There were over a dozen seagoing vessels in total.
They carried a massive number of people, and the auras radiating from within were immensely powerful. Elder Ji could clearly sense that there was bound to be someone among them who surpassed his own strength.
Their original plan had been to first rescue the Little Celestial Master Chunyang and the others, capture Zhao Yuan and his cohort, and then reinforce their deployment by stationing additional troops to guard the coast of the Bohai Sea.
That way, even if the enemy possessed more and stronger Awakened, proper arrangements would at least bottle up everyone from the Three Immortal Islands out at sea for a short time, denying them landfall.
They simply hadn't expected them to arrive so swiftly.
The window had been too short, and there hadn't been enough time to mobilize elite military forces from across the country. Once a full-scale battle broke out, the situation would turn dire, or at the very least inflict staggering losses.
Because of this, both Elder Ji and Elder Yun wore grim expressions.
"Hahaha! Our fellow disciples and venerable seniors have arrived and are about to make landfall! When the tables turn, you will all pay the price!" Zhao Yuan, who had originally prepared to retreat and plunge into the sea, now had excitement flashing in his eyes as he beheld the fleet of ships behind him, looking as though he had just received a shot of adrenaline.
He no longer tried to flee. Instead, he intensified the strength in his hands, deflecting the incoming hail of bullets one after another.
He was, after all, in the Shackle Realm—a level comparable to a Beast King among mutated beasts. Firearms of this caliber could not truly harm him; they were merely a nuisance.
Yet now there was no need to worry. Reinforcements had arrived.
"We'll give you a chance right now: stop immediately, admit your wrongdoing, and accept our terms," Zhang Yun spoke up as well, her tone cold. "Do so, and perhaps we can continue to coexist peacefully. Otherwise, it will be too late for regrets."
The arrival of their sect elders gave them ample backing. Now, they actually dared to demand that Elder Ji and the others stand down, completely devoid of their earlier panic.
After all, in their eyes, the weapons of the mainland were indeed somewhat formidable, but ultimately incapable of threatening the Shackle Realm. At the same time, they were convinced this was the strongest hand their opponents could play, whereas the elders of their three sects feared none of it.
Under such circumstances, if no powerhouse emerged from the mainland, the mainlanders would have no choice but to compromise and agree to the conditions.
Yet did the mainland even possess an existence beyond the Shackle Realm?
This was the source of their confidence.
"Stop daydreaming," Elder Yun retorted with solemn gravity. "Even if we go to war, don't even think about making us accept your so-called terms!"
A state of war already existed between both sides. Even if the situation hadn't escalated to this point, their demands for land and population, coupled with that lofty, condescending attitude, were far beyond what he could tolerate.
This had crossed the line. From the very start, he had never intended to negotiate with them. What did it matter even if stronger figures arrived?
"Pass down the order: increase firepower and prevent those ships from landing!" Elder Ji wasted no words, issuing the command directly.
Upon hearing this, the battlefield commander in the rear offered no hesitation.
Very quickly, waves of attack helicopters took to the skies once more, while rows of self-propelled artillery assumed their firing positions.
When the state decided to deploy thermal weapons, its firepower far outstripped anything Longevity Genetics had fielded before.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the next instant, the bombardment commenced anew.
This time, the strikes were aimed at the distant ships.
On the shore, only Zhao Yuan and his companions remained, personally handled by Elder Ji and Elder Yun with suppression and covering fire from small arms. It was fair to say the authorities were thoroughly enraged.
All manner of thermal weaponry unleashed its fury once more, even more fiercely than before, intent on thwarting the fleet's landing.
Yet before long, figures began appearing on the decks of the ships.
Judging by the colors of their attire, one could immediately tell they hailed from the Three Immortal Islands.
They stepped onto the prows—more than a dozen Shackle Realm experts in total—and directly intervened against the incoming artillery shells, batting them away. Some displayed divine abilities that churned up tidal waves and whipped up gales, neutralizing the impact of the modern weapons. Others even leaped high into the air from the ships to tear apart the attack helicopters overhead.
The Awakened wielded supernatural might. Once they reached the Shackle Realm, the vast majority of conventional thermal weaponry became essentially useless against them. Moreover, the number of Awakened aboard the fleet was immense, numbering well over a thousand.
With these people taking action, the coastal artillery was rendered virtually ineffective.
At the same time, the dozens of vessels accelerated, closing in on the shoreline.
It was painfully evident that the authorities could no longer suppress the reinforcements from the Three Immortal Islands. If this continued, their landing was merely a matter of time.
"Elder Ji, Elder Yun!" The commander in the rear called out immediately upon seeing this. "We can't hold them like this! Requesting permission to deploy rocket artillery!"
This was a higher tier of heavy weaponry, possessing catastrophic destructive force that nearly rivaled tactical missiles.
Facing a far stronger, hostile force from the Three Immortal Islands, they had no choice but to resort to harsher measures.
As for provoking a full-scale war?
Had the war not already begun?
"Granted," Elder Yun responded. Exchanging a clash with Zhang Yun, he and Elder Ji swiftly pulled back to a safe position.
On the other side, the pre-positioned rocket artillery vehicles and self-propelled guns formed a single firing line—numbering in the hundreds. At the command, they roared to life, initiating a saturation bombardment.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In an instant, tremendous explosions resonated across the coast of the Bohai Sea.
Under such horrific firepower, the surrounding ambient temperature spiked. Zhao Yuan, Zhang Yun, and the dozens of ships behind them were all caught within the strike zone.
The world roared in chaos. Huge craters were blasted into the beach, reefs were ground to powder, and thick billows of smoke rolled upward. Out on the sea, the immense force of the rockets and artillery churned the waters, kicking up monstrous waves.
Such was the terrifying might of modern weaponry: with sufficient firepower, razing an entire city overnight was no challenge at all.
Naturally, Elder Ji and Elder Yun's preparations were not exhaustive; otherwise, the bombardment would have been far more devastating. Even so, they did not demand absolute destruction—only to deny the landing. That alone would buy more time to marshal reinforcements.
If they succeeded, it was not impossible to keep the forces of the Three Immortal Islands completely blocked overseas.
Thus, Elder Ji, Elder Yun, and the younger generation, including Ice Fairy, all watched the spectacle with bated breath.
Under such overwhelming firepower, even an ordinary Shackle Realm expert would tremble in terror. Everyone was desperate to know the outcome.
The crux lay in whether the fleet could be stopped in its tracks.
The furious barrage sustained itself for over ten minutes.
At last, feeling it was enough, Elder Yun ordered a temporary ceasefire.
As the smoke gradually cleared, the beach lay utterly devastated, its sands scorched black. Amid the carnage, Zhao Yuan, Zhang Yun, and the third disciple knelt half-collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath in a wretched state, visibly wounded.
The Shackle Realm was formidable, but against such horrific, saturated bombardment, they could not hold out indefinitely. Had the shelling continued any longer, they would have been blown to pieces.
Yet no one was looking at them.
Their eyes were glued to the distance.
The dozens of sea vessels were still there, completely undamaged and in pristine condition.
It was not because their hulls possessed any special construction, but because directly in front of the fleet, a colossal figure had materialized, warding off every single attack.
It was a silhouette standing within the sea, radiating a brilliant purple luminescence. Standing dozens of meters tall, it looked down upon everyone from on high, waves of terrifying aura raging continuously outward from its form.
Before that towering silhouette stood a man suspended in midair, possessing a black beard, white hair, and wearing purple robes. He radiated astonishing power.
"A Golden Body Dharma Idol... is that an Awakened at the Golden Body Realm?"
"Do the Three Immortal Islands truly possess Golden Body existences?"
"What... what do we do now?"
Shock filled the eyes of every official personnel on the shore.
According to their prior research, once a human evolved to the fourth stage, the Golden Body Realm, the shackles within their body would be broken and their latent potential unleashed, granting them a divine ability—the Golden Body Dharma Idol.
It was identical to what the Spirit Monkey atop Jade Emperor Peak had displayed back then. In myth and legend, it was akin to the Heaven and Earth Embodiment, albeit not quite as exaggerated. More crucially, upon reaching this realm, humans gained the power of flight.
Once a human attained this stage, they could virtually disregard all modern conventional weaponry. Even a nuclear strike might struggle to kill them.
And now, a Golden Body powerhouse had emerged from the Three Immortal Islands, neutralizing all attacks and exerting a suffocating pressure.
The vessels took this opportunity to forge ahead, finally docking along the shore.
The man dispelled his Golden Body Dharma Idol and strode forward.
Glancing at the battered trio, he furrowed his brows deeply.
"It's our Penglai's Great Elder!" Zhao Yuan laughed heartily the moment he recognized him. Disregarding his injuries, he rushed forward. "Disciple greets the Great Elder!"
The Three Immortal Islands still retained the ancient sect system, where the Great Elder was an authority second only to the Sect Master.
At the same time, Zhang Yun and the disciple from Fangzhang saw their own sect elders and hurried over as well. The three immediately recounted everything that had just transpired, as well as the prior events.
"These mainlanders are utterly despicable!" By the end of her tale, Zhang Yun was openly weeping. "Not only did they refuse our terms of cooperation, but they launched a covert sneak attack and slaughtered many of our fellow disciples! Please, elders, uphold justice for us!"
She saw nothing wrong with her earlier attitude, nor did she consider their demands excessive; she laid all the blame squarely on the mainlanders.
Beside her, Zhao Yuan added fuel to the fire before the Great Elder, claiming they had been nothing but polite and eager to negotiate peacefully, only for the mainlanders to be treacherous and underhanded.
Upon hearing this, the Great Elder of Penglai swept a freezing gaze across the crowd, his words dripping with cold venom. "Good. Very good."
In truth, he could roughly deduce what had actually happened, but what did that matter? Regardless of the circumstances, the disciples of his sect had been injured. No matter what had transpired before, the fault lay entirely with these mainlanders.
Flanked by the elders of Fangzhang and Yingzhou, he stepped forward.
Fixing his eyes on Elder Ji, Elder Yun, and the others, he spoke slowly, "Do you plead guilty?"
Just like Zhao Yuan and the others, his posture was steeped in lofty arrogance and overbearing condescension.
Without asking for cause, hearing only one side of the story, he immediately demanded an admission of guilt.
As he spoke, murderous intent surged violently from his entire being, unchecked and unrestrained.
Chapter 116