As Lin Feng stood up on the tip of the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree, the Steel Tree Avatar was at an impasse with Shao Dongtian of the East Heaven's Gate Sect in the seas ten thousand miles away from the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain. The Steel Tree Avatar smiled and said, "It's about time. We can make a move now."
Shao Dongtian, who was on the other side of the ritualistic magic formation, felt something in his heart as his white eyebrows twitched and he stared ahead at the Steel Tree Avatar.
Lin Feng was still holding down the Red Dragon King with the Two Elements Micro-Dust spell as he interrogated him with a voice-projected message. "How do I work this magic formation?"
The Red Dragon King's eyes spun around their sockets for a while before he revealed secrets of the ritual.
Lin Feng said nothing more as he released twenty-four streams of mana that transformed into purple runes that inserted themselves respectively into the twenty-four light pillars that were rising out from the sprawling oceans.
The water bubbles that were created by the twenty-four tokens trembled violently as the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain shimmered into vision between the light shadows of the twenty-four light pillars.
Shao Dongtian was still expressionless as his eyes were fixated on the light shadow of the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain.
Initially, he was assigned as the back-up by Liang Pan in the off-chance of unforeseen circumstances. He could be activated at any time to assist the Great Zhou Empire in the wrestle for the Yingzhou Celesteial Mountain.
The Red Dragon King and the Falling Waves Dragon King set up an esoteric ritual that was aimed at triggering an Illusory Sea Tides phenomenon in the immediate vicinity. Upon discovering this plan, Liang Pan and Shao Dongtian decided to keep this ritual magic formation as their special last resort.
When his orders were passed down, the Great Zhou Empire's position in the conflict of the Ying Sea was still relatively favorable. They still had the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain, and were already in a far superior position. If the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain was fated to slip out of their grasp, they would attempt to trigger the Illusory Sea Tide to swallow the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain, and plot their return the next time the mountains resurfaced.
Once the illusion at the core of the mountain was broken, the Da Kong Monk had voice-projected a message that he had been severely injured inside the illusion, and was in a disadvantageous position relative to Zhu Yi, Xiao Yan, Shi Xingyun, Prince Jingfang and Shi Lin and the others.
This piece of news pushed Liang Pan and Shao Dongtian even further to prepare their response for the 'worst-case scenario'.
The magic formation had been successfully set up and it was not difficult to channel it. The reason why Shao Dongtian and the others were still there was because they were afraid of what Lin Feng could or would do to the magic formation.
However, all of a sudden, the situation in the Ying Sea took a turn for the worse for the Great Zhou Empire. Not only did they fail to obtain the Penglai Celestial Mountain, they threw away the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain that had always been in their backyard.
Before their expedition into the Ying Sea, Liang Pan and Zhu Hongwu and Shao Dongtian had planned long and hard for the various possibilities, uncertainties and outcomes. There was no doubt that losing the Penglai Celestial Mountain and throwing away the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain was the worst possible outcome.
Under such circumstances, if the Great Zhou Empire wanted to reverse the situation, they had to take control of the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain.
The information that Liang Pan's original body received was naturally passed down to Shao Dongtian and the latter was up to speed about the recent happenings.
This magic formation of theirs was all the more important as the situation became a lot more delicate. Lin Feng would probably not be too hasty to obstruct the magic formation, and Zhu Hongwu and the Great Heavenly Wheels were well on their way.
Lin Feng made the crazy decision to throw the Penglai Mountain at the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain, and Shao Dongtian was positive that Lin Feng could be possessed by the same insanity once again. It was possible that Lin Feng would trigger the Illusory Sea Tide himself to swallow up the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain.
There was nothing much for the Celestial Sect of Wonders and the Great Qin Empire to lose in the first place. The return of the three mountains into the Ying Sea would simply mean that the Great Zhou Empire had thrown away the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain for no reason at all.
As he watched Lin Feng attempt to trigger the magic formation, Shao Dongtian was already raring to interfere.
However, upon closer inspection and with a little bit of shock, he stopped himself and let Lin Feng cast his spell.
Shao Dongtian had already extracted the entirety of the secret manual to the magic formation and could clearly see that there was something strange going on in the transformations.
Shao Dongtian's moment of hesitation gave the magic formation just enough time to become operational.
The twenty-four light pillars encircled the light illusion of the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain and became brighter and brighter while the giant water bubble in the deep sea became increasingly smaller.
A dragon scale that was shaped like a raindrop glimmered inside the water bubble.
Shao Dongtian raised an eyebrow and exclaimed, "Indeed! The magic formation has been reversed. However, it's not a pure reversal…"
He could feel the strength of the Falling Waves Dragon King, whom he had imprisoned, getting stronger by the second. However, this rise in strength was complicated and disorganized and led to a disharmony between his demonic soul and his dragon body.
The magic formation did not incur the Illusory Sea Tide, but had another effect instead. The Red Dragon King and the Falling Waves Dragon King, coupled with the powers of the scale of the old undying demonic soul stage dragon king that was in the form of the water bubble, found their esoteric powers increasing as a result.
The Falling Waves Dragon King's blood essence was being extracted to sustain the magic formation and was very weak at this point. Even if his powers were heightened, there was a limited overall effect and Shao Dongtian was not too concerned - his attention was focused on Lin Feng's side.
Under the effects of the power boost, the Red Dragon King rose up explosively and tried his best to break through the imprisonment of the Two Elements Micro-Dust. He wanted to take this opportunity to regain his freedom.
The Eight Barrens Divine Lightning was channeled to its maximum possible power as the rolling thunder crackled incessantly. The explosive and destructive natural talent of the thunder dragons was already one of the more outstanding ones amongst the myriad of dragon races, and this sudden concentration of power far exceeded the Red Dragon King's usual limit.
His demonic soul was a little at odds with his dragon body, to the point where the Red Dragon King felt a little giddy and his consciousness became murky. However, he was determined not to let this precious chance slip through his fingers and gave his all in his desperate attempt to escape.
Lin Feng was not worried at all and chuckled at his feeble attempt. "You sure have a short temper. I wasn't going to take your life, but since you asked for it, then I will not show you any mercy."
As he spoke, the Two Elements Micro-Dust started to collapse inwards and became smaller than it already was.
The apocalyptic concept of power was more prominent than that of his Celestial Small Worlds spell and crushed the Red Dragon King's meek resistance in an instant.
The secondary effects of the Red Dragon King's boost in powers and the crushing pressure of the Two Elements Micro-Dust sucked the life out of the Red Dragon King and he seemed like he was gasping on his final breaths.
Lin Feng watched the agony of the Red Dragon King as an idea suddenly came to him. "Oh… Wait. When I created the Steel Tree Avatar and practiced human mantras, it wasn't so appropriate but I never knew where this inappropriateness stemmed from."
The Steel Tree Avatar practiced the same mantras as Lin Feng's original body. Even though its power was clearly inferior to his original body, it was superior to that of the Avatar of Ares, which was at the same level of mastery. With reference to its battle prowess, the Steel Tree Avatar was as good as an avatar could get.
However, outside of battle, Lin Feng had always felt that the Steel Tree Avatar was a little inappropriate and unsuitable for normal cultivation.
"As my level of mastery increased over time, this deep-seated conflict and disproportionality only kept becoming stronger. It felt as if I have been on the wrong path the whole time, and I am straying further and further away from the right one…"
At his current level of mastery, his senses and the power of his perceptions were strong enough for him to tell that this disproportionality was not some mental barrier or some psychological reaction. He was confident that this feeling originated from the fact that his methods was at odds with the laws of nature.
However, the only problem was that he never did find out the exact reason and only had a rough idea all this time.
"I shall take the chance to correct my mistakes and try another path. My Saros Steel Tree won't be wasted anyway."
He made up his mind and turned towards the Red Dragon King. "Your secret powers have unbalanced your demonic soul and your dragon body, but it will help me fulfill by wishes."
He immediately revealed the cosmic form of the Steel Tree Avatar and lunged straight for Red Dragon King!
"You…" the Red Dragon King roared as a haze of terror came over him. Even so, his body was so weak that this 'roar' sounded more like a squeak.
In the next moment, the Red Dragon King's body started to twist and tremble as sparks of lightning flickered in his giant eyes.
Lin Feng swiftly assimilated the original soul of the Red Dragon King and managed to integrate himself into his Undying Demonic Soul and ultimately took over the dragon's body.
Shao Dongtian was perplexed and frowned as he witnessed the entire process. "You wish to take over that thunder dragon?"
Shao Dongtian immediately reached out to interfere, but Lin Feng was already prepared for that possibility. A few specks of the Two Elements Micro-Dust shimmered into vision and transformed into endless patches of light that acted as a barrier against Shao Dongtian.
That single moment of obstruction gave way to a bright dragon howl that rang out from somewhere deep in the dome of light. A purple-scaled sky dragon surged out from the blinding lights as the Two Elements Micro-Dust retracted the radiance and reverted to its original form, leaving just the purple-scaled dragon hovering in midair.
As he stared into the sparkling eyes of the dragon in front of him, Shao Dongtian was positive that this thunder dragon was now Lin Feng's new avatar - Lin Feng had melted down the dragon's soul, assimilated it and inserted himself into the body.
The ripples of mana that came from this avatar was of pure demonic power, which was starkly different from the Steel Tree Avatar. Even though the Steel Tree Avatar was fundamentally demonic, it practiced human mantras and channeled human mana.
Above the original Steel Tree Avatar, the cosmic form reappeared but seemed to have lost a bit of its spirituality. Subsequently, the cosmic form reintegrated itself into the Steel Tree Avatar as the Steel Tree Avatar immediately started to make some rapid and shocking transformations.
It shed its human form and returned into the form of the Saros Steel Tree - black branches, golden leaves with an aura of eternal existence. The integration of the cosmic form completed the process and it seemed as if it had become a magic treasure.
Shao Dongtian's brows furrowed ever so tight. He had seen powerful immortal soul stage cultivators assimilating and taking over demonic grand sages before. Even though Lin Feng's Steel Tree Avatar was only in the nascent soul stage, its true power could not be gauged by typical standards of other nascent soul stage cultivators. Furthermore, the Red Dragon King weakened himself with his explosive but short-lived rebellion and benefited Lin Feng instead. The fact that Lin Feng could use the Steel Tree Avatar to steal his soul was therefore nothing out of the ordinary.
However, Lin Feng kept the demonic powers of the Red Dragon King and did not convert the new avatar to his own mantras and lineage. This baffled Shao Dongtian as Lin Feng's actions weakened his battle prowess.
The Thunder Dragon Avatar was in the first-level Undying Demonic Soul Stage, so this meant that Lin Feng managed to skip the painful and tedious process of ascending to the immortal soul stage from the nascent soul stage.
However, the powers of the Thunder Dragon Avatar were the same as the Red Dragon King when he was still alive, and its strength was clearly inferior to that of the Steel Tree Avatar.
It was needless to say that if the Steel Tree Avatar had ascended to the immortal soul stage by itself, juxtaposed with its current superiority to the Red Dragon King, it would possess a battle prowess that would be vastly more powerful than the current Thunder Dragon Avatar.
Even if Lin Feng could not wait to increase his level of mastery, this was an inappropriate solution as it would make him weaker.
Even though the Saros Steel Tree had been re-forged into a magic treasure, and it would probably be a relatively powerful one as well, the reality was that it was a new-born magic treasure and it needed time to be nurtured and developed. Furthermore, it was not that simple for the Saros Steel Tree to enter the Gestation stage, and the Thunder Dragon Avatar was a pure demon as well and was not suitable for channeling magic treasures and would thus be unable to channel the maximum power of this new magic treasure.
This was a crucial moment of the battle for the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain - how could he do such a thing, which was equivalent to tearing down his own defenses?
Shao Dongtian continued to watch Lin Feng with a doubtful look as he was unable to fathom the rationale of Lin Feng's actions.