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

If it were a year ago, Song Chen might have been able to destroy the asteroid with the eighteenth strike of the Star-Splitting Slash, but he definitely wouldn't have been able to cut it in half.

He did it now, with just one simple cut.

"Star Source Power... So that's how it is."

Song Chen could feel that after this slash, the Star Source Power within his body did not decrease much; on the contrary, it seemed to have been stimulated and became even more active.

This is a true Star-Splitting Slash powered by Star Source Force.

The sixth level of the Star-Splitting Slash is a peak Star Crown-level sword technique. In the past, he used his blood and spiritual power to activate it, which was like using a piece of wood to pull a super engine. He could never unleash its full power.

Now, the Star Source Power is the most suitable fuel for this sword technique, unleashing power far stronger than before.

Song Chen sheathed his sword with satisfaction. For the next month, he stayed in this desolate airspace, not going anywhere else.

He practiced his sword repeatedly every day, familiarizing himself with the flow of Star Source Power within his body, as well as the rhythm and power of his sword techniques.

He used Void Travel to chase the blade light he had unleashed, and used Star-Splitting Slash to cleave all the nearby asteroids he could find.

If there are no asteroids to cleave, he will cleave the void.

The feeling was strange, like cutting a hole in an invisible piece of cloth with a knife.

Song Chen vaguely felt that his destructive power over space had also reached a new level.

Although it didn't reach the level of tearing space apart at will like a ninth-order blade, the space would still briefly crack wherever the blade passed.

A month later, he stopped.

"It's time to go."

He sheathed his knife and returned to the Shadow Bee.

In fact, he had already received the transfer order half a month ago.

The Shadow Bee restarted and headed towards the main defensive line of Tian Shu.

Song Chen sat looking at the starry sky outside the porthole. The road ahead wasn't far, but it would take a long time.

He knew that once he went there, he would no longer be facing the node defense team, nor the defense line of millions of kilometers, but the real decisive battle that spanned seven light-years and involved countless troops from both sides.

Soon, the Shadow Bee disappeared into the warp drive.

The starlight stretched into a long line, then slowly converged.

Three days later, as the ship slid out of the passage, the outline of Tian Shu reappeared before Song Chen's eyes.

It is more dilapidated than it was a year ago, like a giant city repeatedly battered by storms, with some parts still burning and others completely dark.

Countless fleets shuttled around the perimeter of the defense line, making it several times more crowded than before.

The sound of gunfire came through the ship's hull, muffled, like distant thunder.

Song Chen looked at the defensive line that had been in place for over a year, his eyes showing little emotion; he had long known it would turn out this way.

"Let's go." He patted the control panel.

The Shadow Bee sailed forward.

Upon stepping onto the main city of Tian Shu, the familiar spatial blockade surged forth once again.

He stopped and extended his senses. The blockade was still there, but it had loosened considerably compared to when he left a year ago.

A year ago, he was here, and his ability to traverse the void was so suppressed that he couldn't even tear open a spatial rift.

But things are different now. The energy network of Tian Shu has been severely depleted by the war. The destroyed spatial nodes are like a giant net riddled with holes, through which the sealing force has leaked out.

He could sense that the spatial structure was no longer so dense, like an old cloth that had been repeatedly stretched; although it was still taut, it was already full of gaps.

He closed his eyes and tried to travel through the void; the space was like a thin veil, easily torn apart.

He estimated that with his current Star Source Power reserves, he could travel over a thousand kilometers in one trip at full speed. Of course, this was incomparable to the million kilometers he used to travel at his peak, but this was the main battlefield of Tian Shu, and there were very few people who could achieve a thousand-kilometer teleportation here.

"As long as I don't run into that old monster, I'll definitely survive."

He was thinking to himself.

Stepping into the main city, the atmosphere of war is palpable.

The metal walls on both sides of the passage were covered with temporary reinforcement patches, and in some places there were still traces of blood that had not been wiped clean, which had dried into dark brown lumps.

The overhead lights were replaced with low-brightness emergency lights, casting a dim yellow light that made it look like a mine tunnel leading underground.

Pedestrians hurried along, and no one spoke.

A series of muffled thuds came from afar, the sound having traveled through more than a dozen decks. The sound had become dull, but the vibrations were still there, one after another.

The one who guided him was still that Blue Spirit Clan member.

Song Chen remembered the first time she met him. He was wearing an Alliance robe with an investment department field agent badge on his collar and spoke in a soft voice.

But when I saw him again this time, he had lost a lot of weight, and there were several deep lines around his eyes. There was a dark stain on the hem of his robe, I didn’t know if it was oil or blood.

It looks like they've had a fight recently.

Lan Lingren bowed and said, "Lord Song Chen, Lord Laer is waiting for you in the Third War Hall."

"Is the war going very intense?" Song Chen asked.

"Sigh, it's so tight." Lan Lingren sighed.

"You're currently using the inner city passage, which is relatively safe. There are several outer war zones where the fighting has reached the point where supplies can't be delivered anymore. The number of people being transported up is 30% per day, and when new people are brought in the next day, another 30% are lost. It's a matter of risking lives to get them there."

Song Chen didn't ask any more questions.

The two passed through two security gates, boarded an internal teleportation array, and entered a huge metal hall.

This place is like another world. The ground is clean, smooth metal, and the ceiling is extremely high, with no visible dome. Only soft, pale white light shines from all directions.

Dozens of star charts floated throughout the hall, and psionic data flowed down the walls like a waterfall, blue, gold, and dark red, weaving together into a silent rain.

Lal stood in front of the main star map at the very back.

Song Chen recognized him at first glance, but Lal's form had changed again.

This time he was only a little over four meters tall, but his figure was slender, and his body was covered with finer golden scales, like countless miniature armor plates stacked together, each one slightly opening and closing.

Their hands and feet grew longer, and they gained an extra finger with a sharp, needle-like tip.

The most striking feature was the two extra bands of psionic light on his chest and back, which were formed entirely of energy. They ran from his shoulders, around his armpits, and crossed at his chest, like a pair of semi-transparent wings.

"Here you are." Ral turned to look at him.

Song Chen stepped forward and asked with concern, "Sir, are you healed?"

Lal stretched his arms: "That's about it. This form is best suited for sustained combat, so there's no need to switch frequently."

"Given the current situation, I don't care about making any changes. As long as I can fight and survive, that's enough."

As he spoke, he looked down at himself and chuckled.

"Haha, it's pretty weird, isn't it? I'm not used to it myself, but after playing for so long, the form doesn't matter anymore."

"As long as they can fight, that's good."

Lal turned to look at the star map and waved his hand: "Come here. You've been in seclusion for a year. There have been quite a few changes outside."

Song Chen walked to his side, and the star map zoomed in. The main defensive line of Tian Shu was like a curved spine, lying in front of the Black Dimension Nebula.

More than a hundred bright areas are arranged along the spine, some so bright they are blinding, others almost completely dark.

To the north, the massive red glow of the Blood-Eroded Mother Nest loomed directly in front of Tian Shu, with hundreds of blood lines extending from its perimeter, each wriggling toward Tian Shu.