Boom!
A thunderous roar erupted, shaking the earth violently, and terrifying cracks appeared as if the end of the world had come.
"Brother…"
Peng Yue's words were cut short, his mouth agape, eyes wide with shock.
At the same time, nearly a thousand thieves were engulfed in terror, creating a scene that was beyond description.
The cracking of the ground didn't stop due to Peng Yue and the thieves' fear; it spread rapidly across the entire island. Suddenly, an upward force pushed up a layer of soil more than a foot thick, sending clouds of dust and images of dozens of thieves tumbling down.
Those few who managed to stay on their feet witnessed an even more terrifying sight: not far away, a massive circular object radiating dazzling light emerged from the ground, inside of which two fish, one white and one black, swam.
If a modern person were here, they would instantly recognize this as the yin-yang symbol, located at the center of the Bagua.
"This is bad, we need to leave quickly!"
As the leader of the thousand thieves and the future commander of tens of thousands of rebellious forces, Peng Yue was the first to snap out of the shock. He shouted while frantically trying to escape, even resorting to killing his own panicking subordinates without a second thought.
However, the chaos was overwhelming; after running for a while, he was still less than a hundred steps away from the platform.
"Look up at the sky!"
"Fireball!"
"No, it's a comet!"
…
The frightened shouts of many thieves rang out.
Peng Yue looked up, his face growing even darker. The appearance of a comet was always an ominous sign, especially in such a bizarre environment.
"This is bad, it's coming our way!"
"Run!"
…
The thieves screamed, rushing towards the large marsh.
Peng Yue, the first to react, was shoved to the back, and in the face of this unstoppable calamity, no one cared about their leader anymore.
On the ground, the yin-yang symbol suddenly erupted with an even stronger light. A beam shot straight into the sky from its core, seemingly guiding the way. At the same time, eight groups of glowing horizontal stripes formed an inverted trapezoid around the yin-yang symbol. If Cao Yi were here, he would definitely say that the Bagua was complete.
The meteors in the sky, which had originally been slightly off course, slowed significantly and then headed straight for this direction. What would take ordinary people days to cover was merely a few breaths for these celestial bodies.
"No!"
"Don't!"
…
As Peng Yue and nearly a thousand thieves screamed in horror, the celestial star crashed into the island. A powerful shockwave surged outward, accompanied by rolling clouds of dust. The previously calm marsh was struck by a tremendous storm, sending waves towering over ten meters high radiating outwards.
…
On the other side of the marsh, Xiang Yu watched the apocalyptic scene in the distance, muttering to himself, "How could this be, how could this be…"
In just a few breaths, the waves, now reduced to a few meters in height, arrived, still a terrifying sight.
Without hesitation, Xiang Yu turned and ran. After dashing a few dozen steps, he spotted a tree as thick as a woman's waist. Without a second thought, he climbed up.
The waves surged from below, sweeping through the base of the tree, knocking down slender trees in their path. The huge wave came quickly and receded just as fast, leaving behind only less than a foot of water.
Xiang Yu jumped down from the tree, wading through the water as he emerged from the grove. He looked up to see the previously apocalyptic scene had vanished, as if it had been an illusion.
"Daoist Priest, I wonder how he is…" Xiang Yu sighed. He had little hope left for Cao Yi. To him, despite Cao Yi possessing formidable abilities, he was still human and could not possibly survive such overwhelming destructive force.
Suddenly, something collided with his leg. Looking down, he saw the corpse of a thief, with a well-preserved bamboo raft behind it.
Xiang Yu furrowed his brows, jumped onto the bamboo raft, and decided to see if he could find the Daoist Priest's body. He casually picked up a long bamboo pole floating in the water and paddled out into the marsh. The water was shallow, and the recent giant waves had drained quite a bit away, allowing him to reach deeper waters with the pole.
After nearly two incense sticks worth of time, Xiang Yu arrived at the hellish island. Fires blazed everywhere, sporadic explosions echoed, and the smell was unbearable. In the core of the chaos, a massive stone towered over two zhang high.
"Daoist Priest!" Xiang Yu sighed internally. What a stroke of bad luck for the Daoist Priest; if he had come a moment later, Peng Yue and the others would have been killed by the natural disaster. Now it seemed that they had died for nothing.
"Why is Young Master Xiang sighing?" A calm voice interrupted his thoughts.
Xiang Yu was taken aback, a joyful expression appearing as he followed the voice.
Nearby, a well-dressed figure stood calmly amidst the blazing sea of fire. It was none other than Cao Yi.
"Daoist Priest, how did you survive?" Xiang Yu asked in disbelief. That was a celestial star capable of annihilating everything. Was Cao Yi truly immortal?
"With a bit of clever maneuvering," Cao Yi replied with a smile.
Xiang Yu did not press further; he was not one to pry rudely.
Cao Yi walked step by step to the shore, where he undid the purple gold red gourd and opened the lid. With a thought, Yelü Zhigu appeared along with a wisp of clear light.
"Continue," Cao Yi commanded.
A pile of treasures, including the thousand-year-old peach wood sword, the Flower Stone from the Other Shore, the Money Sword, and a myriad of miscellaneous items, piled up like a small mountain.
"Gather!" A powerful suction emerged from the gourd's mouth. A stream of water shot up from the marsh and, in the next moment, surged into the gourd. Within mere moments, it was completely filled.
Cao Yi turned and approached the stunned Xiang Yu. With a flick of his wrist, he sent a small area before them as if a torrential downpour had fallen. In under five seconds, the raging flames were extinguished, and thick smoke began to rise.
Next, Cao Yi continued to douse the sea of fire, creating a path five to six meters wide that extended all the way to the celestial star.
Looking at the celestial star towering over two zhang, Cao Yi frowned. Given the space in the gourd, it would be impossible to contain something so large. Did he need to break it apart?
"Reminder: The true celestial star lies within the meteorite."
Again, within!
Cao Yi shook his head and turned back to the shore, soon returning with Yelü Zhigu, who was expressionless, resembling a moving cold source, a humanoid stream of cold air.
Next to them, Xiang Yu, whose face was reddened from the heat, expressed relief: "Standing in front of this zombie feels like a winter wind blowing through the summer heat."
"Then stay cool for a while longer," Cao Yi chuckled.
"No need, no need! We must focus on the task at hand," Xiang Yu quickly shook his head.
Cao Yi nodded and pointed to the celestial star towering just a few meters away, saying, "Break it open for me."