.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Countless white strands flew out from his whisk, covering the skies like a series of giant white waves that protected the fleeing, traitorous major powers.
“Die.” Murder radiated from the Lord Allfiend’s eyes as he clutched his weapon. He had never wanted to kill someone more than he did right now. Only a few major powers had died during the battle between the two sides, but this sudden ambush had resulted in him losing more than twenty of his major powers! This loss caused the Lord of All Fiends to go berserk.
As for Old Man Yuan, who was protecting these traitors? The Lord of All Fiends wanted to kill him more than anyone else.
Whooooooosh. The white strands of the horsetail whisk undulated, blocking off all paths. No matter how the Lord of All Fiends tried to move past them, he was unable to do so.
Finally, the Lord of All Fiends came to a halt. All of the traitors had already fled. He stared coldly at the distant Old Man Yuan, who had used the horsetail whisk in his hands to prevent any pursuit. The traitors of the Seamless Gate had joined together with the Nuwa Alliance, and they had docilely flown to Old Man Yuan’s side as if they were children running to the side of their father.
The entire battlefield fell completely silent.
The Nuwa Alliance had been dealt a grievous blow. More than thirty thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals had perished, while more than twenty major powers had died. Fortunately, Ning had been able to block the Waterflame Apocalypse Formation; otherwise, their losses would have been even greater.
Although the Seamless Gate’s major powers had collected its Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, more than twenty major powers had been slain. The Seamless Gate had fewer major powers than the Nuwa Alliance to begin with, which meant that their casualties were proportionally higher. Once those major powers had died, the traitors who had slain them had also seized their items and estate-treasures, including the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals contained inside. It was obvious what would happen to them.
The two alliances both stared furiously at the traitors.
Old Man Yuan continued to hold his horsetail whisk in his hands, a smile on his face. Behind him stood a group of towering major powers, including Gonggong, Fuxi, Daofather Ink Bamboo, and more than thirty other True Gods and Daofathers.
The power which Old Man Yuan controlled was actually just as formidable as the power of either alliance.
“The Nuwa Alliance lost thirty thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.” Old Man Yuan smiled. “I’ll make things fair. Children, release the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Seamless Gate.”
“Yes.”
Instantly, the Seamless Gate traitors released the many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals they were holding.
More than twenty major powers of the Seamless Gate had been slain, while more than ten had turned traitor. Each major power had collected nearly ten thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, and so a total of nearly thirty thousand were released!
It must be understood that the Seamless Gate’s losses during the previous battle had been very heavy; thirty thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals represented more than half of their total forces!
“You can all die now.” Old Man Yuan laughed calmly, the countless strands of his horsetail whisk surrounding every single captured member of the Seamless Gate. Before the abductees even had a chance to react…boom! All of them were slain.
“No!”
“Stop!”
Keeper Everwood, Lord Allfiend, and the others all stared with bloodshot eyes, but to no avail…all of the captured Seamless Gate members were slain.
Old Man Yuan had just slain nearly thirty thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals with a smile on his face. This caused the Seamless Gate and the Nuwa Alliance to feel two things…cold fear, and burning rage! They all stared at Old Man Yuan and the large group of major powers behind him.
“They are all dead.” Lord Tathagata had a pained look on his face. “Those ‘traitors’…all of them are already dead.”