The Last Sentinel

Above the blue planet, the deep night sky, as dark as ink splashed across the entire continent, revealed a narrow path through the celestial canopy. A star with a golden-white tail, trailing a blinding white light, tore through the atmosphere like a white rainbow piercing the sun, and plunged headlong into the vast, cold depths of the universe.

A dazzling golden-white starlight poured down, piercing through the smoke and thick clouds, illuminating every corner of the land. Beneath the ruins of broken walls and crumbling cities, countless survivors gazed up at the night sky, their eyes filled with bewilderment and trepidation. They couldn't comprehend this immortal duel that transcended the heavens, yet an instinctive tremor clearly told everyone: that earth-shattering battle, beyond mortal comprehension and shaking the very foundations of planets, had come to a complete end.

On the ravaged battlefield, thick smoke billowing and blackening, Duan Xiaolong, a burly and upright man in military uniform, trembled slightly as he slowly removed his dust- and gunpowder-covered cap. His back straightened, and he raised his hand in a solemn salute to the receding white shooting star. His jawline was taut, and his voice was as deep as the cracked frozen earth beneath his feet: "Duan Xiaolong, of the Human Alliance, respectfully bids farewell to the Seventh Speaker!"

Behind him, several fully armed soldiers, their armor scratched and worn, looked up, their fingers unconsciously gripping their gun handles, whispering amongst themselves, their voices filled with disbelief and panic.

"Captain Long, the Speaker... has the Speaker been sacrificed?"

"Impossible! The Seventh Speaker's cultivation was already unfathomable; how could he have perished so suddenly?"

"If they were truly invincible in combat, how could Blue Star have fallen into such a state of constant warfare and ruins? If the Sentinel had been stationed on the homeland, how could the Human Alliance have been gradually eroded and conquered by the Holy Mother Faction? If the Sentinel had intervened in time to restore order, how could there be widespread rebellion and turmoil?"

Duan Xiaolong turned around abruptly, his sharp gaze sweeping over the team members. His brows were furrowed with suppressed grief and authority as he interrupted the discussion in a deep voice: "Enough. Regardless of merits or demerits, the Great Wall Watchers are the legally appointed seventh chairman of the Human Alliance. It is not for you or me to make arbitrary judgments."

One of the team members stepped forward and asked in a deep voice, "Team Leader Long, should the subsequent mission proceed as planned?"

"Suspend all field operations." Duan Xiaolong's eyes flashed with cold light. He quickly composed himself and immediately issued the order, "Immediately send an encrypted telegram to the Great Xia Ground Operations Center, informing them of the tragic news of the Seventh Speaker's death. The main force from beyond the myriad realms has officially entered the battlefield of this world."

"Cross-dimensional powerhouses are bound by the rules of their plane and cannot stay on Blue Star for long. They will inevitably use swift and decisive methods to wipe out all the top combat forces on the planet. Meanwhile, most of the experts on Blue Star have gathered on the Perfect Continent."

"Order: All enhanced warriors at the demigod level and above shall, at all costs and using all means of spatial teleportation, rush to the Perfect Continent to assemble and prepare for battle; warriors who have not reached the demigod threshold shall remain stationed in their respective cities to prevent the remnants of the Holy Mother faction from taking advantage of the chaos to launch a counterattack and incite internal strife."

"Understood!" The team member responded and immediately lowered his head to operate the communicator to transmit the military order.

Duan Xiaolong straightened his military cap, his dark green overcoat fluttering in the wind amidst the ruins. He gazed at the ravaged city, his eyes filled with deep, unyielding worry, and murmured to himself, "The Speaker has died a martyr, the Senate Speaker is unfit for the task, the Sentinel, the pinnacle of combat power, is still missing, and the future is uncertain. We can only take it one step at a time."

Before the words were even finished, another deafening artillery barrage rang out in the distance. A skyscraper of over a hundred stories was blasted in half by the shelling, its bricks and stones collapsing with a deafening roar, and flames engulfing the building. Thick black smoke obscured the view, and amidst the gunfire and flames, Duan Xiaolong and his group quickly disappeared into the ruins and alleyways, vanishing behind the rubble.

Rumble—

A series of thunderclaps echoed across the sky, thick dark clouds churned and pressed together in mid-air, and the lake surface was shaken by the aftershocks of the thunder, with ripples lapping against the stone base beneath the pavilion.

Inside the wooden pavilion in the middle of the lake, Wu Pofengjiang and the Wolf King leaned side by side against the railing, both looking up at the sky, watching the tail of the white star completely melt into the darkness at the end of the night. The evening breeze carried the damp, cold air from the lake into the pavilion, making the wooden bells at the corners of the pavilion tinkle softly.

Wu Pofeng ran his fingertips along the weathered wood grain of the railing, a lonely, bitter smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. His tone was tinged with a sense of melancholy: "I used to argue and bicker with the old man at the Great Wall quite often. Who would have thought that he would leave like this?"

The Wolf King raised his hand and patted Wu Budu's shoulder heavily. Gazing at the deep night sky, he sighed deeply, his tone objective and calm: "Alas, putting aside the past, his support for the Holy Mother Faction and his tacit approval of spies from all over the universe were indeed foolish moves. But his death to prove his innocence has settled all the controversies. He never betrayed the Human Alliance; it was just that his strategies were completely flawed, but his true intentions never wavered."

Wu Budu scoffed and bluntly stated the cruel rule: "To put it bluntly, it's about clearing your name with death. That's how the world has always been. Insufficient ability, wrong decisions, or even temporary wavering are all debatable, but you can't back down or be afraid to fight. You can't give an inch on the bottom line of principles that are right and wrong."

The Wolf King looked up at the leaden-gray thunderclouds, a hint of envy flashing in his eyes: "To be honest, I envy the Great Wall Watchers. Such a magnificent ending, sacrificing oneself for one's country and ending one's life, is rare and precious. You and I are afraid we will never have such an opportunity in our lives."

Just then, the high-energy communicators on their waists suddenly emitted a rapid buzzing sound, and an official order pierced through the static: "Elder Wu, Senior Wolf King, an urgent decree from the central court: all high-level combat forces are to retreat to the Perfect Continent Advanced Martial Arts Academy, form ranks, and prepare for battle. We are about to engage in a life-or-death struggle against the invading forces from beyond the realm!"

"Understood. Return immediately." The Wolf King replied in a deep voice into the communicator.

Wu Budu sighed heavily, turned and stepped off the pavilion's stone steps, his robes billowing in the wind: "Let's go. The people from beyond the realm won't waste time in the Supreme Arena; they will surely sweep across the battlefield with absolute force and settle everything. Next, it will be our turn to face the blade."

"Walk!"

Both figures simultaneously erupted with lightning, causing the space to ripple violently. In the next instant, they broke through the night wind and disappeared at the edge of the lake, leaving only the empty pavilion and the churning lake water.

No sooner had the two left than a few breaths later, on the stone chessboard in the center of the pavilion, the air suddenly distorted and rippled visibly, and a figure with a blurred outline and flickering light and shadow materialized out of thin air.

The imposter stood quietly in the pavilion, looking up at the vast, dark night. His face showed no emotion, only a hint of knowing-it-all in his tone. He slowly spoke, dissecting Zhao Changcheng's shocking trap: "Old Zhao's spectacular death in battle, seemingly a tragic end, actually pushed Mo Lijie into an inescapable dead end."

"A month ago, he used the secret technique [Ancient Ones] given to him by Ye Feng to forcibly push his cultivation to the peak of the fifth rank, and forcefully simulated and replicated his sect's ultimate technique, 'Ruthless Immortal Path - Pillar of Destiny.' Afterwards, he wove a complete story, deliberately creating the pre-existing illusion that he was his master's favorite and that Mo Lijie was just a discarded disciple of the sect. He used this as a foundation to imprint it deep into his soul, forging an impenetrable mental defense."

"All his forbearance, planning, and meticulous steps had only one ultimate goal—to use his own life as bait, and then use the lies of sect favoritism and unfair fate to completely ignite the overwhelming hatred that had been accumulating in Mo Lijie's heart for seven hundred years, and extinguish the last trace of kindness in that senior brother's heart. As long as the kindness is completely extinguished, the complete demonic incarnation ritual will be completed automatically."

"What a great Great Wall Watcher! He keeps claiming to be ignorant of power struggles and clumsy in scheming, but his final act of self-inflicted injury was so elaborate that he almost completely fooled me."

A muffled thunderclap exploded on the lake's surface, followed by a sudden, ghastly white flash of lightning that instantly illuminated the entire pavilion. A blurry, distorted figure slowly took a seat on the white chess piece, elbows lightly resting on the stone table, fingertips gently touching the cool chess surface. The figure lowered its eyes, awaiting the newcomer, its body enveloped in the unique, profound earthly aura of the Blue Star, so serene it seemed to blend seamlessly with the surrounding mountains and waters.

Even Ye Feng hadn't expected that the fake man who had shot him twenty-four times was actually the original will of Blue Star!

Just half an hour later, the sky resounded with deafening thunder once again.

Boom—

A fierce wind swept across the lake, and a tall, dark figure strode out from the depths of the thunderclouds, stepping on surging demonic energy. His wide black robes danced wildly in the wind, and black ice around his body condensed into chain-like demonic patterns, which swayed in the air like black dragons and snakes. The bone-chilling, cold demonic pressure caused the lake water outside the pavilion to freeze completely.

The Demonic Tribulation has arrived.

The fake man lightly tapped the chessboard's stone surface with his fingertips, then slowly spoke, his tone calm and indifferent: "Fellow Daoist, how have you been?"

Mo Lijie stood with his hands behind his back at the pavilion entrance, his dark demonic eyes shimmering with purple light. Fine dark lines appeared at the corners of his eyes as he was completely corrupted by demonic possession. His gaze was fixed on the blurry figure opposite him, and his words were piercingly questioning: "You spout prophecies and foresee the future, able to predict my junior brother's fate. Only the primordial will of Blue Star can do that! You are the primordial will passed down from the Xuanyuan Ancient Clan, aren't you!"

The imposter did not deny it, but simply read aloud: "You killed your junior brother, yet you blame his death on my prophecies and omens. Is that reasonable?"

Mo Lijie said, "My junior brother told me a prophecy a long time ago: among the three sentinels Ye Feng, Zhao Changcheng, and you, one of them personally killed the previous sentinel, Lin Qilin."

"My junior brother is upright and honest, and would never do such a shady thing; Ye Feng is not strong enough to carry out the assassination."

"Based on this logic, the one who caused Lin Qilin's death is you—the fundamental will of Blue Star Planet, isn't that right?"

Faced with direct questioning, the imposter remained unmoved and calmly retorted, "What exactly is your entanglement with Lin Qilin?"

Mo Lijie's lips curled into a cold smile, his tone flat and emotionless: "He stole the love of my life."

The imposter raised an eyebrow slightly, succinctly revealing the crux of the matter: "So, this is why you didn't kill Zhao Donglai on the spot?"

Upon hearing this, Mo Lijie suddenly threw his head back and let out a wild laugh. The demonic energy around him surged violently with the laughter, causing the chess pieces on the stone table in the pavilion to tremble slightly: "I have completely ascended to demonhood. I can even kill my own junior brother. What are the offspring left behind by a mere rival in love? Let alone Zhao Donglai, even if his birth mother, Bai Yueguang, were here, I would not hesitate to slay her."

The fake man nodded slowly and said, "It seems that this ritual of falling from demons to become immortals has been a complete success."

"It's ascension to demonhood, not fall from grace." Mo Lijie stepped forward and calmly sat down on the black side of the chessboard. He picked up a cool black stone chess piece with his slender fingers, rubbing the surface with his fingertips. His gaze was deep as he looked at his opponent. "Sentinel Ye Feng still doesn't know that you were the real culprit who hunted down Lin Qilin back then, right?"

"I clearly told him the truth three times, in total." The fake man's tone carried a hint of helplessness, "But Ye Feng, that guy, always managed to misunderstand!"

A hint of confusion flashed in Mo Lijie's eyes as he tapped his fingertips on the stone table. "I still can't understand why, knowing I would come to settle old scores, you didn't hide in the heart of the Perfect Continent, but instead chose to wait here in this lakeside pavilion on the outskirts of the continent for me to come knocking?"

The imposter looked up at the thunderous night sky, his languid and carefree aura emanating from him. He even adopted the tone of a bard with a slightly exotic accent, slowly replying: "Everything in this world has a beginning and an end. Forcibly altering predetermined fate will inevitably result in a hundredfold karmic backlash. Accepting fate with equanimity and facing the battle of destiny head-on is the only sure way to break the deadlock."

The demonic light in Mo Lijie's demonic eyes intensified, and the chilling aura emanating from him almost froze the entire pavilion: "Zhao Changcheng is already dead and his soul has vanished. Do you still dare to consider yourself my opponent with your own strength alone? The origin of Blue Star?"

The fake man shook his head slightly, making no attempt to conceal the objective disparity: "I am indeed powerless to contend with you. Your combat power as a peak fifth-order immortal and demon cultivator is such that even if the barbarian god Changshengtian himself were to come, he might not be entirely confident in suppressing you."

"Since you know you are no match for them, why don't you flee to the Perfect Continent for protection? Even if Jiajing, that mediocre immortal cultivator who is only half a step into the fourth rank, can barely block a few moves for you, it would be better than sitting and waiting to die."

The imposter didn't respond directly, but instead stared intently at Mo Lijie, softly posing a question: "Do you believe in fate?"

Mo Lijie looked impatient, his brows furrowed, and he clenched the black chess piece in his hand, his knuckles turning slightly white: "It's the same old rhetoric again. No need for roundabout probing. If you have any prophecies, just say them."

The pseudo-man spoke slowly and deliberately, reciting a verse of destiny: "The weather is unpredictable, and fortune can change in an instant. A centipede has a hundred legs, but it cannot outrun a snake. A rooster has two wings, but it cannot fly higher than a crow. A horse may travel a thousand miles, but it cannot go without a rider. A person may have lofty ambitions, but without good fortune, they cannot achieve them."

Therefore, destiny is predetermined, and the laws of fate are established.

"Conspirators ultimately die for their loyalty, those who believe in cause and effect perish from excessive self-belief rather than destiny, those who wield the sword ultimately end up with no sword to hold, those who fear death achieve self-transcendence through heroic sacrifice, those who possess immortal bodies willingly relinquish eternal life to embrace their final act, kings who steal opportunities will ultimately lose everything, guides lose their true selves on the road ahead, those who traverse the journey never truly leave their homeland, those who constantly evade contradictions will only intensify the ultimate catastrophe, and everything you force will vanish with the wind."

As the lengthy prophecy ended, Mo Lijie's patience ran out completely. He slammed the black chess piece heavily onto the chessboard, the stone surface emitting a dull thud, and the surrounding frozen lake surface cracked with fine ice patterns.

"Have you finished reciting the prophecy?"

"Let's get down to business."

He leaned forward slightly, demonic light surging from his eyes, and with a resolute, world-shattering determination, he gave the order, word by word:

"Reboot the ancient Xuanyuan clan's inherited destiny!"

"Today, I will completely format the very essence of your planet, overthrow the old order, and let everything in the world start anew!"

Before the words were finished, another thunderclap struck outside the pavilion, and dark clouds pressed down from above. The black ice demonic energy and the earth's primal energy clashed violently within the small pavilion, officially beginning an ultimate battle concerning the survival of Blue Star civilization.