In the middle of the hall were dozens of golden celestials with their precious swords and divine swords.
When Gao Tianshou had given the command the attack the Devil Goddess, dozens of golden celestials had all rushed to the epicenter where the Devil Goddess, her three golden shadows and twenty odd masked golden celestials were.
The stunning display of dozens of superior grade precious swords and divine swords were all too stunning.
Normally the appearance of a single divine sword was enough to draw envious looks and awes but today in this hall, there were actually dozens of divine swords from both sides.
Hundreds of glaring flashes and shadows were flickering with every flicker of an eye.
One of the fiercest battles between the righteous celestial clans and the heretic celestial clans now took place in this small hall.
And the key target in the golden eyes of the righteous golden celestials was none other than the Devil Goddess herself who was standing in the epicenter as her three golden shadows defended her.
Extraordinary sword arts, powerful profound arts and deadly sword energies were unleashed by both sides instantly.
Although golden celestials were difficult to be killed but golden celestials had their own disparities as well. There were fifth realm, sixth realm, seventh realm golden celestials and the seventh realm golden celestials were further grouped into those who were saints and great saints.
In just a few blinks of an eye, several fifth realm golden celestials were felled by the more powerful golden celestials of the supremacy and saint levels.
In the hall, everyone had a sword in their hands save for the Devil Goddess.
It was because the Devil Goddess was not known to carry or fight with any weapons, preferring to use her own unarmed martial profound arts instead. The name of her profound art was known to all and it was called the Heavenly Heretic Divine Skill.
The original name of her Heavenly Heretic Divine Skill was actually the Divine Horizon Hands and was passed down to her by her father. As she did not want to anyone to associate the Divine Horizon Hands with her bad reputation, she had actually changed the name of her profound art.
It was a profound art that the Devil Goddess often used and combined with her seventh realm profound strength, it was often more than enough to deal with most of her opponents.
But today, her opponents saw it as a sign of weakness and thought of it as an opportunity for them to exploit. After all, there was no way bare hands could contest against the might of a divine sword, moreover there were so many divine swords that were swinging now against the Devil Goddess.
When Fan Yuqing created her Devil Goddess identity, her character design did not include the Devil Goddess to wield any weapons and not because the Devil Goddess could not wield any weapons.
But because her opponents did not know, they had quickly interpreted her lack of weapons as a cultivation backlash by a divine sword that caused her unable to wield any weapons.
In the Celestial Realm, there were many unfortunate cultivators that suffered a backlash after an unsuccessful sword art breakthrough or suffered a rejection by a divine weapon that would cause them to suffer burning touches if they were to use their profound strength to wield a metallic weapon.
Now most of her opponents were now betting on this possibility.
And if their hunches were correct then the Devil Goddess may also suffered a double adverse in pain if she was struck by a metallic weapon and more so, if it was a divine sword.
She may even be defenseless against the strikes of a divine weapon!
Saint Gao Tianshou and the three divine rulers that were on his side were now watching the battle keenly, hoping to exploit a weakness in the ranks of the Devil Goddess.
They were not in a hurry because time was on their side and they had more than ten saints now that were slowly closing in on the Devil Goddess.
Among the some eighty golden celestials that were surrounding the Devil Goddess and her aides, Lu Qingyun was one of them.
He had displayed his Fairy Light Divine Sword as a heaven-step precious sword now because he did not want to draw attention to himself.
Ever since he had become a fifth realm golden celestial, he now had the ability to make a copy of his divine sword Jade Light as a precious sword.
Right now, the three golden shadows were forming the inner ranks of defense that were guarding the Devil Goddess.
Lu Qingyun did not have any problem of sneaking pass the twenty odd heretic golden celestials as there were too many fighters from his side for them to handle.
Each of the golden shadows was in fact fighting with at least five opponents at the same time.
Lu Qingyun had suddenly raised his sword to strike the nearest golden shadow in sight, seizing an attack of opportunity after she had forced three golden celestials to back off.
While he was attacking the golden shadow, he was also looking at the Devil Goddess; their golden eyes had actually met in that instant.
The sword attack that was from Lu Qingyun was quickly parried and with a quick flash of the divine sword that was in the golden shadow's hand, Lu Qingyun was quickly kicked out of the epicenter of the fight.
When Gao Xianyou saw Lu Qingyun was sent flying backward in the most awkward manner, he laughed at Gao Tianyou, "Big brother, is this your valuable recruit? Haha."
Gao Tianyou: …
When Lu Qingyun was kicked far away, he was quickly helped up by Tang Xuefeng and Qian Jingjing as they panicky said with great concern. "Are you alright…does it hurt…"
Lu Qingyun sighed softly as he shook his head, "I'm alright…"
He was staring at the golden shadow that had just kicked him. It was all too obvious that she was lenient to him. It was because he had purposely created an opening for her to attack him. Instead of a lethal strike, he was given a powerful kick instead.
But the main reason he was sighing was because he had almost got the answer that he had wanted; he wanted to know if the two other golden shadows were someone that he had known.
When he had got near to the golden shadow, he did not use his divine sense to unravel her identity but instead he was sniffing her. His nose was extremely sharp and with a sniff, he could identify thousands of spirit herbs and their properties.
And the golden shadow was Great Saintess Feng Minyue. It was because he could sniff her light heavenly fragrance that was unique to her. High level cultivators could alter their profound signature but there was one thing that they could never change and that was their unique scent.
Although he was now short of sniffing out Qin Keqin but he was almost certain that the Devil Goddess was her; it was because their eyes had been exchanging ever since he had stepped into the battle foray.
He was only a fifth realm cultivator and was like a fly in the eyes of the Devil Goddess. It was unusual enough that she was paying him attention that was out of the norm.
His gambit had worked.
He was still alive after the charge and he almost got his answer.
But now he was staring blanking at the Devil Goddess. He could not believe that Qin Keqin was actually a super villainess. Qin Keqin was also the great heroine Fan Yuqing. How could a great heroine possibly be the greatest super villainess in the history of the Nine Celestial Fraternity?!
He was completely stunned.
All of a sudden he had never felt so lost in his life. He had finally realized that he did not know Qin Keqin well at all. She had too many secrets.
Then he remembered the Starforge Substances that Qin Keqin had wanted him to have. Was she actually planning to turn him into one of her shadows so that she could rule the Nine Celestial Fraternity?
He was now totally confused what he should call her now; Qin Keqin or Fan Yuqing?
All of a sudden the Devil Goddess chuckled softly, "So you are finally here? What takes you so long?"
No one knows who the Devil Goddess was talking to until a golden profound light had suddenly crashed from the roof top into the hall and another golden shadow was suddenly seen.
But this newly arrived golden shadow was a little unfortunate as she had landed into the midst of four saints and they had all raised their swords at her. In that instant sword energies and sword arts were zapping all around.
But the golden shadow simply walked out of their way as she slashed them with her sword. "This…looks like a bad landing spot…"
The four saints were startled that they had not only missed her but they were also slashed by her sword. Luckily for them and unlike the other three golden shadows, this newly arrived golden shadow had only a precious sword in her hands. If she had a divine sword then their injuries may not be light.
One of the saints was stammering, "Her attacks can penetrate past our seventh realm profound aura? She is also a seventh realm saintess?"
The stammering saint soon got his answer. This newly arrived golden shadow appeared to be much more formidable and was also extremely agile as she flashed to and fro the ranks of the righteous celestials with extreme ease. No attacks could stop her because none of the attacks could hit her!
In just a just while, this newly golden shadow had totally messed up the tight formations of the righteous celestials.
This newly arrived golden shadow appeared to be quite annoyed as she shouted in the direction of the Devil Goddess, "Junior sister, why are you still standing there like an idiot? Hurry and help me!"
The Devil Goddess raised her palm to floor one unfortunate righteous celestial that got too near to her as she laughed, "So you need my little help now? Why are you late in the first place? And I am your senior sister. You're now my junior sister."
The righteous celestials were startled as they listened on to their conversations.
Senior sister? Junior sister? None of them knew that the Devil Goddess actually had a protégé sister.
All of a sudden the ranks of the righteous celestials seemed to be panicking because this newly arrived golden shadow appeared to be a great saintess as well.
"The heretic celestials have five great saintesses on their side?! How come we did not know about this…"
Lu Qingyun was also startled when he saw the newly arrived golden shadow. It was because he had suddenly found her lightless movement to be really familiar and he had seen it somewhere before.
All of a sudden he had remembered the fight between an extremely beautiful maiden and an eighth rank Giga Mountain Giant. In that fight, that extremely beautiful maiden was moving like a phantom and she could even handle the eighth rank Giga Mountain Giant as though she was just taking a walk.
And that extremely beautiful maiden was the Nine Celestial Goddess Ye Jing.
Lu Qingyun was stunned.
"Isn't the Nine Celestial Goddess Ye Jing the greatest champion of the righteous celestials? In the stories, she had suppressed the Devil Goddess within the three dark divine realms and brought peace to the Nine Celestial Fraternity. Why is she calling the Devil Goddess her junior sister? Maybe she isn't the Nine Celestial Goddess. The Nine Celestial Goddess will never do anything like this. She will never betray the Nine Celestial Fraternity…"
He could not believe what he was seeing as he struggled with his beliefs.
The Devil Goddess had suddenly shouted, "Now!"
The Golden Shadow 'Yue Lingxi' had suddenly raised her divine sword as her martial profound force had suddenly parted a small gap in the ranks of the righteous celestials. Numerous weaker celestials were instantly floored or sent flying aside by her powerful profound force that was in the shape of a demonic wolf.
At the same time the Devil Goddess had charged forward as she unleashed the powerful profound art of the Great Goddess Alice the Mystic Stratosphere as she flew like a shooting star through the ranks of the righteous celestials.
"Stop her!"
"Close your ranks!"
"The Devil Goddess is aiming for Saint Gao Tianshou! Stop her!"
Saint Yuan Chenggong, Saint Linghu Fei and Saintess Su Rushuang, along with a dozen of their fifth rank golden celestials had also joined in the fight as they attempted to close ranks with the rest.
They had to protect Saint Gao Tianshou at all costs because he was the one that the Devil Goddess feared.
Right now Saint Gao Tianshou was rooted to the ground and they knew that he had expended nearly all his profound strength and he was now circulating his profound energies in a hasty bid to quickly regain his profound strength.
Until that happened, they must protect Saint Gao Tianshou at all costs.
As the Devil Goddess sped through the ranks of the righteous celestials, a dozen golden celestials were felled by her. Among the fallen were Gao Tianyou and Gao Xianyou!
All of a sudden the ranks of the saints that were holding the charge of the Devil Goddess and her four golden shadows had broken and confusion reigned in the ranks of the righteous celestials.
Five seventh realm great saintesses were now fighting their way through the ranks of the righteous celestials in a straight line like an unstoppable force now.
Although there were a hundred righteous golden celestials in the hall but more than half were scattered all around and they could not stop the Devil Goddess now.
Saint Zhou Hai had suddenly coughed out blood under the 'attacks' of the Devil Goddess and he had accidentally swung his divine sword at his fellow celestials. Unknown to the righteous celestials, Saint Zhou Hai was actually a secret shadow of the Devil Goddess. Therefore he had no reason to fight against the Devil Goddess.
And he was not the only clumsy one all of a sudden. It was because in the ranks of the righteous celestials, the Devil Goddess had long planted four saints and eight supremacies as her secret shadows.
These twelve shadows were her secret moles since her early days and were scattered in all the four divine realms.
And today she was activating them.
This was the main reason why the formations of the righteous celestials were broken up so fast, with some of her moles stepping aside for her to sweep into it and hindering the rest.
The Devil Goddess really did not lie to the four divine rulers that the other camps had already been taken by her. Her moles had told her of this banquet in advance and she had sent all her divine lords to attack the other three camps.
The force that was attacking this camp was actually puny and was just a distraction.
Fan Yuqing figured out that she did not need a large force but she would need all the capable fighters that she could find. In the end, she did not find many since she had to split her divine lords into three main groups.
Therefore she had asked her rival Ye Jing to aid her this time.
But why would the Nine Celestial Goddess Ye Jing aided her? Was it because she had a handle in the hands of the Devil Goddess?
The answer was actually no. Even though they were rivals all the time, they were also the best of friends at the same time and moreover, they were really protégé sisters of the Great Goddess Heaveness.
And now the Devil Goddess sped past all her opponents, covered by her golden shadows. With four great saintesses behind her back, who would dare to come forward to stop the Devil Goddess now?
But one cultivator did.
He was Lu Qingyun and he had the saint grade Fairy Light Divine Light in his hand as the two of them reached Saint Gao Tianshou at the same time.
Lu Qingyun was saying to the Devil Goddess, "Don't please…"
But Saint Tianshou and the Devil Goddess had already clashed with all their profound strength mightily in a thunderous explosive exchange that exploded a tremendous ripple of profound force that caused all three of them to cough out blood at the same time.
In that instant the Devil Goddess had seized Saint Gao Tianshou's divine sword, "I shall use your sword to end you…"
Gao Tianshou laughed weakly, "You can't use my divine sword. It has already been divine harmony by me…"
The Devil Goddess spat her blood on the divine sword to temporary remove Saint Gao Tianshou's profound link with his sword. "Oh yes? My blood happens to have the ability to do so…"
She had swiftly swung the divine sword and had pierced it through Saint Gao Tianshou's heart and at the same time Lu Qingyun had swung his sword against the Devil Goddess.
In that instant, it was as though time had frozen for the three of them;
Saint Gao Tianshou was killed by the Devil Goddess and Lu Qingyun had swung his sword to stop the Devil Goddess but she was so determined to kill Saint Gao Tianshou that she did not evade Lu Qingyun's attack.
Therefore Lu Qingyun's divine sword broke through the protective profound animus of the Devil Goddess and he had slashed her.
Lu Qingyun was shocked and he was stammering almost incoherently, "Keqin…I'm sorry. I…didn't mean to hit you. I only…want to stop you…I really…didn't mean it at all…"
The Devil Goddess' aura had a subtle shift and Yan'Er was sobbing in Lu Qingyun's inner cultivation sea, "I…have…hurt…Big Sister Keqin…"
Qin Keqin quickly pushed Lu Qingyun away as she grasped her wounds. It would be hard for her to regenerate the wounds that were caused by a saint-grade divine sword.
Her four golden shadows were immediately by her side to assist her while they stared fiercely at Lu Qingyun.
But none of them made a move against Lu Qingyun as they assisted the Devil Goddess for their getaway.
Lu Qingyun was left alone to stare blankly at the back of the Devil Goddess.
As for the remaining righteous celestials, they did not make a move to stop the heretic celestials from making their getaway. Everyone appeared to be spent and many were staring blankly like Lu Qingyun.
Saint Gao Tianshou was dead now.
Many of the golden celestials had fallen and among the fallen celestials, were also Gao Tianyou, Gao Xianyou and many high ranking golden celestials.
The more powerful righteous celestials that could still fight were mostly the moles of the Devil Goddess and naturally they would not give anyone the orders to pursue the Devil Goddess.
No one was foolish enough to pursue the trail of four great saintesses that were now escorting the Devil Goddess.
Saint Yuan Chenggong, Saint Linghu Fei and Saintess Su Rushuang the three divine rulers were also staring blankly at the carnage and the dead body of Saint Gao Tianshou.
It was like they had suddenly become lost.
Just then several protégés had rushed into the hall with several panicky messages. "The other three camps have been attacked and are now in the hands of the heretic celestials."
Saint Yuan Chenggong, Saint Linghu Fei and Saintess Su Rushuang nearly fainted from shock when they had heard the news.
The Devil Goddess really did not lie to them at all.