Volume Four: Winds Scatter the Clouds, The Four Continents Sink Chapter Seven: Breaking the Formation

The battle had raged for most of the night and now approached the hour of dawn, yet not a single ray of light pierced the heavens and earth. Lin Bai led the rear troops, Cloud and Rain Guards, stealthily approaching from the north of the town under cover of darkness. Seeing the fierce fighting ahead, but observing that the formation of the Dark Fiend army remained unshaken, Lin Bai grew anxious and ordered his forces to attack at once, forming a pincer around the enemy.

The Dark Fiend vanguard heard the sounds of battle erupting from the north and quickly regrouped for defense. The clash intensified in the northern part of Zhuyuan Town, with both sides locked in brutal combat.

Shan Shang, witnessing the situation, spoke with worry to the woman beside him, “Vanguard, we are now surrounded. Judging by their skill, those who came up just now are formidable. We came here by imperial command; the responsibility is grave. Please, make a decision soon, so we might escape this deadly trap.”

The woman reclined against a pile of rubble, eyes closed as if she hadn’t heard him, resting calmly. After a while, seeing no response, Shan Shang shook his head and was about to leave when she spoke lazily, eyes still shut, “Their Sunstone is nearly depleted. Attack in one incense stick’s time.”

“Attack? But it’s the enemy attacking us now!” Shan Shang wondered if he had misheard, and asked again.

“You wanted me to decide. My decision is to attack,” she replied stubbornly.

Shan Shang sighed, turned, and relayed the command.

Lin Bai, once excited at the start of the battle, had become increasingly calm. He had just struck down two Dark Fiend soldiers attempting to ambush him, then cleaved through two charging Dark Fiend vanguard with blades of energy.

With Lin Bai’s troops joining the fray, the Cloud Palace army, once faltering, now seemed to match the Dark Fiend in strength—neither side breaking through, neither yielding ground.

At this moment, the Snow Guard troops suspended in midair had exhausted their last Sunstone; their energy depleted, they could no longer maintain their position and fell to the ground. The Wind Guard attacking from the ground fared little better—supplies nearly gone, their energy swords and blades weakening, unable to shatter even the planks and millstones wielded by the Dark Fiend soldiers.

The battle dragged on, exhausting both attackers and defenders, each enduring by sheer force of will.

As everyone clung to tired resolve, the woman who had reclined amidst the rubble suddenly stood, brushed dust from her armor, stretched languidly, and grabbed a passing messenger. “Go tell those four fools—it’s time to attack.”

The messenger asked in bewilderment, “But, Vanguard, we’re surrounded. How do we attack?”

She waved him off, “Just deliver my words as I said!” Then, with a casual push, she sent him stumbling into Shan Sha’s back, causing Shan Sha to stagger forward.

Preoccupied with commanding his troops, Shan Sha was abruptly shoved, and his suppressed frustration flared; he turned, ready to strike the culprit.

The messenger dropped to the ground, covering his head and shouting, “Vanguard orders: Follow her to attack!”

Shan Sha halted his punch halfway, withdrawing his force, and shouted at the messenger, “What madness is that woman spouting now? Can’t she see we’re surrounded?”

The messenger answered, squatting down in distress, “I said the same, but… I was thrown onto your back for it.”

As they spoke, a thunderous explosion erupted from the southeast corner of the battlefield. The Cloud Palace army, besieging the Dark Fiend, was blasted back by a powerful wave of energy, reducing the pressure on the beleaguered soldiers. Looking back, they saw their Vanguard, single-handedly clearing away the annoying Cloud Palace soldiers hovering above, boosting morale. The outer soldiers roared, swinging their makeshift weapons outward, knocking more Cloud Palace troops from the sky, where they were swiftly dispatched by the Dark Fiend pursuers.

The woman, a sharp blade in the chaos, moved unstoppably, followed by Dark Fiend soldiers hoping to break through the siege in a desperate charge.

Qin Ying, locked in bloody combat, heard the southeast perimeter was about to be breached. In desperation, she shouted into the sky, “Lan Sheng, if you don’t act now, you’ll be left to collect our bodies!” With that, she transformed into a blade of energy, surging toward the southeast.

Landing, Qin Ying felt a sudden gust ahead, and saw someone flung from beyond the wall of soldiers. Instinctively, she caught the figure and steadied him—it was Winged Fire Serpent from Vermilion Bird Palace, eyes closed, blood streaming from his lips. How could one of fifth rank be beaten so?

As Jing Mu Han hesitated, the Cloud Palace wall before her was smashed open, a dozen soldiers torn apart by fierce energy blades, the aftermath rushing toward her. Jing Mu Han extended her left hand, deftly pushing Winged Fire Serpent back into the ranks, while her right unleashed three bursts of energy, barely neutralizing the force as it reached her face, the winds leaving a bloody gash across her cheek.

Touching the wound, Jing Mu Han’s heart raced, “Could this be the Lanling Fairy? Besides Zhuo Hua, only she possesses such power in this void. I must not underestimate her.”

Steeling herself for the next attack, she was startled as an ear-splitting sound tore through the sky. Looking up, she saw a massive vortex forming, swirling with lightning and fire.

“They’ve triggered the Thunderfire Cataclysm?” Jing Mu Han suppressed her joy—at last, Cloud Palace’s victory was at hand.

The newly recruited Dark Fiend vanguard, never having witnessed such a spectacle, stood dumbfounded, staring upward, their resistance faltering.

But the Four Earthly Fiends recognized it—the ultimate technique of the Xuanhuang lineage: Thunderfire Celestial Maelstrom. Though slow to cast, its power was unmatched. If unleashed, it would devour a thousand troops and obliterate the entire village.

Shi Shang asked Shan Shang, “Brother! Xuanhuang is unleashing that move again, let’s run!”

Shan Shang replied, “How? We’re still surrounded, the sky web overhead—jumping up would only get us trapped.”

Shi Shang said, “Brother, remember that every time they use that cursed Thunderfire Maelstrom, the outer soldiers withdraw. We wait for that gap to break out.”

Shan Shang struck a broken stone with fury, shattering it, and sighed, “If only we had our weapons and treasures, we wouldn’t fear that measly vortex. We were fools to believe that damned woman, who promised we’d get weapons as soon as we arrived—look at us now… Alas!”

Shi Shang murmured, “Strange! Today the Xuanhuang soldiers haven’t moved—they seem to be chanting incantations.”

Shan Shang climbed atop the rubble, gazed into the distance, and grew even more despondent, “It looks like the sky web—they mean to trap us all, to bury us with one blow.”

He looked skyward and lamented, “Great Emperor! We, Four Earthly Fiends, have given our all, but alas—followed the wrong leader, and a meaningless death awaits!”

The other three—Shi, Tu, Sha—sighed, tossing their makeshift weapons aside, abandoning resistance. Seeing their generals lose heart, the surrounding Dark Fiend soldiers looked around, slowly dropping their planks, doors, and millstones.

In the darkest hour before dawn, a peculiar scene unfolded amid the blazing ruins of ancient Zhuyuan. The Cloud Palace soldiers and Star Lords surrounding the enemy clasped their hands in incantation, a faint golden net rising to overlap with the sky web above. The besieged, having laid down stones and clubs, sat cross-legged, awaiting death. Overhead, a giant vortex of thunder and fire roared down upon them.

The battlefield, once deafening, was now silent enough to hear a pin drop.

The vortex above drew nearer, growing larger; Shan Shang felt the crushing pressure descending. Lightning and celestial fire swirled, the heat rising, their hair curling and burning with a foul odor. Shan Shang knew the end was near.

As the Dark Fiend vanguard sat resigned, a small figure shot skyward from the southeast, energy swirling from crimson to blue-white. The figure soared straight into the Thunderfire Maelstrom; a thunderclap split the heavens, and the massive vortex dissolved into scattered energy, sweeping up sand, millstones, beams, and debris, blowing them toward the Cloud Palace soldiers and Star Lords. Most were swept into the air, the siege broken, the sky webs—both formed and forming—shattered.

The Dark Fiend vanguard on the ground, though disheveled and dusty, their eyes darting wildly, suffered no harm.

As the thunder faded, many tumbled from the sky in succession—those drained of vitality and struck down by the blast, Star Lords and soldiers alike.

Amid the ravaged battlefield and anguished cries, a shaft of dawn leapt from the eastern horizon, illuminating the ancient scorched earth.

The lone figure hovering overhead spoke in a clear, crisp voice, “Go tell that fool—next time I won’t spare you. And tell him, Lanling Fairy has returned!”