A Will Eternal

The agonized shriek was not the type that would come out of the mouth of a human. It was the piercing cry of some sort of beast that had encountered a deadly crisis, the type of howl that came in the final moments of life.

As it pierced through the mists of the spell formation, causing them to ripple and twist, the enormous faces that represented Celestial Deadfall and his comrades all flickered in astonishment.

Similarly shaken were Gu Tianjun and Sima Yunhua. 

“That’s the sovereign clone!!”

“Dammit, they’re about to succeed!” 

As the two of them picked up speed, Gu Tianjun sent a blast of sword qi slashing out, powerful enough to rip apart worlds.

As for Sima Yunhua, he performed an incantation gesture, summoning nine clones that joined his true self to unleash shocking battle prowess.

Things weren’t over yet, though. Celestial Aged Spirit went all out, summoning a multicolored light that contained a magical law of destruction!

Bai Xiaochun was starting to get nervous. If the sovereign clone had indeed been killed, then considering that the Vile-Emperor Dynasty forces had the advantage of numbers, it would be impossible for the Saint-Emperor Dynasty people to take it away from them.

The only hope they had would be if the clone hadn’t been killed yet.

“This sovereign’s clone is a lot weaker than you would expect!” Not having time to analyze the situation much, Bai Xiaochun slashed out with the Greatsword of the North, joining forces with the other celestials. The attack created by the four of them was like a wild tempest that slammed directly into the spell formation.

Heaven and earth shook violently as a massive rift was torn open in the misty surface of the spell formation.

Normally, their combined attack wouldn’t be so effective. However, the cry of the sovereign clone moments ago had weakened the spell formation significantly, laying the perfect groundwork.

The reason why Celestial Deadfall, Daoist Heavenspan and Prince Ur-Demon had not entered the spell formation to join in the fight earlier was because they had been tasked with preventing the Saint-Emperor Dynasty forces from entering. All of them immediately poured more power into the formation, causing dozens of huge hands to reach out and grab at the enemy celestials!

The hands were backed by the spell formation itself, and the cultivation bases of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty cultivators, making them as powerful as someone in the mid Celestial Realm. Roughly half of them headed directly toward Gu Tianjun, with some of them heading toward Celestial Aged Spirit, and only six swerving off to meet Bai Xiaochun and Sima Yunhua.

Despite the power backing them, the hands didn’t attack offensively. They merely defended and harassed the Saint-Emperor Dynasty celestials. Clearly, the goal of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty forces was merely to give Celestial Virūpākṣa and the others time to complete their task.

Booms rang out here and there. Bai Xiaochun swung the Greatsword of the North, slicing one of the huge hands in two and forcing the other two to back up.

At the same time, Celestial Aged Spirit and Gu Tianjun both faced severe resistance, making it impossible for either of them to enter the spell formation.

The spell formation was powerful to begin with, and was being bolstered by three celestials. Unless something unexpected happened, it was likely that it would take several hours tangling with it before they could break through.

It was at this point that another piercing cry echoed out from inside the mist, even more intense than before. Because the mist of the spell formation had already been damaged, its fluctuations devolved into further instability, and it even began to rock back and forth.

Many places on its surface were growing visibly thin. Eyes glittering, Bai Xiaochun released more of the sword qi of the Greatsword of the North. At the same time, the other celestials unleashed trump cards in the form of shocking divine abilities.

Deadfall, Daoist Heavenspan, and Prince Ur-Demon were visibly taken aback. Aware that a critical juncture had arrived, they bit their tongues and spat out blood, drawing even more deeply on their cultivation bases to add power to the spell formation, and hopefully stabilize it.

It was a moment of fierce conflict between the two sides, all centered around the spell formation.

Despite the booms and rumbling sounds, this spell formation was clearly extraordinary, and the three celestials operating it were not holding anything back. Even though Bai Xiaochun and his comrades were attacking with shocking levels of power, and making progress, the more they advanced, the more hands appeared to resist them, and the more energy resisted their progress.

In fact, that energy was rapidly turning into a force of expulsion.

“Dammit, what kind of spell formation is this?!”

“If this keeps up, we’ll never have enough time to get inside!”

“And even if we do, how will we stop them from succeeding!?” 

The three celestials from the Saint-Emperor Dynasty gritted their teeth and kept fighting. As for Bai Xiaochun, he hadn’t said a word this entire time, but had continuously been eyeing the mist, trying to decide if it was worth it to take a bit of a risk.

He knew that his Undying Hex wasn’t powerful enough to completely disregard the mist of the spell formation, but at the least, it could get him inside to where the fighting was going on.

Unfortunately, it would be too draining to take the others with him. And thus, he was torn. Even as he tried to make a final decision, a whistling sound rose up from behind him.

Off in the distance, a white beam of light approached, within which was an old man in a Daoist robe, who bore the semblance of a transcendent being. He was none other than Chen Su!

He was the last of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty celestials to arrive. Earlier, Gu Tianjun had sent him an urgent message to come, and he had employed a very taxing Daoist magic that drew on the power of teleportation to get him here as quickly as possible.

The other celestials were visibly enlivened, whereas the Vile-Emperor Dynasty celestials had quite the opposite reaction!

The three of them could handle four enemy celestials with difficulty, at least in an attempt to delay them. But five celestials was different. Were the spell formation in perfect shape, it would be one matter, but right now, it was unstable, and every shriek of the sovereign clone weakened it further. Now, it seemed unlikely that it would last for long.

Even as the three Vile-Emperor Dynasty celestials reacted with shock, Chen Su arrived. Not slowing down for a moment, he performed a double-handed incantation gesture that sent numerous bolts of golden lightning flying out, which quickly formed into a string of lightning spheres. Each ball of lightning contained heaven-destroying, earth-extinguishing power that joined the combined attack of the other Saint-Emperor Dynasty celestials.

The resulting boom caused looks of shock to appear on the faces of the enemy. With the massive power of their combined divine abilities, Bai Xiaochun and his fellows were getting closer and closer to entering the spell formation.

“Dammit!!” Prince Ur-Demon shouted, his eyes crimson. Performing a double-handed incantation gesture, he spat out some pure energy. He was joined by Deadfall and Daoist Heavenspan, who went all out to try to stabilize the spell formation. It was at that point… that all of a sudden, a third shriek rang out from the sovereign clone.

This third shriek surpassed the other two by far. It was astonishing to hear, and immediately caused the spell formation to begin to vibrate dangerously. It even seemed that it might collapse at any moment.

“This is our chance!” Gu Tianjun said, his eyes flashing brightly. There was no need for further words. Bai Xiaochun, Chen Su, Aged Spirit and Sima Yunhua all joined forces, unleashing the full power of their cultivation bases and their most powerful divine abilities. Their attack created something like an evil dragon that viciously attacked the spell formation!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

An ear-splitting explosion occurred as the evil dragon blasted a huge hole into the teetering spell formation, which then began to collapse!

Celestial Deadfall, Daoist Heavenspan and Prince Ur-Demon all coughed up mouthfuls of blood and fell back at high speed. In that moment, the mist dissipated, and the battlefield was revealed. What they saw… was something completely unexpected!

A miserable scream could be heard, coming, not from the sovereign clone, but from one of the seven celestials from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, the old woman.

Her cultivation base was in the mid Celestial Realm, and yet, she was currently being cleaved in two! Blood spattered out as her top half flew backward in retreat, a look of profound terror and astonishment appearing on her face!