Chapter 1729: 兵来将挡

Even the most formidable immortals are like fish out of water without spiritual energy. How long can they last? At that point, with the Celestial Palace controlling the spiritual energy, they can slowly wear down the immortals, and the scales of victory will ultimately tip in favor of the Celestial Palace.

However, Bai Ziqi showed no signs of relaxation. Instead, he immediately issued several orders, setting up more formations and deploying more personnel for a strict defense.

"Thousand Illusions is an ancient, seasoned True Immortal, and the guardian of Spirit Mountain. He's different from the ordinary immortals the Celestial Palace has dealt with before. The Inverted Heavenly Star Grand Formation has been active for over 150 years, and no one can say how much spiritual energy and mystic crystals he has stored." The Celestial Capital Grand Formation's absorption will only accelerate Thousand Illusions and the Illusion Sect's depletion, but whether it can completely exhaust their reserves is hard to say.

"Therefore, another important objective for us is to eliminate Thousand Illusions' forces." Thousand Illusions' seclusion provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. "Illusions also require spiritual energy to maintain, and they must adhere to rules. Otherwise, why did their previous powerful divine attacks cease?"

"Is it because the Illusion Sect realized they couldn't deal with us?" Bai Shiqi walked over, his face looking withered.

Bai Ziqi asked him, "How is your lamp spirit?"

Just now, two other lamp spirits went into the water and barely managed to retrieve Bai Shiqi's lamp spirit. The cost was that all three were injured to varying degrees.

Those things underwater are quite formidable.

Bai Shiqi took out a platinum candle from his robes and whispered, "Only this much is left."

The candle had only a tiny flame, flickering precariously, on the verge of extinguishing.

Bai Shiqi himself looked sallow, with a darkened glabella. He had also risen through the ranks from a Lamp Bearer, and his life was intrinsically linked to his lamp spirit. With his lamp spirit severely injured, he suffered a backlash; his insides felt like they were burning, making him feel very unwell.

Bai Ziqi took out his own light platinum candle and blew on it once.

With a "whoosh," it lit up.

He then transferred his candle flame to Bai Shiqi's candle; the latter's flame immediately grew taller and no longer looked sickly.

Bai Shiqi knew that Bai Ziqi was sharing the power of his Greater Lamp Spirit with him and was immensely grateful, saying, "Many thanks, Lord Commander!"

Bai Ziqi waved his hand. "Tell me about the situation underwater."

"My lamp spirit couldn't illuminate anything once it went underwater; the surrounding water remained pitch black. I could only rely on getting my bearings before diving to drive away the Yakshas under the boat." Bai Shiqi tilted his head back and swallowed a pill. "But as soon as I repelled a dozen Yakshas, something in the darkness charged at my lamp spirit—several monsters resembling sea eels or giant pythons. My lamp spirit couldn't pierce the darkness, but I could feel that an even greater threat was lurking in the depths of the lake."

Bai Ziqi looked back at the lake surface. This was the Upside-Down Lake, where many mysteries lay hidden in darkness that even an Ever-burning Lamp Spirit couldn't penetrate.

No sooner had Bai Shiqi finished speaking than the fleet moored by the shore suddenly began to shake violently.

The Yakshas roared, dragging one large ship after another to the bottom of the lake, as if venting their previous rage.

The Celestial Palace army could only stand on the shore and watch, helpless. They could only be glad everyone had made it to land. Fighting these creatures in the water would be utterly unwise.

However, this feeling of powerlessness dampened the army's morale somewhat.

Bai Ziqi merely said, "Don't worry about it. We will leave on the Illusion Sect's ships for our return journey."

This expedition to the Upside-Down Sea permitted only victory, no defeat. If they won, they would naturally seize everything belonging to Thousand Illusions.

At this moment, some flying Yakshas also appeared in the sky, attempting to attack the Celestial Capital Grand Formation, but they were repelled by the Celestial Palace army's arrows. Moreover, the Celestial Capital Grand Formation's defensive capabilities were already excellent, and Bai Wei had set up six or seven additional protective formations around it. Two Yakshas couldn't even get close to the Celestial Capital Formation before being pulverized.

Bai Shiqi looked at the gigantic lotus array symbol in the sky and said admiringly, "Lord Commander, your foresight is divine! The enemy indeed did not use mountain-moving or sea-shifting tactics again!"

"It's not that they aren't using them; it's that they temporarily can't," Bai Ziqi calmly stated. "The Illusion Sect first summoned tsunamis, then the Three-tailed Black Fish, and later moved mountains and pushed back the sea. These divine abilities are not only immensely energy-consuming, but they also share a prominent characteristic: 'creation from nothing.' They should not inherently exist within the order of this illusionary realm! Regardless of what power they leveraged to achieve this, there is a price to pay."

"This cost is not just the consumption of vast amounts of spiritual energy, but also the destruction of the illusionary realm itself!" Bai Ziqi had a profound understanding of the analysis Miaozhantian had just offered. "Therefore, this time, their summoning of Yakshas from the Upside-Down Lake to attack us is a downgrade in their offensive methods."

Bai Shiqi instinctively looked at the candle in his hand, "This?"

"These Yakshas' bodies are made of water shells, but their souls are real; they don't count as 'creation from nothing,' so their attack power is also weaker." In this illusionary realm, "real" attacks are ironically weaker, which is interesting. "This confirms what the Goddess said earlier: if the Illusion Sect could truly do whatever they pleased here without restraint, why would they downgrade their attacks?"

"The reason fighting the Yakshas was perilous is because we haven't deployed our killing assets." Bai Ziqi gazed at the Celestial Capital Formation's array symbols. "The Illusion Sect knows this too. Their repeated attacks are just an attempt to force us to reveal our trump cards."

In this war, whoever loses patience and reveals their trump card first will fall into a passive position.

"Yes." Of course, Bai Shiqi also knew that the Celestial God had just expended an immense amount of divine power to protect the fleet from being overturned by the tsunami. Such power diminishes with each use; it should have been saved to deal with True Immortal Thousand Illusions, but wasting it in this illusionary realm would be too uneconomical.

Unless the Celestial Palace army faces a matter of life and death again, the Celestial God will not intervene further.

By the Upside-Down Lake, the wind and waves were calm for fifty breaths.

During these fifty breaths, even the wind rustling through the treetops stilled. Only the talismans of the Celestial Capital Grand Formation shimmered with increasingly vivid light in mid-air. The Celestial God had also calculated that in just ten hours, this formation would completely devour all the spiritual energy in this small realm!

As long as they persevered until then, the tide would turn in their favor.

Just as Bai Ziqi reached this conclusion, the previously calm lake water began to ripple again, with waves lapping at the shore in concentric circles.

A sentry loudly warned, "Something is coming from the water, and there are many large ones!"

Bai Ziqi's order was simple and clear: "All troops, prepare for battle."

He knew the Illusion Sect wouldn't just sit by and watch them drain all the spiritual energy.

Soon, the creatures in the lake began to reveal their menacing forms: massive dark shadows emerging from the water, advancing step by step towards the shore.

The Yakshas were back.

However, the Yakshas at the forefront were enormous, five or six times larger than the previous ones. Besides their fierce appearance, their bodies were a mass of bulging muscles, exuding an aura of savagery.

They landed on the shore, gripping long halberds or spears in their hands, with seaweed still clinging to the tips. With every step, the ground trembled.

Bai Shiqi saw one of the giant Yakshas and couldn't help but clench his fist. This creature was shaped like a nine-headed serpent, with only one tail but nine heads, each looking like a nightmare.

A nightmare from the bottom of the lake.

Was this the creature that had ambushed and severely wounded his lamp spirit in the dark lake earlier?

These behemoths were not alone; behind them followed swarms of smaller Yakshas, also densely covering the entire rocky beach, as if the lake could produce an endless supply.

The Celestial Capital Formation was at a critical juncture, racing against time. If they had to relocate and restart it, it would waste a considerable amount of time. Therefore, for the next two quarters of an hour, the Celestial Palace army had to hold their ground no matter what.

"Gather your spirits and take revenge!"

"For the Goddess, beat these wandering spirits back into the lake!"

Generals such as Luodian and Kaye were all encouraging their soldiers. They truly lived up to being the elite brought by Miaozhantian. If it were armies from other parts of the Shimmering Gold Plains, they would likely have been trembling and utterly demoralized in the face of tonight's events. Yet, this army roared like a mountain, their bodies radiating a faint glow.

"For the Goddess!"

This was the activation of primordial power.

The three teams came from three different nations. This expedition was a military campaign, and although their primordial power wasn't as profound as it would be in their home countries, with all their generals present and their numbers, they still managed to condense primordial power.

Bai Ziqi had brought them across vast distances overseas not only because of their martial prowess but also to leverage the miraculous uses of primordial power.

Among other things, the army's primordial power inherently had a suppressive effect against monsters like Yakshas, which have human souls and water bodies.

In a flash, both sides clashed, and the melee began.

The giant Yakshas weren't just massive; some were also highly skilled in magic! For instance, one giant Yaksha with green skin, red hair, and a skull necklace around its neck could summon a crashing wave every time it raised its trident, causing waves over ten feet high to surge behind it and crash violently into the Celestial Palace army.

This spell's destructive power was limited, and it was further weakened significantly by the primordial power. However, it could still knock people off balance, disrupting their formations and positions.

Other Yakshas took the opportunity to charge forward and attack.

The soul-stirring drums sounded again from Bai Ziqi's camp; this was how they had defeated the Yakshas who boarded the ships last time. However, this time, the aquatic monsters clung tightly to the giant Yakshas. When the drums sounded, a black halo appeared around each giant Yaksha, and the monsters enveloped within it maintained their steady advance, no longer fearing the soul-stirring drumbeats.

These Yakshas had improved remarkably fast.

The Celestial Palace army remained utterly fearless. As long as they were off the lake and on solid ground, they possessed the courage to resist their enemies.

Bai Ziqi waved his hand. "Release the Golden Armors."

A few breaths later, three golden-armored divine generals charged out from the Celestial Palace's formation.

Although called "Golden Armors," they appeared brass-colored in the night. And "divine generals" wasn't quite accurate either, as only one was humanoid. The other two were a giant bear and a massive sphere that didn't even resemble a creature. This sphere had two concentric circles: the outer one rolled freely, while the inner one remained almost perfectly still, capable of holding at least fifty or sixty people.

This sphere was colloquially called a "free-moving sphere." It could move autonomously according to its master's will, and no matter how the outer circle rolled, the inner circle remained almost completely stationary. The soldiers inside would only feel a slight bump, never being turned upside down along with the large golden sphere.

As it rolled past enemies, the golden sphere would slow down, allowing the soldiers inside to fire arrows or thrust halberds. Their attacks would pass through the sphere's surface unimpeded, striking the enemy.

Seated within this mobile fortress, their combat effectiveness significantly increased.