Tianyi sighed in relief when he saw that the sword lights could no longer kill his conduits in one shot. As Divinity Yanxu expected, controlling so many conduits was draining.

It didn’t really strain Tianyi’s soul, nor did it cause it any harm, but his mental fatigue was building up swiftly. If his brain was a CPU at this moment, it would be emitting a tremendous amount of heat, far beyond the cooling range of any fans.

Since he started teleporting, none of his conduits had unleashed another attack. Those sword lights always struck them before they could release them. Even when the sword lights weakened, the strike caused some damage to his conduits and delayed the execution of the attacks long enough for a second sword strike to destroy them.

This worked out in Tianyi’s favor. Right now, he only had to focus on deploying his conduits and remaking them. He didn’t bother with attacking and used them as targets. Even if Divinity Yanxu knew, he would not relent. Once given the chance, Tianyi would immediately change his tactics.

Tianyi’s current role was to tie up Divinity Yanxu and occupy his attention. Now, it was a war of attrition between the two.

He certainly wasted more energy creating conduits only for them to be destroyed immediately after. Even if they were mere level zero conduits, the amount of energy was enough to make immortal monarchs jealous, and he was constantly wasting this energy.

In contrast, Divinity Yanxu likely used very little essence when releasing the sword lights. Even if it was an energy of a higher level, the consumption was far from enough to make him worried.

If things continued, Tianyi would eventually exhaust his energy source, freeing Divinity Yanxu to deal with the invading immortals. He miscalculated.

Divinity Yanxu suspected that Tianyi had some external source of energy that allowed him to waste so much qi. All of it was to tie him up and allow the Immortal Court’s army to attack. If he attacked the army, it would give Tianyi a chance to attack, which would deal far more damage than the army.

While that part was true, Tianyi’s greatest advantage was his inexhaustible source of energy. If the two really entered a war of attrition, it would be Divinity Yanxu who would lose.

Of course, Tianyi didn’t expect to hold back Divinity Yanxu if he really went all out. If he discovered that he would lose in the contest of energy reserves, he would go on the initiative. If it was in the True Nothingness or another system, he had the confidence to defeat him, but this was the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System.

Once that happened, it would be the Immortal Court’s divinities’ turn to come forward. Rather, Tianyi was waiting for Bao Ling to come forward.

He met the latter during the expedition into the Broken Primordial World. It could be considered the first loss he ever suffered against an equal. Their second fight before the final Divine Beast-Human war also ended in his defeat. Now, after tens of thousands of years, he was ready to turn his defeat into victory.

Tianyi watched closely, searching for any sign of Bao Ling as the sword immortals came out and clashed against the Immortal Court’s army.

Yet, even though he saw Sovereign Southsword appear, he did not see a hint of his target. ‘Where are you, Bao Ling? Is there something important holding you back or are you part of the reserves? With how much time passed, you should have long become an immortal sovereign, right?’

Since Tianyi didn’t find Bao Ling, he continued to wait. Even if he had, he couldn’t free himself to take action until another divinity took on the task of confronting Divinity Yanxu.

Zhang Cuiying, also known as Grand Elder Voidink , narrowed her eyes when she noticed Sovereign Southsword appear. A second and third sword sovereign also made their appearance, but she only focused on Sovereign Southsword. The Immortal Court’s sovereigns would deal with the other two.

“I just accepted a new disciple and I can’t be too far away from him for long. Let’s make this quick.” Although she called him her disciple, there was a certain tenderness to her voice that should not exist between a master and a disciple.

When Sovereign Southsword heard those words, shame filled his being. Not because of the emotions in his foe’s words, but because of her condescension. “If you think I’ll fall easily, you’re in for a shock.”

Not only would he not fall, but Sovereign Southsword vowed to kill Sovereign Voidink. Since the Immortal Court had already launched an attack, there was no chance of them reconciling. They were mortal enemies where only one side could live.

Outside of a powerful common enemy that would force both sides to cooperate, at least. Such an enemy could only be another pantheon or divine-level devil, but that was obviously impossible at this time.

Grand Elder Zhang took out a scroll and unfurled it. Immortal soldiers clad in shining silver armor spilled out like a flood. They separated into two groups and began forming a war formation.

Sovereign Southsword swung his sword. Slashes formed out of sword light and sword intent sliced the skies as they made their way toward the artifact immortals.

A brush radiating a powerful coercion appeared in Grand Elder Zhang’s hand. The handle was made out of violet-gold colored bamboo, while strands of heaven formed the brush. The ink reflected the world.

Grand Elder Zhang waved the brush, and the ink splashed out, forming a barrier. When the crescent slashes struck them, they were dyed by the ink and disappeared. Sovereign Southsword attacked several times, but the results were the same.

He did rashly enter the ink and sliced countless times to make an opening in the ink barrier, intent on passing, but Grand Elder Zhang would simply wave her brush and refill the ink.

It entangled Sovereign Southsword for only a few moments, but it was enough for the ink immortal soldiers to form two sovereign war formations.

“Foolish,” Emperor Southsword said. “Do you think you can defeat me with these two sovereign-level dolls? You’d be better off controlling a war formation and confronting me yourself.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“We’ll see if it’s foolish or not soon,” Grand Elder Zhang said before ordering her two sovereign war formations to attack.

The two war formations resembled the immortal soldiers that formed them. Each was clad in shining silver armor, but the face underneath their helmet was shrouded in fog. Only a glowing pair of eyes pierced through it. One wielded a spear, while the other had a sword and shield.

The two war formations strode forth and attacked Sovereign Southsword.

The sword sovereign did not dodge. Instead, he clashed head on. He swung his sword against the war formations’ weapons. One was a person around two meters in height, while the other side was composed of two giants. Logic dictated that it was the person who would be crushed, but reality was the opposite.

Grand Elder Zhang frowned. The weapons the two war formations wielded weren’t formed from the formation, but actual immortal artifacts bestowed upon the war formation for usage. Each one was a sovereign-level artifact.

If it was outside of war, she would not have had the wealth to arm her false soldiers with them, but she, along with many others, was specially granted privileges to wield them for the duration of the Hegemon War.

Yet, after a single clash, a small knick appeared in them. Obviously, the two artifacts were inferior to Sovereign Southsword’s sword. However, it did not surprise Grand Elder Zhang much. After all, it was one of the infamous Immortal Extermination Swords. It would be stranger if it couldn’t at least exhibit this amount of sharpness.

After the first clash, Zhang Cuiying stepped in. She rushed toward Sovereign Southsword. Of course, she wouldn’t be so foolish as to engage in close combat with a sword immortal.

She raised her brush and swung it. The ink extended and formed a whip that slashed toward the sword sovereign.

In response, Sovereign Southsword sliced through the ink whip with the Immortal Slaughtering Sword.

“Hm?”

The moment the divine sword touched the ink, the ink exploded and started disintegrating from the point of contact. Rather than Sovereign Southsword’s intent, it was as if the ink had angered the Immortal Slaughtering Sword, triggering an automatic response.

Grand Elder Zhang flicked the brush, disconnecting the ink before the rebound could reach her. She didn’t know if it would affect her, but it was better safe than sorry.

She waved the brush several more times. Grand Elder Zhang did not repeat her action, but drew several objects. Arrows, swords, sabers, shields, wheels, spindle, truncheon, everything she drew came into existence. All of which shot toward the sword emperor.

In response, Sovereign Southsword destroyed them. He was careful not to let the ink stain him because his instincts told him it would pose a great danger to him. All this while, the two sovereign war formations attacked him. This caused him to abandon his counterattack and dodge.

After several clashes, Sovereign Southsword focused his attention on the two war formations. He couldn’t reach Grand Elder Zhang in this current situation. While it was annoying to dodge her attacks, it was better to focus on the war formations and destroying them before focusing on her.

Over a hundred exchanges later, shallow marks and knicks covered the two war formations’ arms.

Sovereign Southsword dodged another attack from Grand Elder Zhang. His eyes gleamed as he considered his next actions. He could fight his foe for seven days and nights, but a drawn out battle was not conducive to the Numinous Sword Sect.

Normally, the longer the battle, the more advantageous it would be for the defending side. This was not the case in this particular battle.

Sovereign Southsword’s eyes flickered for a moment. He gripped the Immortal Slaughtering Sword tightly, and a powerful aura radiated off the divine sword. He charged at his foe.

When the two sovereign war formations rushed at him, he slashed his sword. The force caused the two war formations to shoot back hundreds of meters. They lost their stabilization, and it would take a few moments before they could regain control of their movements.

Taking advantage of this chance, Sovereign Southsword shot toward Grand Elder Zhang. His speed far surpassed Grand Elder Zhang’s and any attacks she launched at him were destroyed by his swings, down to the last molecule.

Upon realizing that she could not block his rush, she swung her arm. The ink painted the air in front of her, and she stepped into the ink.

Sovereign Southsword reached her at this point. He raised his sword above his head and brought it down. He destroyed the inkblot, but Grand Elder Zhang remained nowhere to be seen.

He frowned and turned around to see Grand Elder Zhang far away from him. Sovereign Southsword charged at her again, but the two war formations had already reached him. He launched them back once again and charged at the grand elder.

Grand Elder Zhang and Sovereign Southsword repeated this game of cat and mouse several times. Finally, on the sixth time, a change occurred.

Just as Grand Elder Zhang painted the air before her, a sword emperor appeared behind her and swung his sword at her back.

Sovereign Southsword showed no surprise. Instead, his eyes lit up and his speed increased threefold. He had to kill or heavily injure Grand Elder Zhang before she could recover.

He appeared in front of her and impaled the Immortal Slaughtering Sword into her heart, but the following events did not follow his expectations. The divine sword thrummed in anger, and Zhang Cuiying exploded into ink, covering him and the sword emperor.

Sovereign Southsword felt his mind become cloudy, as if there was a gauze around his brain preventing him from thinking. Luckily, the rejection of the divine sword allowed him to regain his thoughts and expel the ink from his body.

He turned toward the sword emperor, only to see dazed eyes. “Get a hold of yourself, Solesword!”

Upon seeing no reaction, he waved his sword, slicing the ink away. With the ink gone, Solesword stared at Sovereign Southsword in confusion. “Southsword, what’s going on?”

Emperor Solesword looked around. “Why is there a battle going on?”

Upon hearing those words, a chill appeared in Sovereign Southsword’s heart. “Stop thinking about it right now. Just know that we are at war with the Buzhou Immortal Court.”

Without waiting for Emperor Solesword to respond, he continued. “Go deal with the emperors. A sovereign like Voidink is too much for you.”

Sovereign Southsword focused on Grand Elder Zhang again. His eyes spewed fire. He was wondering why she hadn’t taken advantage of him explaining to attack. It turned out that she was using this chance to target another sword emperor.

He rushed toward Grand Elder Zhang. His attacks forced her to leave the ink-covered sword emperor. Once again, Sovereign Southsword removed the ink. He turned to face Grand Elder Zhang, leaving his back to the sword emperor. “Go and return to recuperate. Your memories have been tampered with.”

The sword emperor didn’t obey his words. “No, my memories are fine.”

Before Sovereign Southsword could ask, he felt a chill on his back. He quickly moved, but a blade still cut into his flesh, but thankfully, it wasn’t deep.

“You!”

The sword emperor didn’t say anything and continued to attack. This left Sovereign Southsword conflicted. He didn’t know whether to incapacitate his former ally or not. If he did, it would leave him open to the Immortal Court, but he couldn’t allow the sword emperor to continue to attack.

“Go after the other sword immortals before they realized the truth,” Zhang Cuiying came in and said.

Sovereign Southsword wouldn’t thank her for deciding for him. “What did you do to him?!”

It appeared like a classic case of undercover agent or turncoat, but Sovereign Southsword knew of the sword emperor's past and character. Coupled with what happened to Emperor Solesword with the ink, he came to a terrifying conclusion.

Grand Elder Zhang didn’t answer and attacked him.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the Cloud Goddess faced the wielder of the Immortal Slaying Sword, Sovereign Saberbane.