Chapter Forty-Five: The Southern Vanguard Advances

Above the white clouds, the sky stretched endless and blue.
A sudden clap of thunder, with no lightning in sight, erupted out of nowhere across the heavens, as if it heralded some great event.
After the thunder, the storm began to take shape.
For tens of thousands of miles, rolling black clouds flickered with threads of violet lightning, mysteriously gathering in silence over Waterfire Mountain.
Rumbling...
In an instant, the clouds unleashed boundless lightning, transforming the sky into a sea of thunder, the roar of which blanketed the world.
Above this ocean of lightning raged the wrath of the heavens.
A torrential downpour, each droplet vast as a boulder, pounded the earth with the force of thunder and lightning, assailing all living things.

At Waterfire Mountain, on the throne of ice, Nanluo opened his deep, enigmatic blue eyes, gazing upon the tempest with an almost imperceptible murmur, “The winds rise and the clouds surge.”
The Candle Dragon lifted his head, watching the deluge, and with a thought, withdrew the golden barrier above the Dragon Palace, letting the storm lash the dragons within.
Countless patrolling dragon sentinels, their scales hammered by rain heavy as stone, continued their rounds, faces unflinching.
Boom!
Endless violet lightning transformed into thunder dragons, thunder phoenixes, thunder qilins, and other mythical beasts, roaring and shrieking as they surged downward.
The Candle Dragon stood outside the Hall of Dragon Splendor, letting the thunderstorm strike his draconic body, bearing the wrath of the heavens.
Roar!
Ten thousand thunder dragons, eyes brimming with pure murderous intent, their bodies writhing with overwhelming violet electricity, hurtled toward the Dragon Palace in a fearsome assault.
Staring at the descending host of thunder dragons, the Candle Dragon’s golden eyes filled with icy malice. He opened his maw and let out a furious roar.
A bottomless black hole slowly appeared in the dragon’s mouth.
One after another, the ten thousand thunder dragons were drawn irresistibly into the Candle Dragon’s seemingly tiny mouth.
Ten thousand thunder dragons, devoured in a single breath.
When the last dragon had been swallowed, the Candle Dragon closed his jaws, summoned his power, and restored the golden barrier to the Dragon Palace.
He looked out and saw the great powers of the world effortlessly destroying the invading thunder beasts, then turned his gaze back to Nanluo atop Waterfire Mountain.
“It has begun, Nanluo,” the Candle Dragon thought to himself as he watched.

The sea of thunder not only conjured thunder beasts, but also endless thunder soldiers.
Blades, swords, halberds, axes, spears—countless weapons wreathed in lightning appeared, one by one, in the sea of thunder.
At the beast’s roar, ten thousand weapons were unleashed.

The endless thunder soldiers fell from the sky like meteors, trailing tails of lightning as they slashed down at Nanluo.
Seated on the crystal throne, Nanluo watched the oncoming storm of thunder soldiers with calm eyes.
Suddenly, the ten-thousand-fathom-deep ice chasm of Waterfire Mountain began to tremble, as if drawn by some mysterious force.
Bang!
Finally, unable to resist, the chasm erupted with a ceaseless surge of freezing power.
This power formed a raging river of ice, surging upward to meet the descending thunder soldiers.
Thunder met ice, lightning clashed with frost.
The torrent of the ice river collided fiercely with the flood of thunder soldiers.
In that instant, heaven and earth lost their color.
The ten thousand thunder soldiers, sharp and unstoppable, instantly destroyed part of the ice river on contact.
The ice river did not yield, instantly freezing thousands of thunder soldiers, snapping them effortlessly.
The shattered thunder soldiers dissolved into pure lightning and slowly dispersed into the world.
The remaining soldiers suddenly condensed into a single massive thunderblade, three fathoms long.
This thunderblade radiated murderous intent and crackled with boundless lightning, cleaving down at the ice river with the might to split heaven and earth.
Sensing the threat, the river transformed into a three-fathom-tall ice shield, rising to meet the descending blade.
Crash!
The thunderblade struck the ice shield with incomparable force, sending shockwaves in all directions—clouds were torn asunder, mountains crumbled, the earth split, and space itself shattered.
With unstoppable momentum, the blade nearly split the shield in two.
But “nearly” was all it could manage.
The blade failed to break through in a single stroke and was instantly frozen by the shield.
Limitless cold surged from the ice shield into the thunderblade, turning it into a blade of ice.
Crack, crack, crack...
Before long, the frozen blade could no longer withstand the encroaching cold, shattering inch by inch and dissolving into boundless lightning that scattered across the land.
The great powers, having just witnessed this spectacular clash between ice shield and thunder soldiers, could not help but marvel at Nanluo—truly the Demon God of Water! His mastery of the laws of water was unmatched beneath the heavens.

Nanluo, still seated on the frozen throne, showed no hint of a smile, nor the slightest excitement at having vanquished the thunder soldiers.
Expressionless, he rose from the throne, suddenly radiating an even brighter, fiercer blue light, exuding a powerful battle spirit.
A pillar of blue light shot from him, piercing the sky like thunder and lightning, surging toward the palaces of the great powers.

Battle boots, greaves, cuirass, gauntlets—
A blue Profound Nether battle armor slowly materialized over Nanluo, replacing his azure divine robe.
A purple-gold coronet appeared on his head, binding his flowing blue hair.
A blue cloak fluttered into being behind him, billowing in the wind.
Now, a god of grand and heroic presence, crowned and armored in the regalia of Profound Nether, stood revealed before all peoples of the world.
A halberd, three fathoms and nine feet in length, its shaft forged from Profound Nether crystal, its blade from Lunar crystal, radiating endless cold—the Water Commanding Bright Halberd—floated to Nanluo’s side.
Crash!
The blue pillar split into several beams, crashing heavily against the palaces of the great powers.
Yet, attacks of this magnitude could not even dent the palaces’ barriers, much less harm their occupants.
The palaces stood unmoved, impervious to the blue beams.
However, Nanluo’s flagrant challenge had clearly enraged the powers.
“If he seeks battle, then let there be battle!” the Candle Dragon said calmly, watching Nanluo. “This farce should have ended long ago!”
“Ao Run, Ao Yan,” the Candle Dragon commanded, “send a great Dragon King to lead five hundred dragon lords to meet Nanluo in battle.”
“At once!” Ao Run and Ao Yan replied respectfully.
High above the sacred Dragon Palace, the eight-clawed golden dragon let out a thunderous roar.
Not only the Candle Dragon, but all the great powers moved to action.
That dragon’s roar signaled the official start of the assault.
The Fire Phoenix atop the Wutong Tree cried out;
The Fire Qilin atop the Qilin Cliff raised its head and bellowed to the heavens;
On Lion Mountain, the Golden Lion unleashed a domineering roar...
From every palace, hundreds of immortals and gods streamed forth, riding the clouds in grand formation, advancing upon Nanluo.
Clouds filled the sky, softening the darkness of the thunderclouds and bringing a faint glimmer of light to the world below.
Nanluo gazed at the thousand-mile stretch of clouds beneath the endless storm, slowly raising the Water Commanding Bright Halberd at his side.
A resonant hum rang out—
The halberd trembled with excitement for the impending war.
Nanluo pointed the halberd at the host of immortals, his face cold and stern, and shouted, “Battle!”
An endless will to fight filled the heavens and earth.