Chapter 756

Eleven huge figures flew out of the military city.

As they flew through the air, the millions of divine soldiers that had ingested a great deal of elemental crystals and had recovered a fraction of their energy suddenly sprang to their feet, their eyes flashing red, and the fine red light filling the sky converged once more.

This time, the red light shooting from the eyes of the millions of divine soldiers precisely converged on a Xuanming Old Ancestor.

A bloodcurdling scream rang out, and the lower half of this Xuanming Old Ancestor instantly vaporized.

The divine light shooting from the ten‑thousand‑zhang ice sculpture dragged the eleven huge figures out of the military city; ten of them crashed to the ground and stood firmly in the wilderness a hundred li from the city. Only one half‑bodily figure, accompanied by a tremendous boom, fell to the ground, rolling dozens of times and crushing thousands of tribesmen who could not dodge.

The military city's grand defensive formation opened again; Wu Tie and the others hastily produced Dao Treasure Pills, swallowed them, and desperately tried to recover their losses.

Everyone gathered beside the Five Elements Daoist; Wu Tie nodded at him, the Five Elements Daoist let out a long whistle, and a strand of five‑colored divine light descended from the heavens, sweeping Wu Tie, Lao Tie, Xi Wule, Xi Bu Bai, Gan Ying, Gan Xiao, and others into his Five‑Element Space.

The three Xuanming Old Ancestors were roaring in the Five‑Element Space, their bodies spewing boundless cold light and ice crystals to oppose the sky‑covering flames.

The Fusang tree swayed slightly in the Five‑Element Space, streams of mighty innate azure‑wood spiritual power merging into the void, providing an endless supply of 'fuel' for the raging sea of fire.

The fist‑sized three‑legged Golden Crow's vital energy had not yet fully recovered, but it was already several times stronger than when he was in his essence form.

The tiny red bird opened its beak, spewing out fine golden‑red sparks; the temperature of the sky‑filling sea of fire rose in a straight line, truly scorching even the void to the point of near‑melting.

The three Xuanming Old Ancestors lost contact with the external ice sculpture; they could only rely on their own strength to desperately resist the Five‑Element Space's blaze. Their protective cold light was refined layer by layer, and the high temperature seeped through that cold light, causing large blisters to continually erupt on their death‑white skin.

When Wu Tie and the others entered the Five‑Element Space, the three Xuanming Old Ancestors simultaneously let out unwilling roars.

The three each drew a cold‑qi‑rising curved blade, a ripple sword, and a strange‑shaped spear; they exhaled cold qi, agitated their spirit weapons, and countless ten‑thousand‑zhang‑long cold gleams tore through the sea of fire, fiercely slashing toward Wu Tie and the others.

Li Xuan Gui and Yuan Qi Lin, standing behind Wu Tie, simultaneously struck.

Li Xuan Gui's hand released a piece of tortoise shell that flew out; a huge innate Bagua diagram slowly rose and transformed into a massive Bagua light shield that blocked Wu Tie and the others.

Yuan Qi Lin waved his right hand, sending a palm‑sized scroll flying from his palm; it unfurled in the wind and instantly expanded into a huge map of the realm and the innate Bagua diagram fused into one.

Countless streaks of cold light swept across, striking the combined Bagua‑realm map violently, causing its divine light to flicker wildly.

Thousands of Divine Realm experts behind Li Xuan Gui and Yuan Qi Lin simultaneously struck, continually pouring their own mana into the combined strange treasure.

One could see a giant tortoise whose body stretched a thousand li, coiled upon the map of ten thousand li of realm, freely inhaling and exhaling the clouds and mist of the sky.

Divine light shone brightly on the tortoise's shell; in the realm map, great rivers rose into the air, transforming into white dragons that coiled around the tortoise, unmoved by the chaotic slashes of cold light, while the cold light continually shattered into fragments.

The three Xuanming Old Ancestors were utterly desperate.

Although they were peak powerhouses of the Divine Realm, the artifacts driven by Li Xuan Gui and Yuan Qi Lin were the clan‑protecting divine weapons of the Li and Yuan families; though the killing power of these two secret treasures might be insufficient, their defensive capability was absolutely top‑notch.

Moreover, thousands of Divine Realm experts provided an endless stream of mana; with just the three of them, how could they break through this terrifying defense?

Especially, they had already suffered heavy losses of cold qi within the Five‑Element Space.

"We refuse!" a Xuanming Old Ancestor screamed hoarsely: "We have endured so much suffering!"

"We refuse!" another Xuanming Old Ancestor shrieked hysterically: "We barely escaped that endless icy hell; we ought not to die here… fine wine and beauties, boundless enjoyment, we haven't even had a chance to enjoy them!"

"We refuse!!!" the third Xuanming Old Ancestor bellowed, his voice like a cuckoo crying blood: "Back in the day, we too were mighty figures who shook a region; we only wanted to live, so we allied with the gods, yet they imprisoned us in the icy hell… day and night torment… we barely managed to break free!"

"But what does all this have to do with us?" Wu Tie's cold voice cut through their chatter: "No matter how great you were back then, now you bring your descendants to try to exterminate our lineage… it's either you die or I live."

Wu Tie drew a deep breath; behind him, nearly ten thousand Divine Realm experts simultaneously struck, continually feeding streams of mana into his body.

The Primordial Crown slowly rotated, the River of Time surged, and Wu Tie, using the power of the Primordial Crown, entered the River of Time—like a meteorite falling into a great river, stirring the waters and sending up countless whirlpools and dangerous undercurrents.

The Primordial Crown steadily shuttled through the River of Time; Wu Tie locked onto the aura of a Xuanming Old Ancestor past, tracing his past step by step within the River of Time, retracing his entire life.

Xi Wule, Lao Tie, and others had already launched their attacks; the flames of the Five‑Element Space harmed them not at all. They surrounded the three Xuanming Old Ancestors from afar, continually unleashing long‑range strikes—countless powerful spells and secret incantations fell like rain upon the three Xuanming Old Ancestors, steadily draining their strength.

The aura of the three Xuanming Old Ancestors continually waned, and their roars grew ever more listless.

Wu Tie drifted bit by bit through the River of Time, finally locating the past of the Xuanming Old Ancestor he had locked onto. He reached out and lightly struck, erasing in the River of Time the very state of that ancestor at the moment of his birth.

Among the three Xuanming Old Ancestors, the one wielding the curved blade, who had been madly hacking, suddenly let out a miserable scream and then exploded into a cloud of sparks; every trace of his existence vanished without a trace.

"Old Six!" the other two Xuanming Old Ancestors exclaimed simultaneously, filled with grief and anger, but above all, fear.

If the enemy could kill one of them with such a strange method, then they could certainly kill them all.

"We refuse!" the Xuanming Old Ancestor brandishing the ripple sword shouted while hopping about: "Come on, let's have a fair duel, a fair duel with this old man!"

Wu Tie lifted his head and coldly laughed: "Fine, a fair duel—you cripple your own cultivation, roll it back to the first level of the Divine Realm, and I, the king, will fight you fairly!"

The two Xuanming Old Ancestors both shut their mouths.

In the Divine Realm, the only way to regress one's cultivation is to inflict grave injury upon oneself.

After all, Divine Realm cultivation is the fusion of soul and body, of the Great Dao's laws and the body; this fusion is irreversible, only able to be damaged.

Wu Tie is at the first level of the Divine Realm; the two old ghosts wishing to roll their cultivation back to that level have only one option: to severely damage and destroy ninety percent of their divine bodies……

What remains of a person whose whole body is ninety percent destroyed?

This is utterly impossible.

"If you've got the guts, let him come!" the two Xuanming Old Ancestors quickly scanned the crowd, then pointed to the highest‑cultivation individual, Gan Xiao.

Gan Xiao lazily raised his right hand, decisively shook his head: "I've got no guts… I want to keep my life to love and protect Zhao Mei; I have no idle time to brawl with you low‑life old desperadoes."

Gan Xiao let out a faint sigh and spoke with extreme malignity: "Look at you, all old fogeys—you don't stay home to enjoy your twilight years, but instead run about with a pack of grandchildren, looting homes, burning and killing… 'Living on past one's prime is to be a thief,' and that's exactly what you are."

"I am different; I am pampered and privileged, my body delicate and precious—all the world's glory and riches await me to enjoy… Who has no time to play for keeps with you? And look at your wretched lives—how could they possibly compare to mine?"

Gan Xiao's mouth was extremely venomous and spiteful; the two Xuanming Old Ancestors, enraged to the point of vomiting blood, inadvertently saw Lao Tie flit past them like a ghost, his yin‑yang long spear whipping up countless specks of cold light that punched hundreds of fist‑sized holes through them.

Cold‑qi‑rising fresh blood sprayed forth; the Xuanming Old Ancestor, over nine hundred zhang tall, gradually lost his mana and could no longer maintain such a colossal form.

Their bodies shrank bit by bit, were smashed bit by bit, and were refined bit by bit……

Outside the military city, the eleven panting Xuanming Old Ancestors stood dazed for a moment; then their leader let out a miserable scream, clutching his chest and bellowing: "Agony consumes me… my three brothers have also perished!"

The eleven Xuanming Old Ancestors had tears streaming from their eye sockets, each wailing like ghosts and wolves.

Thousands of tribal elders also wailed like those who have lost their parents, while countless snow‑plain tribesmen stood dazed in the icy snow, completely losing their bearings.

Eighteen near‑invincible Old Ancestors, in a brief battle, seven perished and one was gravely injured and crippled.

This, this, this……

Wasn't it previously an unstoppable force? Wasn't it previously victorious in every battle?

How could things suddenly change like this? Even the divine power granted by the supreme Ice‑God could not let the Old Ancestors defeat their foes?

Panic spread through the crowd, and the warriors of countless small and mid-sized tribes glanced around, their gazes wandering.

In the harsh snowfields, the small and mid-sized tribes have their own unique survival culture.

As vassals to the great tribes, they follow the great tribes' steps, fighting and looting everywhere… the situation is dire; they flee at a run, and only those who run fast survive.

The warriors of the snowfield tribes, aside from the six greatest tribes, all the other small and mid-sized tribes have developed excellent escape skills.

Morale is declining, and many warriors begin to calculate how many women they have seized these days, how much wealth they have seized.

Their tribal elders also had wandering gazes, beginning to calculate how to transport these riches and women back to the snowfields—if the eighteen Profound Darkness Old Ancestors all fail, fleeing is naturally the only option.

How to run the fastest, how to run faster than anyone else, how to bring back the most people and the most loot while fleeing—this tests a tribe leader's means and abilities.

A few tribal elders, without changing expression, retreated several steps into the crowd.

In the next instant, those retreating tribal elders suddenly exploded into a burst of scattering ice crystals.

The eldest of the Profound Darkness Old Ancestors slowly withdrew his hand and said coldly and ruthlessly: "Even if you all die beneath this city, you must slaughter everyone inside to avenge our brothers!"

"Remember, even if you all die here, you must breach this city and avenge our brothers."

The eldest of the Profound Darkness Old Ancestors said gloomily: "Form the Nine Heavens Supervisor Talisman Profound Darkness Grand Formation… form the formation, kill the enemy!"

The faces of the other ten Profound Darkness Old Ancestors suddenly lit up with joy, then suddenly stiffened.

"Big brother, the Nine Heavens Supervisor Talisman Profound Darkness Grand Formation requires twelve brothers to cooperate… we, we, we now have only eleven people!"

One Profound Darkness Old Ancestor cautiously looked at his own eldest.

The eldest of the Profound Darkness Old Ancestors stared blankly, then hastily stretched out a finger, counting heads one by one, and then stomped his foot hard: "Damn!"

As his foot came down, the earth rumbled, a vast sheet of Cold Qi burst forth in all directions; hundreds of nearby tribal elders cried out in unison, were blown hundreds of zhang away, each covered in a thin layer of ice shards, curled up on the ground shivering incessantly.

After a quarter hour, Wu Tie crouched like an old mountain eagle, unsightly, atop the gate tower at the center of the northern city wall of the Military City.

Behind him, seven extremely thick pillars of light shot up into the sky, punching seven huge holes in the thick clouds.

Before him, seven soul crystals the size of human heads, blazing with dazzling light, hovered there; under his control they arranged themselves into the pattern of the Big Dipper.

You Ruo gave Wu Tie a secret artifact for collecting soul crystals and bloodline essence; the seven slain Profound Darkness Old Ancestors thus became these seven soul crystals. As for their bloodline essence, Wu Tie had it sent back to the Witch Clan.

The Profound Darkness lineage still has its inheritance among the Witch Clan.

The bloodline essence of the Profound Darkness Old Ancestors is enough to cultivate dozens of top-tier talents for the Witch Clan today.

As for these soul crystals, Wu Tie hasn't figured out how to use them; perhaps he could bargain with You Ruo, seeing if he can squeeze some more good stuff from him.

"Boom!"

A low, rumbling boom came from the north.

A cluster of azure divine light shot up into the sky, soaring to an extreme height, then transformed into countless rays of cold light that fell in all directions.

In the high air, strands of crystal-clear ice crystals drifted down slowly; the surrounding temperature plummeted rapidly, frost spread across the land, spreading from the north all the way over the Military City, quickly turning the vast southern lands of the Military City into a world of ice and snow.

The laws of heaven and earth were fluctuating strangely.

Bitter cold enveloped everything; the other laws of earth, water, fire, wind, the Five Phases and Yin-Yang, etc., were all rapidly weakening.

Before the Military City, twelve gray-white ice pillars sprang up out of nowhere.

But among the twelve ice pillars, one was noticeably shorter and thinner, its color also mottled, revealing a sense of innate deficiency.

A hoarse, indignant voice came from the ring of light formed by those twelve pillars: "Young Martial King, dare you enter the formation for a battle?"