Giant Sun Immortal Venerable gave a cold snort, activating several techniques to slaughter all of those Heavenly Court members once again.
The two Venerables restrained each other, exchanging blow after blow with technique after technique, yet neither managed to let a single subordinate successfully charge into the Reality Ice Floe.
The stalemate continued once more, but after a prolonged battle, a figure suddenly slipped closer to the Reality Ice Floe.
It was Shěn Shāng!
"Seeking death!" Giant Sun Immortal Venerable coldly roared, golden light shooting from his eyes like lightning.
At the same time, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable also struck toward Shěn Shāng.
Shěn Shāng let out an odd cry and hastily retreated, while Lètǔ and Lù Wèiyīn launched their full-power attacks to assist him.
The two Venerables' offensive tore through defense after defense, still managing to land blows on Shěn Shāng.
Shěn Shāng let out a wail and collapsed unconscious on the spot, his injuries terrifyingly severe, barely clinging to a single breath of life.
Having fought fiercely for so long, both Venerables had grown heated and had already gauged the upper limits of their current striking power. Shěn Shāng's attempt had directly touched the reverse scale of both Venerables, immediately provoking their joint assault!
Shěn Shāng's wretched state made the Half-Immortal Venerables' hearts tremble with fear.
The two Venerables had shown them through action what awaited anyone who tried to fish in troubled waters right under their noses!
The situation settled into a stalemate like this. The two Venerables kept each other in check, their attention mostly focused on one another, allowing the Half-Immortal Venerables to observe the battle from the sidelines.
For the Half-Immortal Venerables to charge onto the Reality Ice Floe was nothing but a pipe dream. The moment any of them made a move, the two Venerables would join forces against them.
After Shěn Shāng, Lètǔ, Qìjué, and others also took turns striking, seizing the numerous opportunities created during the two Venerables' clashes, but all returned in defeat.
Lù Wèiyīn was severely wounded, Lètǔ sustained light injuries, and both gasped for breath without cease.
Shěn Shāng regained consciousness, his injuries grievous and impossible to heal in any short time.
Qìjué Demon Immortal, seeing the situation turn dire, had withdrawn early, preferring to waste the opportunity rather than press on, and thus was still in relatively good condition.
As for Fang Yuan, he seldom struck out, focusing primarily on observing the battle while doing everything he could to save himself.
He had finally completely eliminated the black fire!
But at an extraordinarily steep price.
Within his Supreme Immortal Aperture, seventy to eighty percent of the various resource points, large and small, had been lost. Blessed Lands and hidden realms that had suffered the black fire — places like Dàng Hún Mountain and Luò Pò Valley — were all left in ruins.
Many Immortal Gu had also been destroyed by the black fire, and the casualties among the Gu Immortals were even greater.
Six out of every ten Gu Immortals had perished, including the Last War Beast King, the elderly man.
In this single catastrophe alone, Fang Yuan had been beaten almost back to square one, losing seventy to eighty percent of his reserves!
"Only twenty percent of my Immortal Essence remains." Fang Yuan calculated silently to himself.
Though he had Time Path methods to accelerate Immortal Essence production and the Heavenly Origin Treasure Yellow Lotus to assist him, his consumption had simply been too vast.
Setting aside the various constructions, operations, and Immortal Gu refinement, just the continuous great battles alone had caused his Immortal Essence to plummet. No matter how carefully Fang Yuan managed his resources, there was simply no room for savings.
To use his remaining twenty percent of Immortal Essence against two Venerables in peak condition — this was an exceedingly dangerous situation.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The two Venerables struck out, their killer moves growing ever more powerful, exceeding the limits.
The Crazed Demon Formation had been running continuously, and immediately, Wuji Chains materialized out of thin air, shooting toward the two Venerables.
The two Venerables defended against the Wuji Chains even as they unleashed even fiercer attacks!
At first, both Venerables had been relatively restrained, but as the stalemate dragged on, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable was the first to break through the upper limit, triggering the chains' counteraction.
While defending against the chains, he launched a fierce assault on Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, rapidly gaining the upper hand.
Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, forced into a corner, had no choice but to elevate her killer move's power level to deal with Giant Sun Immortal Venerable. In doing so, she too drew the Wuji Chains' assault upon herself.
The situation gradually spiraled out of control. The two Venerables clashed, each trying to outdo the other in a vicious cycle of competition, their killer moves' power rising step by step.
At first there were only hundreds or thousands of chains, but soon the Wuji Chains multiplied several times over, joining the fray between the two Venerables.
The Half-Immortal Venerables all retreated, nearly forced to the very edge of the ninth level.
"Both Venerables are fighting in earnest now!"
"No — more accurately, they can't hold back. Even though they know this isn't right, there's nothing they can do. The vicious competition has already taken hold."
"What should we do? If this keeps up, we won't be able to hold on at all!"
"So this is the true power of a Venerable. We Half-Immortal Venerables don't even qualify to watch from up close."
The Half-Immortal Venerables exchanged words among themselves.
Lètǔ looked toward Fang Yuan. "Fellow Immortal Fang Yuan, do you have any good ideas?"
Fang Yuan's face was deathly pale, his aura incredibly weakened. Hearing this, he gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
Just then, another change occurred.
When the killer moves exchanged by the two Venerables collided and detonated, a massive wave of residual force struck the Reality Ice Floe.
The Reality Ice Floe suffered a devastating blow. With a series of cracking sounds, countless fissures split across the ice.
All three freaks of the Crazed Demon Cave were severely wounded, and among them, Fat Mountain died on the spot!
"The ice floe! The ice floe!" The Schemer spewed out mouthfuls of blood while screaming in desperation, his face twisted — he had none of the composed bearing of a Wisdom Path Gu Immortal.
"What are you doing?! You bunch of idiots! This is the fruit of eternal life! All it took was for one person to keep activating the Practice Gu! And you've gone and destroyed it!!" Bùshì Xiān beat his chest and stamped his feet, pointing at the two Venerables as he cursed furiously, spiraling into hysterical madness.
The Half-Immortal Venerables all wore grim expressions, but the two Venerables paid them no heed whatsoever.
The destruction of the fruit of eternal life had shaken them to their cores.
But they could no longer stop.