The allied forces were steadily gaining ground across the ashen crater of the Blood Forge Valley. The initial ambushers were bleeding out rapidly and the montum of the battle had definitively shifted in favor of the defending factions. The scorched ground was heavily covered in shattered dark armor and broken weapons. It seed to the exhausted disciples that the worst of the brutal night was finally over as the enemy lines began to thin out.
Just then the sky above the canyon darkened ominously. The void tore open in several places across the firmant to reveal spatial rifts as hundreds of imposing dark warships slowly erged from the tears in reality. This was the rest of the enemy forces from the initial coordinated attack. They had gone to wipe out another secondary target location before circling back to join in the trap.
The number of fresh enemies dropping out of the ships and descending into the crater was staggering and crushed the morale of those below. The allied defenders felt a heavy and suffocating weight settle in their chests as the dark tide surged forward once again. The brief flicker of hope they had felt was instantly extinguished by the arrival of thousands of fully rested elite warriors.
Li Yu gritted his teeth and pushed his Qi circulation to the limit to do what he could. His ridians ached fiercely from the constant exertion he had been doing since the battle began. His soul felt stretched dangerously thin from commanding his flying swords and maintaining his ethereal clone for so long.
He directed Whispering Frost to sweep across the advancing lines of the newly arrived reinforcents. The icy blade generated a localized blizzard of Qi that froze several dark warriors to the ground and shattered their legs as they tried to push forward.
A female commander from the opposing side easily broke through the frost barrier though. She wielded twin hooked blades that dripped with dense dark Qi while she moved with deadly and erratic grace. Her footwork was bizarre and left afterimages in the swirling ash. She targeted Li Yu directly and closed the distance in a sudden flash of movent.
Li Yu imdiately raised Silent Bastion and braced his stance to et her charge. She crashed heavily into the rusted sword and the impact forced Li Yu to slide backward on the ash while his boots carved deep trenches into the earth.
He stepped out from behind the sword and swung Star Crusher with a violent horizontal arc. She effortlessly dodged under the staff and stepped inside his guard to slash viciously at his ribs. His inner armor flared brightly beneath his outer plates and they both cushioned the force of her blades. The brief pause in her montum gave Li Yu an opening to retaliate as his Qi clone shot an Abyssal Javelin directly at her from above. The dark spear scread through the air and forced her to leap backward to avoid being impaled by it.
Pale Extinction was already waiting for her in the spot she landed. The white bone sword pierced straight through her chest and severed her spine before she could even raise her hooks to parry. She gasped for air as the light faded from her eyes and she collapsed lifelessly into the dirt.
A horrific and soul tearing scream echoed across the chaotic battlefield a mont later.
One of the high ranking leaders from the enemy side saw the female commander fall from his vantage point in the sky. He called out for his daughter who Li Yu had just killed. His voice was filled with agony and a manic uncontrollable rage. He abandoned his opponent and plumted directly toward Li Yu like a falling teor.
This leader was followed along by a few other strong enemies who served as his personal guards. They ford a terrifying elite squad as they sward down with their weapons drawn and their auras blazing with killing intent. The group moved in synchronization and cut off any potential avenues of escape and anyone in their path.
Li Yu cursed his terrible bad luck that he had to anger soone much stronger than himself. He fell back rapidly to defend himself but the enemy sward down too quickly. He deflected a flaming spear with Silent Bastion while barely dodging a heavy mace that threatened to crush his shoulder. Haelan and Jhyra were locked in combat with other experts on the opposite side of the formation and they simply could not reach him in ti to intercept the assault.
Li Yu was quite drained at this point in the battle as well. His Qi reserves were running dangerously low from constantly operating his weapons and his Qi clone. He knew that he could not survive a prolonged brawl with this group of fresh elites when they were so enraged. His arms were heavy and his vision was beginning to blur at the edges as he continued to barely hold on.
As he was losing strength, he rembered he had the Samsara Dream Clam stored in his Koi Sanctuary. He had tried to communicate with the ancient beast before during his travels but it had never responded to his ntal probes. He sent a desperate pulse of intent toward the ring as the grieving person plunged his blade towards him.
It responded this ti.
The space warped violently as the dinsional fabric tore apart. The colossal pearlescent shell of the Samsara Dream Clam materialized out of thin air as it ca from the Koi Sanctuary. Its massive and overwhelming weight crushed several dark warriors instantly as it landed heavily on the crater floor. A tiny sliver of the impenetrable shell opened the exact mont it appeared and a blinding beam of white light shot out and hit Li Yu directly in his armored chest.
He was instantly sucked inside the beast and pulled out of the chaotic battle.
Li Yu landed heavily on the pale blue jade stones of the pristine courtyard that was inside the clam. The soft and warm light of the massive glowing pearl illuminated the peaceful area, bringing faint mories of the brief ti he was here. The serene atmosphere was a jarring contrast to the horrific at grinder he had just escaped. Li Yu could see the lush willow trees swaying gently in an unfelt breeze and actually felt a mont of peace.
He was utterly exhausted and his limbs felt like lead from the battle. Li Yu sat down heavily on the cool stones and pulled out several healing pills from his robes. He swallowed them quickly and closed his eyes to ditate as he let the dicine work and allow his drained body to slowly recover.
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He was not sure what was happening outside but he needed to restore his strength first before he called the clam away. He only hoped that the clam could hold on against the attacks from outside.
The battlefield around him on the outside ground to a sudden halt around the massive monolith. The grieving enemy leader and his swarm of elite experts unleashed a torrent of their most powerful arts against the clam in order to break it. They battered the shell with waves of black fire and streams of weapon attacks. They struck the shell with massive heavy blades and called down concentrated lightning techniques.
The clam took on all the attacks without suffering a single scratch. Because it was also so big, it drew a massive amount of attention to itself from across the entire canyon. Several of the enemy forces around the area abandoned their previous targets and tried to attack the giant shell as they feared what it could do given its size. This gave a slight break to those around, allowing them to retreat to the formations or at least gain so breathing room.
The clam’s defense remained unbreakable though. The grieving leader struck the pearlescent surface hundreds of tis until his hands bled and the bones in his forearms fractured from the recoil in his rage. They wasted a massive amount of ti on it while they poured their Qi into their weapons but failed to leave a single mark.
They finally realized their efforts were completely futile as they prepared to turn their attention back to the allied disciples and resu the slaughter. Just as they gave up, the massive shell shifted slightly, revealing a slight gap and let out a deep ancient groan. The clam released its terrifying dream illusions.
A thick and shimring mist poured out from the slight gap in the impenetrable armor. The fog rolled rapidly across the crater floor and expanded outward in every direction. It was able to isolate enemies from friends because of its spiritual connection with Li Yu. The mist completely ignored the Zhan Clan disciples and bypassed the Vajra Peaks monks. It washed directly over the dark armored warriors and seeped directly into their pores if they were unprepared.
Nearly a quarter of the newly arrived attacking forces were caught up in the illusion instantly. They dropped their weapons as their eyes glazed over and they fell deeply into a vivid and paralyzing dreamscape. They wandered aimlessly across the crater while sobbing uncontrollably or laughing maniacally at illusions only they could see.
One warrior began violently swinging his sword at empty air while screaming about ghosts. Another dropped to his knees and began digging through the ash with his bare hands while muttering about buried gold. This massive and unexpected effect stalled the enemy's montum entirely.
The allied forces here were able to hold their ground much better now that the pressure was lifted. The exhausted defenders regrouped quickly and began slaughtering the incapacitated warriors who were trapped in their dreams. Li Yu continued resting peacefully inside while the tide of the battle shifted once more.
Monts later, a massive and suffocating wave of Qi swept through the entire region. It felt as though the sky itself was physically collapsing onto the valley. The terrifying force destroyed about a third of the dark ships from the enemy side in a single violent instant. Burning debris and shattered tal rained down into the valley like a teor shower.
Zhan Tian had arrived on his own.
The Worldkeeper had crossed the void and ca here as soon as he had heard what happened. He was completely alone but he was a true force of death that required no army at his back. He descended into the very center of the enemy formation like a falling star.
The pressure of his existence forced weaker cultivators to their knees and cracked the solid stone beneath their feet. He simply stepped forward and threw a punch. The resulting shockwave turned fifty dark warriors into red mist instantly. The air cracked like breaking glass as the force propagated through the enemy ranks.
He grabbed a Tribulation realm enemy commander who tried to ambush him from behind. He simply reached back and tore the man in half with his bare hands. He threw the ruined halves of the commander into a group of approaching spearn and crushed them under the bloody weight.
He showcased his overwhelming and tyrannical power to the entire battlefield the mont he arrived. Nothing could stand against him or even slow his advance. He slaughtered everything and everyone in his path as he walked forward with glaive now in hand.
His eyes burned with an apocalyptic fury as he actively hunted down the highest ranking enemy elders and destroyed anyone who was along his path. He moved fast and shattered defensive arrays in the sky simply by walking straight through them. Zhan Tian completely turned the terrifying ambush into a one sided massacre as soon as he appeared.
The remaining enemy forces began to panic as the devastation was much too great. The disciplined formations broke apart as dark warriors turned and tried to flee toward the canyon walls. Zhan Tian did not allow a single one to escape his sight. He stomped his boot against the ground and sent a shockwave rippling through the earth that shattered the legs of hundreds of retreating enemies.
After a bit of ti the reinforcents finally arrived from the other allied factions. The void rippled constantly as pristine ships descended from the clouds to join the fray. The Zhan Clan forces arrived and unleashed devastating attacks from on board before pouring out onto the battlefield.
The Piercing Heavens Pavilion brought thousands of fresh disciples who dropped directly into the crater. They swept through the rest of the broken and demoralized enemy ranks with ruthless and chanical efficiency.
Li Yu felt his Qi reserves finally stabilize as the healing pills did their work inside the pocket dinsion. He stood up and stretched his aching muscles while taking a deep breath of the pristine air, it was ti to leave and rejoin the fray. He had no idea what had happened on the outside as his senses were blocked when he was within the clam.
He reappeared from the clam at the exact sa ti as the reinforcents arrived by chance. He quickly put the Samsara Dream Clam away into his Koi Sanctuary once more and joined in on the final push. He used his staff to crush the remaining stragglers and fought alongside his family until the very end.
The battle officially ended when the last warrior was struck down and the remaining enemy ships were blasted out of the sky. The enemy forces were completely destroyed and thousands of dead bodies littered the scorched and ruined earth of the valley. The silence that followed the battle was heavy and incredibly grim. Cultivators silently searched the rubble for their fallen friends while healers rushed frantically around the crater to treat the severely wounded.
The losses on the allied side were quite significant as well despite their ultimate victory. Nearly everyone who had fought was injured in so way or another. They were covered in gashes and severe burns.
About a tenth of their total forces that ca here from the tournant were dead and lay motionless in the ash. All of those numbers ca from the disciples of the allied fractions. This ant the junior generation that had co had suffered a terrible and devastating blow to their numbers.
Elders walked among the dead and gently closed the eyes of the fallen youths. The bright futures and massive potential of these disciples had been violently snuffed out in a single night. It was a tragic and sobering end to a brutal encounter that none of them would ever forget. The air slled of burned flesh as the survivors began the grim task of collecting their dead.
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