Chapter 446: Escape

“What is this…?!”

At the same time, the Lady of Cold Night, Zhang Xin Fan, the Ash Monarch, and Lin Hui all looked up at the Purgatory rift that stretched across the entire sky.

“What is Purgatory doing?” Lin Hui immediately contacted the Purgatory Duke through his mark.

“My apologies… something unexpected came up over here.” The Duke’s low voice replied through the mark.

“Unexpected?”

“Yes… a moment ago… I died once. His Majesty the Emperor was blocked. We ran into a tough one over here!” the Purgatory Duke replied.

!?

Lin Hui’s heart went cold.

‘What level was the Chaos Emperor? A terrifying expert on par with his teacher, Qimei. And they had only just begun a probing invasion, yet they’d already run into such a problem.’

‘As expected of the Endless Divine Race.’

「Several thousand kilometers away from Lin Hui, above Siyu Town.」

Fiery red meteors rained down, crashing into the earth.

But not all the meteors made it to the ground. A golden figure moved at extreme speed, intercepting most of them and blasting them apart in midair.

The golden figure changed direction and paused for a moment, revealing its true form.

It was a middle-aged man from the Divine Race. He was tall and strong with a buzz cut and a quiet disposition. A single glance at his eyes revealed his firm resolve and powerful will.

He was Song Xueku, a war hero who had retired a hundred years ago to live here in seclusion.

In the war against the Yanwu Black Domain a century ago, he performed meritorious deeds but, as a result, forever lost the very concept of a right arm.

Yes, he hadn’t just lost a limb; he had lost the concept of a right arm. No matter what kind of prosthetic was attached, it would be useless.

The battle had been brutal, consuming a vast amount of his lifespan and his body’s entire potential.

With no hope of recovery, a disheartened Song Xueku had come to Siyu Town to live in seclusion.

As a former frontline commander and a Five Rings expert, his retirement was naturally a secret far above the clearance of someone like City Lord Xing.

As time went on, he lived as an ordinary member of the Divine Race, marrying and settling down, gradually growing used to his new life.

But disaster struck not long after he finally had a child; his son was only six months old.

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!!

Song Xueku’s vision was blurred, his eyes stained red with blood. The Divine Power in his body burned to its absolute limit.

Heavenly Rainbow Origin-Breaking Skill. This was a combat Cultivation Technique he had created for himself on the battlefield, and it was the very art that had allowed him to break through to the Five Rings Realm.

This Cultivation Technique relied on absolute defense, providing a large enough margin for error to ensure one’s survival.

But now, even this defensive Cultivation Technique was proving insufficient against the Purgatory meteors that filled the sky.

‘There are too many…’

“Keep going.” A miniature Fixed Star, too dazzling to look at directly, hovered behind the towering figure opposite him. His voice was low and tinged with fury.

“Keep blocking,” the Chaos Emperor continued.

Just moments before, Purgatory had been proceeding as planned, with a slow incursion led by a clone of the Chaos Emperor and the Purgatory Duke. But in a moment of inattention, Song Xueku had launched a sudden, explosive attack, destroying the Chaos Emperor’s clone. More than half of the Purgatory army was wiped out in an instant.

This had all happened in front of the allied forces of the other major Calamities. The Chaos Emperor, who fancied himself a veteran powerhouse on the same level as Qimei of the Wind Calamity, had just had his clone destroyed by a man from some backwater town.

He hadn’t even had time to react and counterattack.

And so, his true body, still in the Purgatory realm, had flown into a rage. He forcibly tore through the world’s barrier to launch a full-scale invasion.

This was the scene everyone had witnessed just moments ago.

Every town in the vicinity of Hongluan Star City could see the Purgatory rift spreading across the sky.

Hundreds of millions of terrifying Purgatory monsters poured in frantically.

Though individually weak, the most vile aspect of the Power of Purgatory wasn’t its strength, but how easily it corrupted.

In just a few moments, many residents of the Divine Race were corrupted. They underwent Purgatory Transformation and turned on their own kind.

These Divine Race residents, who had not been skilled in combat, found their power skyrocketing after their Purgatory Transformation, increasing by a full Ring Level.

Ordinary residents became First Ring, and those with a Ring Level jumped to the one above.

This forced Song Xueku to desperately intercept the Purgatory meteors filling the sky.

But even as a Five Rings expert, he was being overwhelmed.

“Xueku!” Down below, among the Divine Race members protected by a golden hemisphere, a beautiful woman holding an infant gazed up at Song Xueku in the sky, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Go. Don’t wait for me. With you here, I can’t use my full power. I have to constantly worry about protecting you,” Song Xueku said, doing his best to keep his voice steady as he sent the telepathic message.

The beautiful woman shook her head, about to say something, but a female Divine Army soldier behind her struck the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious.

The soldier picked up the woman and child, nodded to Song Xueku, then quickly turned and boarded a white shuttle inside the protective shield.

The infant’s wails sounded especially piercing at that moment.

“Entrusting your family to others? It seems you’re prepared to die in battle,” the Chaos Emperor said, raising an eyebrow.

“The higher-ups may be bastards, but this fight is for my family,” Song Xueku said, a faint hint of tenderness appearing on his stoic face.

He stopped blocking the meteors and simply floated in midair, facing the Chaos Emperor.

The strength of his opponent’s Mental Power was far beyond his imagination. Not even the top-tier Sixth Ring experts on the battlefield possessed such an oppressive aura.

He knew there was likely no escaping this battle.

“Come… let’s see how long I can last against you.”

WHOOSH!

His entire body suddenly erupted in blinding golden flames. The fire shot toward the sky, quickly expanding to form a massive pillar of fire a hundred meters in diameter.

At the top of the pillar of fire, a faint, seven-colored rainbow flickered in and out of existence.

“It would be a pity for someone of your caliber to die in battle…” The Chaos Emperor raised his hand. Endlessly compressed Purgatory Disaster Energy condensed at his fingertip, forming a red and black, walnut-sized spiral.

“Become my vassal…”

*

*

*

Lin Hui slowly pulled his hand away from the last Divine Food Statue.

He had finished devouring all five Divine Food Statues in Songxiang Town, and his newly evolved Yin Time Self-Origin Skill now had less than thirty thousand years of power left.

‘Two more should do it… It seems I’ll have to leave this area and find more to absorb elsewhere.’

Lin Hui calculated internally.

‘But before I go, I need to handle the situation with Big Sis.’

His big sister, Ding Luo, and his second brother, Ding Yiran, were both in Songxiang Town. He had confirmed this long ago.

Using a tracer he had left on his second brother, Ding Yiran, he easily found the safe point where everyone was gathered.

They were all currently near the Guardian Giant in the center of town, apparently observing the situation.

Outside, Purgatory monsters were running rampant. Although the monsters weren’t very strong—the most powerful being only at the First or Second Ring level—their numbers were simply overwhelming.

Moreover…

Some of the Divine Race residents had already been corrupted. With red eyes, they underwent Purgatory Transformation and began launching surprise attacks on their own people, causing even more chaos.

“After this is over, Purgatory will have to answer to us.”

The Lady of Cold Night’s icy voice came through the group’s shared communication mark.

“We will be sure to give you all a satisfactory answer,” the Purgatory Duke said quickly.

“I won’t be needing it. My domain will purify everything on its own,” the Ash Monarch said coolly, clearly not intending to show Purgatory any deference.

Despite having witnessed the power level of Purgatory’s Chaos Emperor, he still dared to adopt such an attitude, which clearly meant he had powerful backing.

These Secondary Calamities were themselves vast cataclysms that surpassed the Chaos Emperor’s level. If their supreme wills were to truly act, they naturally wouldn’t fear him.

“I won’t be needing it either. Since Purgatory is making its move, then… I won’t hold back…” Zhang Xin Fan said softly.

The moment she finished speaking, an equally vast and sinister, damp aura erupted in the distance.

In the sky, parallel to the Purgatory rift, a streak of dark green light tore open another massive fissure.

The inside of this new fissure was a verdant green. The moment it opened, an endless torrent of viscous seawater poured out.

BELLOW!

A colossal, bone-white skeletal hand emerged from the rift.

The skeletal palm was as vast as a dozen towns and the empty land between them combined.

Its full body was not visible; one could only see the massive skeletal hand extending from the rift and pressing down mercilessly toward a point on the ground.

But in the next instant, a golden beam of light shot up from the ground, slicing the skeletal hand in two and surging up into the dark green rift.

The skeletal hand shattered, but it was immediately followed by more massive hands, one after another, emerging from the rift and clawing at the ground below.

‘The Sea Abyss Bone Demon…’ Lin Hui looked up at the scene. Back in the Fog People World, that thing had left a deep impression on him.

A monster like that was as large as an entire city upon landing. It was the perfect vanguard for a siege.

‘To think an old enemy has now become an ally…’ Lin Hui sighed, found his bearings, and then his figure flickered and vanished.

He had to deal with his big sister’s situation first. Only after ensuring their safe escape could he be free to make his own move.

He had waited this long to act for a reason. For one, Zhang Xin Fan was watching, and he didn’t want to reveal who was important to him. He didn’t want to create a future where someone could use them as leverage against him.

The best way to avoid being threatened is to never show your weakness.

Not even a potential weakness.

Secondly, with all the Calamities making their moves, it was the perfect time to fish in troubled waters. After all, his sister and the others still had to live their lives after leaving the Divine Domain. If it became known they were one of his objectives, the Endless Divine Race would undoubtedly mark them for surveillance, forcing them to live as fugitives for the rest of their lives. That wasn’t what he wanted for them.

Therefore, the only way was to rescue them covertly, without making any waves. He had to create the illusion that they were just small fry who had seized the chance to escape in the chaos. Only then could he ensure their perceived crimes wouldn’t be magnified.

Teleporting continuously, Lin Hui circled the area and, after about ten seconds, found Ding Luo, Ding Yiran, and the others hiding in a palatial white building in the center of town.

Besides them, there were also the fake Ding Luo, Qinqin, as well as Mo Sha, Tang Xi, Chen Xiehe, and a whole group of Ding Luo’s closest friends.

They were mixed in with a group of Divine Race survivors, all of them wearing grim expressions.

Lin Hui didn’t reveal himself, merely watching from the shadows. He was in his true body now; even if he appeared, they wouldn’t recognize him, so there was little point.

In fact, revealing himself now would not only fail to help Ding Luo and the others, but would actively bring them trouble.