Racing to the Rescue-There Was Hope!

Lin Yi took the Dao Origin Hall communication emblem from his Divine Kingdom and held it in his palm.

The diamond-shaped emblem is emitting waves of very regular vibration.

With each surge of energy, the dark metallic luster on the emblem's surface rippled outwards like waves on water, while the fine, serrated markings around the edge flickered in and out of focus.

Lin Yi raised an eyebrow slightly.

He had held this emblem for nearly 300,000 Epoch, and it had never been touched before.

During his secluded cultivation in the Silent Cosmos Domain, his daily affairs were handled by Saen and Levo, and the visits from various families gradually decreased after the initial round of concentrated efforts.

As for the Dao Origin Hall, although the four Dao Lords had said they would assign him an emergency mission, it had never actually been triggered.

Today has finally arrived.

Without delay, Lin Yi raised his hand and gently touched the surface of the emblem.

A faint ray of light emerged from the central pattern of the emblem, tracing its path along his fingertips and penetrating the depths of his consciousness.

Immediately afterwards, a slightly unfamiliar voice rang in his mind.

"Inspector Lin Yi. I am Que Yun, serving in Constant Domain Office. Han Yu Dao Lord to coordinate emergency dispatch matters with the Inspector. I apologize for disturbing you. I hope the Inspector will forgive me."

c

Que Yun.

Lin Yi quickly recalled the person's information.

Second Order of the Constant Source Realm cultivator, Constant Lord under Han Yu.

Lin Yi replied, "Que Yun, Constant Lord kind. Do you have a mission?"

He didn't exchange any further pleasantries.

The Dao Origin Hall's emergency communication emblem wouldn't be used for casual conversation; although the other party's wording was polite, it must be something urgent.

As expected, Que Yun's voice deepened slightly.

"Indeed. An emergency has occurred in a key strategic area at the Black Mist Sea Frontline, requiring immediate support from the Inspector."

Lin Yi secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the words "Level Two".

Over the years, his tenure as inspector was not merely a period of seclusion for self-cultivation.

Not only did he use the new privileges of the Inspector to search through a large amount of information and brush up on his knowledge, but he also expanded Xuanji's database.

Meanwhile, during a break from cultivation, he spent some time visiting each of the level two and level three strategic nodes, leaving Constant Fusion Mark at each one.

Currently, within the Constant Domain, strategic areas are uniformly divided into four levels according to their importance and the threat posed by the Black Silence Beast.

The first-level area corresponds to threats at the True Source Realm level, mainly consisting of low-level Black Silence Beast, interspersed with a small number of first-tier Black Silence Beast and a few scattered second-tier individuals.

These areas are the most numerous, covering the outermost defensive line of the entire Black Mist Sea Frontline, and are the regular garrison areas of the Imperial Army's basic organizational structure.

When he served in the Seventy-First Fleet, the Black Rock Mothership defense zone to which the fleet belonged was just an ordinary node in a first-level area.

The second-level region corresponds to the threat level of the Eternal Source Realm, where Second-Order Black Silence Beast packs are active year-round, and occasionally traces of third-tier individuals can be found.

These areas are often strategic nodes that control the key passage between the outer and inner layers of the Black Mist Sea. Once they are lost, the Black Silence Beast will advance unimpeded and directly attack the first-level defense line behind them.

The third-level area is a battlefield at the Constant Source Realm level, where Third-Order Black Silence Beast are entrenched year-round, and there are even occasional records of fourth-tier individuals.

These areas are few in number, but each one is a key support point for the entire Constant Domain strategic defense system.

When the Constant Lord were dispatched to the Frontline by the Dao Origin Hall, they were mostly stationed at these third-level nodes.

As for the fourth-level area, that is a battlefield at the Path Source Realm level, where Fourth-Order Black Silence Beast appear year-round.

These areas directly control the vital passage between the heart of the Black Mist Sea and its outer perimeter. They are places where Dao Lord personally oversee the area, and ordinary Constant Lord are not even qualified to approach them.

The reason he only left traces of second- and third-level strategic locations is quite simple.

There are too many level one nodes, and leaving a mark on a level four node would be meaningless. In a battle at that level, let alone a First Order of the Constant Source Realm, even Perfection of the Constant Source Realm cultivator might not be enough to handle it.

Therefore, when Que Yun said that something had happened at a secondary strategic location, Lin Yi had already made up his mind.

Level 2 corresponds to the Eternal Source Realm.

Even if the situation gets worse, it's at most a matter of Third-Order Black Silence Beast.

Surely it's not like I suddenly went from a level two node to facing a level three, fully-fledged Black Silence Beast, right?

Therefore, Lin Yi figured that with his current combat strength, dealing with it shouldn't be too difficult.

He then asked directly, "What exactly is the situation?"

Que Yun's voice echoed in my consciousness.

"The incident occurred at a level-two hub fortress codenamed Mistan. This fortress is responsible for guarding the vital passage from three level-one defense zones to the rear, and is garrisoned year-round by approximately 1,800 cultivators at the Eternal Source Realm."

"The problem lies with the Black Silence Beast Tide. Not long ago, among the Black Silence Beast that Mistan Fortress was facing, a second-tier Leader level Black Silence Beast suddenly broke through in the midst of battle and advanced to the third tier."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi suddenly understood.

Breakthrough in the face of battle.

On the Frontline lines, anything can happen; breakthroughs are never the privilege of cultivators.

The Black Silence Beast are monsters born from the Annihilation Power. Their evolutionary path is completely different from that of cultivators, but they can still achieve a qualitative leap.

But the trouble with this matter lies not only in the breakthrough itself.

The breakthrough lies in the "Leader level".

The variety of Black Silence Beast is extremely diverse.

According to the Constant Guard Database, there are currently tens of billions of observed and recorded forms of the Black Silence Beast.

There was a primordial Black Silence Beast that had condensed directly from the black mist. Its body was semi-liquid and constantly radiated the Annihilation Power.

It has a shell-like form formed by fusing with the remains of a fallen battle armor, and its body is covered with irregular dark armor plates, with black mist constantly churning in the gaps between the plates.

It is a rune-formed creature that has mutated after devouring a large number of discarded rune fragments. Its body surface is covered with twisted and mutated rune patterns, and each attack has an erosion effect on the rune level.

There are also wing-shaped structures that have evolved independently in the void, parasitic forms that have formed on the corpses of chaotic beasts, and aggregate forms that have been accidentally fused together by multiple individuals during battle.

It can be described as incredibly diverse and varied, containing everything imaginable.

But no matter how its form changes, every Black Silence Beast will inevitably have a leader.

The mechanism by which Leader level Black Silence Beast are born remains a mystery, but one thing is certain: Leader level beasts not only possess strength far exceeding their peers, but also exert a commanding amplification effect on the entire beast horde.

Under its leadership, the coordination efficiency of all individuals in the herd will be greatly improved, and the accuracy, density, and persistence of attacks will undergo a qualitative change, like a tightly meshed whole, and its threat level is far beyond what can be compared to the sum of its individual parts.

Now, a second-tier Leader level has broken through to the third-tier threshold.

This means that it will not only gain the combat power of Third-Order Black Silence Beast, but its command ability will also be greatly enhanced. Moreover, it can naturally take over all types of Black Silence Beast in the entire battlefield area, regardless of which beast group those individuals originally belonged to.

The previously independent herds of beasts will merge into a unified torrent under its will, and the precision of their attacks will leap to an order of magnitude.

The combined threat is almost comparable to the simultaneous appearance of two Third-Order Black Silence Beasts.

The garrison of a level-two hub fortress is usually one to two thousand Eternal Source Realm cultivators. Even with the fortress's own defensive Annihilation Cannon array and city-protecting inscription light shield, they can barely reach the level of the First Order of the Constant Source Realm attack. Faced with an attack equivalent to two Third-Order Black Silence Beast combined, this defensive strength is simply not enough.

Don't be fooled by the fact that he killed a Constant Source Realm trial body when he was only over ninety Eternal Source Realm during the Eternal Source Ring Trial on Constant Island.

But what kind of configuration is that?

There are nine prodigies on the inner island Eternal Source Realm Completion!

And what about Mistan Fortress?

Of the 1,800 people in the Eternal Source Realm, only one is at the Eternal Source Realm Perfection stage, as is customary.

The vast majority of the others were ordinary cultivators from families at the Eternal Source Realm, recruited from major cities, and their basic tactical coordination was quite poor.

Based on past experience, the fortress would fall in less than a year at most, and none of the people inside would escape.

A year is simply not enough time.

In the past, these people would have been considered dead.

However, things are different now.

"Send me the location," Lin Yi said directly.

Que Yun quickly reported a coordinate, which was a sequence of runes arranged in the Imperial Standard Star Map encoding method. As Lin Yi listened, he silently compared it with the Constant Domain Strategic Star Map in his memory.

Fortunately, the location of Mistan Fortress is not too remote; it can be reached after four inter-space-level Constant Fusion.

"There's one more thing I need to inform the Inspector," Que Yun added. "Mistan Fortress sent out a distress signal immediately after the attack. However, according to normal reinforcement procedures, even the nearest Constant Lord would need at least an Epoch and a half to arrive. Constant Domain Office assessed the situation and concluded that, under normal reinforcement procedures, the fortress wouldn't be able to hold out until reinforcements arrived, which is why we've troubled you to intervene."

The implication was that if Lin Yi couldn't get there in time, the people in that fortress would be gone.

"Okay, I'll leave now."

After saying that, Lin Yi cut off the communication, stood up from the stone platform, and sent a telepathic message to Xuanji, telling her that he had an urgent mission to go out and that his return date was uncertain, and asked her to continue to be in charge of daily affairs.

After doing all this, he vanished from the training room in a flash.

When he re-condensed outside the tower, he had already changed into a set of golden armor.

Then, he took a deep breath, immersing his mind in the depths of his Soul Origin. With a slight movement of his Soul Power, an extremely thick golden cocoon began to appear around his body.

The cocoon of light enveloped the entire person in the blink of an eye, and then trembled slightly.

Then, the person and the cocoon transformed into a dazzling golden streak of light and soared into the sky, leaving only a very thin and faint golden trail above the tower.

Black Mist Sea Frontline, Mistan Fortress.

The fortress Main Body is a giant fortress cast from dark blue alloy, with an irregular octagonal structure, and a towering defensive tower standing at each corner.

At the top of the tower pillars float enormous crystal cores. Each time a crystal core flickers, it radiates a visible energy wave in all directions. These energy waves intertwine in the void to form a spherical light shield covering the entire fortress.

But at this moment, the light shield was already covered with cracks.

Outside the light shield, black mist surged.

In the void surrounding the fortress, countless Black Silence Beast enveloped the entire fortress with overwhelming force.

The outer void layer closest to the fortress is filled with a large number of low-level and first-tier Black Silence Beast.

These Black Silence Beast, taken individually, might not be worth mentioning, but when they densely cover the entire void, the visual oppression is enough to cause any cultivator with a slightly weak mind to collapse.

They all lunged at the light shield, but although they couldn't budge it at all, the frequency of their impacts was so high that it was terrifying.

It was as if the entire black mist had come to life, and was slowly gnawing at the thin membrane of light with countless mouths.

In the gaps between the low-level Black Silence Beast, the Second-Order Black Silence Beast, like pebbles mixed in with sand, occasionally revealed their ferocious outlines.

A second-tier parasitic Black Silence Beast parasitized the remains of a chaotic beast from an unknown era, forcibly transforming the lifeless skeleton into its own battle body.

The giant skeleton originally resembled a six-legged giant lizard, but now every bone is covered with writhing black mist tentacles. Driven by the tentacles, the entire skeleton constantly changes its attack angle, and each swing of its forelimbs creates a shockwave on the light shield.

A dozen or so Second-Order Black Silence Beast of various shapes were also swimming around it, constantly attacking the light barrier.

But none of these are the most fatal.

The most deadly of all was the Tier 3 Leader level Black Silence Beast that was attacking the light shield directly above the fortress.

It's too big.

It was so large that it blotted out the sky.

The size of the third- Leader level had swelled to a point where just one glance was enough to instill fear.

Its main structure resembles a skinless, void whale, its body a deep, almost black color, with its head occupying about one-third of the total volume.

The enormous mouth contained no teeth; instead, it was filled with countless suckers, each with a ring of dark purple, fine teeth in the very center.

Each time it opens its enormous mouth, its suction cups simultaneously curl outwards, then it pulls out with breathtaking force.

A thick torrent of annihilating energy will simultaneously erupt from the center of those suction cups, carrying countless tiny dark energy clusters. Each cluster is formed from highly concentrated Annihilation Power, swirling and roaring in the void like countless dark meteors.

The moment the torrent struck the fortress's protective shield, the entire fortress trembled violently.

Inside the light shield.

The defensive Annihilation Cannon array is putting up a futile counterattack.

Hundreds of dark blue turrets are distributed across each defensive surface of the fortress.

These turrets are directly powered by the fortress's energy supply unit, and their muzzles constantly spew out blinding annihilation rays. Wherever the rays pass, large swaths of low-level Black Silence Beast turn into ashes, leaving behind brief vacuum zones in the void.

But those vacuum areas will soon be filled by more Black Silence Beast.

Struggling is futile.

The Mistan Fortress was simply not equipped enough to handle the siege led by a third-tier Leader level Black Silence Beast.

At this point, the output power of the energy pool has been pushed to 115% of its theoretical maximum value.

If this value is exceeded, the inscriptions in the energy pool will begin to show structural damage.

Of the prepared inscription nodes, nearly a third have already been burned and rendered unusable by the continuous impacts, and the originally precisely meshed energy cycle in the inscription circuit has also become fragmented due to the loss of nodes.

In the outermost defensive turret control area of the fortress, thousands of the True Source Realm blood-armored warriors and recruited cultivators were busy shuttling between the turret arrays.

Their armor was covered in dust and charred remnants of energy circuits, and some of their armor even had dark patches left from the scorching of leaked energy.

A burly, armored warrior stood before the power supply node of a turret, his hands gripping the violently trembling dark blue crystal core.

The surface temperature of the crystal core was so high that it was scalding hot; his palms sizzled from the heat, but he dared not let go.

Once released, this power node will explode due to energy backflow, causing the entire surrounding array of turrets to lose power.

"Two more sets of inscription nodes on the seventh defensive layer of the third level have burned out! Damn it, my set is almost done too! Anyone have any replacement crystals? Give me two!"

No one answered him.

Not far from him, a discarded crystal core, recently replaced on the gun emplacement, was emitting blue smoke. The surface of the crystal core was covered with spiderweb-like cracks left by the burning. Next to it were more than a dozen corpses.

That was done by Second-Order Black Silence Beast that rushed in when the light shield was hit hard and cracks appeared.

Although the Second-Order Black Silence Beast was killed by the Eternal Source Realm cultivator in the blink of an eye, it still resulted in the deaths of over a hundred True Source Realm.

At this moment, a female blood-armored warrior of the Extreme Ice Race who had miraculously survived leaned against the base of the turret, panting.

There was a deep gash on her forehead, exposing the bone. Icy blue blood seeped from the wound, flowing down her cheek to her jaw and congealing into extremely fine ice crystals.

But she didn't have time to treat the wound. She just wiped her face haphazardly with her sleeve, then stood up again and silently walked toward the next set of inscription nodes that needed to be replaced.

On the other side of the fortress, a cultivator at the Eternal Source Realm was standing inside the light barrier, unleashing his full power to attack outwards.

He looked extremely young, and a Constant Island Emblem hung on his armor.

His name is Amber, and he comes from an Eternal Source Realm family in the Silent Crystal Cosmic Domain. He is currently the thirty-seventh ranked student on the Inner Island of Constant Island, and High Order of the Eternal Source Realm.

He was on a trial mission to aid the Frontline at Mistan Fortress, and he was supposed to complete the mission and return to Constant Island in a few thousand more Epoch.

But now, he can't get out.

Amber took over command of the fortress in accordance with wartime regulations after the Black Silence Beast broke through to the third tier.

Before him, the fortress commander was an Imperial Army at the Eternal Source Realm Completion.

Just as the Leader level was about to break through, the commander sensed something was wrong and led an elite squad in an attempt to kill him before he fully broke through.

But it was still too late.

Then, he didn't come back alive.

Commander authority was automatically transferred to Amber, who possessed the highest cultivation level and had also studied command.

Amber immediately instructed his communications officer to send a distress signal to the Constant Domain Office.

But he knew even more clearly that it was hopeless.

The only reply from Constant Domain Office was, "We will immediately assemble reinforcements."

There was no mention of any powerful figures approaching from the surrounding area, no estimate of their arrival time, or even any contact information for coordination.

It simply means "reinforcements will be assembled immediately".

Amber knew, to put it bluntly, that the plan was to wait until they were all dead, then organize a force to retake the fortress.

As for the people currently in the fortress, not even a trace will remain.

"Twenty-nine, thirty..."

As Amber unleashed his attacks, he counted the number of kills with a blank expression.

He was too lazy to even think about reinforcements.

Instead of hoping for reinforcements, we'd be better off killing more.

Beside him, an Imperial Army whose shoulder armor was mostly damaged took over the conversation.

His face was square, his hair was shaved into an extremely short buzz cut, and his facial features showed traces of mixed blood from the Fusion Flame Race. There were two extremely tiny horny protrusions on his forehead.

He asked suspiciously, "What are you counting? Planning to kill as many as possible before you die, to leave some merit for your descendants? Speaking of which, Brother Amber, you are a prodigy of Inner Island of Constant Island, you should be resurrected, right?"

This was his true thought, and also the thought of the vast majority of people present.

If someone dies on the battlefield, their battle merits will not be deducted.

Even if they die, their war achievements will be fully transferred to their designated Heir according to the order of succession they specified during their lifetime.

So even if they die here, at least their descendants can gain more merit.

Upon hearing this, Amber didn't even pause in her work; she simply shook her head.

"Hmph, how could that be? In front of the Dao Lord, we're basically no different."

His tone was indifferent.

To be honest, although he was the third-ranked genius on Inner Island of Constant Island, he never dared to think about being resurrected.

Countless Eternal Source Realm have been lost throughout the history of Constant Island, and how many have been resurrected?

It is true that the Soul Origin in the Eternal Source Realm is eternal, but if the soul is trapped deep in the River of Time and no one retrieves it, it is no different from being dead.

Unless a Dao Lord emerges from among their descendants... Don't be ridiculous, that's impossible.

Despite these thoughts, Amber still swiftly slashed and killed a first-tier Black Silence Beast in its carapace state that was trying to squeeze into the light barrier through a crack. Then he grinned and said, "Instead of hoping for Dao Lord, it's better to kill more now. Maybe that will provide more resources for future generations, and if they strive hard, one of them might become a Dao Lord. Haha, if that happens, I can still get my money back after a few tens of thousands of Universal Epoch!"

Upon hearing this, the leader of the mixed-blood Fusion Flame Race couldn't help but laugh.

"That's right! Instead of relying on the Dao Lord, we should kill more now. I've already slaughtered nine; let's make it a round number so my little brat can use the merits to exchange for a good cultivation technique. What if he proves himself..."

His words caught in his throat halfway through.

It wasn't just him.

Amber's sword also paused for a moment.

Because they saw the same thing.

A golden cocoon of light burst through the black mist without warning, like an arrow shot from another dimension, instantly piercing through the horde of beasts and landing outside the fortress.

Not only them, but also the elite female warriors beside the turret base, the blood-armored warriors who were holding onto the crystal core tightly, and so on, all saw it.

In an inconspicuous corner of the fortress's defenses, a gaunt male cultivator stared in astonishment at the sudden appearance of the golden cocoon of light.

The man was wearing an ordinary battle robe of the Eternal Source Realm, with a not-so-illustrious family crest embroidered on the hem.

That was the mark of an ordinary Eternal Source Realm family; he was the only one in the entire family at the Eternal Source Realm.

He had been conscripted to the fortress for tens of thousands of Epoch. Most of the people conscripted with him were at least among the many Eternal Source Realm in their families. Even if they died in battle, their families still had other Eternal Source Realm to support them.

But he didn't.

Therefore, from the moment the fortress was surrounded, he was thinking about one thing.

What will happen to the family now that he's dead?

If he dies here, his war merits will not be deducted; the records will be automatically transmitted back and allocated to his designated Heir.

But how long can a family without Eternal Source Realm expert to bolster its reputation, relying solely on a single battle merit?

What happens after the resources earned from battle merits are used up?

Who will train the next Eternal Source Realm?

Thinking of this, he fired another shot at the outside of the light barrier, clearing out a large area of low-level Black Silence Beast.

He felt a tightness in his throat and was about to unleash another attack when he saw the cocoon of light.

What is that?

How did you suddenly appear in the blink of an eye?

He didn't know what the cocoon of light was, but he saw that it hovered steadily in the void directly in front of the fortress. At least 30% of the attention of the Black Silence Beast that were frantically attacking the light shield was drawn to the cocoon.

The third-tier Leader level creature slowly turned its massive head, pointing its enormous mouth, covered in suckers, towards the cocoon of light.

However, he didn't understand what this light cocoon was.

But some people understand.

Amber stared intently at the cocoon of light, all thoughts vanishing from her mind in that instant.

Then.

He suddenly burst into wild laughter, and under the shocked gaze of the Imperial Army beside him, he roared hoarsely, "We're saved! We're fucking saved!!!"