Chapter 1291: Close The Door And Beat The Dog
The Imperial Palace and Liang Pan were swept up by the Nameless Ancient Formation and the power of the formation heaped pressure upon their consciousness and rationality, causing them to enter a state of thoughtlessness.
At this moment, a radiant hue appeared above the Imperial Palace and the purple-golden light disappeared entirely. All that was left was pure light and a chaotic sphere of energy shimmered within - and there was a single crack on its surface.
The moment this crack appeared, vast energy was released, and it felt as if it was going to rip the Greater World into two halves. The air above the Ying Sea trembled along with it and even the regions outside the Greater World seemed to quiver as well.
It was the Extreme Emperor Heaven-Splitting Mantra. Emperor Tai watched the Grand Celestial World, which was originally a single entity, dramatically split into the Barren Expanses and the Divine Lands during the final years of the Primordial Age and during the birth of the Supreme Heavenly Mirror. This was a mantra that he devised after the witnessing the fact.
Liang Pan had channeled this mantra using the Imperial Palace during the last scramble for the Ying Sea, and he used it once more with much greater force and its aura was much more complete.
A colossal purple-colored human shadow shimmered above the Imperial Palace. He appeared extremely clear and full of life, with all his details on full display.
That human shadow was replete with dignity and intimidation as if he was the dictator of the entire world and watched over the living beings of this Earth. Streaks of purple-golden light flickered and orbited around his body as if he were the supreme ruler descending upon the world - he was the last human emperor of the Primordial Age, and the first human emperor of the Antiquity Age, Emperor Tai.
The potent power of the Extreme Emperor Heaven-Splitting Mantra was unleashed, and it was so powerful that it appeared like it was actually going to open up the earth, and forcefully tore apart the Nameless Ancient Formation outside the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain.
In the next moment, the Imperial Palace transformed into a beam of purple-golden light and leapt out of the Nameless Ancient Formation. Emperor Tai's light projection loomed over the heavens and was so large that he seemed to fill up the entire Ying Sea as he came above the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain.
Another streak of flowing light flashed across the Imperial Palace and condensed in midair into a giant symbol. There were only a few strokes, and it was ancient yet not overly simple. Instead, it gave out a feeling of the true meaning of simple and great Dao.
Lights flickered and the symbol in the sky seemed to read "Tai".
Emperor Tai's light shadow reached out with his palm and directed this "Tai" symbol and crashed down on the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain. This was another esoteric skill of Emperor Tai's lineage, the Emperor Tai's Spell Imprint!
"This magic treasure can channel Emperor Tai's various spells and mantras." Lin Feng's Avatar of Ares sat atop the mystical mountain. He tilted his head and tapped on the rocks on the summit of the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain once more.
The Yingzhou Celestial Mountain shuddered and transformed into void space yet again. Space-time was contorted as the Emperor Tai's Spell Imprint pierced right through the mountain and seemed to land right into the water.
Liang Pan watched on as a chilly expression flashed across his eyes and he muttered under his breath, "Damn it!"
Following his exclamation, the Royal Purple Gas all around his body surged before he raised his right hand high into the sky and straightened his palm like a blade.
The Imperial Palace's aura suddenly changed with his action and became extremely sharp, edgy and much more ferocious. The aura was like supreme law descended upon the world to dish out judgment and punishment and was about to annihilate something. There was an instantaneous feeling of the frightening unpredictability of divine will and dominance.
The clouds above the Ying Sea were riled up as Ying and Yang were reversed and space in between shattered continuously. Time itself seemed to stop in this very moment.
The Emperor Tai's Spell Imprint was about to pierce through the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain through the contorted space-time and was supposedly unable to cause any more damage. At this moment, it suddenly exploded into streak after streak of flowing light.
A chaos hole appeared in the center of the flowing light and sucked all of them within. The chaos hole collapsed together and condensed continuously and disappeared at the end of it all, and all that was left was a flash of light that launched itself outwards with bedazzling speed.
It was a terrifying radiance from a blade. Once this blade slashed out, it seemed to banish all things into the void and everything was attracted and gravitated towards the blade wherever it went - nothing could be done to avoid this force.
Yet, as these things touched the blade's radiance, everything was reduced to nothingness and all were sent on a path to destruction.
The Primordial Chaos Hole Blade of Annihilation!
Emperor Tai had another powerful spell aside from the Extreme Emperor Heaven-Splitting Mantra. One blade could accommodate all things but could also destroy them, and everything that it touched would be reduced to nothingness.
The Yingzhou Celestial Mountain was stirred by the blade radiance from the Primordial Chaos Hole Blade of Annihilation. It was initially in its virtual form inside contorted space-time and the Imperial Palace's power was no longer able to touch it, but it was forcibly dragged out from the virtual world by this mystical power!
Due to the previous collision, this blade seemed to slash out from within the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain and instantly posed a great threat to it.
Lin Feng made a gesture with both of his hands before he placed them together in front of his chest and exclaimed, "Go!"
The mystical mountain's core illusory realm was triggered, and streaks of starlight surged into vision. They congregated in the outer regions of the mountain and transformed into an enormous sphere of light before it started to become smaller and its power grew denser.
The Ying Sea around everyone started to tremble violently as if the entire world was shifting. The Ying Sea world almost seemed like it was going to collapse and implode into the middle with the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain at the center.
Rays of light danced about in the area above the Ying Sea. It felt as if there was a grand willpower that had just awakened inside the Ying Sea - that consciousness wasn't that clear and oscillated in and out of existence and wasn't agile at all. Yet, it was heavy and immense.
The jade planks formed by the Nameless Ancient Formation outside the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain suddenly dissipated into streaks of light that flew out into the far ends of the horizon.
The giant Yingzhou Celestial Mountain itself almost became completely virtual and became something like a large air bubble.
The air bubble cracked open by itself, it was slashed open by the Imperial Palace's Primordial Chaos Hole Blade of Annihilation and it dissipated on its own into the clouds and mist above the Ying Sea.
The enormous Yingzhou Celestial Mountain disappeared without a trace, much like dreams and visions in a bubble.
The jade planks formed by the Nameless Ancient Formation re-formed themselves in a distance far away. Every jade plank worked like a mirror, and a giant air bubble floated out from the middle of it all. This air bubble condensed together and transformed into the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain once again. The jade planks lined up in rows once more and formed the Nameless Ancient Formation as it continued to protect the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain from the outside.
Lin Feng gazed at the Imperial Palace in the distance from the top of the mystical mountain and said, "The Imperial Palace is indeed worthy of its reputation. You are also full of secrets and surprises, Liang Pan. You have mastered the Spellbook of Emperor Tai and your mantras and abilities are extraordinary. They have been overshadowed by the Imperial Palace and many people have overlooked the fact because of this."
"You don't actually have to fight your own battles as you're the emperor of an empire. Furthermore, you have Zhu Hongwu by your side in your various wars and conquests, but you have never taken your personal mastery lightly."
Lin Feng spoke as he slapped on the rocks on the summit of the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain. The Yingzhou Celestial Mountain leaned in once again towards the Imperial Palace and the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain.
Liang Pan's face was sullen inside the Imperial Palace as he replied softly, "You flatter me, leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders."
He took a deep breath as he stared at the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain. He also glanced in another direction - the void opened, and a sprawling streak of golden rainbow-like energy surged out from within. It seemed to stretch to the ends of the earth and all the way from the beginning of time, and even appeared to break through the limits of space and time.
The Higan Golden Bridge!
Zhu Yi, Shi Tianhao, Yue Hongyan and Li Yuanfang stood side by side on top of the bridge. An enormous light projection expanded above their heads and transformed into a sprawling magic formation that rotated silently in the sky. A crucible with four legs glimmered in the center of the magic formation and appeared like a great anchor and caused the magic formation's aura to become a lot more dense and concentrated.
"The Higan Golden Bridge, the Two Elements of Creation Formation, the Crucible of the Divine Lands..." Liang Pan watched on from inside the Imperial Palace as his heart started to sink. His hopes were dwindling right before his eyes.
Lin Feng pointed lightly at the Two Elements of Creation Formation from atop the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain. The magic formation expanded outwards and transformed into a boundless radiance as the Crucible of the Divine Lands supported it and it loomed over the surrounding area.
Heavy layers of light covered the entire void space. This meant that even if Liang Pan wanted to activate the Imperial Palace to escape, their escape routes were sealed off and even if he used the Primordial Chaos Hole Blade of Annihilation or the Extreme Emperor Heaven-Splitting Mantra, he wouldn't be able to break through within a short period of time.
If he couldn't escape in one breath, the combined assault from the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain and the Higan Golden Bridge would mean that the Imperial Palace would have completely lost its chance of escape.
Liang Pan's expression was despondent at this point. Lin Feng wanted to block off every single one of his escape routes.
He took a deep breath and he made a gesture with his hands.
Inside the military drill ground before the great hall of the Imperial Palace, multiple cultivators stood in a neat and ordered formation. It was the Great Zhou Empire's Divine Martial Army, but these cultivators didn't look all too good and the weakness on their faces were conspicuous.
A large portion of their energies were consumed when they broke out of the besiegement at Tianjing City, and they had yet to recover.
They were chased all the way from the corner of Tianjing City into the Ying Sea by the Celestial Sect of Wonders like a pack of dogs that couldn't see the light of day, and this was a great a hit to their morale.
Even though the Almighty Celestial Destroyer Formation didn't require everybody to be in harmony and everybody's powers would be concentrated as long as it was in operation, everybody had the heart and will, but their strengths were simply not there.
However, between the quivering of the Imperial Palace, the Almighty Celestial Destroyer Formation was activated once again. The mass of cultivators comprising the Divine Martial Army were both astonished and infuriated, but they could only grit their teeth and suffer the pain in silence.
The Imperial Palace's power received a great boost from the Almighty Celestial Destroyer Formation and rushed towards the light layers formed by the Two Elements of Creation Formation.
Zhu Yi stepped on the Higan Golden Bridge as the colossal rainbow surged through time and space and instantly arrived before the Imperial Palace.
Liang Pan made a move and the Imperial Palace suddenly turned tail, transformed into a beam of flowing light and took the initiative against the Higan Golden Bridge. The frightening chaotic energy consumed everything all around before it exploded open and the radiance of a blade shimmered into vision.
The blade radiance seemed to be the origin of everything, when the great Chaos first came about, yet it could also bring destruction to all beings. It appeared to rift the gap between Alpha and Omega, and everything that was in between during the process of life simply didn't exist.
It was the Primordial Chaos Hole Blade of Annihilation!
Zhu Yi wasn't worried at all as the blade radiance slashed towards him. He immediately revealed his virtual entity. The glyphs from his Way of Changes radiated brilliantly and continuously.
He tapped lightly upon the Higan Golden Bridge with his foot as eight colorful light circles flashed above it. At the same time, streaks of energy burst forth on Zhu Yi's virtual entity and it appeared as if natural law shook along with him.
He channeled the Eight-Type Dao Mantra and the Dao of the Way Mantra immediately afterwards as he integrated them with the power of the Higan Golden Bridge and directly clashed with the Imperial Palace's Primordial Chaos Hole Blade of Annihilation!
For him, after defeating Zhu Hongwu and capturing Shao Qingcheng, his level of mastery and the powers of his abilities had been rising continuously. Even though it hadn't been long since he fought against Zhu Hongwu and reached the second-level immortal soul sage, his powers had increased once more.
It would be a new dawn for Zhu Yi on the day when he would settle all his old grudges and bring Zhu Hongwu and Shao Qingcheng before Meng Bingyun's grave.
Liang Pan's eyes sparkled continuously inside the Imperial Palace before he sighed heavily into the sky. "It's hard for me to let you give your all so I can only play a trick."
Inside the golden spiritual fountain, Zhu Hongwu's body shuddered and his eyes opened wide.