The eighth layer of the Mad Demon Lair.
The phantom of the Yuan Realm hovered high in the sky, growing more vivid by the moment.
The fusion of the Azure Lotus Great World, the Loess Great World, and the Barbarian Great World had deepened considerably. Now only a small portion of the embryonic walls remained, obstructing passage between the three.
The various minor worlds had long since been completely absorbed into the three great worlds, with the Barbarian Great World reaping the greatest benefits and becoming the most expansive of the three.
This was all thanks to Immortal Venerable Ju Yang's heaven and earth luck techniques, which had directed the vast majority of minor worlds to land within the Barbarian Great World.
Fang Yuan dispatched nearly all of his Gu Masters, charging straight toward the Heavenly Court's Book Mountain.
Longevity Heaven also mustered its entire army, their forces sweeping forth in grand formation.
The Heavenly Court had long been prepared, with Duan Hu and Nie Kuangfeng each leading a contingent to hold the line.
"As long as you don't have a Sage standing before me, none of you are my match!" Nie Kuangfeng roared.
His body danced through the air, conjuring gales that stretched ten thousand miles, sweeping across the battlefield in rolling torrents.
"A great enemy stands before us. Only through cooperation do we have a chance of victory!" Xiao Hejian glanced toward the Ice Crystal Immortal King, who nodded in agreement, his expression grave.
In the earlier clashes, both of these non-human Gu Immortals had individually faced Nie Kuangfeng in combat, and both had been defeated in succession. Not only had numerous Gu Immortals lost their lives, but Xiao Hejian and the Ice Crystal Immortal King themselves had barely escaped with their lives.
After this period of rest, their strength had been fully restored. Facing Nie Kuangfeng once more, they decided to set aside their personal grievances and fight the enemy together.
With a wave of his hand and a movement of his feet, the Ice Crystal Immortal King unleashed torrents of frigid energy that shrouded Nie Kuangfeng, freezing his movements and slowing his speed.
Xiao Hejian launched green leaf blades that filled the sky and blanketed the earth, their power staggering.
Nie Kuangfeng swept his long winds across the land, changing the color of heaven and earth, scattering the green leaves and freezing gales in all directions.
Immortal Path Killing Move — Extreme Ice Crystal Light Immortal Suppression Coffin!
The Ice Crystal Immortal King bellowed, his aura contracting sharply, not leaking even a wisp.
The next instant, his entire body detonated with a thunderous boom, exploding into countless streaks of frigid light.
The cold light shot outward with blinding speed! Wherever it passed, the atmosphere froze solid, forming chunks of floating ice that tumbled down toward the ground below.
"Hm?" Nie Kuangfeng's heart lurched with dread. He scrambled to dodge, but how could he possibly make it in time?
He was struck by countless beams of Extreme Ice Crystal Light, sealed within a colossal iceberg as vast as a mountain.
"The thicker the ice, the more the frigid light shooting in from outside is amplified as it passes through — the greater its power!" Nie Kuangfeng struggled in vain to break free, and under the pressure of death, he fell into demonic madness once more.
Crack, crack, crack…
Fractures spread rapidly through the ice from within, branching outward in every direction.
"This is bad. I can't hold him much longer," the Ice Crystal Immortal King realized with alarm.
Xiao Hejian had finally finished charging his move.
Immortal Path Killing Move — Mowing Grass!
Xiao Hejian's palms sliced through the air like blades, aimed from a distance at Nie Kuangfeng within the ice. He made a gentle downward cutting motion.
Instantly, two blades of grass materialized and drifted down, slipping into the cracks of the iceberg before piercing straight through into Nie Kuangfeng's body.
Nie Kuangfeng's body shuddered twice.
Xiao Hejian struck again and again. Nie Kuangfeng's body trembled repeatedly, and the green wind sphere surrounding him grew sparser and weaker, its resistance dwindling to almost nothing.
"I'm willing to surrender…" Nie Kuangfeng cried out weakly.
"The Master has ordered — no surrender accepted!" Xiao Hejian declared coldly.
In the end, Nie Kuangfeng perished at the hands of their combined assault.
With Nie Kuangfeng dead, the non-human Gu Immortals were left leaderless. Countless fell to slaughter, and the rest broke and fled in disarray.
Fang Yuan's army charged deep into enemy territory, advancing all the way to the foot of Book Mountain.
On another front, two of Longevity Heaven's Eight Extremities Sons — Huang Ji Zi and Yu Ji Zi — joined forces to eliminate Duan Hu.
The two great armies converged at the center of the Azure Lotus Great World.
The Heavenly Court had only recently come into possession of Book Mountain, and had deployed a grand formation in its vicinity.
The formation was called the Four Direction Star Formation, composed of four sub-formations positioned at the cardinal points, surrounding Book Mountain so tightly that not a drop of water could seep through.
At the summit of Book Mountain, Fairy Feng Ya labored day and night, ceaselessly activating her killing move to draw upon the Yuan Realm in the heavens above.
After some deliberation, the two armies split their forces to attack the four great formations.
Mao Li Qiu led one contingent, charging into the western sub-formation.
Gai Mei led another, storming into the northern sub-formation.
Xiao Hejian led a third, entering the eastern sub-formation.
The Ice Crystal Immortal King led the fourth, attacking the southern sub-formation.
The remaining forces were placed under the command of Bing Saichuan and Lu Weiyin respectively, anchoring the flanks behind the four vanguard groups.
The moment Mao Li Qiu entered the formation, starlight rained down like nails — tens of millions of beams pouring from the sky in a torrential downpour.
Mao Li Qiu bellowed, its body swelling to enormous size. Its purple marten fur, sleek and impenetrable, deflected the starlight entirely.
It rampaged through the sub-formation, with the other Gu Immortals following close behind, cutting a path of destruction through the formation's interior.
"You wretched beast, causing trouble again. This time I'll cut you down!" The star formation trembled as two Gu Immortals burst forth.
One was the Nine Spirit Fairy, the other the Phoenix Immortal Prince.
The Nine Spirit Fairy transformed into a primordial desolate beast, blocking Mao Li Qiu's path. The counterfeit primordial surpassed the genuine article, and Mao Li Qiu was quickly driven onto the back foot, its flesh aching, utterly spent.
The Phoenix Immortal Prince activated his flame-path killing move, sending swarms of yellow bird-shaped flames dancing in every direction. The non-human Gu Immortals of the Barbarian Great World were torn apart, more than a dozen lives lost in an instant.
Growing impatient, Mao Li Qiu had no choice but to retreat.