The strike came without the slightest warning. By the time Honghu realized it was there, it was already upon him. Startled, he barely managed to swing his hammer up in a desperate block.
Even a Domain Lord of his caliber was sent hurtling backward by the force of the blow.
He steadied himself and looked down. There, on the floating continent below, Xiang Shan — who had been sitting with eyes closed in meditation this entire time — had opened his eyes at some unknown moment. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he gazed up at Honghu with undisguised amusement.
Honghu's soul nearly fled his body.
It was a trap — it had to be a trap!
Though he had detected no trace of any Eighth-Order cultivators, the moment he met Xiang Shan's mocking gaze, he knew with terrible certainty that his long-held fears had come true.
The Humans had set another ambush here with their characteristic cunning, luring him and Wujiang into coming. How laughable — his usual caution had failed him completely.
He had no idea what the Humans' objective was or where exactly the trap lay, but Honghu was nothing if not decisive. The instant he realized the danger, he turned to flee.
But it was already too late.
Before he could so much as move, Xiang Shan was already upon him, shooting forward like a streak of lightning. As his body launched into motion, he seemed to leave something behind — an object deposited at his former position. And as he hurtled through the void, the aura radiating from his body surged upward in violent waves. In the span of a mere three breaths, it climbed from the Seventh Order all the way to the Eighth Order.
The two figures collided in the void, Ink Force and the power of Heaven and Earth intertwining into a maelstrom of devastation.
Aboard the battered remains of the Old Turtle Team's warship, Captain Chai Fang and his crew stared open-mouthed. They had been staring into certain death, and now this sudden reversal had appeared out of nowhere — the sheer joy of it was almost too much to process.
In the next instant, Chai Fang's mind caught up. Xiang Shan's ability to advance to the Eighth Order at precisely this moment was no coincidence — it was almost certainly deliberate.
In other words, Senior Xiang Shan had been capable of advancing at any time all along, but had been suppressing it for some purpose. Otherwise, his timing would have been impossibly perfect.
Under normal circumstances, a Seventh-Order cultivator breaking through to the Eighth Order would never be able to accomplish such a thing. But Xiang Shan was different. He had been an Eighth-Order cultivator to begin with — his fall in rank had only occurred because he had sacrificed territory within his own Minor Universe. He had the foundation of the Eighth Order already, and three thousand years of patient cultivation had more than restored his reserves. For him, returning to the Eighth Order once the moment arrived was as effortless as eating or drinking.
Chai Fang even suspected that Xiang Shan could have advanced to the Eighth Order long ago, but had refrained for some reason he couldn't yet fathom.
"Captain… is that… an Ink Expulsion Warship?" A pale-faced team member sent through a voice transmission.
The Old Turtle Team's defenses had been shattered by Honghu's three hammer strikes. Every member of the squad had sustained injuries of varying severity, and the warship itself would require extensive repairs. But compared to being wiped out entirely by an Ink Clan Domain Lord, the outcome was acceptable.
At the team member's question, Chai Fang turned to look at the floating continent and indeed spotted a warship sitting where Xiang Shan had been. It was far more imposing than any squad-level warship — even a garrison-level warship couldn't compare.
Across the entirety of Biluo Pass, a vessel of that scale could only be an Ink Expulsion Warship.
What was an Ink Expulsion Warship doing here?
He vaguely recalled that the moment Xiang Shan's body had moved, he seemed to have released something, leaving it behind at his position. That something had to be the Ink Expulsion Warship.
Though massive, a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator could easily stow it within his Minor Universe.
In that flash of understanding, Chai Fang saw through the layers of arrangement the higher-ups had put in place, and his expression turned to one of shock and admiration.
And at a certain moment just before Xiang Shan released the Ink Expulsion Warship, inside Biluo Pass, a gathering of seven or eight Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivators led by Ding Yao had assembled together. Each of them formed hand seals with constantly shifting gestures. Strangely, no matter how they varied their seals, no outward manifestation occurred.
They had been maintaining this state for several days now.
Even for Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivators, performing such a tedious task for this long was mentally draining.
Lu An couldn't help but mutter, "Has Senior Brother Xiang Shan still not made his move?"
One of the Eighth-Order cultivators chuckled. "Brother Lu, getting impatient?"
"I'm worried about whether those young ones can hold on," Lu An replied. "I don't know how many Domain Lords Senior Brother Xiang Shan lured over. If it's only a few, they should be fine. But if there are too many, the youngsters could take casualties."
The Eighth-Order cultivator said, "Senior Brother Xiang Shan is meticulous in all his dealings. If he hasn't acted yet, it means the situation is still under control. When the time comes, he'll strike. Just a little longer — it shouldn't be much lon—"
The cultivator never finished his sentence. As the final seal formed beneath his feet, the luminous image of a Universe Grand Array suddenly materialized.
Ding Yao's eyes sharpened. "It's started!"
Every cultivator held their breath and focused their minds. The speed at which they formed hand seals increased dramatically, and in an instant, the glow of Universe Grand Arrays appeared beneath each of their feet.
A few breaths later, the light of the Arrays faded — and the Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivators who had gathered there were gone without a trace.
The very next moment, on the floating continent billions of miles away, Ding Yao led the group as they all stepped out of the Ink Expulsion Warship.
With a sweep of his perception, Ding Yao immediately grasped the situation before him. He called out in a deep voice, "Execute the plan as arranged!"
As his words fell, Ding Yao and five other Eighth-Order cultivators transformed into streaks of light, hurtling directly toward Xiang Shan's position. The remaining three Eighth-Order cultivators shot off toward Wujiang's location at full speed.