Total War, Territory Lost

After conveying the instructions from Primeval Cosmos Supreme, Bright Moon Supreme looked at Lin Yi and added, "Star Abyss, Sister Chu Yu specifically instructed that all the core resource vaults, top-tier secret realms, and inheritance treasure troves controlled by the Spirit Race will be completely open to you. If you have any needs in your cultivation, you can tell me directly. I will send you a detailed list of resources later."

Upon hearing this, the Eternal Beginning Dominator immediately replied, "My Human Race is naturally the same. Star Abyss, take whatever you need from the clan's treasury."

The Supreme One personally promised to fully open up the core resources that the Spirit Race had accumulated over countless years to him. If Lin Yi had heard such news under normal circumstances, he would probably have been overjoyed.

This means that there will be almost no more resource bottlenecks on his path to higher realms, allowing him to improve his strength at the fastest speed.

But at this moment, Lin Yi felt no joy whatsoever.

Because... is it really too late?

He has just been promoted to Dominator, and his Spacetime Dual Origin Law are perfected, but there is still an incredibly long way to go before he can achieve the legendary Nine Origin Law and reach the Supreme Realm.

Even with his exceptional talent and abundant resources, it would still take him a long time.

Moreover, even if he were to become a Supreme Being by chance, facing the unknown terror that could erode the entire universe, it would simply mean that there were five Supreme Beings instead of four. How much of a difference could that make?

Time, time is the thing we lack most.

How long can that faint, fading light on the giant clam's shell last?

One year? Ten years?

Or is it an Epoch?

Everything is unknown, filled with enormous uncertainty.

These thoughts flashed through Lin Yi's mind rapidly, bringing with them a heavy sense of pressure.

But he quickly suppressed these distracting thoughts.

There's no point in thinking about it now. As Bright Moon Supreme said, the only thing we can do is to do our best and leave the rest to fate.

Seize every minute and second, and do your utmost to improve yourself and strengthen your community.

"Thank you, Bright Moon Supreme, thank you, Master," Lin Yi said. "I will make good use of these resources."

Zhaoyue nodded slightly, and the Eternal Beginning Dominator also gave her a look that said, "Go ahead and do it."

The brief virtual meeting has ended.

The consciousnesses of the Eternal Beginning Dominator and Lin Yi quickly returned to the virtual space that gathered all the Human Race's lords.

The group of venerable lords were whispering among themselves when they saw the two rulers reappear, and they immediately focused their attention on them.

The Eternal Beginning Dominator briefly recounted the results of his communication with the Bright Moon Supreme.

... That is the situation. An external threat has been confirmed, and it is eroding our universe in ways we cannot comprehend. The Primeval Cosmos Supreme has held emergency consultations with the Supremes of the Abyss Race and the Devouring Race. Prior to this, the Pan-Spirit Alliance's stance was clear: at all costs, in the highest state of war, to enhance overall strength in the shortest possible time!

Then, his expression turned solemn, and he slowly said, "Therefore, I hereby announce: From this moment forward, the Clan Merit Treasury, except for reserving 10% as an absolute strategic bottom-line reserve, will be fully open to all other resources! The requirements for exchanging contribution points will be reduced by another 50% from the current level! All resources will be prioritized for those with the potential to reach higher realms, and for the development of combat readiness and defense systems!"

Despite being mentally prepared, all the lords were still shaken when they heard the extremely specific measures such as "keeping only a minimum 10% warning line", "fully open", and "reducing contribution points by another 50%".

This means that the vast resources accumulated by Human Race over countless Epoch will be consumed almost frantically in the near future, just to gain a sliver of hope.

But no one raised any objections.

Faced with a crisis that threatens the very survival of the universe, all reserves become meaningless.

Unused resources will eventually perish along with the universe.

"The detailed implementation rules and resource allocation priority plan will be issued by the committee within three standard days," the Eternal Beginning Dominator. "Everyone, get back and mobilize immediately! Meeting adjourned!"

No one said anything more, and the figures quickly disappeared.

The virtual space became empty again.

The Eternal Beginning Dominator looked at Lin Yi: "Star Abyss, the same goes for you. Don't have any worries. If you need anything, just go and get it. Every bit of your strength that increases may bring us a greater chance of success."

"I understand." Lin Yi nodded emphatically.

Upon returning to reality, Lin Yi, who was in the quiet room of the Star Abyss Hall, immediately connected to the Clan Merit Treasury.

At the same time, he also received a list of resources that the Spirit Race had made available to him from Bright Moon Supreme.

The resources there are astonishingly vast.

Lin Yi didn't waste time being sentimental.

He filtered out those treasures that were not of much use to him at his current stage, and focused his attention on resources that could help him comprehend the Origin Law life and accelerate the accumulation of divine power.

"Xuanji," he instructed, "Request the following resources according to this list: 100 units of Wanling Essence, 30 fragments of the Ancient Tree of Life's core, 50 strands of Reincarnation Breath; for divine power accumulation, 500 units of Chaos Source Essence (Advanced)..."

Each item Lin Yi mentioned would normally be a priceless treasure that Spirit Race Lord would need to accumulate over countless years to exchange for.

But at this moment, the Spirit Race gave it to him for free.

Soon after Lin Yi submitted his request, a Spirit Race deity with Space Law delivered the items.

Time flew by as they raced against the clock in their training.

Silver Blue Star and even the entire Human Race territory have entered an unprecedented state of high-speed operation.

The cultivation holy land, which used to require a large amount of merit points to exchange for, is now overcrowded. Laboratories and research centers are brightly lit, and the border defense system is constantly being upgraded and reinforced.

A silent yet extremely oppressive atmosphere of war enveloped every corner.

Thanks to the full support of resources from the Spirit Race and the Human Race, Lin Yi's cultivation progressed extremely quickly.

He immersed himself in the vast ocean of the Origin Law of life, using the "Marrow of Wanling" to comprehend the mysteries of life's birth and evolution, experiencing the resilience and vitality of life through the "Core Fragment of the Ancient Tree of Life," and touching the edge of life's cycle and transformation in the "Breath of Reincarnation."

In the blink of an eye, nearly an Epoch has passed.

Star Abyss Hall, Lin Yi slowly opened his eyes.

In just one Epoch, thanks to the accumulation of abundant resources and the assistance of Spiritual Enlightenment Qi, the Main Body's comprehension of the Origin Law life has advanced to 77%.

This is an astonishing rate of progress.

But there was no joy on his face.

77%, still quite a distance from perfection.

And time...

Just then...

Lin Yi felt a chill run down his spine.

Another image of a soul forcefully intruded into his consciousness.

It was still that boundless darkness and churning black mist, still those dense, nauseating slime monsters.

But the scene is different now!

Last time, a faint glow could still be seen stubbornly resisting on the giant clam's shell, but now... it has been completely extinguished!

Once that protective layer was removed, the dull, rough, grayish-white clam shell was exposed to the direct erosion of the black mist.

The thick shell was riddled with holes from corrosion!

And those slime monsters, just like sharks that smell blood, desperately squeezed into those holes.

Their bodies wriggled and pulled, trying to stretch the hole wider so that more of their kind could pour in.

The footage was brief, yet it conveyed an incredibly clear message.

The barrier has been breached; the enemy... is invading!

Lin Yi's heart tightened suddenly.

Almost simultaneously.

"Master! Urgent communication!" Xuanji's voice suddenly rang out, "From the Cosmic Defense General Headquarters! Highest priority, red alert!"

The Cosmic Defense General Headquarters was established after an emergency consultation between the Primeval Cosmos Supreme and the Supreme Beings of Darkness and Frost Rainbow. It was spearheaded by the three peak races and jointly established with the Pan-Spirit Alliance, the Abyss Race, the Devouring Race, and all their affiliated forces. Its purpose is to coordinate the power of the entire universe to deal with crises.

Lin Yi answered the call immediately.

"Warning! Warning! Multiple unknown erosion holes have appeared in the Main Universe! Extraterrestrial invasion confirmed!"

"Invading Unit: Formed as an amorphous, slimy creature, tentatively named Chaos Beast." Preliminary energy detection indicates that the energy level of a single unit has reached the Venerable Lord Rank!

"Invasion locations: Spanning the void of the Main Universe and the vicinity of the Chaos Cosmic Sea! Coordinates are as follows."

Combat Characteristics: Chaos Beasts use unknown energy attacks, similar in nature to chaotic energy currents, but with extremely strong chaotic and destructive characteristics. Caution! Chaos Beasts possess a high degree of mimicry ability; upon contact with a combat unit, they will quickly imitate the opponent's form and some of its combat techniques!

"All combat units in each War Zone, immediately enter maximum combat readiness! Report any discovered erosion holes immediately, and delay and intercept them as much as possible! Repeat, report immediately and intercept!"

As the alarm sounded, images flashed through Lin Yi's mind:

At the edge of a desolate star field, the void suddenly cracked open with an irregular hole tens of thousands of kilometers in diameter. Thick black mist gushed out, and a constantly writhing and changing dark slime monster squeezed out of it, followed closely by another one.

A deity arrived to investigate, but the moment they met, a stream of chaotic gray-black energy shot out from the Chaos Beast, instantly annihilating the deity's attack and eroding and dissolving the deity along with its protective divine power.

Elsewhere, in the blurred boundary between the Chaos Cosmic Sea and the Main Universe, several Chaotic Beasts are fighting with Chaotic Beasts.

The bodies of those chaotic beasts rapidly changed during the battle, with shells and claws resembling those of chaotic beasts appearing on their surfaces. Their attack methods also became more targeted. Although not as sophisticated as the originals, combined with their own chaotic energy and powerful basic strength, they quickly tore several chaotic beasts apart.

Footage also shows that in a remote star sector of the Spirit Race, a Chaos Beast, after devouring a warship, wriggled and mimicked the warship's shape, only entirely black and emanating an ominous aura, before continuing its flight into the star sector...

The alarm sounded throughout the universe.

In the early stages, the number of Chaos Beasts was small, with only a few seeping in through the newly appeared holes.

Thanks to the rapid response system established after the establishment of the Cosmic Defense General Headquarters, and the fact that all races had already reached the highest level of combat readiness, these sporadic invaders were quickly dealt with.

Upon receiving the alert, the dominant beings of each race acted immediately, using their overwhelming strength and the pre-deployed monitoring system to quickly locate and eliminate the vast majority of initial invasion points.

A few chaotic beasts were captured alive by the Overlord using control-type arcane arts. After being sealed in multiple layers, they were urgently sent to the top research institutions of various races for research and analysis, in an attempt to find their weaknesses or behavioral patterns.

Meanwhile, under the unified coordination of the Space Defense Command, an even larger and more tragic plan began to be implemented.

The migration of population and the Spark of civilization.

Faced with an invasion war that could spread throughout the universe and whose scale and duration are unpredictable, it has become a consensus to relocate a portion of the population and potential offspring to relatively safe interior spaces.

The internal space here mainly refers to the Internal World or Divine Kingdom of a powerful being.

The order was issued swiftly.

Each race began screening qualified individuals: young, promising geniuses, elites who had mastered key technologies or knowledge, and preservers of civilization's history and gene pool... The list was compiled with extremely high efficiency.

However, reality is cruel.

Even if all the powerful beings above the World Derivation level in the entire universe were mobilized and their Divine Kingdom or Internal World were brought to their fullest potential, the proportion of the population that could be transferred would be less than one percent, or even lower, compared to the vast population of each race spread across countless star systems.

Those who were not chosen could only remain where they were, strengthen their defenses, and pray that disaster would not befall their star system.

The entire universe was shrouded in a tragic and oppressive atmosphere of separation and impending war.

In terms of defensive tactics, the Cosmic Defense General Headquarters has formulated a preliminary plan: with Venerable Lord Rank powerhouse as the core, each leader will lead one hundred to one thousand gods to form a mobile squad, responsible for intercepting and sealing newly emerging holes.

As a strategic mobile force, the Dominator-level powerhouses no longer confine themselves to a particular territory. Instead, based on intelligence from the General Headquarters, they are ready to clean up the messes left by those Venerable Lords who haven't plugged the holes.

The Supreme Being... as the pinnacle of combat power in the universe, is responsible for overseeing emergencies and is ready to take action in areas where the situation has completely collapsed.

Lin Yi naturally also joined this sudden war.

The speed and efficiency of the spacetime master are extremely high.

A flash of silver-gray light, Lin Yi had already traversed the endless starry sky, appearing on the battlefield.

The time-slowing field spread out, instantly slowing down the chaotic beast's frantic writhing and attack speed by ten thousand times.

The spatial cutter fell silently, precisely severing and isolating their slimy bodies, while the silver-gray vortex formed by the spacetime strangulation annihilated the chaotic beasts along with the black mist they emitted.

His arrival often quickly stabilized the local battle situation and saved the defense line from collapse.

However, as time went on, the situation did not improve; instead, it got worse.

Initially, only a few new holes appeared each year, but later the number increased to dozens, then hundreds... The number and frequency of Chaos Beasts infiltrating also skyrocketed.

Worse still, amidst this intense fighting and constant movement, Lin Yi noticed a disturbing change.

This change was very subtle. At first, he thought it was just a misperception caused by mental fatigue or excessive energy consumption from the high frequency of battles.

But after verifying it multiple times, he confirmed it.

As the number of holes increases, the environment inside the entire universe seems to be undergoing some kind of adverse shift.

The most direct manifestation of this lies in his scheduling and application of the Origin Law.

After perfecting the dual Origin Law space and time, his control over time and space should have been effortless, with time and space following his every thought.

But recently, he has found that he needs to concentrate more of his spirit and invest more of his Soul Power in order to maintain the stable existence and efficient operation of his three clones.

The extra energy consumption becomes even more apparent, especially when long-distance teleportation or high-intensity spacetime operations are required.

It's as if... the universe itself has become viscous, or rather, the very foundation supporting the manifestation of the Origin Law is being contaminated.

Another testament to his abilities comes from one of his core strengths: resurrection.

During a support operation, a squad of gods led by a Human Race lord failed to seal the hole in time. Although Lin Yi arrived in time to eliminate the enemy, the squad was almost completely wiped out, the lord was seriously injured, and nearly a hundred gods disintegrated on the spot.

Lin Yi immediately used resurrection.

But this process became exceptionally difficult.

His consciousness was like swimming upstream against a more turbulent river, each step consuming more mental energy and strength than ever before.

The River of Time itself seems to have become more turbid and turbulent, greatly increasing the difficulty of locating the soul's imprint.

In the end, he only managed to resurrect two-thirds of the fallen gods this time.

The remaining third can only be tried again next time after he has recovered.

Resurrection failed.

This was an extremely rare occurrence after Lin Yi mastered the Spacetime Origin Law.

As Lin Yi withdrew his consciousness from the River of Time, his face was pale, and a sense of weakness and stinging pain came from the depths of his soul, indicating that the consumption had far exceeded his expectations.

He gazed at the spot where the soldiers who had failed to return had once stood, and remained silent for a moment.

"My Lord, is even resurrection...?"

The severely injured lord could naturally sense the changes in the universe, but he did not expect them to be so serious. Ignoring his injuries, he hurriedly came over to ask.

"Indeed, the cosmic environment... has changed." Lin Yi didn't elaborate, simply stating, "Return to the rear immediately to rest and report on the battle situation. The current situation... needs to be reassessed."

He looked up into the depths of the starry sky, where it seemed empty, but he knew that the invisible holes were like scars on the universe, constantly growing in unseen places.

The invasion of Chaos Beasts is a visible threat.

This slow erosion and weakening of the universe's internal environment is an even more deadly, hidden crisis.

If even the application of the Origin Law becomes difficult, if even the success rate of resurrection drops drastically... then the very foundation upon which they rely to fight and survive is being shaken.

The situation is sliding into an even deeper abyss.

Two more Epoch passed.

In a certain asteroid ruins within the Human Race realm, Lin Yi Main Body opened his eyes.

Deep within his eyes, the emerald glow of life and the deep gray shadow of death flashed alternately, finally settling into the silvery-gray stillness of time and space.

The Origin Law of life, 100%, completely mastered!

This should have been a breakthrough to celebrate.

But Lin Yi's face showed no joy, only a heavy calm.

Because he could clearly feel that his actual combat strength had hardly improved compared to two Epoch ago, and even... now that the cosmic environment was becoming increasingly viscous and the mobilization of the Origin Law was becoming increasingly difficult, he could only barely maintain his original level of combat strength to ensure that there was no significant decline.

The holes in the Main Universe have evolved from being scattered in a few places to now being festering sores all over the universe.

Under the overall coordination of the Cosmic Defense Command, with the three peak races of the Pan-Spirit Alliance, the Abyss Race, and the Devouring Race at the core, all intelligent races painstakingly built a line of defense that resisted step by step.

But the situation is still deteriorating, and the rate of deterioration is accelerating.

According to the latest battle report from the General Headquarters, more than 30% of the Main Universe has been completely lost.

There, stars have died out, galaxies have collapsed, leaving only eternal darkness and death.

Even worse is what lies outside the cosmic bubble.

The Chaos Cosmic Sea outside the cosmic bubble has long since become a paradise for chaotic monsters. The good news is that it seems only chaotic monsters that are close to the cosmic bubble and can sense the existence of the life world inside are attracted in.

But this "good news" is just a sliver of self-comfort in despair.

After 30% of the area fell, resources began to become visibly scarce, and a near-numb despair, like a plague, spread to every corner behind the defense line.

However, strong discipline and the instinct for survival kept all the individuals who were still alive and capable of fighting mechanically carrying out orders and holding fast to their posts.

Human Race territory, Third Rapid Response Legion.

This force is led by the Xuan Yan and consists of more than two hundred deities, divided into several tactical squads.

After several Epoch of battles, the war strategy is now clearly defined:

Once a new erosion hole is discovered, it must be sealed off as quickly as possible, in its early stages before the chaotic beasts flood in on a large scale.

This is the most efficient and lowest-cost defense method.

Because if a newly appearing hole is not sealed off immediately, the Chaos Beast will gain a foothold.

If a "beachhead" is established, the area will quickly turn into a bloody battlefield requiring massive troop deployments and repeated back-and-forth battles.

Those overlords and supreme beings who are constantly on the go are often cleaning up the mess left by areas where they failed to plug the breaches in time, and dealing with the swarms of chaotic monsters that have already gained momentum.

At the execution level, Venerable Lord Rank expert leads a squad of gods under his command to form a rapid response force. Once an abnormal spatial fluctuation is detected in a specific area, indicating that a new hole is about to form or has just formed, the force will immediately go to carry out the "blocking/sealing" mission.

Besides assisting the Lord, the role of those deities is more importantly to enable them to quickly reach the battlefield through the Divine Kingdom channels they have built throughout the defense zone.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the command hall where Xuan Yan was stationed was extremely tense.

He was standing in front of a huge holographic star map. On the star map, at the edge of a desolate star field marked "K-7783", a glaring red warning signal was flashing.

"We have just received urgent intelligence from General Headquarters: at the edge of the K-7783 star system, spatial distortion fluctuations suspected to be caused by new erosion holes have been detected. The energy response has reached the threshold of the Venerable Lord Rank and is showing a rapid increasing trend."

Xuan Yan turned around, his gaze sweeping over Thousand Illusions, Ming Luo, and the other deities standing before him. "The command center has determined that this is a breach that is about to form, and it must be sealed off before it becomes fully stable!"