Chapter 1 A Treasure Trove of History

The entire Corpus space was a vast historical treasure trove. Even though Hao Ren didn't initially know what kind of ruins this place was, he could still smell its research value with his skilled grave-digging and corpse-collecting experience over the past two years. That's why he formulated a relatively cautious and safe action plan. His intuition told him that these seemingly dilapidated palaces held secrets, and he needed to preserve their original appearance as much as possible, so he suppressed the idea of using the Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace and other large-scale destructive weapons.

The Demon King's Legion was enough to deal with this incident, and thanks to the solidity of the Corpus ruins themselves, the battle between the Legion soldiers and the demon hunters would not damage anything here. But it would be a different story if the Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace and armed drones were to appear.

Facts proved that the caution brought by this intuition was correct.

For thousands of years, demon hunters had been committed to studying the endless secrets of Corpus. Everything here was created by the True Gods, and although they had been blown to pieces, for mortal civilizations, the fragments of the artifacts were still enough to drive them crazy. The Thirteen Saints and the Elder Council had explored every temple and tower for thousands of years, digging out everything they could collect and move, and concentrating them all in the collection hall of the Lingjie Zhongta (Spirit Realm Clock Tower). Now these treasures had become Hao Ren's new target.

Hao Ren stood in front of the large hole at the end of the palace, the place where the goddess had fallen in the past. He looked down at the twisted and torn ground, and could still vaguely recognize the remaining indentation where the golden disc had been placed. He bent down and carefully examined the ground within a few meters of the indentation. Vivian, seeing this, was a little curious: "What are you looking for?"

"Bloodstains," Hao Ren said without looking up. "When the goddess was killed, her blood flowed down the golden disc to the ground. The bloodstains on the golden disc became Original Sin, but... the blood that flowed to the ground seems to be gone."

Vivian casually muttered, "Maybe the demon hunters living here wiped it off when they were cleaning."

"Do you think that's possible?" Hao Ren rolled his eyes. "That's god blood."

Vivian was a little uneasy: "I always feel like those bloodstains aren't good—think about it, the bloodstains on the golden disc became Original Sin. The innate hostility between different species on Earth was caused by that little bit of blood, and this place is even more evil. It's simply the scene of the goddess's murder. I think this has more 'Original Sin' components than the golden disc, right?"

"The specific process of god blood turning into a carrier of Original Sin is still unclear. This is something that can't be explained by scientific logic," Hao Ren clapped his hands and stood up. "So not every bloodstain will carry Original Sin, but what's certain is that no bloodstain will disappear out of thin air."

Although he said so, he also knew that these things were difficult to verify now. The bloodstains on the ground were indeed gone, and the black longsword that assassinated the goddess had also disappeared. Now he could only pin his hopes on the Lingjie Zhongta (Spirit Realm Clock Tower): hopefully, the demon hunters of ancient times had found these things and kept them properly.

Vivian sighed with emotion: "These guys actually set up camp in the place where the Creation Goddess fell for so many years. I really don't know whether to call it luck. Things are unpredictable... I was probably 'born' in one of the palaces here back then, right?"

Hao Ren glanced at Vivian, thinking that the other party's true form was actually a god-blood life created before the Creation Goddess fell. He nodded with a subtle expression: "It's really hard to say... Maybe the Creation Goddess created you in a room over here. Should we go look for it?"

"Don't mess around," Vivian waved her hand. "Who remembers what happened when they came out of their mother's womb? My eyes hadn't even developed at that time."

Hao Ren smiled and stood in front of the open palace wall, looking at the vast darkness outside. In the darkness, he could see the remnants of other buildings floating in the distance. One ruin after another floated in the endless void, exuding a desolate atmosphere under the mysterious starlight at the edge of space, just like those palaces of the gods floating between the stars in myths. Streaks of light jumped between these palaces, and occasionally he could see dense explosions of light exploding above a certain building: the Demon King's Legion and the "Normal Faction Demon Hunters" were organizing waves of counterattacks. At least ten troops were simultaneously attacking various strongholds in Corpus. Although it had calmed down here, the fierce battle was in full swing on the front lines.

He leaned out and looked at the plaza outside the palace, from which he could see exactly one-third of the area. Brotaros was leading his soldiers to reorganize their forces. Those demons who were almost tireless in battle were preparing to take advantage of the momentum to launch an attack on a nearby energy node. Now the Legion's teleportation gate had opened, and the demons were rubbing their fists in front of the gate, excitedly waiting for the next battle.

Hao Ren then withdrew his gaze and looked at the red mark on his hand that had dimmed.

Corpus had hundreds of ruins, and all kinds of palace remains floated in this space. When Lanina decided on the first batch of attack targets, there were also six alternative plans: in addition to Brotaros's team, there were actually five other Legion detachments that set off for other battle zones. But Hao Ren ultimately chose the one in front of him, and after entering the palace, all of his actions almost completely reproduced the experiences in the illusion. Even at the last moment, when Vivian stood in the place where the Creation Goddess had fallen, he happened to be standing in the place where he had seen this scene in the illusion.

This series of events was completely beyond the scope of coincidence.

It was as if something was arranging it in the dark.

Hao Ren used to be someone who didn't believe in evil, but since becoming the landlord of a group of monsters and ghosts, he had completely fallen into the realm of evil and couldn't extricate himself. So at this moment, he had no doubt that everything he experienced in Corpus had its meaning.

Perhaps the demon hunters' infighting and the Thirteen Saints in the Lingjie Zhongta (Spirit Realm Clock Tower) were all secondary. The only purpose of everything that happened here was to attract him, at this moment, at this place, to let him stand here.

"Are you arranging it..." He clenched his palm, and the red scar that had been burned by touching the god blood had completely dimmed at this moment, but he still felt a slight heat coming from his skin, as if it was responding to something.

The Demon King's Legion's advance in the Corpus space was fully launched.

Twenty-four hours after the first troops entered Corpus, the subsequent Legions arrived as planned, and the Towers of the Stars continuously opened for a day and a night, finally welcoming 100,000 troops into this demon hunter's sanctuary.

The fierce battle on the front lines had not stopped for a moment since the counterattack was launched. The allied forces of the various races under the Demon King were battle-hardened veterans who had been trained on the most brutal battlefields of their homeland. They knew very well how to completely crush the enemy's will to resist. They formed three echelons of dozens of battle teams, constantly attacking the strongholds of the Order demon hunters in a wheel-like offensive. The tireless demons bore the main force of the attack, while other races who were good at building positions constantly pushed their own strongholds forward as the battle line advanced, without giving the Order demon hunters any chance to counterattack or breathe.

The succubus Lanina directed the overall situation. She lived up to her reputation as the "Chief Thinker under the Demon King." Although she was an incurable dimwit when it came to directions, her abilities in warfare were truly admirable. Although Corpus was a strange place for the Demon King's Legion, this succubus strategist still grasped the situation and characteristics of this battlefield in a short period of time. After a few probes, she figured out the Elder Council's mode of operation and general strength. She always used the most appropriate force to weaken the enemy's defenses. When the opponent was exhausted in the constant defensive battles, she would completely sweep the battlefield with an overwhelmingly powerful main force, eradicating all hidden dangers and leaving the enemy with no hope of counterattack.

When Hao Ren contacted Lanina before, he only felt that she was a succubus with a slightly strange orientation, occasionally confused, and easy-going personality. But after learning about the battles on the front lines, he truly recognized this Demon King's strategist: she was a standard female demon. Her offensive style was cunning and powerful. The cunning side came from her succubus bloodline, and the powerful methods were the result of Izhaks's education.

"Bang—Boom!!"

The ghastly green light bullet fired from the fel energy cannon fell on the Elder Council's defense line in an arc. The dilapidated palace not far away was billowing with smoke. In the continuous bombardment, the shield above the palace was already crumbling. These shields were built by the demon hunters using their own magic technology, and their structural strength was simply incomparable to the palace itself. Facing the Demon King's heavy firepower weapons, their resistance seemed weak and powerless.

This was already one of the last strongholds of the Order demon hunters. In the words of Elder Grigory, after breaking this place, the Lingjie Zhongta (Spirit Realm Clock Tower) was basically a lone commander.

Hao Ren and his party stood behind the Demon Legion's position, watching the distant flames of war roaring. In this kind of battlefield, there was basically no need for them to take action.

Just when Hao Ren thought that this battle would end without any suspense as it had in the previous few times, a master-level demon hunter ran to Bai Huo and Tutan, his expression a little strange: "We caught a... relatively high-ranking Order commander."