Chapter 252: Demon from the Bloody Depths

Weapons of war, the pinnacle of the equipment and formation dao combined, were the greatest invention after the great war and one that had emerged only after the ancient times.

The nine celestial emperors weren’t the only reason why their courts held sway over the nine majors, winning out over the local top clans and sects. Ownership of these weapons played an even more important role.

Once targeted by such a treasure, even arcane dao immortals couldn’t dodge the blow. They could only brace to accept the attack head-on, then suffer the consequences. In some instances, they even died.

Madly burning through three hundred million premium immortal crystals, the great formation of the nameless city and physical manifestation from the battle formation of more than a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers powered the weapon.

After a dozen breaths, another brilliant beam of white light slammed at Lu Yun’s fortress ship.

Golden radiance sparkled in Feinie’s eyes, matching the glow that radiated from her body. She hovered in the air, unleashing the power of yin and yang from the Formation Orb in a swirl of black and white. Ten thousand formations burst forth from the treasure and solidified as barriers to shield the fortress ship.

At that moment, she ascended to the golden immortal realm.

She could’ve recovered her golden immortal strength much earlier, but she’d been suppressing her cultivation since golden immortals weren’t allowed in Dusk Province. Once resurrected by the Tome of Life and Death, she was a true, living person and didn’t enjoy the same exemption from the Dusk restriction as zombie king Diexi and the nine bloodcorpses did.

If Lu Yun’s envoys appeared in Dusk Province as golden immortals, the Dusk restriction wouldn’t spare them. It didn’t seem to be an act of personal intent, but the inevitable execution of a rule.

Someone had set up a rule to stop golden immortals from appearing!

It was very similar to the power prohibiting immortals from entering the ancient tomb, which was carried out by executing any immortals that ignored the warning. The same effect was achieved in Dusk Province, but the rule was enforced by the Dusk restriction.

Lu Yun had connected the dots when he saw the characters prohibiting immortals back in the tomb. Nevertheless, now wasn’t the time for him to worry about the consequences of Feinie’s breakthrough.

The weapon was too powerful. Even with the Formation Orb, she wouldn’t be able to take another hit as an august immortal. She had to ascend! As a golden immortal, she could channel more of the Formation Orb’s power.

She wasn’t who she’d been five thousand years ago, and the Formation Orb had changed as well. The merged Yin and Yang Formation Orb was more than the sum of its parts, resulting in an exponential leap in its power.

Bam!

White light seared the backs of everyone’s eyelids. Instead of looking away, Jin Shikong stared into the light despite the almost blinding luminescence of impact.

He saw Lu Yun’s fortress ship emerge once again, continuing its course toward the city and maintaining a steady speed.

“How is this possible?!” This time, fear flashed through Jin Shikong’s eyes. “What kind of connate-grade treasure did he dig up? Or is there another dao immortal hidden in his ship?

“Prepare another shot!” he roared. “Even dao immortals can’t take three full hits from the weapon.”

“We only have enough for one more shot, milord. If the monsters in the Blood Ocean were to crawl ashore....” His second-in-command shuddered; he didn’t want Jin Shikong to waste their resources on Nephrite cultivators.

“Shut your trap and do as I say!” Jin Shikong lifted the man off the floor by the collar and yelled so uncontrollably that he sprayed spittle in the second-in-command’s face. The subordinate had no choice but to pass down the order.

“Have you not given up yet?” Lu Yun looked over his shoulder at Feinie. The cannon at the city gate burst into white luminosity again, amping up for another shot.

Feinie took in a deep breath and called upon the Formation Orb. Light eddied through the smooth surface as formations flared to life within it, and blood trickled down from the corner of her mouth. Even as a golden immortal, she couldn’t survive too many uses of the treasure. After all, the orb was a connate-grade treasure, and she was, well, a golden immortal!

Hum.

Formations exploded from the orb and clashed with the giant beam of light, finally offsetting its terrifying might after all ten thousand formations had shattered. Feinie’s face turned as pale as a sheet and she collapsed. Lu Yun caught her, stuffing a few healing pills into her mouth.

“This servant is too weak, sir!” she said in a trembling voice. She couldn’t use the Formation Orb again, having exhausted her strength and inner energy, and was now suffering from the backlash.

“You’ve already done very well. Now go rest.” Lu Yun looked up. This time, the cannon didn’t charge again.

Fear drowned Jin Shikong at long last as he stood atop the city wall. Even arcane dao immortals would die after taking three direct hits, yet Lu Yun’s ship remained intact!

He didn’t even see what’d blocked the shots! A connate-grade treasure? Even so, whoever was wielding the treasure couldn’t have survived!

That was true enough. Feinie would’ve died after blocking the first shot, if it weren’t for the Tome of Life and Death.

“That’s not Lu Yun… but a demon. A demon from the Blood Ocean! Run!!” Jin Shikong suffered a mental breakdown at the thought of the terrors in the ocean. “All four of the boats carry demons! No wonder the monsters in the water don’t attack them, and they’re not affected by the power of the ocean. The monsters are coming ashore with the fortress ship as their vanguard…. Everyone, run!” He fled on the back of his sword.

All of the other immortals in the city were scared witless as well. Only celestial emperors could survive three shots from a weapon of war! They’d seen with their own eyes that there was only Lu Yun and a group of cultivators on the fortress ship. The most powerful among them was a mere golden immortal!

“Run! Lu Yun has been enthralled by the monsters in the ocean and he’s going to lead their army to slaughter everything in the world!”

“Run!” When Lu Yun and the others landed ashore, the immortals and all hundred thousand heavenly soldiers had fled the city.

The four black paper boats crumpled into ashes as soon as Qing Han, Wu Tulong, Zi Chen, and Mo Qitian pulled up to shore, and the stark white lanterns that were previously on their bow took flight and vanished into the crimson ocean in flashes of white light.