Chapter 179: Might of the Golden Bell (1/2)
Dusk Province’s restriction had killed a golden immortal with the same ease as one would squash a stink bug. Blood drained from the crowd’s faces. How could an august immortal—that noble breed of immortals—be so easily dispatched?
They’d heard about the restriction simply glaring the House Dongling patriarch to death, but hearsay wasn't the same as witnessing with their own eyes.
Despite the restriction’s departure, no one dared move an inch. Sweeping his gaze across the collected immortals, Lu Yun shook his head before taking his leave, bloodcorpse in tow.
……
In the air, Feng Wujiang was driven to the point of delirium. Uncle Heng was dead, and now so was Feng Yin. Shrieks of rage echoing in the air, he thoroughly unleashed the Great Tempest Formation. Frightening winds beat upon the Black Tortoise image, and the Tempest Bird tore at its opponent.
However, Yuchi Hanxing stood firm. She raised her lance, pointing it at the sky. The Black Tortoise image responded with rippling tides, the skies for thousands of kilometers around becoming its personal lake. In the water’s heart, the tortoise whipped up wave after inexorable wave.
Unstoppable swells washed away soldiers from the Great Tempest Formation, weakening the bird in the air by scattering the formation.
“How… how… impossible!” Feng Wujiang was completely unhinged. He roared into the air, futilely attempting to keep his men in the formation beneath his feet, but the enemy’s offensive was relentless.
At this moment, the million Dusk Phalanx soldiers thought with uniform clarity, hearts beat with absolute harmony, and breathed with perfect unity.
Black Tortoise!
“Huoooh—” The line between image and reality blurred. The tortoise’s body expanded tenfold, nearly blotting out the sun. In comparison, the Tempest Bird was the size of a mere sparrow. The humongous reptile strode between the waves, catching up to the fleeing bird in a single stride. It slammed forward a heavy foreclaw.
Boom!
A loud explosion rang through the firmament. The Tempest Bird’s body shattered into its component soldiers before falling to earth, many of them instantly incapacitated. Feng Wujiang was left alone in midair.
……
“The Tempest Battalion has lost!” Zhu Yu and Yue Cheng were aghast. “This shouldn’t have happened… the Dusk Phalanx may have seen a real Black Tortoise, but its soldiers shouldn’t have reached a communion with its spirit so quickly… why?”
Zhu Yu paled with the error of her projections. She’d thought the Dusk Phalanx would only be able to win a pyrrhic victory, if any victory at all. It was more likely that the battle would end in a draw after fearsome casualties.
“Say, that tortoise image just now was a little strange.” Yue Cheng frowned. “The Heavenly Formation seemed to briefly ascend beyond just a military formation. Those soldiers—for just a moment—turned into a real Black Tortoise.”
Most military formations in the world of immortals were modeled after connate divine beasts, or spirits with an inborn power. Compared to regular divine beasts or spirits, connate beasts and spirits were bestowed a natural grasp of nature’s dao. Emulating them granted the soldiers a similar form of power. The Heavenly Formation of the Black Tortoise and the Great Tempest Formation were both examples of this.
However, the images projected by the formations weren’t truly the beasts in the flesh. They borrowed from the forces of nature, but couldn’t truly command them. Yet the Heavenly Formation had just now unleashed the Black Tortoise’s domain. The final swipe had appeared particularly real in its viciousness.
The two looked at each other in confusion.
“The township! Gather the soldiers back together! Defend Cloudwater!” Zhu Yu snapped to fearful attention.
……
The Heavenly Formation didn't disperse after defeating the Tempest Battalion. Yuchi Hanxing continued leveling her silver lance at Feng Wujiang.