Several months later, in the Moon Sea Region of the Gouwu Sea.
Outside the Mystic Yin Archipelago, black clouds pressed down upon the sea, and the waves surged like thunder.
Ten Demon Lotus Treasure Ships, each hundreds of zhang long, tore through the cloud qi, cleaving the waves in an arrowhead battle formation. Runes flickered across their hulls, and killing intent condensed into black rainbows piercing the sky.
Ahead of the fleet, a hundred troop-carrying flying boats patrolled the sea like black crows, blanketing the sky and blotting out the light over nearly half the surrounding waters.
More than sixty thousand cultivators stood in solemn silence.
On the deck of the flagship, battle banners snapped in the wind like wailing ghosts and howling demons.
Twenty thousand elite Demon Lotus Sect troops wore matching standard-issue battle armor, with battle formation equipment at their waists and identical blood-marked crossbows on their backs-these were the "Bone-Eroding Crossbows" of various grades that Su Zixuan had refined over her many years in charge of the General Affairs Hall.
Their bolts were cast by fusing the spinal bones of demon beasts of various grades with yin iron. When fired, they pulsed with eerie light, specifically designed to pierce Dao bodies and gang qi.
When ten thousand bolts fired together, their qi mechanisms linked and fortune churned, they could kill even Golden Core cultivators and contend even with dharma nascent souls.
The remaining forty thousand Cangming Army cultivators had considerably inferior armor and dharma artifacts, but killing intent filled every pair of eyes, and their auras were heavy and solid as iron.
Those who had crawled out of years of bloody warfare were, without exception, ruthless souls who had rolled through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
There were no weaklings among them.
After years