The Art of War! The Primordial Era's First Alliance Yields Explosive Results

Deep within Chaos, the diamond-shaped reconnaissance probe was like an inconspicuous speck of dust, faithfully executing its mission.

The strange crystalline structure on its surface was scanning and recording massive amounts of data against the thick wall of the Primordial Era world. In its core database, this world, marked as "High-Value Resource Zone No. 7322," was classified as "low-level" in terms of defense, with no known faster-than-light detection methods.

This was the conclusion reached by its cold calculations.

However, in the next second, its calculations suffered a fatal deviation.

Just as it completed the first round of basic data collection and attempted to initiate subspace communication to transmit intelligence back to its mother body.

Hum--

Four immensely powerful Human Way Powers, transforming into the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, majestic phantom beasts rising to the heavens from four inconceivable angles, formed an invisible net that instantly froze and sealed the Chaos Spacetime it occupied!

The Human Race fleet had arrived!

Red alerts were instantly triggered within the probe's core. It decisively abandoned communication, its engine power surging to its limit within a millionth of a second, attempting a spatial jump.

But it was too late.

The "Four Symbols Lock Heaven" array was a product of Chen Ran's modification of the ancient Primordial Era Four Symbols array using Human Race Rune Technology. Its core principle was to "solidify" a piece of space. The probe's jump engine let out a meaningless overload wail; before the forcibly distorted Laws of Spacetime, it couldn't even stir a ripple.

Breakout failed!

The probe immediately changed its strategy. Its cold mechanical logic allowed no hesitation.

Dozens of microscopic launch ports, invisible to the naked eye, instantly split open on its smooth, mirror-like black shell. Annihilation Beams, capable of easily piercing the protective immortal light of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, shot out in all directions, attempting to tear open a gap with pure violence.

However, these beams, capable of destroying stars, after traveling less than a hundred miles, plunged into a suddenly appearing, colorful, hazy mist. Like a red-hot iron dropped into water, they vanished without a trace, not even creating a bubble.

Outside the mist, Zhao Gongming and the Three Ladies of Sanxiao stood with solemn expressions, each holding hand seals and presiding over a subtly murderous formation.

Heavenly Absolute Array, Earth Blazing Array, Wind Roar Array, Ice Array...

The ten ultimate killing arrays of the Intercepting Sect, all interlocked, were eerily held back. They released no killing power, instead channeling all their formation energy into distorting Spacetime, blocking perception, and absorbing energy.

From the outside, this remained a silent Chaos.

No living being could sense that within this death zone shrouded by the "Ten Ultimate Arrays," a silent hunt for an extraterrestrial visitor was fiercely underway.

All of the probe's attacks were like a stone sinking into the sea.

It had completely become blind and deaf.

[Alert: Lost contact with mother body.] [Alert: Spatial jump failed.] [Alert: All long-range attack methods ineffective.] [Current Threat Level Assessment: Unknown, Dangerous!] [Executing Final Directive: Self-Destruct!]

Without the slightest hesitation, the probe's core energy began to climb madly in an extremely unstable manner. A destructive energy storm, capable of blasting this sealed area back to its origin point, was about to detonate within it!

"Not good! It's going to self-destruct!"

In the Hall of Civilization, Ao Guang, watching this scene unfold through the real-time broadcast of SkyNet, was so shocked his dragon whiskers stood on end.

If this energy exploded, even with the weakening effect of the Ten Ultimate Arrays, the terrifying impact would be enough to severely damage the Primordial Era's crystal wall system!

"Now!"

Chen Ran's extremely calm command directly sounded in the minds of Guang Chengzi and the others.

Almost simultaneously, in front of the Jade Void Palace on Mount Kunlun, a newly completed, giant refining furnace filled with Rune Technology style suddenly opened with a roar!

Guang Chengzi and the others, their faces pale, worked together to retrieve a strange treasure cage, shimmering with the profound rhymes of the universe, from the fiercely burning True Sun Fire.

This magical treasure was completely made according to the blueprints provided by Chen Ran. It was the combined effort of the Heavenly Origin Sect's Twelve Golden Immortals, who had worked tirelessly for forty-nine consecutive days and nights to rush its completion, specifically to deal with the current situation!

"Go!"

Guang Chengzi roared, throwing the incredibly heavy treasure cage into the air with all his might.

The cage grew instantly upon encountering the wind, piercing through endless Spacetime in the blink of an eye, and appearing precisely above the probe, which was surrounded by heavy formations!

"Universe inverted, immeasurable space, suppress!"

Guang Chengzi chanted, and the countless runes on the treasure cage, personally inscribed by him and his fellow disciples, suddenly lit up. A vast spatial power poured down, attempting to forcefully "dig out" the about-to-self-destruct probe and the space around it, and collect them within the treasure cage.

But just then, the energy reaction within the probe suddenly accelerated several times over!

The spatial power cast by the treasure cage was strained by the violent energy, deforming slightly and unable to descend!

"Damn it! This thing's self-destruct speed is three times faster than predicted!" Guang Chengzi's eyes were bloodshot.

This hastily refined "Universe Cage" was, after all, just the first experimental product and couldn't unleash the full power of the blueprints!

No time left!

In a flash, a hint of determination flickered in Guang Chengzi's eyes. He bit the tip of his tongue fiercely, spitting a mouthful of his Primordial Spirit's vital blood, accumulated over a thousand years of arduous cultivation, onto the phantom image of the Universe Cage!

"By my Primordial Spirit, I command the universe! Suppress!!!"

Hum--

Empowered by Guang Chengzi's vital blood, the Universe Cage's light surged. The originally somewhat flimsy runes instantly solidified, and the spatial power that had once sealed heaven and earth became more than ten times stronger in an instant!

It forcefully suppressed the energy of the probe's self-destruction, "locking" that area of space, along with the half-melted probe, and pulling it into the treasure cage!

The moment it was pulled into the treasure cage, the violent energy within the probe erupted completely.

However, within the infinitely expanding internal space of the treasure cage, this explosion, capable of destroying a galaxy, was like a silent fireworks display. All the energy was diluted and absorbed by the endless spatial dimensions, eventually vanishing into nothingness.

Capture, successful!

The entire process, though encountering a slight hiccup, was a seamless cooperation between all parties involved.

Inside the Hall of Civilization, after a deathly silence, earth-shattering cheers erupted.

All the great powers felt genuinely exhilarated by this victory. For the first time, they had so directly experienced the terrifying power contained within the word "union"!

The Human Race's precise blockade, the Intercepting Sect's perfect shielding, the Heavenly Origin Sect's thunderous containment... every link performed far beyond what any single force could achieve.

"Beautiful!" Lord of the Heavens slapped his thigh and burst into laughter.

Primordial Heavenly Venerate's expression remained stern, but the slight upward curve of his eyebrows and the fleeting look of approval he cast at Guang Chengzi on the screen revealed his inner excitement.

This "Universe Cage," refined under the leadership of his Heavenly Origin Sect disciple, possessed a power that even surprised him. This proved that the path of artifact refining in the Heavenly Origin Sect, combined with the so-called Rune Technology, had limitless potential!

City of Origin, Central Academy of Sciences.

Within the "Zeroing Laboratory," which had the highest security level.

The successfully captured probe was placed intact on an experimental platform protected by nine layers of restrictions and three energy shields.

Chen Ran, along with the technical elites from the Heavenly Origin Sect and the Intercepting Sect, gathered around, excitement and curiosity etched on everyone's faces.

"Begin disassembly," Chen Ran commanded.

Taiyi Zhenren activated the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover, attempting to melt its outer shell with Samadhi True Fire. However, after burning for a long time, the shell's temperature didn't even change.

"This thing doesn't belong to the Five Elements, nor does it carry karma. Immortal spells are ineffective against it!" Taiyi Zhenren discovered in horror.

Finally, it was a human engineer who activated a High-Frequency Rune Cutter, managing to cut a thin slit in the indestructible outer shell.

The shell was opened layer by layer, revealing an incredibly intricate internal structure filled with an alien technological aesthetic.

Energy circuits finer than a strand of hair were spread throughout, like the human nervous system. The power core was a Dark Matter Battery constantly absorbing the energy of Chaos. Its control center was a fist-sized Memory Crystal, seemingly composed of pure light and data.

"This is it!"

The human scientists, using a specially made rune probe, carefully connected it to the Memory Crystal.

A massive, encrypted data stream instantly poured into SkyNet's central processor.

After several hours, with the joint efforts of several Intercepting Sect immortals skilled in innate divine calculation and top human programmers, the decryption was complete.

The first piece of internal intelligence from an extraterrestrial civilization was finally presented to everyone.

However, the moment they saw the first line of the deciphered information, all the laughter and joy in the laboratory came to an abrupt halt.

Everyone's smiles froze on their faces.

['Star Devourer' Civilization, Deep Space Reconnaissance Unit No. 749, Mission Log.]

[Mission Objective: Investigate the wreckage of the suspected high-energy reaction source 'Solar Star' near World 7322 (Primordial Era).]

"Star Devourer?"

Chen Ran's heart sank.

"This isn't a 'Gestalt' probe!"

Before he could finish speaking, the decryption continued.

More information, like the most terrifying nightmare, was gradually revealed.

This mechanical civilization called "Star Devourer," like "Gestalt," was also a top-tier technological civilization.

But their goal was not to format, but to... devour!

They were the locusts of the universe, feeding on the energy of stars. Where their massive fleets passed, only eternal darkness and silence remained after the stars extinguished.

And this time, their reconnaissance unit had discovered, near the Primordial Era world, that Solar Star, which had long since hidden itself but still emitted an incredibly vast amount of energy!

According to their detection report, the energy level contained within that Solar Star was enough to allow their entire civilization to undergo an epic, collective evolution!

What made everyone's blood run cold, plunging them into an icy abyss, was that at the end of the log, there was a record about "Gestalt," along with a partial star map.

On the star map, two colossal interstellar empires stood in distant confrontation, and the Primordial Era world was located precisely at the border of the two empires' spheres of influence!

[Detected competitor 'Gestalt' civilization, which has already conducted preliminary exploration in this area. Based on its operational patterns, it is judged that its target is also this high-energy reaction source.]

[Conclusion: The 'harvest' of this high-energy reaction source must be completed before the main fleet of 'Gestalt' arrives.]

Two!

There were actually two terrifyingly powerful, interstellar mechanical civilizations eyeing the Primordial Era as a prize!

And they were rivals!

This news pressed down on everyone's hearts like a mountain weighing billions of tons, suffocating them.

"Mister..."

Guang Chengzi, who had been beaming with pride just moments ago for his great achievement, now spoke with a dry, hoarse voice. He stared at the screen, his eyes unfocused. "This... what are we going to do?"

Two of them!

One was already enough to make the entire Primordial Era feel like it was facing a great enemy, and now another one had appeared!

Chen Ran said nothing.

His pupils were fixed on the incomplete star chart attached to the log.

On the star chart, a highlighted route, representing the main fleet of the "Star Devourers," was steadily advancing in a straight line towards a single direction.

The destination of that direction was clearly marked with two words--

The Solar Star!