Chapter 1697: True Absolute Defense

Zhang Yi and the others evaded the Gatekeeper of the Underworld’s attack, and a flicker of surprise crossed the Gatekeeper’s eyes.

“You’re quite good at running away, aren’t you?”

Just as he was preparing to leave the fog surrounding Tianshui City and go on a killing spree, an intensely powerful premonition of death suddenly welled up from deep within him!

It was a long-forgotten feeling, a premonition of death he had long since forgotten. As a high-level Transcendent, an existence from the Wuluan Empire who was close to godhood, he should no longer have felt anything like this.

The Gatekeeper of the Underworld instinctively wanted to escape the area, but he was still trapped within the maze formation, and had long since lost his sense of direction.

In the brief moment he hesitated, a terrifying force surged up from deep beneath the ground, five hundred meters below him, accompanied by a blinding flash!

The maze formation around Tianshui City lost its effect at that moment. The force was so overwhelming that it was like a hundred thousand stars exploding at once, completely illuminating every area around Tianshui City!

The Transcendents on several battlefields were temporarily blinded.

Even Deng Shentong could barely make out what was happening across almost the entire area of Tianshui City by exploiting the special properties of his ability. A gigantic, blazing sphere erupted and expanded without pause, rising higher and higher before suddenly exploding. It shot into the sky, forming a horrifyingly enormous mushroom cloud!

Only then did a roar so deafening it seemed to shatter everyone’s eardrums erupt from the earth!

Rumble!!!!

The emergency systems in the combat suits immediately activated their noise-canceling functions, countering the incredibly high-decibel sound to keep people’s eardrums and even their internal organs from being shattered.

The representatives of the various nations and factions monitoring the battlefield also wore grave expressions.

“The Love of Death! An extremely high-yield one.”

“But,” the Orthodox Church’s red-robed cardinal frowned, “when did they launch it?”

The Love of Death produced too much noise during launch. Basically, as soon as a launch silo was opened, satellites belonging to countries around the world could detect it.

Detonating a Love of Death without anyone noticing was practically impossible.

And yet, this was exactly what had happened on Huaxu Nation’s soil.

In the Shengjing district, Meng Yuanjun abruptly rose to his feet, his eyes fixed on the enormous screen before him.

Everyone in the entire combat command center was utterly bewildered.

An explosion this terrifying was something even Houtu and the others could not possibly withstand. They would likely be burned to ash!

Only Liang Yue and the others understood that as long as Zhang Yi was there, they would be in no danger.

Was Absolute Defense really just a joke?

Perhaps it had been once. But ever since Zhang Yi had mastered Vanish Into the Void, he could at least remain truly invincible for more than a minute.

He could hide himself in another world, completely severing all contact with the real one. As long as he did not emerge, no one could kill him.

The earth-shattering explosion engulfed the Gatekeeper of the Underworld, who was right at its center.

And at that very moment, just as Liang Yue had imagined, Zhang Yi had taken everyone into Dimensional Space.

Time flowed incredibly slowly in Dimensional Space, while human thought did not belong to that world.

That was why Shang Daowen and the others, who had entered it for the first time, experienced a distinct sense of dislocation.

It was as if they had been immobilized by a spell. Their bodies could hardly move, yet their minds could perceive everything with perfect clarity.

There was no doubt that the feeling was agonizing. Even Zhang Yi, who had endured years of training, could not bear that mental torment for long. Li Changgong felt fear rising within him.

When he had fought Zhang Yi before, he had realized that he absolutely must not enter Zhang Yi’s Dimensional Gate.

Now he understood that if he really did enter, he would either die or wish he were dead.

They were both space-type Transcendents, but Zhang Yi’s abilities were far more comprehensive than his. Li Changgong could not help feeling intensely jealous.

But then he remembered that Zhang Yi also possessed time-based abilities, and that jealousy suddenly felt utterly powerless.

The difference between people could be far greater than anyone could imagine.

When your abilities are only a little stronger than those of the people around you, they will envy and resent you, always hoping that one day you will fall or that they will surpass you.

But when you are strong enough to inspire despair, the jealousy in their hearts vanishes completely and gives way to reverence.

Zhang Yi had no way to concern himself with the mental state of those people at that moment.

He could not communicate with them here, so he simply left them alone.

Enduring the torment was still better than being blown to pieces by the Love of Death outside.

After this battle, Tianshui City was as good as finished.

This Love of Death was one Zhang Yi had requested from Zhu Zheng in advance. It could be said to be the highest-yield Love of Death humanity was capable of producing at present.

Historically, there had once been a gigantic weapon known as the Tsar Bomba.

But because it was too large and too heavy, it could only serve as a showpiece to flaunt military might. In practice, it was difficult to mount on a missile.

Zhang Yi, however, had no need for anything like that.

All he needed to do was bury this Love of Death beneath Tianshui City and detonate it at the right moment.

He had decided on this plan long ago. The higher-ups in the various districts knew that if they discovered they truly could not defeat the Wuluan Empire’s Transcendent forces, they would inevitably use the Love of Death.

They simply had not expected Zhang Yi to do it this way.

Human technology could detect a Love of Death carried by a missile. The Wuluan Empire’s technology was no less advanced than human civilization, and might even be more advanced, so they would certainly be able to detect one too.

The fact that the previous Love of Death had been intercepted with pinpoint accuracy proved as much.

However, Yang Xinxin had the various districts use satellites to survey the energy fluctuations at the scene. They discovered that the enemy had used a special weapon to neutralize the Love of Death’s energy.

From that, Zhang Yi could at least understand one thing.

The Gatekeeper of the Underworld himself could not withstand a high-yield Love of Death.

If he used a special weapon, then all Zhang Yi needed to do was give the enemy no time to react and detonate the Love of Death by surprise. That would give him a chance to achieve a miraculous result!

It was as simple as that.

Once he realized this, he immediately set about moving the prepared, extremely high-yield Love of Death.

Then Houtu and the others drew the Gatekeeper of the Underworld’s attention in a head-on confrontation.

At that moment, Zhang Yi would suddenly detonate the Love of Death, then use Vanish Into the Void to save everyone.

That was Zhang Yi’s plan.

Zhang Yi closed his eyes. In his mind, he had already run through the battle plan for what came next countless times.