The Choice

Li Ze faced the vast Mechanical Legion alone, driving the Enlightenment God Weapon in his hand with immense psychic power.

The nine red phantom swords it conjured turned into streaks of light and shot toward the Mechanical Puppets ahead at extreme speed.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions rang out in rapid succession. In the blink of an eye, nearly a hundred of the closest Mechanical Puppets were blasted backward. The tremendous force sent them crashing into the puppets behind them.

Dozens of Mechanical Puppets were scrapped when Li Ze's Enlightenment God Weapon knocked their internal components out of place. The others that had been blasted back suffered varying degrees of damage.

Under the control of the many hidden Mechanical Race soldiers, the remaining puppets launched all manner of attacks at Li Ze.

Li Ze retreated and dodged, evading every attack.

The nine red phantom swords under his control moved like lightning, appearing and vanishing without warning.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Mechanical Puppets made from C-grade and D-grade metals could not slow the phantom swords at all.

Every strike sent hundreds of Mechanical Puppets flying...

And so, the Mechanical Race's encirclement became a chase as Li Ze slipped through it with uncanny footwork. Under the relentless blows of the Enlightenment God Weapon, one puppet after another was destroyed.

One, two, three.

One hundred, two hundred, three hundred.

One thousand, two thousand, three thousand.

Sustained by his vast psychic power, Li Ze fought the Mechanical Puppet Legion like a tireless machine, attacking without pause.

Whenever his psychic power waned and the first trace of fatigue crept into his mind, wisps of Chaos Aura flowed from his soul, which had been transformed by the Chaos Bell within his Origin Core, to replenish him.

His psychic power recovered at once. He used it, replenished it, then used it and replenished it again.

Gradually, Li Ze's psychic power actually grew stronger. It was not an increase in quantity from advancing a level, but a change like iron being hammered into steel. His psychic power became more resilient.

His control over the Enlightenment God Weapon steadily improved as well. The power of its second form, Explosion Sword Style, kept rising, and each blow destroyed more Mechanical Puppets outright.

As time passed, the number of destroyed Mechanical Puppets climbed, while the pressure on Li Ze steadily eased.

"Lanmos, we need to change tactics. We can't keep wearing ourselves down like this. We only had a little over thirty thousand Mechanical Puppets, and we've already lost nearly ten thousand!"

In a small virtual communications space within the Space-time Fortress, a Mechanical Race team captain controlling puppets in the fight against Li Ze addressed Lanmos, their commander.

Lanmos did not answer immediately. His Intelligent Core was running at full speed.

After a long pause, Lanmos finally spoke.

"Everyone, according to the battlefield data, we have only three options for dealing with this human."

Lanmos spoke in a metallic voice devoid of emotion.

"Option one: all 190 of your remaining soldiers join the battle and intensify the attack. You may wound or even kill the human. Even if that fails, you can slow the loss of Mechanical Puppets and prolong the battle to see whether his psychic power runs out. But based on the data from the battle so far, this option has no more than a thirty-percent chance of success."

"Option two: detonate the remaining Mechanical Puppets on a large scale. Some of your 190 soldiers must attack him directly so he discovers you and tries to kill you in close combat. Once he enters the puppets' range, detonating more than five thousand at once will give you over a ninety-percent chance of killing him. But the blast will kill you as well."

"Option three: thanks to the earlier bombardment by the Space-time Spheres, our race has already earned a great many points. We now lead both the Human Race and the Demon Race. You can stop attacking and withdraw. If you tighten your defenses and hold out until the Sacred Mountain Battle ends, our race will win—provided that human does not pursue you."

"Everyone, which option do you choose?" Lanmos laid out his assessment in the same emotionless voice.

Though appointed temporary commander of the Mechanical Race for this Sacred Mountain Battle, he did not own the soldiers taking part. He could decide on major operations, but when a choice concerned the lives of so many Universe Level Generals, they had the right to decide whether to fight or stop.

Hearing Lanmos's three options, the Mechanical Race soldiers calculated silently within their Intelligent Cores.

"I choose to withdraw. If the human pursues us, we'll use the first option and wear him down. I refuse to believe one Universe level human can outlast the Mechanical Puppets controlled by so many of our soldiers!" a Mechanical Race team captain declared.

"Agreed!" "Agreed!" "Agreed!" "Agreed!"

The other Mechanical Race team captains still engaged in battle voiced their agreement.

After becoming Intelligent Life, the Mechanical Race had plainly developed the emotions of living beings. They knew joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. If their masters had ordered them to self-destruct, they might not have hesitated. But with the choice in their own hands, none of them would accept the second option: a mass detonation that would kill them too.

"Good. Prepare to withdraw. Once the retreat is complete, every Mechanical Race team in the Space-time Fortress will switch to defense. Minimize the chance of being discovered and killed," Lanmos ordered after hearing their decision.

Outside the Space-time Fortress, the Immortals of all three races watched the decisive battle intently.

As the Immortals had predicted before the fighting began, the first half of the battle had gone badly for the Demon Race. The Will Crystals had subjected their teams to Will Impact, leaving only a dozen or so demons with any fighting strength.

Soon afterward, members of the Demon Race Royal Family and Royal Clan teams were killed one by one by the Human Race. Even the Royal Clan Team captain, a descendant of the Dream Demon Ancestor, was killed by Li Ze.

At the Demon Race Immortals' position...

"We've lost! This Sacred Mountain Battle is over for the Demon Race! Damn those humans!" roared a Demon Race King-level Immortal. Seated upright, he had numerous tentacles and a long tail that gave him a scorpion-like shape. His face was twisted with rage.

The other King-level Immortals also let their discontented auras surge unchecked.

The Demon Race had prepared in advance for this Sacred Mountain Battle and, brimming with confidence, had proposed increasing the number of entry slots to the Qishen Treasure Vault at stake.

Instead, they were the first of the three races to be eliminated. For years to come, this Sacred Mountain Battle would surely make them a laughingstock among the great races of the universe. The Demon Race King-level Immortals who had participated would lose all face before their peers.

The King-level Immortals' hopes of securing more entry slots to the Qishen Treasure Vault had also come to nothing. Everyone present now had a far smaller chance of obtaining a slot.

Losing both face and the prize they had sought sent these ancient beings into a towering rage.

While the Demon Race Immortals vented their fury, matters were hardly reassuring on the Human Race side.

Many of the Human Race's top teams had defeated the Demon Race, only to die in the Mechanical Race's sudden assault.

After that, Li Ze had begun fighting the vast Mechanical Puppet Legion alone.

Many Immortals frowned as they watched him on the screen.

The surveillance footage from inside the Space-time Fortress could not show them the state of Li Ze's Original Force or psychic power. They feared he might suddenly run out of strength.

After all, Li Ze was now their only hope of defeating the Mechanical Race Legion.

"Li Ze shouldn't keep tangling with the Mechanical Puppet Legion," an Immortal Legion Commander seated on a metal platform said as he watched the screen. "He should break away first. Once the other injured members of our top teams recover, they can look for another opening. We might still win this Sacred Mountain Battle."

"Not necessarily," said a Giant Tiger Race Immortal Legion Commander beside him. "The young man looks calm. He must be confident in his condition. He's fought for so long, yet his attacks haven't weakened. If anything, the Enlightenment God Weapon is growing more powerful."

The other Human Race Immortals also discussed the battle unfolding on the screen.

"Look! The Mechanical Race is pulling back!"

After Li Ze had destroyed more than ten thousand Mechanical Puppets, the Mechanical Race Legion stopped pursuing him and retreated.

"What's going on? Li Ze is chasing them! He wants to keep the Mechanical Race from getting away!" A purple-haired female Immortal Legion Commander beside Xizes was startled by what she saw on the screen.

"Does he really have that much psychic power left?" she asked in disbelief.

"How can a Universe level fighter do that? At the same level, the Mechanical Race has so many Mechanical Puppets that prolonged battles are its greatest strength." The purple-haired Immortal Legion Commander looked to Xizes, her face full of questions.

Xizes stared at the screen, eyes bright, watching Li Ze pursue the Mechanical Race. He did not answer her.

"Hahaha! Li Ze is worthy of being my future disciple. He fights just like me!" King Yuchi, a King-level Immortal in Red Battle Armor who looked much like an Earth Human, laughed as he watched Li Ze give chase.

"Yu Chi, you have no shame! Since when did Li Ze become your disciple?" The King-level Immortal from the Virtual Universe Company beside him looked at the laughing King Yuchi with open disdain.

"Zhu Tian, why shouldn't Li Ze be my disciple? Once this Sacred Mountain Battle is over, I'll take him on even if it costs me something. His temperament is perfect for it," King Yuchi told King Zhutian with a grin.

The two had spent millions of years together on the Fourth Outer Domain Battlefield and fought side by side countless times. They were friends who had faced life and death together, so King Yuchi made no attempt to hide his determination to take Li Ze as his disciple.

Hearing that resolve, King Zhutian shook his head helplessly.

His old friend had lived for countless years, but ever since his first disciple had died without reaching Immortality, he had never taken another. King Zhutian had not expected this Sacred Mountain Battle to change his mind.

To be continued.

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