Chapter 332: Underground Disturbance

While Daoist Hu Yan and Lu Yue were locked in a fierce battle, Yun Ni wasn't doing so well on her end.

At this point, most of the petals of the snow lotus flower projection around her had already wilted, giving it a rather bare and broken appearance.

She was holding a thin green willow branch in one hand, and with each swing of the branch, thousands of willow-leaf-shaped blades of light would be sent sweeping through the air to form a dense net, preventing the woman in the pink palace dress from being able to approach her.

However, right at this moment, a burst of azure light suddenly appeared above her, and it transformed into a massive sword that came piercing down at her head in a nasty sneak attack.

Yun Ni's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and several flower petals immediately closed around her to form a protective barrier.

A loud thump rang out as those flower petals were completely pulverized, and a sword-wielding figure was sent flying back by the resulting shockwaves, hovering in the sky around 1,000 feet away from Yun Ni.

"Do you still remember me, Dao Lord Yun?" the figure asked with a cold smile.

Yun Ni's complexion was rather pale after withstanding that attack, and she cast her gaze toward the sword-wielding figure clad in azure armor to find that it was none other than Gu Jie.

It seemed that in order to exact revenge on Yun Ni, he had refrained from appearing this entire time, and he had only just emerged to unleash that sneak attack.

Daoist Hu Yan had already noticed what had just happened, and he immediately switched to a series of different hand seals. The sea of fire beneath him surged toward Lu Yue at his behest, while he descended out of the heavens to land beside Yun Ni.

"Are you alright?" he asked with tightly furrowed brows.

"I'm fine," Yun Ni replied before summoning a pill and swallowing it.

A cold and furious look appeared on Daoist Hu Yan's face, and he turned to Gu Jie with intense killing intent in his eyes.

A sense of foreboding welled up in Gu Jie's heart upon seeing this, and he gulped nervously.

"I'm going to kill you!" Daoist Hu Yan declared in a frosty voice, then sliced his sword across the palm of his own hand, opening up a gash out of which blood flowed onto his Crimson Luan sword.

Bright crimson light erupted from the sword, and the obscure runes on its surface also lit up.

Daoist Hu Yan then flung his sword through the air, and it instantly vanished amid a flash of crimson light.

Gu Jie's heart jolted slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly conjured up a layer of protective spiritual light while retreating into the distance.

However, he had only just made it several thousand feet when a burst of crimson light abruptly appeared behind him, then pierced through the layer of protective spiritual light around him with ease before plunging straight into his body.

The clear call of a phoenix rang out as the sword pierced through his back before emerging out of the front of his chest as a fiery Luan bird.

In the instant that the sword pierced through his body, several jets of blood instantly shot out of the hole in Gu Jie's chest, and he let loose an agonized howl as his entire body erupted into flames.

After flying out of the front of Gu Jie's chest, the fiery Luan bird immediately swiveled around in mid-air, swooping down with the aim of piercing through Gu Jie's body again.

Enveloped in a layer of crimson flames, Gu Jie let loose a loud roar as he joined his palms in front of his own chest.

A burst of green light immediately appeared over his suit of azure armor, and it flowed like water, enveloping the crimson flames around him.

The crimson Luan bird struck this layer of azure light with tremendous force, but it immediately sank in as if it had struck a wall of cotton before being repelled back and falling away to the side.

Daoist Hu Yan made a beckoning motion, and the fiery Luan bird reverted back into the form of a longsword before returning to his grasp.

Immediately thereafter, plumes of white smoke began to rise up from Gu Jie's body, and all of the crimson flames were quickly snuffed out.

However, at this point, he had already been completely disfigured from burns. His skin and flesh were charred black and riddled with unsightly gashes that glowing crimson, presenting a ghastly sight much like that of glowing molten lava swimming beneath the parched and cracked earth.

All of the Immortal Palace cultivators were greatly startled to see this, and they all turned to Daoist Hu Yan with a hint of wariness in their eyes.

However, Gu Jie suddenly began to cackle in an inexplicable fashion, and at the same time, the layer of green light around his body began to slowly converge and envelop his body tightly like a tight-fitting robe, then fused into his body in a flash.

Immediately thereafter, all of the burns and gashes on his body began to heal at a rapid rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.

Daoist Hu Yan gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, but didn't appear to have been all that surprised.

As Golden Immortals, it was not so easy for one's soul and physical body to be destroyed.

"Dao Lord Ouyang, the sooner all of this comes to an end, the less destruction the Blaze Dragon Dao will have to endure," Lu Yue said in a cold voice as he turned to Ouyang Kuishan.

Ouyang Kuishan hesitated slightly upon hearing this, then rose up into the sky as a streak of azure light, quickly appearing on the plaza in a flash.

With his participation, the Dao Warriors were cut down at an even faster rate, and it wasn't going to be long before they were entirely wiped out.

The four Immortal Palace Golden Immortal cultivators were freed up as a result, and they joined forces to set up a lightning array outside of the sea of fire. Dozens of bolts of azure and purple lightning that were as thick as water vats came crashing out of the array, wiping out even more Dao Warriors.

As the number of remaining Dao Warriors rapidly declined, Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni's situation became more and more perilous.

Just like Han Li, complex looks had appeared on the faces of many of the Blaze Dragon Dao cultivators who were watching the unfolding battle, including some dao lords and deputy dao lords.

In their eyes, even though Baili Yan very rarely appeared in the sect, the past eight preaching ceremonies that he had held had benefited a huge number of cultivators, and he was the reason why the Blaze Dragon Dao had been able to remain standing in the Northern Glacial Immortal Region to this day and become a sect that could rank alongside the Vast Flow Palace.

This was an extremely sinister scheme from the Northern Glacial Immortal Region to attack during the preaching ceremony, and Baili Yan had clearly made an effort to avoid harming the spectators present, yet the Immortal Palace cultivators hadn't displayed any aversion to collateral damage.

What was quite saddening to see was that among the 12 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords, only Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni dared to stand against the Northern Glacial Immortal Region, but it was clear that they were fighting a losing battle.

If they were to be defeated, Baili Yan would be completely on his own, and he would surely be overwhelmed by the Immortal Palace cultivators.

Han Li couldn't help but heave an internal sigh upon seeing this.

The power that Daoist Hu Yan had displayed had come as quite a shock to him. He had already guessed that there was more to the sloppy old man than met the eye, but never had he anticipated that he would be capable of keeping close to 10 Immortal Palace Golden Immortals occupied on his own.

Unfortunately, the Blaze Dragon Dao had already fallen apart internally. Otherwise, if all of the dao lords had given Baili Yan their unwavering support, then there was a very good chance that they would've been able to ward off the Immortal Palace attack.

Luo Qinghai had clearly already identified this, and that was most likely why he hadn't gotten involved. Otherwise, if the Blaze Dragon Dao and the Vast Flow Palace were to join forces, then Xiao Jinhan would have no choice but to immediately retreat.

Right at this moment, Han Li noticed that the silver-robed young man had gone missing from the group of Immortal Palace cultivators that were surrounding Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.

He quickly swept his gaze across the entire battlefield, but was unable to find the silver-robed young man, and a hint of foreboding welled up in his heart upon seeing this.

……

High up in the sky, Baili Yan's entire body was enveloped in crimson flames, giving him the appearance of a fiery deity.

Outside of the crimson flames were a series of rainbow halos that were giving off astonishing heat, causing the surrounding space to warp and twist.

Facing him from afar was Xiao Jinhan, who was holding a longsword that was riddled with ice spikes, and there was a translucent wheel of ice that was several dozen feet in size hovering behind him, giving off formidable glacial qi.

Outside of that, there were also around a dozen more Immortal Palace cultivators, including Xue Ying, scattered around the area, but they were all keeping their distance from Xiao Jinhan, seemingly unable to bear the glacial aura emanating from his wheel of ice.

"Baili Yan, why do you insist on resisting when your efforts are clearly futile? If you surrender now, perhaps the Heavenly Court would be willing to welcome you with open arms and give you an opportunity to redeem yourself," Xiao Jinhan said in a cold voice.

"Welcome me with open arms? What a joke! When has the Heavenly Court ever been willing to welcome anyone from the Reincarnation Palace? I'd be lucky not to be tormented for the rest of eternity! Let's cut the chit-chat and fight!" Baili Yan replied in a rumbling voice.

As soon as his voice trailed off, he slashed his fiery longsword through the air, sending a vast wave of fire sweeping toward Xiao Jinhan. At the same time, bright crimson light appeared in his eyes as he began to chant an incantation.

A deafening boom suddenly rang out from beneath the entire Bell Toll Mountain Range, immediately following which the entire landscape within a radius of thousands of kilometers around the White Jade Peak began to tremble violently, causing countless beasts and birds to flee their homes in a panic.

Another peculiar sound rang out, this one even louder than the one before, causing the entire space to shudder and tremble.

All of the Blaze Dragon Dao cultivators at the scene immediately began looking around frantically, trying to figure out what was happening.

Right at this moment, the earth down below suddenly bulged upward, and the massive cracks appeared on the ground, while rivers were severed and countless trees were felled.

In the extremely far distance, around a dozen mountains were rising up at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, rising close to 1,000 feet in a matter of seconds, while countless giant rocks came rolling down the mountains, raising enormous clouds of dust.

Lu Yue and the others immediately turned to Ouyang Kuishan upon seeing this, and Lu Yue asked, "What's going on here, Dao Lord Ouyang?"

However, Ouyang Kuishan merely shook his head in silence, clearly also unsure of what he aws witnessing.

In contrast, a faint smile had appeared on Daoist Hu Yan's face.