Chapter 736 Never Alone (7700)

As long as true strategic goals are not achieved, all victories are but fleeting illusions.

Original Civilization Protection Zone, Yukiel System.

Tain the Seer was like a leaf swaying in the wind and rain, teetering on the interstellar battlefield. But in the end, struck by an annihilation ray, He could only helplessly transform into a shooting star, falling together with His heavily damaged warship-exosuit onto the planet He was originally protecting.

[Damn it, how many enemies are there?!]

Gathering the last bit of spiritual energy to protect himself from being killed by the fall, Tain couldn't help but roar: [Wasn't it said that the Void Cult was already a flickering candle in the wind? Why is their offensive still so fierce?!]

What could make a Hegemon-level Senostian so embarrassed was naturally not ordinary wind and rain, but the annihilation rays and disintegration fields of the Voidspawn.

The Yukiel Star System was already filled with billions of various rays and projectiles. The sky full of fireworks was so dazzling that it was enough to make most computers self-destruct due to information overload in the instant of analysis.

Three months had passed since the Void Cult's surprise attack on the Twilight Star System, which brought an unbelievable number of Voidspawn to attack the defense line together.

During these three months, neither the Senostians nor the Void Cult, nor the Voidspawn and the Entropy Shadow Clan, had rested for a moment. They had been engaged in fierce offensive and defensive battles around the Twilight Fortress and the cosmic rifts.

This was the largest battle since the Silent Era. Although it originated from a single action by the Void Cult, any action by these lunatics who aimed to destroy the universe required vigilance. The Senostians once again became the frontline race, with the entire civilization going all out.

The Elder Council, which had always cared for its compatriots, was now deploying all its forces to the front line without mercy. The Yukiel Star System was an important node located around the Twilight Star System. It was originally an original civilization protection zone, but now those simple stars were filled with various permanent fortresses. A huge fleet was stationed here, vowing to fight the enemy to the last man.

Even Tain the Seer, a newly promoted Hegemon and theoretically an elite junior who should be given priority for training, was no exception. He became one of the war commanders of the Yukiel Star System. These battlefields around the rifts were indeed like a bottomless pit, drawing in most of the Senostian civilization's main force.

Yes, indeed, there was some good news—Supreme Venerable Su Zhou from Earth had found the hiding place of the Void Cult leader in the subspace zone between the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Milky Way in a surprise attack two months ago, and had thwarted the other party's conspiracy to open a secret spacetime rift.

The Galaxy Net Ai monitored the entire process. It saw the two Supreme Venerables fighting all the way to the edge of the galaxy. The intensity was no less than any previous war between Supreme Venerables.

Regardless of victory or defeat, at least the most terrifying force of the Void Cult could no longer act, and the main force of the real Voidspawn could not open a second front because the rift had not been opened. Now they could only run into an iron wall in the Twilight Star System.

They should have been at the end of their rope, completely annihilated when besieged by the allied forces of various civilizations.

But in reality, it was very different.

Faced with the allied forces of various civilizations, the Void Cult's fleet unexpectedly launched a counter-charge directly. When they made a desperate move, everyone realized that these self-sacrificing lunatics had even brought their old nest with them—in the vast gravitational waves that shook the galaxy, the Void Cult's headquarters, the Trade Star originally located in the Trade Alliance's home star system, reappeared in the world in a violent subspace shock.

They not only distorted the gravitational waves within a few thousand light-years in diameter, temporarily shielding the hyperspace通道 (tongdao - channel), but also eliminated several allied fleets in the first instance, establishing the most solid base in the rear of the galaxy.

Fueled by the ignited core engines, the eight true-planet-level war death stars in the entire star system had now become the Void Cult's trump card, allowing them to break through the direction of the allied forces again and again, leading the Voidspawn group to wreak havoc.

Just like duelists, the most dangerous time is when they are like a flickering candle in the wind.

But all of this had nothing to do with Tain the Seer, who had already been shot down—although he had killed five Hegemons of the Void Cult and Voidspawn before being shot down, the number of enemies was endless, and the reinforcements on his side seemed to be delayed for a while, which made the situation on the front line extremely precarious.

In a deafening roar, the meteorite-like He, even after slowing down the impact of the landing as much as possible, still fell like a small mountain crashing to the ground, causing an earthquake after colliding with a small mountain.

[Damn it, these Voidspawn are too strong! And...]

The tungsten steel giant seemed fragile and helpless at this moment. Missing his legs and being heavily injured, He was even pressed down by the wreckage of his warship-exosuit and the surrounding debris. The Hegemon actually didn't have the strength to push it away, and could only barely maintain a smooth spiritual energy cycle, accumulating strength.

If he was lucky, he would recover almost completely in a few days and be able to continue fighting. If he was unlucky, the Void Cult's powerhouses would be more cautious and come to finish him off immediately, then he might really die.

But thinking about these things was useless. Tain the Seer could only close his eyes, patiently regulate himself, and seize every second to self-recover.

However, after some time, Tain the Seer heard digging sounds.

Accompanied by the rustling sound of earth and stone being dug, the tungsten steel giant, who was pressed down by the mountain and warship wreckage, saw two natives of Yukiel Star, one large and one small, digging away the earth and stone above, allowing Him to see the light of the sun again.

"God, don't worry, we'll dig you up right away!"

The Yukiel people looked furry all over, seemingly some kind of wild beast, but in reality, they were a multi-mustached plant life form, usually relying on the developed root system all over their bodies to absorb moisture and spiritual energy from the air to live. Every day, they slept by burying themselves in the earth, absorbing energy and nutrients.

The large and small Yukiel people could be considered father and son, or mother and daughter. They were holding shovels, digging the earth and stone around Tain the Seer—compared to the tungsten steel giant who was more than thirty meters tall, the Yukiel people who were only three or four meters tall were simply like toys, but even so, after spending most of the day, these strange treants still cleared the surrounding soil and warship wreckage.

[Danger... you guys hide quickly!]

During this process, Tain the Seer had repeatedly advised the two local natives, who He didn't know if they were brave or reckless, to leave Him: [The enemies haven't gone far, I am their target, this place may be attacked at any time!]

"That's true," the larger father said, "but if we don't help you, what else can we do? The demons in the sky are invading, we must do something."

The Senostians always liked to give the ecological planets they created to other races and civilizations to live on, so they were called gods by many native lives. The Yukiel people were naturally one of them. The Senostians had always taken this for granted. As long as these natives were willing to believe in the Galaxy Star and the Path of Guardianship, then they could default the other party as their protectorate.

In that case, protecting them from the invasion of the Void Cult was a matter of course.

However, no Senostian had ever thought that in times of crisis, they would receive help from these protected people.

The excavated tungsten steel giant had no legs, and half of his body was also pressed down by the warship. This was not a big deal. As long as the injuries were healed, Tain could move the seemingly heavy warship away at any time.

However, the damage caused by the Voidspawn was very serious. It was the condensation of annihilation fields that could devour even the world. Being hit by such an attack would make both the body and soul seem like 'they never existed.' Regeneration was difficult to take effect, and it could only be reconstructed bit by bit.

Tain the Seer originally wanted to devour the alloy in his warship-exosuit to reshape his war body, but he still lacked energy. Because continuous battles had overdrawn his body too much, even if he absorbed the free spiritual energy in the air, he could not store it in his body. Only by spending time to repair the core little by little could he reconstruct the base point.

"God, the city below the mountain still has tributes for you. Although the city was bombed, the tributes should still be in the basement of the city hall. They should be helpful to you."

It could be seen that the god was seriously injured at the moment. The larger Yukiel person took the child and bid farewell. The city they were talking about should be the ruins emitting thick smoke at the foot of the mountain. Tain the Seer raised his head and looked over there, realizing that the city was likely hit by stray bullets from the cosmic battle. So far, there was still inextinguishable spiritual fire burning in it.

[Don't go, it's dangerous!]

He repeated again, solemnly declaring: [The fire in that city will completely kill you. You Yukiel people are most afraid of that kind of spirit flame!]

"...You're right."

Hearing these words, the father stopped. He let go of his hand, let the child stay in place, and then continued to walk down the mountain himself: "But we always have to go. God, if you lose, more people will die, and I will die too. In that case, whether I go or not, I will die, so I might as well go and try my best."

Tain the Seer thought that his ambassadorial career on Earth would make him more eloquent, but now he realized that some things are useless no matter how good his eloquence is.

Several hours passed. The father, with a broken arm and half of his body's beard roots gone, came to Tain with several extremely high-purity source spirit stones. He was probably burned in the hand, so he cut off his arm and the surrounding beard roots. The remaining beard roots were also curled up, and his body was shriveled and cracked a lot.

As soon as he delivered these tributes, he passed out, his breath weak. The smaller child stepped forward, without crying or shedding tears, and quietly took care of his relatives.

The Yukiel people rarely feel sad or angry. Their emotions are mostly as calm as plants. What they do is what they think, and they are not impulsive.

Source spirit stones, high-purity spirit stone raw ore, one of the fuels for spiritual energy cores, are considered very inferior energy sources in cosmic civilizations. They need to be refined into source energy before they can be popularized and used. But now, for the heavily injured Senostian, these spirit stones can help Tain quickly recover the injuries on his foundation.

Reaching out and absorbing these source spirit stones, Tain the Seer recovered some strength. He roared and moved the warship wreckage pressing on his body away, then tore off a section of alloy, kneaded it into the shape of legs, and replaced them for himself, which was considered to have restored some mobility.

[...You did help me a lot]

Raising his head, Tain the Seer looked at the starry sky above. The war was still going on. Losing his Hegemon-level commander, the Senostian defense line was indeed shrinking, but it was not yet collapsing.

The help of these two Yukiel people did allow him to recover his mobility four or five days in advance, which might be the key to reversing the battle.

Reaching out, the tungsten steel giant gently lifted the seriously injured father and child and placed them on his shoulders, protecting them with his spiritual energy.

"God, there are still tributes in the city, but my father can't move that many."

The child seemed to be repeating what his father taught him, saying it a little stutteringly, but it was indeed very important. Tain nodded: [Important information, I can recover faster—don't worry, your father performed a heroic and noble act. He will not die. We Senostians will provide the most precious rewards to pious and brave lives]

"My father doesn't want rewards."

The child just shook his head: "Other family members are dead. My father is not noble. He just wants you to come back to life and help us take revenge."

Tain was silent for a while, but his steps did not stop. He still walked towards the Yukiel city emitting thick smoke at the foot of the mountain.

The city was full of flames. This flame was fused with special spiritual energy, which was very hot and exuberant. Even the alloy of cosmic warships could be mostly burned, which was simply a dimensional reduction attack for the native civilization. The thick smoke formed by the burning of metal and rock by this spirit flame turned into a huge plume of smoke that went straight into the clouds, dyeing the surrounding world black.

The child feared the flame, but Tain's spiritual energy protected him, preventing the high heat and flames from approaching.

The tungsten steel giant stepped into the smoke and fire. He could see that the entire city had become ruins, most of which had become a white, scorched earth. Everywhere were incomplete corpses of Yukiel people.

They were probably still resting and eating, or working and living at home, but a fire that fell from the sky shattered all this peaceful life, making the entire planet uneasy.

Tain the Seer had long discovered the mostly collapsed city hall, but it was not completely burned. It seemed that the large Yukiel person had moved the spirit stones from here.

He naturally also sensed the quite rich source spirit stone reserves underground. If he absorbed them all, Tain could repair his internal core on the spot. From then on, he would not need external materials. He himself could devour his warship-exosuit and restore most of his strength in a few hours.

However, halfway through, He stopped. The Senostian stared blankly at a corner of the city, the direction where the fire was the largest.

It was a piece of warship wreckage.

It was also the wreckage of a Senostian's corpse.

It was this corpse that fell from the starry sky and destroyed this Yukiel city. This spirit flame was also the Senostian's natal flame, representing that His Planet Child form was some kind of natural flame phenomenon.

"What's that?"

The child also noticed Tain's gaze. He looked in the direction of the wreckage and naturally noticed the most dazzling group of wreckage. Tain the Seer just sighed at this: [That's a warship-exosuit, the strongest weapon of us Senostians...but it was destroyed by the enemy along with the operator and the warship. The wreckage fell down and destroyed your city]

[Hainatair, I didn't expect you to be dead...you are younger than me]

Starting again, Tain went to the city hall, but still shook his head softly: [He was only a Commander class, which is considered just an adult among us Senostians. He took the initiative to join the army to protect the holy land and was eventually sent to the front line...Hainatair fought very bravely, always charging at the front line. Several offensives by the Void Cult were repelled by him leading the way. He was a talented good kid, and he will definitely be able to become an Elder in the future]

The tungsten steel giant clenched his fists. Although his tone was calm, the turbulent emotions could be clearly felt.

[I originally wanted to protect them, so I have been fighting, but I was shot down, not to mention that I didn't protect them]

A huge explosion came from the sky again. A gray-white light explosion formed a huge spherical nebula at the top of Yukiel Star and spread in all directions of the star field. It was the self-destruction caused by the killing of a Hegemon-level Voidspawn—at the same time, many fireballs also exploded and wreckage flew. It was the Senostian fleet that was taken away by this Voidspawn.

[These Void Cult guys, and the Voidspawn, are not afraid of death at all. They are obviously losing to death, but it seems like they have earned it]

Spitting, Tain stretched out his hand and covered the child and father on his shoulders. The spiritual energy radiation contained in this light explosion was harmful to most lives. Maintaining this posture, He came to the city hall, then stretched out his empty left hand, pushed open the crumbling charred building, and dug up the underground spirit stone reserves.

"Why do they want to invade us?"

While Tain was absorbing the spirit stones, the Yukiel child muttered to himself. He looked around at the corpses on the ruins of the street, stroking his father's body, which had begun to dry out and was only forcibly maintained by Tain's spiritual energy.

This child had not reached the age to understand farewell and sorrow, so he was just puzzled: "They are so strong, so powerful, they should always have something to eat, they can always live well, just like gods."

"Why do they want to do this?"

[Life should not only exist for survival, the purpose of the Void Cult is crazy, but they...]

Tain instinctively answered like this, but he was silent after the words came out, because this answer was too confusing—the purpose of that group of lunatics was to pursue the ultimate answer of life. They spared no effort for the purpose of seeking the meaning of existence.

But looking at this battlefield, looking at this city ruin filled with Yukiel corpses, these native residents who may have some difficulty eating their fill on weekdays are still in the primitive civilization era, and they have only formed a country a few years ago.

Era, most people live very hard, but they are full of hope, and the entire civilization is thriving, with a promising future.

But now, many Yukiel people have been involved in the war of interstellar civilizations, and died under the madness of a group of lunatics.

[Why?]

The Senostian was truly puzzled: [Not to mention the meaning of life... What is the meaning of transcendent power?]

[Just for domination, just for exploitation, just to hurt others? Transcendent power... Our powerful power should not be used in such nothingness!]

[Why do those lunatics in the Void Cult have to pursue some meaning? Aren't we all alive and existing? Is it not nothingness and stupid to seek meaning for things that exist reasonably?]

Although that's what he said, Tain also understood that the Void Cult did not know the value of life.

On the contrary, the Void Cult was probably one of the cosmic forces that valued life the most.

——Life is the cornerstone of meaning.

However, valuing it did not mean protecting it. Precisely because life was so important, the Void Cult wanted to destroy the most supreme meaning in the universe in order to seek true truth.

Therefore, they both valued their own lives, unwilling to die before achieving their goals, and would not hesitate to offer everything they had to burn when needed.

Even Tain the Seer, after achieving Hegemony, had obtained some speculations about the Void Cult from the memories of his ancestors.

——The reason why the Void Cult is so aggressively destroying everything, even the native planets that have not even ascended to the stars are burned to the ground, is because they believe that the root of all life itself is a mistake, and the birth of all life is destined to be nothingness, destined to be painful.

In that case, it is better for them to eliminate it—if successful, then they will recreate it after eliminating it, creating a correct universe, correcting the original sin at the birth of the universe.

If it fails...

Then it has nothing to do with them, anyway, whether they are correct or not, the victors are more correct than them.

All of this is speculation.

However, Tain the Seer, who had initially healed his injuries, no longer had time to think about it.

The tungsten steel giant opened his eyes. He separated a trace of his essential spiritual energy and bestowed it on the dying Yukiel person, causing the nearly withered treant to glow with a metallic luster—then, He put down the two Yukiel people, one large and one small, and then, in the child's exclamation, raised his head and looked at the battlefield in the sky.

The battle had been going on for several months.

They were fighting, and Su Zhou Heavenly Venerable in the distance was also fighting. Their battles had even exceeded the scope of the Milky Way to the depths of subspace, and may have even reached the other side of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The intertwined transition trajectories of both sides even affected a dozen mother nests of the Ephemeral Insect Clan.

In the end, the battle traces of Su Zhou and the Void Cult leader completely disappeared, as if they had exceeded this universe—even the Net Ai could not find and track them.

[The Yukiel people helped me—just like I protected them before]

He whispered to himself. The giant clenched his fists, accumulating strength, waiting for the opportunity to return to the sky to fight again: [Su Zhou...you have helped the lives of the entire Milky Way, even the entire universe]

[But now, who can help you?]

At the same time.

"Report to the headquarters of the New World Exploration Department, I have discovered an abnormal spacetime rift in the depths of the spacetime realm codenamed Scarlet Hell. According to speculation, behind the rift, it is very likely related to the initial fall of the 'God Scale'."

"Yes, I know it's dangerous, but it's necessary to explore. The God Scale held by Su Zhou is not a fully activated form, just like the Galaxy Star needs several Senostian Ω-level Supreme Venerables to do their best to barely activate one or two, the God Scale at its peak can easily create thousands of spacetime rifts all over the Earth's surroundings, but now it can only take a few people through spacetime... There is obviously something wrong, and exploring its initial fall place can complete the gaps in the model, help Su Zhou better master the God Scale, and even the future understanding of the Great Seal."

"Yes, I know it's dangerous. But the most dangerous is never me, but Su Zhou, isn't it? He is now fighting with unprecedentedly powerful people... If I can help him, why not?"

At this moment, in the Scarlet Hell Great Rift Valley, in the deepest part.

Shao Qiming was controlling the 'Obscurity' power armor, attaching it with his own Divine Wood power, controlling the armor to climb on the periphery of the rift, above a long, boundless spacetime rift that seemed to traverse countless worlds, quietly waiting.

The spacetime rift was releasing incredible spiritual pressure, eroding people's will. The young man had been exploring the Scarlet Hell for a long, long time. Now most of the supplies were used up. If it weren't for the extraordinary durability of the Divine Wood lineage, ordinary transcendents would have passed out due to exhaustion, let alone resist this pressure.

It has to be said that Shao Qiming was very excited now. Although the report said that it was very likely related to speculation, he could be 100% sure that behind the spacetime rift was the 'Original Realm' based on the reaction of the God Scale aura in the jade box.

Even, it could be seen that in the jade box, the silver aura was emitting light. The light overflowed from the fragile place of the box, as if a star was shining—the aura of the God Scale was absorbing the energy around the spacetime rift to replenish itself, constantly strengthening itself!

However, precisely because there were such results, he was calm.

Don't be excited, now is the most critical moment.

Shao Qiming knew very well the importance of the God Scale to Su Zhou, and even to the universe... That was the beginning of all opportunities, and it was also the core component of the Great Seal.

Strengthening it could not only make Su Zhou's strength further, but also allow the power of the Great Seal to recover a little, curbing the increasingly fierce frenzy of the dependents with the recovery of many Great Existences.

The Zheng Nation side, even the entire Earth civilization, was advising Shao Qiming to wait and be careful—but how could that be possible? Su Zhou was fighting at the moment, in danger. If he didn't act, didn't help, how could he be worthy of Su Zhou's trust in giving him the God Scale aura?

He understood very well why the Earth civilization didn't seem to have any action now, because the fleet of the Earth civilization had set off along with the fleet of the Senostians, and was now resisting a war death star from the Trade Star System together with the Tarins. The high-end martial power of the entire Earth had gone to that direction, and even many powerhouses had brought the imperial weapons that guarded the Earth with them, just to protect their homes.

The current Earth could not spare much strength to explore the major spacetime realms. Only the members of the New World Exploration Department who specialized in this, and Shao Qiming, had been trying to find it.

At this moment, Shao Qiming planned to rest for a while, using the remaining supplies to replenish his full state, and then activate the God Scale aura, cross the spacetime rift, and enter the other side to find out.

However, just before Shao Qiming acted.

Suddenly, Shao Qiming sensed many huge power fluctuations, rising sharply from the distant Scarlet Hell spacetime gate, and then speeding towards his location!

"That, that is?!"

Shao Qiming opened his eyes wide, because those auras were too powerful, too familiar.

That was the aura of the 'artifacts' that suppressed civilizations in many Earth countries and forces!

Crimson Firmament Sword, Sun Shooting Bow, Mountain Driving Whip, Transmission Tower, Fire Sword Formation Road, Spear of Eternity...

One after another, the auras of the artifacts, either virtual or real, some were just an imprint that traveled through spacetime and could only briefly explode with full strength once, but some even came in physical form, which were the divine weapons that were left behind to guard the civilization on Earth!

But now, these divine imperial weapons all rose from every corner of the world and descended above Shao Qiming, surrounding him.

[If you are sure]

The young man could hear one exhausted or firm voice after another: [If you are really sure that going to the spacetime rift can help Su Zhou]

[Then go, taking the share of the entire Earth civilization with you]

[Then, tell him, he has never been fighting alone]