Chapter 1732: Each Shows Its Strengths and Weaknesses

The battle by the Inverted Lake continued while they spoke. Hidden among the Yakshas, the Mirage Sect disciples fanned out and launched sporadic attacks, often tearing open gaps in the Heavenly Palace forces' defenses and wreaking havoc.

The Heavenly Palace camp was at one point in disarray, with defenses breached at both the northeast and northwest corners. Seizing the opportunity, the true Yakshas roared and charged forward.

"Still unwilling to show your trump card?" Xiao Wencheng said coldly.

He remained clear-headed, not swept away by the seemingly favorable situation. He observed that the Heavenly Palace forces had been relying solely on their regular army to fend off the enemy, with Bai Ziqi deploying only a few Golden-Armored Divine Generals.

Bai Ziqi had yet to deploy any more powerful forces. Was this a deliberate conservation by the Celestials, or did they simply have no further contingencies? The latter seemed highly unlikely.

Just then, a phantom image suddenly reappeared above the Heavenly Palace camp: a giant golden single eye.

"The Heaven of Subtle Illumination has opened its eye again," He Lingchuan murmured.

This was the True Eye of the Heaven of Subtle Illumination. However, unlike its previous brief appearance, which merely illuminated the sea surface, this time the colossal eyeball rotated back and forth, its gaze exceptionally sharp!

Wherever its gaze fell, a golden beam struck. Where the golden light passed, all Mirage Sect disciples were revealed in their true forms, with nowhere to hide!

The True Eye scanned back and forth several times, and in just twenty to thirty breaths, all Mirage Sect disciples on the entire battlefield revealed their true forms, unable to maintain their Yaksha disguises.

The Heavenly Palace forces roared in anger at the sight; it was these shameless individuals who had exploited the chaos to injure many of their comrades.

The Mirage Sect disciples, too, felt a chill run through them when exposed, as they now stood bare-faced within the Yaksha army, their disguises shed! All around them—front, back, left, right, and even above—were monstrous-faced Yaksha water demons! The very water demons they had been hunting for years.

Some could even hear the cackling sounds emanating from the Yakshas' throats, no more than three feet away. "Don't attack, don't attack, please don't attack!" they internally pleaded. Their main target this time was the Heavenly Palace forces, not these Yakshas!

Strangely enough, the Yakshas merely paused slightly upon seeing the humans in their ranks, as if confused, but then immediately lost interest in them and turned back to continue attacking the Heavenly Palace camp. They seemed to bear a deep-seated hatred only for the Heavenly Palace, yet completely ignored the Mirage Sect disciples who had relentlessly hunted them for over a century.

Only then did the Mirage Sect disciples breathe a long sigh of relief. Wiping the cold sweat from their brows, they resumed fighting. It was a bizarre feeling, fighting side-by-side with their former sworn enemies.

However, their subsequent battle became far more challenging. With their disguises seen through by the True Eye, they became conspicuous targets amidst the monstrous Yakshas. The Heavenly Palace forces, upon spotting them, immediately concentrated their attacks, redirecting firepower originally intended for the giant Yakshas onto them.

Seeing their advantage reversed, Elder Jin immediately ordered a full-scale assault. Dropping all pretense, he waved his hand and gave the command: over a hundred divine abilities simultaneously struck the Immortal Capital Array!

Light flashed as they not only breached three defensive formations consecutively, but also caused the core talisman artifact of the Immortal Capital Array to falter and cease functioning. This was the most efficient and powerful concentrated divine ability strike He Lingchuan had ever personally witnessed.

Over a hundred streaks of light, dazzling with brilliant colors and amplified by the combined power of Immortals, simultaneously impacted the formation. Even with the Haoyuan Golden Mirror providing a wide shot from high above, the spectacle was exceptionally stunning.

With the formation core failing, the Immortal Capital Array immediately ceased functioning, no longer drawing spiritual energy from the Inverted Sea. The core fell from mid-air to the ground, almost completely burned to cinders. Fortunately, its base receptacle remained intact, and the spiritual energy it had previously absorbed had not escaped.

The power and durability of this array artifact were unquestionable, but even with Immortals participating in this divine ability bombardment, it could not withstand the assault.

"Replace the array artifact, quickly!"

Every component of the battle formation had corresponding backups. However, this incident served as a stark reminder to Bai Ziqi: they lacked sufficient resources, personnel, primal energy, and their morale was steadily declining. He had brought a considerable army, but they held no advantage against the Yakshas' overwhelming numbers and human-wave tactics. Now, with Immortal Sect disciples also blending into the Yaksha tide and joining the attack, if this continued, his subordinates might collapse before the Inverted Sea's spiritual energy was even fully drained.

Bai Ziqi was acutely aware of the terrifying "rout like a collapsing mountain" phenomenon. Although those who followed him to the Inverted Sea might be elites from various parts of Golden Flash Plains, how much did these individuals truly know or trust him? They followed him not out of respect or trust, but merely to execute the Goddess's orders. How could they possibly sacrifice themselves unreservedly for him? This was not an army personally trained by Bai Ziqi, but rather a ragtag force from Golden Flash Plains. For their morale to hold, they needed to see a clear hope of victory. And don't forget, the Immortal Sect had, at most, sent only two Immortals to oversee the battle from the periphery. There was no telling how much reserve strength the Thousand Illusions' core team still possessed!

This decisive battle had only just begun, with both sides actively probing each other's limits. Neither would be foolish enough to go all-in from the outset.

He Lingchuan also thought to himself: *It's coming soon. Bai Ziqi must have a countermeasure. If he can't counter the Mirage Sect's moves, there will be big trouble ahead.*

By the Inverted Lake, with their identities exposed by the True Eye, the Immortal Sect disciples simply cast aside their spears, halberds, and tridents. Retrieving their original weapons, they launched two fierce waves of rapid attacks.

He Lingchuan had always wanted to understand the warfare methods of the Immortal Sect and even the Heavenly Demons, so he certainly wouldn't miss such a rare opportunity to observe. The speed of this spiritual energy resurgence round exceeded everyone's imagination. The Spider Queen sisters predicted that if the spiritual energy concentration continued to improve, it could return to medieval levels. In such an environment, both individual cultivation and collective warfare methods would undergo fundamental changes, and extraordinary powers previously hidden in the shadows might reappear.

The death match between Immortals and Demons within the Inverted Sea, orchestrated by He Lingchuan, was very likely his best sample for observing future warfare. Perhaps this was a preview. He wanted to understand the intensity of warfare during the medieval period and how much room for independent human activity remained under the Immortal-Demon conflict—a point of crucial importance to him and to Golden Flash Plains. This was also one of the reasons why He Lingchuan had to enter the Inverted Sea.

Unlike the Heavenly Palace forces, who predominantly used standard weapons like swords, spears, staffs, and halberds, the Mirage Sect disciples, despite wearing light armor over their robes for battle, wielded an incredibly diverse array of armaments. Besides common swords and blades, there were even jade rulers, fans, and scrolls, among other items, making He Lingchuan want to scratch his head in bewilderment.

In fact, a quick glance showed him that fans were surprisingly useful. One cultivator, wielding a fan, sent out several wind blades. This spell seemed tangible, carving cold, gray, arc-shaped blade shadows in mid-air, and could even turn corners. One of these wind blades struck trees, slicing through four or five trees as thick as water barrels before disappearing.