When Old Devil Hehuan's challenge rang out, the gaunt elder's brows furrowed slightly, but he soon spoke as if nothing had happened.
"A battle with the three great cultivators of Tiannan was inevitable sooner or later. However, I must remain behind to oversee the main battle and cannot accept the challenge. We will have to trouble Sect Master Fang with this. I have long heard that Sect Master's Heavenly Sha True Devil Art has been cultivated to an extraordinary level — you can even borrow the True Devil qi of the Heavenly Sha True Devil to possess your body. Dealing with a single person should be effortless."
"Since we have already agreed, this Sect Master will naturally take action. I too wish to see what kind of divine abilities the greatest devil cultivator in Tiannan possesses!" the black-robed man spoke coldly, a flash of green light flickering in his eyes as black qi enveloped his body. He rose slowly into the air and flew toward the opposite side.
The scholar surnamed Zhong and the dwarf surnamed Bi transformed without a word into a silver rainbow and a ball of red light respectively, following after him.
Zhiyang Shangren and the other two on the opposite side saw this and simultaneously transformed into startling rainbows, fleeing into the high sky.
The black-robed man and the two Mulan Divine Masters pursued them closely.
The six figures vanished into the clouds and mist in the blink of an eye, disappearing without a trace.
But before long, the nearby sky began to shift in color — now blazing red, now pitch black. Deafening explosions like thunderous booms rang out in succession, and blinding silver rainbows and multicolored clouds flashed past from time to time.
While the six great cultivators clashed in the heavens, the cultivator and Spell Warrior armies at lower altitudes and on the ground also began their own massive battle.
However, this was nothing like a duel between one or a few cultivators, where combatants would immediately take to the air and close in to attack each other with magic treasures.
Instead, from such a great distance, amid chants that rose and fell in pitch, both the cultivator and Spell Warrior camps first activated their various protective formations. Enormous barriers of light rose slowly from each side, enveloping the main forces of both camps within.
Clearly, the cultivator side completed their defenses first.
This was not because the cultivators' Five Elements spells were faster to cast than the Spell Warriors' spirit arts — rather, most of the protective formations deployed by the Tiannan cultivators were composed of pre-made formation tools. As a result, activating them was naturally a good deal faster than the opponent's spirit arts.
The first to strike were over a dozen group-attack exotic treasures with long range, including the enormous bronze gong
By now, the frame holding the gong had not only reached the very front of the cultivator formation but had also floated lightly into the air, hovering several dozen zhang above the ground. Only seven or eight burly men in yellow robes flanked it on either side. The giant who had been sitting cross-legged beside the gong had risen at some point, standing silently on one side of the gong with an iron hammer nearly a zhang long gripped in both hands.
A short distance away, two men raised a triangular black banner five or six zhang tall. Dark light flickered upon its surface, where a black flood dragon was embroidered in vivid detail.
Nine girls in red robes each held a tray covered by a red silk cloth, its contents bulging beneath the fabric — some unknown treasures within. The nine girls arranged themselves into a peculiar formation and floated lightly in the air.
Three elders in brocade robes, each carrying a gourd half as tall as a person on their backs, squinted their eyes as they too walked to the front of the formation.
...
The order to attack reached the ears of these cultivators responsible for the first wave in an instant.
The giant on the bronze frame immediately widened his eyes, yellow light a foot long erupting from his entire body. He swung the iron hammer with both hands and struck the center of the gong with all his might.
A burst of blinding golden light exploded outward, but strangely, only the flash of light was visible — there was no sound whatsoever.
The instant the golden light appeared, it burst apart, transforming into countless golden sparks that shot toward the enemy. But after flying only a dozen zhang or so, soft "pu pu" sounds were heard as the golden sparks dissolved into clouds of golden mist.
The giant hammered the gong relentlessly, and dense streams of golden sparks erupted from it. The golden mist surged toward the Spell Warriors' army like a wave.
Under the frantic waving of two cultivators, a black flood dragon materialized from the surface of the triangular black banner, its form flickering between visible and invisible.
The dragon's eerie eyes snapped open, and gusts of blue-black wind poured from its maw.
The howling wind rose to a roar as the gusts transformed into a vast expanse of blackness, instantly whipping up sand and stones until nothing could be seen.
The girls in red lifted their red trays with jade-like arms, chanting enchanting spells. Red light flashed, and nine gleaming copper discs flew from the trays, gathering in the air and spinning around.
A fiery ancient mirror several feet across appeared where the discs had been. Spiritual light flickered upon its surface, and from within the mirror burst countless fire birds the size of fists, each wreathed in flames with tongues of fire spewing from their beaks. Then, with a series of clear cries, they shot out like arrows.
The three elders in brocade robes stood in a triangular formation and simultaneously unleashed the enormous gourds on their backs. Bone-piercing white frost, laced with countless snowflakes and hailstones, instantly transformed the area before them into a world of ice and snow, which blew toward the enemy at tremendous speed.
...
These exotic treasure attacks launched almost simultaneously. The Spell Warriors had only just managed to form their own protective barriers and, unable to mount a counterattack, could only endure this first wave of attacks under the gaunt elder's command.
The moment the attacks made contact, the golden mist, black wind, and other phenomena detonated against the cultivator army's barrier all at once.
For a time, lights of every color flickered, and the Spell Warriors' barrier trembled slightly.
Seeing this, Long Han sent out another order without a second thought. The cultivators who received it launched the second wave of attacks before the first had even concluded.
This time, the attacks were large-scale secret techniques jointly executed by the various sects.