Crimson Flame’s energy was severely depleted, and the eighteen clones merging back into one. Flames still danced across Its body, but compared to before, Its imposing might had been drastically weakened.
"Die!" Tian Yang's voice, thick with killing intent, rang out once more. He transformed back into the black-red puppet and slammed fiercely into Crimson Flame.
Coordinating with Tian Yang's assault, the waters of Lan Cang, the silver arrows, the inverted mountain, and the falling river of stars all erupted with devastating force in the same instant.
Is Zhang Zhiliang still not making his move? And Ye Feipeng...
Though this battle to slay the Soul Arbiter of heaven and earth was approaching its conclusion, these two had yet to act, which puzzled Li Fan.
He flew slightly higher, scanning his surroundings, trying to detect traces of Ye Feipeng.
Hmm? When Li Fan saw the scene around him clearly, his heart gave a jolt.
While the attention of every cultivator was fixed on the epic battle in the sky, Li Fan discovered that the water level the Congyun Sea had dropped to an alarmingly low point without anyone noticing. It was as if vast quantities of seawater had vanished into thin air. From what Li Fan could see, in some of the shallower areas, the seabed was already exposed.
So he hasn't given up after all. Li Fan thought, his eyes glinting as he recalled the Kun-Peng’s divine abilities Ye Feipeng had comprehended.
While Li Fan was observing his surroundings, Crimson Flame above finally began to show signs of defeat under the relentless assault of the five Immortal Eminences. The flames upon It flickered weakly, like a candle guttering in the wind. The final strike from the five Immortal Eminences was also imminent.
"Allow me to lend you Immortal Eminences a hand as well!" Zhang Zhiliang's voice rang out at the perfect moment. Yet, to Li Fan's ears, it carried a thread of icy coldness.
The hundreds of thousands of Array Crowns that had sealed the battlefield all emitted a faint glow simultaneously. Then, they all extinguished at once.
In the instant they vanished from the sky, they subtly shifted and changed their positions. In a flash, an array was suddenly formed.
"Spirit Gathering!" Zhang Zhiliang's emotionless voice sounded again. This voice had echoed across the battlefield countless times before; the cultivators present, including the Immortal Eminences locked in combat, had grown accustomed to it.
However, the one difference was that a massive, tightly shut eye also appeared in the sky.
As the words "Spirit Gathering" echoed, the eye snapped open. The super Spirit Gathering Array activated, but this time, the region from which spiritual qi was being drained was no longer the Congyun Sea. It was the battlefield encompassed by that gigantic eye!
As the concentration of spiritual qi around them plummeted at a terrifying rate, the five Immortal Eminences immediately sensed that something was wrong.
"Zhang Zhiliang, you court death!" The voice of Immortal Eminence Hong Xi, filled with shock and fury, thundered across the heavens.
The inverted mountain shifted its target, hurling itself toward the solitary eye in the sky.
Yet, the space ahead twisted and warped. That impossibly heavy, seemingly all-crushing inverted peak could not reach the eye, no matter how far it flew.
Not only that, but the attacks from the other Immortal Eminences, who had now regained their senses and were boiling with rage, also failed to pierce through this sealed space. Every assault fell short.
"The Two Poles Subtle Dust Array? Have you broken through to the Spirit Transformation realm?" At this moment, Immortal Eminence Zi Yun, who had remained silent from beginning to end, finally spoke.
Her clear, crisp voice caused the complexions of Hong Xi and the others to change drastically.
Zhang Zhiliang remained silent.
Beside him, Crimson Flame, who had been grievously wounded, now seized the opportunity to launch an assault on the stunned Spirit Transformation Immortal Eminences frozen in place.
Hong Xi and the others were forced to engage Crimson Flame once more.
Only this time, not only was the spiritual qi concentration drastically lowered due to the Two Poles Subtle Dust Array, offering them no chance for recovery, but the eye in the sky would also occasionally cast its gaze downward, freezing their movements.
Before long, under the combined assault of Crimson Flame and Zhang Zhiliang, the Immortal Eminences were covered in wounds.
"Zhang Zhiliang, you are still a proper Spirit Transformation cultivator and an array master at the end of the day. How could you use such despicable methods?
"Aren't you afraid of becoming a laughingstock in the world?" Immortal Eminence Lan Cang roared in fury.
The response he received was the deathly stare of the eye.
Immortal Eminence Hong Xi had never imagined they would fall into a trap laid by this former subordinate.
"Senior Jin Ri, please free us from this plight!" he cried out, a note of anxiety in his voice.
The great sun in the firmament hesitated for a moment, then nonetheless cast down a beam of golden light.
Just as this radiance was about to fall upon the solitary eye, a wisp of dark cloud suddenly manifested, blocking the golden beam.
"Little Zhang, proceed with confidence! That old fossil Jin Ri shall not hinder you!"
Zhang Zhiliang finally spoke: "My thanks, Senior."
"Hei Ya?!" Jin Ri's voice, filled with shock and anger, echoed across the heavens.
Yet, faced with the dark cloud that blotted out the golden sun, Immortal Venerable Jin Ri fell silent.
A moment later, the sun that enveloped the Congyun Sea slowly retreated.
"Senior Jin Ri!" Hong Xi cried out desperately, even as he parried Crimson Flame's attacks.
But there was no response.
Seeing their backer choose to abandon them, a river of stars suddenly manifested in the sky.
Immortal Eminence Zi Yun transformed into starlight and, in an instant, pierced through spacetime. Without another word, she fled into the distance.
The solitary eye gazed into the far distance for a time before withdrawing its sight.
Zhang Zhiliang chose not to pursue. He simply watched, seated, as the trapped beasts fought to the death within the Two Poles Subtle Dust Array.
For Crimson Flame, everything before It was an enemy to be destroyed. Thus, Its offensive never ceased.
For the four remaining Spirit Transformation cultivators, the will to survive was an instinct.
Facing Crimson Flame's attacks, they could not simply sit back and await death with closed eyes.
Yet, already heavily wounded and now lacking the support of Jin Ri and Zi Yun, how could they be a match for Crimson Flame?
And so, despite the unwillingness in their hearts, they had no choice but to fall into Zhang Zhiliang's scheme, using their very lives to whittle away at Crimson Flame's remaining power.
Immortal Eminence Lan Cang was the first to fall.
Hao Xuan and Hong Xi followed, meeting their ends.
Only Tian Yang, with the most tenacious vitality, remained, struggling bitterly to hold on.
The moment of harvest was now at hand. Slaying the Soul Arbiter of heaven and earth and achieving the rank of Dao Unity Immortal Venerable was now within his grasp. Even with Zhang Zhiliang's profound composure, he couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
Just as he prepared to make his move, he abruptly discovered that a shadow covering the entire Congyun Sea had enveloped him at some unknown moment.
With a sound like the cleaving of heaven from earth, a terrifying exotic beast of indescribable, impossible size erupted from the ocean depths.
In one gulp, it swallowed both him and Crimson Flame, who was still sealed by countless Array Crowns.