"I am the Lord of the Nine Li, leading my eighty-one brothers to battle Heaven itself!"
Seeing that his Lord of Arms Authority was temporarily ineffective against Phoenix, Chiyou unleashed another Authority with a bellow: a summoning power.
Chiyou's quest for dominion over the world was never a solitary endeavor. He was accompanied by his eight full brothers, born of the same mother, and seventy-two brothers from the same tribe.
The Han Dynasty's Dragon Fish River Map recorded: "Chiyou had eighty-one brothers, all with beastly bodies and human speech. They possessed bronze heads, iron foreheads, and subsisted on sand and pebbles. They forged weapons of war—swords, halberds, and massive crossbows—shaking the world with their might. They mercilessly slaughtered the wicked and showed no compassion."
Legend says that the eighty-one members of Chiyou's Nine Li Tribe were colossal giants, impervious to blades, each possessing three heads and six arms.
As Chiyou invoked his Authority Spirit Speech, eighty-one towering giants materialized before Phoenix, surrounding him.
Each of these giants was grotesquely deformed, resembling monstrous demons.
One had a triangular head like a serpent's, his arms transformed into thick, python-like snakes with venomous mouths coiling around his waist. This must be Can Gang.
Another had a human head atop a bamboo stalk body. Thick bamboo tubes formed his torso from shoulders to hips, while slender bamboo shoots served as limbs. The bamboo leaves on his limbs were as sharp as swords, serving as both weapons and appendages.
Including Chiyou, eighty-two giants surrounded Phoenix in a tight circle.
The sight of eighty-one massive men glaring down at a human girl who looked as small as a bee to them was undeniably comical.
"Ganging up? That's hardly fair play!" Phoenix remarked, her expression unfazed despite being completely encircled by the towering giants.
As the giants began to move, Phoenix wasted no time.
"In the name of the Lord of Hell, I decree... you shall all be banished to Hell!"
Phoenix raised her arm and spread her fingers wide.
Her Authority, Exile to Hell, instantly dragged the nearest giants into Solomon's Hell.
Then, a magnificent horn materialized in Phoenix's hand. She raised it to her lips and blew a long, piercing blast.
The horn's call echoed across the heavens and earth.
"The moment this horn sounds, the final war of the apocalypse has begun!"
"Come forth, my Angel Legion! In the name of the Archangel, fight for me!"
The moment the horn sounded, a colossal golden gate materialized in the sky, its opening veiled by a blinding white light.
Then, one by one, Battle Angels emerged from the Gate of Heaven. Clad in celestial armor, each wielded a blazing cruciform lightsword and unfurled pristine, snow-white wings.
In less than a minute, over a thousand Battle Angels had poured forth. As the last angel exited the gate, the entire legion surged toward Chiyou's advancing Giant Legion.
Without hesitation, their flaming lightswords slashed into the giants.
Though many angels were swiftly crushed by the giants' massive hands, Cursed Power flowed ceaselessly, summoning an endless tide of angels. After all, these Battle Angels were mere manifestations of Authority.
While individually weaker than the giants, their sheer numbers proved capable of overwhelming and slaying even these colossal foes.
Phoenix, wielding the Key of Domination: Void Grip, expended relatively little energy summoning the Gate of Heaven. She could continuously draw power from the earth to replenish her reserves.
After entrusting Chiyou's giant brothers to the angels, Phoenix grasped the Xuanyuan Sword and instantly teleported beside Chiyou.
"Chiyou, this is our battle now! Falling Cherry Five-Stage Slash!"
Gripping the Xuanyuan Great Sword, Phoenix unleashed the sword techniques of the Gyakushinn Miko upon Chiyou.
Though she lacked Sakura Sword Force within her body, she could substitute it with Li Fire—while not as seamless as Yae Sakura's methods, it sufficed.
Li Fire blazed along the Xuanyuan Sword as Phoenix relentlessly slashed at the colossal Chiyou. Due to Chiyou's immense size, nearly every strike found its mark.
Sometimes, bigger isn't better.
Five slashes erupted in the blink of an eye, leaving five deep sword wounds across Chiyou's body.
Stung by the pain, Chiyou realized the disadvantage of his immense size against Phoenix and immediately shrank to a more manageable height of three to four meters.
"Invincible army! A hundred battles, a hundred victories!"
Seeing Phoenix's next slash approaching, Chiyou chanted a Spirit Speech and charged forward with his great cleaver to meet her blade.
The collision of sword and cleaver unleashed a shockwave that shattered the subterranean mountain range. Boulders tumbled in a spectacular display.
Yet the chaos didn't deter their battle. As the two warriors clashed, every place they fought was reduced to rubble, each exchange more intense than the last.
Before Xuanyuan received aid from the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden, Chiyou had faced the Xuanyuan Huang Emperor nine times—and emerged victorious in every encounter!
As the War God and Lord of Armaments, Phoenix engaged Chiyou in battle, quickly discovering his vast combat experience and mastery of the art of slaughter. For a time, she found herself unable to gain the upper hand.
After all, the Xuanyuan Sword she wielded was not the true Xuanyuan Sword of this world.
Moreover, Chiyou's six arms allowed him to defend himself from all directions.
"Jingwei cries, and heaven and earth tremble! Day after day, she vows to fill the Eastern Sea!"
As Phoenix's Great Sword clashed once more with Chiyou's tiger-headed great saber, a magnificent divine bird suddenly emerged from her back, its talons extended toward Chiyou.
Caught off guard, Chiyou's scalp was torn open by the bird's claws.
This divine creature resembled a crow, with patterned plumage on its head, a white beak, and red feet. It was... Jingwei!
This was a manifestation of Phoenix's will.
In the myths woven by Nuwa and Fuxi, Phoenix served as the prototype for Jingwei. Jingwei, with her spirit of endlessly carrying stones and branches from West Mountain to fill the Eastern Sea, represented unwavering resolve in the face of any challenge.
Her will had reached an unimaginable level.
How much unwavering spirit and determination would it take to persist, day after day, year after year, in attempting to fill an entire sea with mere stones?
One might call it foolish or mindless, but its tenacity... defied description.
"Damn it! First the Xuanyuan Sword, now the Jingwei Bird! Iron-Eating Beast, Wind Master, Rain Master—come to my aid immediately!"
Chiyou rubbed the wound on his head where Jingwei had scratched him. The gash was shockingly deep, over thirty centimeters long.
Feeling that the woman before him was his nemesis, Chiyou abandoned all pretense of dignity and summoned his mount and the allies who had once fought alongside him against the Huang Emperor.
This time, it wasn't a mere invocation of Authority; he was forcibly pulling two gods and a beast straight out of myth and into reality.
As Chiyou chanted, three beams of starlight descended from the heavens. The two gods and the beast materialized beside him as Heretic Gods, beings unbound by divine order.