The nine-headed war formation struggled against the crushing pressure from all sides. Qi at the immortal emperor level rolled off the Suanni Formation, but it was useless as space compressed around it.
Monarch Whitelion roared as he tried to break out of the shackles. He used every trick he could, even ordering his spiritual beasts to burn their souls and blood essence for a massive power boost, but it did nothing. His eyes glared at Tianyi, and he blinked.
Tianyi's figure was growing larger and larger. It wasn't that he conjured a giant of lightning or any other element, but his body was actually enlarging. At least to Monarch Whitelion's eyes. He didn't have time to ponder as each second wasted brought him closer to the cessation of his existence.
From Tianyi's perspective, he watched as the Suanni War Formation and the space surrounding it shrank until it comfortably fit in his palm. Once in his grasp, Tianyi squeezed, and the nine-headed lion started to deform.
When he squeezed, it didn't just represent his own arm strength but the crushing pressure from the whole Nine Heavens Universe. Tianyi had silently transferred the Allbeast Sect's members while they were occupied. Once inside his inner universe, their fates had been sealed.
In fact, Tianyi wanted to temper himself against Monarch Whitelion and the Suanni War Formation. However, his body and qi far outstripped them, so the only thing they could compete in was comprehension. He just never expected that his own comprehension exceeded Monarch Whitelion, a monarch with over a hundred thousand years of experience.
Was Monarch Whitelion just too useless and untalented, or was he too talented? Tianyi didn't know, and he didn't care at this moment. He increased the crushing force, and in a crisp crackle, the Suanni War Formation and all those within shattered into countless shards. They disappeared as the Nine Heavens Universe absorbed them.
'Is this considered cannibalism? I mean, my body is quite literally absorbing them,' Tianyi idly thought. Ultimately, he decided that as long as he didn't devour them through his mouth, it would not count.
Tianyi waved his hand, and space contorted. A moment later, the contorted space formed an exact copy of him, only it visibly exuded a weak aura. Anyone who saw this version of Tianyi would think he was gravely injured. He held his chin and looked at his weak self, "I'm forgetting something.
He snapped his fingers. He looked at his copy and the pristine robes. The aura was right, but the clothing was wrong. 'Luckily I kept my battered robes from when I traveled to the Broken Primordial World.'
After his 'injured' copy wore the broken immortal artifacts, he disappeared from the Nine Heavens Universe.
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Tai Wuling's face twisted into an angry snarl. When the Suanni War Formation was about to defeat Xi Tianyi, the latter's lightning giant suddenly exploded into a mass of black qi. The black qi formed a giant sphere that caught the attention of all.
He thought this was Xi Tianyi's last-ditch attempt at survival, but reality proved him wrong. It wasn’t like the black sphere collapsed or anything. The Allbeast Sect members attempted to penetrate it.
An immortal-level war formation attempted to punch and break it, but all it got was death for its trouble. Whatever touched the black sphere would become corroded by the black qi. The war formation had broken, and the cultivators unlucky to be touched by black qi were dissolved into nothingness.
Next, a monarch-level war formation cast several spells, but without fail, the spell sunk into the black sphere without even making it ripple. Even under a constant barrage of spells from immortal and monarch-level formations, nothing fazed it.
Perhaps an emperor-level war formation would have been able to break the black sphere, but all of them were engaged in battle against the Eight Pillar Sect's war formations. And, they were losing.
Since the Allbeast Sect's war formations couldn't break Xi Tianyi's formation, they focused on the Buzhou Immortal Sect members. They descended down on them like a pack of wolves.
Realizing that he could no longer use the Buzhou Immortal Sect as a shield, Tai Wuling made plans to hide and recover his strength to win the war. At the very least, the Buzhou Immortal Sect would be useful to shave the Allbeast Sect's power down in place of the Eight Pillar Sect. If they died, they could only blame their own weakness, which would also be a good result for the Eight Pillar Sect.
After all, Tai Wuling still hadn't forgotten the sect's objective.
Just as he was about to sink into the ground, Tai Wuling noticed Jadewill, Jinshu, Southfist, Shadowbark, and Fairy Fireflow flying to meet the sole monarch war formation. He sneered. 'Do they think they could actually match monarchs? Now that their artifacts have lost their effectiveness, they're just bugs anyone can step on and kill at any time.'
Against Tai Wuling's expectation, Jadewill, Jinshu, Southfist, Shadowbark, and Fairy Firefly transformed into the Five Phase Rangers once more. Although their armor still had cracks, their aura was solidly at the monarch level.
The situation developed differently than Tai Wuling expected. Instead of the Buzhou Immortal Sect getting suppressed and slaughtered, it was the other way around, especially when the Allbeast Sect's war formations started going berserk again for no reason.
Tai Wuling gnashed his teeth together. He had an inkling as to what caused the war formations to go berserk, that damn tune! He hadn't noticed it at first, but after honing his senses, he heard that song.
Spreading his immortal sense, Tai Wuling attempted to discover the source of the sound, but he couldn't. Neither did he have the time, as the black sphere Xi Tianyi produced suddenly popped, splashing the corrosive black qi everywhere.
The black qi contaminated both the Allbeast Sect and Buzhou Immortal Sect members. However, only the Allbeast Sect suffered for it, while the black qi just dripped off the Buzhou Immortal Sect members.
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None of that mattered to Tai Wuling. What mattered was the result of the battle between Xi Tianyi and the Suanni War Formation. To his gloom, only Xi Tianyi appeared while the emperor-level war formation disappeared.
'He must have used a treasure bequeathed by the Sword Sovereign. Otherwise, there's no way he could have defeated an emperor war formation!' Tai Wuling maliciously thought.
Upon closer observation, Tai Wuling noticed that Xi Tianyi was not unharmed. Although he had no visible injuries, his robes were in tatters, and his aura flickered weakly. Tai Wuling did not doubt that even a venerable had the power to kill Tianyi in his current state.
The impulse to kill Xi Tianyi suddenly filled his head and heart, causing Tai Wuling to almost act on it. Before he could, a blue-robed figure appeared next to Tianyi. Jiang Daoyi held Tianyi protectively in her embrace while a guqin floated next to her.
Tai Wuling narrowed his eyes. He had thought Jiang Daoyi died after she did not reappear from the clash of the Five Phase Rangers' Supreme Chaos Cannon and the Divine Flame Monarch's Five Element World Incinerating Mandala.
Still, that did not mean he was happy to see her. He had lost all pity and empathy for her the moment she colluded with Xi Tianyi for the events inside the Yellow Mausoleum.
Furthermore, the moment she appeared, the concealed tune disappeared. Tai Wuling knew no one from the Eight Pillar Sect was the cause of the war formations going berserk, and it was only more impossible for Allbeast Sect to sabotage themselves. Adding the fact that he had secretly made a note on all the Buzhou immortal Sect immortals present, only Jiang Daoyi could be the culprit behind the ghastly tune.
Her ability to disrupt war formations made her incredibly problematic, perhaps even more so than Tianyi. Although he was against killing women, Tai Wuling had to admit he was tempted.
Before he could act on the thought, Jiang Daoyi suddenly shouted, "Elder Nine Heavens, hurry and teleport us back. Tianyi's injured and needs immediate medical attention!"
Tai Wuling felt the space around the battlefield twist and distort. Before he knew it, Xi Tianyi, Jiang Daoyi, and the rest of the Buzhou Immortal Sect members disappeared. He clenched his hands, regretting not acting on his first impulse. "Next time, you won't be so lucky because we'll be meeting soon on the battlefield as opponents."
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Monarch Pathway frowned when he sensed spatial fluctuance from the teleportation formations. He turned and saw Monarch Nine Heavens walking forward, spatial fluctuation also emanating from him.
He wondered what had happened. According to the plan, the immortals should return much later. Monarch Pathway's thoughts couldn't help but drift toward the worst possibility, betrayal. His body tensed as his gaze on Monarch Nine Heavens intensified, ready to take action at a moment's notice.
When a group of immortals appeared inside the teleportation formation, Monarch Pathway relaxed slightly. It was Xi Tianyi, and the other immortals dispatched to the Allbeast Sect. Although Xi Tianyi returning early was against the plan, it did not mean anything too horrible. If something had happened, he would have received a transmission from immortals attacking the Allbeast Sect.
Monarch Pathway's gaze focused on Xi Tianyi. Upon sensing the foreign monarch's weakened state, crooked thoughts appeared in his mind. If he could hold Xi Tiany hostage, that'd be a major leverage over the Buzhou Immortal Sect and, more importantly, Sword Sovereign Xi Mengfei.
As soon as he had that thought, Monarch Pathway felt the specter of death looming over him. Glancing toward the source, he saw Monarch Nine Heavens staring straight at him. One wrong move, and he would be sent to the Nether Realm.
Monarch Pathway smiled. "It seems Monarch Xi is in dire need of aid. Do you need the Eight Pillar Sect's alchemist?"
Monarch Nine Heavens snorted. "No need."
He took Xi Tianyi and left with the other Buzhou Immortal Sect members. This act only cemented the intimate relationship between the two monarchs in Monarch Pathway's mind. He glanced toward one of his assistants. "Send someone to look after them and make sure they don't do anything out of the norm."
Precautions still had to be taken.
Monarch Pathway folded his hands behind his back and waited to hear of the operation's success. The first to come back was the group dispatched to the Allbeast Sect. Monarch Nine Heavens had returned by this point to oversee the teleportation formation.
The second group to return was from the Six Finger Sect. Their casualty was slightly higher than the group from the Allbeast Sect, but the plundered resources more than made up for it. However, Monarch Pathway's good mood did not last long.
The anticipation of hearing from the groups dispatched to the Goldlight Sect and Yangsource turned to dread as the teleportation formation remained inactive. The final nail in the coffin came from Monarch Nine Heavens. "The teleportation formation around the Goldlight Sect and Yangsource Sect have been destroyed."
All blood disappeared from Monarch Pathway's face. Their strategy had failed. If just one more group had returned, then it would have been much more acceptable.
He could already see the future battles becoming much harder. Forget about laying traps for the Buzhou Immortal Sect, the existence of the Eight Pillar Sect was at risk!
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Yan Nie sat silently in the grand hall of the Extremity Night Sect. The old friend his master, Monarch Pillrabbit, had spoken about turned out to be the grand elder of the Extremity Night Sect, Eternal Night Emperor!
It was through the Eternal Night Emperor's aid that his master was able to regain his physical form and become an immortal monarch. This was also why Yan Nie became a champion of the Anti-Earth Alliance's crusade against the Eight Pillar Sect.
Since his participation, Yan Nie has successfully completed mission after mission. The Allbeast Sect's defense was the first time he had lost so catastrophically.
It wasn't just the Allbeast Sect that had been attacked but the Six Finger Sect, Goldlight Sect, and Yangsource Sect. Like the Allbeast Sect, the Six Finger Sect had been destroyed, but the Goldlight Sect and Yangsource Sect had managed to turn the situation against the Eight Pillar Sect and kill them without losing much manpower.
The meeting Yan Nie attended discussed the course of action the Anti-Earth Alliance should take next. The end result was that they would continue with the battle northwest, regardless of what happened. He couldn't help but notice that the voice was much more united than before.
'What if the Eternal Night Emperor planned on destroying the Six Finger Sect and Allbeast Sect?' Yan Nie thought darkly.
"Yan Nie, is something wrong?" Yan Nie looked up at his master. While he was stuck in his thoughts, the meeting had already finished.
"No, it's nothing," Yan Nie said. How could he tell his master that he suspected the Eternal Night Emperor secretly backstabbed his allies? "I was just thinking about Xi Tianyi?"
Monarch Pillrabbit's expression turned strange. "What's wrong with Xi Tianyi? Don't tell me you to want to kill him?"
Now it was Yan Nie's turn to look at Monarch Pillrabbit strangely. "Why would I do that? I mean, of course, we are enemies, but it's not like I have a personal grievance against him. I just find it strange."
Yan Nie frowned, not noticing Monarch Pillrabbit's sigh of relief. "Actually, the way Xi Tianyi left the battle was kind of strange. The spatial fluctuation I felt seemed to have come from Xi Tianyi himself. Master, might Xi Tianyi be at the cusp of mastering the Law of Space or already mastered it?"
Monarch Pillrabbit stayed silent. Finally, he opened his mouth, "You should keep this thought to yourself and never speak of it to anyone. Not even Pan Lanyue or Yun Xialan."