Chapter 606: Retreat?

"You... court death!" Austin, the "Star of Blazing Flames," a super-powerhouse who had genuinely attained the ninth tier without relying on divine power at all, was now utterly beside himself with rage.

"Did you think we had no other hidden trumps?!" At that moment, he nodded, and the elderly man in black robes beside him withdrew a pale gold scroll from his sleeve.

"Summoning a space storm?!" Luther cried out in alarm. "They actually brought out even that scroll?!"

When that scroll was produced, even Nalan Hongwu realized the danger inherent within it, but just as he was preparing to charge over and slay them—

"All of you, perish for me!" Austin had personally barred his way, holding his greatsword erect as a terrifying beam of golden divine light shot straight into the sky.

Meanwhile, on the other side, three ninth-tier knights and several eighth-tier knights surrounded the elderly man, protecting him flawlessly.

This time, they would not commit the same mistake as before.

But just as Austin thought that by blocking Nalan Hongwu there was no longer any threat—

In the distant sky, a beautiful and elegant woman clothed in fluttering white, her black tresses dancing in the wind, was currently surrounded in the center by several knights of the Blazing Bird Family who possessed extremely powerful auras.

Dazzling thunderlight gleamed from Su Tianji's fingertips, the brilliance of lightning illuminating the vast sky.

Crack!

A sudden clap of thunder exploded, and lightning snakes danced wildly; at this moment, the lightning in the sky actually converged all around her body!

Her pair of phoenix eyes were like ice, and the place where her gaze locked was precisely that black-robed mage holding the scroll.

Terrifying thunderlight intersected like dragons and serpents!

...

At the same time, far away on another battlefield, the Morning Star Sea battlefield was being commanded by Alix and Rhine of the Blazing Bird Family.

The "Earth of Thorns" and the "Star of Blazing Flames" were equivalent to existence like the "Grand Supreme Elders" spoken of by certain sects in Lingzhou, their strength absolutely tyrannical; though Alix and Rhine, as the helmsmen of the family, were slightly inferior, they were by no means far behind.

At this moment, the two of them were likewise mobilizing a giant cannon, aiming it at all the cultivators of the Morning Star Sea.

"What is that thing?" On the flagship, Duan Yue looked at this scene, somewhat dazed.

The Reincarnation King, one of the Four Kings of Half-City: "Who cares that much! We're already counter-attacking, so why hold anything back?"

A strange and unique round mirror, neither metal nor jade, flew out from the Dharma vessel on its own.

The Haotian Mirror!

Before that giant cannon could fire—

A swath of white light had already shone down from the mirror's surface!

Unlike the one hastily produced last time, this time, the white light on the mirror's surface was even several times stronger than the one used against the demons previously!

The Haotian Mirror, reconstructed by pooling the resources of the entire Morning Star Sea, was now nearly identical to the original version!

Almost the instant the white light made contact, that giant cannon, including everyone around it, was entirely immobilized.

...

Meanwhile, on the Dharma vessel of the Lingzhou battlefield, Gu Tingyun spoke calmly: "Bring out those few Dharma treasures we newly forged as well!"

Clad in white robes, Gu Tingyun had already walked out of the command ship, standing upon the deck of the Dharma vessel.

The Patriarch of the Tang Family nodded; he was one of the master blacksmiths who had participated in forging those three Dharma treasures.

Soon, the decks of the three ancient and massive ships at the very front opened up, and three mechanical contraptions, over three Zhang long and over six meters high, slowly rose from the center of the decks.

They resembled cannons yet were not cannons, because the barrels at the front were split into left and right wings with no connection between them, rather than a single cylinder like the ancient Red-Coat Cannons.

If one were to describe them, they looked more like... two rails gleaming with a dark, metallic luster.

They were cast entirely from star-patterned divine iron, and a pale blue spiritual light seemed to flicker in their midst; looking closely, one could faintly see unique flowing patterns line by line within them. That metal was extremely bizarre, seeming to emit a faint spiritual light of its own, while its tail end was in the shape of a Bagua, spiritual light swirling as a strange seal script diffused outward along with the light. Following closely, the light of the seal script slowly spread to the body of the cannon, those strange characters gradually transforming into a faint gold, as if one could hear the roaring of thunder and lightning within them!

The Patriarch of the Tang Family shouted loudly: "Load the Meta-Magnetic Golden Arrow!"

Immediately, someone was seen presenting an arrow that shimmered with a faint golden light, covered densely with intricate runes.

"What is that thing of theirs?!" Not only the ordinary citizens currently watching this magical projection in the White Pigeon Square and other nations, but even those high-and-mighty existences within the grand hall hosted by St. Heinz were somewhat struck with horror.

"Could it be... they still possess weapons capable of contending with three entire Cannons of Destruction?"

At this moment, the mouths of all the people watching this war in the White Pigeon Square had turned into an "O" shape.

"Heavens!"

Crack!

A bolt of dry thunder suddenly flashed across the sky!

And on the side of the Lingzhou cultivators, thunderlight likewise flared up upon those three strange Dharma treasures!

It could be clearly seen that as lines of seal script lit up, a streak of blue-purple electrical light slowly circulated in a circular arc within the center of those three strange Dharma treasures, while the seal script on both sides lit up in succession, gradually transforming into rings of thunder in the center.

Those thunder rings seemed to be drawn by an extremely peculiar force, showing not the slightest hint of disorder.

An even vaster amount of electricity gathered inside.

Crack! Boom!

A bolt of heavenly thunder crashed down, illuminating almost everyone's faces in white.

The might of the thunder actually landed completely upon that Bagua plate, causing it to light up with an even more dazzling spiritual light.

Zzzt...

Countless thick electrical snakes danced wildly, leaping and continuously merging into those rings of thunder.

Fairy Qingyun pinched her jade fingers in a spell: "Shift left, Yuji star position; shift right, Yaoguang star position; up three quarters and four minutes..."

Those three strange and mysterious Dharma treasures continuously adjusted their positions according to her voice.

Both sides gave the order almost at the exact same time; from that massive stone hall, three destructive beams of light instantly erupted, the terrifying energy seemingly carrying the roar of gods, intending to devour everything!

Thunder snakes danced in the void as three streaks of thunderlight resembling heavenly thunder and divine punishment sliced through the sky like meteors.

They collided in mid-air with those three terrifying, demonic beams of light.

The horrific energy actually exploded directly midway; the power of destruction swept through heaven and earth, and those of the Thorns Family who were caught in its wake and failed to escape in time—regardless of what tier of powerhouse they were—were almost all turned into flying ash in an instant!

As if heaven and earth were violently shaking, that stone hall shook abruptly, and amidst the intense light, the positions where those three giant cannons stood actually collapsed with a crash!

The terrifying kinetic energy that exploded subsequently pressed and diffused outward; the surrounding giant stones surged up and down like ripples, and lines of strange golden characters lit up upon that divine temple, as if contending against this kinetic energy, the aura emanating from them terrifying to the extreme.

They suppressed this horrific power like laws, yet the people present actually watched as several of these characters, which seemed to be condensed from holy divine power, crumbled right on the spot.

Boom, boom, boom!

Following closely, the other golden array patterns also cracked and shattered!

Rumble!

A massive cloud of dust rose into the air along with it! The roaring sound of the explosion shook the entire sky.

At this moment, almost everyone's mind was a complete blank.

What on earth was this?!

A divine artifact?!

But how did a bunch of natives come into possession of such a divine artifact?!

With this, the cataclysmic cannons across all three battlefields were utterly destroyed.

Within the levitating palace hung high above the Western Polar Region, Audu, the final "God-Punisher" guarding the great hall, stood battered and bloodied, reduced to a wretched state.

The palace shuddered violently, and amidst the seismic tremors, it seemed as though the entire structure was on the verge of collapse.

The ground fractured as countless boulders rained down from the sky.

"The temple... how is this possible?!"

Even as astonishment gripped him, a cascading ribbon of sword qi slashed forward.

The dark purple sword qi converged into a myriad of aerial blades, chopping outward to obliterate everything in their path.

Illusion Sword Dance!

Simultaneously, amidst Gabriel's frantic, roaring fury, a massive blade enshrouded in blazing fire cleaved down from midair.

Boundless wrath and blood essence seemed compressed within the blade, driving a tempest of brutal power straight through his form.

The ground beneath his feet detonated violently, shattering the earth in an instant into a lake of searing magma!

"Go, quickly!" The middle-aged man in the sapphire-blue robe, a cross embroidered upon his chest, finally found an opening to rescue their king.

"Haaah—!" Gabriel's greatsword ruthlessly pinned the still-struggling Audu into the erupting lava, the fury surging alongside the magma to swallow him whole!

...

The entire theater of war had practically arrived at its final hour.

Upon the battlefield beyond the borders of the Grand Jin Nation, a beam of aurora akin to a heavenly strike traversed the vast sky!

Boom!

It struck dead against the elder who was unfurling the scroll, decimating everything in the vicinity almost instantaneously!

Yet, a fraction of the terrifying power contained within that spell scroll managed to leak out regardless.

In the next instant, the entirety of space itself seemed to freeze.

A dreadful force manifested, as though physically suppressing the very fabric of the cosmos!

Everything around them ceased its motion, static, as if time itself had ground to a halt!

Heaven-Destroying Earth-Extinguishing Sword Twenty-Three!

After dedicating an immense amount of time to mastering its control, Nalan Hongwu had gradually begun to perfect the Sword Twenty-Three!

Almost instantly, it suppressed the leaked energy!

At this moment, they swept their gazes back across the field.

"You... you people!!"

If they had previously dismissed them as mere savages, now, they no longer dared to harbor such thoughts!

Even within the grand hall of Saint Hines, these exalted, aloft beings now wore expressions of shock they had never shown before!

"Retreat! Order a retreat!" His face ashen, Saint Hines unexpectedly issued such a command.

No one had ever anticipated that a day would come when Saint Hines himself would order a retreat!

.