Chapter 791: Sacrifice and the Foundation of a Great Nation

"Tuha—"

A roar resounded across the battlefield.

In the language of the Northern Barbarians, this word means "Kill him"!

Li Fei's consecutive slaying of two Hegemony-Capital powerhouses was indeed shocking, but the Northern Barbarians never lacked warriors.

The Hegemony-Capital powerhouse who had unleashed the 【Three Heads and Six Arms】 divine ability was the first to charge at Li Fei.

He was a member of the Fire Qilin tribe named Nuomu Waxi; seeing his own Great Elder personally join the fray, he was exceptionally fierce.

That Hegemony-Capital powerhouse who possessed the flight divine ability reached out and pointed at Li Fei.

The next second, the space where Li Fei stood was "frozen"; not only could he not move, but he was also unable to use 【No Distance】!

This man with the flight divine ability was named Chahetalibu; he possessed four divine abilities and was a top-ranked powerhouse among the seven Hegemony-Capital experts.

Chahetalibu was cautious by nature, so even though he possessed the flight divine ability, he was not the one charging at the very front.

Even now, he still only used his divine abilities on Li Fei from a distance, determined to play "support."

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Nuomu Waxi of the Fire Qilin tribe leaped high into the air and arrived before Li Fei, his six arms turning into six streaks of light, unleashing hundreds of punches at Li Fei in an instant!

Flames, frost, and blood-evil—a vast expanse of light and shadow enveloped Li Fei!

Nuomu Waxi possessed three divine abilities; besides 【Three Heads and Six Arms】 and 【Regeneration】, he also had 【Flowing Light】, which could significantly accelerate the flow of internal force and the speed of his strikes.

It seemed ordinary, but 【Flowing Light】 allowed for the constant switching of internal force circulation methods in an instant, thereby executing different martial arts techniques in succession.

If viewed as a turn-based game, while others launched one attack per turn, a martial artist with the 【Flowing Light】 divine ability could launch multiple different attacks within a single turn.

Combined with the 【Three Heads and Six Arms】 divine ability, Nuomu Waxi could execute over a dozen different Dao-forces in an instant!

At this moment, he used the compassionate aspect of his three heads and six arms to continuously use three types of Dao-force to disperse the internal force, true energy, and blood-rage power within Li Fei's body.

Then, he used the angry-eyed aspect of his three heads and six arms to continuously use four types of Dao-force to weaken Li Fei's multiple layers of defense.

Finally, he unleashed five types of Dao-force superimposed upon himself to launch his strongest killing blow!

All the light and shadow flashed and vanished, eventually forming a massive Vajra pestle that descended from the sky like a small mountain, slamming heavily onto Li Fei's head!

The Sword State: Golden Body and Jade Marrow was breached, but Li Fei still wore the helmet formed by the Golden-Thread Jade Qilin Armor.

Several scales on the helmet were shattered on the spot!

The remaining force slammed entirely onto the top of Li Fei's head; under Nuomu Waxi's horrified gaze, Li Fei did not even have his scalp grazed, and he stared back at him with a calm expression.

The next instant, Li Fei vanished from the treetop; the large tree he had been standing on instantly turned into powder, and a crater over ten meters deep was blasted into the ground!

The earth shook, and dust filled the air.

Li Fei appeared behind Chahetalibu.

This person possessed a divine ability that could lock space, which was a hard counter to 【No Distance】; if he did not eliminate this person in time, he would be unable to come and go freely and would soon fall into the encirclement of the several Hegemony-Capital powerhouses.

Therefore, he had to kill this person!

Chahetalibu's expression changed, and he immediately used his 【Space Lock】 divine ability with all his might, firmly locking the space where Li Fei was once again.

Although the space was locked, preventing Li Fei from moving, the internal force within his body still flowed freely.

He had been preparing in advance; at this moment, his internal force had already completed the "seal" within his body—Vajra Seal: Dragon and Elephant!

The blood-rage power, surging like a mighty river, instantly transformed into a monstrous tidal wave, rampaging through several meridians and pouring into Li Fei's arms.

With power far exceeding the limits of his body, Li Fei shook his arms, and the space locking him began to tremble, then appeared with visible cracks!

This was the first time he had used power beyond his limits in this battle.

Gripping his blade with both hands, he slashed forward; a crimson blade-aura erupted, completely shattering the locked space and striking Chahetalibu's back.

Heaven and Earth Single Blade!

Originally, after Chahetalibu used the 【Space Lock】 divine ability to lock Li Fei, he had no intention of counterattacking out of caution and had prepared to fly away and create distance at the first opportunity.

But he had first been struck by Li Fei's full-power 【Blood Might Divine】, suffering heavy damage to his mind, and failed to react in time.

In the air, Chahetalibu, with his back to Li Fei, was slashed through the body by the crimson blade-aura and ultimately turned completely into ashes.

Another Hegemony-Capital powerhouse slain!

Two with three divine abilities, one with four divine abilities—three Hegemony-Capital powerhouses were all slain by Li Fei in less than a minute!

Nuomu Waxi was finally intimidated as well, not daring to move forward for a moment.

The remaining Hegemony-Capital powerhouses were the same.

As a martial arts master with four divine abilities, Chahetalibu was considered a famous powerhouse among the Northern Barbarians, and he was known for being "cautiously brave," having even escaped the pursuit of an eighth-rank exotic beast.

Such a powerhouse had actually been killed so easily?

The situation, which was originally seven against seven, had been rewritten by Li Fei into seven against four in the blink of an eye!

In the air, Nuomu Han, standing on the Great Void Nine Dragon Boat, suddenly raised a hand.

Swish—

A fire dragon that was currently besieging the blood-colored giant suddenly whipped its tail and turned to charge toward Li Fei's side!

This fire dragon was over three hundred meters long, but with just a flick of its tail, it tore through the sound barrier and appeared over five hundred meters away!

A behemoth over three hundred meters long flying through the air at supersonic speeds brought with it astonishing momentum.

A massive, visible shockwave appeared in the air; it was as if the sky had been slashed open!

The Heaven-Burning Fire Dragon crossed a distance of over a thousand meters in the blink of an eye, leaving less than eight hundred meters between it and Li Fei.

A majestic pressure descended out of thin air, and the trees and grass around Li Fei were all ignited!

He was surrounded by a sea of fire, and the "Heaven Gate" he had opened was forced to close, making it impossible to use the 【No Distance】 divine ability.

This was the suppression of divine abilities by a Martial Domain!

Unable to use 【No Distance】, Li Fei knew he could not dodge the incoming Heaven-Burning Fire Dragon and could only stand in place, preparing to take the hit head-on.

Having watched from afar as the blood-colored giant transformed by Bai Yan blew up seven Heaven-Burning Fire Dragons in one move, he had felt that the power of this thing was nothing special.

Now that he was facing it himself, Li Fei finally felt that mountain-like and sea-like pressure!

He did not doubt that this strike was enough to crash a mountain peak and trigger a small earthquake!

The two sides were five hundred meters apart.

The fire dragon bared its fangs and brandished its claws, causing the sea of fire beneath Li Fei's feet to surge into the sky!

Awoo—

The dragon's roar resounded through heaven and earth.

Just as Li Fei was preparing to unleash another strike beyond his limits, a white cloud suddenly "floated" above his head.

On the white cloud, a person in white robes wore a sword, sleeves fluttering in the wind, long hair flying, looking like an immortal living in the world, indescribably free and easy.

It was none other than Ji Yifan, the principal of Qingyun University!

He had timely dealt with the Heaven-Burning Fire Dragon that Nuomu Han had unleashed at him and arrived at Li Fei's side.

As Ji Yifan appeared above Li Fei's head, the sea of fire surging into the sky suddenly extinguished, replaced by a patch of clouds and mist.

"The Great Elder is also a famous powerhouse among the Northern Barbarians; why resort to a sneak attack on a junior?"

Ji Yifan said in a clear voice.

As he spoke, he thrust the long sword in his hand, piercing toward the incoming Heaven-Burning Fire Dragon.

A sea of fire collided with a patch of clouds and mist; the powers of the two Martial Domains clashed intensely!

But there was no leakage of power; this collision did not look fierce at all.

Large amounts of clouds and mist steamed, and the sky turned crimson, as if there were sunset clouds in the sky.

Streaks of sword light flashed through the sunset clouds like twinkling stars.

This scene looked very beautiful, but only Ji Yifan knew the danger within.

As he finished his sentence, all the strange phenomena vanished; the incoming Heaven-Burning Fire Dragon was slashed into several segments and finally exploded!

Ji Yifan descended from the air, his clean white robes stained with a little black ash.

The "no-fly" effect within the grand formation was still in place; he had only been briefly floating.

Li Fei secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he was confident he could survive this strike head-on, his blood soul would inevitably be greatly depleted.

This battle had only just begun, and he did not want to "exit" so soon.

On the other side, Qi Zhou had also dealt with the Heaven-Burning Fire Dragon that had been entangled with him and continued to charge toward Wuri Tianji on the mountain peak.

Seeing this, Nuomu Han in the air flicked his sleeve.

Another Heaven-Burning Fire Dragon flew out.

At the same time, the three Heaven-Burning Fire Dragons that had been blown up were reborn from the sea of fire!

Two Heaven-Burning Fire Dragons went after Qi Zhou, while the other two went after Ji Yifan.

Facing two Heaven-Burning Fire Dragons, along with the suppression of the grand formation, both university principals were unable to free themselves for the time being.

Nuomu Han was effectively using less than half of his strength, yet combined with the grand formation, he was steadily suppressing two Grandmasters of the Peak Realm!

This Fire Qilin tribe Great Elder's combat power was recognized as the top three among the Northern Barbarians; such a performance was not surprising.

But he did not draw out another Heaven-Burning Fire Dragon to deal with Li Fei.

Because he had to keep at least five Heaven-Burning Fire Dragons coordinating with Bo'erhu to keep Bai Yan suppressed.

Once the pressure on Bai Yan lessened and a stalemate formed, with that Hun-Tian Compass in the air, the situation would only become increasingly favorable for Bai Yan.

And if he could not completely suppress Bai Yan, Bai Yan might even seize the opportunity to strike at Nuomu Han!

Nuomu Han had already been very impulsive to come out of the mountains this time, so every step he took now was very cautious; he had to ensure his absolute safety first.

Even now, he still had not used his full strength, keeping a portion of his power for self-preservation.

On the mountain peak, Wuri Tianji spat out another mouthful of blood.

Already injured, having to hold off Mi Han's flying sword while also being distracted by suppressing the Martial Domains of the three Grandmasters, he actually could not hold on for much longer.

Seeing Li Fei use the 【Distance-Negating】 divine ability to rush toward Qiu Zi'an, the Great Elder of the Wuri Tribe had a resolute look in his eyes and finally made his decision.

Once Li Fei helped Qiu Zi'an secure the time to strike, this female Grandmaster, whose lethality was even more terrifying than a top-tier sword cultivator, would surely be able to change the situation on the battlefield with a single blow!

Five dazzling stars appeared above Wuri Tianji's head, and these five stars were connected to each other, forming a star domain.

The next second, this star domain collapsed, and the stars shattered!

Immediately following, a majestic force merged into Wuri Tianji's body.

He chose to beast-morph without reservation!

However, he was the main operator of the Twelve Heavens Blood Fiend Array, so he could not sacrifice himself to also become an immortal and indestructible blood shadow.

"Great Elder!"

On the mountain peak, many warriors of the Wuri Tribe let out sorrowful cries.

Wuri Tianji's aura surged violently, breaking through all the way from the "Heavenly Dipper level" to the "Great Perfection of Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend"!

Once his aura stabilized, his power was already faintly a notch stronger than Nuomuhan's!

In the air, Nuomuhan sighed.

The Wuri Tribe still had a tribal chief at the Heavenly Capital level, and most importantly, they had the Northern Barbarian King, Boerhu.

Therefore, Wuri Tianji could choose to sacrifice himself in this way.

But he, Nuomuhan, could not; he still shouldered the fate of the Huolin Tribe and its thousand-year heritage, so even if he wanted to kill Bai Yan more than anything, he could not beast-morph.

On the mountain peak, after beast-morphing, Wuri Tianji immediately pointed at Qiu Zi'an in the distance.

The twelve beast souls once again transformed into a massive blood-colored vortex, swallowing Qiu Zi'an whole!

This time, Qiu Zi'an was unable to immediately slash through this blood-colored vortex.

Without needing Wuri Tianji to give the order, the five blood shadows that had been entangled with Qiu Zi'an previously quickly killed toward the approaching Li Fei!

Li Fei's expression changed, and he prepared to use the 【Distance-Negating】 divine ability to dodge.

But the next instant, a beam of blood-colored light shrouded him, wind and thunder roared in his ears, and a terrifying majesty descended, suppressing his divine ability!

It was Wuri Tianji who had struck at him!

At this moment, Wuri Tianji's natal magic treasure was entangled with Mi Han's flying sword, and the killing moves of the Twelve Heavens Blood Fiend Array, combined with the power of a portion of his own formation, were suppressing Qiu Zi'an; there were not many means left available to him.

He could only rely on the great array to divert a portion of his formation's power from a distance to suppress Li Fei's divine ability.

Even so, this was fatal for Li Fei.

Because with his divine ability suppressed, he had to face five immortal and indestructible martial arts masters!

After completing all this, Wuri Tianji also diverted about thirty percent of the formation's power to suppress that blood-colored giant.

Boom—

A black gleam flashed past the side of the blood-colored giant.

Boerhu seized the opportunity and forcibly severed one of the blood-colored giant's arms!

Now, Wuri Tianji was steadily suppressing Mi Han and Qiu Zi'an, the two strongest combatants on the side of the Barbarian-Slaying Army besides Bai Yan.

He could also spare the focus to use the formation to simultaneously suppress Qi Zhou, Ji Yifan, and Li Fei, and could even use the formation to influence Bai Yan!

With his own sacrifice, he had instantly reversed the situation on the battlefield!

Of course, beast-morphing also had a time limit; Wuri Tianji could not maintain his current power forever.

Therefore, the key depended on whether he collapsed first or Bai Yan was beaten to death first.

Besides this, secondary combatants could also influence the situation on the battlefield.

It was four against seven just now, but now it had become nine against seven!

Moreover, five of the Tyrant Capital powerhouses among them were immortal and indestructible.

Added to the more than one hundred Earth Capital martial artists, the Northern Barbarians had completely gained the upper hand.

As long as they dealt with the martial arts masters and True Persons of the Barbarian-Slaying Army, and then helped Wuri Tianji entangle Qiu Zi'an or Mi Han, he would be able to free up his hands to join the attack on Bai Yan, thereby accelerating the opponent's defeat!

For a time, the scales of victory began to tilt toward the Northern Barbarians.

In the rear, Mi Han looked completely unruffled, as if he had everything under control.

He raised his sleeve again, and another green light emerged from it.

This time, it was no longer sword light.

This green light instantly flew above the battlefield where Boerhu and the blood-colored giant were located.

A palm-sized, ancient bronze mirror hovered in the air, mirror-face downward, reflecting Boerhu, the blood-colored giant, and the five Heaven-Burning Fire Dragons.

Subsequently, a beam of clear, spiritual light shone down from the mirror, shrouding everything below.

Within this clear, spiritual light, there were faintly visible dancing cranes, jade towers and pavilions, and palace after palace surrounded by white clouds.

This ancient bronze mirror looked like a magic treasure from legends used to guide people to ascend to the Immortal Realm!

Under the illumination of the clear, spiritual light, the five fire dragons suddenly paused, and the suppression on the blood-colored giant by the 【Heaven, Earth, Wind, and Thunder Roar】 formation cast by Wuri Tianji also instantly disintegrated!

The blood-colored giant brandished its black dragon spear; in an instant, ghosts wailed and wolves howled, heaven and earth wept together, and the spear transformed into beams of black light, with monstrous killing intent shrouding the five Heaven-Burning Fire Dragons and Boerhu.

The five Heaven-Burning Fire Dragons were instantly blown apart, once again transforming into a sea of fire!

Boerhu was also struck by the spear, and a blood hole was pierced through his lower abdomen!

This sudden turn of events shocked the powerhouses on the Northern Barbarian side, and they all looked toward the ancient bronze mirror in the air.

"Nuomuhan, it has been many years; I never thought this old man would still have the chance to cross blades with you."

A bold, heroic laugh emanated from the ancient bronze mirror.

Nuomuhan, stepping on a flying boat, had his eyes shift as he recognized this person:

"Zhang Chengbi? It's you!"

Zhang Chengbi, the previous Pavilion Master of the Dharma-Enforcement Pavilion, had "ascended" seventy-eight years ago, passing the position of Pavilion Master to Xiang Yunshu.

He could be considered the master of the current Imperial Preceptor, Xiang Yunshu!

For someone whose lifespan had already been exhausted seventy-eight years ago to still be alive now, there was only one possibility—

Depositing the True Soul within a magic treasure.

After a True Person dies, if their complete True Soul is deposited within their natal magic treasure, it can survive for at least a hundred years or so after death; for a True Monarch, it is at least two hundred years. (See Chapter 9 of this volume for details.)

Before Zhang Chengbi's physical lifespan was exhausted, his realm was that of a top-tier True Person at the Great Perfection of Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend; theoretically, his True Soul could survive in his natal magic treasure for about one hundred and fifty years.

Therefore, it was possible for him to still be alive now.

Of course, with only a True Soul and no body, the True Soul is like a tree without roots; its own realm and power will continuously weaken as time passes, and it cannot maintain its original realm for too long, only becoming weaker and weaker.

Seventy-eight years had passed, and the realm Zhang Chengbi now displayed was the Heavenly Dipper level.

Just now, he had suddenly struck, creating an opportunity for Bai Yan and pulling the situation back somewhat.

"You are now merely lingering on in a desperate state, yet you dare to come and clamor?"

Nuomuhan suddenly said angrily, restoring the five Heaven-Burning Fire Dragons to attack Bai Yan again.

More than a hundred years ago, when Zhang Chengbi was not yet the Pavilion Master of the Dharma-Enforcement Pavilion, he had crossed blades with him in the Northern Border, and that time, he had lost.

But now, his own realm had reached a higher level, while Zhang Chengbi had fallen in realm and could only linger on in his natal magic treasure; naturally, he could no longer compare to him.

However, despite saying this, Nuomuhan felt a sense of helplessness in his heart.

After the top-tier True Persons of the seventeen Northern Barbarian tribes died, it was usually difficult for them to preserve their True Souls, because this involved the secrets of their heritage.

And even if they could preserve their True Souls, the Northern Barbarians could not produce enough heavenly treasures to maintain the realm of a True Soul.

In seventy-eight years, Zhang Chengbi had only fallen from the peak realm of the Great Perfection of Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend to the bottom of the Heavenly Dipper level.

Heaven knows how many heavenly treasures or even national fortune the Great Lan Dynasty had spent on him over these years?

If this were in the Northern Barbarian lands, for the current Zhang Chengbi to even have the realm of a True Person would be considered a stroke of luck.

On the other side, Wuri Tianji also sighed in his heart and withdrew the formation suppression on Qi Zhou, Ji Yifan, and Li Fei.

He also stopped attacking Bai Yan, instead concentrating all the formation's power to contend with the ancient bronze mirror in the air.

From the beginning, when Bai Yan used the Heaven-Mixing Compass that could partially exert the power to analyze Dao principles, to now, when Mi Han brought out the ancient bronze mirror that preserved the combat power of a top-tier True Person.

These all belonged to the foundations of a great nation!

The Northern Barbarian side could only rely on human lives to fight, to actively beast-morph, and to sacrifice themselves in order to change the situation.

While the Barbarian-Slaying Army side simply brought out one "foundation" after another given to them by the Great Lan Dynasty.

Within the great array, the battle continued.

(End of chapter)