More Than Half Lost

Peng Donghan, Zhan Qiu, and the other Domain Lords were stunned.

The Outer Battlefield was brutally cruel, but it was also full of outstanding talents. They had all heard of powerful fighters who could defeat enemies of a higher rank.

But killing a Peak World Lord while only at the first stage of Domain Lord was still too outrageous—even if it was a Zerg Warrior with no domain and no Mother Empress controlling it, it was still a genuine Peak World Lord.

Of course, a Zerg Warrior like that would definitely lose to a human World Lord of the same rank in a one-on-one fight. After all, the Zerg's greatest advantage lay in their numbers.

Bai Muye was now brimming with energy. The drop of Spirit Marrow Fat inside him hadn't been fully used up after repairing his body, and it was still taking effect. At a thought, all his energy converged on the Singularity, then was absorbed.

He had already reached the peak of the first stage of Domain Lord. Now, he immediately broke through to the second stage and continued to climb.

Feeling the surge of power inside him, he gripped his spear shaft tightly. If this weren't the time and place, he would have loved to throw back his head and roar.

Tiger Armor Zerg had no storage space on them, so there was no point in searching their corpses. The group exchanged glances, then immediately headed to join the other teams.

To the Tiger Armor Zerg, Bai Muye's Mixed Domain was like an incredibly powerful taunt. Once trapped by it, their combat instincts compelled them to eliminate the threat first.

So Bai Muye used his Mixed Domain to bait another Tiger Armor Zerg.

After a round of probing and entanglement, he used the same method to kill two Tiger Armor Zerg in succession.

Just as Bai Muye was about to bait a third one, all the Zerg Warriors seemed to receive some kind of order. They suddenly gathered together, then flew into the sky without looking back.

Dongluo, who had been on the brink of defeat under their assault, slowly let out a breath as she watched the Zerg gather together and withdraw.

A seductive voice rang out from afar. "Human Immortal, you got lucky this time—your allies were nearby. Next time we meet, I'll kill you!"

Dongluo's face turned livid with anger, but she had no way to retort. She didn't even know where the other party was, so she couldn't direct a taunt back at her.

She couldn't exactly shout it out in front of all her subordinates, could she? Dongluo still had her dignity to consider.

Less than a minute later, their allies arrived: a squad of Immortal Gods from a human vassal race, led by a Marquis Immortal.

Dongluo immediately went forward to thank them, explaining that the enemy had detected their approach and fled before they arrived.

After a brief conversation, the Marquis Immortal left with her squad.

Dongluo looked at her subordinates, more than half of whom were dead or injured. Her face was darker than her eyes.

Only thirty-seven World Lords remained, and every one of them was wounded.

Fewer than four hundred Domain Lords were left, and several thousand Universe Ranks had been killed.

It was a rare and crushing defeat for the Dongluo Legion.

After a moment of silence, Dongluo waved her hand and took out a new spacecraft.

"Get everything ready. We're leaving at once."

Worried that the Zerg Mother Empress might return for another attack, Dongluo waited until everyone had boarded, then immediately piloted the spacecraft away.

With more than half their forces lost, there was little point in staying in the Black Meteor Mountain Range. Dongluo didn't even go to the temporary military camp; she headed straight back to the 049 Military Base.

Inside Bai Muye's cabin, his squad was relatively unharmed. They had only lost one Universe Rank during the Tiger Armor Zerg's first attack. Now, aside from him and Zhan Qiu, only four Universe Ranks remained in the squad, including Feng Yi.

In this atmosphere, everyone fell silent. Bai Muye had no desire to chat either, so he simply sank his consciousness into the Singularity.

"Xiao Si, can you detect the location of that Zerg Mother Empress?"

"Within the range of my roots, that Mother Empress isn't there..." Xiao Si replied lazily.

"True. Your roots can only detect three thousand kilometers..."

"Not anymore. After devouring so much, my roots are ten times longer than before. They're now a tenth of a light-second long..." Before he could finish, Xiao Si interrupted him smugly. "Before, I couldn't devour anything from battles that were too far away. Now, anything within a tenth of a light-second is in range!"

"Impressive," Bai Muye said, praising him without the slightest sincerity.

"Although I didn't detect the Mother Empress's location, I learned her name from those bugs' memories."

"What is it?" Bai Muye asked indifferently. He didn't think he'd ever encounter that Mother Empress again.

"You don't understand the Zerg language, so translated into your people's language, it roughly combines the meanings of shell, sunny skies, and snowfall. We could call her Bei Qingxue."

"Not a bad name," Bai Muye said with a snort. "Do you know what region they've been staying in?"

"From their memories, they used to stay around Red Waterfall Lake. They only came to the Black Meteor Mountain Range recently..."

"Then I suppose she'll stay in the Black Meteor Mountain Range for quite a while..." Bai Muye guessed.

"I've realized your strength is still a little low," Xiao Si said, taking him down a peg. "I was really afraid that bug would tear you apart just now..."

"We lost quite a lot of people this time. We'll probably return to the 049 Military Base to replenish our forces. I don't know how long we'll be staying at the Barracks Base..." Bai Muye mused. "I've accumulated quite a bit of Military Merit this time. If we can stay for a while, I can spend more time cultivating..."

The Military System was fair and hadn't awarded less Military Merit just because the enemies were Zerg Warriors. Killing three Tiger Armor Zerg had earned him 300,000 Military Merit, a very high amount for someone at Domain Lord Rank.

Added to the more than 50,000 Military Merit he'd accumulated over the past decade or so, it was enough to exchange for quite a few good things.

"With your current Military Merit, you can probably earn your Freedom, right? Have you thought about acting alone or... retiring?" Xiao Si asked.

"Do you want me to leave the Outer Battlefield?"

"Of course I don't!" Xiao Si said helplessly. "But your strength is low right now, and the Outer Battlefield is still too dangerous for you. I can't keep you in such a dangerous place just for my own sake..."

"Acting alone is practically impossible. As for retiring..."

Bai Muye felt a warmth in his heart. After thinking for a long while, he said, "How about we don't rush into a decision? Once we're back at the Barracks Base, I'll try cultivating the Hunyuan Body Refining Technique. If I can master the first layer, then absorb the energy you've gathered, I should become much stronger..."

"If I cultivate too slowly, or can't cultivate it at all, we'll talk about it then..."

"All right," Xiao Si agreed. "Quite a few World Lords in your squad died this time, and quite a few bugs on the other side died too. But those bugs' souls are too weak. It takes ten of them to equal one human..."

"Fortunately, those bugs had plenty of energy. I secretly absorbed a lot of it. And the three little bugs you collected this time can be completely absorbed. Three Peak World Lord bugs contain quite a bit of energy. Added to what I've accumulated over the past few years, it should be enough to cultivate you to the Domain Lord Ninth Stage... Though if you succeed at the Hunyuan Body Refining Technique, who knows how many stages that energy will get you to."

Xiao Si had explained before that the energy he absorbed couldn't be converted with perfect efficiency. After extraction and refinement, even less remained.

"That's fine. It's actually a good thing," Bai Muye said with a smile. "If I have enough energy to reach the ninth stage, but it only gets me to the fifth, doesn't that prove I can have the strength of the ninth stage while still at the fifth? Just imagine how strong I'll be once I reach the ninth..."

"You'd better reach World Lord as soon as possible. Then I'll be able to take root and sprout too..."

After leaving the Black Meteor Mountain Range, the spacecraft flew for several days before reaching a transit point. Once they entered the Dark Universe, Dongluo informed the World Lords that they were returning to the Barracks Base. Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Have all the World Lords come to the Main Control Room." Zhu Ang heard Dongluo's voice in his ear. After a brief pause, Dongluo continued, "Bring the Domain Lord who killed three Tiger Armor Zerg too."