An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 435 The war is about to begin
"Old, the shadows of the past?"

Chu Xiu's words made Zhao Jie's eyes widen, and he stammered for a moment.

The Ancient Remnant can bring back items lost in history from the past. Despite its incredible power, its market price is not high. The main reason is that the Ancient Altar is extremely rare. Even among the Eight Heavenly Kings, only two of them possess it!

And if Chu Xiu wants to buy this item, doesn't that mean...?
"Just how many good things are you hiding?" Zhao Jie shook his head helplessly.

"Leave this to me. There just happened to be a batch of stock on the market recently, which hasn't been snapped up by the two kings yet. I should be able to snatch it up."

"Thank you, Brother Zhao." Chu Xiu clasped his hands in thanks.

Chu Xiu hadn't bought these old shadows at bargain prices before because he was afraid of attracting the attention of the Heavenly Kings, but now that the Heavenly Kings valued him enough, there was no need to hide anymore.

Zhao Jie waved his hand, said nothing more, and disappeared into the air.

Seeing his figure leave, Chu Xiu also chose a safe place, diverting a wisp of his mind to activate the Soul Banner for refining, while focusing his main energy on refining the Nine-Headed Serpent Puppet.

The process of creating this witch puppet involves three steps: first, erasing the past consciousness of the nine souls and returning them to a state of infantile purity; second, feeding them with one's own essence and blood along with various extremely yin substances to create a ghost infant; and finally, using one's own flesh and blood as a base to unite the nine infants into one.

Chu Xiu flipped his wrist, and nine souls appeared in front of him.

"Wow!"

As soon as he appeared, the four demigod souls shrieked and charged toward him!

However, Chu Xiu merely glanced at them, and all the souls froze in place, cowering together in fear. The heroic spirits, in particular, trembled and prostrated themselves on the ground.

Chu Xiu's soul is so powerful that even demigods and ghosts dare not breathe on him, let alone ordinary souls.

With a wave of his hand, the nine souls let out silent screams and were instantly erased from consciousness.

With a gentle touch, nine drops of his own essence blood floated out of his body and entered the bodies of these nine souls.

Immediately, Chu Xiu felt a strange connection between himself and these nine souls.

With another wave of his hand, the Ten Directions Netherfire Array and the Four Symbols Yin-Yang Furnace appeared in the arena, and the nine souls, under the impetus of the furnace fire, began to combine with those extremely Yin things, transforming into a completely new life form.

In the days that followed, Chu Xiu began to refine the Nine-Headed Serpent Puppet while simultaneously refining the ghost army.

Zhao Jie quickly sent over a large number of old skeletons, about fifty ordinary ones, twelve elite ones, and three leaders.

That's all there is; after all, this kind of thing isn't like cabbage growing on the roadside.

Things then proceeded unexpectedly smoothly.

Thanks to his extraordinary talent of "Perfect Forging" and the help of two supreme treasures of the Demonic Sect, the Nine-Headed Witch Puppet was successfully forged seventeen days later without any major incidents.

Moreover, its quality has reached the level of a top-grade magic weapon!
This made Chu Xiu overjoyed. At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly that the [Perfect Refinement] technique was simply too abnormal. As long as enough materials were provided, it almost never failed, and every time the result was the best!

"The Nine-Headed Witch Puppet, a top-grade magic treasure, should be enough to store half of the power I had during my previous tribulation!"

It may not seem like much, but that's because Chu Xiu's strength is just too high. His combat power during his tribulation was probably not far from that of an ordinary peak demigod.

Although the total energy is only half of what it used to be, thanks to the further improvement in various attributes, the newly cultivated fighting spirit, and the equipment that can unleash demigod power after being de-datafied, it can be said that the peak combat power is far greater than before!
"The intensity is definitely high enough, but it's not long-lasting enough!"

Chu Xiu secretly made a plan in his heart. The Nine-Headed Witch Puppet could only be used as a trump card for surprise attacks. In normal battles, he still had to rely on the fighting spirit!
The refining of the ghost army went smoothly, and after only three days, it had digested all the souls it had collected.

The current ghost army has grown by 30-40% compared to its peak, and has successfully given birth to its third ghost king.

The moment this guy was born, he sensed Chu Xiu's terrifying divine soul. He didn't even dare to breathe on it like the two seniors did, and obediently submitted.

This gave Chu Xiu even more confidence. After all, although his physical energy was sealed, his soul was unaffected. After continuous enhancement and the cultivation of a fighting spirit, the amplification of his [Nether Chain] was already extremely terrifying.

If we disregard losses, the current ghost army is absolutely equivalent to a peak demigod!
"No matter how powerful Astrid is, those five blood demons have been demigods for no more than half a year. They should only be at the level of strong demigods, or at most, perfect demigods."

With that level of strength, as long as the opponent doesn't use any tricks, he can handle it!
Of course, it's possible that Astrid wouldn't cheat, but it's almost impossible for him not to cheat.
Therefore, Chu Xiu still needs to make as many preparations as possible.

In the following period, he improved his combat power in three aspects.

First, we must mobilize forces that are adapted to the civilized world and become accustomed to using the forces of the civilized world in our battles.

Secondly, I will continue to study the lineage of the Soul of the Demon Lord Duobao. Although I have not formally studied it, there are many small techniques for using the soul that I can learn from.

Finally, he practiced the ability to travel through higher dimensions, which was crucial for his escape should he be defeated.

Three more days passed amidst these tense preparations.

There are five days left until the decisive battle.

During this period, the powerful individuals responsible for participating in the war have entered the world one after another, and now they have all gathered together.

The supplies provided by various parties were also arranged in an orderly manner, and the defensive area of ​​the battle line extended to a radius of one hundred kilometers, just as Chu Xiu had predicted.

To his delight, almost every one of the powerful figures had brought at least one array formation and set it up around them.

That makes sense; how can you fight a positional war without setting up battle formations?

These formations can not only defend against enemies, but also serve as an escape route for these powerful individuals. If they encounter danger, they can simply enter the formations to retreat.

What surprised Chu Xiu the most was Zhang Zhengdao, who directly moved three great formations from the Zhang family's secret vault!

The Zhang family has always been famous for its array formations. Although these three arrays are not as powerful as the Zhang family's clan-protecting array, they are still unique and have endless uses.

With their combined efforts, Zhang Zhengdao's strength will be able to reach a new level!

This put Chu Xiu at ease.

Another day has passed amidst the busy preparations.

On this day, Chu Xiu was pondering how to use the power of civilization at the core of the Titan machine.

Suddenly, as if he had noticed something, his brow twitched.

The next instant, his figure suddenly appeared outside the Titan machine!
Not long after, Zhang Zhengdao and a group of other powerful figures followed suit and appeared.

At the far end of everyone's gaze, a vibrant crimson, like a blood-red wave, was spreading from the horizon.

Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be humanoid creatures, all bright red, crawling rapidly!

But their numbers were beyond comprehension; there were probably hundreds of billions, even trillions, not just billions! And it wasn't just on the ground; the sky was also densely covered with these blood-red figures! They had wings, like the harpies in myths and legends, who devoured human hearts and were covered in blood!
Among these densely packed crimson creatures, there were also some crimson giants hundreds of meters tall, marching towards Chu Xiu's location!

"That is the Blood Demon army?"

Even though he had witnessed it once before in the old trials, Chu Xiu still showed a shocked expression when he saw it again this time.

The current wave of bloodshed is on a completely different scale from what we've seen before!
Even though they were hundreds of kilometers apart, Chu Xiu could already feel that crimson torrent, as if it could devour the entire world and was unstoppable!
"Gudong."

Even a powerful hero from the government couldn't help but swallow hard, saying, "This is too much." "Can the Titan Machines withstand it?"

This person was in charge of the entire construction of the Titan machine and knew all too well how powerful its firepower was, but he was still apprehensive at this moment.

“Don’t panic,” Zhang Zhengdao said calmly. “At our level, quantity is no longer important. You just need to do your job.”

As expected of the head of the family, Zhang Zhengdao's voice carried an inexplicable air of authority, which quickly calmed the initially fearful crowd.

"I would appreciate your help in calming down the inhabitants and awakened ones within the Titan Machine," Chu Xiu said.

The crowd agreed and dispersed.

Only Chu Xiu remained in place, frowning as he watched the blood-red torrent approaching from afar.

He knew the weaknesses of the realm of civilization better than anyone else present. Even if the realm of civilization was compressed, let alone if the civilization was breached, it would affect the power of the realm!

The killer, empowered by the Civilization Domain, was overpowering him, but once the Civilization Domain was broken, the killer was instantly killed in one move. That's the difference!
Of course, for Chu Xiu now, the boost from the realm of civilization is certainly not that exaggerated, after all, Chu Xiu's basic attributes are far superior to those of a murderer.

Even so, this is still a significant boost, especially since the civilization realm can also enhance his ghost army as a whole.

"The Titan's ammunition reserves should be sufficient. Even if the enemy wants to wage a war of attrition, Awakened Ones can continuously replenish them by transporting supplies back and forth."

So, the key is whether we can withstand the enemy's offensive!
Although these blood demons are currently numerous, when they actually launch their attack, even a fool would know that they cannot charge together in a single group.

A defensive line with a radius of 100 kilometers is too long. Even if these blood demons maintain a distance of 10 meters, they can still send in more than 100,000 blood demon troops every second.

Of course, these troops are more likely to form small squads for surprise attacks, in which case the accuracy of artillery fire becomes especially important.

"Only five days left, will we be able to gather all of Aurora's souls in time?" Chu Xiu couldn't help but wonder to himself.

Fortunately, luck seemed to be on Chu Xiu's side this time, and good news came from the old altar just one day later.

Aurora's souls have finally been collected!
Without hesitation, Chu Xiu pointed his finger, and under his expectant gaze, the seven fragments of Aurora's soul began to slowly coalesce!
As the seven soul fragments drew near, a dazzling white light burst forth from them.

After the light disappeared, a nearly transparent phantom, emitting a faint glow, appeared in mid-air.

Chu Xiu, who was prepared, slapped the Soul Banner, and instantly a large amount of pure soul energy surged toward the illusory figure.

As energy was injected, the illusory body gradually solidified, revealing the outline of a woman.

Judging from her facial features, it is indeed Aurora!

Suddenly, the woman's eyebrows twitched, and she slowly opened her eyes.

"This is what I am"

She looked around blankly, and finally her gaze slowly focused on Chu Xiu.

"You are."

"Don't you recognize me?" Chu Xiu removed the mask from his face.

The woman's eyes showed even more doubt. She tried hard to look Chu Xiu up and down, as if searching for a face that matched her in her memory, but in the end she shook her head slightly.

"Then what do you remember?" Chu Xiu asked.

"I"

Suddenly, Aurora seemed to remember something, and a look of despair and anxiety appeared on her face. Her expression quickly changed from the girl's confusion to coldness and decisiveness. She glared at Chu Xiu and said sharply, "Who are you! What happened to the base? Where am I?"

But as soon as she finished speaking, Aurora clutched her head in anguish, as if even more information was flooding her mind.

After a long while, she raised her head, and her gaze towards Chu Xiu softened once more.

"Was it you... who...we...won in the end?"

Upon hearing this, a genuine smile appeared on Chu Xiu's face.

It seems that although the Old Trials he participated in were just a simulation, Aurora herself, as the main character in them, was indeed retrieved from the Old Ones by the Abyss. This is also why Aurora developed self-awareness and doubt during the trials.

Now, as the souls are reunited, these memories return as well.

He also felt a pang of regret, realizing that Aurora had been burned to the point of losing her senses and didn't even know whether the Blood Demon had been defeated in the end.

"We won!" Chu Xiu replied with a smile.

"Really? That's wonderful!"

The woman before him seemed to have long forgotten the pain of being burned by the extremely high heat; all she could see was the joy of success.

However, she soon realized that the victory was just a simulation, and now that she had regained all her memories, she naturally also had the memory of how, in the real world, no matter how much she resisted, the base still fell into the hands of the Blood Demon. Her expression became heavy again.

After a long pause, she finally raised her head: "So I've been resurrected? Where am I?"

Chu Xiu did not answer, but simply flew away from the Titan Machine with Aurora.

Upon seeing the approaching crimson light on the horizon, her soul trembled uncontrollably.

"That is."

"The Blood Demon army is hundreds or thousands of times larger than any Blood Demon army I have ever encountered in my life," Chu Xiu said.

A complex expression appeared on Aurora's face, a mixture of fear, despair, resentment, and above all, hatred.

"This is still the world you live in, but it is thirty years in the future. The native humans of this world have almost all become extinct."

Chu Xiu pointed again to the group of people working inside the Titan machine: "And they are the last survivors who escaped death in space."

Aurora stared intently at the mountain behind her for a long time before finally saying, "Is that... a Titan machine?"

Chu Xiu glanced at Aurora with some surprise. He hadn't expected her to see through him so easily. After all, the Titan machine in front of him was worlds apart from everything she had.

Chu Xiu nodded slightly, and after receiving his affirmative answer, Aurora smiled.

"I understand."

Aurora turned to Chu Xiu and extended her hand in her spirit form.

"I'll do anything you want."

"This time, I want to win in reality!"

(End of this chapter)