Chapter 445: The Situation

In Songxiang Town.

Yan Qiushi, who had been sleeping on a recliner, was suddenly awakened by an unusual vibration spreading through the air.

She shot up from the chair, landing lightly on her feet. A glance around the office showed it was empty.

The clerk she had been waiting for still hadn’t returned.

The faint sounds of conversation and discussion drifted in from outside.

She took a bottle of water from her Space Ring, took a sip to wet her throat, and walked out the door, dragging her suitcase behind her.

She immediately saw that nearly all the town’s residents had come out of their homes and were standing outside, heads tilted up at the sky.

Some were crowding around the garrisoned Divine Army soldiers, asking noisy questions, while others had their hands clasped before their chests, eyes closed in silent prayer.

Still others were gathered together, seemingly registering for something in a panicked flurry.

The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.

“Auntie Liu, what’s going on? Why is everyone standing outside?” Yan Qiushi’s heart skipped a beat as she walked a few steps and stopped a plump woman who was hurrying past.

“Something big has happened outside of town…” Auntie Liu was about to snap, but when she saw it was Yan Qiushi, her tone softened considerably.

“What happened?!”

“The surrounding towns have all been overrun by monsters from outside. I heard everyone in several towns was killed. Songxiang Town hasn’t been hit yet, but everyone’s panicking. We got the gist of the situation from some survivors who escaped here. People are discussing whether we should just pack up and move to the city to take shelter for a while!” Auntie Liu said quickly.

“Monsters? But… this is the Divine Domain! What kind of monster would come here looking for a death wish!?” Yan Qiushi’s face was a mask of disbelief.

If it were anywhere else, fine, but this is the Divine Domain, the main base of the Divine Race, occupied by High-Ring Powerhouses! What kind of monster would have the audacity to cause trouble here!?

“I don’t know about that… All I know is that it’s really happening. There are a lot of survivors. If you have time, you can go see for yourself at the refugee settlement. They’re all being housed there for now. The garrison general, Li Hongye, is there trying to calm everyone down,” Auntie Liu offered, providing a concrete piece of information.

Yan Qiushi nodded and let her go, watching as she hurried off into the distance.

Monsters, invasion, destruction. If these words were used to describe something happening in the Human Realm, she could understand it. But here…

‘Maybe I should run, too?’ Yan Qiushi felt that if she stayed, she would likely get caught up in it. Her resolve began to waver.

“Don’t be afraid. The Divine Race has many powerhouses. This is probably just a small-scale border incursion. It’ll be dealt with quickly,” a man with a thick beard standing nearby said reassuringly.

But before the words were even out of his mouth, another wave of panicked shouts came from the distance.

“Green Mountain Town is gone, too!! The road out goes right through there! We’re done for!!”

“Can’t we fly over the Border Mountains?”

“No, there are massive barriers separating the different city districts. There are only a few entrances and exits. Green Mountain Town is the closest exit to Red Simurgh City for us!”

Hearing this, Yan Qiushi’s heart pounded violently. A sense of dread washed over her.

The spatial structure of the Endless Divine Domain was like a gigantic cluster of grapes. Each “grape” was actually a separate star-city administrative zone, governing a small system of Life Planets like the Red Simurgh Star System.

And between the different star-cities, there were complete sealing barriers.

This unique defensive structure allowed the Endless Divine Domain to add or sever any star-city administrative zone at any time.

In the long-term battles against external enemies, such a structure was extremely advantageous for countering powerful foes that could quickly contaminate large areas, like a Calamity.

‘Wait, if even the barriers are blocked, then the Teleportation Gate back to the Human Realm…’ Yan Qiushi suddenly had a terrifying thought.

*

*

*

In front of the Divine Food Statue, Lin Hui scanned his surroundings. There wasn’t a single member of the Divine Race in sight.

All the Divine Race had retreated into the town, using the massive, sprawling buildings as temporary shelters.

‘It’s better without any interruptions.’ He turned his attention back to the evolving branches that were unfurling before him.

Below his field of vision, dense lines of new information were constantly appearing, indicating three possible new directions for the Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique.

‘1—Creation Spirit-Stealing Technique: A powerful Magic Technique derived from the evolution of the Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique. While its function remains unchanged, it drastically reduces the lifespan cost required to refine one unit of Disaster Energy.’

‘2—Yin Time Self-Origin Skill: Evolved from the Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique. It uses Yin and Yang as a grindstone to shatter all things. External matter is Yin, the self is Yang. By igniting the primordial fire within oneself, one drives the evolution of all things, thereby refining Disaster Energy for one’s own use. It remedies the defect of reduced Disaster Energy intensity after refinement.

Note: This Cultivation Technique is purely theoretical. There are no predecessors. Cultivate with caution.’

‘3—Heaven-Proclaiming Spirit-Devouring Technique: Perfected from the Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique by merging it with hundreds of similar, fragmented concepts. The Power of Calamity is the natural process of all things spontaneously shattering all that is stubborn and reshaping everything. This Cultivation Technique imitates this supreme natural principle, gathering numerous Calamities to construct a miniature, internal environment of natural evolution. It can refine all Disaster Energy for one’s own use.

Warning: The Cultivation Technique itself carries the risk of restructuring one’s own thoughts and will, leading to loss of memory and cognition, and turning one into a purely mechanical cog in the process of natural operation.’

Three options, three evolutionary branches.

Lin Hui read them over and over carefully.

He knew very well that at this stage, it was highly likely that the next evolution wouldn’t offer any more branches.

He couldn’t bet on the Blood Seal having infinite evolutions. He had realized this long ago. The Blood Seal’s evolution was predicated on the item itself possessing the space and potential to evolve.

Furthermore, the options would only appear in his vision if he could afford the cost of the evolution.

A situation like infinitely evolving a single item was impossible, because eventually Lin Hui himself would be unable to pay the required cost, and the options would naturally stop appearing.

And now…

These three paths would very likely be the foundation he would rely on for the next several thousand years, or even longer.

‘I have to discard the first one. The most fundamental problem with this Cultivation Technique is that the refined Disaster Energy is less powerful than the original. With that, it’s impossible to resist the corrosion of the original Disaster Energy.’ Lin Hui dismissed the first option.

The greatest problem the Fusion Sect currently faced was the extremely strong corrosion of the original Disaster Energy. This was a challenge that had to be overcome.

Otherwise, why not just use Star Energy? Star Energy wasn’t any weaker than ordinary Disaster Energy.

As for the second one, Lin Hui pondered it for a moment but couldn’t decide yet. The Yin Time Self-Origin Skill followed the path of Yin and Yang. It seemed to have no defects and was a perfect evolution that strengthened the Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique, but the specific operational details remained to be seen.

As for the third, the Heaven-Proclaiming Spirit-Devouring Technique, when he saw that he might become a heartless machine that had lost its sense of self, Lin Hui shook his head and rejected it.

His choice now was to either evolve the first technique and see if the Blood Seal could be strengthened again later.

Or, he could simply choose the second option.

He paused for a few seconds, no longer hesitating, and chose the Yin Time Self-Origin Skill.

Immediately, new information appeared.

‘Yin Time Self-Origin Skill: All external things are Yin; the self is Yang. Unify body, mind, and spirit into one, become completely Ultimate Yang, and ignite all Calamities absorbed into the body. Cultivating this technique is extremely perilous. One must first transform the self into the most extreme form of Yang.

Note: This Cultivation Technique is unique and cannot be taught or recorded. Once cultivation begins, it is irreversible. From the moment the Ultimate Yang Fire is ignited, all things become kindling. One must constantly add fuel for the fire. Once stopped, the Cultivation Technique’s backlash will inevitably cause self-immolation.

Required Resources: 100,000 years of stored stamina, 100,000 years of stored Heart and Spirit.

Evolvable Branches: 0.’

Seeing this, Lin Hui knew that either his own power was insufficient to provide the cost for further evolution, or this Cultivation Technique had truly reached its limit.

Without a second glance, he confirmed the evolution into the Yin Time Self-Origin Skill.

‘The Endless Divine Race is a giant blood bag right here, anyway. If I don’t use it up quickly, should I save it for the Divine Race to celebrate the New Year?’

He immediately reached out again, pressing his hand against the surface of the Divine Food Statue to continue absorbing the Power of Existence he hadn’t finished with earlier.

In a few minutes, the remaining seven thousand-plus years of the Power of Existence were swept clean. Lin Hui then flew off again, heading toward the third Divine Food Statue in Songxiang Town.

There were five Divine Food Statues in total, and that was just Songxiang Town’s reserves. There were more in other places.

When he had arrived, he had already made an agreement with the other major powers not to destroy the Divine Food Statues, but to leave them for him.

As the representative of the strongest Calamity, with a powerhouse like the True Monarch of Seven Destructions backing him, he had at least that much say in the matter.

Meanwhile, in Songxiang Town, Ding Luo was still under house arrest, awaiting her sentence.

While she was eating breakfast, she suddenly noticed that the bailiffs guarding her outside were gone.

She went out to ask and found out they had fled.

It wasn’t just the bailiffs. All the town’s residents had come out of their homes, staring up at the bright sun that was slowly being obscured by a fog unlike any they had seen before.

There had always been fog, but it had never blocked the sun before.

That was because the fog here was actually Endless Divine Power itself, and the sun was a condensation of that same power. The two complemented each other, so the light was naturally never blocked.

But now, the fog could block the sun. The only explanation was that a large amount of matter that was not Endless Divine Power had appeared within the fog.

“Luo!”

“Ding Luo!”

At that moment, Chen Xiehe and Tang Xi hurried over from nearby. They had been living in a place they’d found nearby. Noticing something was wrong, they had also come outside, only to see that the bailiffs guarding Ding Luo had fled.

They immediately sensed that something was wrong.

“Didn’t you two go back already? Why are you still here?” Ding Luo looked at her two friends, a little surprised.

“Now’s not the time for that. We have to run, now,” Chen Xiehe said with a serious expression. “Some unknown force has invaded the Divine Domain. Several surrounding towns have been destroyed, the teleportation arrays have all failed, and the entrances and exits to Red Simurgh City have been blocked and sealed. The only way to escape is to use an illegal channel to get to the Human Realm or some other Realm.”

“An invasion? Of the Divine Domain??” Ding Luo felt like she was hearing a joke. The Endless Divine Domain was immensely powerful. Even the Dragon Court and Yanwu had to secretly join forces to stand against it. And now someone was telling her the Divine Domain had been invaded?

“Believe it or not, it’s the truth. By rough estimates, the number of dead and injured is already over ten thousand,” Tang Xi said gravely. “Based on the survivors’ descriptions, it’s a Secondary Calamity. And you know how Calamities are—even a secondary one is extremely troublesome.”

“Even if we run, where can we go?” Ding Luo was tempted. No one wanted to die if they could live. But the key question was, where would they run to?

“Become one of the Mixed Race. Or go to the Human Realm and find a place to hide. The Black Domain is so big, you think there’s no place for you to lay low?” Chen Xiehe urged.

“But I have a special restraint lock on me, placed by the Ministry of Law…” Ding Luo said with a wry smile. “If I really escape, the people who provide the channel for you will also be investigated and implicated.”

At these words, both Chen Xiehe and Tang Xi fell silent. It was true. If the other channels were working normally, they wouldn’t be so conspicuous. With such a large flow of people, it would be hard to track them if they blended in.

But now, when no one else could get out, you’re the only ones who can… In the eyes of the higher-ups, that would be far too glaring.

“You guys should go…” Ding Luo said with a bitter smile. “I…”

“Big Sis!!” A sudden shout cut her off.

Ding Luo froze. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she whipped her head around toward the source of the voice.

There, Ding Yiran, along with Mosha and Qinqin, were rushing toward them at top speed.

But in the instant before they could all meet…

The sky suddenly let out a sharp crack.

KRAK!!

A massive, fiery red crack shot up from the distant horizon, instantly tearing across the entire sky.

BOOM!!

A terrifying, deafening roar spread out from the fissure.

Immediately after, an endless, dense barrage of Purgatory flame meteors rained down from the crack toward the earth.

And within each meteor was a curled-up Purgatory contamination monster.