by RWX
“No need to even think about it; she’s probably joined the Seamless Gate as well. That’s why we are only going to put on a show of fighting her,” the heavyset golden-robed man said. “What’s true is false; what’s false is true. Only when the waters are muddied can one fish from them in secret. So long as Flamedoor Commandery comes under attack, the Xia Emperor will probably feel much less suspicion towards that female Immortal of the commandery.”
“Right. This time, we’ve been told that two thousand squads numbering more than ten thousand people have been sent out. I wonder how many are Celestial Immortals and how many are Loose Immortals? And how many are joinees like us, while how many were members of the Seamless Gate to begin with?”
“Who cares? That’s not for us to know or worry about.”
“Right. Still…why haven’t the talismans shattered yet?”
Both of them were holding a message talisman. Once the talisman shattered, it meant that the time had come for them to make their move!
They were waiting a few tens of thousands of kilometers outside of Flamedoor City; they’d be able to arrive there with a single void blink. They just needed the order.
Crack!
The talismans shattered.
The faces of both figures instantly changed. No longer in the mood to chat, they immediately void blinked towards Flamedoor City.
Deep within a foggy region outside Flamedoor City. A total of eighteen figures had appeared atop the clouds, each of whom were dressed in golden robes. However, their golden robes were slightly different from ordinary golden robes. Their golden robes were all covered with various decorations such as flowers, Godbeasts, clouds, mountains, and other things.
All of their auras were extraordinary.
“Everyone, per the orders of the Gatemaster, I shall lead you all today,” Celestial Immortal Violetgrass said. “I know that I am lacking in experience, and so I’d like to ask everyone to be patient with me.”
“Little sister Violetgrass, although you haven’t trained for very long, your talent is exceptional. You are now amongst the top-tier Celestial Immortals, comparable to the rest of us; I imagine that in the future, we’ll be asking you to take care of us!”
This was the response from the other Celestial Immortals.
They all knew quite well that Celestial Immortal Violetgrass was heavily doted upon by the Gatemaster, and she was also protected by Celestial Immortal Blackheaven and many other powerful figures. It was guaranteed that in the future, her status would be higher than theirs.
“This time, the Gatemaster has sent out two thousand squads; this shall be the final time we test the enemy’s strength in detail, with the true war against the Grand Xia to begin right afterwards. The purpose of all this is to get a good sense of any powers or abilities the Grand Xia is hiding. The mission of almost every squad is to probe the our foes, with a few squads meant for putting on a show; only very, very few squads are meant to wipe out the foes!” Celestial Immortal Violetgrass swept them with her gaze as she said solemnly, “And our squad…is one of those meant to wipe out our foes!”
“Celestial Immortal Unity is too stubborn; there’s no way he’ll bend the neck for us,” Violetgrass said. “He is incredibly powerful, and he might break through to the Pure Yang True Immortal level at any moment. His ability to wait and endure is also incredible; if we just let him do as he pleases, he’ll most likely become a major impediment to the Seamless Gate’s subjugation of the Grand Xia. Since we can’t recruit him…then we have to eliminate him!”
The Xia Emperor wasn’t sure about the loyalties of many Celestial Immortals; for example, he couldn’t be sure if even the capture of Celestial Immortal Hunchmont was part of an act or not. The Seamless Gate, however, knew everything! They knew that they truly had captured Hunchmont and had used everything they could think of to force Unity to capitulate…but alas, all their efforts had failed.
“At present, Stillwater City has Celestial Immortal Unity, Immortal Diancai, the Rainbowflame Fairy, and Sword Immortal Darknorth, also known as Ji Ning.” Violetgrass said seriously, “Immortal Diancai and the Rainbowflame Fairy are fairly weak; they aren’t worth mentioning. Celestial Immortal Unity and Sword Immortal Darknorth, however, are no ordinary figures. If Celestial Immortal Unity was by himself, there would be no need at all for the eighteen of us to join forces…but now, Sword Immortal Darknorth has emerged.”
The other seventeen all nodded.
They had all received reports regarding Sword Immortal Darknorth, Ji Ning. Prior to this, they had been battling across other major worlds. Only after being gathered here had they received Ji Ning’s intelligence report…and after reading it, they had been badly shocked.
Sword Immortal Darknorth…Ji Ning!
The champion of the Conclave of Immortal Destiny, a disciple of one of the most supreme Daofathers of the Three Realms, a practitioner of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], a wielder of astonishing sword-arts, a possesser of incredible divine abilities, and who had been able to fight nine Celestial Immortals of the Youngflame clan as a Void-level Earth Immortal…and kill two of them! Although he had trained for less than a century, he was able to survive even the descent of karmic sinflames; he truly was an incomparably astonishing talent.
“Everyone present is a supreme Celestial Immortal, and you are all skilled in using the formation which the Godking created. The eighteen of us are able to somewhat unleash the power of this formation; it should be enough to dominate anyone below the Empyrean God or True Immortal level.” Violetgrass said solemnly, “Everyone already has a copy of the plan; we must act in accordance with it. We have to be careful, to tread lightly. If we are overconfident…then Celestial Immortal Unity and Sword Immortal Darknorth will be able to escape!”
“Of course.”
“If the eighteen of us fail even when fighting together…once word spreads, we would have no face at all.”
They had all reached Celestial Immortal Infatuation’s level of power; in fact, some were even slightly stronger.
The eighteen of them joining forces was a more terrifying prospect than a hundred ordinary Celestial Immortals joining forces! These were the true elites of the Seamless Gate; only when the Seamless Gate encountered a truly thorny foe would it send out these elites.
The eighteen Celestial Immortals waited there within the fog, waited for the final order to come. The two thousand squads had to strike at the same time!
A short while later…
Crack!
The message talismans in the hands of the eighteen Celesteial Immortals simultaneously shattered!
* * *
Book 17, Chapter 8 - Celestial Immortal Unity
“Let’s go.” Upon seeing the message talisman shatter, a cold light flashed through Celestial Immortal Violetgrass’ eyes. She immediately gave the order.
Whoosh!
Eighteen figures flew towards Stillwater City at high speed, riding the clouds. They were hidden fairly close to Stillwater City to begin with. Once they reached a distance of three thousand kilometers away from Stillwater City, their faces all changed.
“Coresense!”
“A Celestial Immortal from Stillwater City is keeping watch with coresense.”
“We’ve been discovered!”
The eighteen Celestial Immortals all had a bad feeling. They had guessed that Celestial Immortal Unity would be very cautious, but they had never expected this! It had been more than half a year since the final note had been sent…could it be that Celestial Immortal Unity had been maintaining his coresense watch for all that time?
In truth, even though Immortal Diancai, the Rainbowflame Fairy, and Celestial Immortal Unity rotated through this duty, it was still exhausting. Thus, they didn’t cover too much area with their coresense, just the entirety of Stillwater City and three thousand kilometers around it!
It must be understood that given how strong Celestial Immortals were, even the weakest of them would be able to easily stretch their
coresense out to a hundred thousand kilometers. But of course, that could only be maintained for a short period of time.
“Although Celestial Immortal Unity is being quite cautious…that is as we expected,” Violetgrass sent mentally.
“Right.” The other Celestial Immortals weren’t worried.
“Let’s attack from here. No need to advance any further.” Violetgrass gave the order, and the eighteen Celestial Immortals descended from the skies into the desolate wilderness.
Violetgrass released her own coresense, reaching out to touch the coresense of the Celestial Immortal within Stillwater City. Since they had been discovered, there was no need to hide themselves any further. “Unity, our Seamless Gate has arrived. Hurry up and surrender!”
……
Night.
Stillwater City.
“The Seamless Gate has arrived!” Yu Wei sent this mental message through coresense. Instantly, two other figures flew into the skies and towards her at high speed. One was Celestial Immortal Unity, who flew out from the Marquis Estate; the other was Immortal Diancai. As for Ji Ning…he had been with Yu Wei this entire time.
The entire Stillwater City was merely nine thousand kilometers long, and the Marquis Estate was fairly close to the Black-White College; they were able to instantly assemble.
“They came?” Celestial Immortal Unity landed, his eyes filled with a shocking desire for battle.
“Right. They are three thousand kilometers away from the east gate of Stillwater City,” Yu Wei said. “Once they saw my coresense, they immediately landed. They haven’t advanced any further.”
Celestial Immortal Unity laughed, his laughter filled with a savage killing intent. “Three thousand kilometers? That’s enough! They’ve already entered the range of our formations.”
“Fellow Daoist Unity,” Immortal Diancai said hurriedly, “The actual city of Stillwater City was created by the Grand Xia Dynasty; it innately contains tremendous power, and is also filled with many formations. If they don’t enter the city proper, there’s no way for us to use the innate formations that are built into the city; we can only use the formations which the Northmont clan have laid down. Those formations are significantly weaker; at most, we’ll be able to slow them down a bit.”
“That’s already enough,” Celestial Immortal Unity said with a laugh. “The Seamless Gate is very cautious; there’s no way they’d be so stupid as to rush straight into the city proper. Activate the formations right now and take control over them.”
“Alright.” Yu Wei and Immortal Diancai both nodded.
Both of them were Celestial Immortals; when one used Celestial Immortal-level power to activate a formation, the strength of the formation would increase markedly.
……
Celestial Immortal Violetgrass and the other seventeen Celestial Immortals stood there within the wilderness, quietly staring at that massive city. Although they were three thousand kilometers away, they could still see it with the naked eye.
Rumble…
Suddenly, the world itself seemed to change.
Although it was night…an enormous cloud of fire suddenly appeared in the air above the entire city of Stillwater. Immediately afterwards, the world itself shook. First, an enormous barrier of light appeared, covering the entirety of Stillwater City as well as a region of nearly nine thousand kilometers around it! This grand sealing formation had a diameter of eighteen thousand kilometers!
“A sealing formation?” Celestial Immortal Violetgrass swept it with a glance; this grand formation had trapped the nearby mountains, forests, and wilderness as well. Since they were three thousand kilometers away from the city, they were naturally included within the formation.
Whoooosh.
Fog began to billow out.
Space began to distort.
The eighteen Celestial Immortals, however, remained quite calm. Violetgrass had seen many things and had an extraordinary status, while the other seventeen had engaged in wars of conquest across other major worlds; they had plenty of experience in these things. They could immediately tell that this sort of grand formation would at most be able to slow them down a bit, but wouldn’t be able to have much of an impact. In truth, it wasn’t too likely that clans like the Northmont clan of Stillwater could have excessively powerful formations!
“There’s no need for us to take things head-on for now,” Violetgrass sent mentally. “Given how proud Celestial Immortal Unity is…once he’s trapped us here, he’ll definitely take the initiative to attack us. If he truly is so cowardly as to refuse to come out…then we’ll use our formation to break through his formation with overpowering force.”
“Right.”
“Don’t worry.”
These Celestial Immortals were neither overconfident nor in a rush.
For the sake of killing Celestial Immortal Unity, they had made very detailed preparations. However, at their level…in the end, what mattered the most was power! Thus, the eighteen which the Seamless Gate had gathered here today had more than enough power to slay Celestial Immortal Unity and give him no way to escape.
……
The walls of Stillwater City.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Four figures descended upon them; Celestial Immortal Unity, Immortal Diancai, Ji Ning, and Yu Wei. Through their control over the formation, Ji Ning and the others were able to see through the bewildering fog and find those eighteen distant Celestial Immortals, even though those eighteen themselves couldn’t even tell north from south.
“There’s actually eighteen of them?” Immortal Diancai was startled. He gave Unity a glance. “Fellow Daoist Unity, last time you defeated a combined team of thirty-six Celestial Immortals. This time, even though they know that my disciple Ji Ning has returned, they actually have only sent eighteen? It seems as though these eighteen are definitely extraordinary Celestial Immortals.”
Ning said, “Fellow Daoist Unity, the Seamless Gate has come with ill intentions. The two of us should fight together; I’ll fight in close combat, while you attack from far away. If we join forces…”
“No need.” Unity shook his head.
Years ago, when Ning had first met Unity, he had referred to him as ‘senior’. However, now that Ning was famous for having fought nine Celestial Immortals head-on and killing two of them, Ning clearly had power comparable to that of a supreme Celestial Immortal. When also factoring in the fact that the Black-White College was his principle source of assistance in dealing with this assault from the Seamless Gate…Unity was naturally no longer willing to allow Ning and the others to refer to him as ‘senior’.
However, in their hearts, Ning and Immortal Diancai continued to feel great reverence for this senior of theirs, Unity.
“No need?” Ning was surprised.
“This battle today is primarily the culmination of my feud with the Seamless Gate,” Unity said. “Your Black-White College has already helped me by maintaining a coresense watch for half a year, and you are helping me right now by maintaining this formation. I already feel very grateful for all of this. In this battle with the Seamless Gate…there’s no need for you to intervene! The Seamless Gate has definitely prepared many techniques to deal with me, and they must feel confident in their chances. Then if you were to go…I don’t want to sound rude, but if you go, your chances of death are very high.”
Immortal Diancai and Yu Wei both nodded slowly.
Right.
They knew exactly how formidable Celestial Immortal Unity was; he was almost as strong as a Pure Yang True Immortal! To kill someone like this…the Seamless Gate had to prepare an even more powerful force. If the two of them went, they truly might die if they weren’t careful.
“But isn’t that going to make things even more dangerous for you, fellow Daoist?” Immortal Diancai asked hurriedly.
“Hahaha, they have their tricks…but so do I!” Unity said confidently, “They’ve never forced me to the point of going all out before.”
Immortal D
iancai nodded slowly. Right. Unity had hidden himself away for countless eons, and almost everyone in the Three Realms had thought him to be dead. How strong, exactly, had he become over the course of so many years? Aside from Unity himself, most likely no one else knew.
“Fellow Daoist Unity, even a lion fighting against a rabbit should use all his might,” Ning said hurriedly. “The two of them are Ki Refiners, but I am a Fiendgod Body Refiner…”
“No need.” Unity frowned. Upon seeing Ning persevere, he added, “If you go, you’ll actually slow me down.”
Ning blinked.
“Friends of the Black-White College, just watch me butcher them.” Unity immediately transformed into a streak of white light as he flew far away.
“Ji Ning, the reason why senior Unity spoke so rudely was because he doesn’t want you to go,” Immortal Diancai said. “He’s a proud, solitary figure by nature; we’ve already helped him a lot, and he doesn’t want to accept our help any further.”
“I understand. I’m not angry at all.” Ning stared off into the distance. “Let’s watch senior Unity battle the Seamless Gate first. If he really does fall into a dangerous situation, I can intervene then.”
“Junior apprentice-brother, don’t be rash. Watch first.” Yu Wei stared off into the distance as well. “Get a sense for exactly how strong they are. If the Seamless Gate is too powerful…there’s no need for us to throw our lives away.”
“I understand.” Ning nodded.
……
Violetgrass and the other seventeen Celestial Immortals completely ignored the surrounding fog, as well as the illusory images that appeared around them. Suddenly…Violetgrass frowned slightly.
“Assemble into formation,” Violetgrass sent mentally. “Baxia.”
