"Since the abscess has already formed, then... let's squeeze it all out in one go!"
"Pass down the order," Bibi Dong turned, her eyes blazing, "All defeated legions, retreat to the second line of defense to regroup. Strictly investigate those who desert or shirk combat. Once verified, regardless of their identity, they will be court-martialed, stripped of their Soul Ring, and stripped of their cultivation!"
"At the same time, issue a public notice to the entire army, and indeed the entire nation!" Her voice resounded throughout the hall, carrying an undeniable resolve, "The new imperial policy will not be altered by any threat! Anyone who attempts to use this to coerce the empire will be considered a traitor, guilty of the same crime as the two great empires!"
She doesn't need to compromise, and she won't be coerced.
This war is not only about destroying the external enemy, but also about taking this opportunity to uproot all the corrupt and wavering internal cancers!
Deep within the Soul Tool Research Institute in Spirit City.
Inside a laboratory filled with intricate soul guide circuits and metal components, Xuan Ming stood in front of Soul Guidance Mecha several meters tall, with sleek lines and a faint blue luster.
Subtle white Divine Power flowed from his fingertips, like the most skillful tool, adjusting the energy circuit of the mecha's Core Array.
The laboratory door slid open silently, Bibi Dong appeared in the doorway, holding several of the latest battle reports. She glanced at Xuan Ming, who was focused on the mecha, and did not immediately disturb him.
Xuan Ming didn't turn his head, nor did his fingertips stop moving:
"A crushing defeat?"
Bibi Dong walked to his side and placed the battle report on the metal table beside him, "As expected. The internal traitors are using this as an opportunity to force us to compromise."
"Hmm." Xuan Ming responded, seemingly unsurprised and even too lazy to comment. After adjusting the last energy node, he slowly turned around to look at Bibi Dong:
"When will they be able to regroup? Not all of them, just a few main attack clusters."
Bibi Dong moment's thought, combining intelligence from the front lines with the psychology of those who were "slacking off," Bibi Dong made a judgment. "Based on their current pace of advance and the extent to which those within are deliberately holding back, it will probably take about another month. On both the northern and southern fronts, it is expected that several main war zones with a force exceeding 300,000 will be formed on each side."
"One month," Xuan Ming repeated, his tone completely flat. "Then we'll make our move in a month."
He didn't ask for specifics, nor did he ask who the enemy was.
In his eyes, there was no difference between the armies of the two great empires and the Soul Master within the Spirit Hall Empire who outwardly obeyed but inwardly defied him, as long as they stood on the opposite side.
Bibi Dong watched him turn around again, focusing his attention back on the cold, Soul Guidance Mecha, as if he had just made a trivial decision. A complex emotion flashed deep in her purple-gold eyes, but in the end, she said nothing and quietly turned and left.
She could vaguely guess Xuan Ming's methods; they were not the kind of battles fought on the battlefield, but a more direct, thorough, and cruel... purge.
One month later.
The situation unfolded almost exactly as Bibi Dong had predicted.
Under the dual pressure of internal resistance and external attacks, the army of the Spirit Hall Empire suffered repeated defeats, and its defensive lines continued to shrink.
Although Bibi Dong's ruthless orders executed a number of deserters, temporarily halting the rout, overall morale remained low, and the battle lines were barely maintained, preventing any further large-scale desertions.
Meanwhile, the morale of the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empire allied forces was soaring, and they continued to inject fresh troops into various war zones, making their forces increasingly formidable.
They saw a glimmer of victory and believed that the Spirit Hall Empire was on the verge of collapse.
Even the high-ranking officials of the two great empires and the old forces of the Spirit Hall Empire who secretly cooperated began to celebrate and plan for a bright future after dividing up the spoils of victory.
Several elders in the Elder Hall could no longer sit still and repeatedly requested to personally lead the expedition to stabilize the war situation. They could not tolerate the empire's territory being lost so "easily." However, Bibi Dong firmly rejected their requests.
Even when Qian Renxue personally volunteered to lead the Angel Legion to the front lines to turn the tide of battle with the power of the Angel God, Bibi Dong dismissed her with a single sentence. " Xuan Ming will handle it. There's no need for such a fuss."
Her attitude sparked more discontent and suspicion, with some believing that Her Majesty the Empress was overly reliant on Xuan Ming, or even condoning the deterioration of the situation.
Until this day.
The latest battle report from the front lines indicates that after a month of "unstoppable advance," the allied forces of the two great empires have finally formed five major attack groups with highly concentrated forces and formidable momentum on both the northern and southern fronts!
Each cluster gathers over half a million elite troops, including a large number of Soul Master and Soul Guidance Legions, their forces aimed directly at the core area of the Spirit Hall Empire territory!
On this very day, the Xuan Ming, which had been dormant for so long, finally stirred.
He remained standing inside the research institute in Spirit City, without even leaving the laboratory. But his vast and boundless divine sense, which encompassed the entire continent, acted like an invisible radar, instantly locking onto the ten battlefields on the north and south fronts, which shone like giant torches!
On every battlefield, the shouts of battle shook the heavens, the brilliance of Soul Skill intertwined with the roar of Soul Cannon, and the air was thick with the stench of blood and slaughter.
The armies of both empires were in high spirits, while the resistance of the Spirit Hall Empire remained "weak and ineffective" in many areas.
The next moment--
An invisible wave, traveling at speeds exceeding the speed of light, traversed endless spatial distances and simultaneously descended upon the ten bustling battlefields!
There was no warning, no light, no sound.
But on the battlefield, whether it was the Heaven Dou Knights charging forward, the Star Luo Empire Soul Master unleashing their Soul Skill, or the Spirit Hall Empire soldiers putting up a "steady resistance"...
At the same instant, all living beings felt their souls being forcibly ripped from their bodies and plunged into an absolute, eternal, pure white realm where only self-awareness existed!
Divine Skill: Eternal Heaven!
This was not an attack, but a Spiritual Domain of unimaginable size that forcibly pulled the consciousness of all the soldiers and everyone on the ten battlefields into a mental world that was absolutely controlled by Xuan Ming!
In this pure white, Eternal Heaven, there is no up, down, left, or right; no time or space; only endless nothingness, and a cold, indifferent will, seemingly originating from the very source of the world, resounding like a divine oracle deep within every trapped soul:
"Surrender... to Destruction?"
"Choose one."
There were no threats, no attempts to persuade them to surrender, only two simple and direct choices.
Like a god delivering the final judgment on ants.
The entire continent seemed to fall into a deathly silence at that moment.
Chapter 449 Heavenly Execution
The Eternal Heaven, a pure white, void Spiritual Domain where time and space seem to have lost their meaning.
For the millions of lives caught up in it, it may have been an agonizing ordeal long enough to break their souls, or it may have been just a moment of mental stagnation.
In that world dominated by the absolute will of Xuan Ming, the scale of time lost its meaning.
All they heard was that cold, hard choice:
"Surrender... to Destruction?"
Immediately afterwards, before they could react, or rather, whatever choice they made in that "moment," all their consciousness was forcibly pushed out of that pure white area by an irresistible force!
Buzz--
Like the receding tide, the soul returns to the body.
On the battlefield, deafening shouts of battle, the explosions of Soul Skill, and the roar of Soul Cannon once again filled our ears.
The smell of blood and gunpowder hit the air.
It was as if the eerie, pure white world we had just witnessed was merely a collective hallucination.
"What... what just happened?"
I think I heard a voice...
Is it a hallucination? Or some kind of psychological attack?
"Where's the enemy? Why aren't they moving?"
After a brief silence came greater chaos and astonishment.
Both the allied forces of Heaven Dou Star Luo Empire and the defending forces of the Spirit Hall Empire looked at each other, at a loss for what to do.
That bizarre scene just now was beyond everyone's comprehension.
However, this confusion and sense of relief lasted for less than a breath.
The next moment, the world changed color!
The skies, which were originally clear or overcast, were instantly covered by boundless, leaden-like dark clouds over the ten battlefields!
The dark clouds hung low, seemingly within reach, and instead of rolling blue lightning, they were... blood-red Thunderclap!
Rumble--!!!
It wasn't just one or two streaks, but a torrential downpour!
Countless thick, blood-red Thunderclap, carrying the purest aura of slaughter and Destruction, poured down from the thick, dark clouds like a punishment unleashed by the wrath of a god!
Divine Skill: Heavenly Execution!
This is no longer a matter of the mind, but a real, Destruction natural disaster!
The target of the crimson Thunderclap was not a specific army formation, but rather... precisely locked onto each and every individual!
"No--!"
"Run!"
"Defense! Form ranks!"
Terrified screams, desperate cries, and hastily unleashed bursts of Soul Skill light erupted across the battlefield.
But it's useless!
The crimson Thunderclap seemed to possess Life and will, precisely avoiding those souls in the " Eternal Heaven " who had chosen to "surrender" at the first moment.
The spearhead of Destruction is mercilessly pointed at those individuals who had ever hesitated, resisted, or even firmly opposed it.
Whether they are the charging knights of the Heaven Dou Empire, the elite Soul Master of the Star Luo Empire, or... those "insiders" within the Spirit Hall Empire who outwardly comply but inwardly resist and fail to put in the effort!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thunderclap roared like rain, death raged like a tapestry!
One by one, the figures vaporized instantly in the crimson lightning, not even having time to utter a scream.
The sturdy armor, the hastily erected Soul Power shield, and the combined defensive formation were as fragile as paper before the crimson Thunderclap that contained the will of divine punishment!
In just a few breaths!
The ten battlefields, which were originally bustling with noise and crowds, were now completely cleared away!
More than two-thirds of the people disappeared.
All that remained were charred remains, molten metal fragments, and the nauseating smell of burnt metal and ozone that filled the air.
The survivors, soldiers from both sides, stood frozen in place, their faces ashen, their bodies trembling, as if they had been frozen in time.
They stared in horror at the vast area that had suddenly cleared around them, at their comrades who had just fought side by side or risked their lives to turn to ashes, their minds blank.
Fear, the most primal and profound fear, like a cold, venomous snake, instantly Entanglement the heart of every survivor!
Xuan Ming knew very well that the spiritual crushing power of the " Eternal Heaven " was enough to annihilate these millions of people at the soul level.
But for ordinary people, that's too abstract, too "quiet."
They need a more direct, bloodier, and more impactful way to understand the cost of "disobedience."
They needed to witness firsthand how the rebels were annihilated under the overwhelming power of Heaven, to smell the stench of burning flesh and blood, and to have the most brutal visual impact imprint the word "fear" deep into their souls!
Only in this way can the so-called "authority" be truly established.
The crimson Thunderclap gradually subsided, the low-hanging dark clouds slowly dispersed, and sunlight once again shone down on the earth, illuminating the devastated battlefield littered with corpses.
Although those killed by the Heavenly Execution left no bodies, the war, which has lasted for some time, has already claimed many lives.
The surviving soldiers, like frightened birds, stood there blankly, having lost all fighting spirit and the ability to think.
They will remember everything that happened today for the rest of their lives.
The battle reports from the front lines, both miraculous and nightmarish, spread like wildfire across the continent through various channels at a speed far exceeding that of any army's advance.
Heaven Dou City, Star Luo City, Spirit City... All the forces, families, and even ordinary people who received the news reacted with disbelief, followed by boundless shock and deathly silence.
"Ten major battlefields... simultaneously subjected to divine lightning punishment?"
"Crimson Thunderclap... precisely annihilated over three million people?!"
"Whether it's the armies of Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empire, or those within our own empire who harbor disloyal intentions... none have escaped?!"
"This... how is this possible?!"
At first there was skepticism, but when the details from different sources, including surviving soldiers' trembling accounts of what they had witnessed, matched perfectly, all the doubts turned into a cold reality and a deep-seated fear.
That wasn't war, that was divine retribution!
Panic, like an invisible wave, instantly swept across every corner of the two great empires and the Spirit Hall Empire.