Ten thousand I am across the heavens

Lanno's immortal aperture was like a bomb that could explode at any moment. The heavenly tribulation power contained within was quite troublesome even for some eighth-level immortals. Now he had to rely on his own strength to deal with the situation from both inside and outside.

Within the Immortal Aperture, vast areas of damage have appeared on the steel continent. Natural disasters don't just descend from the outside; they arise from within. And they take many forms. Sometimes it's lightning falling from the sky, or subterranean fire spontaneously generated from the ground. But sometimes it's the direct creation of dangerous creatures that appear within the Immortal Aperture.

At this moment, tens of thousands of Gold-Eating Ants were frantically devouring the metal on the Steel Continent. Their individual strength had reached the Beast King level, equivalent to the peak of the fifth rank, and their numbers were enormous. Relying on their powerful defenses, they withstood attacks from various weapons. If it were only them, relying on passive defense, they could be annihilated in no time. But such a troublesome existence was still rampaging across the Steel Continent.

Strange, invisible creatures, each possessing strength comparable to a sixth-level immortal, and powerful stealth abilities that shield them from most detection attacks, appeared. There were five or six of them, concealing their presence and stealthily infiltrating to sabotage and attempt to destroy the core node of the Steel Continent.

If they find the vital weakness of the Steel Continent, the threat would be far greater than those ants that devour metal.

In addition, the Wuxiang Hand, whom Fang Yuan had just faced not long ago, also appeared here, descending directly from the sky to steal the Gu worms in the Steel Continent, attempting to collapse the defensive killing move here by stealing a large number of Gu worms.

If it weren't for certain natural disasters, such a thing simply couldn't be created. For example, the Great Harmony Wind, which destroys everything, would surely be designed to make the attack even more insane in intensity.

Lan Nuo was doing his best to maintain the balance within his body. The most troublesome thing at the moment was the Wu Xiang Shou who had descended from the sky. The Gu worms they had extracted might be very crucial. He still had several Rank 6 Immortal Gu worms left in his body, each of which played a vital role in the defense process. If even one of them were stolen, it would be a huge problem.

Fortunately, even the most cunning thief isn't without a way to deal with it. There's a saying that a thief never leaves empty-handed, which means that if a thief has stolen something, he'll return.

The Formless Hand is virtually impossible to defend against, and extremely difficult to intercept. This is because these hands are almost invisible until they make contact with their target. Therefore, neither attacking nor defending against it is very effective.

But once interference occurs, it's always mutual. For Wuxiang Shou to interfere with the Gu worm and steal it, he must reveal himself, and that instant is indeed a moment that can destroy him. This includes the entire process of him grabbing and stealing the Gu worm. It's all possible to destroy him, but the speed is very fast, making it difficult to seize the opportunity.

However, theoretically, there's an even simpler way to deal with the Faceless Hand: prepare Gu worms worth stealing in advance and then proactively give them to him. The Faceless Hand's artificial intelligence isn't particularly strong. When it encounters an easier target to steal from, or one that's closer, there's a considerable probability it will switch its target. Once this pattern is figured out, it's possible to lure these Faceless Hands to change targets at minimal cost, while simultaneously leading them into one's own trap.

Those few Wuxiangs targeting the sixth-rank Gu worms are the most troublesome, and they are the first to be targeted. It is indeed difficult to come up with bait that is equivalent to the sixth-rank Gu worms, but it does not need to be completely equivalent. It only needs to be a fraction of its value to meet the condition that the thief will not leave empty-handed. Dropping it on the Wuxiangs' inevitable path is enough to make them change their target.

Thus, a scene resembling a missile exchange unfolded in the sky. Missiles, carrying vast quantities of low-value, Gu worms, flew like decoys towards the swarms of Wuxiangs (a type of martial arts expert), intercepting those descending from the sky. Once intercepted, the Wuxiangs would grab the missiles and flee. At this point, they became vulnerable to attack. The ground-based laser defense system would unleash high-powered lasers, instantly destroying those Wuxiangs that had captured their targets. Many of these attacks also allowed the Wuxiangs to recover the stolen Gu worms.

But this doesn't mean the crisis is over. Because whether it's launching missiles or lasers, it means important tactical nodes on the Steel Continent have been exposed.

A dazzling flash of light cleaved a missile launch site in two. Countless missiles were destroyed in the process, including some that should have been intercepted. The Wuxiang Hand broke through the blockade and seized the crucial Gu worm.

On the ground, a high-powered laser emitter, just about to launch after charging, was suddenly attacked. Its immense internal energy exploded, creating a large crater in the steel continent. The "Faceless Hand," which should have been destroyed, escaped with hundreds of armed Gu worms because it failed to launch.

The enemy, lurking in the shadows, seized this opportunity to strike. These were invisible figures with exceptional stealth abilities. They took advantage of the moment to sabotage these vital strategic facilities.

After unleashing their attack, they quickly went into stealth mode. Even if their location was immediately bombarded with bullets, it wouldn't be a big deal for them. Such a hasty attack was basically insufficient to cause damage to the invisible beings with sixth-tier strength. If it weren't for the possibility of even more powerful beings attacking later, they wouldn't need to retreat now. They could easily coordinate with other natural disasters to unleash even more devastating attacks.

Compared to the coordinated efforts of these creatures, the ants gnawing on the metal were like a minor nuisance, even as they multiplied rapidly. They weren't the primary enemy to eliminate at this point.

He is now caught in a predicament, beset by internal and external troubles. Even with his exquisite self-control, dealing with such a troublesome situation seems inevitable. Especially since his body is still in a state of accelerated time, if he doesn't send his immortal aperture back to the ground, he will have to increase his mental speed by hundreds or thousands of times to cope with the crisis playing out at double speed within his body.

The Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had seized this opportunity. He unleashed a locking attack, with thousands upon thousands of golden meteors converging on him from all directions like rivers flowing into the sea. The greatest advantage of a locking attack is its guaranteed damage. Even if the opponent hides in a gap that doesn't exist in this world, the attack will lock onto him and continue its pursuit once he reappears, unless he never returns. Simultaneously dealing with attacks from both directions will inevitably lead to one side collapsing. But at this moment, he completely relinquished control of his body. Instead, he used all his willpower to resist the attack unleashed by the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable.

"Heavenly Heart Flow! Sea of ​​Flaming Light Leaving the Earth!"

Spheres of plasma formed around him, then flew in all directions, intercepting the golden meteors converging from all sides and colliding precisely with each other. These tracking attacks detonated before they could hit, drawing in the power of nature and creating this incredibly wondrous phenomenon.

The Giant Sun Immortal Venerable sensed Lan Nuo's improved condition but shook his head: "Even if you concentrate fully, it won't be enough to withstand all my attacks. Moreover, if you shift all your attention to the outside world, how will you deal with the natural disasters and calamities within your body?"

He was right. Many of the attacks from all directions successfully bypassed the interception of the sea of ​​flames above the ground and hit their targets.

The reason is simple: pure luck. Either they were lucky enough to catch Lanno making a mistake, or they were lucky on their own. The structure of their killing move suddenly changed, just in time to evade the interception. In short, a significant number of meteors successfully bypassed the interception circle. This is the power of luck; they are always in a state of good fortune, while the enemy is always in a state of bad luck. Furthermore, one can roughly estimate the future trajectory by observing the pattern of luck.

Just as Lanno was about to be struck and severely injured, the color of his pupils suddenly changed, turning a deep purple. The instant the gold turned purple, his aura became unstable. Gone was his previous ease; he appeared even more dangerous.

In the next instant, countless runes roared out. A defensive barrier not belonging to this world was constructed, with a reaction force field, an anti-bio-force field, and an anti-energy field simultaneously unfolding around him. Golden meteors crashed into this shield, causing cracks, but most of the energy was absorbed and neutralized, barely causing any damage to his body.

"Hmm? The control has changed? The sophistication of this control has dropped several levels. But this personality seems to be able to control some peculiar powers that only extraterrestrial demons can wield." The Giant Sun Immortal Venerable noticed the problem, but at this point, there was no way to change the type of attack. He could only slightly adjust the attack type while preparing to unleash his next killing move, to counter this defense that didn't belong to this world.

The current situation was somewhat unexpected, but that was all. It posed no real threat, as the opponent faced a much bigger problem: internal trouble. He had just withdrawn all his will to deal with the attack from the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable. His internal condition was probably already in ruins; the calamities and tribulations had nearly destroyed his immortal apertures.

However, reality differed from what Ju Yang had guessed. As Lanno withdrew his own consciousness, countless consciousnesses were projected onto the Steel Continent. These were the souls of numerous Array Kings who had been captured during the previous battles—warriors who had fought across countless worlds within the eldest son's body. Their souls had undergone countless trials, each far stronger than ordinary people. Now, projected onto the Steel Continent, this seemingly living metal immediately sculpted them into metallic bodies, granting them the power to command everything on this Steel Continent.

Even if a person can multitask, their energy is limited. Even if they personally take action, achieving higher precision and lower energy consumption, the number of battlefields they can analyze and control is still limited. But now he doesn't need to worry about this, because he has hundreds of thousands of teammates, each of whom only needs to deal with a small portion of the troubles in the natural disaster. What was originally an almost impossible task, after being broken down into tens of thousands of parts, immediately reduced its difficulty to a negligible level.

Lan Cheng never expected that he would return to the real world in this form. His entire body had transformed into a steel body made of metal, making him look like a Cybertronian. His former comrade-in-arms, Gao Wu, beside him, also had a mechanical body, but it was a liquid metal body like the T1000, entirely silver-white. Both were freely flowing liquid metal.

Although the art style is different, the strength of their bodies is undeniable. Their mission is to deal with the Gold-Eating Ants, which have multiplied to hundreds of thousands. Both were former commanders and still command them now. Each led a force of several hundred men, charging towards the rapidly multiplying ants.

A classic tactical maneuver. Their mechanical forces swiftly sliced ​​the enemy into several pieces, leveraging their control over the metallic continent beneath their feet. Using the natural terrain to divide the enemy, they then concentrated their superior forces to eliminate them one by one. Even if Lanno himself were to manage this, it would require considerable effort, potentially leading to underperformance on other battlefields. But now, with them in charge, it was a flawless solution without any additional effort.

On the other side of the battlefield, those invisible enemies also encountered fire reconnaissance. Invisibility is indeed a powerful ability, especially one that is virtually undetectable by all reconnaissance methods. However, if it's fire reconnaissance, a direct area-of-effect bombardment, then even conventional methods, which cannot detect them, will expose them.

The instant he was blasted out, several robots of varying designs sprouted from the ground around the invisible door, quickly grabbing the invisible man's body. Although these robots were soon dismantled into parts, it didn't matter; these were merely temporary bodies used by these souls. The Steel Continent was vast enough to generate new bodies for them at any time, and the invisible man, burdened by a pile of scrap metal, and further restricted by their relentless grip, became easy targets. With the overwhelming swarm of robots, each employing their own methods in the ensuing struggle, the invisible man ultimately could no longer hide. A powerful, all-encompassing beam of light pierced through the continent, instantly vaporizing both him and the robots clinging to him in the light. The previously precarious situation within the Immortal Aperture had now taken a turn for the better.

[To be continued]

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