Chapter 1814: A Rusted Blade

As expected, the report incited a great uproar in the fourth realm after publication. And not just the fourth realm—the spirit paper had long made its way into the chief worlds through various channels. The supremes that the Demonic Vine had defeated instantly became a universal laughingstock.

Thirty-sixth level sequence cultivators also existed in the chief worlds, but they would never be able to defeat a supreme’s projection. Most importantly was that the vine didn’t defeat all of her opponents, she frequently lost as well. That further highlighted how incompetent those who’d lost to her were.

The report and its recordings brought an immense morale boost to the fourth realm. So supremes weren’t invincible! It’d taken more than three hundred of them before they had the courage to attack the Star Sect. If the immortals of the fourth realm continued to cultivate, they would reach the same levels and defeat the supremes!

……

Since Nihil Homeland had once been the sanctuary for the first batch of outsiders to the Land of Reincarnation, many felt a certain affinity for the name. Thus, the new world created by the thirty-six plane clusters was called “New Nihil Homeland”.

The one that the Golden Dragon King forcefully claimed became vital territory for the dragons. It didn’t join New Nihil Homeland.

The thirty-thousand and five hundredth year of the Xuanhuang calendar.

In the one hundred and fortieth year since New Nihil Homeland’s founding, it occupied seventy clusters and had doubled its size at inception. Through a mix of pressure and threats, it now boasted a portion of fourth realm locals who’d defected to the chief worlds. They were the outsiders’ representatives in the Land of Reincarnation.

It wasn’t that the locals didn’t resist their occupiers, but that the cultivators from the outside realm were at least tenth level sequence experts. Ten levels was peak battle strength in the current fourth realm, not to mention the projections of the supremes.

After another one hundred years, a stream of radiant sword light suddenly shot out of the Star Formula Academy and streaked toward the Dragon Cluster of the fourth realm.

A massive battle was taking place there.

The Dragon Cluster was located to the northwest, close to where True Nihil Homeland was. Thus far, the chief worlds had stayed out of the center of the fourth realm as they didn’t know what the Land of Reincarnation’s true capabilities were.

They started in the Northwest Cluster and swiftly conquered thirty-six planes. Continuing their advance from the fringes, they gradually made their way through the orders of the land. They’d now reached the Dragon Cluster, a pivotal intersection of the fourth realm.

The outsiders decided to mount an attack after making preparations for two hundred and sixty years. There weren't that many supremes in residence at True Nihil Homeland these days; they’d soundlessly assimilated into the fourth realm to search for their treasures. No one knew where they were.

The fourth realm was too vast in comparison to their numbers.

Establishing True Nihil Homeland had been done for their disciples and subordinates, and to draw the attention of the fourth realm. The driving force behind the homeland’s expansion was no longer cultivators from the outside realm, but locals of the fourth realm.

Once a local faction fell, they immediately turned into henchmen for their new liege lords and attacked their home. This was what Lu Yun had been worried of, so he’d struck preemptively and cleaned house of groups who were preparing to surrender as soon as the outsiders arrived.

Those who surrendered now were first defeated or intimidated into capitulating.

No singular governing body had unified the fourth realm since the end of the original Hongmeng. The realm had always been demarcated by race or clan. Plane clusters were just collections of numerous planes that happened to be grouped together.

In fact, there was no such concept as the fourth realm in many people’s eyes. To the immortals, this was the Boundless Planes. Space was composed of vast plane clusters instead of singular worlds.

Thus, surrendering to the chief worlds wasn’t an act of betrayal. They were just protecting their own clan or sect.

The Dragon Cluster, however, was different.

It announced itself as a Formula Academy faction the moment the academy was formed. The Dragon Formula Academy was the strongest beneath the one at Mount Astronomia and the Star Sect. Thus, when the armies from True Nihil Homeland marched toward them, the Dragon Formula Academy immediately requested help from the Star Sect.

Jian Bu’er cut through the void with his sword and rushed to their aid at first light.

The invaders had already gained a footing in the plane cluster and occupied more than half of its planes. They were on the doorstep of the academy and threatening it.

True Nihil Homeland’s armies were assembled according to the armed forces of certain chief world factions. They possessed military expertise and discipline far in excess of what the fourth realm was capable of. The same held true even for squadrons comprised of immortals conquered in the last two hundred years.

Their commander was Yun Lang, son of the Cloud Atlas Supreme. He was a twenty-fifth level sequence expert and a superb genius. He was less well known in the land because he’d never fought Ao Qin, Jiang Kui, and the others.

As the grandson of Yun Yi, he had no need to vie for gratuitous titles.

Cloud Atlas sent out his son on this expedition to temper and build up the young man’s experience. Formidable as he was, the Qilong Sovereign King flew apart into dust as soon as Yun Lang took the field, shocking those of the Dragon Cluster. The defenders retreated to the Formula Academy and waited for reinforcements to arrive from the Star Sect.

It was a very similar scene to the one two hundred and sixty years ago, when three hundred and twenty-five supremes surrounded the Star Formula Academy. The major difference was that this battle would see the end of the Dragon Formula Academy and the Dragon Cluster at large.

“Surrender and see a bit less death. Otherwise, all of you will die.” Yun Lang wore a black combat outfit and looked to be twenty-four years old. A small crown of gold held his faintly purple hair in place. He stood coolly outside the academy gates, fifteen hundred kilometers away.

“We would rather die than submit!” an elder spat out through grit teeth. “Kill us all if you have what it takes! We will make life difficult for you even in death! Come at us!”

Rays of brilliant splendor circled over the skies of the Dragon Academy, protecting the building.

“These Formula Academies are truly difficult and irksome to eliminate…” Yun Lang heaved a sigh.

In the clusters that True Nihil Homeland conquered, most factions surrendered after they were defeated. But if a plane or cluster boasted of an academy? They required absolute annihilation. Obtaining their allegiance was impossible.

Furthermore, when Formula Academies were toppled, they caused immense destruction and brought a great deal of trouble to the outsiders. Many sequence experts from the outside realm died in their final moments of victory.

“Then kill them all,” Yun Lang grumbled. “It’s not my men who are dying, so what do I care?”

He gave the order and shifted three hundred million troops into motion. They surged toward the Dragon Academy like a tide of iron and steel.

Hummm.

A ray of resplendent sword light descended from the sky. When it faded away, a rusty sword poked out sideways from the ground five hundred kilometers in front of the academy’s gates. The army of three hundred million strong creaked to a halt.