Both sides went all out as the battle raged. Neither side would let up on the ferocity of their attacks on the other.
The white power of faith and the sword-light collided again and again with violent force, illuminating the sky. The ensuing burst of energy was almost enough to break heaven and earth.
Finally, Austin was able to gain the upper hand with the tremendous might of his power of faith.
Austin's fly whisk enlarged, until turning into a rod as thick as a mountain. He swung it heavily at the leader of the Sword Palace. The violent strike crushed almost half of his body, with only a small part of it remaining intact.
"Sword God Array!"
The leader of the Sword Palace managed to scream, through his pain.
On this command, the forces of the Sword Palace assembled immediately, each person forming mysterious patterns with their hand movements. With every pattern, their swords trembled and glowed with light. Suddenly, each sword emitted a dazzling column of light, shooting up into the sky. The lights sharpened and interwove to form the image of the Sword God.
The Sword God, made up of the tens of thousands of the sharpest sword-light, radiated power. He held a gigantic sword in his hand, which he started swinging at Austin at lightning speed.
As this ensued, the leader of the Sword Palace turned into a ray of light and sped away into the distance.
This was his plan of escape: to deploy the Sword God Array to distract Austin and run away while the latter was engaged.
Catching the retreat at the corner of his eye, Austin barked out a sarcastic laugh. "That's right. Scamper away like a rat. That's the only thing you're good at!"
Austin called out wryly.
He was raring to give chase, but the Sword God was in his way. He had to deal with this little problem first.
Austin felt no fear in the face of such a powerful array. He swung his fly whisk at the Sword God, parrying the onslaught of its gigantic sword.
Their weapons collided with a deafening clang.
"That's a pretty impressive array!"
Austin admitted begrudgingly.
After a few more evenly matched clashes, Austin's fly whisk was finally able to knock back the colossal sword in the Sword God's hand. He took this opportunity to rush forward and deliver a violent punch. As his fist made contact, the image of the Sword God shattered instantly into pieces.
"Run!"
As the Sword God Array disintegrated, so did the fighting spirit of the Sword Palace troops. The forces fell into immediate disarray, soldiers screaming in terror and scattering in various directions in panic.
"And you think I'll let you go that eas
n dissipated.
Austin didn't bother to give chase. He knew the figure was just a cloud of spiritual energy sent to deliver a message.
"Damn it!"
Austin gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing with murderous rage.
Austin regarded both Damon and the Evil Shadow King with utmost importance.
Both of them were great masters at the sect ancestor level, and were staunch protectors of the Immortal End World.
Austin knew he was especially bound by loyalty and duty to save them; especially the Evil Shadow King, who was his father-in-law.
In that moment, Austin decided to assemble the people of the Evil Shadow World and the Ancient Celestial World, keeping them close.
Without the leadership of the Evil Shadow King and of Damon, their people might be targeted by malicious opportunistic forces. Austin vowed to protect these people to the best of his abilities.
"We'll discuss this after our departure. Gather everyone and prepare to leave."
Austin waved his hand and gave the order, leading the troops to the entrance of the Celestial Palace.
None of them could have expected what happened next.
"Time to send all the outsiders away,"
the spiritual soul mark of Peterson the Taoist Ancestor in the majestic underground palace murmured to himself.
His hands moved, drawing a mysterious pattern in front of him before launching it away.
Suddenly, the entire expanse of the Celestial Palace started shaking violently.
The skies and the ground swayed. The people caught in the temblor felt like the entire world was spinning around them. Then one after another, they started disappearing into thin air, teleported away.
The next moment, everyone found themselves already standing outside the gates of the Celestial Palace.