Chapter 1352 - The Astrological Continent
The final battleground was located deep in space.
At the end of the road that he had created was a huge continent that resembled the Dark Realm—this was a continent that was formed by piecing together the broken pieces of destroyed planets, just like how Ye Chongsheng had used his divine abilities to piece together the Dark Realm. However, this astronomical continent was many times more massive than the Dark Realm and was large enough for hundreds of millions of people to live on it.
However, this astronomical continent was not habitable.
The environment, power of laws, Dao forces, air, and water resources contained on this astronomical continent was starkly different from that of the Vast Thousand Domains.
If any ordinary creature from the Vast Thousand Domains were to come here, they wouldn't be able to survive. Only martial artists who were above the Bitter Sea stage would be able to survive in such a harsh environment.
Thanks to the efforts of Ye Qingyu and the two empires, those who had joined the expedition had all attained a cultivation that was at least at the Bitter Sea stage and above, including the ordinary soldiers. Thus, it wasn't difficult for them to adapt to this harsh environment since they could also rely on the technologies from the ancient Earth civilization.
The massive army from the empire streamed through the portal that Ye Qingyu had created and arrived on this astronomical continent.
Their enemies—the various armies from the various alternate timelines and realms—had already set up camp here.
The battle was now a clash between armies of different realms and civilizations.
The moment he set foot on the astronomical continent, Ye Qingyu could sense the presence of several dozen races from different stars and several dozen top-level fiendgods from alternate timelines. They were all scattered around various regions of this astronomical continent. Some could clearly be seen while others were hiding in the dark, and their commanders were all waiting gravely for this battle to begin.
He could also see the Abandoned Fiendgod and the great army from the Fiendgods Star Domain.
Soldiers facing off against soldiers!
Generals against generals!
Kings against kings!
This was what the final battle would look like.
In a way, for a Star Domain to prove that it was worthy of existing in the galaxy, other than having top-level experts to protect it, its worthiness was also proven through the average martial cultivation of its ordinary and highly-skilled martial artists, the development of its civilization, the intellect and abilities of its residents, and also through battles.
"Just as I predicted, the Abandoned Fiendgod and the other Sovereigns from an alternate timeline have finally chosen this method to complete their invasion of the Vast Thousand Star Domains. This astronomical continent is a battleground that had been constructed by the Kings of Sovereigns from an alternate timeline, and they had used abandoned and desolate planets to build this battleground. They're hoping to destroy the fate of the Vast Thousand Star Domains in the course of this battle and capture all the elite men from the Vast Thousand Domains."
He immediately understood the intentions of these Invaders the moment he glanced at the astronomical continent.
However, despite knowing all of that, he still had to bring his grand army to participate in this battle.
This was an open conspiracy and the only way to get around it was to face it head-on.
When he had visited the Underworld Star Domain, he had read a similar example recorded in the military arsenal of the ancient Sovereign of the Underworld Star Domain.
Each time a Star Domain had matured to the point where it had its own Sovereign and protector, it would be extremely difficult to wrest the fate away from the Star Domain. The ancient legacy and solution to this issue was to create an astronomical continent to launch a full-scale battle, annihilate all life within a Star Domain, and cause the fate that enveloped all creatures within a Star Domain to dissipate. Then, one would have to return to the Star Domain and reassign the dissipated fate to others. This process of dissipating and reassigning fate was the perfect solution for these Invaders.
In the cosmic universe, which was like a dark forest, such incidents had happened several times throughout history.
Those Star Domains that had been invaded by these hunters undeniably faced a tragic and cruel fate.
However, he was forced to battle despite what he knew.
Otherwise, once these Invaders forcibly invaded the Vast Thousand Star Domains, they would completely destroy and kill everything in the Star Domains, and these Star Domains would never have another chance to produce life and mature into a civilization.
This could only change if the Vast Thousand Star Domains could protect and defend its dignity and right to survive in a battle.
Naturally, there were unwritten laws of the universe, so if the Vast Thousand Star Domains could win the battle on the astronomical continent, the universe would also protect it. And if any foreign Invaders were to attempt to forcibly seize these Star Domains, the universe would turn against them and heavenly punishment would rain down upon them.
Ye Qingyu exerted his divine consciousness and the one hundred eight ancient characters mysterious technique immediately exploded from within him.
Ye Qingyu had engraved every single ancient character formation, and these formations now shot across the dark skies of the astronomical continent like bright stars and carried a mighty force as they hurtled across the skies in various directions. They shrouded the surrounding millions of kilometers and turned it into a safe zone.
This was where the Vast Thousand Star Domains' army would set up their base camp.
Their military flags billowed like dragons and their battle drums echoed across the skies.
Their swords were like rainbows, their horses were like dragons, and their warships were as numerous as clouds or rain.
The great army of the Vast Thousand Star Domains was like a long dragon that followed the path to the astronomical continent. Then, they cleared the various areas under the directions of their leaders, set up their tents, formed their defensive line and positions, and settled down.
The great army set up camp in an orderly manner.
The divine temples, which housed the command centers, and the cities were constructed within a short period of time.
At the same time, a series of orders were quickly cascaded within the core central military flagship.
This military expedition functioned like a well-oiled machine and quickly and logically processed all commands without making a single mistake. This was a system made up of hundreds of millions of people but they were so coordinated that it seemed like they were acting as a single entity. After two thousand years of training, they functioned perfectly as they were about to head into battle.
As the lofty Sovereign, Ye Qingyu didn't even need to worry about the military commands that were being issued.
[The Beginning] would handle everything.
The optical brain [The Beginning] was the main brain behind this operation.
Tens of thousands of top-level military strategists would cooperate with [The Beginning] using their own optical brain calculator that had been assigned to each battalion, and these calculators were now running at full speed.
The military efficiency achieved by the great army of the Vast Thousand Domains was completely unheard of.
Soon after, the melodious sounds of drums could be heard.
Tens of thousands of rays of bright-red light ripped through the void and shot toward the black firmament.
These were technological products of the ancient Earth civilization.
Each ray of bright-red light represented the most sophisticated rocket that was a combination of the best of the formation martial way's civilization and the ancient Earth's technologies.
This rocket shot into the sky, and after it broke past the gravitational pull of the astronomical continent, it would explode and millions of nano-sized optical brain satellites would scatter all across the astronomical continent. Then, these nano-sized optical brains would operate within its own territory and use its light energy to scan the geology, topography, mountains, rivers, land, weather, and geographical features. They could even spy on the enemy's camp and military strength.
They had already tested these methods over the past two thousand years of battling the Invaders.
This was the technique that the military headquarters was best at in every battle.
This was also part of the strategy that the military intelligence had agreed on before they set out on the battle expedition.
It was worth noting that these optical brain satellites were extremely tiny and did not release any energy waves, so it was extremely hard for martial experts to detect their presence. They were scattered all across the external orbit of the astronomical continent, forming a surveillance web system that was omnipresent. This would be able to help the Vast Thousand Star Domains' military gain the upper hand by moving in first.
Ye Qingyu stood in the center of the grand army and released his divine consciousness, which shrouded the entire astronomical continent.
He perceptively noticed that the Abandoned Fiendgod and the other Kings of Sovereigns did not make any move to stop these nano-sized optical brain satellites.
This was a battle that pitted soldiers against soldiers and generals against generals, and the Abandoned Fiendgod and the other Kings of Sovereigns were very proud and also respected the laws of the battle. Thus, they wouldn't get involved in military affairs.
Ye Qingyu breathed out a sigh of relief at this discovery.
The troops from the Vast Thousand Star Domains continued to stream into the astronomical continent and set up camp within the continent. According to the reports that were being fed by the optical brain satellites, the frontline troops had already started to attempt to encroach into the enemy's territory, and after the initial clash with the Invaders' army, there were some losses and some wins.
The lowest target that the military had set for themselves was to be able to survive this battle on the astronomical continent, while the highest target was to emerge as victors and slay all the Invaders' armies, then unite the entire astronomical continent.
The entire process seemed like a game of thrones to those Kings of Sovereigns who stood at the summit of the martial way. It seemed as though whichever army emerged victorious wouldn't actually affect the ultimate fate of the Vast Thousand Star Domains. At least, this was how it seemed to Wen Wan, Sun Wukong, Old Fish, the million-year-old soul, and the others.
Ye Qingyu did not agree with their mentality.
He had already sensed that there was a deeper significance than they thought.
However, there was no need for any explanations, nor did he have the time to slowly comprehend and provide explanations.
That was because Ye Qingyu had to enter the battlefield a month after the grand army of the Vast Thousand Star Domains stepped foot onto the astronomical continent. The Abandoned Fiendgod's complete form had appeared in the battleground for Sovereigns located outside the astronomical continent. He had previously been defeated by Ye Qingyu in a single move, but now, this was him in his true form. He sent a Dao will crashing against the realm that was made up of the one hundred eight ancient characters mysterious technique and challenged Ye Qingyu to battle.
"Careful, Your Highness. It might be a trap," Gao Diping said worriedly.
Wen Wan and the others also tried to stop him. They felt that he shouldn't accept the Abandoned Fiendgod's challenge immediately. At the very least, they would have to do a thorough scan and ascertain how many enemies were lurking in the dark, waiting for their chance to pounce, before Ye Qingyu stepped onto the battlefield.
"Woof... The Abandoned Fiendgod isn't the only person in that area," Little Nine said as its body expanded significantly. It sniffed as though it had detected something then said, "I can sense danger." Little Nine had spent the past two thousand years running wild across the Vast Thousand Star Domains and had consumed countless treasures and Invaders, so its body had undergone a transformation—no one knew how much more powerful it had become.
"I'm willing to battle alongside you," Bai Yuqing said as she rose to her feet.
She had displayed the legacy of White Jade Capital to a point that no one had ever attained, and was already a peak Martial Emperor. She hadn't become a King of Sovereigns because she lacked the fate and opportunity to become one.
"We'll go too," the Six Divine Generals and the spirit monkey battle companion said.
The fate of billions within the Vast Thousand Star Domains ultimately rested on one man, Ye Qingyu.