The reinforcement fleet tore through the void, advancing at full speed.
The High-Cloud Quintet shared a single warship, the atmosphere exceptionally oppressive.
Four pairs of eyes fell simultaneously upon the same person.
Jingliu sat in the co-pilot's seat, cradling her familiar sword in her arms without saying a word.
It was too quiet.
So quiet that it felt as if the person sitting there wasn't a living being, but a soulless aurumaton.
Her eyes rarely blinked, and the familiar spark was gone, replaced by a bottomless pool of stagnant water.
No ripples, no life—only a heart-wrenching darkness.
Jing Yuan looked at his master's profile, wanting to speak but hesitating.
As her disciple, he was more perceptive than the others; he had long sensed a... complex and unspeakable emotional entanglement between his master and grandmaster.
Something must have happened between her and his grandmaster last night for her to end up like this.
On one side was his grandmaster, who doted on him, and on the other was his master, to whom he owed a great debt of gratitude.
How could a junior like him possibly interfere in such ties?
Finally, the thousands of words in Jing Yuan's heart coalesced into a helpless sigh... "Kill!"
Amidst earth-shaking battle cries, the Luofu reinforcements descended like divine soldiers, carving deep into the heart of The Abundant Alliance besieging Yueque.
Jingliu did not break formation; she took the lead, yet seemed to drift outside the entire battlefield.
Almost no one could see the trajectory of her attacks.
Cold flashes of sword light flitted through the enemy ranks as large swaths of Abominations fell silently.
The moment the sword qi touched flesh, extreme low temperatures completely froze all life.
Ice spread, leaving behind nothing but crystal-clear sculptures of death wherever it passed.
This slaughter carried no hint of anger, only a chilling ruthlessness and indifference.
It was as if she wasn't slaying enemies or even living things, but a kind of pain that even she herself could not bear.
After an unknown duration of fighting, a gap was finally torn through the swarms of enemy Beastships blotting out the sky.
A terrifying pressure followed immediately, causing everyone to look up instinctively.
A dark red planet composed of countless writhing masses of flesh pressed heavily upon the dome of the Jade Dwelling Xianzhou.
It was the Luofu reinforcements' objective: the living constellation, Jidu Mirage.
This extremely similar scene awakened a nightmare from the depths of Jingliu's Remembrance.
A thousand years ago, the crimson Evil Star had brought her despair, devouring everything she had, including her home, Azure City.
It was that catastrophe that pushed her toward the starting point of another path of despair.
"Proceed according to plan."
Jing Yuan's voice rang out over the communication channel.
Jingliu ceased her reminiscing.
Human emotions vanished from her eyes, replaced by a killing intent so pure it was terrifying.
With a heaven-shaking sword hum, she flew her sword straight into the sky, plunging without hesitation into that bloody, foul-smelling Evil Star.
There were no mountains or rivers on the surface of Jidu Mirage, only writhing flesh, tentacles, and countless Abominations.
Jingliu was surrounded the moment she landed, but that was exactly what she wanted.
Kill, kill... kill—
As long as the sword in her hand was still swinging, as long as there were enemies before her, she wouldn't have to think about the shattered jade on the ground, or that heartless sentence.
She wanted to become the sword entirely, to merge with it and become a lethal weapon that existed only to slaughter Abominations.
The brutal battle had long since lost all concept of time.
Perhaps half a year, or perhaps a year had passed; lives were fading every moment.
In this purgatory, Jingliu's slaughter never ceased.
At some point, she had abandoned all defense.
Whether her armor was torn by claws, her flesh pierced by venomous fangs, her limbs lost, or her body ripped apart... no matter how severe the injury, the wound would heal instantly in the next second, and she felt no pain.
That regeneration speed even surpassed that of the Vidyadhara High Elder, who possessed the power of Permanence.
"This..."
Dan Feng, who was responsible for providing support from the periphery, witnessed this scene, and shock filled his eyes.
In all the years they had been known as the High-Cloud Quintet, he had never seen Jingliu injured, let alone imagined that her regenerative power would be more like an Abomination's than the Abominations themselves.
There was no aura of falling into the mara affliction; how on earth did she do it?
"No need to worry about me."
Jingliu swung her sword, decapitating dozens of giant beasts before her, her voice cold:
"Go help Jing Yuan and the others. Leave the Abominations here to me."
Dan Feng hesitated for a moment before choosing to trust his comrade. He immediately transformed into a blue dragon shadow and dove underground, chasing after Jing Yuan's squad on their demolition mission.
The Vidyadhara's task was simple: use Cloudhymn magic to protect the Cloud Knights and resist the corrosion of Jidu Mirage's flesh.
Without the concern of harming her comrades, Jingliu seemed to have gone completely mad.
She no longer suppressed the power surging within her; her sword intent erupted, condensing into a massive cold moon high in the sky.
Where the moonlight shone, the cold was piercing. Countless frenzied, bloodthirsty Abominations actually trembled under this pressure from the depths of the soul, their will to fight greatly diminished.
Jingliu swept her longsword, and a crescent-shaped sword qi stretching ten thousand feet swept out, shaving across the land like a razor.
Puchi, puchi—
On the surface of Jidu Mirage, countless bottomless cracks appeared instantly.
The living planet let out a dull wail, its flesh churning as if it were undergoing the death of a thousand cuts.
Meanwhile, the battlefield on the Xianzhou main ship was also awash with blood.
Reinforcements from Yaoqing and Zhuming arrived, helping Yueque desperately resist the endless Abundant Alliance.
Debris from starships and corpses of Abominations fell like rain. On this brutal battlefield, life was worth less than weeds, harvested faster than wheat falling in a field.
The fierce battle, having lost all sense of time, did not stop. Jidu Mirage still hung over Yueque, slowly pressing down.
The massive shadow was like a countdown to death; once the two made contact, Yueque would surely follow in the footsteps of Azure City.
Just as Jidu Mirage was about to fall and despair was about to consume everyone, a beam of moonlight capable of freezing even the stars sliced through the dark red sky without warning.
The moonlight spanning the starry sky actually sliced off a third of Jidu Mirage's volume!
Immediately after, an earth-shaking roar came from underground.
Azure dragons condensed from the surging waves broke through the leveled ground, carrying the Cloud Knights led by Jing Yuan and the others into the sky.
"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"
Jing Yuan roared at the top of his lungs.
As all the Luofu reinforcements evacuated, a violent chain reaction erupted inside Jidu Mirage.
Flesh churned on the surface, forming countless volcanic vents that exploded. What spewed out wasn't magma, but Zhuming fire capable of incinerating Abominations.
Raging flames quickly engulfed Jidu Mirage, the blinding light almost illuminating the entire Yueque.
"Wooo—"
Jidu Mirage let out a continuous, shrill wail, its massive body gradually losing vitality. A few minutes later, it stopped falling, becoming a dead star that continued to burn.
High in the sky, Jingliu swung her sword once more!
The continent cracked, web-like fissures spread, and the dead star recoiled rapidly, crashing into the vast sea of stars.
With the greatest threat removed, the previously demoralized Cloud Knights' fighting spirit soared, and they blew the horn for a counterattack.
"Kill all these Abominations!!!"
...After paying a heavy price, the Cloud Knights finally held Yueque.
The High-Cloud Quintet reunited.
Except for Jingliu, who remained expressionless and exuded a chilling aura that kept others at bay, the other four all had smiles of survival on their faces.
"Jingliu, are you alright?" Bai Heng approached with concern.
"I'm fine."
Jingliu replied briefly, unwilling to say more.
Just when everyone thought they could finally breathe a sigh of relief, an urgent battle report from the Luofu struck like a bolt from the blue, shattering their smiles.
"The Emanator of Abundance, Shuhu, has appeared! Leading an Abundant Alliance of unknown size in a surprise attack on the Luofu!"
Jingliu snapped her head up, her stagnant eyes finally rippling with intense emotion.