Chapter 1 A Barrage

The enormous roar signified a violent collision of spiritual energy, with surging waves rolling in all directions. This was a force capable of splitting the earth, reversing rivers, and shattering mountains. However, the turtle-shell-like barrier of the small world in front didn't even budge.

Yan Geng gritted his teeth, his chest almost bursting with rage.

Behind him, the West Sea Emperor, Ru Shou, and the East Sea Emperor, Gou Mang, merely sat on their massive mobile palaces pulled by dragon-like and tiger-like beasts, drinking and chatting idly. This time, they didn't take the exterior of the small world seriously, treating it as an opportunity for their subordinates to train.

Indeed, this was a dilapidated world situated in a remote location, with spiritual energy so scarce as to be almost nonexistent.

It was probably just a remote outpost of the Jade Void Palace.

The two Emperors had been disappointed upon arriving and passed the task to their subordinates.

However, they had failed to breach it even after three full days!

The reason the two Emperors hadn't intervened was twofold.

First, they were leisurely betting on whose subordinates would be the first to break through the small world. Second, they disdained to act themselves, treating the situation as a casual chat during an outing. But now, now! A mere small world with little spiritual energy had cost them so much effort!

In truth, it wasn't that the barrier hadn't been broken—

With their vision, with their control over spiritual energy,

with their status and authority,

they clearly perceived that the formation on the outer layer of the small world shattered like bubbles, and not layer by layer, but ten layers, a hundred layers, collapsing at once! However, as soon as one layer was broken, a hundred layers would immediately appear, and when a hundred layers were broken, five hundred layers would emerge!

Endless, endless!

The sheer quantity stubbornly withstood the divine assault.

Yan Geng was nearly driven mad.

Even if you were skilled, no matter how skilled, even if it was obvious that there were formation disc cornerstones placed here, it would still take at least five or six days to create a simple formation. How many were there here? How freaking many?

He could shatter mountains with a single punch and reverse rivers with a flick of his sleeve.

He was the God of War, the Martial God!

He could smash through ten, dozens of layers of these inferior, ineffective formations that relied solely on the basic Five Elements cycle with a single punch.

But there weren't just a few dozen layers here.

There were millions of layers of similar formations here.

Millions of layers!

Then, millions of layers of similar formations resonated madly, using the most foolish methods, spending at least ten thousand years, creating an unparalleled, flawless defensive layer that even the gods couldn't immediately penetrate.

The weakest, yet also the strongest.

The weakest, because of the utter foolishness of its inefficiency.

And the strongest, because not knowing how to set up an efficient formation, they had to spend time completing the most solid formation, with the Five Elements generating and overcoming each other in an endless cycle, and then millions of layers of the Five Elements generating each other, creating resonances that even the creators couldn't control or predict.

"Damn it!!!"

"Break for me!"

"Why isn't it breaking yet! Why isn't it breaking yet!"

Yan Geng roared, raising his hand and clenching his fist. Boundless, vast metal spiritual energy erupted, transforming into a giant azure dragon thousands of meters long, and then crashed down, the powerful impact tearing through layers of formations. But almost instantly, more formations filled the gaps.

Yan Geng's body trembled, his anger soaring to the sky.

Yet he was helpless.

"Heh... it seems they have some skill, although a bit foolish. But by relying on the most basic formation principles over a long period, they've actually created such a defensive layer... Although it's not worth mentioning, it's at least somewhat interesting."

Gou Mang commented.

Ru Shou drank, then frowned and said, "Forget it, no more waiting."

He was feeling annoyed. He casually tossed away his wine cup, flicked his finger, and a drop of wine flew out, gradually lengthening as it shot out, gradually imbued with strangeness and sharpness, gradually imbued with the unparalleled sharpness to sever concepts and tear apart causality.

In an instant.

The seemingly impregnable formation that could hold off ordinary gods for a long time shattered.

Heaven and earth were separated.

The interior of the small world was clearly revealed to Ru Shou, Gou Mang, and the other generals. Ru Shou couldn't help but be slightly stunned, a look of surprise appearing on his face. He turned to Gou Mang, who was sitting in the mobile palace pulled by the azure dragon, and said:

"It seems it's better than we thought."

"No wonder there was a formation of that level appearing earlier."

Ru Shou sat down, picked up his wine, and said, "Go capture it. Is the one who set up this formation the mechanical puppet mentioned in the intelligence? Yan Geng, capture it. I'm a bit interested in it. The West Sea's library is short on a gatekeeper."

Gou Mang said, "Then the spiritual materials over there seem to be quite plentiful, they belong to me."

Ru Shou said, "Heh... agreed. Then, there seem to be some scrolls over there, I want seventy percent of them."

Gou Mang shook his head: "No, you can take six percent at most."

The two Emperors calmly considered the ownership of this small world.

Yan Geng's heart surged with excitement. He felt that such a casual decision about the fate of a world was the power and understanding of true great masters. He accepted the order, leading the elites of the West Sea and East Sea, tearing through the remaining parts of the formation, and stepped into this place with scarce spiritual energy.

The difficulty in breaking this formation lay in the terrifying number of Five Elements generating each other in an endless cycle. Once broken, its internal structure would begin to collapse and annihilate itself. Yan Geng took the opportunity to pierce through the defenses with a single spear strike, raised his eyes, and swept his gaze, feeling slightly surprised.

According to the intelligence, the mechanical puppet here had been waiting for at least ten thousand years.

But this place was still, still too tidy.

The spiritual herbs grew well, and it was clear that someone was still taking care of them diligently. The ground was swept clean, the air was filled with the fragrance of medicinal herbs, and freshly harvested fruits and vegetables were placed in the house, as if the owner had only gone out for a walk.

And would be back soon.

"Hmph! Acting mysterious!"

Yan Geng struck out with his spear.

Smashing the baskets holding the fruit, sweeping away those fields that didn't have much root and weren't spiritual materials. The other members had already scattered, heading towards the Scripture Pavilion, towards the truly rare spiritual materials in the mountains. Yan Geng swung his spear, beginning to search for the mechanical puppet's trail.

Suddenly, there was an abnormal ripple and fluctuation in the sky.

Yan Geng's expression changed slightly. He swung the spear in his hand, transforming it into an azure dragon, stirring up a vast and mighty force, directly shattering the incoming sword energy. That sword energy seemed to have some foundation, but in the path of skill, it couldn't be honed by mere time.

"Hmph, child's play!"

Yan Geng raised his head, saw sword energy crisscrossing, saw the other young generals from the East Sea and West Sea being attacked, some quite embarrassed. Indignant voices echoed in the air: "Get out!"

"Get out!"

"You are not guests, get out!"

In a long roar, Yan Geng casually shattered the incoming sword energies with a single hand holding his divine weapon. Although the owner of the voice had tried to conceal their location, how could such simple means deceive the gods of the Four Seas?

"Hmph, guests! Bad guests are still guests!"

Yan Geng laughed: "This general will tell you today what is called the proper etiquette for treating guests!"

"Come over here!"

His moves were fierce and domineering, the Geng metal energy unstoppable, with the aura of breaking ten thousand techniques with a single move, directly tearing apart the hidden formation in front. But then, an extremely unstable aura suddenly erupted, using the energy of the earth to create a Five Elements generating and overcoming formation, directly detonating this place.

Yan Geng didn't care, but underestimating it, he was struck by this powerful impact.

Battered and disheveled, he retreated repeatedly.

Even his palm was slightly trembling from the violent vibration.

His face was charred by the flames. Lowering his hand, the expression of the handsome general became somewhat twisted: "...You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit, I'm going to break your legs!"

But their progress wasn't so easy.

That mechanical puppet recorded in the intelligence was giving them tremendous trouble.

Sword energy!

Formations!

The most basic swordsmanship, the simplest formations, like a foolish old man stubbornly toiling, but the simplest swordsmanship had been used to slash for ten thousand years, and the most common Five Elements generating formations were layered upon layer, always producing explosive and shocking forces from unexpected places.

This was not a puppet at all!

/

Rumble!!!

The world of the small world was vast, clouds flowing. The place of the mobile palace was a mess, but spiritual energy was born from it. A Daoist stood within, the body of a God Era general shattered, the spiritual energy feeding back to the heaven and earth. The entire world began to emit a rumbling Great Dao sound, beginning to open up itself, and the body of Jin Zheng also fell.

The sound of the Great Dao could not suppress the calm indifference -

"Jade Void."

"Yuanshi."

ps: Today's second update... four thousand eight hundred words, writer's block, I'm giving up...