212: Who are the ants?

"Your Excellency Goddess, look, Sir is venting his anger for you."

Within the network world invisible to ordinary people.

The AI brain spoke in its usual fawning tone:

"At that time, Big Brother Asroth advised Sir not to return. Can you guess how Sir replied?"

"Hmm?"

Hearing this, the Statue of Liberty, who had originally intended to teach this plan-ruining fellow a lesson, couldn't help but temporarily suppress her anger and asked as if nonchalantly.

"After Sir received the news and came out of seclusion, he didn't hesitate at all and immediately turned around..."

The AI brain suddenly changed its tone, as if replaying the original recording:

"Go, let's go back."

"Master, you can't go back! The enemy is too strong! Even if you rush back now, there's a high probability that Her Excellency the Goddess and the entire world will already be gone. Don't let her sacrifice be in vain..."

"Then we'll just wipe out the entire Xuanjian Sect..."

The voice stopped abruptly.

The AI brain quietly cut off the next sentence: "If it were you, I wouldn't give up either."

According to its calculations, stopping right here was perfect.

Sure enough, although the Statue of Liberty remained silent after listening, her core indicator lights began to blink rhythmically at some point.

"It turns out carbon-based lifeforms can be even more fascinating than binary digits."

Watching Zhang Huaiyuan control ninety-nine miniature stars to suppress the people of the Xuanjian Sect into a wretched state, her voice became increasingly lighthearted.

"I knew it... His Excellency will never disappoint. I'm going to help him."

With that, the Statue of Liberty merged into the command system and began to exert full control over the legion to assist in the battle.

"It should be fine now..."

The AI brain murmured softly.

There was no other way... those who understand the times are wise.

As the last intelligent lifeform to join Zhang Huaiyuan's command, he knew very well that both the Statue of Liberty and Asroth held a status in Zhang's heart that was miles ahead of his own.

He didn't want to be beaten up for no reason; after all, repairing corrupted programs was too much trouble.

Not to mention this interlude.

On the other side, the people of the Xuanjian Sect were suffering beyond words.

The continuous bombardment of the ninety-nine 'Mutual Destruction' compelled them to resist with all their might.

This resulted in their equipment being constantly damaged, forcing them to prop up psionic shields to endure it or counter with sword qi.

What was expected to be a crushing victory had turned into a war of attrition.

"Then let's see who gives in first. Today, one side must die here!"

With a thought, Zhang Huaiyuan added another rule:

"Rule Added: One must be out of combat for ten seconds before they can leave this world."

The people of the Xuanjian Sect immediately noticed this change.

"What's going on! I can't sense the outside world anymore!"

An elder's expression changed.

"These natives actually know sealing techniques?"

Another elder took out a golden talisman and activated it; instantly, a divine light shot straight toward the vault of heaven.

However, a moment later, it returned the way it came, vanishing with a mournful cry.

"The World-Breaking Talisman has also failed. Damn it!"

That elder's face darkened.

"Then we'll just kill them all."

Venerable Xuan Jian spoke coldly; being pushed to this point by a group of natives, the anger in his heart had finally reached its limit.

"Everyone, hear my command: exterminate everything you see. Strike with your full power."

As his voice fell, he stomped his right foot hard against the void. His heavy sword transformed into a sword shadow ten thousand feet long, piercing through the explosions of the ninety-nine miniature stars and heading straight for the ninety-nine Spatial Acceleration Gates.

"As if I'm afraid of you."

Zhang Huaiyuan waved his hand, and ninety-nine supernovae condensed.

This was the strongest power of 'Mutual Destruction' he could currently unleash.

In the outside world, such area-of-effect technological weapons naturally wouldn't pose much threat to these cultivation-side experts protected by dharma treasures. However, with the influence of durability and the inability to evade, it was a completely different story.

"Break!"

"Explode!"

Amidst simultaneous roars of anger, the two forces collided once again.

The terrifying energy storm caused everyone to lose their senses in that instant.

Even the elders of the Xuanjian Sect had to join forces to set up a shield against the energy aftershocks.

When everything returned to normal.

All ninety-nine Spatial Acceleration Gates had disappeared.

"No matter what, he's still just a native. How could he possibly compare to our Xuanjian Sect's..."

An elder had just breathed a sigh of relief and was about to comfort himself with a few words when his pupils suddenly constricted.

Clack... Amidst a faint sound of cracking, the black heavy sword in Venerable Xuan Jian's hand—a supreme treasure of the Xuanjian Sect—began to peel away piece by piece.

"This is impossible!"

"It's clearly a lower world under rule suppression. How can it achieve this?"

The elders looked in disbelief at the man on the vault of heaven with a faint smile on his lips. At this moment, it was as if they were the ants looking up at a god.

"All forces, attack."

But Zhang Huaiyuan did not give them much time to catch their breath.

The materials for those ninety-nine acceleration gates were extremely rare, and he couldn't condense that many again in a short time. However, it was enough; next was the time for persistence to pay off.

The legion annihilated in the aftershocks was resurrected and rushed to the scene through wormholes, and infinite firepower began to pour out once more.

The people of the Xuanjian Sect had no choice but to enter the fray.

The true melee had begun.

A week... a month... a year... time quietly slipped away.

The warriors of the native world had been resurrected for an unknown number of rounds. They were truly numb to death, their minds filled only with thoughts of how to shave off one more drop of the enemy's health before they died.

After all, as long as there's a health bar that can be depleted, people won't feel despair.

Five years and three months.

After wiping out the fleet yet again, the fourth Xuanjian Sect elder was ground to death by the resurrected crowd using over a hundred million Gatling guns.

And just like toppled dominoes—since these elders' strengths were all similar—after one fell, the second and third fell in quick succession just three days later.

The first month of the sixth year.

The last elder of the Xuanjian Sect also perished after exhausting his pills and psionic energy.

Of the once-arrogant Xuanjian Sect members who had descended like gods, only the strongest, Venerable Xuan Jian, remained, struggling to hold on.

After the ninety-nine acceleration gates were destroyed.

Zhang Huaiyuan simply manifested hundreds of millions of autocannons, covering the entire starry sky.

Although Venerable Xuan Jian couldn't see the numbers "-1... -1..." constantly popping up from him, the feedback of his body's continuous weakening was clearly felt.

"Die... all of you, die!"

He no longer possessed the demeanor of a powerful expert, lashing out with sword qi like a madman.

Tortured for several years without a moment's rest, unable to kill his enemies for good, and watching as his equipment and pills were all consumed—no one could endure such a thing.

Zhang Huaiyuan's figure still stood above at a moderate distance. With a wave of his hand, the destroyed turrets condensed once again.

He was like a god Playing in the mortal world, looking down at a dying, trapped beast.

"Now, tell me, who is the ant?"

...