Fury of the Firmament, One Man is a Calamity!

Before dawn, the sea was torn open by a white wake.

The Ghost Ship's engines roared as it charged toward the deserted island at the coordinates at beyond-limit speed.

Inside the bridge, Lin Xuan stood before the enormous observation window, his expression calm.

In his soul perception, dozens of red dots appeared on the horizon.

They were moving fast, trailing flames as they precisely locked onto the ship.

Time was measured in seconds.

BOOM—

With a violent jolt, the Ghost Ship's bow slammed into the shallows of the deserted island, its massive hull plowing a deep trench through the sand.

Lin Xuan did not waste a single second.

With a thought, the selected route's destination appeared on the map at the control console.

It was a natural bay surrounded by enormous reefs. Its entrance was narrow and its location hidden—a decent place to hide.

"Auxiliary propulsion activated. Correct heading."

At his command, several small thrusters extended from both sides of the hull, adjusting the ship's orientation.

Under his control, the massive vessel silently slipped into the concealed bay, completely hidden behind the reefs.

Once he had done all that, Lin Xuan vanished from the bridge.

The next second, he appeared in the cryogenic cargo hold.

The children had recovered from being soothed. Though they were no longer crying, they still huddled inside the hibernation pods, staring outside with curious yet frightened eyes.

"All hibernation pods, open the doors."

Lin Xuan's command was issued through the ship's system.

Hiss—

The lids of hundreds of hibernation pods sprang open at once.

Fresh air carrying a hint of warmth flooded into the pods.

Lin Xuan did not speak.

He merely stood there quietly, using his soul power to send a thought into every child's mind: Stay inside the ship. Don't come out. You'll be safe soon.

The children stared blankly at him, as though they had truly understood.

They nodded instinctively, then obediently shrank back into their hibernation pods one by one, hugging their knees as they waited nervously.

Lin Xuan's gaze swept across each of the children's faces one last time.

His figure vanished again. In the next instant, he was standing atop a giant boulder at the highest point of the deserted island.

He raised his head and looked toward the sky.

The eastern horizon had already begun to glow pale with dawn.

And within that morning light, a cluster of black dots was rapidly growing larger before the naked eye.

They had arrived.

Lin Xuan took a deep breath and stopped suppressing his power.

With a light tap of his toes against the boulder, his entire body shot straight into the sky.

There were no dazzling trails of light, nor any piercing sonic boom.

He simply flew toward the drone swarm, facing the rising sun.

At Volcano Base, a cruel smile hung on the Doctor's face.

On the main screen, dozens of points of light representing the Cleaners drones formed a fan-shaped encirclement as they rapidly closed in on the stationary target coordinates.

"Ghost Ship... my masterpiece..."

The Doctor nervously licked his chapped lips, his eyes filled with madness.

"It's a pity, but any rat that dares lay a hand on my collection must be burned to ashes along with its cage!"

He could practically see the ship instantly vaporizing in the white light of the explosion.

Just then, a small figure rose from the island in the surveillance feed.

"Hmm?"

The Doctor frowned and zoomed in on the image.

On the screen, a plainly dressed man was flying toward the drone swarm at an unhurried pace.

He looked ordinary. Fragile, even.

"This is the intruder?"

The Doctor froze for a moment, then let out a burst of shrill laughter.

"Hahaha! How foolish! You actually dared to come out and die!"

"Fine! I'll let you witness firsthand what a true natural disaster is!"

He had already issued the final command.

All Cleaners would self-destruct the moment they made contact with the target.

In his eyes, this man who did not know his own limits, along with the island beneath his feet, would be reduced to ashes within seconds.

High in the sky, Lin Xuan hovered a thousand meters above the ground.

Below him lay the deserted island, where countless children slept.

Ahead of him, a dense swarm of drones rushed toward him with piercing shrieks.

Each drone was like a lifeless metal locust, its scarlet sensors locked tightly onto him, brimming with killing intent.

There was not the slightest ripple in Lin Xuan's eyes.

He no longer held back.

He slowly raised one hand.

There were no hand seals, nor was there any chant.

He simply spread his fingers toward the approaching drone swarm, then gently clenched them.

"Bzzzz—"

An invisible ripple spread outward from Lin Xuan, instantly sweeping across a kilometer of airspace.

The previously calm morning wind stopped without warning.

The air turned viscous. The drones flying at five times the speed of sound abruptly slowed, their flight formations beginning to destabilize.

Inside Volcano Base, Doctor's wild laughter froze on his face.

He stared fixedly at the incomprehensible scene on the screen, his eyes filled with confusion.

"What's going on? Their speed... why are they slowing down?"

"A gravitational field? No! There aren't any energy fluctuations! That's impossible!"

His questions were destined to go unanswered.

High in the sky, Lin Xuan slowly opened his clenched fist.

As his palm spread open, the airspace under his control underwent a transformation no mortal could comprehend.

The stagnant air began to spin wildly and violently.

Tiny vortices formed out of thin air.

The instant they appeared, Lin Xuan infused them with the power of his divine soul, turning them into lethal weapons.

One, ten, a hundred, a thousand...

In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of transparent wind blades formed around Lin Xuan.

They became a blade storm that swept across heaven and earth.

"Go."

Lin Xuan softly uttered a single word.

The storm, born from the sky itself, surged furiously toward the immobilized drone swarm.

"Zzzraaa—"

There was no violent explosion.

Only wave after wave of teeth-grating cutting sounds.

The instant the first drone touched the storm, its sturdy alloy shell was sliced into countless fragments by innumerable air blades.

Even its internal core had no time to detonate before it was completely dismantled into parts.

Then came the second, the third...

The dense drone swarm crashed straight into it.

They could not even make a single evasive maneuver. Within that silent storm, they were torn apart and destroyed in swathes.

Back at the distant base, Doctor watched the final footage transmitted by the drones and witnessed a scene like divine punishment.

He saw that man merely raise his hand, and the entire sky became his weapon.

He saw his army of Cleaners prove utterly helpless before that invisible storm.

This was not technology.

This was not martial arts.

This was immortal magic! Divine punishment!

A terror born from the instinct of life instantly seized Doctor's soul.

"No... impossible... this can't be..."

His lips trembled, his face ashen as he staggered backward uncontrollably.

"A monster... he's a monster..."

"Bang!"

He tripped over a chair and tumbled miserably from the elevated command seat, crashing onto the floor.

On the massive main screen before him, as the last drone was swallowed by the storm, every image finally dissolved into a blinding field of static.

Peace returned to heaven and earth.

The blade storm had come swiftly and vanished just as swiftly.

As though it had never existed.

The sky had been washed a clear blue, while the rising sun scattered golden light across the sea.

Lin Xuan slowly descended from the air and returned to the giant rock.

His face was slightly pale. The expenditure had been a little too great.

At that moment, the panel in his mind suddenly began flashing madly.

Lines of golden text streamed forth like a waterfall.

[Saving the people, sweeping away evil, and turning the tide at the brink of collapse—this is great merit!]

[Judgment: Supreme Good!]

[Merit Points: +350!]