Daqin Zhentiansi

The main island of Penglai Fairy Island.

Core Array Hub Plaza.

The core array plate of the island-protecting formation, which once shimmered with auspicious light and radiant glow, now resembles a piece of cracked glass, embedded in the center of the plaza.

The spiderweb-like cracks were shocking to behold in the dim light.

Every time the earth pulse of the Corpse Serpent Legion emanated from the depths of the earth, and every time the Shadow Bat swarm swooped down from the sky like black hailstones, it trembled violently and let out a groan on the verge of breaking!

"The ancestral temple of Penglai, its fortune never ends!" Master Xuanming, who was presiding over the grand formation, had his hair and beard bristling like steel needles!

His face, already worn down by successive battles, was instantly enveloped in a layer of foil-like gold, neither gold nor jade, a sign that the source of his life was burning wildly!
The crimson blood trickled down from his seven orifices, making it even more glaring.

But his pupils seemed to contain two bursting blue suns!

"The Way will never perish! The Soul will never die!"

"Burn my life force! Burn my spirit! Renew the formation! Suppress the mountains!"

The hoarse roar, like the furious cry of a dying dragon, pierced through the clamor of the demonic tide and echoed throughout the island!
His ancient Taoist robe spontaneously combusted without wind, transforming into a soaring azure primordial fire that condensed into a resolute pillar of light, fiercely pouring into the wailing array plate!

The light of the array plate was forcibly stabilized for a moment under this all-out sacrifice, and the spread of the cracks was forcibly stopped!
But the price was terrible—Master Xuanming's life force was like boiling lamp oil, and it was being depleted at a visible speed!

His figure, amidst the burning blue flames, resembled a rapidly weathering statue.

Almost at the same time that Master Xuanming was burning, a thousand miles away from Penglai Immortal Island, on Yuntai Island.

Beside a colossal, towering pillar of sea-suppressing power, covered in charred and melted marks, Granny Yuji's hunched figure is undergoing a terrifying transformation.

Her legs and waist felt as if they were being ground by an invisible millstone, her skin rapidly losing its color and turning into a cold, hard rock covered with ancient moss patterns!

A jade-like halo flowed over her body. With each inch of change, she became more closely connected to the "Yu the Great's Relic Pillar" beneath her feet, which maintained the vitality of the entire island and resisted the tides, exuding a magnificent and tragic aura that shared the same origin as the island and the same fate as the earth!
Granny Yuji, whose neck was already covered in petrification, struggled to raise her head.

Her remaining half of her human face, with deep wrinkles as if carved by a knife and axe, gazed at the dark vortex at the horizon where the sea met the sky, a symbol of boundless demonic energy.

The petrified grayness was rapidly covering the rest of her face, except for her eyes, which shone with an astonishing light, burning with a cold, inextinguishable rage.

Her lips parted, and her voice no longer relied on the air to travel, but rather on the sound of jade striking against the Zhenhai Pillar beneath her feet—a resounding, cold, and penetrating sound that pierced through all demonic noises: "I... am this key! This body... will forever guard this place!"

"Extraterrestrial demons!"

"You dare to trample on even an inch of my Penglai ancestral home..." Stone chips fell in a flurry, her voice rising like a deafening roar from heaven and earth: "Then use your corpses and sea of ​​blood to first trample over my stone body!"

The moment the last word was uttered, a withered, petrified luster completely enveloped her!
The hunched figure merged with the massive sea-suppressing pillar beside it, solidifying into a towering jade-white stone statue that looked up at the sky and glared angrily at the demonic clouds!

"Om-!"

A dark blue-black beam of light, far more refined than before and though broken, contained an indomitable will to perish together and never yield, shot into the sky from the connection between the petrified statue and the sea-suppressing pillar!

Like an unyielding spine, it forcefully pierced the crumbling island-protecting formation, transforming into a desperate yet most solid final barrier!
The fortune of Penglai rests on this body, on this pillar!
On the horizon, deep within the dark clouds where the demonic tide was churning, a faint yet extremely resolute voice, carrying an unwavering will, pierced through the battlefield with a thunderous roar.

"My old friend Xuanzhen! Hold on! My 'Rock Venerable' from Abbot Immortal Island... has come to your aid with his natal spiritual treasure, the 'Boundary-Stabilizing Seal'!"

"The demons are fierce and stubborn, blocking my way at the Storm Barrier... But... my heart of stone... I will not return until I die!"

"Om-"

A faint, earthy-yellow light flickered stubbornly twice in the far distance, like a candle about to be extinguished in a storm, before being completely swallowed up by the even more ferocious demonic shadows and corrosive black mist!

The sound also stopped abruptly.

Though they failed to reach their destination, this spirit of comrades facing death, like a burning brand, was clearly transmitted to the depths of the soul of every Penglai cultivator who still had a breath left!

"Protect our ancestor! Protect the Immortal Island!!"

Across Penglai Island, witnessing the Supreme Elder burning his soul to continue the formation, the Jade Cliff Ancestor petrifying the pillar, and the Abbot's fellow disciples sacrificing their lives to provide support, the last remaining disciples went completely mad! Despair was ignited into a fighting spirit that would burn everything!

On the dilapidated Sword Forest Square, hundreds of wounded sword cultivators once again straightened their blood-stained spines!
They roared, using their blood as a catalyst to forcibly condense their remaining, even shattered, natal flying swords!

One after another, fragmented or twisted sword shadows floated in the air, forming the "Azure Star Shattering Sword Rain Formation," which transformed into a resolute rain of blood and shattered sword light, pouring down on the lava demon vanguard rushing onto the square!

The sound of sword energy tearing through the demon's armor mingled with the agonizing creak of shattering swords; every splatter of blood was a mutual destruction!
Near the ruins of the talisman array tower, several talisman masters with scorched hair and beards were spitting blood, staining the remaining golden core talisman treasures!

Their eyes were empty yet fanatical, and they exhausted their last bit of spiritual power to unleash ancient talismans such as the "Nine Netherworld Profound Ice Talisman" and the "Blazing Fire Heaven Seal"!

The magical radiance of ice and fire exploded among the demons, briefly clearing an area. However, the caster himself collapsed to the ground like a burnt-out candle the moment the talisman light appeared, his breath quickly extinguished!
Beside the ruins of the Pill Hall, several alchemy masters with blood-stained sleeves glared angrily, driving their broken pill furnaces toward the array base node!
The unfinished pills in the furnace exploded violently with spiritual energy, turning into blazing pill fire that instantly burned the surging Shadow Fiend Bat Demons to ashes!

The alchemy cauldron shattered, and the alchemist was also reduced to dust, but his remains temporarily plugged a crack!
"Fight them!" Those burly cultivators with severed arms and legs, their eyes bloodshot, charged at the surging demon soldiers with their shoulders, backs, and heads burning with blood flames, like human chariots!
They used their flesh and bones to withstand the demonic blades! Each muffled thud of bones cracking and tendons snapping sent a swarm of black-armored demonic shadows flying!
The entire main island of Penglai has been transformed into a gigantic grinding wheel of flesh and blood!
Regardless of whether they are sword cultivators, talisman masters, alchemists, or body cultivators, regardless of their level of cultivation, everyone is burning their essence and blood, overdrawing their foundation, and even igniting their own soul!
They rushed towards the base nodes and the demonic soldiers surging onto the island shore, using their broken bodies to fill the gaps in the defense!
Every weak point in the formation was plugged by countless bodies screaming their final cries! (End of Chapter)