Chapter 291: Enemy Reinforcements
High up in the sky, the battle between the most powerful forces for both sides had also reached white-hot intensity.
The swordsman by the name of Lu Ji was standing in mid-air, and his robes were flapping audibly in the wind. Sword qi was surging throughout the entire area over 10,000 feet in front of him, and countless streaks of swordlight of different colors had converged in one place, forming what appeared to have been a pond of sword qi in the air.
Directly across from Lu Ji was a vast expanse of pristine white light, within countless translucent snow lotus flower projections were in full bloom, releasing a floral aroma that reached far and wide.
In the area where the two places were connected, sword qi and floral projections were clashing incessantly, sending powerful energy fluctuations erupting in all directions.
It was as if there were countless pairs of flower scissors ravaging the sea of flowers, but it also looked as if there were countless crystalline flowers constantly blunting the edges of the flower scissors.
It was quite a splendid sight to behold, but it was just as perilous as it was beautiful, and any cultivators below the Golden Immortal Stage would've been torn to shreds if they were to get between the pair of combatants.
As for the two combatants themselves, it appeared as if they weren't doing much, but in reality, both of them were rapidly burning through their immortal spiritual power, and if either side were to run out of immortal spiritual power, they would immediately be overwhelmed by the sword array or the floral sea unleashed by the other.
"You're clearly not a member of the Holy Puppet Sect, so why are you willing to go so far for them? We can give you just as much compensation as the Holy Puppet Sect has. As long as you're willing to stay your hand, you'll be compensated accordingly," Lu Ji said as he continued to control his sword array.
Yun Ni had used her Transient Guild mask to adopt an extremely seductive female appearance, and she giggled, "There's no need for such a strong and handsome sword immortal like yourself to talk about compensating me. If you’re willing to come into my snow lotus flower and have a good time with me, I'd even be willing to turn around and fight the Holy Puppet Sect by your side!"
Despite her carefree facade, she was actually quite concerned about the current situation. Her opponent's power level was on par with hers, and if things were to continue like this, it was very difficult to say what the outcome of this battle was going to be.
"If you're unwilling to accept my goodwill, then you can die!" Lu Ji harrumphed coldly.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he made a strange hand seal with one hand, then pointed it at the hilt of his sword, and the sword instantly released a draconic roar.
The pond of sword qi before instantly began to churn violently, and all of the sword qi came together to form a rainbow-colored wyrm that pounced directly at Yun Ni.
Yun Ni had also switched to a different hand seal, and countless white flower petals rose up from within the vast snow lotus flower field before her, forming a floral wave that surged toward the oncoming sword qi wyrm.n.)o.-v(-e-/l--b)(I-.n
Meanwhile, the scar-faced man by the name of Xue Han was situated several thousand kilometers away, and yellow light was pouring incessantly out of his sleeves, forming a series of yellow halos that flew directly forward.
The yellow halos descended upon the gray-robed daoist priest puppet, which swept its horsetail whisk through the air to release countless translucent white threads that spread through the surrounding area like translucent steel needles to keep all of the yellow halos at bay.
At the same time, the puppet removed the silver gourd strapped to its waist with its other hand before tossing it up into the air.
The silver gourd immediately rose up into the sky, rapidly swelling to almost the size of a house during its ascent. The spirit patterns on its surface also began to glow brightly as bursts of dull thunderclaps rang out from within.
Immediately thereafter, the stopper of the gourd was abruptly removed, and it released a flurry of silver lightning directly at Xue Han, illuminating the entire sky with silver radiance.
At the same time, blue light flashed behind the daoist priest puppet, and Bai Fengyi rushed out of the blue light before sweeping her sleeves through the air to conjure up a pair of giant blue light barriers that hurtled toward Xue Han from two different directions, one from the left and one from the right.
Xue Han was completely unfazed as he raised a hand in an unhurried manner, and a yellow bead rose up into the air before exploding to release countless specks of yellow light that encompassed the entire area within a radius of over 1,000 feet around him.
The blue light barriers and the silver lightning arrived in unison, yet they were completely kept at bay by the yellow light as if it were an impregnable fortress.
Bai Fengyi's face was looking rather pale. Xue Han was far more powerful than her and the daoist priest puppet, and even the two of them combined were only just barely able to keep him occupied.
However, thankfully, the Holy Puppet Sect had gained a clear upper hand in the battle taking place on the main island, so as long as she and Yun Ni could keep the two enemy Golden Immortals occupied until the outcome of the battle on the main island was decided, then they would've been successful in their defense.
Inside the yellow light, Xue Han wasn't struggling in the slightest as he said with a mocking sneer, "If you're trying to stall us in order to buy time for the other cultivators of your sect, then I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you."
He flipped a hand over as he spoke to summon a palm-sized dark azure linen pouch, upon which was embroidered the character for "fortune" in an ancient script, and it didn't appear to have been remarkable in any way.
He laid a hand onto the pouch while chanting an incantation, and the empty pouch immediately swelled like a balloon, with countless little bulges appearing on its surface as if it had been crammed full with beans.
A hint of foreboding instantly welled up in Bai Fengyi's heart upon seeing this, and she hurriedly injected more power into the pair of blue light barriers to exert more pressure on Xue Han.
However, the mocking sneer on Xue Han's face only grew more pronounced, and in the next instant, the opening of the linen pouch abruptly sprang open at his behest as countless pea-like azure beans came flooding out of the pouch before raining down upon the main island of the Holy Puppet Sect.
Upon landing on the ground, all of the azure beans rapidly swelled in size before taking on the form of warriors clad in suits of azure armor.
Their height and appearance were no different from the average person, but all of them were identical in appearance. Furthermore, all of them wore the same wooden expression, and their bodies were riddled with patterns that were glowing with azure light. The only thing that set them apart was the weapons that they wielded, of which there was a great deal of variety.
Before long, thousands of these azure-armored warriors had appeared all over the main island to engage the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators and puppets in battle.
These warriors moved extremely quickly and were far more agile than the average puppet, and they were able to quickly adapt to their environment, regardless of whether they were fighting in the mountains or in the rivers.
The Holy Puppet Sect cultivators were greatly alarmed to see so many new opponents appearing on the battlefield at once, and the tide of the battle was quickly turning against their favor.
All of a sudden, it was the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators who were forced onto the back foot.
In contrast with the chaos unfolding on the main island, the surrounding array islands had been completely abandoned by the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators.
After all, all of the spirit stones and treasures were on the main island, and now that the main island had been exposed, no one was going to waste any more time and effort attacking the array islands.
"I didn't think the enemy would deploy Dao Warriors into the battle," Han Li mused as he observed the main island from afar with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
"It looks like the Holy Puppet Sect is truly in severe trouble," Qilin 9 sighed.
While the two of them were speaking with one another, Qi Heng emerged from the entrance of the round pagoda with a grim look on his face, then cupped his fist toward Han Li's duo in a salute as he said, "There's no need to defend this array island any longer, seniors. Please go to the main island to join the battle there, and I'll be with you shortly."
As he was speaking, he took a subtle glance at Han Li, and a peculiar look flashed through his eyes.
Han Li paid no heed to this as he exchanged a glance with Qilin 9 before nodding in response.
They were being hired by the Holy Puppet Sect, and according to the rules of the Transient Guild, they had to carry out the requests of those who had hired them.
Thus, the two of them heeded Qi Heng's call and flew toward the main island.
They had only just flown several hundred kilometers when they heard a burst of loud rumbling ring out from behind them, and they hurriedly turned to discover that the giant puppet on the array island had suddenly begun to move.
It had stepped into the sea and was wading through the water toward the main island, churning up massive waves as it did so.
All of the giant puppets on the other array island that hadn't been destroyed were currently also converging toward the main island.
At this moment, on the plaza on the main island, several hundred azure-armored Dao Warriors and several dozen Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators were locked in battle against several dozen Holy Puppet Sect cultivators and close to 100 silver-armored puppets. Many of the surrounding buildings had already been razed to the ground, and the area was littered with dismembered body parts, presenting a grisly sight to behold.
Meanwhile, Bai Suyuan had also been forced to one corner of the plaza alongside a Holy Puppet Sect elder and around a dozen disciples by over 100 Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators.
At this moment, she was holding a silver longsword in one hand, and there was a white jade bracelet around her other wrist. The life-saving talisman given to her by Yun Ni was already pressed against her wrist, and she could activate it any moment with an injection of magic power.
At this moment, she was looking up at the sky with a concerned expression, and the white jade bracelet around her wrist was releasing a white halo that encompassed her entire body. Furthermore, she had also put on a white veil garment that was releasing specks of silver light outside of her original clothes.
On her belt beneath the veil garment was a square azure peachwood talisman that was riddled with glowing spirit patterns.
The peachwood talisman was a gift from Bai Fengyi, and it was a defensive treasure of a very high caliber, one that could withstand an all-out attack from an early-True Immortal cultivator.
However, it would only be able to withstand that single attack, after which its usefulness would be severely diminished, or it could be disabled altogether, so she wasn't going to use it unless she absolutely had to.
A tall Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivator was staring intently at Bai Suyuan as he yelled, "That masked woman is carrying a bunch of really strong treasures! Let's take her down and split everything among us!"
Greedy looks appeared in the eyes of all of the surrounding Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators upon hearing this, and all of them began to converge toward that corner of the plaza.
As a result, the chaotic plaza was plunged into even more chaos and disarray.