“I didn’t think he would really come out,” the Vermillion Bird said as she looked up at the image in the sky.
Jade Truth had already appeared before Tang Jie, even exchanging a few words with him before their bout, but there was no sound to be heard. It wasn’t because Tang Jie didn’t have the ability to transmit sound, but because he wasn’t willing. He wouldn’t do anything that he hadn’t promised to.
Xu Miaoran smiled. “The Heaven’s Equal Sect and Stellar Net Gate don’t exactly get along. They’ve fought against each other for domination of the Vast Wilderness Continent for ten thousand years. While they seem to get along, they would never actually be willing to peacefully work together. If that Jade Truth wishes to see his death, my husband is happy to send him on his way.”
“But in this way, Tang Jie’s strength will be completely exposed before the others,” the Vermillion Bird replied.
“But they have to be able to see it first,” Xu Miaoran giggled. She produced a crystal ball in her hand, one exactly like the one Tang Jie had been holding.
At this time, Jade Truth swung his whisk at Tang Jie, signaling the start of the battle.
Xu Miaoran stroked a finger over the crystal ball, upon which black fog began to appear within.
At the same time, the Flame Celestial Sovereign and the others who were focused on the battle found themselves surrounded in the same black fog.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign bellowed, “Tang Jie, you liar! You said that you would let us see the battle!”
As she spoke, the black fog rushed at them, bringing with it a vast killing intent.
“‘The Heaven Earth Reversal Five Elements Formation’?” Flowing Wind grimaced at this name.
He had heard of this formation before. It was a lethal formation from High Antiquity, said to possess the power to execute Immortals and vanquish devils.
But a moment later, he shouted, “Don’t believe him! A Violet Palace expert can’t have laid down this formation alone, and if he really did manage to lay down this formation, he wouldn’t have needed to wait around for so long. He would have just activated the formation and killed us!”
Everyone realized the problem with the words from before.
One of them attacked the black fog, and there really was no reaction. This black fog seemed to exist only to obscure their vision, so they ignored it and continued to observe the battle in the sky. The black fog used this chance to draw closer and closer, and once it was close enough, it suddenly erupted with thousands of black chains that shot at the group.
Caught off guard, a Violet Palace expert was ensnared by three chains and pulled into the fog. A terrible scream came from the fog that made everyone’s blood run cold.
A person asked, “What’s going on? Wasn’t it supposed to be fake?”
An idea suddenly occurred to Flowing Wind, and he shouted, “The Thousand Chains Thresher Formation! This is the Thousand Chains Thresher Formation! Everyone, be careful! Don’t let the fog touch you!”
Yiyi’s voice rang out once more. “Heheh, just like Big Brother said. The moment I mentioned the Five Elements Formation, these people would fall for their own cleverness and take the bait, and they would stop paying attention to the fog. And the more you make them not see the battle, the more they want to look, which makes them neglect the danger around them. In truth, what does it matter that they get to see? Once they’re all dead, who can know about Big Brother’s secrets?”
Flowing Wind and the Flame Celestial Sovereign were so enraged that their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
The Thousand Chains Thresher Formation wasn’t usually hard to deal with. While it was very powerful, it was inflexible and took a long time to charge. So long as it was scattered before it could fully take form, the formation would be broken. But they had fallen for Yiyi’s words and mistakenly believed that the fog was just meant to distract them, which gave the formation time to charge.
With the Thousand Chains assembled, it continued to assail the cultivators. The Flame Celestial Sovereign scowled and sent out his Origin Flames.
But these black chains were made from the fog, and his Origin Flames were unable to burn them away. More and more chains erupted out of the fog, giving the cultivators no time to observe the battle in the sky.
Seeing the situation worsen, Flowing Wind shouted and threw out his Genesis Cloud. As the cloud churned, all the black chains it encountered dissolved back into fog.
Just like that, the Thousand Chains Thresher Formation was undone.
Flowing Wind called back his cloud and grunted, “You think a mere Thousand Chains Formation can do anything to me?”
The black fog assembled into Yiyi’s head, and the little girl put a hand over her mouth and feigned shock. “Wow! So powerful! Big Brother needed a lot of effort to lay down this Thousand Chains Formation, and even an Earth Immortal wouldn’t have an easy time of it. I didn’t think you would break it with a single move.”
Flowing Wind snorted. “Now that you know my power, submit or die!”
Yiyi suddenly smiled. “Look—Jade Truth is dead!”
Everyone raised their heads in shock and saw that Jade Truth was still locked in fierce combat with Tang Jie and very much alive and well.
The fog suddenly rushed forward.
The crafty little girl had seized this chance for an ambush.
Flowing Wind noticed in time and grunted, “Trying to stage a comeback?”
He chopped a palm at the black fog.
But to his surprise, this palm stirred up great ripples, and then they heard a buzzing from the fog, and countless black flies emerged.
Yiyi laughed. “Be careful! These are the metal soulbugs, unique to the Yellow Court World. They’re savage little fellows, and if they bite you, you might end up in pain for three days.”
This time, Yiyi wasn’t lying. The metal soulbugs were born in the metal season of the Yellow Court World. Naturally gifted in the Metal Element, they possessed exceptionally tough bodies and the ability to pierce through armor and energy, so ordinary barriers were useless against them. Tang Jie had raised them over several generations to enhance their special traits, but alas, the breeding process was not entirely successful. At this time, they still couldn’t recognize their master and acted entirely on instinct. Moreover, they had rather lazy natures and weren’t particularly aggressive. However, they had a strong tendency for revenge and would hunt down anyone who dared to provoke them.
This was why Yiyi had used the Thousand Chains Formation first and then the bugs, baiting Flowing Wind into attacking them.
Unaware of what was going on, Flowing Wind had naturally fallen for it.
This was the advantage of a small world. It had things unique to it, including its own unique species. Nobody understood what they could do or what use they had except the master of this world.
A monstrous flood of bugs blotted out the sky as they crazily rushed at Flowing Wind’s group.
Yiyi clapped her hands and laughed. “Fun, fun! Make sure you handle them properly! Big Brother prepared more than thirteen hundred kinds of animals for this battle and forty-some kinds of formations. You have to hold on! It’s not fun if you can’t hold out until Big Brother can use all his cards, and all those days we prepared would have been a waste!”
Everyone was stunned, nobody knowing if she was telling the truth or not.
Suddenly, Yiyi shouted in surprise, “Oh no! Jade Truth was killed by Big Brother.”
Having fallen for it last time, nobody looked up.
Yiyi pouted. “Hey, I’m telling the truth this time. Just look up and see.”
Finally, someone decided to look up.
What he saw made his heart go cold. In the sky, Jade Truth was gushing blood. He had been chopped in half and his head sent flying into the sky.
Tang Jie’s callous voice rang out: “Second match, First Blood!”