Chapter 240

In an unreserved charge clash, Chang Haoran's army unsurprisingly fell into an absolute disadvantage.

Even though the impact of the Snake Immortal's ram had been partially dissipated by the vortex's deflection, its massive size still helped the Snake Immortal compensate for that portion.

"Sss…"

The Snake Immortal spat out its scarlet saliva, its infrared eyes having long locked onto Chang Haoran.

But it hesitated; compared with humans, creatures struggling in nature's survival of the fittest possess a keener sense of danger.

It seemed it could crush Chang Haoran in a single blow, yet it still sensed danger.

Chang Haoran stared at the massive head before him without the slightest fear; although his body had been shattered by the heavy force, his muscles and bones nearly broken, he still, relying on a breath of Inner Qi, lifted his weapon and struck the Snake Immortal with a heavy blow.

"Boom!"

The ground trembled slightly as Chang Haoran's self‑sacrificial strike pierced the Snake Immortal's skull and drove into the earth, emitting a deafening boom.

Scales shattered, blood splattered in all directions, Chang Haoran's weapon lodged in the Snake Immortal's head, inflicting obvious damage.

And now this Furious Golden Vajra's power has risen by at least five levels.

Because of the presence of Cloud Energy, the damage dealt by Military Strategist officers essentially combined spirit, qi, and body.

With the battle hymn launched, the already magnificent momentum of the great army surged again.

They took the fatal blow in place of the Snake Immortal.

"Guan Linglong, cut it!"

Guan Linglong mustered all his strength, coordinating with the aura of his rear guards, and the Crescent Moon Blade whirled down, its blade emitting a cold, clear radiance.

The Cloud Energy that Mu Yi mobilized, combined with the school blade master's killing power, is sufficient to slay the Snake Immortal.

"Li Siji, prepare to execute gravity suppression!"

Li Tian let out a roar, and a colossal Vajra Phantom appeared above his head, its aura merging with his rear guards; the Vajra Phantom gradually solidified, radiating the might of the Furious Golden Vajra.

"Roar!"

Hearing the command, the little fox immediately sounded its battle hymn.

Without time to ponder the issue, the Furious Golden Vajra's two massive arms seized the Snake Immortal's head and body, exposing its seven‑inch vital area.

"Little fox! Battle hymn!"

After all, the snake spirits that survived the Snake Immortal's blood‑relative sacrifice were quite strong, making the soldiers a bit troublesome to deal with; the more concentrated the soldiers' power, the stronger they are, while dispersed their combat effectiveness is less impressive.

Mu Yi quickly mobilized Cloud Energy to coordinate with the Furious Golden Vajra's actions, concentrating all Cloud Energy onto Guan Linglong and his guards.

As Mu Yi's most lethal corps, it is naturally the best option for Mu Yi to launch a fierce attack on the vital points.

However, what Mu Yi noticed was that this Furious Golden Vajra seemed overly material.

Mu Yi turned his head to issue a command to Lily, but saw that Lily had already gathered a flickering magical aura in her hand.

"Vajra Subdues Demons!"

As the commander, he knows the strength of each subordinate.

Consequently, a large number of still‑vital snake spirits were instantly turned into dry corpses.

Li Tian follows a visualization path, deviating from traditional Buddhist deity visualization; he combines Military Strategist thought, visualizing himself as a deity and evolving into a deity.

This requires a long process; it is certainly not something that can be broken through in a moment.

Thus, despite the huge size disparity, Chang Haoran still dealt undeniable damage to the Snake Immortal using his power‑vibration technique.

But that previous strike caused the Snake Immortal to directly transfer its bloodline to its snake offspring, and the snake tide battling Asura warriors instantly perished by more than half.

The Snake Immortal should have died; the Buddha light emitted by the Furious Golden Vajra restrains spirits and monsters, which is why Li Tian could easily capture the opponent.

Mu Yi escorted Li Tian and his guards aside, where the medical unit began treatment; he glanced over the chaotic battlefield, a hint of sarcasm on his face.

The Snake Immortal said nothing; its cold gaze now full of madness, it coiled its body, and the massive wound on its seven‑inch spot began to heal rapidly.

"Lily…"

Lily nodded at Mu Yi; they had not acted earlier, but silently observed Mu Yi's movements.

The mass death of snake offspring freed up space for more troops, and Mu Yi dispatched all the nearby individuals with outstanding combat power to fill the front.

"Wu Zizai, sacrifice a portion of Asura warriors to Li Siji!" Mu Yi rapidly issued deployment commands.

"Hmph, cold‑blooded animals are indeed cold‑blooded!"

"I am ready!"

"Slash!"

In an instant, the Blade Fang, accompanied by a howling gale, slashed the Snake Immortal's vital point.

"Ao Mo, La Ge Na, Si Li Lan, go deal with those miscellaneous soldiers!"

"Do not give it a chance to breathe!" Mu Yi roared.

"Roar!" The Blade Fang pierced the Snake Immortal's seven‑inch spot, but failed to decapitate it outright.

The wounded Snake Immortal visibly entered Frenzy; it had not felt ordinary pain for a very long time, and Chang Haoran's strike truly damaged its body.

The severely wounded Snake Immortal, in Frenzy, twisted its body wildly; its tail snapped toward the Furious Golden Vajra, shattering it instantly.

Compared with others, Lily had already seen the essence of Mu Yi's command and deployment—that is the flow of power, which is also the essence of a battle formation; everyone knows this, but its execution depends entirely on individual skill.

With the same teaching materials and the same test paper, some score 100 points while others score 10.

However, by analogy and using prediction and data analysis, Lily captured Mu Yi's behavioral logic, prepared a magical attack in advance, and waited for Mu Yi's command.

"I will create an attack opportunity for you; just unleash full firepower!"

Cooperating with a smart person requires no excessive words; a few sentences suffice for mutual understanding of what to do.

Mu Yi does have other methods, but those are for dealing with He Luo God; any saving is welcome.

Lily gave no reply, but began softly chanting an amplification incantation to strengthen her magical attack power.

This technique was originally meant to link heaven and earth, strengthening with free elements between them, but within the Six Paths barrier, virtually all other external forces are repelled by the belief zone.

Even if Lily is an ally, her spell effects are subtly limited.

This is also why the Snake Immortal has not yet released any decent spell: its connection to Heaven and Earth has been severed, the divine seat and incense link have been cut, so it cannot exert any power.

The divine seat itself was stolen; without authority as a conduit, the Snake Immortal simply cannot mobilize power.

This is also the greatest flaw of the incense‑based divine system.

Nevertheless, a flaw is still a flaw, but it is of no use to the legitimate Heavenly Court and Underworld deities.

Because the Jiuzhou deities essentially become gods through combat ability, even without incense or authority their strength does not drop significantly; for them, authority is merely a handy tool, and its loss is inconsequential.

But for an incense‑based deity like the Snake Immortal, this is essentially fatal, and its followers are already few.

It even has to hypnotize itself with illusion to maintain its divine seat, let alone its authority.

However, Lily had done extensive preparations before arriving, devising several countermeasures for non‑magic zones; she cannot rely on Heaven‑Earth power, but can use elemental crystals.

Before coming, Lily took a large amount of elemental crystals from the Silver Moon Empire's treasury; even without Heaven‑Earth power, she can still unleash her spells' maximum destructive effect.

Mu Yi frowned at Lily's condition; he also noticed this, which is a major drawback of his using the Six Paths barrier to create an independent belief zone—comrades from different systems indeed struggle to sync with his rhythm.

This is not a problem of the divine system nor of the independent belief zone; it is Mu Yi's own problem.

If he could establish the independent belief zone without any external force, these issues would be resolved.

"Gravity Suppression!"

Ji Siping twisted gravity to its extreme; the Snake Immortal's lofty head instantly dropped as if struck by a hammer, pressed against its own body.

The unhealed wound immediately ruptured under gravity's effect, blood spurted everywhere, staining the Snake Immortal's entire body red.

"Something's off!"

Mu Yi squinted, holding back a move; the Snake Immortal's reaction was too bland, taking hits almost the whole time, which is not the performance expected of a half‑step Legend.

Mu Yi has dealt with these guys a lot; he knows each of these beings has a trump card up their sleeve.

Mu Yi's expression suddenly changed; he sensed a breach appearing in the barrier.

The barrier was torn apart by external force.

"Lily!" Mu Yi shouted, gathering all Cloud Energy into his hand and delivering an unreserved final slash at the torn part of the barrier.

The creature that had just slipped into the barrier was instantly blasted away by Mu Yi's head‑on strike.

"Doomsday Judgment!"

A silvery round moon bound the Snake Immortal within, followed by a massive blaze converging above its head, forming a towering pillar of flame that crashed down.

"Roar!"

The fire faded; the Snake Immortal, half its body smelling of char, collapsed on the ground, while the snake spirits fighting Ao Mo and others were all struck by blood‑line backlash, drained of vitality to replenish the Snake Immortal.

However, Mu Yi could clearly feel the life force inside the Snake Immortal surging wildly.

"Still one step behind!"

Mu Yi silently recalled everyone, began reshaping the formation; the barrier had already been torn, and now they had to face the Snake Immortal at full strength, but the good news was that its snake offspring had mostly been killed by it itself.

Without the interference of those snake offspring, they could better use the army array to suppress the Snake Immortal.

"I told you, you'll regret this!"

From the broken part of the barrier, a gigantic snake identical in appearance to the Snake Immortal slithered in, exuding the scent of incense.

"Since you first saw us, you've already been prepared, right?"

Mu Yi stared at the two Snake Immortals; the one that entered from outside the barrier should be the Snake Immortal's incense‑golden body, i. e., the vessel that carries the incense.

The incense deity and the faith deity share a similarity: the faith deity must bear the washing of believers' faith power; the longer this washing persists, the more the deified individual may be subtly influenced.

This is why many high‑level Legends, even if capable and stronger than some deities, do not pursue deification; not everyone can bear ubiquitous prayers, and they may become a different person on the path to godhood.

The incense deity is the same, but the incense system chooses to forge a golden body to carry the incense, effectively adding a filter between the incense and the core.

The relative merits of the two systems are hard to define; each has pros and cons. What is certain is that the separation of power in the incense deity creates a huge hidden danger for a counterfeit deity like the Snake Immortal.

If the incense golden body had been slower, the Snake Immortal's core might have truly been slain, and the living incense golden body would have fallen into silence, losing vitality.

The two giant snakes merged, forming a human‑head, snake‑body figure; the weapons in its hands emitted the same aura as the Snake Immortal, likely a double‑edged sword forged from its own fangs.

"Heaven‑and‑Earth Manifestation!"

The deafening roar rang out, the barrier shattered, the earth thundered, dark clouds gathered in the sky, and the Snake Immortal's size suddenly swelled to nearly a hundred meters.

The two double‑edged swords in its hands spun, pulling the air into a raging gale; the scene was spectacularly terrifying.

Mu Yi sized up the Snake Immortal, wondering what misfortune had led it to learn a top‑ranked technique among the Daoist sect's 108 divine abilities.

The effect bonuses are manifold; the massive body does not cause drawbacks—in fact, a larger form boosts combat power, and such a towering physique symbolizes unmatched violence and frenzied sorcery.

"Qi, I really thought it was the genuine Heaven‑and‑Earth Manifestation!"

However, under Mu Yi's Thousand‑mile Eye inspection, something odd was discovered.

Mu Yi, after all, is well‑versed in the classics; he is familiar with the Heaven‑and‑Earth Manifestation technique.

The proper Heaven‑and‑Earth Manifestation demands high innate talent and bodily strength, so practitioners are rare; achieving a three‑to‑fifty‑meter size already counts as mastery.

Those capable of wielding this technique are extremely few; each appearance is usually tied to a powerful elder, at best serving as a prelude for a big‑shot's entrance.

The issue is that Heaven‑and‑Earth Manifestation should be centered on the flesh, becoming a single entity when enlarged.

The Snake Immortal, however, seems to have fashioned a mech out of power, inserting itself as the core to drive the massive armor.

If forced to explain, the Snake Immortal likely saw a celestial deity perform the technique, gleaned a glimpse, and invented its own version through imagination.

It cannot be called useless, but it is far from the true Heaven‑and‑Earth Manifestation, more like a trimmed, pirated version.

"Legion Attack Prepare!"

Under the Thousand‑mile Eye's scrutiny, the Snake Immortal's secret was fully exposed.

If it were the genuine Heaven‑and‑Earth Manifestation, Mu Yi would have to weigh whether to retreat; but if it's a counterfeit, there's no concern.

No more talk; he directly mobilized Cloud Energy, preparing to dismember the Snake Immortal into eight pieces.