Chapter 2816: Chapter 2816
"Let’s go up!"
Ye Liuyun knew time was of the essence. He needed to absorb the lightning energy quickly before reinforcing the others. Without hesitation, he grabbed Lei Ming and charged straight into the storm.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the two figures plunged into the dark clouds, defying the crackling bolts of lightning. Above the storm, a massive pool of thunder energy pulsed, continuously gathering power.
"Not bad at all!" Lei Ming nodded in satisfaction upon seeing the Thunder Source Pool.
"Make the most of this chance—it’s rare!" Ye Liuyun was equally pleased. He pulled Lei Ming into the pool and urged him to take out the Thunderstrike Stone so they could absorb the energy together.
Arcs of electricity flickered within the clouds, yet no more lightning struck the ground.
"Strike already!" Wen Yuan snapped impatiently at Feng Qiong from the sidelines.
"It must be those two interfering—the lightning won’t come down!" Feng Qiong muttered, frustration creeping into his voice.
"Then switch to fire. Use the hurricane to spread the flames!" Enke remained composed. After all, these were just supplementary tactics. Even without them, his Golden Tiger Brigade would still crush the human warriors.
Feng Qiong cast a helpless glance at the distant Thunder Source in the sky. It was too far—even if they sent their elite forces to investigate, it would take too long.
The Sky-Sealing Formation not only restricted Ye Liuyun’s aerial movement but also hindered their own. If they dispatched scouts now, the enemy would surely intercept them with greater numbers.
With no other choice, Feng Qiong abandoned the Thunder Source and summoned his power once more, calling forth celestial flames.
Beneath the oppressive dark clouds, clusters of fiery clouds materialized, raining down fireballs in a relentless barrage.
With a piercing shriek, the Vermilion Bird revealed its true form and soared into the sky, intercepting the fireballs one by one, devouring them whole. Though the Sky-Sealing Formation restricted flight, it barely affected the divine bird. Since the fireballs were concentrated over their forces, it didn’t need speed—hovering in place was enough to catch them.
Any that slipped past were swiftly absorbed by its clone below, ensuring not a single flame went to waste.
"This... must be those traitors from Fuyang tipping off the humans!" Feng Qiong spat out through gritted teeth, his face contorted with frustration. The fireballs were being absorbed midair before they could even reach the ground, rendering them utterly useless.
"If heavenly fire fails, try earthly flames!" Wen Yuan quickly reminded him.
"Fine!" Feng Qiong reluctantly agreed, summoning his power once more to unleash the subterranean fires.
Unlike the celestial flames, these earthly fires were yin in nature—a perfect counterbalance to the yang of heavenly fire, the two forces complementing each other.
Without warning, the ground erupted in ghostly blue flames, catching an entire squad of soldiers completely off guard.
"Deploy the Spirit Cat Battleships!" Yu Xiaofeng immediately commanded his troops.
In perfect synchronization, soldiers from every formation summoned their Spirit Cat Battleships, boarding the hovering vessels while maintaining their shield formations. The feline-shaped warships ascended swiftly, putting distance between themselves and the treacherous ground below, while clones scattered to collect the emerging earthly fires.
"They’ve come prepared. You’re just wasting your energy," Enke cautioned Feng Qiong with a meaningful glance.
The truth was, summoning thunderbolts, heavenly fire, and earthly flames required tremendous effort—channeling the very forces of nature itself. Even concentrating on a single element would strain Feng Qiong’s limits, let alone three simultaneously. The power sustaining these attacks came from the primal energy of his spatial realm.
With all his assaults proving ineffective, Enke’s advice to conserve energy was sound. Yet pride stung at Feng Qiong’s heart. "Let me try once more!" he insisted stubbornly.
Gathering all his remaining strength, he focused solely on intensifying the heavenly fire—three simultaneous attacks were beyond him now. Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun and Thunderclap had absorbed vast amounts of lightning energy, leaving only scant remnants of the thunder source. With practiced ease, Ye Liuyun recalled Thunderclap into his spatial realm and stored the remaining electric essence within his Thunderstrike Stone.
As the dark storm clouds gradually dissipated, they revealed the crimson hues of fire-lit skies below. Feng Qiong’s amplified heavenly fires now overwhelmed the Vermilion Birds on the ground, while the clones still scrambled to contain the spreading earthly flames.
Ye Liuyun immediately rushed to assist Zhuque, plunging back into the fiery clouds to absorb their blazing energy.
"Huh? Why is the fire energy weakening too?" Feng Qiong had exerted tremendous effort, depleting much of his own power, yet the celestial flames showed no sign of intensifying.
In the end, he had no choice but to give up, reluctantly handing the battlefield over to Enke.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun, his doppelgänger, and Zhuque swiftly absorbed every last trace of the fire energy before regrouping.
Zhuque’s strength had grown significantly, so Ye Liuyun recalled it into his spatial realm to consolidate its gains. He and his doppelgänger then exchanged portions of their yin-yang fire sources, balancing their flame energies. Ye Liuyun also handed over all the lightning-strike stones to his doppelgänger to enhance its thunder power.
At the same time, Yu Xiaofeng ordered the army to stow away the Spirit Cat battleships and return to the ground.
The first clash between the two sides had been spectacular in scale, but the attacks were ultimately toothless, failing to inflict any real damage on Ye Liuyun’s forces. Instead, all the energy Feng Qiong had summoned ended up being completely absorbed by Ye Liuyun.
"Best case scenario—we capture that guy. With him, we’d never have to worry about cultivating lightning and fire energy again!" Both Ye Liuyun and his doppelgänger had their eyes set on the alien elder, Feng Qiong.
On the opposing side, Feng Qiong was on the verge of tears. Despite unleashing so much power, his attacks had been effortlessly neutralized. Furious, he cursed Broken Horn and Stroking Sheep, accusing them of leaking secrets.
Enke, however, ignored his tantrum and instead commanded the army to prepare for the real assault.
"In the end, strength is all that matters," he thought to himself.
But what he didn’t realize was just how formidable Ye Liuyun truly was.
With a wave of his hand, the golden-armored troops began advancing in perfect formation, their thunderous footsteps shaking the ground as they marched toward Ye Liuyun’s forces. They chose to walk rather than fly, conserving their vital energy.
In the past, their sheer, menacing aura alone would have been enough to intimidate their foes. But this time, they were facing the Blade Corps.
Unfazed, every soldier in the Blade Corps stood their ground, icy killing intent radiating from them as they calmly awaited the enemy’s charge.
Ye Liuyun began summoning the gate to the Underworld. The process was somewhat slow, but fortunately, the alien forces’ advance wasn’t particularly swift either, giving him ample time to prepare.
Though the gate itself had yet to materialize, the chilling aura of the Underworld had already begun to seep into the surroundings.
"What is this energy?" Enk, while commanding his troops, had his senses fully extended, monitoring every movement on the battlefield. He immediately detected the overwhelming surge of dark, deathly energy.
The eerie presence grew stronger by the second, coalescing into a dense, oppressive force that gradually shrouded the battlefield in gloom.
"Could they have a master of necromancy among them?" Enk wondered inwardly. If the enemy truly possessed such a formidable figure, their power might even surpass that of a Ninth-Level Sovereign.
