As they resisted the mountain’s crushing weight, Huxian, Lei Jiang, and Silverwing quickened their assault while Gua supported. Thin gray lines appeared between them as their Greater Friendship Circle activated its Four Trigrams Suppression ability. The pseudo domain bogged the grand marshal and prime minister down and wore away at their treasures’ effectiveness. All at once, the demons descended on them.
Seeing his companions threatened, the Sea God Emperor shoved Cha Ming and Feng Ming away with a sweep of his spear and darted toward the pseudo domain with frightening speed. His crown glowed brightly as he stabbed into it with his trident. The domain shattered, and the five beasts scattered. They retreated toward Cha Ming and grouped up with him and Feng Ming.
With the short respite, Cha Ming noticed that Zhou Li, who’d been missing this whole time, had been fighting with Jiao Meng. The wounded marshal had somehow been separated from his allies and was fighting for dear life. His leg had already been healed with spirit medicines, but he was still in a weakened condition. Cha Ming moved to assist him, but it was too late. A clever trap by Zhou Li gave the sinister man the opportunity he needed. Black flame dragons pierced through Jiao Meng’s back. The marshal’s corpse tumbled into the ocean where demonic fish fought for it.
Cha Ming looked over the battlefield and realized that, on all fronts, they were losing. The scholars had been instigated to fight alongside the Alabaster Group and cooperate with the Northern forces, but they were slowly being whittled away by the innumerable gliders. Moreover, the black ships had taken to the field. They were more than transports, it seemed, and given the opportunity, they unleashed deadly blows from weapons mounted on their prows. The weapons looked like cannons, but sleeker, with inscribed runes. He’d heard of such things from Feng Ming before and knew how potent they could be.
Fight with Huxian and the others, Cha Ming said to Feng Ming. Give me time.
Cha Ming darted out toward the ships and used his Clear Sky Staff and Crushing Chaos to demolish a cannon. His strike tore a gouge in the ship, but it was nothing compared to its massive body. As the cultivators on board unleashed their techniques, Cha Ming retreated and struck another ship. Their main weapons fell one after another.
Zi Long, retreat with the guard and bolster the North’s formations, Feng Ming shouted as Cha Ming worked. Since the suppressing fire had been alleviated, he took the opportunity to fix their weakness. Huxian and the others were buying them time with the Sea God royalty as they retreated from the battle with the fiendish sharks.
By now, most of the dolphins had perished, their blood dyeing the seas red. They died in satisfaction, however, as they’d killed over half of the fiendish sharks in the process. The guardsmen who’d survived the bloody confrontation retreated along with Cha Ming’s disciples under cover of illusions, and by the time the elite corps knew what had happened, they’d joined with the North’s cultivators.
The moment they stepped into the formation, Zi Long began manipulating their battle formation, while Yue Bing healed crippling injuries. Her face was pale and gaunt, and she was clearly overdrawing her own vitality. Fortunately, she never fully ran out. The battlefield lacked nothing if not blood. As Jin Huang aided Zi Long in altering the formations, Ling Dong joined the defensive line. With his presence, one glider after another fell.
We can’t hold out anymore! Huxian shouted. He and his friends retreated, this time all darting into Huxian’s tails. Time sped up around the fox, who barely escaped a killing blow from the Sea God Emperor as he dove into the North’s formation. It hummed to life as Cha Ming destroyed the last cannon. He noticed Feng Ming managing to enter the formation unimpeded, but suddenly realized he’d lost track of Zhou Li once more.
A faint sensation of crisis alerted him to an incoming flame dragon. He dodged it, only to discover that another had taken its place. He absorbed the blow with his body, but as his flesh regenerated, yet another had appeared. As he looked around, he noticed that his surroundings looked much different than before. The ships were still there, and the cultivators were still fighting for their lives as the Sea God Emperor’s men and the South’s forces wore away at their defenses.
But around him, he noticed brush marks. The marks seemed to burn the very air around them, forming portals into a foreign world. Flaming dragons continuously crawled out from these portals. It was the most realistic painting he’d ever seen, and Zhou Li, who had gone missing, had painted it just for him.
Cha Ming moved to attack Zhou Li but was interrupted by another half dozen flame dragons. As soon as he managed to destroy them, more came, forcing him back to the center of the painting. He found himself surrounded by black flames in three dimensions. Feeling a tinge of dread, he focused on evasion, using an Origin Strike to pierce his way through. Unfortunately, the Origin Strike was too narrow, and while he struck many flame dragons, many more took their places and forced him back. He was trapped.
“It’s truly too difficult to kill a body cultivator at your level,” Zhou Li said from outside the painting. “Only the Sea God and his right and left hands are harder to kill. You have no idea how much time and effort I put into this painting, how much blood, sweat, and tears I put into refining it. You should be proud.”
“Don’t think you can stop me,” Cha Ming said. He cast out his sigils and summoned a peak-grade combat formation. An icy field surrounded him, and though it didn’t harm the black flame dragons, it slowed them. Cha Ming beat his way through the
