Chapter 844: Heavenly Dry Divine Subtlety, Taiyi Water Integration

Golden lightning descended like divine punishment, and the crowd of experts on the hillside felt a sense of trembling, as if they were facing an apocalyptic disaster.

Before anyone could react, a deep blue radiance shot into the sky, its edges rimmed with flickering azure crystals; the hidden baleful energy and the cold, destructive aura made one feel as if they had fallen into a frigid hell!

It was the Heavenly Blue Iron Cavalry, under the command of Huang Qiyuan, activating their military formation to meet the enemy with baleful energy.

The deep blue radiance and the golden lightning collided.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no sudden gale, and no shockwaves shaking the heavens.

The two sides' control over their power was so refined it bordered on the Dao; not a single shred of energy leaked or dissipated!

The lightning dissipated, the azure crystals shattered, and the two forces, neither more nor less than the other, perfectly neutralized each other.

As the side that struck second, the skill required for this move was clearly greater and more difficult.

"A fine 【Heavenly Dry Divine Subtlety】!"

From the clouds, the majestic voice of the golden dragon rolled downward.

The Baleful Weapon Military Formation, combining martial arts and the art of techniques, is the world's earliest path of integrating magic and martial power.

However, the power formed by a military formation is not a divine ability or a martial domain, nor is it a formation array, but rather the ultimate killing and defensive power; it is a simple, brutal stacking of 'numerical values' on both offense and defense, supplemented by the various changes of baleful energy to face the enemy.

This is why baleful energy is not countered by martial domains or formation arrays; even if the combat power is a realm lower, they are not left without the strength to fight back.

Only when reaching a five-thousand-man military formation does a qualitative change occur between the baleful energy and the formation array.

As long as the commander of the formation has sufficient military path cultivation to reach the 'Commander Level', they can make the military formation draw upon the power of the Great Dao and condense Dao Laws!

It is just that these Dao Laws are condensed temporarily and are difficult to sustain; once the formation array is gone, the Dao Laws dissipate on their own.

As for the ten-thousand-man military formation, compared to the five-thousand-man one, there is no essential improvement, only a reduction in the difficulty of condensing Dao Laws and a significant extension of the time the Dao Laws can be maintained.

Therefore, a five-thousand-man military formation can only temporarily contend with a peak expert; once the death toll exceeds one thousand, the formation collapses, the Dao Laws automatically dissipate, and the remaining four thousand can only wait for death, with no chance of victory.

The reason a ten-thousand-man military formation can deter a peak expert is that as long as the death toll does not exceed five thousand, the formation can consistently condense Dao Laws and maintain peak combat power, enough to exhaust a peak expert to death!

The Great Blue Dynasty has always maintained four ten-thousand-man military formations rather than splitting them into eight five-thousand-man ones.

One reason is that there are not that many Grandmasters whose military path cultivation has reached the 'Commander Level', and the second is that the deterrent power of a ten-thousand-man military formation is greater.

Of the four ten-thousand-man military formations, each one is different, and the Dao Laws they can condense are also different.

The Dao Law condensed by the Heavenly Blue Iron Cavalry's military formation is named 【Heavenly Dry Divine Subtlety】.

The Dry Origin is in the heavens, the primordial spirit enters the subtle.

The Dao Law 【Heavenly Dry Divine Subtlety】 can control all changes in celestial phenomena and influence all things from the most minute level.

With such a Dao Law, Huang Qiyuan can manipulate baleful energy in the most exquisite and subtle way to complete the 'neutralization' just now.

"Qin Mingli!!"

Huang Qiyuan soared into the air, and the twelve thousand Heavenly Blue Iron Cavalry converged toward him like stars:

"You have betrayed the nation's grace, incited rebellion, and invited divine punishment; submit to execution immediately!"

This voice was vast and powerful, soul-stirring.

Immediately following, a white lightning bolt, thicker, brighter, and more majestic than the golden lightning from before, descended from the sky and struck at the golden dragon!

The Dao Law 【Heavenly Dry Divine Subtlety】 can control all changes in celestial phenomena, so lightning, rainstorms, hurricanes, the sun, moonlight, starlight—all kinds of celestial power can be mobilized!

Compared to the lightning power Qin Mingli mobilized with his dragon body, the lightning Huang Qiyuan mobilized with his Dao Law was closer to the Great Dao and more powerful.

The white lightning scattered the sea of clouds around the golden dragon and struck its body, sending dragon scales flying and turning dragon blood into a rain of blood in the air!

At the same time, the twelve thousand Heavenly Blue Iron Cavalry had completed their 'gathering of momentum' and, under Huang Qiyuan's command, transformed into an azure giant one thousand meters tall.

This giant was clad in battle armor, adorned with the sun, moon, and stars, accompanied by hurricanes, shining with lightning, and wreathed in clouds and mist.

Meanwhile, the wounds on the golden dragon had already healed.

After condensing a Dao Law, the power of divine abilities and martial domains increases significantly.

The 【Dragon Transformation】 divine ability allows a martial artist to transform into a seventh-grade dragon-type exotic beast; after Qin Mingli became a Martial Saint, using the 【Dragon Transformation】 divine ability in conjunction with his martial domain allowed him to transform directly into a ninth-grade True Dragon!

Seventh-grade exotic beasts have divine abilities, and eighth-grade ones have 'beast domains', but ninth-grade exotic beasts do not have Dao Laws.

The pinnacle of bloodline power cannot condense Dao Laws, which is why the strongest in the Western Continent can only be at the 'Prince Level'.

However, the body of a ninth-grade exotic beast possesses unimaginably powerful vitality and self-healing capabilities!

Unless the soul is destroyed and more than ninety percent of the physical body is obliterated, a ninth-grade exotic beast will not die.

This ability to withstand damage allows a ninth-grade exotic beast to protect itself even when encountering a peak expert.

Qin Mingli, transformed into a ninth-grade True Dragon, possessed the same powerful vitality and self-healing ability as a True Dragon; minor injuries meant nothing to him.

The azure giant reached out its hands to grab the golden dragon in the air, the clouds and mist turned into chains to lock the golden dragon's body, the gale acted like blades, and bolts of lightning struck down.

"Just by relying on you?!"

Qin Mingli's voice was cold and sharp.

Without him making any move, the clouds and mist that locked his True Dragon body instantly turned into rainwater, which, like ten thousand arrows, collided with the incoming blades of the hurricane.

Furthermore, a massive amount of clouds and mist surged from within the golden dragon, blocking the continuously striking lightning and the hands of the azure giant.

Qin Mingli's core divine ability was 【Dragon Transformation】, and his other divine abilities and martial domain were all used to strengthen 【Dragon Transformation】.

Since dragon-types are close to water, the Dao Law he condensed was also related to the water attribute, named—【Taiyi Water Integration】.

'Taiyi', all things return to one, the foundation of everything.

【Taiyi Water Integration】 can not only control all water attributes but also turn all things into water and then control them!

Although 【Heavenly Dry Divine Subtlety】 can also control the power of clouds and rain, it is not as strong as 【Taiyi Water Integration】 in controlling water-attribute power, so the clouds and mist were instead controlled by the golden dragon.

Once Qin Mingli's Dao Law power emerged, Li Fei and the others below felt the blood in their bodies 'stirring', and their flesh and bones had a tendency to be dissolved!

Fortunately, their realms were high enough that they did not turn into a pool of blood and aggregate toward the golden dragon in the air.

This is the tyranny of 'Water Integration'!

Seeing that both sides had officially begun to fight, all the martial arts masters and True Persons scattered, hiding far away to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Only Li Fei, six Grandmasters, and one top-tier True Person remained nearby, ready to strike at any moment.

The two behemoths began their clash.

Lightning tore through the firmament, the thousand-meter-tall azure giant trampled the earth, the sun and moon emblems on its armor erupted with scorching white arcs of light, hurricanes swirled from its palms, and, carrying lightning, it smashed fist after fist at the golden dragon in the air!

The golden dragon raised its head and roared, the sound waves shaking the mountains, and the sea of clouds turned into a monstrous flood rushing toward the giant, but before it could get close, it was evaporated into scorching steam by the lightning, then converted back into a flood, repeating this cycle.

The giant's fists always managed to strike the golden dragon, sending dragon scales scattering and blood splashing.

Every wound on the golden dragon's body healed as its scales closed, and its flesh regenerated like a tide.

On the surface, it looked like Huang Qiyuan and the Heavenly Blue Iron Cavalry had the upper hand, but a True Dragon's body is too hard to kill; a temporary advantage could not decide anything.

Huang Qiyuan's military path cultivation was only at the peak of the 'General Level' and had not reached the 'Commander Level'.

It was only because the difficulty of condensing Dao Laws for a ten-thousand-man military formation was lower that he could lead the formation and condense 【Heavenly Dry Divine Subtlety】.

Once the casualties of the ten-thousand-man military formation exceeded twenty percent, the formation's power could not be maintained, and Huang Qiyuan would be unable to command a lower-level formation to condense Dao Laws.

Therefore, his 'health pool' was lower, and if he kept dragging it out with Qin Mingli, he might be the one to suffer in the end.

However, he did not immediately order Li Fei and the others to join the battle.

The battle was like a game of chess; Qin Mingli had taken the initiative to place a piece, so he responded with a move, but he would never use all his forces at once.

While fighting Qin Mingli, Huang Qiyuan was also distracted, issuing orders to the others.

Following his order, a group of Dao Foundation martial artists and Possession-stage Great Mages led several thousand martial artists to charge out, leaving only seven thousand Imperial Camp soldiers waiting in formation on the plain.

The enemy's main force had already become entangled with more than twenty thousand city guards, suffering significant consumption and casualties.

At this moment, if they were struck again, they would likely collapse directly!

Ordinary soldiers can be hypnotized and brainwashed by techniques to become fearless of death, fighting until the last man.

But the martial artists who formed the main force would not be affected much by techniques; once the situation turned bad, these people would fear and flee.

Huang Qiyuan knew that a winner could not be decided between him and Qin Mingli in the short term, so he had to let the ground troops decide the outcome first.

As long as this vanguard force, which concentrated all the elites, was defeated, the fifty thousand Southern Border troops behind them would be nothing to fear.

By then, even if Qin Mingli did not die, he would be left alone and would find it difficult to accomplish anything.

In the air, after Huang Qiyuan issued his order, the golden dragon suddenly dove from the cloud vortex, its scales refracting light like a galaxy.

The hundred-meter dragon body traversed the sky, its claws tearing through the hurricane, turning the rainstorm into countless sharp blades as it pierced toward the azure giant!

The giant opened its arms as if holding up the firmament, meeting the diving golden dragon.

Before the two could collide, the golden dragon's body suddenly broke into several pieces, blood surging!

It was Huang Qiyuan seizing the opportunity of the golden dragon's active outburst to use 【Heavenly Dry Divine Subtlety】 to suddenly detonate the baleful energy he had secretly planted inside the golden dragon's body.

【Heavenly Dry Divine Subtlety】 can not only control the power of celestial phenomena but also perform subtle control over power.

During the previous exchange, every time he wounded the golden dragon, Huang Qiyuan had secretly hidden a bit of power inside its body, using the power of the Dao Law to evade Qin Mingli's perception.

And now, it all exploded!

The severed dragon body was wrapped in clusters of clouds and mist, healing at an extremely fast speed.

A ninth-grade True Dragon's body could survive being broken into hundreds of pieces, let alone just a few!

However, Huang Qiyuan had already created a tactical opening in this round.

A streak of sword light shot into the sky; it was Mi Han, who had received Huang Qiyuan's order and unleashed his natal flying sword.

At the same time, the seven thousand Imperial Camp soldiers lined up in the rear all activated their military formations, and seven strands of baleful energy transformed into seven hundred-meter-long giant swords, also stabbing toward the golden dragon!

【Taiyi Water Integration】 is too lethal to living beings because living beings contain water-attribute elements to a greater or lesser extent.

Therefore, Huang Qiyuan's move in this round was to bring the flying sword and the baleful energy into play.

Mi Han's sword light arrived first; he did not dare to use his natal flying sword to slash directly, so he released sword qi from a distance, cutting a section of the dragon body that was about to heal into two pieces with a single strike.

The other seven giant swords of baleful energy then inserted themselves into the gaps of the dragon body, preventing it from healing.

Now, Qin Mingli truly felt the threat.

Seven Grandmaster-level combatants plus the flying sword of a top-tier True Person were enough to influence the battle between peak experts!

Seeing that Jin Long was temporarily restrained, Huang Qiyuan immediately prepared to intensify his offensive and expand his tactical advantage.

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

With the 【Heavenly Qian Divine Micro】 fully activated, the azure giant was enveloped in thunder; streaks of starlight broke through the firmament, shining upon the battle armor and imbuing it with divine power.

But the giant suddenly swayed, causing the military formation to tremble and its movements to stiffen.

Within the military formation, over a hundred Sky Blue Iron Cavalrymen silently dissolved into pools of blood!

It was Qin Mingli who, while Huang Qiyuan was unleashing his full power, seized the opening to influence the formation's defense with the Daoist principles of 【Great One Combined Water】.

A portion of the baleful energy originally used for protection was converted into black baleful water, which swept toward the Sky Blue Iron Cavalrymen within the formation.

Even though this baleful water was dispersed instantly, it had already wiped out over a hundred Sky Blue Iron Cavalrymen in that split second!

The body of Jin Long could be restored, but the dead Sky Blue Iron Cavalrymen could not be resurrected.

Twelve thousand Sky Blue Iron Cavalrymen meant that Huang Qiyuan's "health bar" was four thousand men.

Once the death toll exceeded four thousand, he would no longer be able to continue condensing Daoist principles.

Just as the military formation was affected, a golden rainbow suddenly appeared a thousand meters away.

In the next instant, this golden rainbow traversed the thousand-meter distance and slammed into the azure giant.

Boom!!!

Like a comet striking the moon, the thousand-meter-tall giant was shaken by this golden rainbow, its feet leaving the ground as it was sent flying.

The starlight on the giant's body was shattered, and the breastplate engraved with a brilliant sun and moon shining in tandem was smashed to pieces!

"It's that Martial Saint!"

Li Fei, who had been watching the battle, felt his heart tighten.

At the critical moment, this Martial Saint hiding in the shadows had finally made a move!

Lanling City.

The Imperial Palace.

Dongyou Hall; this was the hall where the Imperial Preceptor Yun Shu was in secluded cultivation.

Inside the hall stood nine large bronze tripods, and the floor was inscribed with patterns that were glowing faintly.

Yun Shu sat cross-legged on a lotus platform cast from green jade, his hands forming seals as streams of light converged upon him from the nine bronze tripods surrounding him.

These streams of light were messages transmitted to him from various places:

"At 7: 3 PM on the 26th, the whereabouts of all Grandmasters and Martial Dao Masters of the Red Dust Pavilion were confirmed again; there were no abnormalities."

"At 5: 1 AM on the 27th, the Great Luo Sect remained in mountain-sealing mode; there were no abnormalities."

"It is now confirmed that the 'Sword Immortal' Ning Qingman appeared on the grasslands on the 24th of this month. Many people in the Grassland Royal Court witnessed her slaying a strange beast. Based on her trail, it is judged that she is heading deeper into the grasslands."

"At 2: 9 PM on the 27th, there were no abnormalities at the Heaven One Pavilion; Lin Tianyi refused to meet with our envoys."

These messages concerned the most top-tier forces in the world, and these forces, without exception, all possessed peak powerhouses.

Inside the hall, Yun Shu stopped forming seals, his expression turning solemn.

He looked ahead, his gaze deep and profound, his lips moving slightly.

A strand of true power was transmitted out:

"Your Majesty, it may begin."

(End of chapter)