Several system hours ago, the Xianzhou Luofu.
The once prosperous and peaceful Xianzhou had now descended into purgatory.
Compared to the siege Yueque encountered, the calamity facing the Luofu was more than ten times as tragic.
The sky was no longer azure, completely obscured by thick black smoke from the bombardment of countless Beastships and the fires of war.
The sky was entirely blotted out by dense smoke; Beastships and cannon fire tore through the firmament as The Abundant Alliance poured in like a black tide from gaps in various Delve boundaries, seemingly without end.
The earth burned fiercely, and the air trembled amidst the continuous roar.
Rumble!
Above the Central Starskiff Haven, two figures collided violently.
Teng Xiao was wreathed in golden light, and the massive golden phantom behind him was even more brilliant; every strike that landed evaporated hundreds of thousands of Abominations.
But his primary opponent was Shuhu, an Emanator of Abundance who had vanished for a millennium after the destruction of Azure City, and who had died several times only to always return.
No matter how much Teng Xiao's offensive rained down like a storm, shattering the giant tree Shuhu had transformed into, the opponent would always recover in an instant.
The countless human faces hanging among the branches grinned in a mocking, hideous sneer, as if ridiculing his incompetence.
The aftershocks of their battle shattered countless surface buildings; nearby Delves collapsed one after another, and the marketplaces were turned to ruins.
In every corner still resisting, a cruel race between life and death was being played out.
"Run forward! Don't look back!"
A Cloud Knight captain roared hoarsely, his spear piercing through a lunging Borisin.
Behind him were thousands of terrified civilians.
"Form up! We can't let these beasts through, even if we die!"
Not a single member of this Cloud Knight squad, responsible for escorting civilians to safety, retreated. They built a defensive line with their own flesh and blood, using their lives to buy even a single second of escape time for the people behind them.
People fell constantly, and others constantly stepped up to fill the gaps, until the last person was swallowed by the beast tide.
The same scene was repeated all over the Luofu; casualties had long since become unquantifiable.
Inside the Military Affairs Council Chamber, the air was so heavy it had almost solidified.
Several of the Six Sovereigns' leaders had bloodshot eyes, and the Grand Diviner even smashed the jade message in her hand.
"How is it possible... how can this be?!"
"Assembling an Abundant Alliance of such a horrific scale would take at least several years or even decades, and their march would surely leave a trail! Even Shuhu couldn't conjure up so many Abominations out of thin air!"
"It's one thing that the Matrix of Prescience couldn't calculate even a hint of an ill omen, but why has even Yueque's cloud-gazing mirror never captured any related traces?!"
It was almost as if... this group of Abominations had been hiding right under the Xianzhou's nose all along and suddenly crawled out!
No one could answer this question.
This completely defied common sense and all their knowledge of warfare, just like the tragic disasters Shuhu had left in Xianzhou's history—it was no different.
Why, why was it that even when this fellow led The Abundant Alliance in an attack, it was never possible to roughly predict it?
No matter how angry the Six Sovereigns were, they knew now was not the time to investigate the cause.
"Report! The defensive lines in the Third, Fifth, and Seventh Delves have completely collapsed!"
"Report! Stargazer Navalia has fallen; starshiffs cannot take off!"
"Report! The Chanchuang Guard-1245 detachment has suffered heavy casualties but is still fighting to the death!"
Bad news flew in like snowflakes, and despair began to quietly spread in everyone's hearts.
The main elite forces of the Luofu, including Sword Master Jingliu, High Elder Dan Feng, and a large number of Cloud Knight Vanguards, were currently far away at Yueque and could not return in time to reinforce.
Dozens of other fleets were out on Hunt expeditions, leaving the remaining defensive power at less than forty percent of its peak.
Facing a full-strength Emanator of Abundance and his army, the defensive forces seemed so thin.
Since the Xianzhou Luofu set sail, this battle was undoubtedly the greatest crisis in its history.
If it fell, the Luofu would be beyond redemption, and the Ambrosial Arbor would also fall into Shuhu's hands.
Misfortunes never come singly; another piece of bad news arrived.
Just now, all external communication base stations were destroyed simultaneously, and the backup systems were also paralyzed by pulses emitted by a strange creature.
Communication was cut off, and each defensive line fell into a desperate situation of fighting alone.
A true deathly silence shrouded the entire Military Affairs Chamber; no one could stay out of it.
Just as the fires of war gradually spread to more of the Luofu's Delves and everyone's attention was drawn to this catastrophic disaster.
In the Scalegorge Waterscape, the forbidden land of the Vidyadhara where outsiders are strictly prohibited from stepping in normal times.
Three figures draped in wide robes broke through the sea surface, their toes lightly touching the waves. Broad wings, which no Xianzhou person could possess, unfurled behind them as they silently took to the air.
They looked toward the war-torn sky from afar, showing no lingering attachment, nor did they attract any attention.
"Set out."
Using the fires of war as cover, they rushed out of the Luofu like ghosts and plunged into the vast sea of stars, vanishing in an instant... Within a star system about twenty light-years away from the Luofu's main ship, there existed a Desolate Planet that was out of place with the surrounding stars.
Of course, this Desolate Planet could not be observed with the naked eye. Its periphery was permeated with imaginary energy; perhaps even a few Emanators would be unable to perceive the hidden world within.
But in Qi Zhimu's eyes, it was no different from a blazing sun in the chaotic starry sky that released flares at every moment.
"Let's begin."
In the depths of Qi Zhimu's indifferent eyes, madness and brutality gradually surged.
Behind him, Sleeping Snow and Clear Cold flew to specific coordinates, forming a focal point.
Sleeping Snow and Clear Cold flew to the designated coordinates. Strange fluctuations simultaneously rippled from the palms of the three, quickly intertwining and enveloping the entire Desolate Planet.
In the next instant, Qi Zhimu was the first to penetrate the Imaginary Barrier, with the other two following closely behind.
The three broke through the atmosphere, taking in the sight of countless, endless black shadows.
Qi Zhimu tried to directly plunder everything from these Abominations, only to find that this method, which had never failed before, was ineffective.
After a moment's thought, he realized it was a measure left by Shuhu.
Furthermore, he saw through the essence of these Abominations.
They were all a wisp of Shuhu's trillions of divided consciousnesses.
If killed, these consciousnesses would return to their original place.
If not killed, the entanglement would be never-ending.
It was a typical case of no benefit for killing them, yet punishment for not killing them.
To this, a bloodthirsty arc curled at the corner of Qi Zhimu's mouth.
Shuhu... I've come for you... "Do it."
...Begging for donations. Haji Huan hasn't eaten a single meal since February and is starving to death. Now I can't even afford food and life is getting more and more destitute. If this continues, I really don't know how I'll be able to survive in the future