Before long, the last Demon Race team caught in the trap had been slaughtered.
Then the battlefield fell completely silent.
"You two were quick. Unlike the ones on our side, this team of near-Universe Level Generals had pretty strong wills. The illusion water couldn't drag them into an illusion, so we had to waste time killing them one by one!" Seeing that Li Ze and Jirui Yu had finished their assigned tasks and still had time to join the battle here, Lairui'er spoke to them with a smile.
"Captain, all the demons on our side were pulled straight into the illusion. We just had to collect their heads. Of course we were fast," Jirui Yu replied.
While they were talking, the brothers Lan Teng and Lan Kun, who had been sent to kill another Demon Race team, arrived as well.
Although the two of them had faced only one Demon Race team, they were both martial fighters, so their kills had taken the longest.
"Captain, could you allocate all the demon corpses we just collected to me in advance? I can use them to cultivate a secret art. You can deduct their value from my share of the other spoils later," Li Ze suddenly asked Lairui'er.
The others turned to look at Li Ze when they heard this, wondering what secret art required corpses. They had no objection to giving them to him in advance. Even if they took the corpses back, they would only sell them to the military's procurement department at a relatively low price. A few useful materials would be cut from them, and the rest would be dumped in the Garbage Starfield.
"All right. Everyone, give your demon corpses to Li Ze." After a moment's thought, Lairui'er agreed despite his curiosity and told everyone to hand the corpses over.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The members of the Tongfeng Team tossed corpse after corpse out of their Spatial Rings.
Using the act of storing them in his Spatial Ring as cover, Li Ze took all the corpses into his inner world.
Inside his inner world.
The demon corpses Li Ze had brought in lay piled on the ground like a small mountain.
Li Ze immediately began using the Golden Crow Body Refining Art, continuously pouring the original force within his body into the demon corpses before him.
After his Golden Crow physique had refined the life crystals last time, the first stage of the Golden Crow Body Refining Art had finally improved, raising his Golden Crow physique's gene level to 183 times the baseline.
His human body had remained at a gene level of 160 times the baseline because he lacked sufficient life energy.
For safety, Li Ze had left his Golden Crow physique in a World Ring inside his manor's castle before coming to the Space-time Fortress.
Thus, all the demon corpses he collected on the Space-time Fortress battlefield from now on would be used to increase his human body's gene level.
Driven by the original force within him, the demon corpses before him gradually dissolved, becoming streams of red flesh-and-blood essence that flew into the air. Lines formed from this essence traced out a profound Hexagonal Pattern.
Wisps and threads of life energy were extracted from the flesh-and-blood essence, gathering at the center of the Hexagonal Pattern to form a liquid that radiated a multicolored glow.
Once enough liquid had accumulated, it began dripping down.
When the liquid touched the ground of his inner world, it vanished, merging directly into the original force within Li Ze and flowing throughout his body.
Some merged into his physical body, while some merged into his Life Core.
Hiss!
A Soul Crystal Ball densely covered in countless red secret patterns flew straight into the sea of consciousness at the center of his brain.
A Force Crystal Ball remained in his dantian.
The Psychic Power Crystal Ball and Force Crystal Ball each shot out 720 energy threads almost simultaneously, rapidly penetrating the 720 key energy acupoints throughout his body.
"Condense!" The Soul Crystal Ball and Force Crystal Ball shuddered violently, each shooting out 36,000 energy threads that instantly merged into every part of Li Ze's body. The densely packed energy threads connected every part of him, forming what seemed like an entirely new network of energy meridians.
The 72,000 crystalline threads circulated constantly, perfectly uniting the Soul Crystal Ball, Force Crystal Ball, and his body as one.
Strands of life energy traveled continuously along the 72,000 fine threads and 1,440 main threads to every part of his body.
Li Ze felt waves of pleasure emanating from his body as the life energy merged into it—the joy of his level of life rising.
His gene level increased little by little. Though the progress was slow, he could feel it at every moment.
At the same time, profound mystic patterns gradually multiplied on the Origin Core inside his body. The world within the Origin Core expanded bit by bit, and the soul at its center grew stronger by tiny increments.
Back on the battlefield, the Tongfeng Team discussed the details of the battle, the shortcomings of their trap, and how they could improve it.
None of them knew that Li Ze's strength was steadily increasing as they spoke.
"We need to move somewhere else before using the baiting plan again. The Demon Race teams aren't idiots. We've wiped out seven teams in the same area, so they should have realized it's a trap by now. Staying here won't gain us much, and we might even draw in those fellows from the Demon Race Royal Family or royal lineages. We're not ready to fight them yet," Captain Lairui'er told everyone.
Everyone nodded, agreeing with their captain.
"Then we'll use the same formation as when we first came in and explore in another direction. We'll also send the location of our current combat zone to the Human Race teams so they won't be affected by the illusion water and Ji Mo liquid left here." Seeing no objections, Lairui'er began assigning their next tasks.
He also sent information about their current combat zone through the communications channel to warn the others.
Once everything was done, the Tongfeng Team set off to explore another area.
Time passed. Slaughter unfolded constantly in the Space-time Fortress, and Universe level beings who would have been considered powerful figures in the outside universe fell one after another.
Two months passed in the blink of an eye.
During those two months, Li Ze's team hunted and fought dozens of times.
At first, the Tongfeng Team's baiting plan allowed them to hunt down several Alien Race teams at a time. But after fewer than ten uses, no more Alien Race teams fell for it. The powerful aliens of the Demon Race and Mechanical Race passed information among themselves, and all learned that a powerful team of Universe Level Generals was using bait to set traps and slaughter other teams.
Their final attempt at baiting nearly ended in disaster. Seven teams of Mechanical Race Universe Level Generals surrounded them with a massive number of Mechanical Puppets. Although the Tongfeng Team ultimately fought their way out with their formidable strength, Shantuo was badly wounded in that battle.
Li Ze had unleashed movement techniques incorporating the law of space origin, stored Shantuo in his Spatial Ring, and brought him out.
After that, the Tongfeng Team abandoned the baiting plan and began engaging in genuine battles.
With two months gone, the teams still surviving in the Space-time Fortress were all cautious and powerful.
During battle, once they realized they were no match for their opponents, they would break away even at a cost, then flee desperately!
As a result, the further things progressed, the slower their rate of killing aliens became.
However, while their killing rate fell, the rate at which they gained points increased.
The later they killed an opponent, the more points that opponent carried.
Individual Scoreboard (493752/1000000) 1. Feng He (1st Legion 1st Brigade Lanmeng Team): 7369 points 2. Yuting Tu (46th Legion 1st Brigade Jiuming Team): 6992 points 3. Nether Frog Si (71st Legion 1st Brigade 7th Team): 6317 points 27. Li Ze (5th Legion 1st Brigade Tongfeng Team): 5164 points
The Individual Scoreboard showed that more than half the Human Race Universe level soldiers who had entered the battlefield had already died in combat.
The top rankings had also changed considerably since the beginning.
With his wide array of methods for fighting enemies, Li Ze had killed aliens far faster than the others during the early battles against Alien Race teams. He currently had the highest score in the entire Tongfeng Team.
Team Scoreboard (7973/13000) 1. 71st Legion 1st Brigade 7th Team: 17639 points 2. 1st Legion 1st Brigade Lanmeng Team: 16332 points 3. 46th Legion 1st Brigade Jiuming Team: 11649 points 11. 5th Legion First Brigade Tongfeng Team: 9918 points
Nearly eight thousand teams remained on the Team Scoreboard. This was because most soldiers who had died early on belonged to elite Universe level teams composed of a hundred members. Thus, although more than half the soldiers had died, a relatively large number of teams remained.
Team Scoreboard 1. Demon Race: 543243 points 2. Human Race: 491771 points 3. Mechanical Race: 488319 points
On the scoreboard for the three great races, the Demon Race maintained a narrow lead thanks to its early points advantage and the strength of its Royal Family and royal lineage teams.
The Mechanical Race and Human Race had similar scores, and their rankings kept switching.
Outside the battlefield, the senior military officers of the Three Races on the Fourth Outer Domain Battlefield were watching the scenes within.
By now, the Universe level teams of all Three Races were thoroughly intermingled throughout the Space-time Fortress.
Each Universe level team was like a band of hunters. While carefully concealing themselves, they also worked hard to detect other teams. Once they found an opponent, a major battle could erupt at any moment.
"The first two months of the Sacred Mountain Battle are over. The teams still alive are either powerful or know how to conceal themselves better. From here on, the stronger combat teams will be fighting it out," a bald King-level Immortal whose earlobes reached his shoulders told the other King-level Immortals beside him.
"Those Demon Race scum had members of their Royal Family and royal lineages enlist early to participate in the Sacred Mountain Battle. Their strength is clearly greater than that of the other teams. The royal lineage teams are manageable. Two or three teams of Universe Level Generals can join forces to stand against them, or even surround and kill them. But that team of ten Demon Race Royal Family members is upsetting the balance. Five of our Human Race Universe Level General teams have already died at their hands," said a blue, elf-like King-level Immortal beside him as he watched the Demon Race Royal Family team on the screen.
"From what we've seen, every member of that Demon Race Royal Family team would qualify for the fourth or fifth floor of the Tongtian Bridge by our Human Race's assessment standards. Against Universe level soldiers who haven't received systematic training, they certainly have a tremendous advantage," an ape-man King-level Immortal added.
"Still, we do have a few Human Race Universe level soldiers in this Space-time Fortress who can just about hold their own against them. Feng He of the Fengfeng Tribe, for example, was already at the level of the Tongtian Bridge's fourth floor. After his breakthrough in the law of space origin half a month ago, his strength should have advanced further," said the bald King-level Immortal with the long earlobes.
"Yes, and there's Si of the Nether Frog Tribe's team, Ling He of the 4th Legion 1st Brigade 33rd Team, and Li Ze of the Tongfeng Team. The strength those soldiers have shown has also reached the Tongtian Bridge's fourth-floor level. They should be able to contend with the Demon Race's Royal Clan Team," the ape-man King-level Immortal said.
"Look, the Tongfeng Team has been spotted by a Demon Race royal lineage unit." A Werewolf King-level Immortal suddenly fixed his gaze on a scene on the screen and spoke to the others.
At the Werewolf Immortal's words, everyone turned to look at the screen.
These King-level Immortals cared more than anyone about the outcome of the Sacred Mountain Battle.
The Human Race's King-level Immortals on the Fourth Outer Domain Battlefield would ultimately compete for the slots to enter the Qishen Treasure Vault. Every additional slot meant another chance to enter. If they happened to obtain a treasure or inheritance suited to them inside, their strength could improve tremendously.
While the many Immortals outside discussed the situation on the battlefield, the Tongfeng Team encountered its first Demon Race royal lineage team since entering the battlefield.
To be continued.
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