The Swallowing Sea Sect was situated on a Spirit Continent, which served as the Sect's foundation. As the most powerful Sect in the Swallowing Sea Domain, the Swallowing Sea Sect was not like the Mysterious Splendor Gate, coexisting with countless mortals within the same Universe World.
The Swallowing Sea Sect's form of existence was similar to that of the Void Domain.
The Void Domain also sat upon a Spirit Continent, except that Spirit Continent had been transformed from the Bixi's shell.
Right at this moment, within the Swallowing Sea Sect, three thousand Disciples were gathered together, ready to move out. On those young, tender faces, anxiety and tension were plainly visible, and many of the women were quietly sobbing, helpless and at a loss.
Just moments ago, the Sect's higher-ups had issued the order for the entire Sect to prepare for evacuation.
But now, with the Ink Clan's army besieging the Swallowing Sea Sect, how could evacuation be anything but a pipe dream? Even these young Disciples, who had never weathered true storms and whose cultivation was shallow, knew that very few among them would likely survive this evacuation.
But to not evacuate was simply waiting for death.
Led by Yang Qing, several Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivators within the Sect were all gazing upward. Beneath the shroud of the Sect-Protecting Grand Array, the Disciples below could not clearly make out the situation outside, but Yang Qing and the others could perceive vague shapes.
Under their gaze, they watched as Wang Xuanyi's squad drove their battered, nearly falling-apart warship headlong into the Ink Clan army. One after another, the power of Secret Techniques and Artifacts bloomed in dazzling, multicolored radiance in the void beyond, leaving a trail of Ink Clan casualties wherever they passed.
This was a squad tempered by a hundred battles. Every member had participated in no fewer than a hundred skirmishes against the Ink Clan, large and small. No one understood better than they did how to act in such a situation to ensure they fought at their absolute peak.
They were also painfully aware—this might well be their final battle.
They unleashed their power without the slightest restraint, determined to burn at their brightest at the very end of their journey.
The human squad's brazen ferocity quickly enraged the Ink Clan Lords. Nearly ten Lords used their subordinates' armies as cover, silently closing in from all sides.
They understood perfectly well that this squad was the strongest fighting force the humans possessed. Once they were dealt with, the rest would be fish on a chopping block—ready to be squeezed and molded at will.
So the Lords reached an instant consensus—to annihilate this squad with their utmost power.
The numerous Lords erupted into action simultaneously. Powerful waves of force surged outward, so intense that even those within the Swallowing Sea Sect could feel them clearly.
Yang Qing and the others tensed involuntarily, eyes widening, gazes locked without a moment's break.
One after another, Secret Techniques hammered down. The warship, already on the verge of breaking apart, disintegrated in an instant. Several squad members were wounded.
Even Wang Xuanyi and the other Seventh-Order cultivator were shaken by the devastating assault, their power momentarily faltering.
Before they could recover, the Lords launched a combined assault once more.
Wang Xuanyi's expression hardened, and he barked, "Form the formation!"
The instant the command left his lips, all thirteen shifted positions. With the two Seventh-Order cultivators as the formation's core, their bodies wove and exchanged positions, their auras linking tightly. In the blink of an eye, they had assembled into an intricate formation.
Together, they channeled the Power of Heaven and Earth. In an instant, light exploded in the void beyond. All thirteen figures vanished, replaced by a colossal sword that shook the heavens!
The sword's might was overwhelming, its sword intent piercing the sky. When the combined attacks of the Lords and the Ink Clan army struck it, the blade's radiance dimmed slightly, and muffled grunts along with sounds of spitting blood could be heard from within.
Someone had clearly been injured.
The colossal sword, formed entirely from the Power of Heaven and Earth, pivoted leisurely and then charged toward the two nearest Lords.
The two Lords hastily tried to retreat, wanting to hide themselves among their armies, but for some inexplicable reason, in that very instant, they were pinned by pressure as heavy as a mountain—unable to move.
The sword's light swept past them. The two Lords' eyes bulged wide as their bodies were cleaved in half like blocks of tofu, their faces frozen in utter disbelief, as if they could not fathom how they had just died.
Within the colossal sword, Wang Xuanyi was also momentarily stunned. The formation they had assembled was certainly decent, but it should not have possessed such overwhelming power.
Still, the situation was far too dire for him to dwell on it. He assumed those two Lords had simply been careless, and so he pivoted the sword's light and charged toward yet another Lord.
The fading of the Lords' auras passed through the Sect-Protecting Grand Array and reached the Swallowing Sea Sect. Such an obvious disturbance—even the Disciples with lower cultivation noticed it.
For a moment, many Disciples were wracked with anxiety, unsure whether the ones who had fallen were friend or foe.
Yang Qing sensed the Disciples' unease and raised his arm, shouting, "Our human Seventh-Order cultivators have slain two Ink Clan Lords!"
Through Wang Xuanyi and his squad, the Swallowing Sea Sect had roughly learned the Ink Clan's hierarchy of power. The so-called Lords were beings on par with human Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivators!
For the Swallowing Sea Sect, Seventh-Order was an untouchable pinnacle, far beyond their reach.
And now, two Ink Clan Lords comparable to the Seventh-Order had been slain!
In such a short time!
Upon hearing this news, the Disciples' tension eased considerably. Though they could see nothing, every one of them craned their necks upward, gazing into the void beyond, their eyes brimming with light—radiant with anticipation and hope.