Though Tai Yi was driven back and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, the fighting spirit in his eyes burned even more fiercely.
He fixed his gaze on East Prince Gong, whose imposing aura surged from the formation's core, then quickly glanced at Qin Yuan, who had just steadied himself in the distance, and at Xuan Qing beside him.
An idea flashed through his mind.
Though he didn't know why East Prince Gong had already mastered the Myriad Immortals Array at this point in time, one thing was certain: if they could kill the immortal soldiers and generals maintaining the array, it would surely collapse.
"Fellow Daoist Xuan Qing!" Tai Yi suddenly sent a voice transmission, his tone urgent and resolute. "Give it everything you've got and force him to meet our attacks head-on, so he has no chance to deal with anything else!"
Xuan Qing's eyes shifted slightly, and he understood Tai Yi's intent at once.
The Green Lotus Sword slid from its sheath in his hand. Creation Sword Intent began to gather, its point aimed straight at East Prince Gong's brow.
Tai Yi let out a long cry of his own.
Solar True Fire blazed around him, as if he had become a true sun falling from the sky. He held nothing back, frantically urging the Chaos Bell.
"Bong—!!!"
This peal was more immense, desolate, and ancient than any before it!
Where the bell rang, space didn't merely freeze—even time seemed to stall for an instant.
Blades of Chaos Qi, far thicker and more solid than before, swept toward East Prince Gong. Like traces left behind at the dawn of creation, they carried an overbearing force capable of crushing laws.
Tai Yi was disregarding the cost, determined to pin East Prince Gong in place and force him into a direct clash!
Seeing this, a flicker of disdain and anger crossed East Prince Gong's face.
"Desperate struggles from the dying! I'll make you despair for good!"
Feeling the seemingly boundless power of the Myriad Immortals surging through him, he was filled with confidence.
He swung the Dragon Head Crutch once more. Beneath his feet, the Myriad Immortals Array blazed with light, and Celestial Spirit Qi transformed into roaring jade dragons that surged to meet Tai Yi's blades of Chaos Qi.
At the same time, Immortal Light gathered around him into armor of immense thickness, ready to withstand Xuan Qing's sword intent, which made his heart stir with unease.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The clashes grew even more violent.
Tai Yi fought with everything he had, driving the Chaos Bell almost to the limit of what his current realm could handle.
Each peal made his face a shade paler, clearly placing an immense strain on him.
But he gritted his teeth and held on. Blades of Chaos Qi streamed without end, keeping East Prince Gong's defensive Immortal Light and jade dragons locked in combat.
The Green Lotus Sword in Xuan Qing's hand also unleashed nine devastating beams of blue Sword Light, striking East Prince Gong from different directions.
The Sword Light struck East Prince Gong, and he merely grunted.
Immortal Light shook violently around him, and nine tiny cracks spread across his armor.
Even with the Myriad Immortals Array bolstering him, East Prince Gong felt his blood and qi churn. His divine sense, controlling the array, had also begun to falter.
Meanwhile,
Qin Yuan had remained on the edge of the battlefield, seemingly injured by the force of the earlier recoil. Suddenly, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
With Tai Yi and Xuan Qing keeping East Prince Gong occupied with their desperate attacks, he had to devote most of his attention and power to defending himself head-on. There was bound to be a gap in his control over the Myriad Immortals Array itself.
Qin Yuan's figure blurred as he charged straight at the immortal soldiers and generals maintaining the Myriad Immortals Array!
The strength of these immortal soldiers and generals varied.
But even the strongest were only at Late Grand Unity. How could they stand against Qin Yuan, a Quasi-Saint?
Qin Yuan roared. The Solar Divine Wheel above his head spun silently, suddenly splitting into hundreds, then thousands, of miniature golden wheels of fire.
Each wheel was only palm-sized, its aura concealed, yet it held pure Solar True Fire and the power to break spells.
"Go!"
Qin Yuan changed his hand seal, and the thousand miniature wheels of fire scattered like a swarm of golden bees with minds of their own.
Following the flow of spiritual power through the Myriad Immortals Array, they silently shot toward the immortal soldiers and generals maintaining it!
"Hm?" Even amid the fierce clash, East Prince Gong's divine sense still covered the entire battlefield. He instantly detected the faint energy fluctuations, which pointed straight at the array's foundations.
"How dare an ant!" he roared furiously, trying to split his attention to intercept them or unleash the array's power to kill Qin Yuan.
But how could Tai Yi and Xuan Qing give him the chance?
"East Prince Gong! We're your opponents!" Tai Yi bellowed, then spat a mouthful of his lifeblood onto the Chaos Bell.
The Chaos Bell hummed, its sound shaking the heavens. It erupted with unprecedented light, and a column of Chaos Light, almost solid, came crashing toward East Prince Gong like Buzhou Mountain toppling over!
Xuan Qing's eyes turned sharp.
The Green Lotus Sword became a blue beam that pierced through heaven and earth. It cleaved across boundless Space-Time and stabbed straight toward East Prince Gong's Primordial Spirit.
East Prince Gong's hair stood on end. The deadly danger forced him to draw nearly all his attention back.
The instant he was forced to focus all his strength on meeting Tai Yi and Xuan Qing's attacks—
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft...
A series of soft but rapid muffled impacts sounded across the battlefield.
Caught off guard, the immortal soldiers and generals maintaining the array—especially the Great Unity rogue cultivators at its key nodes—were struck by the wheels of Solar True Fire Qin Yuan had sent out.
Screams rang out at once!
The light at dozens of array nodes went dark, severing their connections.
The immortal soldiers and generals maintaining the array were killed or wounded, and their formation fell into chaos.
The Myriad Immortals Array's operation suffered a fatal stutter and began to falter!
"Beast!"
East Prince Gong's furious roar rang across the Thirty-Three Heavens.
He clearly felt his cultivation realm plummeting.
Late Quasi-Saint... peak mid Quasi-Saint... In the blink of an eye, he had fallen back to his original mid Quasi-Saint realm.
The backlash from the array and the sudden withdrawal of power even left him unsteady and weakened!
How could Tai Yi and Xuan Qing miss such a heaven-sent opportunity?
Ignoring the toll on himself, Tai Yi rang the Chaos Bell once more, sending it crashing into the opening exposed by East Prince Gong's fading aura.
Xuan Qing's Sword Light from the Green Lotus Sword followed close behind. His blade turned and slashed toward the arm gripping the Dragon Head Crutch!
"Damn it!!!"
East Prince Gong's eyes were bloodshot, and endless resentment and fear surged through his heart.
He had never expected his trump card to be broken in this way!
With the array's backlash making his power unstable, he could no longer withstand Tai Yi and Xuan Qing's full-strength assault.
Wasn't he supposed to be the chosen one of Heaven and Earth? How could he lose his very first battle?
"Immortal Emperor! Run!" Below, some of the loyal Immortal Court generals who still lived cried out in panic.
East Prince Gong knew the tide had turned. If he stayed to fight, he might truly perish.
As long as the green hills remained, there would be no shortage of firewood.
He blamed this defeat on the Immortal Court having had too little time to develop.
Once he had more time to grow, he would surely suppress Tai Yi.
East Prince Gong glared hatefully at Tai Yi and Xuan Qing, then fixed his gaze on Qin Yuan, who was slaughtering immortal soldiers and generals in the distance.
"Tai Yi! Xuan Qing! Qin Yuan! I'll remember this grudge! One day, I'll repay it a hundredfold!"
He swung the Dragon Head Crutch, evaded Xuan Qing's blade, and took the aftershock of the Chaos Bell head-on. Using the impact, he flew backward, coughing up blood.
At the same time, he swept his sleeve.
Immortal Light wrapped around the surviving immortal soldiers and generals. They became a streak of mournful light and, without looking back, burst through the World Barrier of Grand Emperor Yellow Firmament Heaven, fleeing frantically toward Penglai in the Eastern Sea below, in the Prehistoric World!