On a Heavenly Branch stretching across the lofty skies of Upper Firmament Heaven, Ying Chong stood directing the winds and clouds. At this moment, he was striving to destroy the talisman Zhu Tingzhi had sent over before problems arose elsewhere.
With that talisman holding the line there, the threat was simply too great. He found it deeply troubling as well; the divine beings could use it as a foothold to continually probe deeper into Upper Firmament Heaven's heartland.
At the same time, he remained alert and watched the dozen or so breaches that had been carved through the heavenly barrier.
Celestial Xia could not possibly leave those places unused, yet what methods they would employ remained unknown to him.
All he could do was have the cultivators stationed at each vital node remain fully vigilant, while reluctantly opening several more empty domains in the rear, so these disciples would still have a route of retreat at a critical moment.
Yet such things were of little use when battle grew fierce, for those caught in a bitter melee usually had no time to withdraw. At most, they offered a sliver of comfort.
The attack from the other side came even faster than he had expected. After only a dozen or so breaths, the cloud vortices upon the heavenly barrier gradually spread beneath streaks of light, exposing larger gaps.
If he had been able to see into the Clear Vault Cloud Sea, he would have witnessed countless flying vessels drifting across its cloudy firmament, numbering more than a hundred thousand in total.
These were battle flying vessels dispatched by the Profound Court from the Inner Layer and the Outer Layer.
For this battle, the Heavenly Works Bureau of Jade Capital, along with the Celestial Mechanism Institutes and Creation Workshops in the various