Chapter 578 556: Prelude

The Demon War on the border grew increasingly heated.

Swarms of Demon Fiends surged across the black sea like a tide, the gleam of their various Skills weaving a web of death in the air.

Just then, dark clouds suddenly gathered in the sky.

Not long after the Celestial Tribulation had passed—only half a day later—the magnificent phantom of a grand hall, suffused with the aura of the Great Dao, slowly materialized among the clouds.

The Beastmasters fighting below looked up, stunned for a moment.

But this was the very front line of the battlefield.

A Four-star wolf-like Demon Fiend seized the opportunity to lunge forward, only to be struck down by a Wind Blade from a Beastmaster's Pet Beast.

The battle quickly recaptured everyone's attention, leaving them no time to spare for the Hall of the Great Dao.

Demon Fiend Skills flew everywhere. Fireballs, ice cones, and shadow arrows exploded across the sea's surface, creating a myriad of colorful wounds.

However, it wasn't long before the Demon Fiends began to stop, one by one.

A flock of Black Feathered Birds that had been besieging a squad of Beastmasters suddenly folded their wings, tilting their heads in unison to gaze at the horizon.

All the Demon Fiends, regardless of their High-star or Low-star Tier, stared blankly upward.

The Beastmasters felt it too.

A tremendous aura, similar to that of a top-tier Dao Fruit, shot up into the sky from behind them.

Looking back, they saw the Hall of the Great Dao had opened its gates, casting down a pillar of Seven-Colored Holy Light that poured into the unassuming research institute.

「Inside the research institute.」

Editor Chen from Peak Journal stood there, watching Gu Ming pick up the Eight-star paintbrush. The brush felt heavy and profound in his hand, as if he were grasping a condensed galaxy.

Gu Ming leaned over the desk. With a slight movement of his wrist, the brush tip drew one final stroke across the paper, marking the last period.

The brush fell.

The entire thesis suddenly burst forth with Seven-Colored Holy Light.

In that instant, each page became heavier than ten thousand tons. The moment they slipped from his grasp, they crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom, like several small mountains colliding at once.

The entire floor shook violently. The Protective Array inside the institute flared to life as countless Runes emerged from the walls, flowing rapidly and struggling to withstand the terrifying force of the impact.

The barrier of light was pressed inward, groaning and creaking with a sound that set one's teeth on edge.

Meanwhile, the Seven-Colored Holy Light from the sky poured down relentlessly, illuminating the flowing Dao patterns on every page of the thesis.

The words seemed to come alive, swimming, shimmering, and breathing on the page.

This was the process of Dao marks being etched into the very fibers of the paper—an insignia of approval from the Heaven and Earth Great Dao.

Editor Chen took a deep breath and quickly unfurled his Great Dao Gold Paper. A paintbrush levitated in the air as he stared intently at the flowing patterns, his wrist a blur as he replicated the Dao Charm with the greatest possible speed.

Every time the brush tip touched the paper, it erupted with fine golden sparks. It was two different Powers of the Great Dao resonating with each other.

By the time the Seven-Colored Holy Light slowly receded, an hour had passed.

The Great Dao Insights and sacred radiance left behind in the sky remained thick, hanging in the air like a lingering mist of light.

But the reaction on the front line was even more intense than the phenomenon in the sky.

The Demon Fiends that had previously stopped sensed something from the Inner World contained within the Great Dao's splendor.

Perhaps their reaction was triggered by the sigil information originating from the Ancient Dragon of the Dragon Transformation Pool.

They descended into a complete frenzy.

In that same instant, their eyes glowed blood-red. Their roars merged into a single, continuous sound. Like a swarm of puppets pulled by invisible strings, they abandoned their current opponents and surged toward the research institute from all directions.

The spatial rift created by the combined efforts of Master Xiao and Teacher Tang was violently torn wider by the impact of the Demon Fiend army, like a wound being ripped open by an unseen pair of hands.

From the depths of the rift, more energy from the Inner World billowed out, and a large number of new Demon Fiends poured through.

A sweep of Divine Sense revealed that among the newly arrived auras, there were Three-star and Four-star fiends, as well as a few that were no weaker than Six-star.

"The Demon War here is getting more intense. You two should evacuate back to the Great Zhou Capital as soon as possible."

After carefully sealing the replicated thesis in his briefcase, Editor Chen turned and said this to Gu Ming and Tang Tianyi, then made his move.

He and his Pet Beast Space transformed into a faint golden streak of escaping light, vanishing swiftly into the smoke and dust of the battlefield.

Tang Tianyi stood his ground, his brow furrowed slightly.

Summer vacation wasn't even over yet. From the start of Gu Ming's experiment to its conclusion, it had only been a little over ten days.

But the border war was escalating at a speed beyond imagination.

He didn't rush to leave. Instead, he quietly extended his senses for a moment.

And then, he felt it.

From the direction of the spatial rift in the distance, a massive tremor emanated.

It felt like the impact on the entire region's spatial structure when a High-star existence stepped through a dimensional barrier.

Immediately after, the aura of an Eight-star Level Demon Fiend rose from that direction—overbearing and raw, with no attempt at concealment.

An Eight-star Level.

From the ranks of the Beastmasters fighting the Demon Fiends, the aura of an Eight-star Pet Beast rose in response, confronting it.

'I didn't expect the border war's intensity had already escalated to such a terrifying degree.'

"The Capital will need to dispatch a Nine-star Beastmaster to suppress this," Tang Tianyi concluded.

He looked at Gu Ming beside him. "For now, let's just wait and see."

Gu Ming was taken aback.

But Tang Tianyi had already turned his gaze toward the Dragon Transformation Pool, where the outline of the black energy shield was faintly visible on the horizon.

A dark light flashed in the depths of his eyes—it was the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul resonating with him.

He was thinking.

'As long as I wait for the Nine-star expert to arrive, everything will be suppressed. Then I can go get some fresh materials from the Dragon Transformation Pool and conduct a study that I'm also interested in.'

Gu Ming didn't ask any more questions and walked out of the research institute with his Pet Beasts.

Outside, the air was thick with an unsettling atmosphere.

He looked up at the nearby sky, where a black curtain of light stretched across the horizon.

Then he saw a Five-star Demon Fiend cross over from the other side.

The Demon Fiend was as massive as an elephant, its body covered in purplish-black shells. Its six jointed limbs cut through the air with sharp, whistling sounds.

It landed on a street near the research institute. A ghastly green slime oozed from the cracks in its shell, and each drop that fell to the ground corroded a smoking pit into the pavement.

It raised its forelimbs and slammed them violently against a laboratory's defensive array.

The barrier of light shuddered violently, its Runes flickering rapidly.

A Six-star Beastmaster charged out from inside, a Six-star Stone-Armored Giant Ape at his side.

The giant ape's fist collided with the Demon Fiend. The shockwave overturned the wreckage of buildings on both sides, but the two were locked in a stalemate.

The Stone-Armored Giant Ape's fists could only leave shallow cracks on the Demon Shell, while each thrust of the Demon Fiend's limbs forced the Beastmaster into a desperate dodge.

'It actually looks like he's losing.'

Gu Ming paused. On the next street over, another trans-dimensional spatial rift appeared. The front line of the war had effectively been airdropped from the coast to the research district of the border defense line.

He quickly assessed the situation.

'Cyan Treasure, Ah Kun, and Ah Ji are all Four-star. They'd have no problem dealing with any Four-star Demon Fiends that break through, but getting tangled up with a Five-star Demon Fiend would take a lot of effort.'

He had no intention of lingering. For now, he just wanted to observe the battlefield. He immediately gave Ah Ji a meaningful look.

Ah Ji understood. Dark Attribute Power surged from its shadow, forming a thin cloak of shadow around Gu Ming.

His figure melted into the shadows of the buildings. He silently bypassed the streets of the research district and entered the civilian residential area behind it, where he also saw quite a few Demon Fiends appear, though they were quickly eliminated by the local Beastmasters.

He moved around the border region, observing the situation, before walking back to the front line.

Spreading out his Divine Sense, he saw the spatial rift.

He also saw countless purplish-black roots extending from the rift. Like blood vessels, they clung to the edges on both sides, forcefully tearing it wider.

They were the roots of the Rootless Wood.

Gu Ming recognized their familiar, corrosive aura at a single glance.