Ten thousand I am across the heavens

Even if the Five Elements Mage tried desperately to stop it, it was too late. Moreover, he simply didn't have the ability to prevent his opponent's sudden outburst. He had no chance at all. How could he possibly maintain battlefield isolation when he himself was barely able to protect himself?

However, there was no fear in his eyes. Although that attack had a certain probability of instantly killing him, even with a one-third reduction in power, it still had a chance of killing him. But he was prepared for it. Or rather, the underground base had already cooperated with them beforehand. At this moment, he directly crushed the teleportation item given to him by the underground base. A disposable fifth-rank Gu worm. This fifth-rank trapping worm had just been refined less than an hour ago. It was specially refined based on its killing move characteristics. On the front lines of the battlefield, while the fighting was raging, the staff headquarters at the rear was also constantly making temporary improvements to a series of equipment on the battlefield based on the data fed back from the front.

The only effect of this ancient insect is its compatibility with battlefield killing moves. It then instantly pulls the caster of the killing move out of the battlefield. Pulling the caster out is much easier than directly breaking through the killing move itself, since the caster can already withdraw from the battlefield killing move. However, without any preparation, the sand move dissipates along with the caster's withdrawal.

This was a life-or-death moment, and the Five Elements Mage chose to retreat without hesitation. Although the original plan had encountered some unexpected circumstances, he had managed to delay and wear down the opponent. The rest was no longer his concern. Besides himself, another Rank 8 mage was also stalling for time. Now it was time for the other side to make their move.

He vanished into thin air in an instant. The torrent of countless black arrows, unable to find their target, darted about aimlessly like headless flies, ultimately crashing into the battlefield's deadly attack and transforming into a force capable of destroying the battlefield.

The entire battlefield was enveloped in a smooth, five-colored mist. With a terrifying tremor, it cracked and finally dissipated completely. At the same time, Old Ancestor Xuehu suddenly saw a figure appear beside him, and beneath his feet, a dense mass of people appeared. This scene truly startled him.

"Hiss? What's going on? How come there are so many people all of a sudden?" In his memory, his eldest son only knew about more than 1000 special clones. These clones were at different levels of strength, ranging from the sixth to the seventh level. For the mortals in the underground base who were not good at dealing with individual strongmen, these clones with super strong individual strength were a problem. But for powerful individual strongmen like them, these people were easy to deal with.

But suddenly, more than 10 people appeared before him, and most of them were at the seventh level of cultivation. Judging from their aura and physique alone, there was no flaw in their appearance; they all seemed to be genuine.

The sheer number of them sent chills down his spine. Even with the vast difference in strength between seventh and eighth rank cultivators, he could easily defeat 10 seventh-rank cultivators. He was so terrified that he immediately considered turning tail and running. With such a huge difference in strength, what was the point of even fighting?

These two had actually devised a strategy beforehand. If they both attacked simultaneously with their battlefield killing moves, they wouldn't be able to utilize their advantages. Therefore, the strategy they devised with the underground base's strategist was for one of them to unleash a battlefield killing move to trap all the clones created by the eldest son. The other would then set up another layer of battlefield killing moves around the exit of the first layer. This way, if the first layer was broken, no one could escape and would only fall into a new battlefield.

The battlefield had transformed into a vast snow-covered mountain, a landscape of pine trees blanketed in pristine white snow. While it lacked any particular unique features, the space was considerably larger than that of the Five Elements Mage's battlefield. It was fortunate that both were seasoned Rank 8 cultivators; otherwise, not every Rank 8 cultivator could muster a devastating battlefield attack.

Seeing his comrade's fighting spirit wavering and his thoughts turning to flee, the Five Elements Mage quickly grabbed him: "Fellow Daoist, don't be afraid. These guys have already wasted their killing moves on my battlefield killing move. They may seem numerous, but they are actually all splits from one person. Just now, each of them unleashed at least one immortal killing move, directly shattering my battlefield killing move. But over 100,000 immortal killing moves. Even if the eldest son is as large as he is, he should have exhausted his stored immortal essence. Now they are just a bunch of blanks. What's so great about 100,000 seventh-rank blanks? They can't use immortal essence. Their strength is not even as good as an ordinary sixth-rank. They are even weaker than those sixth-ranks who don't even have immortal Gu."

Hearing this, Old Ancestor Xuehu breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear the follow-up.

"Let me share some information with you. These guys' immortal killing move is infinite regeneration. As long as their bodies aren't completely destroyed after being attacked, even if only a drop of blood remains, they can instantly grow into a completely new person. Even if they self-destruct, every fragment that comes off can be regenerated into a new person. Their strength will be no different from their original body. All these people are the ones who split off when he fought me just now."

Old Ancestor Xuehu was about to curse on the spot. Were his teammates pigs? They knew this guy had the ability to create clones whenever he was destroyed, yet they allowed him to create so many clones. How were they supposed to fight like this?

"Don't rush, I haven't finished explaining how these people's clones can also merge. After merging, their strength will increase dramatically. Their physical strength will rise to a level higher than ours, even much higher. And after merging, they can continue to clone. The strength of each clone is equivalent to the strength of the super individual they created through merging."

After hearing this, Old Ancestor Xuehu turned to run. What's the point of fighting? These guys have a combined form and a clone; wouldn't each of them be a hundred or a thousand times stronger? Even if they were just basic immortals, it would be enough to beat them into pig heads.

"Don't worry, they can't snowball anymore. The previous battles have almost exhausted their immortal energy. They can't create clones so recklessly now. We just need to seal them first and then burn them. That way we can kill them without letting them successfully split."

Old Ancestor Xuehu was skeptical, but with his strength, conducting an experiment was quite simple. With almost a wave of his hand, he grabbed one of his clones, binding it with immense power, rendering it unable to move.

Immediately afterward, the clone's entire body froze. Completely encased in ice, it was then crushed into ashes with a single squeeze. The destruction was comparable to incineration. And indeed, this method of eliminating the individual did not allow for any resurrection from the body's remains.

"I see. If that's the case, then they're not insurmountable. Judging from this, they've indeed become blank slates. That makes them much easier to deal with."

"Heh? You really think we're easy to deal with? You really think we're out of immortal energy? Yes, I am indeed out of immortal energy. But I have teammates too. We've reached a life-or-death moment. Do you think we'd be stingy with resources? Why don't you two go and see if we can sell anything at Baohuangtian?"

The same malicious smiles appeared on the faces of the many Black City cultivators, instantly causing the expressions of the two Eighth-Rank Immortals to change. They immediately shifted their focus. Then they saw the Sixth-Rank Immortal Gu being sold at half price; compared to the previous price, it was now being sold for only half. They couldn't resist the urge to buy it. Even they, on the battlefield, were having thoughts of aiding the enemy. What would others think? It goes without saying.

As the saying goes, "All the world's hustle and bustle is for profit," so who would turn down money? Even if they knew their current donations might allow a major villain to survive, who would care? If the sky falls, someone else will hold it up. They just need to collect their benefits. If anything goes wrong, they won't have to clean it up.

So, those four Immortal Gu were sold out almost immediately upon being listed, allowing the opponent to replenish a large amount of Immortal Essence Stones in an instant.

"This is bad! Quickly prepare to build defenses. The power these guys can unleash in an instant is terrifying."

At this moment, the Five Elements Mage disregarded his own exhaustion and unhesitatingly constructed layers of defensive attacks in front of him. Even he wasn't confident he could withstand the opponent's full-force strike. At the same time, Old Ancestor Xuehu reacted just as quickly, instantly building a defense in front of him. However, halfway through the defense was completed, he suddenly cried out in alarm.

"Not good! My immortal essence!" His defenses were only half-built when his immortal energy was instantly drained, not just his own. All his stored immortal essence was drained. Even the immortal essence stones stored in his immortal apertures were completely drained; the opponent had somehow managed to squeeze them dry in an instant.

At this moment, Chen Feng, his face deathly pale, activated the All-Encompassing Replacement technique. He could previously replace various attributes, even bringing himself to the brink of death to replace the opponent's life force. However, the stronger the opponent, the greater the cost of this replacement. When facing an eighth-rank expert, the replacement must be carefully considered to maximize its advantages.

Ultimately, he chose to exchange their immortal essence. This move was extremely costly to execute, and to exchange it back, he had to give up two immortal essences for every one he used. It seemed like the enemy lost one while he gained one. All things considered, it wasn't profitable at all. However, many times, such seemingly unprofitable deals are strategically sound.

It's like he just instantly exhausted all his immortal energy, completely draining Old Ancestor Xuehu, and then handed over all his immortal energy to Black City, which is equivalent to taking all of the opponent's cards. Next, he can kill him with Ancient Ding Sword and Wine.

And indeed, Black City gave its opponent no chance to turn the tide. Although the immortal energy they had painstakingly gained was now only half of what it was before, it was just enough to allow each of his clones to unleash their full power in their immortal killing moves.

In an instant, 30 black arrows were launched. They converged from all directions, heading straight for Old Ancestor Xuehu, aiming to kill him instantly while he had no trump cards for defense and no time to gather enough resources.

This deadly move, while difficult for an ordinary eighth-level immortal to withstand—they could be overwhelmed by sheer size—would be extremely difficult to kill. At this level, there are countless ways to survive. Even if their defenses are breached, numerous passive abilities can be triggered to save their lives. Even after being destroyed, they can still revive using certain backup plans.

But all of that is predicated on the premise that there is still immortal energy remaining. If he had enough time to sell his assets, it wouldn't be impossible to raise the ten times the immortal energy that was just exchanged. The problem is that there simply isn't enough time. The Black City had time to sell the immortal Gu because they had prepared in advance. Before he fell into a disadvantageous position, he had already prepared to sell some less crucial Gu worms. Old Ancestor Xuehu never imagined that he would be targeted by a concentrated attack as soon as he entered the fray, or that he would be instantly killed the moment he appeared.

In just a few seconds, with no time to do anything, he was swept away by the black torrent, having lost all his defenses. What were originally just attacks the size of chopsticks suddenly transformed into a pitch-black river after their number increased to 30, instantly piercing through every inch of his body and washing him away to ashes.

With a calculated attack on the unsuspecting enemy, and relying on massive resource consumption, the newly arrived Old Ancestor Xuehu was instantly annihilated. Even his immortal apertures were destroyed, causing a grotto-heaven to fall into the battlefield's deadly attack. Before long, the grotto-heaven will completely collapse, taking root and becoming a secret realm within this area. And this also means the complete annihilation of all beings.

The Five Elements Mage had just constructed his defenses when he witnessed this astonishing scene. He decisively sold off his stored goods in Baohuangtian at a low price, determined not to repeat the mistakes of his opponent, and at the same time strengthened his own Lawful Defense.

The ability to replace all things belongs to the Law-based Gu worms, directly involving the rules. This type of attack is very effective for surprise attacks. Because during the first encounter, no one knows the specific effects of your Law-based killing move, making it impossible to defend against. However, once it is exposed, if the enemy knows the characteristics of this killing move and can take targeted countermeasures, such as storing immortal essence in the Treasure Yellow Heaven instead of in their immortal aperture, making it readily available, then this move becomes ineffective. It might even result in a complete waste of resources.

But the battlefield situation was developing too quickly. Although the Five Elements Mage had taken precautions, he was now at a loss, faced with the sudden deaths of his comrades and the imminent collapse of his battlefield trump card.

[To be continued]

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