Even before the matter was explained, Ji Jue had already sensed its severity.
After all, he found it hard to imagine what could leave the Grand Elder so weary and troubled. In fact, he had even prepared for the worst-case scenario: revealing his Sin Corruption form and knifing Xu Chao Xian in the night.
But that was not it.
It was worse.
The unrest triggered by the Sacrificial Temple over a month ago had not merely been limited to the worldwide purge and suppression of the Evil Transformation Cult. It had been more like... a fuse.
Adding fuel to the fire.
Coupled with the chain reaction caused by the Emperor being severely injured and hospitalized in the intensive care unit, the entire world had been thrown into upheaval.
This revealed just how vast and terrifying Celestial Origin was.
Even an insignificant ripple, endlessly magnified, could become a destructive tsunami. And when the dust of an era settled somewhere, it became a catastrophe that shattered heaven and earth.
The Empire had launched its fourth large-scale troop deployment to Central Earth, while a new Garrison Base was already under construction on the Endless Sea. Once it was completed, its brand-new Long-Range Missile Launch Base would place Central City squarely within its maximum strike range. In retaliation, the Federation deployed the Leviathan Fleet for patrols, while its aerial Giant strike formations began to mobilize.
Both sides sharpened their weapons and stood at the brink of war, as though conflict could break out at any moment. As a result, prices for fuel, grain, medicine, rubber, and other commodities on international markets surged even further, while the prices of vast quantities of goods on the futures market began to plummet...
After their remote standoff, neither side showed any sign of actually fighting, yet the assets