Having said that, he formed a Taoist spell with both hands, leaped into the air, and dashed straight toward James.
James let out a piercing, maniacal laugh, similarly flaring his robe and soaring halfway into the sky. As Liu Dashao approached with a whistling sound breaking through the air, James suddenly extended his right hand. A curved blade, its surface flowing with crimson energy, materialized out of nowhere and met Liu Dashao’s palm strike head-on. With a sharp, tearing sound, the two figures—one clad in white, the other in black—clashed and immediately separated, landing back where they had started.
After stabilizing himself, Liu Dashao swayed unsteadily a few times. Fan Debiao quickly rushed over to support him. Everyone looked on anxiously and saw Liu Dashao’s face had turned pale, with a faint streak of blood at the corner of his mouth—clearly he had suffered internal injuries.
Meanwhile, when the group turned their attention to James, they found he wasn’t faring much better. Leaning on his curved blade for support, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
James opened his mouth, extended his blood-red tongue, and revoltingly licked around his lips. His eyes burned with a murderous red glare, as if he wanted to devour Liu Dashao whole. He raised the blood-colored scimitar and shouted, “This scimitar of mine is the Butcher, one of the thirteen holy weapons of the vampires. Boy, I’m not afraid of your Chinese Taoist arts! Let’s fight again!”
Saying this, he let out another eerie sound, flared his black robe, and prepared to launch another attack against Liu Dashao.
Just then, a familiar “clang-clang” sound suddenly rang clearly in everyone’s ears inside the grand hall. Everyone felt a flash of golden light before their eyes. When they looked up, an unbelievable scene unfolded—a pair of golden phoenixes had appeared in the air above the hall.
Fan Debiao cried out in shock, “My God! It’s the phoenixes again! Another pair of phoenixes has appeared!”
The male and female phoenixes cried out a few times, then suddenly tucked their wings and dove down, landing precisely in the center of the hall—exactly within the glowing white-and-gold barrier between the prostrate Cai Qingchong and the motionless, clown-masked Ha Dun.
Strangely, this pair of phoenixes seemed unaffected by the white-and-gold energy field enveloping the area. Watching them land gracefully, their bodies shimmered under the golden and white glow, appearing especially mystical.
Even more astonishingly, the moment the phoenixes touched down, the golden pagoda floating in midair suddenly rose sharply, lifting its oppressive pressure off Cai Qingchong. In the blink of an eye, it shrank rapidly back into its original form as a small golden bell, landing in Ha Dun’s still-stiff hand. At the same time, the jade around Cai Qingchong’s neck, having lost its opposing force, also seemed to have no reason to remain. With a “whoosh,” it vanished.
Seeing that Cai Qingchong was no longer under pressure, Fan Debiao—who had just been thrown to the ground—rushed forward. Under the watchful eyes of the phoenixes, he scooped up Cai Qingchong and ran back.
At this moment, both groups—our side and James’s—had shifted all their attention to the pair of phoenixes standing quietly in the center of the hall.
No one knew where these phoenixes had come from—had they flown in from outside the palace, or had they materialized from thin air? No one could say.
Now, neither side dared to move recklessly. Everyone understood the immense power of these ancient divine beasts. James and his group, having secretly witnessed the previous battle between dragons and phoenixes while following everyone else, surely understood this as well. Yet no one could predict what the phoenixes’ sudden appearance meant or what they intended to do next.
Thus, an awkward scene unfolded inside the immortal palace: two groups of people and the pair of phoenixes stood silently in the grand hall, motionless. At this moment, Liu Dashao noticed that since their arrival, the phoenixes had not looked at either their group or James’s. Their eyes had remained fixed on the white box—in other words, on the seemingly living golden orb inside.
Liu Dashao inwardly groaned. These phoenixes seemed to be of the same kind as the pair that had fought the Azure Dragon to the death. Most likely, their mission was to guard this golden orb.
So, for about ten minutes, the two groups and the phoenixes remained locked in a tense standoff. The phoenixes never shifted their gaze from the white box containing the golden orb, completely ignoring the presence of the humans around them.
Finally, James was the first to break the stillness. Still in his vampire form, he had come to China with an obvious purpose—to obtain one of the treasures hidden within the “Ninety-Nine Heavens.” Now, he had fixed his sights on the golden orb as the objective of this mission, and with the treasure seemingly within reach, his greed knew no bounds.
Of course, James, cunning and calculating as he was, understood the danger posed by the divine phoenixes. Rather than risk confronting them himself, he summoned the Wright Brothers, ordering them to retrieve the golden orb.
The Wright Brothers hesitated slightly. The phoenixes’ sudden appearance unsettled them, and they also feared that Liu Dashao’s group might attempt to seize the orb. However, under the terrifying, blood-red glare of James, they gritted their teeth and stepped forward. Carefully bypassing the phoenixes, they walked toward the white box on the right side of the group.
As the two approached the box, Jia Yuanzhang, Fan Debiao, and others prepared to intervene. At that moment, the weakened Liu Dashao gave them a meaningful glance, shook his head, and pointed toward the phoenixes, signaling everyone to hold back.
Understanding Liu Dashao’s meaning, the group realized the phoenixes would never allow the Wright Brothers to touch the box. So they held their ground, waiting to see whether the two would succeed in retrieving the orb.
Indeed, just as the Wright Brothers approached within two or three meters of the white box, the smaller of the two phoenixes—likely the female—suddenly let out a strange cry, “Zhu-zhu,” spread her wings, and in a flash of golden light, appeared silently between the box and the Wright Brothers. Her golden feathers shimmered with a seven-colored glow, standing upright, her narrow eyes wide open like two sapphire-blue gems, staring directly at the two men.
The sudden appearance of the phoenix startled the Wright Brothers, who exchanged glances before turning back to look at James.
James suddenly roared, “Kill it! Take the treasure!”
With no choice, the Wright Brothers exchanged another glance, turned back, and stood before the female phoenix. They crouched low, their bodies crackling and expanding rapidly, soon transforming into towering giants over three meters tall.
They stretched out their massive hands, roaring as four enormous arms lunged toward the motionless female phoenix.
Liu Dashao merely shook his head slightly. He knew these two fools were about to face dire consequences for provoking the sacred phoenix. As expected, with another “Zhu-zhu” cry and a flash of golden light, the Wright Brothers’ massive bodies were suddenly thrown into the air like broken kites, then crashed heavily onto the ground.
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