163 Xia Makes a Scene

Ed returned to the plains near Tai. "Did you already know about this?" He questioned.

"Of course." Tai nodded. "It's what made the Water Snake Sect famous a long time ago."

"Then why haven't they used it against the nightmares?" He asked.

"They've tried before." Tai sighed. "It was so long ago that not many are aware of it, but they succeeded in dropping the mountain on both the Water Nightmare and the Earth Nightmare. Of course, both nightmares were completely crushed, but they just escaped from the mountain and completely reformed less than an hour later."

"Tsk." Ed clicked his tongue. "Figures."

"Attention everyone!" Sect Leader Ying called for the other sect leaders. "Since Di isn't here, we should choose someone to lead the operation." She smiled. "The Purple Origin Sect may only have a couple thousand elites, but we should still treat it like a real fight. Of course, I'd be more than happy to take on the leading role!" She cackled.

"You think you're the one suited to leading us?!" Tai angrily replied in shock. It was the equivalent of handing their lives over to a buffoon!

"Am I not the one that controls when and if we even arrive?" She mocked.

"I agree." Ed spoke up while grinning. "Sect Leader Ying is best suited to leading us during the war. However, we shouldn't stick with Di's original war plans since he could have betrayed us for all we know."

"Oh?" Ying's eyes widened in surprise. The last person she had expected to support her was the foreigner she had argued with just minutes earlier. "I agree." She smiled, her eyes narrowing in joy. "Perhaps you are wiser than I thought, foreigner. What would you suggest for the offensive?"

"My plan is somewhat different than Di's." He replied. "We now lack the Earth Dust Sect cultivators for defensive means, so it'll be difficult to make up for that. We should put all of the Light Tiger cultivators up front to create barriers and provide healing while the Wind Hawk and Lightning Eel cultivators will provide support. Then instead of placing Water Snake Sect members in the back and Fire Dragon Sect members on the offensive, we should combine them into teams with the Dark Phoenix Sect members. The fire cultivators will provide offense in the team, the water cultivators defense, and the dark cultivators support that allows them to retreat or press the offensive when needed."

There was a glimmer in Tai's eyes as he seemed to approve of the plan, which would beneficial to his own plan. However, he and Sect Leader Ying were not the types to agree on anything nor get along. If he supported it, then she would likely oppose it just for the sake of argument. But if he were to do the opposite? "Ahem." He coughed into his hand. "That plan... is severely lacking. I think I can come up with something better."

"Nonsense!" Ying glared at Tai before turning back to Ed and smiling. "I think it's a wonderful plan. We'll use it."

"Sure." Ed grinned.

"Humph." Tai snorted while crossing his arms. He turned his head away, pretending to be angry with the results.

Striking while he was on her good side, Ed flattered her to get the information he wanted. "This mountain really is amazing! As expected of Sect Leader Ying! How did your sect acquire such a marvelous thing?"

"Hoho." Ying happily laughed. "It was here right at the beginning of the Mana Apocalypse, just waiting for someone to take it. Not only is it good for travel and protection, but it also has amazing tools that help with training related to the element of water." She held her head up proudly. "It's how I became the genius that started the Water Snake Sect!"

'Ah, I see...' Ed immediately thought to himself. 'So, that's how a fool rose to the top of the pyramid... literally.'

The sect leaders continued to make idle chatter with occasional arguments as they travelled.

...

Nearly two hours later. Mount Dongling appeared on the horizon. It wouldn't be long before their mountain cast a large shadow over the Purple Origin Sect.

"Do you think the weddings already started?" Dongfeng asked.

"Allow me to check." Ying smiled. She waved her arm in front of her, causing ice to appear and form a large mirror. A light-colored mana radiated from her body and entered the mirror. Any rays of light that went into the mirror now bent and twisted in odd ways, visible to even the naked eye. A brief moment later, an image appeared on the mirror.

Ed's eyes widened in surprise. 'This is similar to the ancient televisions my father taught me about...'

The mirror showed moving images from the Purple Origin Sect. Cultivators sat in groups of a hundred each in twenty different places throughout the sect. They seemed to be meditating while waiting for the start of the war. Beyond that, towards the very peak of the mountain was Sect Leader Fang's castle. However, the usual purple decorations had been traded out for dazzling red and gold tapestry's and other similar decorations.

In the castle courtyard, there was a new large red structure with a giant golden Chinese character painted atop it. Multiple banquet tables covered in red cloth were lined with food. Despite it being daylight, red paper lamps hung all over the courtyard. Various guests wore their formal robes as they patiently waited for the bride and groom.

Suddenly, the bride and groom arrived. They both wore red robes with elaborate golden patterns of lotus flowers and dragons. Bai Fang had a smug grin on his face as he held his future wife's hand. Yuki's face was covered by a red veil that was held in place by a golden tiara.

Ed felt a pang in his heart as he watched, but he managed to keep his poise. He glanced at Tai, expecting him to have a similar reaction, however, he appeared completely fine. Perhaps he was doing a good job at hiding his emotions at the moment, or maybe he had moved past it after hooking up with Rubi. The fact that he only had a few more months to live may also have affected his feelings, possibly allowing him to move beyond many of his worldly desires.

"Looks like they decided to start right as we arrived." Ying smirked. "Arrogant bastards! I'll show them why I'm called the Heavenly Ice Beauty of Mount Everest!"

"Pfft." Ed hurriedly covered up his laughter after hearing the ridiculous title. Ying glanced back at him, but he had managed to stop in time. She frowned before looking back towards the screen.

"So." Xia suddenly spoke. "Are we going to drop the mountain on the Purple Origin Sect?" He curiously asked.

"Of course we are!" Ying responded matter-of-factly. "Let's get off first though." She blew onto her whistle again, and the mountain started moving down.

The ground trembled as the mountain landed. Everyone wasted no time as they hurried off the mountain. Once all 20,000 cultivators had disembarked, Ying blew on her whistle again. The mountain started floating above the Purple Origin Sect just a short distance away. This time, they didn't need a mirror to watch. They would have to be completely blind to miss a mountain slamming into another mountain!

Ed grew slightly worried as he watched. If the Purple Origin Sect was destroyed before the war even really started, then he'd lose all of his opportunities. He would be unable to profit from either side of the war.

The mountain appeared to fall slowly, though it was actually fast. The wind roared and howled in their ears despite them being quite a distance away. Right when everyone expected impact, a purple barrier appeared over the entire Purple Origin Sect. Strange golden Chinese characters floated throughout the barrier in lines. There was no huge crash or explosion as expected. Instead, the mountain simply sat atop the barrier, bearing down upon it with its heavy weight.

"Tsk." Ying clicked her tongue as she created a new ice mirror. The scene inside the sect revealed itself to them. Each of the 20 groups of 100 Purple Origin Sect cultivators were busy chanting something. Unfortunately, the mirror didn't seem to provide sound of any sort, so they couldn't make out the words.

Back at the wedding, Bai Fang had also sat down and started chanting. Surprisingly, Yuki obediently sat next to him. She might even be chanting with him for all they knew!

"What do we do now?" Sect Leader Li worriedly asked.

"We have to wear down the formation." Tai replied. "The mountain will force them to use up a large amount of mana." He glanced towards Ying. "But I'm guessing you can't keep the mountain pressing down like that forever either, right?"

"Tch." Ying frowned while crossing her arms. "We'll see which lasts longer in the end."

Suddenly, the Purple Origin Sect formation began to tremble. Hordes of elemental giants began to walk directly out of the purple barrier, appearing as if they were walking through a watery curtain. There were giants of each of the seven elements. However, their glowing eyes varied in color based on the path each giant used.

The ice giants looked identical to the ones Ed had faced in the past. They had crystal-like bodies, and wielded large two-handed swords. The other elemental giants looked similar, except their crystal-like bodies matched their respective element colors. They also wielded two-handed swords constructed from their own elements. It seemed that there wasn't much thought placed in variety when it came to their forms. Not that it really mattered, as it was their elemental paths that truly made them fearsome.

"Are we going to have to sacrifice our men on mere puppets?" Xia complained, his sword-like brows scrunching up as he frowned.

"They should only be capable of using one path each." Tai explained. "They're really only useful in large numbers. Especially outside of the formation's training rooms where they no longer have support that prevents use of other paths and laws. Our cultivators should easily be able to handle them. A single cultivator with control over a purple origin element could probably destroy thousands just by himself."

"Is that so?" Xia nodded. "Then allow me to start us off." He pointed a finger towards the sky, sending a small silver bolt of lightning into the clouds.

The army of cultivators watched curiously, waiting for the show to begin.

Suddenly, a large dark cloud began to form. It seemed to absorb the clouds for kilometers in all directions. As the cloud grew larger and larger, it began to swirl in a counterclockwise direction. Various lightnings of different colors swirled inside the clouds. Occasionally, the lightnings seemed to impact each other, causing blinding flashes of light and deafening thunder to ring out. Raging winds ripped through the mountainous terrain.

Many of the cultivators on the ground instinctively began to kneel. It was as if it was only natural, as if God himself had appeared and ordered them to do so. Their bodies shook and trembled as they struggled to watch.

Suddenly, the cloud grew calm, and the winds died down. However, it seemed to only be the calm before the storm. "1st Tribulation." Xia calmly said aloud.

BOOM! A silver lightning bolt struck down towards the various elemental giants. However, it would be better suited to describe the lightning bolt as a pillar, for it was as thick as several men put together. Right before impact, the lightning bolt split itself up, shooting smaller bolts of lightning at every single elemental giant. The devastation was instant, eliminating all elemental giants without leaving a single trace behind.

Ed glanced up at the cloud. It hadn't shrunk in size at all. 'Looks like Sect Leader Xia can still create plenty more of those lightning bolts... Either that or he's holding back even more powerful attacks.' He sighed to himself. 'It seems that these sect leaders really are comparable to President Walker.'

The purple barrier immediately began creating new elemental giants, sending waves out towards their army.

"Haha." Xia laughed. "If it's just this much, then I can handle it alone. I won't sacrifice the lives of my men by making them fight these crappy puppets!"