Chapter Fourteen: The Decade-Long War (Few words for now, but please add to your collection...)

The next day, just as dawn broke, both sides were already fully prepared. All cultivators above the Nascent Soul stage released their flying magical treasures and soared into the sky. At a single command, both armies advanced toward the center of the battlefield, halting simultaneously when only five li separated them. This distance was perfect for long-range attacks to commence.

Before the storm, there is always an eerily quiet calm. Over a thousand cultivators stood without uttering a word; time itself seemed to have frozen. The silence was so intense that the fall of a pin would be audible.

"Attack!" The commanding leaders of both sides shouted in unison.

Instantly, heaven and earth erupted. Magical treasures filled the air; talisman papers fluttered like snow. Swords and blades flashed, every kind of mystical technique unleashed a myriad of brilliant lights, and colored sword auras crisscrossed the battlefield like ribbons of laser. The once pristine white ice field was shattered and battered under the barrage.

In this world of snow and ice, Lin Jiang moved as freely as a fish in water, wielding his chilling sword aura fused with psychic powers. Wherever he passed, all was encased in crystal-clear ice sculptures. Behind him, Hua Shaojie struck with earth talismans, shattering the ice statues into fragments the moment they were hit. The cultivators trapped within the ice perished alongside their shattered forms, losing a century’s cultivation in a single moment.

Tang Yi stood transfixed, overwhelmed by the scene before him. Though not as bloody as Western or Japanese films, those were, after all, just movies—this was unfolding live before his very eyes. Tang Yi simply stood and watched, doing nothing, as if all of this was entirely unrelated to him.

"Tang! Look out!" Ding Pengfei's shout snapped Tang Yi from his stupor. As he came to his senses, a flying knife, sharp with lethal energy, shot straight for his left chest. The moment the blade's aura pierced his armor, everything froze before his eyes.

"Damn, that was almost a close call!" Tang Yi quickly moved out of the knife's range, found a spot, and summoned a sofa. He slumped heavily onto it and, not being fond of alcohol, took out a bottle of water. The water was still warm. Though everything around him was frozen in time, the scene before his eyes felt icy cold. Only after sipping the hot water did he feel a bit better.

Tang Yi wished to end this battle, but realized he could only use one superpower in this state—the ability to traverse space and time. He could use cultivation techniques, but unfortunately, he possessed none that could attack; he had only a single cultivation art. Even if he had more, he wouldn't use them, for he had never killed anyone. Very well, using his sole superpower, he would separate the two sides. Their armor colors—blue and red—made them easy to distinguish. Tang Yi began shuttling across the battlefield, moving one or two people at a time. After more than eight hundred trips, the thousand-plus combatants now lay side by side in two long rows, blue and red, ten li apart like salted fish laid out to dry. Tang Yi glanced back at the battlefield, where talismans, sword energy, blade energy, magical treasures, and hidden weapons still hung motionless in the air. He exhaled deeply, retreated far behind his own line, reclined on his sofa, drank his water, and restored normal time.

Both sides were utterly shocked. In an instant, more than a thousand people found themselves lying in two lines on the ground like salted fish. But after just a dozen seconds, the two sides quickly regrouped and surged forward. The battle resumed!

"Shit..." Tang Yi cursed aloud at the sight. He gave up interfering, not caring who lived or died—as long as he himself survived.

He placed two formation chess pieces, nested one formation within another, and hid inside, activating the array’s sound and image isolation functions. Remarkably, Tang Yi soon fell asleep on his sofa-bed within the formation.

He slept in a daze, not knowing how much time had passed, until a loud boom woke him. Someone was attacking his formation—it was his own side. Stretching and yawning, Tang Yi retrieved the formation chess pieces and dismissed the array, only to find Chief Commander Shan Qianzhang smiling at him. Tang Yi was puzzled; by rights, since he had shirked the battle, Shan Qianzhang should have been furious. But not only was he not angry, he was genuinely pleased, grinning from ear to ear. What was even more astonishing was that Hua Shaojie, Lu Zhengyang, and Ding Pengfei had all awakened superpowers!

As it turned out, in this battle, both sides’ Nascent Soul and Out-of-Body cultivators were evenly matched. The outcome depended on those at the Spirit Quieting stage, and the fight raged for three days and nights. The aerial combatants were deadlocked, while on the ground, the advantage shifted back and forth between blue and red. The number of Spirit Quieting cultivators dwindled on both sides, and on the fourth day, the turning point arrived.

Hua Shaojie and the others were besieged by a dozen late-stage Spirit Quieting cultivators. None nearby could spare the effort to help; the three were in mortal danger. But it is often said that in moments of life and death, human potential erupts. And so, Hua Shaojie, Lu Zhengyang, and Ding Pengfei all broke through—not with potential, but with superpowers.

As a sword slashed toward Hua Shaojie’s neck, he was surrounded on three sides, with no room to dodge. No matter which way he turned, he would be struck. At the peak of his desperation, those attacking him suddenly vanished, and in their place, deep chasms opened at his feet, swallowing his enemies whole. Lu Zhengyang and Ding Pengfei, believing their long-time brother was doomed, erupted simultaneously. Flames surged from Lu Zhengyang’s body and, with a fire talisman in hand, he unleashed a colossal fire dragon that consumed everything in its path with terrifying speed. Ding Pengfei’s eyes glowed green as vines burst from the earth, tightly binding their foes, who were quickly cocooned.

The eruption of their superpowers drastically changed the tide of battle. With three terrifying superpowers joining the fray, the outcome became one-sided. The enemy suffered massive casualties and, after losing more than half their number, declared defeat and the battle was over.

Initially, Shan Qianzhang was furious at Tang Yi’s avoidance of combat and was planning to punish him. Upon hearing of this, Hua Shaojie and the others interceded, explaining that they owed their victory to Tang Yi. If not for his constant explanations about superpowers, even if they had awakened them, they would not have mastered them instantly, and the battle would not have ended so swiftly. With much pleading, flattery, and promises of future favors, they finally appeased Shan Qianzhang’s anger. After Hua Shaojie finished explaining, Tang Yi simply nodded, though he remained puzzled as to why Shan Qianzhang was still smiling so warmly at him. The smile made Tang Yi uneasy. At this moment, Hua Shaojie whispered something into Tang Yi’s ear, and Tang Yi yelped as if his tail had been stepped on.

"What? You..." Tang Yi glanced at the still-grinning Shan Qianzhang, then turned to Hua Shaojie and hissed, "This time, I’ll let it slide. But if you ever give away my stuff without permission again, just you wait!"

With that, Tang Yi put on a smile and addressed Shan Qianzhang, "Chief Commander, I was in the wrong this time. Please accept these rings as my punishment." He handed over two storage rings, then glared fiercely at Hua Shaojie, who stuck out his tongue and shrank away. Giving up two storage rings was painful for Tang Yi at present. He resolved to enrich himself as soon as possible. As for Hua Shaojie—he would make an excellent free laborer.

Although Shan Qianzhang was already a master at the Integration stage, he had never seen storage rings with such vast internal space. Naturally, he was delighted, for there was even a spare to give to a junior. The formation on the rings might not be of much use to him, but for cultivators below the Out-of-Body stage, they were priceless treasures.