As soon as Nine-Tails' voice fell, the tentacles surging from the sea became even denser. Their hiding place had been pierced, and now the counterattack began.
Hai Yan's face grew even paler than before. In order to mislead the two Mahayana Zhēnzūn who had joined forces against him, he had thrown away one of his only two blood sacs, even placing his most prized refined clone inside, hoping it would be destroyed in his place.
He had kept only the largest "mother sac." Now he had almost no supply left. That last blood sac was his hiding place. If it were to be destroyed, what awaited him was only death and annihilation.
A vicious glint flickered in Hai Yan's eyes. He bit through his own fingertip, flicked out five drops of essence blood, and injected them into five wooden puppets before him. As he chanted, the wooden figures grew larger, transforming into flesh-and-blood cultivators that leapt out from the blood sac.
Five Mahayana-stage puppet cultivators erupted from beneath the sea and joined the fray.
Almost every Mahayana Zhēnzūn was immediately entangled by one. These early-Mahayana puppets attacked viciously, every strike aimed at sea of consciousness, dantian, and other vital points, showing no hesitation.
Worse yet, their techniques were laced with evil qi. A single careless touch would contaminate the body. This forced the Mahayana Zhēnzūn of the various sects to act with extreme caution. This was why evil cultivators at Mahayana were always more troublesome than ordinary peers.
Jian Dan and the other Unity cultivators within the barrier saw their sect's Zhēnzūn being held back. Without needing discussion, they all began launching attacks down into the sea.
"Senior Brother, this time don't hold back. We must force him out from the seabed. Heaven itself will see him punished."
"I know. Just now was only a warm-up."
Jian Xu curved his brows and smiled. His sword swept out, unleashing an enormous white sword-light, solid as substance, cutting straight toward the seabed.
Jian Xu possessed the Light spiritual root, natural nemesis of evil cultivators. His killing power was self-evident. This was why Jian Dan had first called him to join this mission.
Jian Dan's way was simple: in equal conditions, whoever dealt the heaviest blow to the enemy should be the one to strike.
One of Jian Dan's other spirit swords had already slipped beneath the waves earlier, waiting for its chance. Now she herself held the Mò Xī Jiàn, and with a shout of "Primordial Chaos!" she cleaved into the sea, her strike chasing close behind Jian Xu's.
The two attacks combined, grinding all the rising tentacles within half the sea into minced flesh that fell back into the waters.
The Heavenly Demon Palace's "Heaven" squad, nine Unity late-stage cultivators, had linked up with Heavenly Sword Sect's "Heaven's Punishment" squad. Together they ceaselessly swept through the barrier, cutting the writhing tentacles in half, ensuring none had the chance to disturb the Zhēnzūn.
The whole sea was in upheaval. Beasts dwelling below felt the danger and fled the battlefield's heart. Those that failed to escape were either sucked into Hai Yan's blood sac as makeshift nourishment, or killed outright by the shockwaves of battle.
As time passed, more and more cultivators gathered on the surface. High-ranking ones clustered outside the barrier, ready to enter at any moment.
From Dao Sect, Demon Gate, and the Loose Cultivator Alliance, high-level experts had also arrived. Seeing the situation was under control, they did not rush in, but instead spread out around Tian Zhuo Zhēnzūn's barrier, sealing its perimeter to prevent any helpers of the evil cultivator from launching surprise attacks from outside.
Before Nine-Tails stood a Mahayana puppet sea beast: human torso with a fish tail, its body covered in black scales, even its face armored with them. It gripped a trident in hand. With a flick of its tail, it lunged forward in attack.
In Nine-Tails' violet eyes, ripples shimmered. The stench of evil qi rolling off the trident nearly numbed her nose, but she showed no carelessness. Her red lips parted, and a sphere of violet fox-fire fell into her palm.
The flame spread along her arm, enveloping her body, instantly forming a suit of violet fire-armor. The sea beast's trident came stabbing in, only to be blocked by the sweep of a fox tail aflame.
Nine-Tails' five fingers clawed, prying up scales from the beast's chest. A shriek burst out in response, its high-frequency screech shaking the cultivators within the barrier, each affected to varying degrees.
Nine-Tails gave only a soft snort, drowning out its cry. Another violet tail lashed out, sending the trident flying from its grip. Seeing the peril, the beast immediately dove back into the sea.
The waters swiftly mended its wounds. With a wave of its hand, the trident returned to its palm. Its eyes burned crimson as it fixed Nine-Tails in its gaze, then leapt out again to strike.
But Nine-Tails had already grasped its rhythm. The instant it left the water, she gave no chance. A fox-fire whip coiled instantly around its neck.
The sea beast hurled its trident in desperation, while clawing at the whip to tear it away.
Nine-Tails' figure flickered, vanishing as the trident pursued her. With a flash of movement, she appeared behind the beast. It sensed something wrong, and its tail lashed out, trying to create distance.
But how could Nine-Tails let such a chance slip? One fox-fire clad hand plunged into its dantian, and with a wrench, she ripped out its demon core.
She looked at the pitch-black orb in her palm with disgust, then crushed it into powder.
Deprived of its demon core, the sea beast instantly lost half its power. Worse, the fox-fire inside its body ignited from within. This time, when it fell back into the water, it never surfaced again.
Meanwhile, Tian Zhuo Zhēnzūn had been observing the battle. He saw the eleven Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators who had entered were steady, their attacks precise and coordinated. Relieved, he diverted his full attention to the puppet sword cultivator before him.
Tian Zhuo Zhēnzūn possessed the Earth spiritual root, and his sword techniques were heavy and solid. Yellow sword-light showed no gaps. His strikes clashed against the opponent's emerald sword-aura, and the waves of their collision hacked down many of the sea's tentacles.
One exchange told Tian Zhuo Zhēnzūn this was a Wood spiritual root sword cultivator, deliberately chosen to restrain him.
With two slashes, he formed a crossed sword domain, dragging his opponent inside, filling the air with countless sword-shadows in a storm of all-direction assault.
On the other side, Yun Yun Zhēnzūn faced a female puppet that resembled Mo Mei. Her eyes flashed with killing intent. Did they really think to provoke her with this? What a pitiful scheme. Did they still believe she was the naïve little girl from the past?
Yun Yun's hands formed seals. From her palms leapt forth a dragon of ice and a dragon of water, both charging at the puppet woman. Expressionless, the puppet raised her sleeve, releasing a fire dragon that tangled with Yun Yun's twin dragons.
With another flick, Yun Yun sent forth her life-bound treasure, the "Shui Yun Ribbon," directly against the puppet.
The puppet wielded a red longsword, both hands gripping it as red sword-light cut toward Yun Yun.
Shui Yun Ribbon and the crimson sword-shadows collided, sparks flaring so fiercely that the sea began to boil.
Above, the three dragons fought. The red fire dragon was swallowed by the water dragon. At that instant, the ice dragon merged with the water dragon, forming a greater ice dragon, which froze the fire dragon inside its belly.
The fire dragon thrashed, burning fiercely, but the more it struggled, the smaller it became, until at last it vanished entirely.
Seizing the moment, the ice dragon burst from the sea once more, surging straight toward the puppet woman's sword.