The Vermilion Bird wasn’t putting up a defense all by its lonesome. The Black Tortoise had made its move as well, and Divine Kasyapa had deployed the two mysterious leaves.

Once the bird’s waves of heat dissipated, the Black Tortoise’ defensive shock wave churned toward Lightford. On the defensive side alone, the tortoise was undeniably the better of the two.

The rippling shock wave brought with it a great force of gravity. Once Lightford was caught, his body would become heavier, reducing his mobility.

Gravity manipulation wasn’t easy to deal with.

Lightford huffed and whipped the long sleeves of his white robe, ready to knock the shock wave aside like he’d done with the heat wave. As soon as he made contact though, he knew something was wrong.

The arm he used grew slightly rigid.

He was experienced and knowledgeable enough to realize he’d made a mistake. He backed away at lightning speed, trying to dodge the spreading ripples of gravity.

Suddenly, Kasyapa’s green leaves charged at Lightford like a gaping mouth.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Lightford punched them furiously. The hit created a black hole in the air, crashing into the leaves with tremendous force.

However, the leaves were flexible. They snapped together and flew away unscathed.

Lightford immediately recognized the leaves as Kasyapa’s personal treasure.

“You’ve chosen hell over an easy way out, An Kasyapa! I spared you back in the Boundless Prison because I appreciated your talent, but now it seems you don’t deserve my mercy!”

An Kashyapa scoffed, “Does your mercy mean a chance to be your lapdog?”

“Hmph, and is that honestly beneath you?” Lightford continued to back away and finally moved out of the gravity wave’s range of effect.

His striking eyes lit up with a deep glow as he looked into the distance. The gravity manipulation had deeply shocked him. He knew he’d met his match.

Lightford hadn’t met the Vermilion Bird himself, but according to the intelligence he’d received, he speculated that the bird was responsible for the heat waves.

He also recognized the two leaves as An Kasyapa’s doing.

The gravity manipulation, however, was an unknown quantity. Whoever the deployer was, their defensive power had exceeded even the Vermilion Bird and An Kasyapa.

Since when had Eternal boasted such a powerful member? Could it be the forefather?

It couldn’t be. Eternal’s forefather hadn’t returned to the sacred land yet and didn’t specialize in defense. Lightford had gathered enough information to come to that conclusion.

Had he not been stopped, he wouldn’t have doubted himself. However, the strong resistance left him with no choice but to calm down.

Recalling that his two enforcers had died here made him wary. A being powerful enough to kill his two enforcers wouldn’t be that much inferior to him, even if it couldn’t rival him.

“Hmph, so I’ve underestimated the Eternal Sacred Land. Three divine beings. How impressive.” Lightford remarked in a distant tone. “Who is your other helper in addition to the Vermilion Bird, An Kasyapa? Why the secrecy?”

An Kasyapa laughed heartily. “Aren’t you the fearless Lightford? What, do you know fear now?”

“Fear?” Lightford huffed derisively. “Do you think the combined power of three divine beings is enough to intimidate me? How naive of you!”

“If you aren’t intimidated, then what’s with all the questions? Don’t you want to leave something to the imagination?” An Kasyapa wasn’t going to let Lightford direct the conversation.

The more he kept Lightford on his toes and doubting himself, the more reservations he would have. That would prevent Lightford from deploying his full battle strength.

After some consideration, Lightford transmitted to his two divine helpers, “Continue to attack from the sides, I’ll take the center. As long as you attract some of their attention, I’ll be able to break their defenses.”

It was too difficult for him to fight three divine beings all at once. Even if he could do it, it’d take too long.

Fortunately, he’d brought two divine cultivators with him. Having just fled from Sandplain, they were eager to redeem themselves. This was where they could be useful.

As soon as Lightford gave the order, the two men attacked relentlessly from the flanks.

Although Eternal’s defensive formation had been through many battles, its foundations remained intact. It could withstand the attacks of regular divine cultivators like them for some time.

If they were allowed to continue, however, the foundations would be eventually damaged and the formation might collapse.

Jiang Chen summoned all of the demigods in the sacred land, including Kasyapa’s four servants and the two primes.

“We have to work together as a team, everyone. Our three gods must focus on fighting Lightford. We have to take care of his two lackeys.”

The servant nicknamed First Wind had fought Jiang Chen before. He knew the young lord was powerful enough to rival a first level divine.

“Give your orders, young lord Chen. It’s our honor to fight the divines alongside you.”

“That’s right. Our master holds you in high regard. The four of us are fortunate to fight with you.”

Jiang Chen’s expression turned serious. “Lightford is running out of manpower, or he wouldn’t have brought only two divine cultivators with him. As soon as we take care of one of them, the other will lose his will to fight. We may not even need to do anything to him then.”

“Haha, then let’s do it!” First Wind shook his fist, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit.

“I’ll set up some traps to lure them in,” said Jiang Chen. “Our best strategy is to divide and conquer. Your responsibility is to keep one of them occupied, giving me a chance to catch them off guard.”

Jiang Chen knew the servants and the primes were enough to overpower one divine cultivator.

If they failed to separate the two divines, the best case scenario would be a draw.

The two cultivators were oblivious to the impending danger.

In their eyes, since their master had attracted the attention of Eternal’s divine realm members, their job was to destroy the sacred land quickly, slaughtering everyone and taking everything.