Pseudo Stargate!

Qian was heaven, Kun was earth; thus, Qiankun often referred to heaven and earth. In the Cultivation World, it was used to describe the concept of "space."

Wang Jixuan had just sensed spatial fluctuations similar to a teleportation array when, less than ten seconds later, Peony's urgent warning came through his headset:

"Red Snake is under attack!"

"Commander! Unusual Energy Riot has suddenly been detected near Red Snake's convoy. The bio-radar has detected hundreds... thousands of targets!"

"These targets have split into two groups. A small portion is attacking Red Snake, while the majority is charging toward the Agricultural Fortress dozens of kilometers away!"

Daoist Wang looked at the Soul-Capturing Talisman that had flown back to him.

Perhaps the Beast Speaker's memories contained relevant clues.

"Have the planes land. We'll leave first."

Daoist Wang did not take command without authorization. There were more qualified people to handle such matters.

Though he was worried about Red Snake's safety, he clearly remembered that Fu Jian had hidden some combat strength around her, specifically to deal with potential ambushes.

A certain Second Generation Mecha that had just been revived by a Crane Origin Pill was hiding among Red Snake's convoy, leading a group of Autonomous Mechs.

As long as no King-Class Blade Beast teleported over afterward, Red Snake should be able to hold out until their reinforcements arrived if she fled for her life.

Besides, that was the heartland of the D5 camp. Their support would inevitably arrive faster.

The two transport planes adjusted their engine angles and rapidly descended vertically.

Before they had fully landed, Peony delivered two more pieces of bad news.

"Commander, Blade Beast Swarms along every border have erupted. They have begun attacking our border lines like mad."

"In our direction, those three King-Class Blade Beasts have begun accelerating. They have abandoned most of their packs and are leading a small number of High-Tier and Mid-tier Blade Beasts through the Underground Passage at high speed toward this area."

Wang Jixuan immediately said, "Plot their routes and find the convergence point."

As the transport plane was about to land, Wang Jixuan took a long stride and jumped inside.

By the time he returned to his seat, Peony had already marked the area where the three King-Class Blade Beasts' routes converged.

The marked area was more than two hundred kilometers away.

It exactly matched the area where Wang Jixuan had previously sensed the spatial fluctuations!

"Commander, urgent call from Commander Fu Jian."

"Mm," Wang Jixuan replied. Peony had already connected the call.

Fu Jian stood before a wall of screens. His mechanical face carried a trace of solemnity as he said slowly:

"Your operation has already achieved initial results. The King-Class Evangelist has not appeared, which was within our expectations. Withdraw immediately, establish a defensive line, and do not take any risks."

Wang Jixuan asked directly, "When will reinforcements reach Red Snake?"

"They are already being deployed. Oriole Highland Fortress No. 39 is under greater threat, so nearby firepower is being prioritized for that fortress."

Fu Jian asked:

"I contacted you suddenly because I wanted to ask: do Blade Beasts possess spatial transportation technology? Or do Spiritual Practitioners possess such technology?"

"Yes. Don't forget how the Blade Beasts came to this planet—the Stargate."

Wang Jixuan shook the Soul-Capturing Talisman in his hand.

"If I obtain any intelligence later, I'll report it to you. Please support Red Snake as much as possible. I can't get there in time. Also, we cannot retreat now."

"Cannot retreat?" Fu Jian frowned.

"The King-Class Evangelist is most likely in this area."

Wang Jixuan pointed at the flashing red light on the map.

He spoke quickly:

"The Beast Speaker was attacked. The direction the King-Class Evangelist fled was this way.

"Just now, I sensed spatial fluctuations here. Powerful fluctuations.

"There is a strong possibility that some large Blade Beast facility is hidden here. Those three King-Class Blade Beasts are all converging on this place. We cannot rule out the possibility that they are rushing to a teleportation array to teleport directly into our heartland.

"So, to be safe, we must go there!"

Fu Jian immediately said, "Understood. Black Shell will lead the investigation team there. You return."

"I can help," Wang Jixuan said. "The situation underground is incredibly complicated. Even if you deploy detectors, who knows how long it will take. Besides... if we find this Teleportation Gate, we can reinforce Red Snake and Fortress No. 39 faster. It's only two hundred kilometers from here."

The hesitation in Fu Jian's eyes lasted only three seconds.

"Fine. I accept your suggestion, but from now on, you must obey Black Shell's orders."

"No problem. I definitely won't act recklessly."

Wang Jixuan made a gesture and ended the call himself.

Without needing his orders, the transport formation had already received its command. It turned directly around and led the massive air group toward the area Peony had marked.

Wang Jixuan removed his helmet.

He let out a soft breath, sat in his seat, closed his eyes, and meditated. His spiritual awareness spread far into the distance.

There was no time to count how much he had gained from the Beast Speaker's death. Right now, he had to make use of the unique function of his spiritual awareness.

He could clearly see that the crowded Blade Beasts in the Underground Passage were also converging on that area.

This confirmed his guess.

Peony periodically reported on Red Snake's situation. Red Snake's circumstances had already become extremely dire.

The Blood Refining Asura Array Wang Jixuan had activated earlier had consumed more than three thousand crystal cores in total.

Today's battle had fully proven the value of that grand formation.

Not only had the Buddha Hall Squad been able to suppress the Beast Speaker throughout the entire battle when its soul was on the verge of collapse, using Buddhist light to forcibly withstand the Beast Speaker's Mental Shock.

Red Snake, who had absorbed the final essence of the grand formation, had likewise displayed extraordinary combat power. Working with the surrounding Mechs, she endured the encirclement of dozens of Beast God Faction Psionicists while fighting and retreating.

Wang Jixuan watched the battle on Red Snake's side for a few moments, then casually shut off the feed.

Watching any longer would only distract him.

Distant water could not put out a nearby fire. If he opened up the situation here, he could likewise pressure the Blade Beasts and ease Red Snake's burden.

At Red Snake's location, the human side's fire support had already arrived.

The first batch of Mechs and Half-Human Mechs deployed from the air—forces originally serving as frontline reserves—would reach Red Snake's position in a little over ten minutes.

Wang Jixuan focused on searching underground. He had already hurriedly gone through the Soul-Capturing Talisman in his hand.

The Beast Speaker's fragmented memories had not left much useful information. There were only a few scattered exchanges with King-Class Blade Beasts.

They had mentioned an "imitation Stargate."

That seemed to be the source of this teleportation fluctuation.

Peony focused on gathering information from every direction and quickly relayed it to Wang Jixuan.

Daoist Wang's return from below made Peony feel especially close to him. He was gentle now, no longer carrying the coldness and pressure from before.

Peony liked this version of her commander.

"The first ones teleported over were Beast God Faction Psionicists and several hundred Preachers. Most of them charged toward that fortress."

"Afterward, large numbers of Blade Beasts appeared. They are all High-Tier Blade Beasts. Their numbers are steadily increasing—there are now over a thousand... already over two thousand... their main target is that Agricultural Fortress..."

Another ten minutes passed.

"Red Snake has been seriously injured. Our first reinforcements have arrived and are engaged in fierce combat."

Peony reported rapidly from beside him:

"A large number of Special Winged Dragons have been spotted in the air, around several dozen. They have split into six groups and are flying from deep within the Blade Beast-occupied zone toward us. We have dispatched additional fighter support."

"The Space Fortress is deploying twelve nuclear bombs to intercept the three King-Class Blade Beasts charging this way, as well as the King-Class Blade Beast Swarms rioting elsewhere. But they have also warned that weapon-grade Nuclear Material is now severely insufficient. They cannot sustain support for battles of this scale for long."

"Commander, Officer Ling Tong's side has achieved results. Target One, the King-Class Blade Beast, was seriously injured and fled underground. We are organizing Drilling Nuclear Bombs to bombard it."

"Instructor Black Shell is mobilizing the Half-Human Mech Group forward to support our forces."

"Terror Mechs are already advancing from the rear to continue suppressing that King-Class Blade Beast... They say we need more strength here."

"Good."

Wang Jixuan answered, about to speak when his brow suddenly throbbed wildly.

"All fighters, climb and evade! Attack from below!"

"Yes!"

Using Wang Zheng's authority, Peony directly issued the order through the command network.

The air group immediately climbed toward higher altitude.

Dense dark-green spheres of light suddenly rose from the land ahead.

High-Tier Blade Beast attacks!

They blanketed the sky, blotting out the sun. Those spheres had powerful corrosive properties.

The response was simple enough.

Large numbers of fighters released interference smoke, while drones circled around the manned fighters, intercepting the green spheres that penetrated the smoke screen.

Even so, fiery explosions began appearing in the sky.

Roughly a tenth of the air group was either directly destroyed or damaged badly enough to require emergency landings.

Zheng Shiduo's voice came through the helmet headset:

"Fuck! Look at the radar! That area ahead! Fuck! We found their nest!"

Their two transport planes flew side by side. At that moment, the radar display before Wang Jixuan had also become extremely clear.

A decapitated mountain had appeared ahead. The entire mountain had been hollowed out, filled with passages carved by Drill Worms. Those passages were packed densely with Mid-tier and High-Tier Blade Beasts.

The Blade Beasts seemed to be waiting for an opportunity to surge out of the earth and charge at the human raiders.

Wang Jixuan's spiritual awareness had yet to reach that area, but soon...

Comets fell from the sky!

Dozens of Drill Bombs came speeding from behind the air group, half of them falling toward the decapitated mountain.

Among those Drill Bombs, one missile carried a nonconventional warhead!

More than ten seconds later, the missile barrage struck the decapitated mountain.

The high-performance warheads blasted the mountain into a series of localized collapses, greatly reducing the red dots inside.

Another half minute later.

Accompanied by a powerful electromagnetic shock, the lights inside the transport plane flickered unsteadily. A clear collapse appeared midway up the decapitated mountain. The mountain shattered amid violent tremors, and waves of air burst from cracks in the ground.

A high-yield nuclear bomb had detonated underground!

On the bio-radar display, swathes of red dots vanished, and countless Blade Beast passages within the strata collapsed.

The decapitated mountain had sunk into three isolated peaks!

The air group swept past at high altitude, charging toward the area ahead where red lights flashed.

Wang Jixuan suddenly felt a sense of pressure.

This surprise attack—both its direction and overall decision-making—had actually been his call.

The resources consumed by every missile had been saved bit by bit from the rations of fortress residents.

The missile salvo was certainly spectacular, but the reckoning after the battle would be even more shocking.

Wang Jixuan wanted to give himself another dose of the Heavenly Gate secret technique.

If they came up empty-handed later, the Blade Beasts would certainly surround and attack them as they retreated...

Hm?

A sense of Spatial Distortion!

At the edge of Wang Jixuan's spiritual awareness, he detected obvious Spatial Distortion!

This distortion had appeared roughly five hundred meters underground.

As the transport plane sped forward, Wang Jixuan rapidly spread his spiritual awareness deeper underground.

He saw it!

Five kilometers ahead, eight hundred meters underground, was a massive hemispherical space.

A circular basin three kilometers in diameter had been inverted beneath the earth.

Around this space lay vast numbers of special Blade Beasts emitting blue light. They were blocking human radar detection.

But Wang Jixuan's spiritual awareness was an ability beyond the understanding of Blade Beasts and Spiritual Practitioners!

It came and went freely, seeing everything at a glance!

At the center of the sphere stood a huge Stone Hall. Around it were dozens of passages, with vast numbers of Blade Beasts pouring through each one. General-class and Sub-King-Class Blade Beasts waited in lines at the rear.

At the center of the Stone Hall stood a towering gate, and the King-Class Evangelist stood before it!

Groups of Blade Beasts rushed into the gate's membrane of light and vanished.

They found it!

Wang Jixuan breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed Peony's arm, pointed at the map, and said quickly:

"Mark this area! The Teleportation Gate is below, eight hundred meters underground! Tell them to send some nuclear bombs!"

"Yes!"

Peony immediately synchronized the information to Fu Jian.

The air group began circling. They did not dare descend directly, instead deploying drones and all kinds of bombs downward.

To carry out the Encirclement and Suppression of the King-Class Evangelist, their assault air group had brought large quantities of high-lethality weapons. Now they were finally useful.

After waiting roughly seven or eight minutes.

Several stealth bombers passed overhead. They were part of the flight formation dispatched by the Space Carrier, dropping seven Drilling Missiles downward.

Of the seven missiles, six were decoys and one was real. Only one carried a nuclear warhead.

The assault air group immediately evaded to both sides, avoiding the tragedy of aircraft destruction and deaths caused by powerful Electromagnetic Interference.

Dense sonic booms suddenly erupted from the forest below.

Wang Jixuan's spiritual awareness saw:

A group of strangely shaped Blade Beasts emerged from the forest. They spread six blade limbs, tadpole-shaped symbols lit up across their bodies, and they simultaneously fired their own blade limbs into the sky.

The blade limbs covered the sky. Everywhere he looked was blade light, moving at terrifying speed and wrapped in dense psionic energy.

A new anti-aircraft method evolved by the Blade Beasts?

The seven missiles had no way to evade. Their bodies were pierced full of blade limbs. The blade limbs exploded in midair, and all seven missiles disintegrated.

Wang Jixuan's Dao heart tightened.

He had thought that nuclear bomb, which was supposed to be sent underground for detonation, would explode in midair.

As an Intermediate Mechanic awaiting certification, Wang Jixuan had some common sense. If a nuclear bomb detonated in the air, the extreme heat and powerful shockwave would inflict damage across an enormous area.

He had X Armor, and the Peak Maid Group and Buddha Hall Squad should be fine as well, but the assault aircraft formation would probably be destroyed.

Fortunately, the nuclear bomb merely plunged toward the mountain forest below. The missile's Propulsion Device exploded, but the Nuclear Warhead itself was not detonated.

The nuclear bomb's safety mechanism.

Bzzzt!

Several holographic projections flashed into view before Wang Jixuan.

Fu Jian, stationed at the distant General Headquarters; Black Shell, aboard a nearby transport plane; and the entire Buddha Hall Squad on the neighboring aircraft.

Fu Jian frowned and asked, "Is the intelligence confirmed? The Teleportation Gate is underground in this area?"

"I've already provided markings accurate to the meter."

Wang Jixuan spoke quickly.

"Do we need to force the nuclear bomb down there?"

"Shell," Fu Jian said quietly, "at any cost. Also, Wang Zheng is not to participate in the battle that follows. Have him retreat as soon as possible."

"I refuse. We have Wu Man."

Wang Jixuan immediately summoned his flying sword.

"I have a way to send the nuclear bomb down from a distance and blow up this Teleportation Gate, but I now doubt whether a nuclear bomb can destroy it.

"There are many restrictions on the gate resembling those used by Spiritual Practitioners, and many of them have yet to be activated.

"This involves space. A distorted space has appeared around it... Perhaps we can only clear out the Blade Beasts near the Teleportation Gate. My suggestion is to send me to the ground first and give me a nuclear bomb. I can try sending it down with this sword and see what effect it has.

"Also, I discovered a large amount of extremely valuable mineral deposits below. I want to try collecting them, if conditions permit."

—That last sentence was something Wang Jixuan had made up. His spiritual sense had not yet had time to examine the area; the only thing that truly caught his eye was that gate.

Fu Jian said, "Shell, take command."

He directly cut off communications without saying anything further to Wang Jixuan.

Daoist Wang turned to look at Black Shell, a faint smile curling at his lips.

"Understood. Together."

Black Shell clicked his tongue, then turned and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"All units! Provide full-fire support to our area! Have the second echelon advance at full speed!

"All Half-Human Mechs in my unit! Put on your best armor! Don't lose to those Advanced Mechs we just unsealed!

"I'll give you thirty seconds to write your wills! Keep your ID tags on you, and don't make things harder for the brothers collecting bodies!

"In three minutes! Our unit will launch an assault on the area below! Kill those fucking Blade Beasts!"