This era had no concept of air defense at all.
Aerial strike capabilities were still in their infancy, and no one had even considered air defense.
Naturally, the dreadnoughts had no means of air defense. When the thunder-wreathed Great Fiend Thunder Phoenix swooped down to attack, their so-called anti-aircraft response was merely to raise their naval guns as high as possible, hoping the roaring shells would reach the rampaging beast and, by sheer luck, shoot it down.
Those ignorant white devils had not even realized it.
The mythic scene they witnessed descending upon them was the illusion mentioned in the intelligence reports, caused by a martial artist. The blurred Thunder Phoenix rapidly became clear as it flashed across the sky toward them. Their bodies trembled, strands of hair floating upward uncontrollably, while they instinctively prayed to their faith.
Whether it was God or Satan.
As long as one of them manifested and protected them this time, they would be the most devout lambs for the rest of their lives!
Their prayers received no response.
The raptor crowned with layers of nested halos and clad in thunder-feathers looked enormous. In the sky, it seemed no smaller than the dreadnoughts, making it a huge target. In theory, with so many naval guns firing at it, at least one shell should have struck. Indeed, through the telescopes of many officers, they clearly saw the naval guns hit their target.
Yet it was not a real object.
It was merely a fleeting illusion reflected from the mindscape and Daoist arts into the hearts of men.
From the perspective of ordinary people, the naval shells that roared into the Thunder Phoenix's body had no effect at all. They merely raised a few ripples before passing through, causing not the slightest damage! They did not even slow its attack!
The Americans could only watch helplessly as it flashed above their heads.
Then it plunged down headfirst.
Boom!
The thunderous explosion that erupted directly in their minds left every soldier and officer utterly bewildered and their limbs numb. In their despairing gaze, vast thunder poured straight through, completely ignoring the obstruction of the steel plates! Leaping arcs of electricity mercilessly licked through and pierced every fleshly body!
Afterward, the Americans closed their eyes one after another amid agony and numbness.
From the perspective of the Xinghan ironclad,
Lan Yi transformed into a Thunder Phoenix.
The Thunder Phoenix beat its wings and soared, charging straight through the foreign fleet's gunfire. Ignoring the naval guns, it reached the skies above them, then suddenly dove and smashed down!
Immediately afterward, the Thunder Phoenix vanished without a trace.
The naval guns that had been firing futilely fell silent the instant the Thunder Phoenix landed. Though they had not been sunk, they had completely lost their vitality, giving off an indescribably terrifying feeling—as if they had been living ships only a moment ago, but had become ghost ships in the next.
From a certain perspective,
Seen from afar, it resembled an insecticide exterminating, in an instant, the ant-sized people aboard the ships. It was even more frightening than violently blasting the ironclads into the sea.
Because it was unknown, because it was inconceivable.
Lan Yi's methods had completely exceeded their understanding.
"Get over there!"
After Zhao Sikong recovered from the terrifying combined assault of Lan Yi's spiritual force and Daoist arts, he immediately urged the vessel to hurry over and inspect the exact condition there.
Zhao Sikong did not need to urge them.
The ship's officers and men, who had long wished to wash away their past humiliation, had already opened the throttles to full power.
They were excited yet trembling, impatient to see what condition the foreign ships were in. If they had truly washed away their humiliation, then, regardless of anything else, they would acknowledge martial artists—and Lan Yi—for the rest of their lives!
Before long,
after ten-odd minutes, the powerless American ironclad spun in place. It showed no reaction whatsoever to the Xinghan ironclad's rapid approach. The lifeless warship radiated a gloomy, terrifying aura, while the air across the sea reeked of strange metal and fish.
Lan Yi was nowhere to be seen.
But his masterpiece appeared before everyone's eyes.
When the Thunder Phoenix fell, it happened to strike the warship directly below.
It had been cut clean across into two sections!
The cut was not smooth. Molten iron and burning planks were mixed together in an especially twisted and hideous mess, but it had unquestionably been sliced open. Its complicated interior was exposed like a gourd split in half. The ship, broken into two pieces, rose and fell with the waves, and from time to time, people could be seen being flung into the sea through the breach!
"This...!"
"My heavens!"
"The Immortal Master is mighty!!"
Everyone cried out in astonishment. Those with insufficiently firm wills were already prostrating themselves in worship, while the reporters scrambled over one another to take photographs and record the scene.
The Demon Subduing Rope... Not just this Daoist art, but also Gengjin Sword Qi and Lightning Pool Downpour. Is this what it looks like when the Immortal Master goes all out? Even an offensive Daoist art that seems meant only for killing can be used to... cut apart a warship!
Zhao Sikong was Lan Yi's shadow.
In front of martial artists, Lan Yi kept nothing hidden. Even with Daoist arts, he would explain the principles and introduce them to everyone.
He was familiar with Daoist arts such as Gengjin Sword Qi and the Demon Subduing Rope.
What he had not seen was the restraint Lan Yi displayed while demonstrating them, nor the grandeur of their full release.
A casual remark Lan Yi had made while teaching martial arts suddenly surfaced in Zhao Sikong's mind.
Even if it is only a stone, once you can magnify it tens of millions of times, it will become a weapon capable of breaking armies and destroying nations.
The Immortal Master had indeed never deceived him.
Apart from the ironclad cut apart by Lan Yi, the other ironclads were more or less intact, but every person aboard them had lost consciousness.
More precisely, they had all suffered brain death.
The Qi Cultivation Practitioners who boarded the ships to seize them in close combat were astonished to discover that the American soldiers, sprawled in every direction, had gone completely still. They were like wooden corpses, allowing themselves to be handled. Forget slapping them—even if they directly shot the white devils in the thighs, the group showed no reaction whatsoever. If their chests had not still been rising and falling faintly, the practitioners would have suspected that every one of them was stone dead.
Now it seemed
that even if they were not completely dead, there was little difference between them and corpses.
In fact, even if no one touched them, after a dozen or so minutes their organs would fail and their bodies would die completely. Moreover, having been devoured by the Thunder Phoenix's mindscape, all of them bore varying degrees of electrical injuries. Their internal and external wounds were horrifying to behold!
The Qi Cultivation Practitioners were all astonished.
They had witnessed a few Heavenly Generals release mindscape attacks before, but something this exaggerated had already made it impossible to tell whether this was Daoist art or martial arts.
When the news reached Zhao Sikong, the corner of his mouth twitched.
Nearly two thousand people.
Lan Yi had killed them all with a single move.
Not one survivor.
Then where was Lan Yi? After casually annihilating this group of foreign devils, where had he gone?
That question was soon answered as well.
On the deck of one of the ships, there was a line of writing Lan Yi had left behind with Electric Burn.
He planned to go ahead first and stretch his muscles, while having Zhao Sikong send people to take over these warships and ordering the others to catch up as quickly as possible. If they were too slow, they might not get to see Lan Yi continue to display his divine might.
Failing to witness the Immortal Master personally use thunderous methods to execute the white devils was a small regret. Delaying the Immortal Master's grand display before the entire world—that was what truly mattered!
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