Several system hours earlier, aboard the Xianzhou Luofu.
The once prosperous and peaceful Xianzhou had descended into a living purgatory.
Compared to the siege that Yuque had endured, the calamity now engulfing the Luofu was more than ten times as devastating.
The sky was no longer a clear azure. Thick black smoke from endless bombardments and raging fires completely blotted it out. Beastships and cannon fire ripped through the heavens as the forces of the Denizens of Abundance surged in like an unrelenting black tide. They poured through breaches in the various delve boundaries with no end in sight.
The ground burned fiercely. The air itself trembled under the continuous roar of battle.
Rumble!
High above the Central Starskiff Haven, two figures collided with explosive force.
Teng Xiao stood wreathed in golden light. The massive golden phantom looming behind him shone even brighter. Every strike he unleashed evaporated hundreds of thousands of abominations in an instant.
Yet his true opponent was Shuhu, an Emanator of Abundance who had vanished for a millennium after the fall of Cangcheng. This being had perished multiple times, only to return again and again.
No matter how fiercely Teng Xiao's assault rained down like a storm, shattering the giant tree form that Shuhu had assumed, the enemy would recover in the blink of an eye. The countless human faces hanging from the branches twisted into mocking, hideous sneers, as if ridiculing his efforts.
The aftershocks of their clash shattered countless buildings on the surface. Nearby delves collapsed one after another, reducing bustling marketplaces to rubble.
In every corner where resistance still held, a brutal race between life and death unfolded without mercy.
"Run forward! Don't look back!"
A Cloud Knight captain roared hoarsely, his spear thrusting clean through a lunging borisin. Behind him stretched thousands of terrified civilians.
"Form up! We can't let these beasts through, even if it costs our lives!"
Not a single member of this Cloud Knight squad, tasked with escorting the civilians to safety, gave ground. They formed a defensive line with their own bodies, sacrificing their lives to buy even one extra second for the people behind them.
Warriors fell one after another. Others immediately stepped forward to fill the gaps. In the end, the final defender was swallowed by the beast tide.
This same tragic scene repeated across the entire Luofu. The casualties had long since grown beyond counting.
Inside the Military Affairs Council chamber, the atmosphere had grown so heavy it felt almost solid.
Several leaders among the Six Sovereigns had bloodshot eyes. The Grand Diviner slammed the jade sign in her hand against the table, shattering it.
"How is this possible... how could this happen?!"
"Assembling an army of the Denizens of Abundance on such a horrific scale should have taken years, even decades. Their march would have left obvious traces! Even Shuhu could not have conjured so many abominations out of thin air!"
"It is one thing that the Matrix of Prescience failed to predict even the slightest ill omen, but why has even Yuque's cloud-gazing mirror never caught any related signs?!"
It was almost as if this horde of abominations had been hiding right under the Xianzhou's nose the entire time, only to crawl out suddenly.
No one could provide an answer.
This defied all common sense and every principle of warfare they knew. It mirrored the tragic disasters Shuhu had inflicted on the Xianzhou throughout history.
Why was it that even when this entity led the forces of Abundance in an assault, no one could ever predict it in advance?
No matter how furious the Six Sovereigns felt, they knew this was not the moment 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 continues to fight to the death!"
Dire updates poured in like snowflakes. Despair began to spread quietly through every heart.
The Luofu's main elite forces, including Sword Champion Jingliu, High Elder Dan Feng, and a large number of Cloud Knight vanguards, were currently far away at Yuque. They could not return in time to reinforce.
Dozens of other fleets were out on Hunt expeditions, leaving the remaining defensive strength at less than forty percent of its peak capacity.
Facing a full-powered Emanator of Abundance and his vast army, the defenders appeared painfully thin.
Since the Xianzhou Luofu first set sail, this battle undoubtedly represented the greatest crisis in its long history.
If it fell, the Luofu would be beyond saving, and the Ambrosial Arbor would fall into Shuhu's grasp.
Misfortunes never arrived alone. Yet another piece of devastating news reached them.
Just moments ago, all external communication base stations had been destroyed simultaneously. Backup systems were paralyzed by pulses from a strange creature.
Communications were severed. Every defensive line was left to fight in isolation, trapped in desperation.
A deathly silence descended over the entire Military Affairs Chamber. No one could remain untouched by the gravity of the situation.
As the fires of war gradually spread to more of the Luofu's delves and everyone's focus remained locked on this catastrophic disaster...
In the Scalegorge Waterscape, the forbidden sanctuary of the Vidyadhara that outsiders were normally strictly prohibited from entering...
Three figures clad in wide robes broke through the surface of the sea. Their toes lightly skimmed the waves as broad wings, impossible for any native of the Xianzhou, unfurled behind them. They rose silently into the air.
They gazed toward the war-torn skies in the distance, showing neither attachment nor drawing any unwanted attention.
"Set out."
Using the chaos of battle as cover, they slipped away from the Luofu like ghosts and plunged into the vast sea of stars, vanishing in an instant...
Roughly twenty light-years away from the Luofu's main vessel lay a desolate planet that felt distinctly out of place among the surrounding stars.
Of course, this desolate world could not be observed with the naked eye. Its periphery was saturated with imaginary energy. Perhaps even a few Emanators would struggle to perceive the hidden realm within.
But in Kanzaki's eyes, it stood out like a blazing sun amid the chaotic starfield, flaring brilliantly at every moment.
"Let's begin."
In the depths of Kanzaki's indifferent gaze, madness and brutality gradually surged forth.
Behind him, Xueyi and Hanya moved to their designated coordinates, forming a focal point.
Strange fluctuations rippled simultaneously from the palms of all three. They quickly intertwined and enveloped the entire desolate planet.
In the next instant, Kanzaki was the first to pierce through the imaginary barrier, with the other two following closely behind.
The trio broke through the atmosphere and took in the sight of countless endless black shadows.
Kanzaki attempted to plunder everything from these abominations directly, only to discover that the method which had never failed him before was now ineffective.
After a moment of reflection, he understood it was a safeguard left by Shuhu.
Furthermore, he saw through the true essence of these abominations.
They were all mere wisps of Shuhu's trillions of divided consciousnesses.
If slain, these fragments would simply return to their source.
If left alone, the entanglement would never end.
It was the classic dilemma of gaining nothing from killing them, yet facing endless trouble for not doing so.
At this realization, a bloodthirsty curve formed at the corner of Kanzaki's mouth.
Shuhu... I have come for you...
"Do it."