High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

The moment Song Chen saw him, she froze.

That is definitely not a ninth-order life form.

His knees bent slightly uncontrollably, as if he were being pressed down to his knees by an invisible force.

He finally understood what the tenth rank meant.

That's something that can't be summed up by the word "very strong." It's like facing a living star.

No, it's even more terrifying than stars.

A star has a much larger temperature, mass, and volume, but it is just a fireball that cannot think.

The compressed energy within the person before him gave Song Chen an extremely clear illusion: he was standing in front of a star that was heading towards a supernova.

That star was still breathing, each breath carrying a storm of psychic energy, like a solar wind sweeping across the solar system, making everything weaker than itself teeter on the brink of collapse.

His level of understanding has already exceeded Song Chen's current comprehension.

The seventh rank is the star core, the eighth rank is the star corona, and the ninth rank is the true star. Song Chen could at least understand these stages conceptually.

He had absolutely no idea what the tenth-order Radiant Transformation was.

All he knew was that with just a thought, the other party could harness the psionic energy within millions of kilometers around them.

The voice rang out again.

"We're here, and you're here too."

"Then let's guard this place together. If we can hold it, the light will continue to shine. If we can't, we'll burn this place to ashes and let those beasts lie here with a few more corpses."

All life along the entire Black Dimension Nebula defense line fell silent.

Countless people simply looked up at that white figure, as if gazing at a real star.

Standing next to Lar, Song Chen was deeply shocked: "This is a tenth-tier life form..."

Ral's voice came from the side: "He is the most prominent person in the Milky Way, the emperor of the Nine Luminaries Civilization. Just feel it, don't try to analyze his psionic fluctuations, you are too weak right now."

Song Chen nodded and looked away.

The white figure quickly turned and walked back to Tian Shu, disappearing behind layers of light.

But his oppressive aura lingered in Song Chen's heart for a long time, and he just couldn't shake it off.

……

The battle did not begin immediately as Song Chen had anticipated.

On the first day, the defense line remained silent.

The patrol fleet cruised millions of kilometers away from the Blackwing Nebula, occasionally killing a few scout lifeforms that drifted by.

The next day, silence.

On the third day, there were only sporadic enemy alerts.

The main force of the Blood Erosion Civilization has already deployed three thousand light-years away, but has yet to launch a large-scale offensive. Their vanguard is wandering outside the defensive line, as if waiting for something.

On the fourth, fifth, and sixth days, the situation remained unchanged.

Song Chen and Lars spent more and more time standing together.

Although Lal's face didn't reveal much emotion, the more Song Chen talked to him, the more clues she could glean from his words.

Lal grew increasingly silent, and his tone was no longer as relaxed as it had been at the beginning.

Song Chen seized an opportunity to ask him directly, "What are you worried about, sir?"

Lal didn't answer directly, only saying, "They're too slow."

Song Chen didn't understand. Shouldn't it be a good thing that they're slow to arrive?

Lar glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Given the Blood Erosion Civilization's efficiency, they should have arrived much sooner. The fact that things are like this only means one thing: they are preparing for something big."

He didn't ask any more questions.

In the days that followed, everyone on the front line became much quieter.

The engineering vessel was still laying nodes, and the fortress was still being reinforced, but everyone's expression gradually darkened.

More than a month later, war still hadn't broken out, and the super defense line was basically in place.

When Song Chen looked towards the Black Dimensional Nebula again, he could no longer recognize what it used to look like.

The dark gray nebula was completely embedded in a huge energy network, with golden light patterns extending from countless nodes spreading out and spanning seven light-years.

Each node glows with a steady psychic light, and they are connected by an energy grid, resembling a spider web covering the starry sky when viewed from a distance.

The depth of the defensive line was also terrifying to the extreme.

From the outermost layer of guard fortresses to the middle layer of the main fleet array, and then to the heavy firepower platforms deep inside, the entire defense system is layered and stacked, stretching from Song Chen's location all the way into the interior of the Black Dimension Nebula.

The psionic light reflected from those fortresses overlapped, illuminating the entire starry sky as a deep blue sea.

Song Chen could sense that the surrounding space had changed.

It becomes viscous and heavy, and the warship's warp portal can only open a very small window here. Any unauthorized space jump will be directly intercepted by the energy grid.

"Is this what it feels like to be in a spatial lockdown?"

"A part." Lal appeared behind him without him noticing.

Song Chen turned around, and Lars's face was unusually gloomy today.

After a long silence, Lar spoke up: "Song Chen, the Blood Erosion Civilization's attack this time may be even more ferocious than we imagined."

"I originally wanted to keep you by my side, to have you with me, so that I could at least protect you for a while."

"But now I think that won't work. I'll stay on the main battlefield. There will be very frequent clashes between ninth-tier players here. If you, a seventh-tier player, stand next to me, you might not even be able to withstand the aftershocks."

"The Silver Armor can protect you for a while, but it can't keep you standing in the center of the vortex forever, so I can't take you with me."

Song Chen nodded: "I understand."

He didn't try to be brave. After seeing that tenth-tier Radiant Transformation Realm expert with his own eyes, he knew better than anyone the gap between himself and a high-level expert.

At that moment, another person walked over.

Song Chen turned his head and saw a middle-aged man he had never seen before, wearing a gray uniform, who seemed to be a staff officer from the Alliance Operations Department.

He bowed to Lal, glanced at Song Chen, and said in a low voice, "Lord Lal, the spatial node mobilization procedure has been completed."

Lal nodded, took a transfer order from the middle-aged man, and handed it to Song Chen: "Go and guard the space node. Don't stay on the main battlefield. The number and quality of the enemies there shouldn't affect your life, but it's enough for you to grow stronger in the battle."

Song Chen nodded: "Thank you, Lord Ral."

Lars looked at him for a while, then suddenly raised his huge hand and patted Song Chen on the shoulder.

The force was very light, but Song Chen still felt as if he had been crushed by a mountain.

"To live."

After saying that, he left.

Song Chen stood there, watching Lar's figure disappear into the distance.

He opened the system panel and glanced at it; his kill count was only a few hundred thousand left, it was time to increase it.