A lion-shaped war formation exuding a lofty aura released a bestial roar as it charged toward the Eight Pillar Sect's war formation and tore it apart with its claws. True immortals and mortal cultivators alike died as claw light sliced them into shreds.
Inside the Suanni War Formation, Monarch Whitelion bared his teeth and let out a guttural growl. His beast-like pupils zeroed in on his next target. Another Eight Pillar Sect war formation fell to his claws.
Suddenly, two massive signatures of energy attracted his attention. In terms of pure energy, it nearly reached the level of the immortal emperor threshold. Focusing his gaze, he saw the Divine Flame Monarch and five helmet-wearing immortals of the Buzhou Immortal Sect.
Call it a beast's instinct, but he never liked the Divine Flame Monarch. Even so, Monarch Whitelion had to admit that the Divine Flame Monarch deserved his current fame. However, another thing attracted his attention as a wave of shame washed over him.
His pupils shrunk into needle points and exuded a fearsome light. Without warning, he abandoned his position and charged toward his target, all the while releasing a feral cry. "Spawn of Xi, go to hell!"
Monarch Whitelion noticed Xi Tianyi noticing him, but it was far too late. The Suanni War Formation opened its mouth and swallowed the bastard. Then, the Divine Flame Monarch's Five Element World Incinerating Mandala clashed against the Five Phase Rangers' Supreme Chaos Cannon.
The resulting explosion produced a burst of energy solidly at the immortal emperor level. Not even an emperor-level war formation like the Suanni War Formation could hold its ground at such a close distance. The blast sent it off into the distance.
When the resulting clash ended, a vast crater of absolute destruction revealed itself. All life within the crater had perished. At the very edge of the crater, the Divine Flame Monarch lay on the ground, bruised and battered, bleeding from numerous wounds. His robes, an immortal-rank defensive artifact, had been torn asunder from the clash.
In contrast, all five of the Five Phase Rangers were in far betters states. Although their armor had cracks littered throughout, the blast did not tear them apart like the Divine Flame Monarch's robes. Furthermore, they still brimmed with energy.
Behind the Five Phase Rangers, the Buzhou Immortal Sect members within the blast radius were all staring around either in shock or stupor. Miraculously, none of the Buzhou Immortal Sect members died in the blast, a great contrast to the Allbeast Sect's casualties.
The Five Phase Rangers clenched their hands as they stared at the defenseless Divine Flame Monarch. Jadewill pointed at the downed monarch, "Everyone, this is our chance. Kill the Divine Flame Monarch now!"
As the Five Phase Rangers charged forward, a roar drew their attention. The Suanni War Formation started running amok as a black blotch appeared on its abdomen. Seconds later, a black sphere broke through the golden skin and flew toward the Five Phase Rangers.
The Five Phase Rangers raised their guard but soon lowered it when the black sphere dispersed to reveal Xi Tianyi.
"Senior Brother!" Jadewill and his fellow disciples called out in joy. They had thought something had happened to him in the clash, and they were blaming themselves.
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'Thank god I made it,' Tianyi thought. "You guys should retreat."
"What, why? We feel fine. Even if the armor is damaged, we can continue and kill the Divine Flame Monarch," Jadewill questioned, expressing the rangers' doubts. "This is the best chance."
Tianyi suppressed a vein from bulging. As the creator and energy source of the Five Element Morphers, he was clearer than anyone about the damages. Like they said, they could kill Yan Nie if they really rushed forward, but he didn't want that.
"No, it's not. Your morphers are running low on energy, and your transformation will soon dissolve. Unless you want to break them, it's better to stop now." As if to prove his words, the Five Phase Rangers felt the energy flow within the morphers slow and start to dwindle.
"But this is the best chance to kill him now."
Tianyi thought fast. Suddenly, he pointed at Yan Nie. "Do you really think he's injured? It's nothing but a ploy to lower your guard and retaliate."
"What?!" Jadewill and the others cried out.
Tianyi nodded. He stared at Yan Nie and shouted, "Why don't you stop pretending?"
Yan Nie lay prone on the ground, but after a few seconds, he stood up again. Flames engulfed but disappeared seconds later to reveal a perfectly healed man sans the robes.
'For reals? I was just making stuff up on the fly,' Tianyi thought. Upon closer inspection, he sensed that Yan Nie was actually running low on energy and had yet to return to his peak like he had shown. Not that he would tell Jinshu, Jadewill, and the others.
As Yan Nie stood there, staring at Tianyi and the Five Phase Rangers, he furrowed his brows. He glanced next to him as the Suanni War Formation stood by his side.
"Retreat," Monarch Whitelion said. "You should retreat and focus on recovering your qi. In your current state, you're useless."
Although Monarch Whitelion's words sounded harsh, it was the truth. Yan Nie clenched his hand and flew away toward the core of the Allbeast Sect.
He recalled the first time he had seen Tianyi. Back then, he was just a little kid whose feet couldn't even reach the ground when sitting on a chair. Laughably, he had accused Pan Lanyue of cozying up to Tianyi.
Yan Nie thought that with all his adventures, blood, sweat, and tears, he would have finally caught up. Even if Tianyi reached the Seamless Immortal Realm before him, he soon caught up. With the advantages of the Divine Flame Mantra, he feared no one in the Seamless Immortal Realm.
Yet, why did he feel such a sense of loss right now? It's not like he and Tianyi ever fought, so where did it come from?
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Tanyi watched as Yan Nie left with an internal sigh of relief. He turned toward Jadewill and the others. "Leave. This battlefield is no longer something you can participate in."
"We can't, Senior Brother!" Jadewill said. "That war formation is at the emperor level. We can't let you fight it alone. Even if we die, we'll fight together."
Tianyi was speechless. Why did Jadewill and the others not listen to him? He decisively cut off the qi supporting the Five Element Morphers, causing the five to revert to their normal states. "See? In this state, you can't help."
Jadewill bit his lips until they drew blood. He understood that he was only a burden to Tianyi in his current state. He vowed that it would never happen again, but for now, he could only acquiesce to reality. "Let's go."
Although the other four were unwilling, they followed Jadewill into a safe distance, but their eyes never left Tianyi.
'Finally. I don't have to focus on protecting them,' Tianyi thought. He turned and focused on Monarch Whitelion and the Suanni War Formation he controlled.
"Hmpf," Monarch Whitelion sneered. "Suiciding, eh? Taking the coward's way out, I see."
Tianyi frowned. "What are you talking about?"
His reply only seemed to spur Monarch Whitelion on. “You can stop pretending now. It's obvious. All the immortals from the Buzhou Immortal Sect lived, all except your wife."
"What? What are you talking about, she's right—" Tianyi snapped his mouth shut. Right, Daoyi concealed her presence with the Law of Death. Good to know that not even an immortal emperor-level war formation could detect her.
Seeing Tianyi fall silent, Monarch Whitelion pounced. The Suanni War Formation bellowed, unleashing a sonic blast as it swiped its paw toward him.
Lightning burst from Tianyi's body. Like their previous bout, Tianyi formed a lightning giant out of Five Element Lightning. It and the Suanni War Formation clashed, but it was pushed back, an obvious disadvantage.
The Suanni War Formation opened its maw and bit the lightning giant, taking a chunk of its shoulder. It swallowed, and lightning arced across its body. Tianyi raised an eyebrow. It seemed the Suanni War Formation possessed the ability to devour the energy of whatever it bit.
The lightning giant and war formation continued to duke it out, but it was obvious the emperor-level war formation held the upper hand. Although the lightning giant held up admirably against the Allbeast Sect's war formation, composed of a single monarch and ninety true immortals, it eventually fell onto its back.
The Suanni War Formation held the lightning giant down by placing a paw on its chest. Its head neared the giant's face and gave an ugly smile. "Hear that? Those are the cries of your sect members. They will forever ingrain your death into their minds. That's the price of overstepping your bounds and interfering with the Earth Continent's war!"
Tianyi snorted.
The Suanni War Formation opened its jaws, and light appeared in the back of its throat. An enormous amount of energy was condensing, ready to be unleashed at any moment. But just as it prepared to deal the finishing blow, the lightning giant turned entirely black and exploded.
The next thing Monarch Whitelion knew, he was floating in a boundless space of darkness, with countless glittering stars in the distance. "Where is this? The Vast Void?"
"No." The Suanni War Formation snapped his head to see Tianyi standing indifferently in the distance.
"It's just inside the Chaos Refining Formation. Although it's been a while since I last used this," Tianyi smiled. "I didn't want to reveal my strength for all outsiders to see."
Monarch Whitelion had an ominous premonition. Tianyi appeared the same as before, unable to be detected, but the air current changed. Danger lurked in the air.
Tianyi suddenly disappeared, causing Monarch Whitelion to look all over for him.
"Over here." Monarch Whitelion turned to see Tianyi standing right next to the war formation's head. Tianyi released a punch, a single punch that seemed so inconsequential because of the size difference between the two entities.
But when the punch landed, the Suanni War Formation was launched thousands of meters away. The immortals occupying the space in the head, including Monarch Whitelion, all spat a mouthful of blood. They stared at Tianyi in horror. "You! You're not a monarch but a martial emperor, aren't you!?"
Tianyi shrugged, something like that. He opened his arms. "Now, show me an emperor war formation's power. It's been a good while since I could fight like this without exposing my strength."
Monarch Whitelion didn't know why a two-hundred-year-old brat could reach the Extremity Immortal Realm—hell, not even the Huang Realm's sole immortal sovereign had reached this height at his age—but he didn't have time to think. He would have to utilize everything just to survive and bring the news back to the Anti-Earth Alliance.
The Suanni War Formation's aura drastically rose, followed by its bulk. It gave a ferocious roar as a long blade composed of immortal qi of metal condensed from its claws. This was Monarch Whitelion's strongest technique, the Sole Claw Slash.
The war formation slashed forward, sending the blade flying toward his foe. Tianyi didn't dodge and raised a hand, forming a black barrier in front of him. "Impudent fool. Not even an immortal emperor would take this attack lightly. Well, even if you dodge, it would still follow—."
Monarch Whitelion's words were caught in his throat as he saw his Sole Claw Slash halt in its advancement, unable to make any progress. Although it whirled and screeched, it was unable to break through Tianyi's barrier. Moments later, it expended all its energy and disappeared.
No, it was dissolved into pure qi.
When the black barrier disappeared, Tianyi raised his hand and made a clawing motion. Five blades, each one over a thousand meters long, the color of red, black, yellow, green, and white, appeared over his hand. "I can do it too."
Tianyi slashed forward, sending the five elemental blades at the Suanni War Formation. The Suanni War Formation tried to dodge, but the blades homed in on him. Finally, it formed a metallic barrier.
Monarch Whitelion's eyes widened as he felt the crushing strength of the five blades. Each one was as profound or exquisite as his own, but they contained overwhelming energy and power. The barrier couldn’t last, and all five blades struck the war formation.
Over ten true immortals instantly died, and over half became gravely injured. Monarch Whitelion gritted his teeth. The Suanni War Formation turned tail and fled, but Tianyi suddenly appeared in front and punched.
The Suanni War Formation careened thousands of meters. "Don't tell me that's all you have? I'll tell you right now, don't think about escaping. It's impossible without defeating me first. Well, technically, you could at first, but it's too late now. Not even a bona fide immortal emperor can escape me now."
Monarch Whitelion stared at Tianyi. Although he didn't want to believe it, his instincts told him Tianyi did not lie. "I have no choice."
He took out a spiritual beast storage treasure, and out came eight half-monarch lion-shaped spiritual beasts. His eight contracted spiritual beasts merged with the Suanni War Formation, making it grow eight more heads. Simultaneously, the war formation's energy intensity drastically rose.
"Xi Tianyi, I admit I should not have underestimated you, don't think you won't pay a price to kill me!" Monarch Whitelion yelled as he prepared to face death. Five long blades formed of immortal qi of metal grew from each limb, giving a total of twenty.
From the distance, Tianyi showed a disappointed expression. Although the power of the qi rose, it did not mean Monarch Whitelion's comprehension had risen too. For him who had access to essence, the Suanni War Formation might as well have done nothing.
Tianyi closed his palm around each other as if to compress something. Simultaneously, the Suanni War Formation felt it had been shackled in place, and the world itself was crushing it. "Planetary Purgatory."