"Plop."
The strange sound seemed to stretch on in the deathly silence.
Thud, thud—
Every movement of the enormous creature shook the heavens and earth.
Its body was as vast as a mountain, so immense that even the sun and moon seemed to shy away from it. The already dim surroundings gradually grew darker.
"How much of it has stretched out?"
"Less than one percent."
"What?" Chen Beixun was startled. The Stelamo Worm was beyond anything he could have imagined. It was the largest creature he had ever seen.
The Stelamo Worm was omnivorous, but mostly fed on decaying corpses.
Its appearance meant there had to be a great many corpses somewhere nearby.
The Stelamo Worm secreted a substance that made corpses decompose rapidly, satisfying its need for rotting flesh.
Qishan had already explained this information to Chen Beixun.
The three guards before Chen Beixun kept their auras restrained, their eyes fixed on the Stelamo Worm.
The Stelamo Worm's body wriggled rapidly, but its head stayed still. In a flash, it burrowed underground, leaving behind a bottomless pit.
"Twenty thousand meters in diameter?" Chen Beixun estimated the size of the hole.
The three guards exchanged glances.
"My God!"
They were deeply shaken.
The universe was no stranger to giant life-forms. The Stelamo Worm, for instance, could grow to hundreds of thousands of meters long as an adult.
"The Stelamo Worm's appearance means there are a lot of corpses." Chen Beixun considered the matter, weighing whether to move forward.
"Wait." A guard named Moluo called out.
His words interrupted Chen Beixun's thoughts.
"What is it?" Chen Beixun asked with a frown.
"The Black Eagle Pavilion... has been completely wiped out!" Moluo said, his face expressionless. Or rather, the news had shocked him so badly that he could no longer control his expression. His face had frozen in the moment he received it.
Everyone's jaws dropped. They couldn't even imagine a force so powerful being wiped out less than a month after entering the World Lord World.
The Black Eagle Pavilion had sent a total of six thousand Universe-level experts to seize the treasures!
"What?"
"Where did you hear that?"
Adventurers who traveled the universe inevitably formed circles of their own. Much like the fishing enthusiasts' grounded-fleet base, it was only natural for them to have well-connected sources.
Moluo had wanted to explain, but he felt a lump in his throat that he couldn't swallow or spit out. He stammered for a long time.
The others understood. This sort of thing was perfectly normal.
After a moment, Moluo recovered and explained, still stumbling over his words.
"The news is spreading," Qishan said beside Chen Beixun.
Only eight minutes had passed since Moluo had first shared the news.
"I heard that the teams sent by other forces to investigate have already lost contact."
Each new piece of news struck Chen Beixun hard, and his expression darkened.
"We have to make the information public!"
"Otherwise, those unaffiliated Universe-level experts..."
Qishan placed a hand on Chen Beixun's shoulder and said solemnly, "Don't overthink it."
"I know you want to make the information public."
"But think about it. If you do, you'll deal a huge blow to those forces' interests!"
"That would be a disaster for you, too!"
Whether in war or business, people took advantage of information gaps to secure an edge or launch a surprise attack.
Chen Beixun understood that. So he chose to remain silent.
"I was damn lucky to survive back then."
Chen Beixun let out a long breath and turned his attention back to the situation at hand.
How could they get across?
Go straight through?!
That would be suicide!
"We should take the underground passage," said a guard named He Ke.
"Mm." Chen Beixun nodded. "That was what I had in mind."
Chen Beixun glanced at Qishan, who nodded in agreement.
"Move!" Chen Beixun ordered. He blurred forward, diving straight into the passage.
The three guards followed close behind. Two suddenly accelerated and overtook Chen Beixun, while the third stayed behind.
Chen Beixun followed ten meters behind the other two.
The three guards formed a triangle around him, keeping him protected in the center.
They couldn't simply follow the tunnel left by the Stelamo Worm. One of the three guards was a Controller, so they had him use his telekinetic weapon to carve a path.
Boom, boom—
They advanced without encountering any danger.
Even so, they never let down their guard.
By now, the major forces had established bases in the relatively safe Cape Desert.
World Lord World, Cape Desert, Luote Family base.
The map Chen Beixun had provided wasn't very large or comprehensive, but it was better than nothing.
They had suffered some losses, but nothing worth mentioning.
Most of the bases at the Luote Family's headquarters were partially buried underground.
First, it was easier to hide them.
Second, there was no second reason. It was just easier to hide them.
In fact, they would have preferred to bury everything underground, but their life bases were too enormous. Fully burying them would mean placing them a thousand meters underground. Below eight hundred meters was the domain of creatures like the Stelamo Worm. If one with an explosive temper showed up, they'd end up just like the Black Shadow Pavilion.
Inside the Luote Family base's command center.
"Yes."
"Chen Beixun hasn't arrived yet."
"No problem, Clan Elder. I'll make sure everything is handled properly."
The man speaking with Luote Tejie's projection was named Luote Wosike, a Universe Level 9 expert.
He held a high position in the family and had long served as Luote Tejie's loyal subordinate.
Of course, he had his own plans, too. The World Lord World was the kind of place people fought tooth and nail to enter. He had once been just like them, but after witnessing the horrors here—
He had become much more cautious.
Luote Wosike bowed slightly as Luote Tejie's projected figure gradually faded away.
Luote Wosike was alone in the enormous command center.
It was empty and silent, broken only by the faint movements of his straightening frame.
He paced back and forth.
Thud, thud—
The sound of his metal combat boots striking the floor rang out sharply.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.
Beep—
Luote Wosike opened the holographic map. The World Castle, filled with treasures, had yet to open, so all he could do was run simulations.
Most of the command staff were outside the command center, leading teams to survey the area. Only a few had stayed behind.
The World Castle wasn't far from the Luote Family's base, and the same was true for the other forces.
That had one advantage: it was relatively safe. The destruction of any group in the World Lord World benefited none of the others.
They had to defend against threats together.
After all, heavy weapons and other weapons of mass destruction were best kept hidden. They couldn't be revealed carelessly.
Time flew by. Seven days had passed.
The command center was now bustling with activity as the various tactical teams discussed their plans.
Luote Wosike sat with his eyes closed, listening intently as the key figures around the simulated map argued.
"We should station a division at Valley Six!"
"No, no! We should set up an ambush along Valley Ten!"
They argued endlessly, their faces red.
"That's enough, everyone," Luote Wosike said softly.
The entire command center fell silent, as if time had stopped.
"Wosike?"
"Commander?!"
Luote Wosike smiled, his deep gaze sweeping over everyone.
"Advance straight through Valley Seventeen." Luote Wosike pointed.
"That's the Magic Axe Beast's nest?!"
Everyone was shocked.
They knew Luote Wosike was reckless, but they hadn't expected him to be this reckless.
"Can't we just blast it open with 4J Fire Crystal?"
Luote Wosike remained expressionless. His composure made everyone uneasy!
4J Fire Crystal was actually quite stable. One of its main ingredients was an "inert" substance. 4J Fire Crystal could be used normally without any problems; that inert substance merely acted as a catalyst.
But that inert substance was exactly what they needed. With a special method and the right conditions, they could detonate it. The blast could destroy half a planet, but it would take hundreds of people working together at close range to set it off. (Top-tier nonsense, okay.)
In any case, it was a matter of quantity bringing about a qualitative change.
The advantages of 4J Fire Crystal were as follows.
First, it occurred in large quantities, so its presence wouldn't make the other forces suspicious. After all, it was stable.
Second, its stability could be used to conceal their true intentions.
Meanwhile.