An epic battle between two powerful immortals commenced before the seaside stronghold. Whenever the juba soared into the air, it brought stunning water energy with it, kicking up wave after wave to threaten the sky.

“That’s a juba… a member of the extinct giant water spirits!” Changes rapidly flickering through his expression, Lu Qishan retreated back into the ocean in a series of flashes.

Wham!

A golden beam almost three hundred meters in radius rose from his body and pierced through the clouds. The ocean exploded, evaporating countless monster spirit immortals.

“Let us battle!” Lu Qishan roared. “Juba!!”

Grappling with the creature on land had left him frustrated and furious, stymied by the inability to exert his full strength since his cultivation was sealed. Above the ocean, he could finally put away the treasure sealing his cultivation and unchain his power as a peak peerless immortal. He cast a greedy gaze at the juba. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he could take this creature for his pet as well?

“Then battle we shall,” the juba spoke in its ancient voice as it entered the ocean.

Boom!

Black radiance flickered across it, transforming it into a giant creature resembling both a dragon and a turtle, one that rivaled the blackwater snake in size. The clash between two peerless immortals began in earnest, intense shockwaves reverberating outward as both of them called upon their full strength.

Bam!

The ocean shook and trembled as tremendous amounts of seawater evaporated from the fight’s energies, then returned in the form of torrential rain.

“Stop!” called out a frantic King of Southern Subjugation. “Stop it!!”

It’d been ready to invade and conquer Dusk Province as soon as the stronghold fell. However, rising tempers had resulted in two peerless immortals lifting their seals over the ocean and engaging in a no-holds-barred fight. The colossal battle reduced countless monster spirits and monster immortals to ashes.

……

“See, crisis averted.” Lu Yun smiled at the earthshaking battle taking place over the ocean. The stronghold remained unaffected, since its grand formation had created an enormous barrier of an invincible wall of air that blocked the terrible shockwaves.

“You have to think before you act,” the governor pointed at his own head, “or else your brain will get rusty.”

Qing Han rolled his eyes. He’s obviously talking to me.

“Am I truly an evil fiend that will bring about endless disaster?” asked Diexi. She came to Lu Yun and Qing Han, her ruby-like eyes filled with confusion and body shaking ever so slightly. Lu Yun had said she was human, so she considered herself one and tried her best to behave accordingly. However, some part of her faith had been shattered by the denouncement from the Lu Clan elder.

“Pfft!” Lu Yun snorted with laughter. “What are you thinking? An evil fiend that will bring about endless disaster?”

Qing Han understood what Lu Yun wanted to achieve, so he didn’t pipe up. Meanwhile, Diexi stared dumbly at the governor.

“Just look at him.” Lu Yun pointed at Lu Qishan, now raising monstrous waves above the ocean. “He’s the evil spirit. He kills countless monster immortals with a twist of the hand. He has taken many more lives than you.”

Diexi looked at the ocean, words eluding her.

“As for the Skybearer Gates…. Everything in the world has its natural bane; its power just so happens to counter yours.” Lu Yun put his hands behind his back. “What is good and what is evil?

“You killed ten million monster spirits to save countless lives in Dusk Province. And when faced with their enormous army, you stayed to protect the stronghold alone, rather than run away. Whoever called you evil is the evil one.

“Look at him again.” The governor pointed at Lu Qishan. “When the monster spirits invaded, he didn’t face the enemy by your side, but instead attacked you and forfeited our territory and wealth. He is the shame of Nephrite Major! I would kill him even if he weren’t from the Lu Clan.” He suddenly asked, “Did you record what happened just now, Feinie?”

“I have, sir,” Feinie’s voice rang out.

“The Lu Clan better leave me alone, or I’ll make them regret it. The young emperor won’t have time for problems like these after being newly installed on the throne? Wrong. He has to personally oversee these kinds of issues to stabilize his rule, or all of Nephrite Major will lose confidence in him.” He looked over at the battle and muttered, “Do it.”

“Understood.” Dressed in black, Feinie started etching formations to reinforce the stronghold.

“It was Feinie who’d set up the formations in the fortress that was destroyed a thousand years ago. This grand formation was completed by her too.” Lu Yun sighed, watching his envoy get to work. If she hadn’t been chosen by ‘Wayfarer’ as burial goods for the blood dragon, she’d probably be able to kill the two peerless immortals with a casual twitch of an eye.

Qing Han looked blankly at Lu Yun, not knowing what to say. Though he’d guessed that Feinie was the Truewater city lord from five thousand years ago… what was Lu Yun doing, being so frank like this?

Is Lu Yun just going to tell me all of his secrets? The disguised girl’s heart pounded fiercely. Doesn’t he… trust me too much?

Only Lu Yun, Feinie, and Diexi occupied the tower at this point. Yuchi Hanxing and the other Dusk soldiers were arranged in the Heavenly Formation of the Black Tortoise to defend against the violent storms raging over the ocean.

……

The fight lasted for a full month. Only the juba and Lu Qishan struggled against each other at first, but Beigong Zhen was also forced to join the fray in the end.

The battle shook heaven and earth, its reverberations reaching half of the North Sea. All of the monster immortals serving the King of Southern Subjugation, including a few arcane immortals, were dusted in the battle between the three peerless immortals.

During that month, Feinie continuously set up formations to reinforce the stronghold, doing her best to restore it to how it had been a thousand years ago. Meanwhile, Lu Yun and Qing Han observed the battle from atop the fortress walls.

Everything peerless immortals did contained the laws of the world. It was three lifetimes worth of fortune for cultivators like them to watch this fight unfold at such a close distance. Toward the end, the Dusk Phalanx dismantled their battle formation, noting that the stronghold was now under the protection of an even more powerful formation and the waves from the ocean no longer threatened the stronghold.

Under Yuchi Hanxing’s orders, they gathered atop the walls and observed the fight as well.

Many cultivators in the vicinity had noticed the battle in the sea, but hadn’t dared draw too close. Even a stray strand of energy could kill a golden immortal.

……

“Look, Yuchi,” Lu Yun pointed at the grappling giants in the depths of the sea. “What does the intertwined juba and blackwater snake look like?”

“Ah? What should it look like?” Yuchi Hanxing had been observing every move of the three peerless immortals by Lu Yun’s side and turned to the governor with bafflement when she heard the question.

Lu Yun rubbed his forehead. Yuchi Hanxing appeared like a frosty, aloof beauty, and she was indeed short on words. But in reality, she was… a bit of a dork, wasn’t she? Her cool facade seemed only to be a protection.

“The Black Tortoise!” He answered seriously. “The Black Tortoise isn’t just a deity born in the north, all patterns and changes resembling it can be considered to be a part of it as well!

“The juba and the blackwater snake have combined to unintentionally form a Black Tortoise, fueling their concerted attacks with the power of the divine beast. Lu Qishan is doomed. If you commit the form of the Black Tortoise to memory, the Heavenly Formation of the Black Tortoise will gain the same strength!” Lu Yun said seriously.

Yuchi Hanxing nodded rapidly, widening her eyes and staring intently at the two giant beasts.

Lu Yun hadn’t even finished speaking when Lu Qishan’s shrieks of terror rang out. “No, no!”

No sooner had the Black Tortoise formed than the shadows of death loomed over the Lu elder. He screamed, trying in vain to break free of the tremendous might.

“Skybearer Gates, open! Open!!” Golden light shimmered over Lu Qishan’s body as the gates emerged again, triggering a swath of waves and creating a thirty-thousand-meter tall giant in an attempt to counter the Black Tortoise.

Bam!

The concerted attacks of the Black Tortoise swept over and broke apart the seawater giant, and the impact pulverized Lu Qishan. His nascent spirit rose with a golden light to seize control of Skybearer to make his escape, but a powerful wave slapped into him and destroyed his soul as well.

Then, a giant black dragon shot out of the ocean and dragged both the juba and Beigong Zhen down into the water with its giant body.