Chapter 285: Breaking the Formation, Pressing the Attack

Upon hearing this, the scar-faced man slowly turned around, raised a hand, and immediately gave the order:

"Formation, attack!"

"Yes!" The several people behind him responded in unison and flew off.

In a moment, the dozens of spirit boats that had been suspended in the high-altitude dark clouds suddenly rushed down from the clouds, some moving forward a hundred zhang, some retreating a hundred zhang, some flying left, some shifting right, as if deploying troops.

Soon, these spirit boats arranged themselves in a circular formation in the sky.

Accompanied by a chanting sound like a great bell, the dozens of black platforms built on the spirit boats trembled simultaneously, and the golden patterns engraved on them began to shine brightly, emitting strong fluctuations.

With a loud "boom," all the platforms on the spirit boats shook violently, and dozens of golden pillars of light rose from them, reaching straight into the dark sea of clouds in the sky.

The sea of clouds immediately revealed traces of golden light, churning violently, and then a huge disk phantom a thousand zhang in radius emerged from it, covered with strange patterns, emitting dazzling golden light.

Then, a series of thunderous roars followed.

The entire sea of clouds seemed to boil, the thick mist surging and rolling, and huge fireballs the size of millstones shot out from the disk phantom, burning with golden flames on their surface, crashing down toward the main island and the eight array islands of the Sacred Puppet Sect below.

Hundreds and thousands of golden fireballs, dragging long tails of flame, fell one after another, like a rain of fire and meteors, with an astonishing momentum.

The entire sky seemed to be on fire, stained with a dazzling golden light, and even the edges of the black clouds were gilded.

However, when these fireballs fell into the void nearly ten thousand zhang above the main island, they suddenly seemed to hit an invisible wall, exploding directly with rumbling sounds, splashing countless golden sparks.

With the successive explosions in midair, a nearly transparent hemispherical light curtain began to reveal its true form, its surface flickering with green light, revealing dense water-ripple patterns that spread from the impact points of the fireballs, rippling outward like ripples.

On the light curtain, huge deep pits continuously formed inward, then rebounded and restored under the green light, stubbornly blocking the impact of the fireballs.

On the main island square of the Sacred Puppet Sect, everyone looked up at the sky, their faces solemn and somewhat tense.

"Such an attack shouldn't last too long. How much longer can your defensive formation hold?" Yun Ni asked, standing side by side with Bai Fengyi at the forefront, gazing at the spirit boats in the distance.

"If it's only this level of attack, it should be fine, but I'm afraid..." Bai Fengyi said after a moment of thought.

As soon as he spoke, the disk phantom in the high-altitude dark clouds rotated its spirit patterns, the momentum suddenly ceased, and it stopped.

So brief?

Everyone felt a hint of doubt.

But then, the golden disk phantom started moving again, spewing golden flames, and even larger fireballs of golden flame fell from it, twice as fast as before, and the impact was even more terrifying.

With a thunderous "boom!"

The first golden flame fireball crashed down heavily, causing the light curtain of the defensive formation to shake violently, sinking into a huge deep pit, and the ripples spreading from it were no longer gentle ripples but surging waves.

Before the defensive formation could recover, hundreds of golden flame fireballs crashed down one after another, completely deforming the entire defensive formation, on the verge of collapse.

"It seems it won't hold much longer. When close combat begins, I can at most block one of their two Golden Immortals. The other..." Yun Ni said, her gaze sharpening.

"I'll find a way to block the other. Our side has more cultivators and puppets than theirs. If we can kill as many of their True Immortal cultivators as possible, we can severely damage their morale," Bai Fengyi interjected.

"Right. These people are like wolves when things go their way, but once the situation turns, they become a heap of sand. So don't hold back at the start of the battle. Only by overwhelming them from the beginning can we have a chance to win," Yun Ni advised.

Bai Fengyi nodded, then waved his hands to take out an array plate, pressed his fingers on it, and then moved his lips to issue battle orders one by one.

On the high-altitude warship, the scar-faced man looked down at the island's formation and said with some surprise, "Unexpectedly, the protective sect formation of the Sacred Puppet Sect is sturdier than I anticipated... Fellow Daoist Lu Ji, would you trouble yourself to break it as quickly as possible?"

The sword-carrying man said nothing, only nodded silently, then blurred into motion, flying out of the spirit boat range and hovering in midair.

He reached out to remove the silver sword from his waist, holding the scabbard with one hand and lightly drawing his fingers across the hilt with the other.

With a sharp "clang."

The silver sword suddenly unsheathed, flew up, and shot straight into the high-altitude dark clouds.

A ring of visible snow-white sword aura, like a blizzard blown by a gale, swirled wildly around the blade, instantly piercing a huge hole hundreds of zhang in radius in the leaden clouds.

A beam of bright sunlight shone through the hole, illuminating the area around the man, making him appear like a sword immortal descending to the mortal world, with an indescribable elegance and grace, drawing the gaze of almost everyone.

Near the main island, Han Li, not far from the giant puppet in the form of a warrior, looked up toward the huge hole in the sky.

He saw the sword rise, but for a long time, it did not fall.

The trajectory of this sword was not particularly earth-shattering, but Han Li, having a flying sword as his lifebound treasure, could naturally discern some differences.

The sword aura condensed around the flying sword was so solid and sharp that he had never seen before, and he even vaguely felt that when this sword fell, it would surely change the color of the entire surrounding world.

Sure enough, after a moment, a great silver light burst forth from within the dark clouds, and a series of huge sounds, somewhat like thunder yet different, emanated from within, spreading a terrifying aura of slaughter through the clouds.

A blue light surged in Han Li's eyes as he looked up into the sky.

He saw a snow-white sword light over a thousand zhang long, standing like a huge snow mountain in the dark clouds, the sword aura churning wildly, like an avalanche with a majestic momentum, emitting rumbling sounds.

The next moment, the snow-white sword light toppled down, as if the entire snow mountain collapsed, pressing down on the black sea of clouds.

Layers of dark clouds, upon meeting the sword light, melted away like ice and snow, splitting open a huge gap over ten thousand zhang wide.

That snow-white sword light, as if intending to cleave the very heavens and earth, fell irresistibly toward the light curtain, already severely deformed by the fireballs.

"Boom!"

A deafening roar erupted, and a huge trench sank deeply into the defensive formation, continuing downward for hundreds of zhang without stopping.

The light curtain, already at its last gasp, had its water patterns churn violently but could no longer recover, finally bursting with a "bang," turning into specks of starlight and dissipating.

However, the snow-white sword light that had already shattered the formation refused to relent, continuing to slash downward.

On the island, a dazzling white light silently shot up into the sky, and a huge white snow lotus phantom emerged from it, meeting the sword light head-on, colliding and exploding simultaneously in the void thousands of zhang high.

A violent air wave swept in all directions, stirring up raging waves in the sea area a thousand li around, with a momentum even greater than an avalanche or tsunami.

On the dozens of spirit boats in the high-altitude dark clouds, the Ten Directions Tower members cheered excitedly upon seeing the defensive formation broken, their eyes shining with fervent light, as if piles of dazzling spirit stones were already before them, waiting to be plundered.

"Heh heh, the protective formation of the Sacred Puppet Sect is broken. How much benefit you can gain next depends on each of your own abilities!" the scar-faced man said with a dry laugh, shouting loudly.

As soon as the sound fell, the wild shouts on the black spirit boats surged, and then figures leaped down from the boats, like a flock of hungry black crows, diving straight toward various parts of the main island below.

But as thousands of cultivators approached the air above the island, the spirit patterns on the eight giant puppets distributed around the main island lit up, emitting great light.

Beams of light in various colors, dozens of zhang thick, surged from the round towers atop the puppets, converging toward the center of the main island, colliding with each other, and then reforming into a colored light curtain, covering only the main island's area.

Nearly a hundred Ten Directions Tower cultivators at the forefront tried to halt their momentum but failed to stop in time and crashed into it.

Except for a few True Immortals who quickly released protective treasures and were knocked flying, the rest instantly turned to ashes, leaving only trails of black smoke with a burnt smell in midair.

This sudden second layer of shield stopped the originally aggressive Ten Directions Tower cultivators, who then scattered in caution.

At that moment, Bai Fengyi, with a stern expression, gave the order:

"Engage the enemy!"

On the island, escape lights flickered everywhere, and countless figures flew up from the island, skimming the sea surface from around the colored light curtain, charging toward the Ten Directions Tower crowd.

Following them, hundreds of mechanical flying boats also flew out of the island with whistling sounds, heading straight for the black spirit boats above, while at some critical points on the island, cultivators and puppet beasts remained on strict guard to prevent anyone from sneaking onto the island.

"I'll go ahead," Yun Ni said to Bai Fengyi, then floated up and flew out of the island.

"You guard here, don't go out..." Bai Fengyi turned back, glanced at Bai Suyuan and the others with a complex look, then turned and flew after Yun Ni.

In midair, Lu Ji raised his eyes slightly, seeing a huge snow lotus phantom emerging in the void below, rapidly approaching him.

His expression unchanged, he raised one hand high, beckoning in the void. From the huge hole in the dark clouds came a loud whistle, and a silver sword flew down, landing steadily in his palm.