Ambush: Battle of the Celestial Immortals

Haoyang Great World.

In a small town hundreds of thousands of miles from the Sacred Fire Sect, the two Celestials and sixteen Loose Immortals who had previously gathered at Immortal Cloud Mountain had all arrived.

At this moment, they had assumed various identities, hiding throughout the small town.

Some were diners, some merchants, others beggars. Everyone was extremely low-key and inconspicuous.

According to what the two Celestials had said earlier, they had long received word that Celestial Huoyun would quietly come to this small town to stay for a period of time every so often. They only needed to wait here, and the fish would take the bait on its own.

A Celestial, traveling silently, yet his whereabouts can be discovered?

Zhou Yu had ordered a few dishes at an inn. As he ate, he pondered, and he grew increasingly aware of the terrifying nature of the power behind the organization orchestrating this assassination.

Time passed, and the sky gradually darkened.

Suddenly, Zhou Yu looked toward the distance; a figure was riding the clouds toward them.

It was a majestic figure wearing a fiery red Daoist robe. Zhou Yu recognized at a glance that the other party was the target of this operation, Celestial Huoyun.

Celestial Huoyun clearly had not sensed the danger and soon landed within the small town.

"Strike!"

A low shout suddenly rang out.

Boom!

The first thing to erupt was a vast array. Zhou Yu appeared instantly above the small town, and as he performed hand seals, an independent space manifested, trapping the caught-off-guard Celestial Huoyun within it.

"Qian is Heaven, Kun is Earth, Nine Absolutes Suppression!" Zhou Yu pointed a finger.

In an instant, space solidified, and simultaneously, a massive amount of nine-colored Heaven and Earth energy rapidly condensed.

Like an omnipresent giant hand, the terrifying pressure bore down upon Celestial Huoyun with overwhelming force.

In an instant, Celestial Huoyun's expression changed.

A top-grade immortal-tier magical treasure automatically emerged from his body, forming an ocean of flames that sought to expand, but the immense pressure instantly forced the fire to shrink back, leaving it only able to condense around Celestial Huoyun.

"Haha, a fine array."

A loud laugh echoed as the elderly-looking Celestial also entered the array. With a wave of his hand, countless willow branches made of wood and grass generated out of thin air, surging toward Celestial Huoyun like a tidal wave.

At the same time, the remaining Loose Immortals also entered the array and attacked, each unleashing strikes at least at the threshold of a Celestial's power.

"Who are you people?"

Celestial Huoyun was incredibly shocked. One Celestial and over a dozen powerful Loose Immortals besieging him together? It was clearly a long-planned conspiracy!

"Celestial Huoyun, if you want to blame someone, blame your master." The old man sneered.

"My master?" Celestial Huoyun wanted to ask more, but the overwhelming attacks had already arrived, and he was forced to defend with all his might.

At this moment, the most relaxed person present was Zhou Yu. His task was to control this array to suppress Celestial Huoyun, preventing him from escaping and limiting his ability to fight back.

For such a premeditated ambush, not setting up an array beforehand would have been a waste of excellent conditions.

Although there was another Celestial participating in the siege, the other party's attainments in the Array Dao were far inferior to Zhou Yu's, so the task of setting up the array naturally fell to him.

This was a fixed array set up with ample preparation time, having long since accumulated a massive amount of Heaven and Earth energy. Once triggered, its power was far stronger than an array Zhou Yu would normally form by slowly mobilizing Heaven and Earth energy using the mana of Loose Immortals.

The facts proved this; the array was indeed exerting tremendous suppression on a top-tier Celestial, reducing his strength by at least sixty to seventy percent.

In fact, for this assassination mission, the mysterious person had specifically called Zhou Yu over from the Great Xia World precisely because of his attainments in the Array Dao.

With the array personally set up by Zhou Yu, the success rate of the assassination naturally increased significantly.

"At this rate, this Celestial Huoyun won't last long." Zhou Yu watched the scene, not at all surprised.

The old man's strength was even greater than he had anticipated, and with the help of numerous powerful Loose Immortals, Celestial Huoyun, restricted by his array, naturally could not hold out.

"Celestial Huoyun is getting desperate."

Zhou Yu instantly felt the difficulty of suppressing Celestial Huoyun increase significantly; it must be that he had unleashed some kind of desperate secret technique.

It's useless, he is still going to die. Zhou Yu sighed inwardly.

And just at this moment—

"Hmm?"

Zhou Yu's gaze suddenly shifted outside the array. A thin old man with a red beard had appeared outside the array at some point.

The old man waved his hand, and a flying sword wreathed in flames slammed into the array. The terrifying power made Zhou Yu's heart jolt violently.

"Who is it?"

The group currently besieging Celestial Huoyun also instantly sensed the newcomer.

"Is it him? Celestial immortal!"

"Wasn't it said that he died in the void of the Three Realms?"

"The previous Celestial Yu said he was going to intercept anyone who might come to provide support. So it was Celestial immortal?"

"That Celestial Yu is too useless. How long has it been, and he already let this Celestial immortal get through?"

"..."

The various Loose Immortals were all astonished, and Zhou Yu also came to his senses at this moment.

Celestial immortal was the master of Celestial Huoyun and the founder of the Sacred Fire Sect; according to the intelligence he had gathered, Celestial immortal had indeed died.

He had not expected the man to still be alive.

And Celestial immortal must have made a breakthrough, Zhou Yu thought to himself.

At this moment, Celestial immortal was attacking his array, and only he could feel the terrifying power contained within those strikes.

It was far stronger than a normal top-tier Celestial Immortal; the intelligence reports had never mentioned the Celestial immortal of the past being this powerful.

Celestial immortal should be considered a peak Celestial Immortal now, right? Zhou Yu was secretly shocked.

Peak Celestial Immortals were figures who were almost always just one step away from becoming Pure Yang True Immortals, and they were incredibly rare.

He had not expected this Celestial immortal to have actually broken through.

"Fellow Daoist Liuhe, how long can your array hold?" the elderly-looking Celestial Immortal suddenly asked.

"Three breaths," Zhou Yu replied. "Liuhe" was the Daoist name he used for his disguise.

"Only three breaths? That short?"

"Short?"

Zhou Yu was speechless; that was because the other party did not know that the Celestial immortal of this moment could already be considered a peak Celestial Immortal.

If his array were still at the level it had been three years ago, it wouldn't have been able to withstand even a single instant.

The array Zhou Yu had set up was actually the upgraded "Nine Absolutes Universe Array."

He had been contemplating it for the past two years, and combined with his rich experience in integrating the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth and the Great Dao of Arrays, he had successfully combined the two paths he had broken through in succession to create this upgraded version of the "Nine Absolutes Universe Array."

This array was terrifying, capable of blocking the frenzied attacks of a peak Celestial Immortal for three full breaths, which was enough to show its caliber.

Zhou Yu had deployed this array from the very beginning, but he hadn't triggered its full power before because he hadn't wanted to expose his full strength.

After all, triggering only a portion of the array was enough to kill Celestial Huoyun, so he wouldn't be violating the Heavenly Dao oath he had previously sworn.

But I have to go all out now, otherwise I really will be violating the Heavenly Dao oath. As this thought crossed his mind, the hand seals Zhou Yu was forming changed instantly.

Silently and imperceptibly, the power of heaven and earth condensed by the array began to surge.

The spatial stagnation within the array also suddenly increased several times over.

"No, how can this be?"

Celestial Huoyun's expression changed; the suppression the array exerted on him soared to an incredible degree in an instant, leaving him with less than one-tenth of his remaining strength.

When Celestial immortal had first appeared, Celestial Huoyun had been filled with surprise and joy.

He had also believed his master was dead, and he hadn't expected him to still be alive.

Furthermore, the appearance of Celestial immortal basically meant that his current crisis was resolved and he could escape death.

With this double blessing, Celestial Huoyun had naturally been overjoyed.

But at this moment, all that joy vanished in an instant, and Celestial Huoyun felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

How could this array be this strong? How could it be this strong?

"This..."

At this moment, the elderly Celestial Immortal and all the Loose Immortals also widened their eyes, and they subconsciously launched their own attacks.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

A series of attacks easily pierced through Celestial Huoyun's defenses, and Celestial Huoyun was blasted into soul-scattering nothingness.

Whoosh!

The treasures left behind after Celestial Huoyun's death flickered, and Zhou Yu grabbed them into his hand.

Within this great array, no one could be faster than him.

"You..."

Seeing this, the elderly Celestial Immortal subconsciously wanted to reprimand him; although he had been polite to Zhou Yu and the others, given his status, he didn't actually hold a group of Loose Immortals in high regard.

But before he could speak, the elderly Celestial Immortal suddenly thought of the array whose power had just surged—that was clearly Zhou Yu's doing.

Forget it, what does it matter if he takes those treasures? the elderly Celestial Immortal thought to himself.

"Everyone, I am going to release the void suppression and let my array self-destruct," Zhou Yu's voice suddenly rang out, and at the same time, a Great Teleportation Talisman appeared in his hand.

Although Zhou Yu had comprehended the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, he could not yet perform Great Void Teleportation, so he naturally had to rely on the power of the talisman.

Zhou Yu did not hesitate to crush the talisman, and accompanied by a condensation of spatial power, he quickly vanished from where he stood.

"That guy runs really fast."

The other Loose Immortals did not dare to hesitate when they saw this; they quickly pulled out the Great Teleportation Talismans they had prepared in advance and fled at top speed.

Only the elderly Celestial Immortal, overconfident in his own strength, reacted a bit slower.

And it was precisely because of this slight pause that Celestial immortal entered the array that had already begun to dissipate.

"Die for me!"

With his beloved disciple slain right before his eyes, Celestial immortal was pushed to the absolute limit of his fury, and the only person remaining here naturally became the target for his venting rage.

BOOM!

A terrifying immortal sword, wreathed in boundless flames, crushed down upon him.

"What?"

The elderly Celestial was stunned.

He hadn't had time to consider much before, but now he finally realized something was wrong, and finally understood why Celestial immortal had appeared ahead of schedule despite their carefully laid interception plan.

Daring not to meet the blow head-on, the elderly Celestial immediately unleashed an escape art and fled rapidly toward the far distance.

But how could the enraged Celestial immortal, having finally seized this opportunity, let him leave just like that? He naturally gave chase without pause.

In the end, the elderly Celestial exhausted all his trump cards and paid a heavy price, fleeing all the way out of the Haoyang Great World before he finally managed to escape with his life.

It was only after he returned to his lair in a disheveled state that he learned that "Celestial Yu," who had been scheduled to intercept Celestial immortal, had been instantly slain by the suddenly erupting Celestial immortal.