At Zhao Li’s order, the Heavenly Derivative Sect’s ship charged straight toward the enemy’s ship.
The enemy had clearly noticed them. A bunch of cultivators were looking their way from the deck and growing restless when they realized what was about to happen.
They did not understand how the Heavenly Derivative Sect’s ship was moving so quickly. No one could keep their calm as this was the first time they ever faced down a ship Spirit Artifact this way.
Shouts and commands erupted from the deck immediately. The cultivator commanding the ship ordered the disciples to change course and avoid a direct impact, but they quickly discovered that their efforts were useless. The enemy was just moving too quickly.
Back on the Heavenly Derivative Sect’s ship, a man reported, “Brother Zhao, the enemy up ahead is not Sanguine Vale. It’s Thunderlight Sect.”
“Doesn’t matter. Ram first, think later.”
“Will do!”
As it turned out, the ship they thought to be Sanguine Vale’s actually belonged to Thunderlight Sect. However, Zhao Li did not hesitate to continue the assault because both sects were on their hit list. It did not matter who they hit first in the grand scheme of things.
Meanwhile, the prolegate of the Thunderlight Sect felt like someone had just shoved shit into his mouth. They had tried to rescue the Clear Wind Sect, but the Outpost was taken before they could arrive at the destination. They then changed course to assist Sanguine Vale, but now they were intercepted halfway by the Heavenly Derivative Sect. Were the Heavens screwing with them today or what?
He was especially confused by how quickly the Heavenly Derivative Sect’s ship Spirit Artifact was moving. As far as he was aware, their speed should be impossible.
He watched the enemy’s ship nervously as the distance between them shortened more and more. Finally, a defensive ward appeared around the Thunderlight Sect’s ship.
The defensibility of this ward was incomparable to an Outpost’s grand ward as a matter of course, but it was still better than nothing.
In contrast, the cultivators of the Heavenly Derivative Sect opted to launch as many spells from their deck as they could until the distance between had narrowed to sixty meters or so. Only then did they finally raise their defensive ward.
The prolegate of the Thunderlight Sect felt a chill in his heart when he realized he had fucked up. Everyone had purchased their ships from the Vault of Providence, so its quality and various functions were more or less the same. However, the enemy had managed to fire off a few rounds of spells and weaken their ward before the ram. This basically guaranteed that the outcome was going to favor the Heavenly Thunder Sect.
The prolegate raged at how shameless and despicable the Heavenly Derivative Sect was inside his head, but he knew that the fault was his. If he was a bit more experienced in aerial combat, then he might’ve been able to react to the situation better.
Then again, maybe not. No one in the Thunderlight Sect—scratch that, no one in the entire Spirit Creek Battlefield had ever encountered such a scenario.
A few seconds later, the bow of the Heavenly Derivative Sect’s ship rammed into the enemy’s stern. There was a loud impact as everyone on both ships lost their footing, and the defensive wards shattered into fragments of light one after another. Some had even crashed hard against the deck.
On the deck, Lu Ye held onto the railings with a death grip while listening to the shrieks and groans of the ships. Then, a massive shadow loomed over his head. He looked up and saw the bottom of the Thunderlight Sect’s ship.
When the collision happened, the Heavenly Derivative Sect’s ship was moving so quickly that it slammed right through the bottom end of the ship’s stern and lifted into the air.
That wasn’t all. Another series of shrieks and groans later, the enemy’s ship rolled forward for a bit before falling toward the ground at an odd angle.
Bloodcurdling screams rang out from the enemy ship. The next moment, countless cultivators flew out of the ship and attempted to catch themselves with their flying Spirit Artifacts. Some succeeded, but lacked the cultivation level and/or Spiritual Power control to fly yet. They were unable to control their flight despite their best efforts.
There were over three hundred cultivators on Thunderlight Sect’s ship, but only one hundred or so managed to fly out after the ship was sent flying. Not only that, every single one of them were escaping in the direction of Sanguine Vale’s Outpost.
On the other hand, Heavenly Derivative Sect’s ship had shaken like an earthquake for a bit, but it showed no signs of failing.
The Heavenly Derivative Sect cultivators immediately flew out of their ship and chased after the Thunderlight Sect cultivators, but they were still a tad slower than Lu Ye. He was the first to move and the fastest of them all. Naturally, he would be at the forefront.
Most cultivators avoided aerial combat until they had switched to a Heaven Grade cultivation technique because their Spiritual Power control wasn’t good enough to fly their flying Spirit Artifact and fight at the same time. It was basically an accident waiting to happen, and why cultivators were much weaker fighting on their flying Spirit Artifacts than on the ground.
However, Lu Ye did not have this problem. He could control four flying weapons at the same time with mental strength to spare, so of course he could fight while riding his flying Spirit Artifact as well.
Windwalk allowed him to catch up with the escaping Thunderlight Sect cultivators with ease. Once he was within range, he immediately unleashed his four flying weapons and started slaughtering the enemy like helpless lambs.
That wasn’t all. A dozen or so breaths later, he outstripped the farthest Thunderlight Sect cultivator and turned around, effectively blocking their way to Sanguine Vale’s Outpost. Now, there truly was no escape. Not in this direction at least.
Boom…
It was only now the Thunderlight Sect’s ship finally hit the ground with a boom. Right after that, an enormous explosion shattered the ship and washed over everything within dozens of meters. Vague sounds of screaming could be heard from the remnants of the ship.
A hundred Thunderlight sect cultivators had escaped the ship Spirit Artifact before it crashed. So, where were the other two hundred? They were inside the ship, of course.
These people hadn’t escaped, not because they didn’t want to, but because they lacked the power to do so. It was most gruesome to perish in a ship crash like this one, but a fall from a couple hundred meters high was hardly better.
In that sense, that one ram had killed two hundred Thunderlight Sect cultivators in one go.
As for the survivors, the prolegate of the Thunderlight Sect shouted in anger, “Let’s attack him together and kill him!”
After witnessing Lu Ye’s flight speed and killing abilities, he knew that none of them were going to escape unless they took out Lu Ye. The cultivators of the Heavenly Derivative Sect might not be able to catch up to them, but this Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect had speed in spades. The only way they were going to shake him off was to kill him.
The response he got was a red fire ball to the face.
If this battle had taken place on the ground, Lu Ye would never have engaged them even if his cultivation level was higher. It would be no different from committing suicide. However, it was a very different story in the air, especially since no one here had cultivated a Heaven Grade cultivation technique yet.
Lu Ye was as strong in the air as he was on the ground because his Divine Soul and Spiritual Power control were far beyond the average Spirit Creek Realm cultivator, but everyone else? They would be lucky to maintain even seventy percent of their average strength.
Plus, there was a lot more room for maneuvering and dodging while riding his flying Spirit Artifact.
Long story short, it was basically impossible for the enemy to hit him, but he could kill every last one of them with unerring accuracy.
Thanks to him slowing down the escapees and shaving their numbers non-stop, it wasn’t long before Zhao Li and the cultivators of the Heavenly Derivative Sect caught up. Now that they were caught in a pincer attack, there was no longer any hope for the Thunderlight Sect cultivators of escaping alive.
Flying weapons and spells filled the air. Thunderlight Sect wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
The great battle lasted for a moment. Eventually, the disturbances subsided into nothing.
Earlier, the Heavenly Derivative Sect and Deep Sea Mountain had suffered a small amount of casualties despite their total dominance at the Clear Wind Sect’s Outpost. This time though, they hadn’t lost a single person. The worst they got was some light bruises when the two ships had collided.
After sweeping the battlefield, Lu Ye went back to the Heavenly Derivative Sect’s ship and inspected its condition with some ward cultivators. The bow had suffered a not insignificant amount of damage, and its overall performance was expected to suffer a little. All in all though, it was very much still shipworthy.
This time, they did not rush ahead immediately. Instead, they waited for the Deep Sea Mountain to catch up to them.
This one battle had cost Thunderlight Sect over three hundred cultivators. It was a horrible loss to say the least. More importantly, there was no chance they were going to keep their Outpost unless their allies could reach them in time. However, their closest ally, Sanguine Vale was next on the enemy’s hit list. Not only was Sanguine Vale unable to assist Thunderlight Sect, they were the ones who asked for help in the first place. As for the other sects, there was almost no chance they would reach them before the enemy arrived.
Meanwhile, the Legate of the Thunderlight Sect had turned as ashen as death. Over three hundred imprints had vanished from his Battlefield Imprint in just dozens of breaths earlier. Each imprint represented the life of a Thunderlight Sect cultivator.
He knew that it was the force they had initially sent to assist the Clear Wind Sect before changing destinations to Sanguine Vale. He did not know what had happened to them as not a single person was able to send a message before they died!
Despite his overwhelming sorrow, the Legate managed to stay calm and messaged Sanguine Vale about the situation. To say that the Legate of Sanguine Vale was stupefied would be an understatement. They were waiting for Thunderlight Sect’s reinforcements to arrive so they could fight against the Heavenly Derivative Sect and Deep Sea Mountain together, but now their Legate told them that they were all dead?
The Clear Wind Sect was gone. The reinforcements from Thunderlight Sect were dead as well. This meant that they would have to fight alone.
The pressure on his shoulders immediately felt as heavy as a mountain.
Despite the Clear Wind Sect’s fate and knowing that it was unlikely they would be able to hold the Outpost with their own power, Sanguine Vale wasn’t ready to give up without a fight.
The reason Clear Wind Sect had been crushed without any resistance was because they were caught completely off guard while they were defenseless. They, on the other hand, were ready for the enemy. Even if their numbers were drastically inferior to the enemy’s, they should be able to utilize their geographical advantage and put up a good fight!
And so Sanguine Vale hastened to prepare for war while trading countless messages with their headquarters.
…
A long time later, Deep Sea Mountain’s ship finally met up with the Heavenly Derivative Sect’s. They then took off toward Sanguine Vale’s Outpost once more.
Both sects had suffered a small amount of casualties during the occupation of Clear Wind Sect’s Outpost; less than forty people to be exact. It wasn’t enough to impact their overall strength.
As expected, Sanguine Vale was fully prepared when the two sects arrived at their doorsteps. They were using the same formation as the one the Heavenly Derivative Sect and Deep Sea Mountain had used to conquer Clear Wind Sect earlier: body tempering cultivators at the forefront, combat cultivators and ghost cultivators at the middle, and spell cultivators and medicine cultivators at the back.
The cultivators of the Heavenly Derivative Sect and Deep Sea Mountain leisurely disembarked their ships. Thanks to their numbers advantage and the two massive victories they had accrued earlier, both sects were on top of the world right now. While eyeing the enemies like a predator would to a prey, they shot verbal threat after verbal threat and made throat-slitting gestures at them.
On the other side of the grand ward, Sanguine Vale looked nervous despite being fully prepared and determined to fight the enemy to the death.
The battle hadn’t begun yet, but both sides were already swearing at each other at the top of their lungs. The amount of “fuck yous” in the dialogue was high to say the least.
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