Chapter 1718: Soldiers Come, Generals Block

Bai Ziqi’s flagship was indeed rammed by the first giant fish, and the force of the impact was immense. As splinters flew, He Lingchuan even saw over ten sailors thrown overboard.

Yet, the large ship was unbelievably robust. The moment it was struck, it glowed with blue and white light, clearly protected by several potent formations designed for reinforcement and balance. The deep-sea monster's power should have been enough to capsize it, but the ship only swung wildly like a pendulum. Several times, the main sails dipped into the water, but it was as if an oversized ballast stone at the bottom of the hull always righted it. Only the initial swings were wide, and after seven or eight oscillations, it gradually steadied.

Annoyed by its initial failure, the giant fish swung its tail, turned around, and accelerated, charging again. Just before ramming the flagship, it opened its massive mouth, determined to bite a huge hole in the hull.

No matter how sturdy a ship, it could not remain undamaged when faced with such an abyssal maw.

At the same time, two other giant fish surfaced and joined the attack.

However, after their initial success, all the ships emitted an intense red glow!

The seventeen seafaring vessels were positioned very close together, so the red light diffused and intermingled, completely enveloping the entire fleet from He Lingchuan's overhead vantage point—a full 360-degree, all-encompassing shield.

Then, the two giant fish slammed hard into Bai Ziqi’s flagship.

This time, they put all their might into it, intending to wreck the large ship completely. Yet, it was as if they had hit an iron plate. Bai Ziqi's flagship only swayed slightly before stabilizing, not even creating significant waves on the sea surface.

How to describe it? It was like a large wooden board placed in a basin of clear water; no matter how much the water undulated, the board's movement was limited.

It was incredibly stable.

The first giant fish had already turned around and charged, biting down on the large ship. Shaking its head and thrashing its tail, it tried to drag the vessel to the seabed.

Its strength was undeniably immense, but a bizarre scene unfolded:

All seventeen ships swayed in unison, but none were severely affected. Bai Ziqi's flagship was not breached; instead, the giant fish seemed to have its mouth stuck and thrashed around, unable to break free from the large ship.

"One hair moves the whole body," Granny Zhu understood. "They applied their divine abilities to the ships; all seventeen vessels are linked into a single unit! If your fish want to capsize Bai Ziqi's ship, they'd have to capsize all seventeen ships together!"

This was similar to the concerted effort battle formation used by Bai Tan's army against the stone beast sculptures in Yaowang Palace, but it was an oversized, enhanced version. No matter how strong the three giant fish were, it was impossible for them to capsize seventeen ships at once.

While Bai Ziqi's tactic couldn't contend with a hurricane, it was perfectly adequate for dealing with a few rampaging giant beasts.

Even Dong Rui could see that no divine intervention was even needed this time.

Granny Zhu's subtext was, "Just add more. Throw in another ten or eight giant fish and turn the coastal waters into a chaotic mess. After all, every formation has its limits."

Her implication was to persist with brute force, to meet them head-on.

However, at that moment, several golden lights suddenly shot out from Bai Ziqi's ship, piercing directly into the fish's eyes!

Stuck by the ship and unable to retreat, the fish couldn't evade the opponent's counterattack.

Another golden light burrowed into its mouth.

After about a dozen breaths, the giant fish suddenly transformed into flowing water and streamed off the deck.

This was a divine ability of colossal manifestation; after suffering a fatal blow, it could no longer be maintained and immediately reverted to its original form.

Several more golden lights shot out from the ship, chasing the other two giant fish and doing the same.

Once the sea surface calmed, the golden lights did not return to Bai Ziqi's hands but swam to the front of the ship, transforming into seven massive swordfish!

The sea wind had, at some point, changed direction, now blowing from Silver Pearl Island out to sea. The fleet was sailing against the wind, making slow and difficult progress. However, as soon as these seven swordfish appeared, they dragged the entire fleet towards the shore, moving even faster than a ship sailing with the wind!

"Everbright Lamp Spirits," He Lingchuan explained to the immortals this time. "Bai Ziqi was promoted from Lamp Master to Cloud Steward of the Heavenly Palace and is skilled in using lamp spirits. I've encountered his lamp spirits before, and they were never this powerful. They must have received blessings and infusions from the Heavenly Demon."

The Heavenly Palace and Phantom Sect engaged without preliminary probes or direct confrontations, immediately launching life-or-death ultimate moves. Currently, the Phantom Sect was on the offensive, while Bai Ziqi's Heavenly Palace team was unilaterally resolving and defending.

However, in this realm, the Heavenly Palace's divine arts could not be cast repeatedly. Therefore, the fleet's best course of action was to reach the island as quickly as possible.

Despite Bai Ziqi's extraordinary talent, he still had too few opportunities to fight immortals and lacked experience, suffering a slight disadvantage in the first encounter.

However, the Phantom Sect's offensive also began to show caution, no longer as reckless as before.

He Lingchuan's gaze shifted, looking at the Haoyuan Golden Mirror.

The mirror seemed to have a wide range of uses and was closely connected to this realm. The Phantom Sect likely dared not let it deplete its energy, as many incredible divine abilities could not be performed without it.

That's why the immortals switched to a lower-cost Black Fish Formation, but it was unable to stop Bai Ziqi.

The lamp spirits also possessed the power of materialization.

The swordfish swam incredibly fast; in at most another quarter of an hour, Bai Ziqi's fleet would be able to approach the beach of Silver Pearl Island.

It was best not to prolong a solution that could be achieved at sea onto land.

Elder Xu, from somewhere unknown, produced a large lump of ointment. He added water to a begging bowl and kneaded it a few times to dissolve it, then poured it into the Haoyuan Golden Mirror.

The Soul-Devouring Mirror was very displeased at this sight: "Why does he just throw any old junk into the Haoyuan Golden Mirror? A treasure mirror isn't a trash can!"

But after Elder Xu's ointment entered the mirror, everyone saw large masses of black oil quickly emerge from the seabed, dyeing vast stretches of the sea black, leaving an oily sheen on the surface.

The seawater, which had just been clear to the bottom, in the blink of an eye turned into a black muddy swamp, bubbling continuously.

The swordfish formed from lamp spirits seemed to be swimming in thick sesame paste, floundering for a long time but advancing less than a hundred zhang.

Xiao Wencheng walked back, retreating to the side of the long table.

A sand table was already on the tabletop. With a sweep of his hand, the sand table quickly magnified, focusing on Silver Pearl Island and the surrounding sea.

Beaches, rivers, towns, and valleys were all clearly displayed on the sand table.

Xiao Wencheng and the two elders each lit an incense stick, closed their eyes facing south, and prayed silently, their expressions extremely devout.

Who else could they be worshipping? Naturally, it was True Master Qianhuan.

The three almost simultaneously stopped their murmuring and opened their eyes, as a speck of incense ash fell onto the sand table from each of their hands.

The three of them stared down intently at the specks of incense ash.

After a moment, the incense ash disappeared into the sand.

Only then did Elder Xu let out a sigh of relief: "The Immortal Venerable has given tacit approval! Senior Brother—"

Xiao Wencheng nodded.

At this point, Bai Ziqi's fleet was also displayed on the sand table, having already approached the northeastern coast of Silver Pearl Island.