Li Wudi looked at the army assembled outside the barrier, his eyes crimson.
"Yuwen Taiji won the last battle. Now this is the real life and death battle for the Grand-Orient Sect! If we’re defeated, there will be countless deaths and the sect will cease to exist." Li Wudi understood the importance of this war.
At the moment, the Grand-Orient Sect was on standby, with more than twenty thousand Grand-Orient guardians gathered at the inner edge of the barrier, surrounded by their lifebound beasts.
Ye Shaoqing and Tianming walked up to Li Wudi.
"Is everything okay?" asked Li Wudi.
"Yes, everything’s in order," replied Ye Shaoqing.
"Thank you very much, Brother," laughed Li Wudi.
"There’s no need for courtesy." Ye Shaoqing rolled his eyes.
He stood side by side with Li Wudi, staring at the armies outside the barrier.
"Jun Dongyao is coming," said Li Wudi.
"Yes, when we were young and he was Heaven’s Elysium’s number one genius, he sure tortured me."
"Today, I will avenge you."
"Oh, stop bragging. What about the Onyx Emperor? This whole thing is really risky," remarked Ye Shaoqing.
"It’s all about genuine friendship. We drank together over the past two days. In fact, he’s suffered a lot. Heaven’s Elysium slaughtered too many of them. All three of his children died at their hands, and he was forced to surrender," Li Wudi sympathized.
"Aren’t you afraid of befriending him?" Ye Shaoqing laughed.
"What’s there to be afraid of? What happened with Yuwen Taiji is over. The world is so vast. As long as they’re kindred spirits, they’re my friends," laughed Li Wudi.
It was truly rare for a man who had once been betrayed to still maintain such a state of mind. Most people were once bitten, twice shy.
"If the Onyx Emperor is on our side, we have a great chance of winning." Ye Shaoqing narrowed his eyes.
"I’d like to use this opportunity to bury all of them under the Grand-Orient Barrier!" Li Wudi declared.
"So cruel?"
"Ruthlessness is the mark of a real man. We must be cruel to our enemies and send them trembling at the mere mention of the Grand-Orient Sect," Li Wudi sneered.
"Are you bragging again?" Tianming interrupted.
"Tianming, my son, you don't know how powerful your father is!" Li Wudi heartily drank.
“Then let me witness your might."
"Come on then," Li Wudi beckoned. As Tianming approached, he watched Li Wudi lift his left sleeve. There were two Crimson Beastbane-rings on his arm. The first was a qilin and the other was a xuanwu.
As far as Tianming recalled, he also had five bane-rings on his right arm, making a total of seven.
"Damn!" blurted Tianming and Ye Shaoqing.
"Hahaha, the world thinks that I’m a hexabane. How could they know that my unprecedented cultivation techniques have blazed a real destiny-defying path? Perhaps no one in the entire Flameyellow continent has done what I’m doing. I’m still awakening more bane-rings. This is the seventh! I’m now a heptabane. Furthermore, I made a breakthrough yesterday, advancing to second-level Saint stage. Cultivation is so easy.”
Li Wudi was simply asking for a beating. However, there was no denying the fact that he had suffered more than twice as many hardships as the first ancestor during the past fourteen years. His seven Crimson Beastbane-rings were justified. Li Wudi’s misfortune was an opportunity to change his fate.
"Both father and son are monsters," sighed Ye Shaoqing.
"Since my progress is so rapid, I must abuse Heaven’s Elysium today, force the Elysian Emperor into retreat, and strike fear into them. If I keep this up, I’ll soon be able to crush the Elysian Emperor," said Li Wudi. He truly believed he was capable of such a feat.
"Tianming, here you go,” smiled Li Wudi. Pulling out a book from his spatial ring, he threw it to Tianming.
As soon as Tianming laid eyes on it, he realized it was Yuwen Taiji’s Spiritburn Tome, the wondrous heavenly pattern book.
"This is for you. At a critical moment, you may develop a great explosion of strength."
"Wouldn't it be better for you to use?" asked Tianming.
"What do you think? This book is very precious, but it can only be used by those at Heavenly Will and below. Even exchanging half of the Grand-Orient Sect can’t get you this book. After all, an item that can instantly enhance one’s strength is beyond amazing. If I could use it, Yuwen Taiji would’ve long used it."
Tianming had wondered why Yuwen Taiji didn’t use the Soulburn Tome that day.
He put the book away and planned to study it as soon as he returned. Just then, the earth shook from a massive movement outside the barrier. Heaven’s Elysium and the Cloudmist Sword School had started their attack.
"How arrogant, entering the war without so much as a word!" Killing intent flashed through Li Wudi’s eyes.
"When will you use your trump card?" asked Ye Shaoqing.
"There’s no rush. We’ll fight until most of the Elysian purifiers and Cloudmist keepers have entered deep into the fog of the barrier. Then, we’ll get them all."
"What should we do before that?"
"Show weakness and endure."
"If we show our cards too early, when they aren’t deep enough, it’ll be easy for them to escape. We won’t be able to kill them all," agreed Ye Shaoqing.
This was giving them a taste of their own medicine.
"Godfather, Master, where shall I go?" asked Tianming.
"Go fall in love! I want grandchildren," laughed Li Wudi.
Tianming couldn’t be bothered to respond to that.
"Godfather wants to lure our enemies into the depths of the barrier. Then the enemy’s vanguards may cross the barrier and pose a threat to the disciples on the barrier’s edge.”
Tianming decided he would head to Azure Dragon Sword Mountain, since it was closest to the battlefield. As soon as someone broke through the barrier, they would invade the mountain.
Noticing Tianming’s direction, Ye Shaoqing asked, "Aren’t you going to send someone to protect him?"
"No, he’s used to fighting geniuses. It’s time for him to see how cruel the battlefield of life and death really is. For a genius to become a powerhouse, he must take the road of slaughter! The real battle isn’t in the ring, but between life and death."
……
When the Elysian purifiers in their platinum armor and Cloudmist keepers in their blue armor crashed into the Grand-Orient Barrier, another battle of the sect war commenced. This time, the pressure on the barrier was twice what it was the time before. The dense crowd of Elysian purifiers and Cloudmist keepers attacked with more than a hundred thousand large, ferocious lifebound beasts.
"The Onyx Sect has launched an attack! Break the Grand-Orient Barrier first, then slowly kill them!”
“Kill!!”
The white fog was extremely dense, which greatly affected their sight. Many who entered immediately lost their way. The Grand-Orient Barrier resembled a huge mouth that swallowed Elysian purifiers and Cloudmist keepers one after another.
"Are they almost here?" On his Azureflame Dragon, Ye Shaoqing turned to Li Wudi.
Li Wudi steered his Ancient Infernalblood Kunpeng, galloping through the sky as a pillar of faith for the numerous Grand-Orient Sect disciples and powerhouses. Even if the entire world shook, as long as they looked up and saw the kunpeng, they remained calm inside.
"A little while longer!"
At present, only half of the enemy’s forces had entered the barrier, which was far from enough.
"But if we wait until they’ve all entered, some of them might cross the barrier and harm our young disciples,” said Ye Shaoqing.
"The Grand-Orient guardians are blocking the front, but there’ll be losses. We’ll find the right balance." Li Wudi narrowed his eyes as he stared out at the enemy, who was crazily advancing in droves.
Within the crowd was Sikong Jiansheng. With the elders of the Cloudmist Sword School, they formed the sharpest blade. A total of more than forty people gathered together and charged in. Sikong Jiansheng looked spirited and was laughing, as he viewed the Grand-Orient Sect as meat on a chopping board.
On the other side, the East Cardinal King, Jun Dongyao, charged forth with dozens of elysian elders. These Saint stage powerhouses were lethal opponents, equivalent to the army’s vanguard.
“Li Wudi, show yourself! Aren’t you very strong? How can you shrink away like a turtle?" yelled Jun Dongyao.
Once the number one genius in the Grand-Orient Realm, Jun Dongyao had easily defeated everyone in the Realm Wars and won the Grand-Orient Sword. But now it seemed that many of his peers had caught up, including Weisheng Tianlan, Ye Shaoqing, and Yuwen Taiji. It made him rather unhappy. What was even more discomfiting was the fact that even Li Wudi had overwhelmed his limelight with a talent that invited comparisons against his own father!
"Elysian purifiers, kill! The Grand-Orient Sect is old, weak, sick, and disabled. They will never regain their glory! Today, Heaven’s Elysium will crush them and send this ten-thousand-year-old sect to its death!"
Ever since he was little, Jun Dongyao had been arrogant. Jun Tianyi's character was inherited from him. For decades, it had been so, and today, he stared with disdain at the Grand-Orient Mountains beyond the barrier.
"What an arrogant bastard," Ye Shaoqing sneered.
"All of Heaven’s Elysium share the same virtues—arrogance, assuming they are the best, and bullying everyone else. Even an ordinary disciple possesses a false sense of superiority," Li Wudi sniggered. In his hand was the Crimsonblood Saber. However, he was still waiting.
In the Grand-Orient barrier, the spirit hazards raged and white fog filled the air. Many Elysian purifiers and Cloudmist keepers were burned, electrocuted, or frozen to death before they could even meet the Grand-Orient guardians. The most powerful spirit hazard swept across the outermost layer, blocking the enemy. The Grand-Orient guardians stood further back today.
But soon, the Elysian purifiers and Cloudmist keepers broke through the barrier and charged toward the Grand-Orient Sect.