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

After walking for more than ten minutes, they arrived at the city center.

The light beam at the spatial node was standing right in front of us; it was so close that it couldn't be described as just "one beam."

It was a golden waterfall that reached the heavens, pouring upwards into the void.

Runes surged and tumbled within, crashing against the pillar of light and bouncing back, like countless imprisoned golden fish.

Song Chen looked up and saw that the top of the beam of light had disappeared into the darkness outside the protective barrier, with no end in sight.

Virian stopped in front of a low metal building next to the pillar of light: "We're here. The garrison officer is waiting for you inside."

Song Chen pushed open the door and went in.

The lobby was furnished to the extreme: a metal table, a few chairs, a few floating star map screens, and that was it.

A man was sitting behind a table, looking down at a tactical tablet. Hearing footsteps, he looked up.

This Zefar Klöhn looks to be about fifty years old, with a square face, very high brow bones, and slightly graying temples.

The aura of an eighth-order Star Crown Realm cultivator slowly emanated from his body. Song Chen could feel that the Star Core within his body was rotating a little slower than usual, as if it had been suppressed.

Zefar looked at him and said, "You must be Song Chen."

"Greetings, sir."

"sit."

Song Chen pulled up a chair and sat down.

Zefar got straight to the point: "Lord Ral spoke to me and said he's used to fighting alone and doesn't like leading troops. I was thinking of giving you a deputy position or letting you choose a squad, but he said you're not suitable."

"I'm really not suited to leading troops. I haven't studied interstellar command. I'm best suited for solo operations."

Zefar stared at him for a few seconds, seemingly trying to determine whether he was being modest or genuinely didn't want it.

After a moment, he nodded: "Okay, then you'll be assigned to a free combat unit. If there's trouble, follow my orders; otherwise, make your own arrangements."

"Your Shadow Bee is docked at the port and can be deployed at any time during wartime. All resources in the city, except for the core area, can be used."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome," Zefar said in a flat tone.

"Let me make this clear from the start: although I won't stop you because of Lord Ral's influence, once you're on the battlefield, death is death, and I won't spare any manpower to save you."

"At this point, there are millions of lives at stake; I can't save any of them."

Song Chen nodded: "I understand."

Zefar seemed satisfied with his attitude, and his expression softened: "You don't need to worry too much. Although we are isolated here, we are on the defensive and have warp privileges."

"The main defense line of Tian Shu is only 2.2 light-years away from us. The space blockade is currently open, and 2.2 light-years is more than two years of hard-fought travel for the enemy."

"But our support can come directly from the military jump window, so as long as we hold off the first wave, they won't be able to take this node."

"So my only command is, don't die. You win if you live."

……

For the next ten days or so, no war broke out.

The main force of the Blood Erosion Civilization was still patrolling outside the main defensive line of Tian Shu, occasionally sending out small groups of scouts to probe, but the main force never pressed forward.

The atmosphere in the node city went from tense to relaxed, and then was forcibly pulled back onto the right track by Zefar.

When people get drunk and cause trouble, fighting and brawling, the military law department is extremely busy.

Song Chen didn't get involved in those things. He was like a passerby temporarily forgotten by this city, doing only one thing every day: practicing martial arts.

He mainly practices teleportation.

Under the spatial blockade, void travel was also greatly suppressed.

When Song Chen tried it for the first time, he almost thought his combat technique had failed.

The surrounding space was completely sealed off, like a wall without any gaps. He forced his way through the wall by activating the sixth level.

The location where it appeared was no more than 10,000 meters from its original spot.

Song Chen was speechless for a moment. He used to be able to travel a million kilometers with a single thought, but now he could only move within a range of ten thousand meters.

The difference was so great that he had to readjust his operational radius.

But one thing hasn't changed: it can be used without cooling.

He tried many times, shuttling back and forth dozens of times in a row, and each time he was able to connect instantly without any pause.

Later, he got too lazy to dwell on it. Ten thousand meters was indeed not a distance that could be used to rush. Running from the east district to the west district of the city would take more than ten thousand meters.

But if it's a battle, that's a completely different concept.

Within a 10,000-meter radius, he is almost omnipresent; what the enemy cannot keep up with is not only his speed, but also his rhythm.

The sixth level of Void Traversal is a peak Star Crown-level combat skill. Few people on the entire battlefield can achieve zero-cooldown continuous flashes at the seventh level.

This was his trump card, and his greatest asset for surviving on the battlefield.

Ten more days have passed.

On this day, the alarm sounded without warning.

All red alerts lit up simultaneously over the city, and sharp siren blared from all directions.

Song Chen was recovering his spiritual energy at the edge of the training field when he heard the alarm. His star core jumped up and he stood up the moment he heard it.

A layer of dark light rose on the surface of the Silver Armor, and the Meteor Blade silently fell into his hand.

The alarm sounded.

[Large-scale sublight-speed travel target detected, heading due north, distance 920 million kilometers, estimated contact time: 43 seconds!]

Song Chen rushed to the front line, stood on the observation platform at the edge of the city, and looked up to the north.

The enemy arrived. Three completely different biological warships slid out of the darkness and immediately slowed to combat speed at near-light speed.

The first ship resembled a giant snake that had been skinned, its entire body dark red, its length exceeding two hundred kilometers, and its surface covered with a layer of boiling blood mist.

The second ship resembled a giant lump of rotten flesh, with a vertical mouth split open in the center, and each tooth inside was as large as a mountain.

The third vessel was the most bizarre, resembling an irregular black oracle bone, its surface covered with pits, each releasing pale green smoke.

Behind them followed countless small biological ships, which covered the northern starry sky like swarms of locusts.

Right in front of those three giant ships, three figures slowly emerged from the void.

The first one was slender and about seven meters tall, covered in blood-red scales. It had no facial features, only three parallel cracks from which red steam constantly seeped out.

The second one was short and stocky, with a bone blade in each of his four arms. With each step he took, the surrounding space trembled.

The third one was the thinnest, with limbs as thin as bamboo joints, its body wrapped in a grayish-white skeletal shell, and two eerie green flames flickering incessantly around its eye sockets.

These are three eighth-tier life forms. Song Chen's heart tightened.

The three eighth-level beings seemed to be talking about something, but they were too far away to hear what they were saying.

Almost at the same moment, the communicator on Song Chen's wrist started vibrating wildly.

Battle reports came pouring in like snowflakes, and he glanced down at them.

The star map is now covered with red dots.

"Node 129 attacked... Node 3773 attacked... Node 80452 attacked... Node 4478 attacked..."

The red dots resembled a raging fire that simultaneously engulfed the entire starry sky, spreading out from all directions.

At the same time, an unknown number of nodes were attacked simultaneously.

Song Chen raised his head and looked at the three eighth-level beings again.

He understood their plan; they didn't intend to attack the main defensive line of Tian Shu directly.

They want to remove all the spatial nodes. Once enough gaps are torn in the blockade, even if Tian Shu is sturdy, it will just be a baseless wall in the starry sky.

And everyone guarding this place, every single point, is the nail at the very front of this war.

Song Chen slowly tightened his grip on the Meteorite Blade.

Interstellar war has finally arrived.