One side's morale was soaring, while the other's plummeted.When morale collapses, even a well-trained army can be routed by peasant soldiers brimming with fighting spirit. And now, even with their leaders slain and retreat underway, the savagery of the alien army had already revealed itself.
But the aliens were intelligent beings too. They could fear. They could tremble.
When they saw their mighty alien leaders falling one after another—even the colossal Stone Giant being slain—the fear in their hearts erupted uncontrollably, spreading like wildfire and overtaking their minds.
One alien fled the battlefield. Then a second. A third.
Like a cascading collapse of tarot cards, a chain reaction spread. A massive portion of the alien forces lost all will to fight and turned to flee the battlefield in disarray.
"Fire!!"
The defenders of Xuanhuang Town felt no pity or sympathy.Standing atop the shattered walls, archers and the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion launched volleys of arrows and bolts toward the fleeing aliens.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Turning to flee, the aliens exposed their backs to the archers—becoming living targets. In the storm of arrows, aliens fell like straw, pierced and killed one after another, dying in pools of blood.
Boom!!
At the town center, where Demon Scorpion had been, the ground suddenly collapsed, revealing a hidden tunnel.
A dark altar emerged from below. Beneath it were numerous Scorpion Men warriors.
They lifted the wounded Demon Scorpion onto the altar and began retreating underground with it.
"Don't let them escape!!"
Huang Chengyan, witnessing this, shouted and unleashed a snowy white ancient sword. It slashed down toward the Demonic Altar, filled with righteous energy that collided violently with the demonic power. The clash resembled ice and fire—layers of dark mist evaporating.
"Hmph!!"
But just then, from within the altar, a cold snort echoed out of nowhere.
A formidable force exploded from the altar, shattering the ancient sword into fragments.
Swish!!
A jet-black eye slowly emerged from the altar. Its mere appearance caused an indescribable oppressive aura to sweep across all of Xuanhuang Town.
Every soldier and citizen felt as though they had a thousand-pound burden pressing down on their bodies. Bones creaked, nearly breaking. A crushing urge to kneel overwhelmed them.
Before that gaze, all power felt utterly insignificant, like ants before the ocean.
"What is that thing? Just an eye, yet it carries such a terrifying pressure... I can't even think of resisting... The gap is too vast—like heaven and earth."
"I feel like the mere gaze of that eye could kill me... What is that thing?"
"How can such a terrifying creature exist? Is it a god or a demon?"
Soldiers and citizens alike were screaming inside. Many cultivators' eyes were filled with shock and fear.
The likes of the Two-Headed Ogre, Azure Python King, and Stone Giant were powerful but within the bounds of human comprehension. This eye's oppressive might, however, surpassed all understanding—an unfathomable depth that crushed everything.
New Element Highlighted: "Demonic Eye from the Altar" — Source of overwhelming suppression beyond all known realms.
"The eye emerged from the altar. Could it truly be summoning a demon god from the void?"
Even Yi Tianxing was shocked. The omnipresent pressure was suffocating. This power was beyond the Divine Sea Realm, even beyond Fate Aperture and Fate Map realms.
If it had acted, it could have annihilated Xuanhuang Town with ease.
Clatter!!
But at that moment, an even more shocking sight emerged.
Around the black eye, golden chains materialized out of nowhere. These chains radiated powerful law forces, forming a net that enveloped the eye.
A golden lightning bolt struck from the void, clashing with the eye's black divine light. The lightning ripped through the divine glow like silk, slamming into the eye.
"Hmph, the Heavenly Dao!"
The black eye was torn open, a black tear of blood seeping out.
Then, it vanished into the altar.
The chains also disappeared—not gone, but hidden beyond perception.
New Concept Highlighted: "Heavenly Dao's Seal" — Prevents any entity above the Dharma Phase Realm from interfering with the mortal world.
"So this is the Heavenly Dao's prohibition, left long ago… forbidding any being above the Dharma Phase Realm from meddling in worldly affairs," Yi Tianxing thought, watching the oppressive aura vanish completely.
"The fusion of all worlds… countless races gathered in one realm… and only through slaughter can the true protagonist of this world emerge."
Such a thought naturally surfaced in his mind.But now was not the time to dwell on such matters.
The battle had shifted completely. The alien forces fled en masse, and the Scorpion Men escaped underground with the wounded Demon Scorpion.
All around, the battlefield still seethed with slaughter. Squads of soldiers hunted down the fleeing aliens, cutting them down one by one.
Aooo!!
Suddenly, a thunderous roar resounded from the sky—a sound like a dragon's cry.
In the sky above Xuanhuang Town, a golden fish-dragon soared upward, coiling in mid-air. It was three to four zhang long, golden whiskers fluttering in the wind, eyes glowing with excitement.
Outside the battlefield, phantom images of terrifying beings also appeared: a towering Ogre, a giant Jackal, a black Scorpion, an illusory Serpent, and a ghostly Predatory Bird.
"That's the Spirit of Fate!"Master Lu's expression turned grave as he spoke."Why has the Spirit of Fate appeared now? Is it trying to steal our victory? Xuanhuang Town has already secured triumph—does it seek to devour the spoils?"
Yi Tianxing was just as stunned.But he could clearly sense the eagerness radiating from the golden fish-dragon—an uncontrollable hunger, like it had seen a great feast.
Aooo!!
After circling a few times, it no longer hesitated. It pounced on the phantom Serpent, biting off a massive chunk in one go. The Serpent seemed drained of all vitality and could not resist—its flesh devoured on the spot.
With each bite, golden light flared from the fish-dragon's body, and its form expanded visibly.
In mere moments, it devoured the Serpent whole, growing to five zhang long.
Then it lunged at the phantom Predatory Bird.The bird tried to resist but was weak—torn apart and eaten instantly. The fish-dragon grew even larger.
Then it pounced on the Ogre.
This time, the Ogre fought back, but was overpowered. After losing half its body, it let out a furious roar and vanished.
Next, the fish-dragon attacked the Jackal and Scorpion.The Jackal was half-devoured, the Scorpion lost a third of its form, then both disappeared.
As the feast continued, the fish-dragon swelled like an inflating balloon.
In mere moments, it had grown to over eight zhang—almost reaching the critical nine-zhang threshold.
Satisfied, the fish-dragon circled Xuanhuang Town a few more times before diving back into the Pool of Fate, vanishing from sight.
Endless strands of fate energy streamed into the pool.
Highlighted Concept: "Fate Spirit Devouring" — Fish-dragon devours enemy fate spirits to grow in power. Can only consume part of the enemy's fate if they are not entirely annihilated.
"Those fate spirits were formed from alien fate energy. Some were phantoms, likely temporary—like the snake horde and bird flocks that were forcibly united under the Azure Python King and Windwing Dragon King. Their fate forms were thus weak, almost unreal."
"Though defeated, the alien races were not annihilated. So the Fate Fish-Dragon could only devour part of their fate. The rest remains... Is this a law of the world?"
Even so, the fish-dragon's growth was a monumental gain, saving an immense amount of time. Once it reaches nine zhang, it can undergo metamorphosis.
"Only war can grant such rapid fate acquisition. Growing through war—this is the ultimate truth of battle," Yi Tianxing reflected.
War is cruel.
If Xuanhuang Town had lost today, its fate dragon would have been divided among the alien races.
There is no right or wrong—only victory or defeat.
"Even this victory… is merely a costly one."
Looking around, Xuanhuang Town lay in ruins. Collapsed walls, caved-in buildings, and corpses everywhere—the land was fractured, blood-soaked.
The damage to the town was immense.
Had they not seized the chance to kill or heavily wound the alien commanders, the casualties would have been far worse.
"This was merely the first large-scale war against alien races. There will be many more. War forces growth. Next time, the aliens may not give us another chance to strike at their leaders."
"Shoot the horse before the rider, capture the king before the thief," Yi Tianxing murmured. "Our victory this time… was largely due to the alien races still underestimating humanity."