Chapter 1514: A Large-Scale Assault

It was not difficult to convert regular humans into corpse kings. After so many years of research and testing, Aeternus had many methods available to them, and what they employed in the underground spaces beneath their cities was corrosion. They corrupted these captured humans with the overwhelming energy given off by a mass of corpse kings, which would gradually permanently transform the humans.

Some who were unable to resist the corrosion were already no longer human, though there were also quite a few others who had managed to endure. There were also some humans who had likely only recently arrived and thus had not yet transformed. These were the people whom Lu Yin and the others wanted to save.

Normally, they would not go out of their way to rescue these captured humans who were being forcefully transformed, but since they had coincidentally run across them, the ragtag group of survivors had no intention of leaving the other humans behind to fend for themselves.

Watching from afar, Marquis Green Bamboo was a bit surprised. These people still want to save others when they were already in such a dire situation themselves? Were humans hypocrites, or just stupid?

Corpse kings littered the landscape everywhere outside the city, and most of the people who had escaped from underground were terrified, anxious, and quickly fell to despair. There were a few who fought against the corpse kings with everything that they had. One in particular shouted, “Brothers, I came here knowing that I’d die, but now, even just killing one of these monsters is a step forward for us! Stepping onto this battlefield already sealed our fates, so what is there to fear?”

“Kill the monsters! Kill them!”

“I’ll drag at least one of them to hell with me if I’m going to die!”

…

The sourcebox array continued to fire its red beams in all directions like a giant red monster as it returned to the city and killed all of the surrounding corpse kings.

“Get in, QUICKLY!” Lu Yin yelled at the top of his lungs to the people who had climbed out of the underground pit.

Lu Yin and his group had been noticed by the humans long ago, though they had not expected any assistance. Upon hearing Lu Yin’s words, everyone shot into the Red Beam without a second thought.

“Thank you for helping us, brothers,” said a well-built man with a pale face. His aura was flickering and unstable, and he was only an Enlighter at best. However, he was the strongest of the humans who had climbed up from beneath the city.

“How many more people are still underground and still human?” Lu Yin asked.

“At least a million more.”

Lu Yin was completely stunned. “So many? Where did they all come from?”

The man bitterly answered, “Some of them were taken from the battlefield, but we have no idea where the vast majority of them came from. Regardless, there are many people trapped in there, though we weren’t able to communicate with each other. The biggest reason why we know that they’re not from the battlefield is because of their numbers. The fighting on the battlefield is simply too intense, and far more people are killed than those who are captured. There’s no way so many people could possibly be captured. On top of that, their clothing is different from what we use.”

Lu Yin grew a little worried at that information. He glanced at the hole that led underground and ordered, “Che Zhan, Brother Hong, Matriarch of the Eastern Mountain, let’s move.”

Upon hearing Lu Yin’s orders, several people immediately began moving, and the red beams shot out once more. This time, many of them fired at the ground, tearing apart the ground beneath the city, as well as a concrete slab. The full underground situation was fully exposed.

As the ground crumbled and collapsed, humans, corpse kings, monsters-in-the-making, and even corpses were revealed.

After the ground crumbled, the entire city started to collapse as well. Corpse kings all around the Red Beam started charging towards it as though they had gone insane, but all of their efforts were fruitless. None of the monsters were able to even leave a scratch on the Red Beam.

There was a grim expression on Marquis Green Bamboo’s face as he watched these events unfold. He had never expected Lu Yin and the others to choose to save everyone. The marquis’s eyes narrowed in displeasure. This was not how the situation was supposed to play out! Those captured humans should have become back-up corpse kings that would be into the Perennial World as weapons!

As he thought of the immeasurable losses that they were suffering, Marquis Green Bamboo contacted Shaman God. The Skygod’s response was simple. “Let him do whatever he wants. You should have already figured out his identity, which also means that you must have also realized the importance of letting him gain many achievements in this war.”

Marquis Green Bamboo’s eyes blazed with indignation, but he could only lower his hand and continue to silently watch. A shadow appeared behind him. It was a corpse king, one that was extremely strong and was comparable to a powerhouse that had survived five stellular tribulations. If this creature were sent into the city, then Lu Yin and the others would have no chance of surviving. Unfortunately, the marquis was unable to do anything besides watch on as the city was destroyed and the captured humans were rescued.

Marquis Green Bamboo and the corpse king behind him were not the only ones paying attention. The New World was supposed to be the monster’s main base, from which they would invade the Perennial World. Thus, all of the Twelve Marquises had a vested interest in the current events. Any one of them could easily make a move and deal with the sourcebox array without any effort, but they had no choice but to simply watch on as the Red Beam left the city.

The number of people inside the sourcebox array had risen to close to a million after they saved every human who had not transformed, and the size of the Red Beam had increased considerably. If the rescued people truly had not been captured from the battlefield behind the Mother Tree, then the most likely possibility was that they had come from… parallel universes.

Lu Yin had never considered the fact that people from parallel universes could be captured and brought to this place as well. At this thought, his hair stood on end. There were an infinite number of parallel universes, and the same could be said of the humans living in those universes. If the monsters actually had the ability to capture people from parallel universes, then it no wonder why there were an endless number of corpse kings.

Mr. Guo voiced his confusion. “All of the Twelve Marquises are on this battlefield, and yet they’re letting us be. I honestly thought that the ruckus we kicked up this time would have caused our deaths.”

Lu Yin countered, “Just doing this much can’t be considered a big commotion. Just how big do you think the entire New World is? We’re only crawling across a tiny corner of it at best.”

Mr. Guo laughed. “You’re right. There are countless cities throughout the New World, and destroying one is not necessarily enough to attract their attention.”

Still, they had completely destroyed a city, which was an accomplishment that had never been done before in the New World. It would be nearly impossible for such a thing to not be noticed.

It was only a matter of time before formidable enemies sought them out.

Lu Yin looked around, wondering if Shaman God was spying on them or listening to any of the questions that were being brought up. That creepy doll had to be coming up with a way to resolve such doubts, right? Otherwise, successfully rescuing so many humans with nothing more than the help of the sourcebox array and then meeting up with the Forsaken Soldiers would not be a believable story.

Throughout history, there had been many examples of Redbacks gaining impressive achievements on the battlefield.

Off in the distance, Marquis Green Bamboo looked up at the second array base. “It’s time to launch a large-scale assault. This should be the excuse for why we’ve been too busy to pay attention to the New World, right?”

Shaman God voice replied, “Gaga, all of the Twelve Marquises are to join in on the assault! We start now!”

Marquis Green Bamboo smiled bitterly. All of this was just because of Long Qi. Aeternus and humanity were about to engage in a battle that would embroil the entire battlefield behind the Mother Tree. Never before had anyone ever been given such peerless treatment. Not even the top ranked Redbacks were worth such efforts. Long Qi, I hope that you don’t let Aeternus down.

There were some situations where the truth was bound to be exposed. If Lu Yin were a Redback, and if Aeternus went out of its way to help him rack up achievements in the war and also remove any suspicious details, then such things would eventually come to light. However, Lu Yin was not a Redback, and that was an absolute fact. Regardless, Aeternus was clever enough to work with Redbacks who did not even know that they were Redbacks!

One day later, the second array base high above them activated. Its unbelievably massive gears began to turn, which drew the attention of the entire New World, even that of Lu Yin and those with him.

“The second array base has been activated! A massive attack is about to be launched!” Mr. Guo exclaimed.

At that moment, a vibration echoed out that caused the ground of the New World to crack, and the trembles could be felt from far, far away.

“It’s the other array bases!” Che Zhan yelled in shock.

Instantly solemn, Brother Hong said, “One, two, three, four. Together with the second array base, all five of the array bases have all been activated. A fight like never before is about to start.”

Zhou Tang looked up and stared at the second array base with a serious expression. “A battle that involves all five of the array bases that has even forced all of them to be activated… Could a Semi-Progenitor powerhouse have made a move? No, if it were a Semi-Progenitor, it would be impossible to conceal such a battle’s fluctuations. Even here, we would feel it.”

“It’s no wonder why they ignored us. We’re nothing more than insignificant ants compared to a battle of this scale.” Mr. Guo sighed in relief.

Lu Yin suddenly roared, “Everyone, ignore the battle above us! We’ll seize this opportunity to keep rushing forward to meet up with the Forsaken Soldiers!”

“Yes!” Che Zhan shouted energetically.

“We need to use this opportunity in order to live! Charge!”

“Charge!”

…

The battle involving all five array bases would last for a long time, at least according to Mr. Guo. It would not be easy for a victor to emerge from such a large-scale battle.

Five days later, Lu Yin and the others were still making their way towards the east with the Red Beam. As they traveled, they came across yet another city.

It was of a comparable size to the city that they had crashed through before.

The Red Beam tore the city apart and broke the ground open. Everyone witnessed the same scene take place as before: people were being transformed into corpse kings underground. There was a considerable number of humans beneath this city, close to two million humans who had not yet been converted.

The Red Beam grew even larger as it accepted two million more people. At this moment, Lu Yin was traveling with more than three million people. Unfortunately, only a small number of rescued humans were able to exert any of their strength. In fact, only about 100,000 people were in fighting condition.

Marquis Green Bamboo was notified about the second city being destroyed, but he was currently at the second array base’s headquarters, and once again, he was fighting against Xia Yan.

“Abandon the second array base, General Xia! You’re courageous, but unfortunately, you’ve also sent many to their graves. You forsook all of those people.” Marquis Green Bamboo laughed gently while speaking to Xia Yan.

Xia Yan clenched the hilt of his longsword tightly, his expression pained. He would not have cared if other people had been abandoned, not even the Envoys from Star Alliance, let alone anyone from the four ruling powers. However, Long Qi had been among those who had fallen down to the New World.

Not only was Long Qi Humility’s Gate’s Huaiyuan Gate Master, but he was also the son-in-law of the White Dragon Clan’s main family. He had gained Master Deng Guo’s favor, and he had also earned the recognition of Long Laogui. The White Dragon Clan had come to pay particular attention to the youth as well, and as Long Qi had become so important that he was second only to their Junior Progenitor Long Tian, which meant that abandoning the youth had caused Xia Yan a great deal of stress recently.

Humility’s Gate, the White Dragon Clan, and Master Deng Guo. Pressure from all these different powers had left Xia Yan rather wan and sallow, and he had degraded to the point where fighting in this major battle was quite difficult for him to handle.

“You look rather pale. Why don’t you go and take a break?” Marquis Green Bamboo teased.

Xia Yan answered quietly, “Dealing with you? That’s just a small problem to resolve.”

“Hahaha! Junior, you’re as conceited as ever. You humans really love bolstering your self-confidence, but is it actually of any use?” Marquis Green Bamboo burst out laughing as he spoke. After he finished speaking, countless green bamboo shoots burst out of the void and surrounded the two opponents. In response, Xia Yan lifted his sword and cut through the void with a clean swing of his sword.

Down below, countless corpse kings were swarming at the headquarters, and many of the giant corpse kings began to launch their own attacks. The defensive sourcebox array was once again broken, which caused Master Zan’s face to gradually grow pale as he quickly tried to repair it. Colonel Chun had already died during this attack. This siege had lasted for five days so far, and there was no end in sight.

Battle raged elsewhere besides the second array base as the other four array bases were also facing attacks from the other members of the Twelve Marquises.

Far below, on the sloped incline of the first array base, Bai Zhen was panting desperately. There were three corpse kings around him, and each one of them was just as strong as he was. He had no idea where all these corpse kings had come from.

There was a boom as the corpse king behind him attacked. The creature entered the true universe and unleashed a powerful punch at Bai Zhen’s shoulder. He spun round and slammed a palm into the corpse king, using the Gap Between Heaven and Human. The corpse king fell back, but then a terrifying blood-red energy descended from above Bai Zhen, about to envelop Bai Zhen and reduce him to mere bones. This red energy was the corpse king’s innate gift.

Bai Zhen’s body was brutishly swatted in the direction facing the New World, but he managed to stabilize his body in midair at the last second. Seeing that all three corpse kings were about to attack him once again, his face turned grim. He whipped out a delicate red flower from his cosmic ring; it was the Fay Blossom.

The moment the Fay Blossom appeared, all three of the corpse kings suddenly started moving slower. They did not seem to realize what had happened to themselves, but Bai Zhen seized the opportunity to retaliate.

Two hours later, Bai Zhen was hiding in a corner and trying to quickly recover. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, and half his body looked like it was about to collapse. Still, with the help of the Fay Blossom, he had managed to kill all three of the corpse kings.

“Oh Fay Blossom, what a terrifying power you have.” Bai Zhen murmured as he stared at the delicate red flower he held in his hand. However, his eyes contained a deep fear.

Although the New World was Aeternus’s territory and humans essentially had no place there, it did not mean that humanity was completely ignorant about what happened in the New World.

Humans had always had various ways to observe what happened down in the New World.