Minister Everpast paused for a moment. His foe, the Black Tortoise, had stalled. It was as if his giant body had finally encumbered his soul. Of course, reality was different. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The immortal minister’s eyes caught sight of one particular causality string. He recognized that string. For the past few days, he had been studying that one string in an attempt to locate the exact coordinates of the person on the other end.

The person on the other end of the causality string disappeared, but the string itself did not disappear or dim. Quite the opposite. The string revealed a dazzling persistence, as if unwilling to fade, but the source of that persistence was the Black Tortoise’s soul. For each second the string remained, the Black Tortoise’s soul would weaken, decomposing into soul essence to fuel the causality string.

Because of the specific contract San Jiuling used when the Black Tortoise had first hatched, if he died, so would the Black Tortoise. The Demon Clan was helpless because the contract was deeply entrenched in the Black Tortoise’s soul. None of the demons could remove the contract without killing him. Their greatest hope was for the Black Tortoise to return to his peak and sever the contract himself. Still, even a divinity would have to pay a price for severing a spiritual contract.

Thanks to this, San Jiuling became the Black Tortoise’s greatest weakness. Hence the reason why the Immortal Court and Numinous Sword Sect were so willing to attack the Void Continent, just to eliminate this great threat. They didn’t think this could destroy his soul, though it could in theory. The humans have tried multiple times to destroy the divine beast’s soul, but it would always return eventually. They did not harbor the hope, only seeking to eliminate a portion of the Demon Clan’s high-end combat potential.

Perhaps if the Demon Clan had been willing to invest in San Jiuling, allowing him to become an immortal emperor, this would not have happened. But how could the Demon Clan be willing?

Once again, Minister Everpast grabbed a handful of causality strings and yanked them. The Black Tortoise released a cry of pain. He was already struggling to slow down the collapse of his soul from San Jiuling’s death, but the immortal sovereign’s attack was like the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The Black Tortoise retracted its head and limbs back into its shell, but that did little to stop Minister Everpast’s attack. All signs of vitality disappeared from the turtle. The leaves on the tree growing from its back withered and turned yellow, orange, brown before falling off. The bark and branches shriveled, becoming a skeleton of a tree.

Still, the immortal minister did not stop his attack. He could sense that the Black Tortoise’s soul had not been extinguished. Even though his physical body showed all the signs of death, he had not truly perished yet. As long as he reintegrated his soul into his body, he would revive.

Although the Black Tortoise was still struggling, that didn’t mean Minster Everpast could not take advantage of the opportunity. He unleashed a powerful spell that exploded upon contact. It only left light marks on the divine beast’s shell, but it was loud and attracted plenty of attention.

Once the demons, who had not sensed Black Tortoise losing his vitality, saw this, their morale plummeted. Just as Minister Everpast wanted. Sure, many of them saw red in rage and attacked him, but that was a small trouble at best to affect the entire battlefield.

Minister Everpast didn’t counterattack, not because he couldn’t, but because he was focused on eliminating the Black Tortoise’s soul. It was in a strange state similar to hibernation. All the causality strings connected to him turned faint. Even the loss of soul essence from his contracted partner slowed down. He couldn’t survive a century or even a decade in that state, but it should be enough to persist for a few years.

Although the Immortal Court and Numinous Sword Sect had penetrated the core area of the Divine Beast Pseudo System and initiated the final battle, it did not mean the war would end shortly. It was entirely possible that this one battle would not last less than a month. It was entirely possible for the battle to continue for years.

“Human!”

Minister Everpast frowned when he felt a powerful aura charging toward him. He looked over to see a true dragon several sizes larger than the rest, encased in violet scales, shooting straight for him. Although the violet scales appeared intact, his right arm was mangled and there were several deformities on his serpentine body.

The Black Tortoise’s condition shocked Demon Emperor Redraco, but it was far from enough for Tianyi to attack him unguarded. He allowed Tianyi to deal a serious blow in order to disengage from him and attack Minister Everpast.

When Demon Emperor Redraco neared him, Minister Everpast’s body retreated in a ghastly manner, forming several phantoms that confused the senses, including immortal and demonic senses.

Although he was an immortal sovereign and the contemporary Azure Dragon was a demon emperor, he did not dare to take Demon Emperor Redraco’s slash with his body. As a soul and spiritual immortal, his body was weaker than demons. Even martial sovereigns would not easily take an attack from Demon Emperor Redraco in his normal state. And now, he was activating the Realm Dragon Scale to its maximum potential.

“Sorry, I couldn’t get rid of him,” Tianyi said as he appeared next to Minister Everpast.

“No worries. He paid a high price,” Minister Everpast said. “As long as we can keep them both here, nearly half the Demon Clan’s high-end combat potential will be destroyed. I’ll deal with Demon Emperor Redraco. You destroy the Black Tortoise’s body.”

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Tianyi attacked. However, Demon Emperor Redraco rushed forward and met him head-on.

‘Do you want to protect the Black Tortoise’s body? But that’s foolish. Why protect the inevitable? Unless he wants to buy time?’ Tianyi thought. Miniature suns appeared in his palm and he released them. Instead of Constellation Cessation, which resembled a sniper round, the barrage of Stellar Silences from Tianyi resembled a shotgun more.

No matter how Demon Emperor Redraco slashed, he could only intercept a few of them. The rest of the Stellar Silences landed on the Black Tortoise’s body, creating spheres of destruction. The corpse trembled under the barrage, releasing ripples in the void. When the energy died down and the technique ended, shallow craters remained.

Tianyi frowned. He didn’t expect that the Black Tortoise’s body was so sturdy without a soul to control it. Even if he used his Constellation Cessation, it would take a lot of effort to crack the shell. He attacked again, but even though Minister Everpast engaged Demon Emperor Redraco in battle, he still blocked Tianyi’s attack.

Demon Emperor Redraco’s realm artifact not only shielded against physical attacks, but soul attacks too. In terms of difficulty, he was only a slightly less troublesome opponent for Minister Everpast. However, Demon Emperor Redraco did not have the means of the Black Tortoise, and the constant harassment against his soul made it more difficult for him to maneuver, increasing the number of attacks on the Black Tortoise’s body.

Whenever Tianyi’s attack landed on the divine beast’s body, it would move slowly in the void. At first, no one paid attention to the movement. After all, for every reaction, there was an equal and opposite reaction, but the Black Tortoise’s body defied that. It should have been moving away from Tianyi, the source of its movements, not toward him.

“It’s moving toward Shangri-La!” Tianyi said, realizing what the two members of the Four Divine Beasts were attempting. While he and Minister Everpast talked, they must have already hashed out a plan.

Once the demons destroyed Shangri-La, the Immortal Court and Numinous Sword Sect would lose their foundation. Only a select few would be able to regenerate their qi, and those few would not be able to contend against the entire Demon Clan.

So, the humans must not let the demons destroy Shangri-La.

The immortals congregated, but the demons stopped them. The appearance of the still body of the Black Tortoise lowered their morale, but the disclosure of the plan restored it. If anything, their morale more than doubled from its previous peak.

Because they saw hope of ending the war. If they succeed, the humans would have to retreat. Although it wasn’t a complete victory, it should be enough for the Demon Clan to recompose themselves and prepare a new plan before the second invasion.

A grand robe sewn from the cosmos itself appeared over Tianyi’s body. Just like his Nine Heavens Cosmic Titan, Tianyi upgraded his Cosmic Robe to the Nine Heavens Cosmic Robe. Compared to the titan, his cosmic robe received a greater boost from the improvements. This allowed him to ignore the interference radiating from the Realm Dragon Scales.

He teleported away, onto the other side of the Black Tortoise’s body, before Demon Emperor Redraco. Once there, he could feel the dense gravitational force. Ordinary mortals would be crushed into paste by it alone. Even mortal cultivators would find it difficult to move here.

Tianyi landed on the ground that resembled black obsidian. He placed his hand on it. After a moment, he shook his head. “It’s too big. I can’t manipulate the spacetime here, much less teleport it away.”

He immediately dodged. A purple tail landed where he was just kneeling. Demon Emperor Redraco strengthened his field. Before Demon Emperor Redraco could attack again, Minister Everpast arrived and attacked him.

“Go. I’ll hold Redraco back. You’re more suited to dealing with armies,” Minister Everpast said.

Tianyi nodded. The cosmic robe turned fluid and enveloped Tianyi’s entire body. He turned into a ball and dramatically increased in size until he was a third of the Black Tortoise’s body. However, he did not form a humanoid shape, but stayed as a sphere. Countless stars circled the sphere, forming a pseudo disc and making it resemble a galaxy.

In essence, it was the Nine Heavens Cosmic Titan, but in a different shape.

The surrounding stars whirled, forming a ring. Countless spheres of light shot out and bombarded the demons and the Black Tortoise’s body. Not even Demon Emperor Redraco could block the sheer amount of attacks Tianyi unleashed.

The barrage of Stellar Silences did not have their usual power, but they more than made up for it in numbers. Most demon lords would be severely injured if hit. If they were unlucky, they would die directly. Even demon kings could not withstand too many of the weakened Stellar Silences. Only the Black Tortoise’s body remained unmoved by the constant barrage.

The advantage did not last long. The Black Tortoise’s body emitted a powerful gravitational force that bent light and even spacetime around it. Most of Tianyi’s Stellar Silences were affected, causing them to miss or just hit the Black Tortoise’s body, which did nothing.

Although the Black Tortoise’s body inched closer to Shangri-La with each passing moment, Tianyi showed no signs of panic. Neither did Minister Everpast, or the high echelon of the Immortal Court and Numinous Sword Sect. Only some of the immortal monarchs and most of the true immortals gave their all to defend the mobile fortress.

It wasn’t a deadlock because no matter how hard the humans attempted to stop it, the Black Tortoise’s body continued to move closer to the mobile fortress. Tianyi was sure that he had landed tens of Constellations Cessations on the tortoise, but with little effect. The drawn out tug-o-war reached the point that Minister Everpast had to retreat to Shangri-La to restore his qi twice.

It was not that the humans had not attempted to drive Shangri-La further back, but the Black Tortoise’s gravitational force focused on it. Not only did they not distance themselves, but Shangri-La was slowly pulled toward the tortoise.

As Shangri-La neared the Black Tortoise, the landmass split into one hundred and twenty-nine pieces. At first, the demons thought the gravitational force had destroyed the stability of the mobile fortress, causing it to fragment, but soon, they realized they were wrong.

The pieces of Shangri-La encircled the Black Tortoise in an orderly manner. The demons wanted to stop them, but it was the human’s turn to counter them. Soon, a giant sealing formation covered the Black Tortoise.

“This was originally the plan to seal the realm beast. Hmpf, consider it Xuanwu’s honor for it to be used on him!” Emperor Southsword said.

“Hmpf, don’t be too happy!” the Qilin Patriarch retorted. “You can’t use your mobile fortress to restore your qi now, can you? In the end, it doesn’t matter!”

The edges of Tianyi’s lips curled upward.

A giant ripple appeared in the void behind the humans. To the shock and despair of the demons, a giant landmass not smaller than Shangri-La appeared. “Ladies and gentlemen…and demons, let me introduce Shangri-La II.”