Chapter 673: Trapping the Water Dragon

Long Si's exclamation made Ao Canghai's attacker's identity clear: Long Yi had reinforcements.

Ao Canghai blanched. Although the sword that had struck him had been a sneak attack, it had managed to injure him—his assailant was a late-stage Golden Immortal, at the very least.

What was more, there was a whole group of cultivators waiting to attack him.

Long Yi himself was taken aback, not having expected his reinforcements to arrive so quickly. Regardless, it was hardly a bad thing.

"Die, Ao Canghai!" Long Yi shouted.

The death of his two avatars was a huge loss, but taking revenge on Xiao Nanfeng could wait—the empire of Dazheng was a prime target, and hardly one that could run away. However, this was his one opportunity to take down Ao Canghai. If he failed to do so now and allowed Ao Canghai to escape, the latter would surely muster up overwhelming force against him.

The fighting between Long Yi and Ao Canghai resumed once more.

"Test out how strong those reinforcements are!" Ao Canghai shouted.

With Long Yi harassing him, Ao Canghai couldn't fly into the air. His two Golden Immortal subordinates answered his command, shrugging off Long Er and Long San as they headed straight for the leader of the reinforcements.

"Die!" The two Golden Immortals each struck at that figure with their swords.

The figure in the lead didn't make a move; rather, one of his subordinates did, drawing a blade that gave off a flash of golden light. The overwhelming strength of the attack caused the two Golden Immortals to blanch.

"Save me!" one cried out.

He dodged to the side, his Immortal sword shattering from the force of the impact. Even so, the strength of his opponent's attack seemed largely undiminished. It continued along its trajectory as if it were about to bisect the Golden Immortal's body. The other Golden Immortal hurriedly drew his own sword to defend his companion—but his sword also shattered. Both Golden Immortals were sent flying from the resulting force of the attack, each spitting out a mouthful of blood before they were able to regain their footing.

"A late-stage Golden Immortal? Impossible. Just who are you?!" one of the Golden Immortals shouted.

They were shocked beyond belief that a mere subordinate from Long Yi's group of reinforcements could be so strong. Just who were they? Could an Immortal Emperor have come to support Long Yi?

Ao Canghai cursed as well. The leader of those reinforcements might well be a Boundless Immortal!

It had been hard enough for him to deal with Long Yi on his own; with another Boundless Immortal in the fray, would he be able to escape?

He suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to flee.

The leader of Long Yi's reinforcements shouted, "Cover up the skies with fog, then use the dragon-trapping formation. I want him alive!"

"Understood!"

The shrouded figures activated their formation banners, causing fog to rise up all around them and covering up the skies.

Pillars of light even emanated from some islands in the distance, as though in resonance with the fog-conjuring formation that had been laid out.

Then, the cultivators manifested a giant sphere of blue fog. A tremendous aura emanated from it as it descended toward the battlefield.

"The aura of a Boundless Immortal—flee!" Ao Canghai shouted.

He knocked Long Yi aside as he attempted to flee, but the sphere of blue fog was already by his side. A golden sword flashed toward Ao Canghai.

"Long Yi, stop Ao Canghai from escaping! Get him alive!" the leader of the reinforcements commanded.

Long Yi barreled toward Ao Canghai, attempting to block his path. The two dragons struck each other once more.

"Let me go, you bastard!" Ao Canghai cried out.

He could sense the sphere of blue fog descending ever closer. The moment it caught him, he would be done for.

"Explode!" Ao Canghai shouted, detonating a few of the relics he had on hand. A titanic tempest formed around him, sending Long Yi careening away.

Long Yi was badly injured from the explosion, but so was Ao Canghai himself. He fled as quickly as he could, barely managing to avoid the blue sphere, though he was struck by one of the golden swords that were arrayed along the outer surface of the sphere.

The sword cut into his flesh in a spray of blood, so painful that he howled again.

If a single one of those golden swords was already such a powerful attack, how much more of a threat would the blue sphere itself be?

Ao Canghai didn't dare find out. He rushed out through the fog and vanished from sight.

"Hold it!" Long Yi roared, but he was unable to catch up to Ao Canghai.

The two other Golden Immortal Martial Aspects, realizing that the tide had turned, quickly escaped through the fog as well.

"Stop right there!" Long Er and Long San shouted.

Unfortunately, they too were unable to catch up to the Golden Immortal Martial Aspects.

In exasperation, Long Yi, Long Er, Long San, and Long Si headed back toward the group of shrouded reinforcements.

"Why didn't you go after Ao Canghai?" Long Yi exclaimed.

The leader of the reinforcements suddenly commanded, "Return!"

The sphere of blue fog slowly began to float toward him. The four draconic lords could see a large number of cultivators manipulating formations within the sphere.

"Eldest Brother, just who did you send for? This formation is incredibly strong. It even managed to deal Ao Canghai a heavy blow!" Long Si exclaimed, flying up to him.

Long Yi frowned. "I did send for reinforcements, but I didn't expect it to arrive so quickly. I've never seen anything like this formation myself. Even one of those golden swords alone was incredibly strong."

Thanks to Long Si, he naturally thought that these cultivators were his reinforcements, so he wasn't overly concerned even when the blue sphere neared him. Suddenly, however, it headed his way.

"What? Something's wrong," Long Yi cried out. "Run!"

He was too late to react. By then, the blue sphere was right by his side. Despite the fact that he had already started to move, half his body was already encapsulated.

"No—what's this? These golden swords are just an illusion!" Long Yi exclaimed.

The majority of the golden swords were illusory. Only one was real. That golden sword left a deep cut in the body of the water dragon into which Long Yi had transformed.

"Only one of these swords is real? So this sphere wouldn't have been able to deal with Ao Canghai at all. The aura of a Boundless Immortal that it's giving off must be fake as well—no, there's a Cage of the Sea within!" Long Yi shouted.

The half of his body that was trapped within the blue sphere had been rendered immobile, as if he had been nailed to the spot.

"They were intentionally scaring away Ao Canghai—their target was us all along!" Long Yi raged.

He desperately tried to writhe away from the blue sphere, but he was almost entirely trapped.

Within the blue sphere were a group of cultivators manipulating formations, as well as a late-state Golden Immortal draining away his strength.

Long Yi struggled furiously to break free, causing the blue sphere to shake violently.

Just then, high in the sky, the figure in the lead shouted, "Formation of the Complete Heavens, resonate!"

From the heavens above, beams of starlight shot toward the blue sphere, causing it to suck in the rest of Long Yi's body even more violently.

"You're Xiao Nanfeng's subordinate—Blue Lantern! Have you been targeting me from the beginning?!" Long Yi howled.

Blue Lantern shouted, "Mountain Lord Xia, please stabilize the formation and prevent Long Yi from escaping."

"Got it," Xia Xingchen replied.

The cultivator who had initially attacked Ao Canghai, the one who had sent the two Golden Immortal Martial Aspects fleeing, the one who had struck Ao Canghai with a golden sword by the exterior of the blue sphere—Xia Xingchen had done it all. His involvement had made Blue Lantern appear far stronger than he really was.

"You won't be able to trap me. Brothers, help me!" Long Yi shouted anxiously.

He had wedged himself into an unstable equilibrium—just a bit more force, and he would be able to break out of the blue sphere.

"We'll help you, Eldest Brother!" Long Er, Long San, and Long Si shouted.

They transformed into three ivory dragons and rushed toward Long Yi and his water dragon's body. Long Si was the fastest; he sped up and crashed into Long Yi.

"Long Si, what are you doing?!" Long Er and Long San exclaimed.

Long Si's momentum sent Long Yi flying into the depths of the blue sphere.

"Fourth Brother, how dare you?!" Long Yi shouted.

The blue sphere hummed with growing intensity now that its prey was fully trapped within.

Meanwhile, Long Si sent his tail whipping into Long Er and Long San, who were flying toward him.

The three dragons crashed into each other in a heap.

Meanwhile, Xiao Nanfeng's main body rushed out of the fog and began to help Long Si against Long Er and Long San.

"Long Si, you're in cahoots with Xiao Nanfeng? You betrayed the Southeastern Aquatic Palace! Die!" Long Er thundered.

Xiao Nanfeng turned toward the skies. "Blue Lantern, I'll leave Long Yi's capture to you and Mountain Lord Xia."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. Long Yi might be invoking the power of the Eye of the Sea, but the Cage of the Sea completely nullifies his strength. I can even magnify the properties of the cage with my formation. Given Mountain Lord Xia's support, he won't be able to escape," Blue Lantern replied.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Very good!" Xiao Nanfeng said.

He and Long Si faced off against Long Er and Long San together.

Long Er and Long San were spooked by Xiao Nanfeng's appearance. It was clear that Ao Canghai had been part of Xiao Nanfeng's scheme as well—he had tricked every last one of them!

"Fourth Brother, for betraying the Southeastern Aquatic Palace, the price is death!" Long San shouted. He rushed toward Long Si.

"Take me down first!" Long Si replied, charging toward his brother.

Xiao Nanfeng's main body shot toward Long Er.

The four cultivators fought viciously among each other, spawning a huge tempest of fire and wind.

Meanwhile, fights were breaking out within the Southeastern Aquatic Palace as well.

With the lid placed over the black coffin, the layers of black barriers around the Southeastern Aquatic Palace had slowly weakened and shattered.

Countless sea spirits of the Southeastern Aquatic Palace were freed, only to find themselves facing a battalion of Immortals.

Xiao Nanfeng had sent his army consisting of tens of thousands of Immortals to the palace, led by Ye Dafu's golden cultivators, Ao Zhou, Zhao Yuanjiao, and his other trusted subordinates.

"Surrender or die!" Ye Dafu shouted.

"Surrender or die!" the countless Immortals behind him echoed.