Tianshen was finished with setting up the Spirit Formation, after which his Spirit Power, Qi and Soul Power were almost exhausted. He took some time to teach the eight elders of the Sky Realm how to control the formation which went surprisingly well. The elders took all of his teachings and directions seriously, without the slightest hint of contempt of arrogance just because they were learning all this from a young boy.

The eight elders sat down cross-legged in a circle and infused their Soul Power and Qi into the formation, although they could not see the formation with their eyes since none of them had unlocked the path of the spirit yet, they could feel it with their Qi and Soul Power.

Tianshen was still sitting next to them and was trying to replenish his exhausted Qi, and Soul Power and Spirit Power as fast as possible. He was almost sure that there could be no mishaps in his plan and he trusted the eight elders to carry out their duty without fail, but he still wanted to be in shape and ready for anything just in case. He was aware that it would take time to replenish all of the Qi, Soul Power and Spirit he lost but that did not stop him from trying as hard as he could.

On Cao Chen’s side, he and Jin Hai at this moment could see the thick dome-like barrier formation that was now surrounding the Azure City. All the mortal citizens and weak cultivators were ordered to stay inside their homes, which they complied with without question.

After two more hours passed, Cao Chen who was looking into the distant sky, saw something that looked like a massive black cloud and it was approaching the Azure Dragon sect at an amazing speed. Soon everyone could see that the ‘cloud’ was really not a cloud but thousands of massive swords of different sizes. On those massive swords stood thousands of cultivators ranging from the Earth Realm to the Heavenly Realm.

But there were three auras that stood out to Cao Chen while he was observing the enemy’s ranks, all three were coming from the three biggest swords that were in the very front of the formation. And all three of the swords, although massive, had only one cultivator each on top of them.

The closer they approached, the more the frown on Cao Chen’s face was visible. Cao Chen could not be considered in the top 10 of the Azure Province in terms of strength or status, so he knew very well that today was not the day that he would repel the Tang Clan with his personal strength; everything today was in the hands of Tianshen.

The reason that Cao Chen had an increasingly ugly expression was because after a while, he recognized the three people leading the Tang Clan, there was not a single soul that did not know the one in the middle. It was none other than the Patriarch of the Tang Clan, Tang Huo. He was wearing a golden robe while his long black hair fluttered in the wind, his gaze was as sharp as a sword’s and he gave off the unmistakable aura of a King. This was a true Martial King level existence, one of the few in the Azure Province. He was named Huo because of his fiery spirit, but most people connected it to his temper.

Cao Chen could accept it if it was just this Tang Huo leading the Tang Clan to battle, but it looked like the Tang Clan was really making the utmost effort this time around. Cao Chen could not recognize the two others on the left and right of Tang Huo, so he could only speculate according to his knowledge.

The two men on the left and right of Tang Huo both looked very old, and they both also possessed a Kingly aura that was in no way inferior to that of Tang Huo’s.

‘’Three people of the Martial King realm? And the two on the sides are not weaker than Tang Huo himself, isn’t this a bit too much?’’ said Jin Hai who was standing next to Cao Chen and had the same ugly expression on his face.

‘’Does chief know who the other two are?’’ asked another elder from behind Cao Chen.

Cao Chen thought for a moment after which he replied with a serious expression ‘’It really does not matter who they are, our mission remains the same and we stick to Tianshen’s instructions. But… I might have an idea of who they are if you really want to know that much. Although very simple, they are still wearing Tang Clan robes, which means they are members of the Tang Clan and not outsider help. Their auras are about on the same level as Tang Huo, and Tang Huo is a 1st stage Martial King, so from that we know that they are both 1st stage Martial Kings as well. And lastly, judging by how old they look despite their high cultivation level can only mean that they are not cultivators that belong to our generation, or any of the recent ones before us. Taking all this into account, I think it’s safe to assume that they are the High Elder advisors of the previous Tang Clan Patriarch who has long been in secluded cultivation trying to prolong his lifespan. If I’m not mistaken their names are Tang Jianshu and Tang Jianbing, they are old monsters that are no less than 400 years old. Not even Tang Huo himself would dare to show them any disrespect as he’s only a junior compared to them.’’

Hearing what Cao Chen said, everyone felt a cold sweat run down their backs. They really did not even stand a chance in a head to head collision. It’s important to know that the strongest cultivator in the Azure Dragon sect was Cao Chen with a cultivation of a 5th stage Heavenly Realm. Strictly speaking, if any of the three Martial Kings wanted to, they could kill Cao Chen with a single slap, and now they had to face three of those at the same time, not to mention the thousands on thousands of cultivators behind those three. It was really all down to how strong Tianshen’s formation is, because otherwise, everyone would die today.

A lot of people that were not aware until now, at this point realized the disparity between the Azure Dragon sect and the Tang Clan which made them feel dejected. How could they allow the sect to fall this low? A dragon is supposed to soar in the skies and look down on the world with disdain, not being stepped on by a single Tang Clan. It was at this moment that a lot of Azure Dragon sect elders and disciples made a promise to themselves, that if they survive today, they would work a hundred times harder, a hundred times faster and with a hundred times more zeal and conviction to make the sect reach the top of the province where it once belonged.

As many of these different and similar thoughts were running through everyone’s mind, all of the Tang Clan cultivators that were flying on the swords suddenly jumped down from them. Before anyone could realize the thousands of flying swords increased their speed and were all heading towards the Azure Dragon city.

A rain of massive swords that blocked out the sky is all that the Azure Dragon sect cultivators could see, but just as the swords were about to crash into the city, a white barrier covered in ancient symbols materialized.

On the Tang Clan side, the three leading figures had a surprised look on their faces, as the swords crashed into the barrier.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM ,BOOM!! Thousands of loud explosions were heard in a 200Km radius.

After the explosions stopped, all that the Tang Clan could see was a large cloud of dust which now covered the Azure Dragon city. The Tang Clan’s army roared in cheers and battle cries thinking that most of the city would now be in ruins, but the three people in the front were carefully observing the dust cloud while still frowning and not speaking a word to each other.

Meanwhile in the Azure Dragon sect, in a certain spot, eight elders were sitting cross-legged in a circle and infusing their Qi and Soul power into the formation. Tianshen was sitting next to them and had a serene expression on his face while meditating. Although he was in a state of meditation, he was still using small part of his soul power in order to follow the events happening outside, so he had a clear image of everything occurring.

After a while the huge dust cloud settled down and the Azure Dragon city came into view. The roars and the battle cries on the side of the Tang Clan instantly stopped as the city which they thought would now be lying in ruins, still stood untouched.

The patriarch of the Tang Clan made a gesture for his army to advance behind him as he flew down with the other two elders. They stopped in front of the city and were now staring at the thousands of cultivators of the Azure Dragon sect standing on the opposite side of the city walls, led by two men who Tang Huo recognized as being Cao Chen and Jin Hai.

Tang Huo then spoke with an excessively arrogant tone ‘’I am assuming that Kong Zhi and his two incompetent sons failed me, but no matter. Cao Chen, you should have known that this day would come. I don’t know what this barrier you set up around your city is, but I assure you that it will not last. So now I’m giving you a once in a lifetime chance to drop down your weapons and surrender to me willingly, I can promise that I will give you all an honorable death, deserving of the descendants of the Azure Dragon’’

‘’You haven’t changed in the least Tang Huo, always greedy for more power. You could have just ignored our existence since we never desired to take your place as the rulers of this province. All we ever wanted was to be free to cultivate without fear and be treated fairly by you. But you are right, I should have known that this day would come, I was too naïve to think that your clan would leave the past behind them. So be it then, from today onwards I am announcing that the Azure Dragon sect will not rest until the Tang Clan of the Azure Province is eradicated, we will use any means and methods available to us to make sure that from today you don’t have a single day of peace in this province, we have sat idly for far too long, we have disgraced our ancestors for far too long…’’ Cao Chen stopped for a moment and took out an azure colored scepter which was shaped like a long Dragon with the head being one end, and the tail being the other. The aura around the area instantly changed and became overbearing, even the aura of the three leading Tang Clan experts was a bit suppressed by the scepter.

One of the two Elders on Tang Huo’s side, Tang Jianshu instantly frowned as a cold sweat ran down his back, after which he mumbled a single word: ‘’Emperor…’’ but before he could finish what he was intending to say, Cao Chen shouted ‘’…the Azure Dragon shall soar through the skies once again!’’

And that was the moment when a battle cry that sounded more like the roar of a Dragon resounded through the area. The Azure Dragon sect’s battle cry shook the Earth and the Sky itself. This day would go down in the Blue Country’s history as the day when the Dragon broke the shackles that bound him for so long and would finally open its wings of revenge that would cover and bathe in blood not only the Azure Province, but the whole country itself.