Sheng Zheng saw that familiar flash of light and realized that Celestial Xia was making another move.
But having suffered once before, they would not stumble in the same place a second time.
Almost the instant the light flared, he swept his sleeve. The power of the Heaven-Bearing Diagram abruptly strengthened, while dense formations of array devices surged forth from the Black-Gold Giant Wall, wrapping another protective screen around its surface.
The moment he began to act, countless grains of golden sand emerged from the void and adhered themselves to the Heaven-Bearing Diagram. Their number and scale far exceeded anything seen before.
His gaze flickered. He sensed that Celestial Xia's resolve this time seemed far from ordinary, so he did not immediately counter it, deciding instead to observe a while longer.
At the same time, Zhang Yu and the others' flying vessels had drawn near the fortified encampment in an instant. Yet Origin Xia seemed already to know that they were using the power of starlight traction, and had employed some method to block it, slowing them for a moment.
That moment's difference was immense, preventing them from charging smoothly into the inner perimeter of the fortified encampment.
But this time, it was not only Zhang Yu's vessel. More than a thousand flying vessels had set out alongside them, all loaded with array discs and thunder pearls.
From outward appearances, every one of them looked exactly alike. Distinguishing where the actual people were in a single instant was no easy matter.
At that moment, the array devices flying around the outer perimeter of the fortified encampment suddenly moved. Specks of starlight appeared upon them, linked together by radiant arcs, interweaving warp and weft. In an instant, a dense great net formed in the void, releasing invisible primordial magnetic force outward.