Chapter 12: Countless Dead and Wounded

For the vast numbers of celestial immortals and loose immortals of the Xishui Legion on the Great Xia side, at this moment there was only despair!

Although their strength was considerable, without the supreme formation like the 'Xingtian Formation' to unite them, they had no right to contend with the terrifying ancient beast, the White-Faced Jiao, before them! The strength of this White-Faced Jiao was even far greater than that of the other three.

"Heh heh~~~" The beast White-Faced Jiao laughed coldly, its massive claws sweeping out once more.

"Stop."

"Wretch."

Accompanied by two angry shouts.

In midair, two towering divine demons also appeared, each ten thousand zhang tall. One was an old man with a fiery red beard, flames surging all over his body. The other was a somewhat delicate-looking woman. Though she was a celestial, she was now casting spells. With a rumbling sound, vast amounts of black water emerged, entangling the enemy while also swiftly moving away the remaining celestial and loose immortals.

"Hahaha... Ancient imperial clan?" The beast White-Faced Jiao laughed wildly, its dragon-like long tail lashing out, claws swinging, slaughtering the celestial and loose immortals. Each of them tried their utmost to find a way out, either using escape techniques or hiding in their immortal mansions—in short, doing everything to delay, but compared to the beast White-Faced Jiao, they were too fragile.

Bang!

The old man with the fiery red beard held a war blade, flames blazing to the heavens, and slashed directly at the beast White-Faced Jiao.

The beast White-Faced Jiao simply swung a claw to meet it.

With an earth-shattering clash, the old man with the fiery red beard was sent flying backward, even faster than the earlier Xingtian Celestial Xishui. The female celestial beside him immediately took his place.

...

Within the Eight Dragon Cloud City.

A scene of that battle was displayed in a void image.

The Xia Emperor, Dongyan True Immortal, Tiannong True Immortal, and the burly celestial all had grim expressions, and the Xia Emperor's eyes flashed with cold light.

"That White-Faced Jiao is clearly far stronger than the other three," the Xia Emperor pondered. "Could it be that more celestial and loose immortals formed this White-Faced Jiao? Or is the commander of this White-Faced Jiao formation a celestial true immortal?"

There were many possibilities for the White-Faced Jiao's greater strength.

The same applied to the Xingtian Celestial—for instance, if thousands of celestial immortals and hundreds of thousands of loose immortals united, its power would naturally increase greatly. If a Pure Yang True Immortal commanded, its power would also increase greatly. A prodigy like Ji Ning commanding would also result in high strength.

However...

Because the White-Faced Jiao's condensed physical form was immensely powerful and it was an ancient formation, divine sense could not penetrate it. It was impossible to know the reality inside—no one knew how many celestial and loose immortals were within, nor who the commander was. Although the White-Faced Jiao's face showed different visages, the Xia Emperor knew too little about the celestials and true immortals of the Voidgate Sect!

The Voidgate Sect knew everything about the Great Xia side.

But Great Xia knew very little about the Voidgate Sect. That was why this happened. If the Xia Emperor had also arranged for a Pure Yang True Immortal to command the Xingtian Formation, the opponent would have recognized from the face on the Xingtian Celestial's chest that it was led by a Pure Yang True Immortal.

This face on the chest could not be concealed, as it was naturally formed by the formation.

...

Above Baiji City, the floating black city, with countless chains penetrating the void around it. On the city walls, Baiji True Immortal and the others all showed smiles.

"Hahaha, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle. This Xia Emperor knows too little about our Voidgate Sect. Few know of the existence of the celestial Dujue. Seeing the White-Faced Jiao's white face, they cannot guess that the commander is a celestial," Blood Cloud Tower Master transmitted. "Qinghu, with Dujue Celestial personally commanding, your strategy is brilliant."

"This kind of trick can only be used once; next time they will know the power of the White-Faced Jiao Dujue," Qinghu Gate Lord transmitted back. "But using it once is enough; it has inflicted heavy losses on them."

How many celestial and loose immortals did both sides have in total?

Whether it was a Xingtian Celestial or a White-Faced Jiao, losing one was an astonishing loss.

Immortal wars usually dragged on for a long time... To have such gains at the very start of battle was considered a great harvest.

The celestials and true immortals of the Voidgate Sect on the city wall watched with smiles on their faces.

"Hmm." Baiji True Immortal also smiled, but suddenly his expression changed.

Blood Cloud Tower Master, Qinghu Gate Lord, Wanmo Cave Lord, and the others all changed expression as well.

"Not good!"

One of the several celestial immortals who had been following Baiji True Immortal and the others, 'Du Chou Immortal,' stared fixedly at the distant battle scene.

...

On the battlefield, no one could predict how the situation would develop.

Because sometimes the situation changes so quickly that neither side has time to react. For instance, the sudden defeat of the Celestial Punisher Xishui, whose body was torn apart by the enemy, leading to the rout of the entire immortal army with countless casualties—this was entirely unexpected. The Xia Emperor even dispatched two of his Celestial Gods to entangle the enemy!

In terms of raw power, the two Celestial Gods were actually somewhat weaker than the Celestial Punisher and the White-Faced Flood Dragon. After all, both the Celestial Punisher and the White-Faced Flood Dragon were formed by gathering the power of heaven and earth, truly possessing boundless strength, and could be considered the pinnacle of Celestial Gods.

The Celestial Punisher and the White-Faced Flood Dragon had powerful physical bodies, but they had a fatal weakness: once breached, they were finished.

However, Celestial Gods could recover quickly even when injured, because their bodies were divine-demon bodies... relatively more flexible. Especially when two Celestial Gods joined forces, occasionally using some treasures and spells, they could hold on.

...

While the beast White-Faced Flood Dragon was battling the Celestial Punisher Xishui earlier, on the other side, Ji Ning and the other seven Celestial Punishers were charging toward three White-Faced Flood Dragons. Among these towering eight Celestial Punishers, Celestial Punisher Ji Ning was clearly the strongest; he could control more of the Celestial Punisher's power and was naturally the fastest. Although he was not initially the closest, he sprinted barefoot with long strides and was the first to reach a White-Faced Flood Dragon, before it could join the other two.

"Stop him."

"Hold on."

The other two White-Faced Flood Dragons spoke in human language, roaring.

At the same time, towering figures appeared out of thin air in the sky—black monsters ten thousand zhang tall, but their auras were clearly weaker than those of the White-Faced Flood Dragons. There were nine such divine demons, all appearing beside the two White-Faced Flood Dragons. They had been hidden inside a small-world treasure, which had been carried by the White-Faced Flood Dragon that fought the Tonghe Legion earlier.

"Die." Although Celestial Punisher Ji Ning noticed the nine figures appearing in the distance from the corner of his eye, his movements remained swift as lightning. He stomped on the wild ground, lunged forward, and a sharp sword condensed in his right hand, stabbing straight at the head of the beast White-Faced Flood Dragon.

The beast White-Faced Flood Dragon retreated while raising its claw to block.

Clang!

It barely blocked the sword but staggered backward, while Celestial Punisher Ji Ning's lunge did not slow; he tapped the ground again and was already before his opponent.

"Clang, clang." In the brief contact between Celestial Punisher Ji Ning and his opponent, the latter was astonished to find that Ji Ning's attack power was much weaker—this was completely wrong; the previous sword strike had been immensely powerful! Moreover, among the nine Celestial Punishers, they knew that the Celestial Punisher commanded by the Northernbright Sword Immortal Ji Ning was the strongest.

"Up you go."

The moment Ji Ning's hands touched the opponent, his right knee shot upward!

There was a difference between a Celestial Punisher and a Celestial God.

A Celestial Punisher had greater strength.

But as the commander, one could not control all the power of the Celestial Punisher, falling far short of its limit. Naturally, one could not make the entire body's strength flow as one. The Celestial Punisher's arm strength was much weaker than its leg strength. Ji Ning had been pondering the combat techniques of the Celestial Punisher, gradually realizing that he should adopt techniques more suited to it.

Although using leg techniques was dangerous—since an unstable base could expose a weakness and spell doom—

the previous sword strike had shown that his strength was definitely above the opponent's. So he could take a risk! Risks brought great rewards; the powerful leg strength could completely crush the opponent.

"Boom!"

Following the momentum of his lunge, the powerful right knee of Celestial Punisher Ji Ning slammed hard into the face of the beast White-Faced Flood Dragon!

Crack!

The sound of breaking bones was faintly audible. The white human face of the beast White-Faced Flood Dragon twisted unnaturally backward, and it staggered and fell.

Celestial Punisher Ji Ning then condensed two long swords in his hands. These swords were more like 'sharp awls,' without edges, only sharp tips!

Gripping the sharp swords in both hands, he followed the momentum of the knee strike and thrust the swords straight at the head of the staggering, falling White-Faced Flood Dragon! As it fell, sensing danger, it frantically swung its claws to block, but only managed to block one of the swords.

The other sword, however—

"Sss!"

The sharp tip, carrying the boundless power of the Celestial Punisher, stabbed straight into the twisted neck of the beast White-Faced Flood Dragon.

The moment it entered, the sword twisted violently inside the White-Faced Flood Dragon's body!!!

"Ah."

"No."

A vast amount of baleful qi madly entangled Ji Ning—clearly the baleful qi from the deaths of countless Celestial Immortals and Earth Immortals. As the commander of the entire formation, this baleful qi spontaneously pierced through everything and directly entangled Ji Ning, but was then absorbed and refined by the three Northbright Swords within the golden core space in his body.

The entire White-Faced Flood Dragon collapsed and dissipated, revealing the vast number of Celestial Immortals and Earth Immortals inside! These immortals fled in panic, using every means—hiding in immortal mansions or using escape techniques.

Celestial Punisher Ji Ning then clapped his hands together, his huge palms like dark clouds, directly covering the dense, ant-like countless immortals.

Boom! Boom! The cloud-like palms came down...

An even more violent baleful qi surged and entangled him again, all directly drawn into the golden core inside Ji Ning's body, where the three Northbright Swords were frantically devouring the vast amount of baleful qi.