Chapter 153
Another majestic phantom, like the embodiment of thunder, wielded a sharp Formation Blade. Each sweeping motion contained the power to sweep away thousands of troops, and each slash was accompanied by a thunderous roar. Every moment the blade flashed and roared could stir up a gale and cause an earthquake.
Even the projection of that calamity was forced to retreat under His power, its dark body constantly bearing terrifying wounds from the blade's slashes.
The battle was fierce and intense. Every clash between the two sides triggered violent energy fluctuations, and the surrounding air was compressed, producing sharp explosions. Space was torn apart by their collisions, and the ocean was slammed dozens of meters high by their impacts.
The colossal beast and the Divine Monarch collided violently, producing a deafening roar. The ground cracked continuously, with fissures spreading out like a spider web.
The dragon's claws tore through the air, fiercely grabbing at the Divine Monarch's chest, while the Divine Monarch's Formation Blade smashed towards the dragon's head like a meteorite.
The Divine Monarch's Formation Blade was still a step ahead, exploding first above the dark dragon shadow's head.
However, the dark dragon shadow only swayed slightly, but then roared and launched a sudden attack, its huge Tail lashing out at the Divine Monarch like a whip.
Caught off guard, the Divine Monarch staggered backward from the blow, crashing directly into the wall at the bottom of the ocean pit, creating a huge crater.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jing Yuan, who was in the center of the Divine Monarch's illusory image, managed to create some distance between himself and his opponent, giving himself a moment to catch his breath while processing the intelligence he had gathered from the previous encounters.
(That aura... is it the aura of Permanence?)
Jing Yuan initially thought that the opponent had obtained power from the "Shuhu" fragment lost from the Prison of Deep Seclusion. However, after a brief exchange, Jing Yuan was surprised to realize that the body actually contained a similar power to that of the Vidyadhara, which was inherited from the Origin Dragon Ancestor who possessed the "Permanence" power.
"Could it be!?" This thought echoed in Jing Yuan's mind.
He recalled the jet-black sphere he'd seen before the dark dragon shadow appeared. Combined with the dragon egg that had disappeared recently... could it be that the other party had obtained that body and the power of "Permanence" through the dragon egg, the Vidyadhara's "Transmutation Arcanum," and the fragments of "Swift Shuhu"?
The first thing that came to Jing Yuan's mind was a painful Remembrance he absolutely did not want to recall, which was also the key moment when the Five Valiants of the Clouds fell apart.
He momentarily forgot to blink, standing there stunned in disbelief.
Blood rushed to its peak, tinnitus rose deep in my head, my lips began to tremble, and painful memories flooded back.
--After the Shuhu Rebellion of that year, Baiheng sacrificed himself, leaving behind only a wisp of hair and a few drops of blood.
Unable to accept Baiheng's death, Yingxing and Imbibitor Lunae attempted to resurrect Baiheng using the Shuhu flesh and blood of the Vidyadhara, combined with the Transmutation Arcanum tribe. They used the body of the Abundance God Envoy, a modified Transmutation Arcanum, the Power of Abundance, and the bloodline of the Dragon Ancestor to create a monster...
The situation is exactly the same as it is now.
"The Abomination Dragon..."
"Hehehe, as expected of Luofu's General of Divine Strategy, your insight is truly remarkable. In less than a few minutes, you've already discerned the truth about this body."
The moment those words were uttered by Jing Yuan, whose face was contorted with anger, things changed.
Suddenly, jet-black flames erupted from the black dragon, or more precisely, from its head. As its body rose, it transformed into the form of a gigantic woman. The "woman," her upper body torn apart by the expanding flesh, leaned back and gazed at the sky.
Her long, flowing hair, now beautiful and lustrous, flowed down her back. Her upper body, with its slender arms, gently sculpted chest and waist, and her pale gray skin, along with her alluring dark green lips, gave her eyes a dull, lifeless golden hue.
That stunningly beautiful face was now gazing up at the cloud-covered sky, her trembling profile a testament to her joy.
"How is that possible...?"
Jing Yuan blinked hard, but nothing in front of him changed. The entire body was undoubtedly shaped like a "dragon." If there was any other unusual object, it was the "female" body located at the forehead.
"Are you asking why I can maintain my sanity while your companion, Baiheng, has been reduced to a mindless monster?"
Shush! You're not worthy to say that name!
Her face wore a chilling smile, accompanied by an unsettling holiness, a repulsive mixture of beauty and ugliness. Upon hearing that name, Jing Yuan was instantly enraged, his emotions overriding his reason for the first time. The Divine Monarch's Formation Blade tore through the air, slashing towards the woman's upper body with boundless fury.
"You're quite impatient."
She chuckled and flicked her finger, causing a dark blue lotus to bloom on her side.
The rapidly swung Formation Blade triggered a violent explosion on the petal-shaped shield to her side.
The water flow at the center of the seabed was blasted apart by lightning, but in Jing Yuan's line of sight, the petals remained unharmed—the woman still sat there leisurely and at ease.
Faced with the scene before him, Jing Yuan stared wide-eyed in astonishment, his shock surging like a tidal wave on the surface of his pale golden eyes.
It was because Jing Yuan saw the flames of "Destruction" within the petals.
The situation is unpredictable, and Jing Yuan's mask as commander-in-chief is cracking and about to fall off.
The situation he feared most, more than anyone else, finally came to pass.
The woman atop the Abomination Dragon's head confirmed his intuition with a smile.
"I don't think I've introduced myself yet? I apologize for my rudeness. I am one of the seven Lord Ravager under the Antimatter Legion of the Aeon of Destruction Nanook. You may call me— Phantylia."
The Emanator of "Destruction" introduced himself to Jing Yuan, who was sweating profusely.
The blooming dark blue lotus flower is naturally the power of "Destruction".
"Destruction and Permanence coexisting within you? How is that possible!?"
All travelers on the path of Path must be focused and single-minded; it is impossible to possess two different Path at the same time. The condition for obtaining the power of Path is to travel further on that Path, which is not something that can be achieved by trying to do two things at once.
Although that can only be used to judge those on the Pathstrider, the Emanator of Destruction before them already falls into the category of evil creatures, but her actions still made Jing Yuan unable to help but shout in shock.
"Jing Yuan, you're a smart man. How about we make a deal?"
Before the war began, Phantylia did not launch an attack, but suddenly made a strange request.
"If you can hand over that person named Bai Jun to me, then I'll abandon my plan to Destruction Luofu and ensure your safety and that of your Luofu. How about it?"
Phantylia wore a confident smile, as if she knew Jing Yuan's character inside and out.
After all, he was a leader who only cared about the big picture and disregarded personal feelings. Weighing the pros and cons, he would definitely sacrifice himself for Luofu.
However, the response was a merciless and ruthless attack.
"You claim you can maintain your sanity? Where do you get the confidence to defeat my Divine Monarch?"
Jing Yuan mocked her foolishness, spitting out a mouthful of saliva without regard for his image, and resolutely rejected her conditions.
"You ungrateful ant! Do you know that even after I Destruction Luofu, I can still get everything I want?"
Enraged by Jing Yuan's sudden attack, Phantylia and the Abomination Dragon beneath him roared, moving their agile and powerful limbs to launch a swift attack on Jing Yuan.
Jing Yuan, not to be outdone, brandished his sword in retaliation, and a brutal and fierce clash ensued between the two.
Every attack from both sides carried earth-shattering power, and with the support of this Destruction power, the Abomination Dragon, which was initially at a disadvantage, gradually regained the upper hand, at one point defeating Jing Yuan and the Divine Monarch so badly that they were unable to fight back.
The battle intensified, tearing the ocean apart with their energy, and lightning flashed through the dark clouds, as if even the heavens and earth trembled in their fight.
The Abomination Dragon's claws, the flames of Destruction, and the thunder of the Hunt collided in mid-air, unleashing a dazzling light that scorched and distorted the air wherever it passed.
Finally, the Abomination Dragon suddenly swooped down, its sharp claws aimed directly at Jing Yuan, who was in the phantom of the Divine Monarch.
Golden light roared out as the Divine Monarch swung his sword with all his might.
With a single strike, it pierced through the air, transforming into a streak of light that slashed towards its opponent, ignoring the distance between friend and foe, and instantly reaching the point where the bodies of the Abomination Dragon and the Phantylia met.
That's right, it wasn't just a simple attack on the Abomination Dragon, but rather an attack targeting the weakest point between the Phantylia and the Abomination Dragon, cutting through the gap between the scales and muscles and slicing into the slender waist wrapped in soft flesh.
Jing Yuan intended to sever the two connected bodies with a single stroke, temporarily disconnecting them.
However, Jing Yuan had calculated all of the Abomination Dragon's actions, but he overlooked Phantylia above his head...
The jet-black light particles or the crimson particles resembling sparks floating in the air were all drawn in by the enormous, brightly colored lotus blossoms.
An immense, unimaginable Path of "Destruction" filled the barrage with overwhelming speed.
The next second, the accumulated Destruction barrage from Phantylia struck Divine Monarch's chest—the very spot where Jing Yuan was located.
Jing Yuan gritted his teeth and changed the direction of his Formation Blade, which was about to strike the slender waist, instead slashing at Phantylia's upper body, who was directing the artillery fire.
The power of both sides reached its peak at this moment, and the collision triggered a huge explosion. The shockwave of the explosion swept around and leveled everything.
The smoke of war, enough to obscure the world, gradually dissipated, and the scene unfolding before their eyes made everyone forget to speak.
A deafening roar erupted as the strong winds burst open.
Torn lightning and gusts of air howled and scattered through the sky, Jing Yuan's long, silvery-white hair, stained with blood, flew wildly as his body was sent flying backward from the phantom of the Jing Yuan Divine Monarch.
He slammed into the wall at the bottom of the pit with astonishing force, creating a huge crater, before finally coming to a stop.
Jing Yuan struggled to his feet from the deep pit, trembling as he leaned against the wall, but his knees were about to give way.
The armor had fallen off, and the clothes were torn; they were no longer effective at protecting the wearer.
Blood dripping from his head stained one of his pale gold eyes, forcing him to close them tightly.
After the smoke and dust cleared, the Abomination Dragon still stood tall, but its body was covered in wounds, and black blood gushed from its wounds like a waterfall. Although it was not directly scattered like the Divine Monarch, it was still seriously injured, its body covered in charred black from being struck by lightning, and its thick forelimbs were severed.
Even Phantylia's body was cleaved in half diagonally; any living creature would have met a certain death.
However, Phantylia burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, you think that's all? Jing Yuan, I'll show you how foolish it was to refuse my kindness just now."
As if to plunge Jing Yuan into an abyss, she slowly opened her left hand.
"Hehe, speaking of which, wasn't this the little thing you were desperately searching for back then?"
The culprit that caused all the turmoil in Luofu — the Stellaron —was now lying quietly in her palm.
"Guess why I brought the Stellaron into Luofu in the first place? And why I specifically chose the Scalegorge Waterscape, which is close to Ambrosial Arbor?"
Hearing her words, Jing Yuan seemed to realize something, and under Jing Yuan's furious gaze, Phantylia directly drove the Stellaron into the root system of the Ambrosial Arbor.
The Ambrosial Arbor began to swell and grow wildly, and soon huge fruits appeared on its robust branches.
"Behold, my lords! The miracle of 'Abundance' truly lives up to its name! Now, let this power that granted the Xianzhou immortality bring you 'Destruction'!"
She laughed heartily and swallowed the fruit, which contained the power of "Abundance," in one gulp.
In the blink of an eye, the severe injuries on its body were healed one by one by the steam emanating from its entire body, which shimmered with Abundance light. In the blink of an eye, new scales replaced the old scales on its charred body.
"The dragon's Permanence, the Abundance of its eternal life, and the power of Destruction! Having perfectly combined these three elements, I am now a complete dragon!"
She laughed heartily, making movements that echoed with the rumbling of the earth, repeatedly changing her body direction and producing an earthquake-like roar.
"It's decided, let's start with this arrogant and overbearing Immortal Xianzhou General... I'll turn you into a cannon fodder for Destruction, hehe, that would surely be an extremely wonderful scene."
Phantylia reached out and grabbed Jing Yuan from the hole in the wall, using the power of her Destruction aura to ravage his body as if he were a figurine. "This toy is really hard to break, great, so much fun," she seemed to say, laughing happily. Phantylia's innocent smile looked more like a sadistic smirk.
"How... is that possible...?"
Yan Qing stared intently at everything in the distance, feeling as if even his legs had lost their strength, and even the hand gripping the sword was feeling weak. Witnessing such a calamity, he no longer had the passion he once had, but only felt a sense of powerlessness and despair from the depths of his soul.
Jing Yuan's downfall was undoubtedly the last straw that broke the camel's back, leaving them, who were already caught in a vortex of fear, completely without their backbone.
That all-powerful, General of Divine Strategy.
That general who always claimed he wasn't good at fighting, yet he always charged into battle and was invincible.
They actually lost?
That general actually lost?
Calamity, this is true calamity...
Is there really any hope of winning against something of this caliber?
Thump!
The sound of something falling to the ground suddenly rang in Yan Qing's ears. Yan Qing subconsciously turned his head and saw that the Cloud Knights and Vanguard who had been standing there just a moment ago were now kneeling on the ground with pale faces, covering their mouths and gagging.
"Are you kidding me!"
Yan Qing gritted her teeth, and her hand gripping the sword hilt began to tremble.
Damn it! Damn it! Don't do this, Yan Qing! How did Teacher Bai Jun teach you back then?! Now you don't even have the courage to draw your sword!?
He desperately wanted to draw his sword, but when he looked up at the dark figure in the distance, he instantly lost the strength to resist.
How terrifying, so terrifying.
My body trembled uncontrollably, and the fear in my heart grew stronger and stronger. I desperately wanted to escape, to run away without a second thought, to get back to my bed, pull the covers over my head, and sleep soundly, hoping that when I woke up, everything would be back to normal...
But if that's the case, wouldn't it be exactly the same as before? No growth whatsoever, just watching helplessly as those around us die?
Think carefully about what you've actually done so far. Have you only gained some praise for your swordsmanship and become complacent, and become dejected over the slightest setback? Do you really deserve to protect the people behind you?
Does someone like me really have the right to say, "As a martial artist, one should defend one's country, protect peace, and safeguard family and friends!"
"Are you kidding me!"
A hoarse roar escaped Yan Qing's throat, and blood seeped from his clenched teeth, but his resolve only grew stronger.
Even though he felt chills all over his body and his limbs were weak, and even though his hand holding the sword was trembling like a leaf, Yan Qing gripped the hilt of the sword tighter and tighter until every joint turned white from the force, but he still did not loosen his grip.
We cannot stop. We must gather all our courage and strength in this way. If we relax even for a moment, we will never be able to draw this sword again.
Even if he fails, even if he dies, even if he is of no use whatsoever, he will still stand up resolutely, and with the last ounce of his soul's consciousness, he will draw his sword, even if it is just to swing it once, but he cannot stand idly by.
If he were to remain behind the general and Teacher Bai Jun, he was certain that he would forever stay in the same place, forever remaining the one being protected.