Chapter 616: Exchange of moves

In the Void Realm battlefield, there were three combat zones.

First, Shen Shuibi and the Mohist Cultivator were entangled, neither able to break free.

Second, the remaining People of No Return were engaging a portion of humanity's army; neither side had a Fifth-Grade, but the People of No Return had the advantage, and it wouldn't be long before that part of humanity would perish.

Third, was what Gou Lou was currently facing.

He alone faced three Fifth-Grades from Tang Nation, while also commanding a large army.

Although the army's numbers were not vast, and almost everyone was injured, the mere presence of their Soldier Qi was enough to suppress Gou Lou's Martial Dao Inner Qi, preventing him from giving his all.

Adding to that were the three Fifth-Grades, one of whom was a Human Dao Great General far stronger than him.

Gou Lou knew this journey was a one-way trip.

However, the Martial Artist's heart pulsed within his chest.

He was... the last remaining person from the Gou Lou Realm.

His civilization had practically gone extinct, for he couldn't even find a fellow clansman to bear children and propagate the lineage.

His name was actually Babu, not Gou Lou.

The reason he was called Gou Lou was because he was the final bearer of his world, his civilization.

His Martial Dao Divine Intent was his civilization, the spirit of his civilization's development to this day.

Now that his civilization was severed, his Dao path was naturally also cut off.

However, the spirit of civilization, striving upward and constantly advancing, would not be lost.

At this moment, he was not Babu; he was Gou Lou, he was the Gou Lou Realm, he was the civilization named Gou Lou!

He, himself, was the civilization; on his body, the last light of a civilization that once stood in Outer Void flickered!

Even if that light itself was already stained with blood.

This was a civilization, a proud civilization that, through its wisdom and strength, carved out its path of survival in Outer Void—its final revenge!

Meanwhile, on the other side, General Zhou, the Human Dao Great General whom Liu Junyi had transferred from the front lines, watched a red meteor charge towards him.

It was a Martial Artist; he could vaguely perceive the opponent's Martial Dao Divine Intent.

Within that Martial Dao Divine Intent, he seemed to see a young man striding forward, rushing towards the unknown, breaking through everything, and galloping with all his might.

General Zhou lowered his head and sighed softly.

It's a person.

Another person.

What a… pity.

What humanity strives for is all people, but people always have their own ideas; not everyone will necessarily support humanity.

Just like the Nine Lands Under Heaven.

The great Dao Orthodoxy of the Nine Lands Under Heaven are actually 'people' recognized by humanity; they are all noble Dao seekers, but in the end, it still leads to a clash of arms.

Humanity actually… really doesn't want this.

Everything humanity does is for the sunshine of all people; the future they seek only benefits everyone, but not everyone is for benefits.

Dao struggle… Dao struggle.

Alas.

Watching the opponent charge, according to General Zhou's usual character, he would have gone up alone to duel the opponent; this was the greatest respect for a person.

However, this was not for personal honor, but for the great cause on behalf of Heaven.

So, he stopped, waved his hand, and said, “Form up, prepare! The opponent has Evil Qi on him; he cannot be surrounded and killed in the usual way. Be careful not to let the Evil Qi corrupt your Dao Heart.”

“With Soldier Qi overhead, the right army on the right shoulder, the left army on the left shoulder, the central army placed on the chest, each beat a drum; move when you hear the drum. The central army beats one-three, then three beats per drum, and after ten, all exert force simultaneously. Follow this rhythm, only using Soldier Qi to restrict, and absolutely do not approach the battlefield.”

After instructing the specific tactics, he then said to the remaining two Fifth-Grades, “The three of us will attack together and take down the opponent. Don't drag it out too long.”

The remaining two Fifth-Grades immediately nodded.

Then, according to the pre-arranged tactics, Gou Lou fell into the Human Dao's battlefield.

Gou Lou's sanity had been consumed by the Evil Qi.

The Evil Qi that even Human Dao Great Generals couldn't control, he naturally couldn't resist either.

In his mind now, there was only killing.

However, vaguely, a remnant of consciousness told him… to drag it out a little longer.

One hour, just one hour would be enough. Three quarters of an hour had passed since the battle began, so there were still five quarters of an hour left.

Every moment he could drag it out was a bonus.

Both battlefields had reached a fever pitch.

On the main battlefield controlled by Li Qi and Liu Junyi, the battle raged fiercely.

This battlefield was thousands of times more brutal than the smaller one controlled by Shen Shuibi, and the casualties were likewise.

Tens of billions of lives perished tragically; both humanity and Shaman Dao suffered terrible casualties.

But all these deaths were not wasted; presided over by Li Qi, the Great Sacrifice, covering a large number of world clusters, transformed all these deaths into power.

This doubled Li Qi's pressure. As the core of the Formation and Great Sacrifice, the Invoker who balanced everything, all deaths had to pass through him.

Relying on the power of the blood sacrifice, Shaman Dao was able to continue its slow expansion, but… the expansion rate had slowed down.

Because… Shaman Dao's front line had crossed that light band and reached humanity's war fortresses.

Fighting until now, Li Qi finally touched humanity's border.

With these fortresses, humanity began to defend. Even with the blood sacrifice's blessing, it was difficult to continue advancing; they could only symbolically continue to attack.

But if that were the case, Shaman Dao's offensive would be unsustainable.

The blood sacrifice relied on death to provide power; it cut off the cycle of Reincarnation, using death to nourish life to gain power.

Humanity retreated into its fortresses, relying on them to hunker down and not attack. Consequently, the number of deaths rapidly plummeted, and the power of the blood sacrifice would naturally decrease accordingly.

The ultimate result, naturally, would be Shaman Dao's offensive slowing down, giving humanity a chance to breathe.

And once they had a chance to breathe—

Humanity could reallocate defensive forces to other areas! Since the frontal offensive had stopped, it was only natural to reallocate some people to deal with Shen Shuibi, and that would be bad.

In other words, even facing sturdy, hard-to-crack war fortresses, and with its overall strength weakened, Shaman Dao still had to maintain the offensive for at least one hour, otherwise Shen Shuibi would surely die.

This was another challenge Liu Junyi posed to Li Qi!

Liu Junyi chose to control casualties, reduce Shaman Dao's offensive power, and at the same time, use the fortresses to free himself up to deal with Shen Shuibi.

This was also forcing Li Qi to choose for himself.

If Li Qi chose to stop the offensive, Shen Shuibi would be beyond saving.

If Li Qi chose to continue increasing the offensive, the casualty ratio would further expand. Many more people would die in siege warfare, using the meaningless deaths of his own people to sustain the blood sacrifice, forcing humanity to be unable to withdraw its hands.

Two choices, you decide.

Li Qi felt it was tricky.

Neither choice was good enough.

Choose the first, Shen Shuibi dies… he couldn't accept that.

But choose the second, these people's lives are also lives…

Furthermore, even if Li Qi had a heart of stone and regarded them as mere numbers, continuing to drive them to forcefully attack the city, this would also rapidly waste his side's strength.

Even if this battle was won, if too much power was consumed, it would still be a loss. Although the successful activation of the detector could bring Li Qi a huge advantage and potentially new reinforcements, it couldn't directly win the battle for Li Qi.

Wasting vital forces was too costly; there were still battles to fight later!

He was caught in a dilemma, but Li Qi was running out of time.

The entire battle was only one hour long, and four quarters of an hour had passed. Now only four quarters of an hour remained, and Li Qi had absolutely no more than a minute to think.

What method could reduce losses while still applying sufficient pressure?

Li Qi furrowed his brow.

But at this moment, a top-secret intelligence report from a Fifth-Grade Realm Lord suddenly reached his mind through the Formation.

Currently, only Fifth-Grade Realm Lords could contact Li Qi; Li Qi didn't have the mental capacity to handle so many things, so everything below was handled by others.

Therefore, such information was usually extremely important.

Li Qi opened his eyes and glanced at the intelligence.

The intelligence was very brief, stating that General Zhou Ming of the Seventh Combat Zone had not appeared for two quarters of an hour, and asked whether to intensify the attack.

This made Li Qi blink.

“The general of the Seventh Combat Zone hasn't appeared for a long time. I remember that zone has nine thousand worlds… and two Fifth-Grade worlds stationed there.”

Li Qi began to calculate combat power.

However, in reality, there were far more than nine thousand worlds there, but in a war of this magnitude, only worlds of Seventh-Grade and above could be counted as combat power.

As for Eighth-Grade, Ninth-Grade, or even unrated worlds, they were like specks of dust outside the realm, completely ignored, and no one would conscript soldiers from these worlds. These worlds probably didn't even know that an unprecedented great war was taking place outside the realm.

Of course, these refer to the worlds on Shaman Dao's side.

On humanity's side, these worlds had been dismantled, making it relatively clean.

Li Qi thought for a moment, and after more than a minute, he suddenly said, “Since that's the case… slow down the offensive in other combat zones. Humanity has already retreated anyway, so you should also set up camp and begin a siege!”

“While besieging, reallocate all worlds of Sixth-Grade and above, and the Children of Destiny, to the Seventh Combat Zone, and forcefully attack this area! Remember, all of them! Don't worry about the Star-Mansion Array' carrying capacity; as long as it's not completely destroyed, damage is acceptable! Be quick!”

When Li Qi said this, he almost gnashed his teeth.

Liu Junyi! This is the choice I, Li Qi, have made!

Aren't you trying to force me?

Then let's see!

The reason he was so agitated was because Li Qi's decision was to force Liu Junyi in return! I, Li Qi, have made my choice; Liu Junyi, you choose now!

Slowing down the offensive in other combat zones was equivalent to allowing humanity to free up its hands and reallocate personnel.

But at the same time, Li Qi also reallocated all Children of Destiny of Sixth-Grade and above, along with their worlds.

What is the concept of a Child of Destiny?

Fighting above their grade is as easy as eating and drinking. With destiny bestowed upon them within their own world, the entire world helps them.

By making their worlds the main battleground and pushing them to the front lines, so many Children of Destiny would dramatically increase the pressure on humanity! The Seventh Combat Zone might even be directly breached, creating an opening for all of Shaman Dao's armies to advance unimpeded.

This was also one of Shaman Dao's advantages; as the Dao Orthodoxy that maintained destiny and the Universe, they naturally received help from worlds. It was precisely because of this that Shaman Dao had such excellent relations with the Star Officials, and even achieved close cooperation with the Four Symbols.

This way, the choice fell to Liu Junyi.

The front lines shifted instantly, and a large number of Children of Destiny overloaded the Star-Mansion Array, arriving at the Seventh Combat Zone. Almost immediately, the intensity of the battle in the Seventh Combat Zone increased severalfold!

The Human Dao forces in the entire Seventh Combat Zone were rapidly annihilated!

Liu Junyi quickly perceived Li Qi's intention.

Liu Junyi also faced two choices.

Either send people to urgently defend the Seventh Combat Zone, otherwise Li Qi would directly break through, then abandon everyone else, and lead high-end combat power and Children of Destiny to penetrate deep inside and cause internal chaos.

The advantage of doing this was that it could kill Shen Shuibi, stop the detector, and prevent Shaman Dao's reinforcements from arriving.

The disadvantage was also clear: Li Qi's side would then completely turn the tables, tying the score. Shaman Dao would then be able to successfully gather and exert its large-scale army advantage, thereby gaining the initiative in subsequent wars.

Or, reallocate combat power to fully defend the Seventh Combat Zone, but in that case, Shen Shuibi would have to fend for herself, and the outcome might be fifty-fifty.

Just as Li Qi only had one minute to think, Liu Junyi also didn't have much time.

Any delay could very likely result in losing both sides simultaneously.

So, Liu Junyi, through the The Axis of All Realms, asked the general who had been reallocated, “General Zhou, can you handle it over there?”

“It's a sure thing. More than half of the opponents have been annihilated, with only two Fifth-Grades barely holding on. We still have four Fifth-Grades here, including Luo Ye of the Mo Family, and myself. Just the two of us are enough,”

“There won't be any surprises?” Liu Junyi asked.

Although he asked this question, he actually knew the answer in his heart.

Let Shen Shuibi do her best; she's only about the same level as the Mohist Cultivator anyway.

As long as she wasn't as strong as the Lord of Pestilence, capable of crushing everyone alone, then victory was indeed a sure thing. Even if she had some trump cards, she couldn't simultaneously contend against two Great Generals.

Liu Junyi didn't have many experts of this caliber under his command; otherwise, why would reallocating General Zhou directly cause the Seventh Combat Zone to become a weakness?

Having two people deal with Shen Shuibi simultaneously was already the greatest respect.

So, Liu Junyi nodded and issued orders through the The Axis of All Realms.

Hold the position, and at the same time, reallocate experts and elites to the Seventh Combat Zone to resist the Children of Destiny gathered by Shaman Dao. Shaman Dao doesn't have many Children of Destiny; one less means one less, just like Tang Nation's advanced combat power, they are difficult to regenerate in a short time.

Then, let Shen Shuibi deal with two opponents as strong as herself.

In this round, both sides exchanged moves again.

On the chessboard formed by billions of worlds, two chess players seemed to hover, staring at each other, then picking up worlds and powerful individuals one by one, placing them on the battlefield.

Each capture of a piece was the demise of a civilization.

This was the Human-Shaman War.

Happy June 1st.