Chapter 316: Watching From The Sidelines
The Fuyao Domain Army led by Qi Ke Qing personally witnessed Ning Qi and his subordinates disappear directly from before their eyes.
They gazed at the empty void ahead, their hearts filled with all sorts of complex emotions.
In particular, those who had just been questioning the Xuanzhen Domain Army’s formation were utterly slapped in the face on the spot.
They released their spiritual sense, sweeping across the four directions, yet detected nothing.
After a good while, the congregation finally came back to their senses with sour envy.
As the strongest being, Qi Ke Qing also failed to perceive where Ning Qi and the others had gone, so she asked the formation master from earlier, “Can you perceive where they are?”
That formation master shook his head and said, “Senior Sister Qi, it’s not that I’m boosting others’ morale, but Ning Qi’s attainment in formations is truly beyond our reach. I completely can’t find any trace of them.”
Upon hearing this, the congregation couldn’t help but be shocked once again.
It was one thing for such a large enemy army to vanish silently from before them, but they couldn’t even detect the slightest trace of the enemy—wasn’t that a bit too terrifying?
Fortunately, that formation master finally said something that gave them a glimmer of hope.
“We don’t need to search for their traces; we just need to continue following the direction they were heading before, and we might have some gains.”
From the crowd, an elder said, “How do you know that Ning Qi isn’t deliberately luring us? What if he changes direction after hiding?”
That formation master snorted lightly, seemingly extremely dissatisfied with this person’s statement.
“Elder Li, I can’t guarantee that what I say is entirely correct, but if Senior Sister Qi still plans to continue pursuing them, moving forward is the most likely path.”
He looked toward Qi Ke Qing and continued, “Senior Sister Qi, I’ve said all I can. What to do next is entirely up to you.”
With that, that formation master returned to his original position.
There was one point he didn’t voice out: Ning Qi simply didn’t care about them following, flying openly in a straight direction.
Yet upon reaching this place, Ning Qi suddenly disappeared with his subordinates.
This indicated that Ning Qi had approached his target destination, hence suddenly going into stealth.
As for Qi Ke Qing, she gazed far ahead, thought for a long time, and finally said, “Continue advancing!”
From the moment they made contact with Ning Qi, less than an hour had passed, but Qi Ke Qing already felt as if endless mysteries shrouded Ning Qi, catching her off guard multiple times.
She wanted to figure out whether the compass in Ning Qi’s hand could truly locate nodes.
She perhaps wanted to figure out even more things, all of which urged Qi Ke Qing to continue forward.
Not long after, the scenery ahead changed.
The war domain, condensed from the world power of two realms, had uneven terrain within, but nothing particularly scenic.
But at this moment, Qi Ke Qing perceived that a hundred miles away, there was an extremely special place.
That territory had spiritual energy surging like smoke; from afar, the entire area seemed shrouded in mist, connecting heaven and earth from top to bottom.
Even her spiritual sense couldn’t see it clearly.
Qi Ke Qing immediately said, “There seems to be a large node ahead. Let’s proceed cautiously.”
Upon hearing this, the congregation immediately began setting up a formation.
Though they couldn’t completely conceal the army like Ning Qi had, they could achieve semi-concealment.
What was semi-concealment? It meant that as long as the enemy didn’t probe seriously, they wouldn’t discover their existence.
But if carefully checked, they would definitely be found.
…
Under the guidance of the Soul Seeking Node Disc, Ning Qi led the Xuanzhen Domain Army to precisely this large node.
At this moment, they had entered the fifty-mile range of the large node.
Within the fifty-mile range, all was shrouded in mist.
They hid in the void, lightly inhaling through their noses, and felt spiritual energy like mist, refreshing their hearts and spleens.
They couldn’t help but sigh in admiration: as expected of a large node; the energy here was indeed astonishingly strong.
Below, beast roars continuously echoed, and even in the air, there were faint bursts of cries.
Ning Qi gazed ahead, where a ray of clear light appeared within, but due to the spiritual mist, it was largely obscured and not clearly visible.
He quietly released his spiritual sense, and all obstructions could no longer block him, fully presenting in his perception.
This central node was likewise not the first time he had discovered it.
At this moment, a team of troops was surrounding and killing the Sea of Realms fierce beasts at the center.
Their actions were extremely stealthy, every attack extremely restrained, as if afraid that any exposure of their attacks would immediately draw enemies.
This army’s numbers were actually greater than the Xuanzhen Domain cultivators; looking at their attire, all wore fiery red robes—they were precisely the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect cultivators from the Haoran Realm’s Spirit Bird Domain.
Earlier, Ning Qi had annihilated a team of Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect cultivators; presumably, their entry point into the war domain was this vast area.
Thus, Ning Qi had continuously encountered Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect people.
The previous Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect team had only one-third the numbers of the Xuanzhen Domain Army, but now they outnumbered the Xuanzhen Domain people.
Clearly, the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect cultivators had gathered here!
It was just unknown whether it was to seize this large node, or if they had sensed their dispatched team being wiped out, prompting them to gather.
Ning Qi swept over all the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect people, secretly probing their cultivation.
In mere moments, he had it all figured out.
Among them, there were nine Integration Limit Venerables, twenty top-tier venerables, fifty ordinary venerables, and another sixty Integration Realm cultivators!
As for those at Void Dao Realm and Nascent Soul Realm below, they were about the same as the Xuanzhen Domain Army.
This army was the strongest team Ning Qi had encountered since entering the war domain.
And the Sea of Realms fierce beasts they were besieging were also extremely terrifying.
There were five clans in total: Tiger Leopard Wolf Lion Eagle!
They weren’t fighting isolated; at a glance, Ning Qi saw these fierce beasts cooperating like a large legion, extremely orderly.
A doubt rose in Ning Qi’s heart: could Sea of Realms fierce beasts also understand mutual cooperation?
The Feng Baihua he had subdued was a Queen Bee Demon, her bee demon swarm being the same species and naturally gregarious creatures with cooperative traits.
But the current Tiger Leopard Wolf Lion Eagle were five species, their mutual cooperation truly rare.
None of the five species were ordinary; the smaller ones were cow-sized, the larger occupying dozens of zhang in space.
Ning Qi carefully observed these fierce beasts; each clan had a leading Great Demon King at its head.
Every Great Demon King was extraordinarily valiant, their beast eyes filled with endless wildness!
While attacking, they even commanded their beast groups to assault the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect people.
Whether Ning Qi or the Xuanzhen Domain Army behind him, upon seeing this scene, they were secretly astonished.
They continued watching; the battle between both sides had roughly turned into three battlefields, with quite a few casualties already appearing.
Low-realm cultivators from the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect fell in droves.
The Tiger Leopard Wolf Lion Eagle were fierce beasts from the Sea of Realms to begin with, tougher and thicker-skinned than demonic beasts like Niu Ding Tian from the Mountain Sea Realm; in the Nascent Soul Realm and Void Dao Realm battlefields, they often held the upper hand.
But in the Integration Realm, human cultivators integrated heaven and earth rules into their bodies, matching demonic beasts in physical prowess, so the beasts couldn’t gain advantage.
The Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect’s Integration Realm cultivators had completely surrounded the Integration Realm members of the five great demonic beasts.
Humans had various supernatural techniques for attack, combined battle formations; the opposing demonic beasts could cooperate mutually but couldn’t match humans’ seamless coordination.
However, the five great demonic beast groups were more fearless of death, more ferocious, and fierce beasts’ instincts were particularly terrifying, their combat instincts matchless.
Any single clan pulled out could dominate a region.
“Kill!”
From the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect side, the cultivator army finally shouted in unison.
They unleashed waves of attacks: crisscrossing saber qi, peerlessly sharp sword qi, Vermilion Bird divine shadows, fireballs, tongues of fire, fire lances.
The common point among them was that all contained terrifying fire rules; scorching heat and incineration were the two major traits of fire rules.
The entire void seemed completely occupied by fire rules; the surrounding spiritual energy was turned into fuel by the suddenly dense fire energy, the spiritual mist gradually thinning, firelight flickering faintly.
In response, the five great fierce beast leaders fully erupted.
The Divine Eagle cried in the sky above, the four beasts below roared unceasingly.
Their cries linked together, simultaneously releasing various supernatural power illusory images for augmentation.
In an instant, the node center was like returning to primordial times, with countless beast illusory images emerging, hundred beasts on the move, their roars shaking mountains and rivers!
The entire void trembled; the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect congregation’s attacks collided with the sound waves of the beast roars and the hundred beasts’ illusory images.
Rumble!
The heavens and earth brightened to the extreme, yet the collision area presented vast voids of black holes.
From afar, it was like ground fire golden lotuses blooming.
Such a huge commotion made the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect side tense up a bit.
They looked around, simultaneously spreading their spiritual sense to the utmost, checking if enemies had been drawn over.
They naturally couldn’t detect Ning Qi’s Xuanzhen Domain Army, but they did detect the Fuyao Domain Army that had arrived about eighty miles away in semi-concealment.
Ning Qi immediately noticed that several people in the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect team turned their heads toward the periphery.
“Not good, someone has already entered this area!”
“Tigers, leopards, wolves, lions, and eagles ahead, enemy army behind—what do we do now?”
They had detected Qi Ke Qing’s army, and Qi Ke Qing had naturally also probed their situation.
She immediately said to the congregation behind her, “Not good, we’ve been discovered!”
“What?”
Someone asked, “We’ve been discovered—by the Xuanzhen Domain Army led by Ning Qi?”
Qi Ke Qing narrowed her eyes slightly. “Perceive it for yourselves.”
Since they had been discovered, the Fuyao Domain Army no longer concealed itself; those who had been cautiously hiding just now all released their spiritual sense, looking toward the center.
At first sight, they were startled.
“Senior Sister Qi, the Haoran Realm cultivators at this large node are stronger than us!”
“What do we do now—fight or withdraw?”
Cultivators on both sides were pondering countermeasures.
The Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect had dispatched two Peak Venerables, flying swiftly toward the Fuyao Domain Army.
As they flew, they shouted, “Who are you? The Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect is handling business here—report your names at once!”
Qi Ke Qing said loudly, “Mountain Sea Realm’s Yaoguang Immortal Sect has arrived!”
…
Ning Qi and the others had already approached within ten miles of the center.
They hid in the void, watching the two venerables fly past them; quite a few people broke out in cold sweat.
Fortunately, the Alliance Leader’s concealment grand array was truly formidable, not discovered by the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect people—instead, the pursuing Fuyao Domain Army was found.
The Sword Ancestor was next to Ning Qi and quietly asked, “Heh heh, now the Fuyao Domain Army has been dragged in—kid, did you calculate this step long ago?”
Ning Qi said indifferently, “To be honest, I didn’t calculate it, but I did consider this situation.”
The Sword Ancestor said, “Kid, stop selling it—say, what do we do now?”
Ning Qi swept over the three forces and finally said something rather unkind, “Wait and see a bit more!”
The people behind him had their lips curve up slightly.
The Alliance Leader was practicing the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind to utmost proficiency!
Ahead, the Sea of Realms fierce beasts were still battling the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect.
Behind, the Fuyao Domain Army had already met the two Peak Venerables from the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect.
What Ning Qi hadn’t expected was how decisive Qi Ke Qing was.
The Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect was powerful and had originally planned to intimidate the opponent by sending two Peak Venerables.
After all, they had also detected the Fuyao Domain Army’s strength, which was far inferior to theirs.
Thus, the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect people had a preset notion: the opponent absolutely wouldn’t dare make a move against them.
But what they hadn’t anticipated was that Qi Ke Qing directly had her subordinates attack in unison, instantly slaying those two Peak Venerables.
Below, bursts of angry shouts immediately rang out.
“What audacity!”
“Mountain Sea Realm dogs, daring to kill my Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect people!”
“Kill them first!”
In this instant, half the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect people below directly split off, charging toward the Fuyao Domain Army.
The remaining half, though no longer able to force the Sea of Realms fierce beasts into trapped beast fights, was still enough to contend with them.
These Sea of Realms fierce beasts were likewise extremely intelligent; seeing the newcomers seemed hostile to the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect people, drawing out half their forces.
They all erupted, charging suicidally at the remaining people.
Instantly, the pressure on the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect’s guards surged!
Meanwhile, under Qi Ke Qing’s lead, the Fuyao Domain Army had already slain two of the opponent’s cultivators and had no other choice.
They could only clash with the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect people.
The only relief was that the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect was too arrogant, dispatching only half their forces against them.
With Sea of Realms fierce beasts present, and the unknown whereabouts of the Xuanzhen Domain Army, Qi Ke Qing firmly believed they absolutely wouldn’t lose!
Not to mention the Sea of Realms fierce beasts—would Ning Qi just watch idly as her Fuyao Domain Army fought the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect alone?
Ning Qi surveyed the entire field; he had indeed planned to wait a bit more before.
But now, with the three sides turning into two battlefields, his Xuanzhen Domain stood aloof outside, able to target and launch exterminating assaults on either at any time.
However, at this moment, something strange seemed to happen on the Fuyao Domain Army side—they actually started arguing.
Ning Qi and the others immediately looked over.
Sure enough, within the Fuyao Domain Army, a large group of cultivators quickly detached, withdrawing toward the rear.
Ning Qi’s eyes flashed, instantly understanding the situation.
Those were Qingxuan Immortal Sect people; they had actually chosen to detach from the Fuyao Domain Army at this moment—their hearts were truly vicious and insidious!
