Starting as the heir of a marquis's mansion, I gained access to a summoning system.

Dongfang Weiwo turned around and walked into the courtyard, his footsteps falling on the bluestone slabs as steady as drumbeats.

"Tonight, all armies will be reorganized. Shen Jinglan will lead the remnants of the Taichu Divine Sect to the eastern front defense."

Xingyan led the array masters of Xingchen Mountain Villa to replenish the core defense of the spiritual veins; Wu Zetian's Great Zhou Iron Cavalry was incorporated into the Central Plains ground mobile formation;

The remnants of the Demon Clan under the Burial Emperor are stationed on the southern border, but must not cross it; Liao Chen leads the monks of Wanfo Temple to the ancient underground formation of Baidi City to assist in the operation of the spiritual veins.

He took a few steps and then stopped, turning his head to look at Pang Ban and Bai Yujing standing by the wall:

"Order the Western Front Officer Yutian to return to defend the core of Baidi City, and leave the Western Oasis to Xiong Ba to guard alone. The gray-clad man is to be detained and placed under triple restrictions, and no one is to be allowed to approach."

Ouyang Feiying and Yang Dingtian remained stationed in the East China Sea but were prepared to retreat at any time—if the second wave of starships cut in from the East China Sea, they would immediately retreat to the ancient underground formation of Baidi City.

A series of instructions flowed clearly from his mouth, each instruction corresponding to a person, a place, and a time point.

Those at the courtyard gate who could hear the command exchanged bewildered glances, some whispering among themselves:

"He didn't even spend time thinking... these things were already arranged in his mind."

Dongfang Weiwo paused half a step before entering the main house.

He didn't turn around; his voice wasn't loud, but it was extremely penetrating, carrying throughout the entire White Emperor City.

"Tonight I'll extract the key seal from my Qi Sea and forge it into a spear. You all guard the outer array. Three days later, I'll charge through the gate they came from with that spear—either I'll plant their flag back on their own territory, or I'll die on the other side."

The door to the main house closed behind him.

In the courtyard, Xiang Yutian whistled loudly, Yan Kuangtu jumped down from the old locust tree, stretched his shoulders, and started walking outside. Meng Chixing stood with his hands behind his back for a moment, then his lips twitched slightly. Pang Ban had already turned around to arrange for everyone to be reorganized and put into camp.

The foundation of Baidi City emitted a deep and continuous hum as the core of the spiritual vein operated at full power. Dark golden light rose from the array eyes in various parts of the city, like countless veins of light converging on the earth.

Wu Zetian pulled out her sword from the ground, turned around, and mounted her horse.

As she turned her horse around, she glanced at the door that Dongfang Weiwo had closed. Her lips moved slightly, and her voice was so soft that only the old general beside her could hear it:

"If he can really make that spear... I bet he'll win."

Xingyan gazed from the city wall at the golden light soaring into the sky from the core of the White Emperor City's spiritual vein. His bandaged hands trembled slightly, but there was a very faint smile on his lips—he couldn't tell if it was a smile or something else. He only felt that the city wall behind him, which had been blessed by the bloodline of Dongfang Weiwo, was now burning hot, like a heart that had been asleep for too long finally beating back to its proper rhythm.

The Emperor of Burial returned to the high ground west of the city and sat down again, saying only one sentence to the black-armored general beside him:

"Watch the direction of that golden light. We'll attack whichever way it goes. If it dies on the other side, we'll retreat underground."

The general asked in a low voice, "What if he wins?"

The Emperor of Burial remained silent for three breaths, then closed his eyes:

"If he wins... I'll settle the score with the demons separately."

Night fell quickly in Baidi City. The lights in the main house stayed on all night, and the dark golden light seeped out from every crack in the window paper, like a giant cocoon incubating something indescribable inside.

And everyone in the city—the surviving cultivators of the Primordial Divine Sect, the array masters of Starry Mountain Villa, the iron cavalry of the Great Zhou, the gray-robed monks of Ten Thousand Buddha Temple, the remnants of the Southern Frontier Demon Clan, and the original members of the Heavenly Profound Palace of White Emperor City—did something that had never happened before in the history of the entire continent on the same night.

The five regions were united and all came under the command of the Heavenly Profound Palace.

On the eve of the decisive battle, Baidi City was as quiet as a tomb.

All the lights in the city were extinguished, and the dark golden light of the core of the spiritual vein was suppressed to its darkest level by a temporary sealing shield, immersing the entire city in a dim, half-light glow.

No one was walking on the streets, and the soldiers in the camp were meditating cross-legged. Only the regular footsteps of the sentries patrolling the city walls could be heard.

Everyone knows what day tomorrow is, and everyone is trying to get through this last night in their own way.

When Dongfang Weiwo walked out of the main house, it was past midnight.

He pushed open the courtyard gate without disturbing anyone—Yan Kuangtu was asleep against the outer wall, Xiang Yutian was sitting cross-legged on a rooftop in the distance, and Meng Chixing was standing on the city wall looking at the silver trail on the sky that was almost invisible to the naked eye.

Everyone remained on guard, but no one stopped him.

He walked through the deserted streets, past the ruins of the main hall of Baidi City, and down a stone staircase that sloped downwards.

He had been to the ancient formation beneath Baidi City once before—half a year ago, when the ancient formation of Baidi City was first activated and that purplish-black arm flew into the void, he was standing at the center of the formation.

But this time, when he stepped into the formation, he felt a complete difference. The entire ancient formation was like a giant beast that had been sleeping for more than half a year, and it opened its eyes the moment he stepped into the center of the formation.

The array patterns on the ground lit up layer by layer, starting from the outermost rune circle and lighting up inwards, like an activated seal shrinking and gathering from the edge to the center.

Dark golden light surged from the array patterns, converging into a beam that shot straight up to the underground dome above the array's core. The beam refracted and scattered through the cracks in the dome, illuminating the entire underground palace as if it were daytime.

Dongfang Weiwo stood in the center of the formation, looking up.

On the dome, a complete array he had never seen before was slowly rotating.

The array pattern was a thousand times more complex than the array pattern on his body—countless dark gold lines intertwined and extended outward into countless branches, each branch ending in a direction.

The array encompasses all five regions: East, West, South, North, and Center. The spiritual vein nodes of each region are marked with light dots on the array diagram, densely packed like a starry sky.

But what made his pupils constrict the most was the ring of patterns around the outer edge of the array that he had never noticed before—these patterns did not connect to any spiritual vein nodes on the continent. They stretched outward from the center of the array, passed through a dark area, and then turned in a completely unfamiliar direction.

The font used for the markings in that direction was unlike any other script he had ever used, but his bloodline translated it for him the instant it touched the markings:

"Starfield of Myriad Stars - Navigation Marker"

This ancient formation is not only a chain sealing the continent, but also a landmark.

Since the beginning of the God and Demon Era, it has been marking the location of the Tianxuan Continent in the void—both to keep the continent sealed and prevent it from sinking, and to allow certain things to find this place.

Now, the fusion of the key seal and the remains has reactivated this ancient formation.

The road sign lit up once more, like a lighthouse rekindled in the darkness, accurately sending the coordinates of the Tianxuan Continent into the depths of the void.

Dongfang Weiwo stood silently for a moment, then sat down cross-legged, facing the huge key mark pattern at the center of the formation, which was exactly the same as the one in his dantian.

"You summoned me."

He spoke into the void, his voice echoing through the empty dungeon, "Not just to show me the signposts."

The array on the dome slowly accelerated its rotation. Dark golden light converged from all directions toward the center of the array, condensing into a blurry shadow above his head.

The light and shadow gradually took shape, its outline becoming clearer and clearer—a giant figure sitting in the void, its face still blurry, but its figure was exactly the same as the one he had seen in the meteorite scene at Starry Mountain Villa.

The dark golden giant looked down at him. Something was flowing in those blurry eye sockets—not light, not will, but something more essential than either of those—existence itself.

Dongfang Weiwo looked at Him and suddenly felt that the giant shadow in front of him was both strange and familiar.

It was unfamiliar because he had never seen His complete form, yet familiar because every bone in His body resonated with Him: the spine, left leg, finger bones, skull fragments, bone spheres—they were all once part of this colossal figure's body, and after being sealed away across the continent for millions of years, they finally reunited in a nearly complete skeleton.

The giant shadow slowly raised its hand and pointed vaguely at the location of the key mark on Dongfang Weiwo's chest.

Dongfang Weiwo felt the key seal in his dantian suddenly stop rotating—it stopped completely for the first time, like a gear finally locking into the correct position.

Then the giant shadow's form collapsed towards him.

It was an extremely strange feeling—the giant shadow was melting away, like snow falling into fire, like a river flowing into the sea. Its form dissipated inch by inch, turning into dark golden light that simultaneously surged into the Baihui acupoint, the space between the eyebrows, and the chest of the Eastern Self.

There was no pain, no violent energy surge, and not even any unusual sensations—it was like a long-lost relative pushing open the door, quietly sitting down beside you, and then never leaving.

The light flow lasted for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

During this process, Dongfang Weiwo's pupil color gradually faded from dark gold to a kind of clarity that was close to nothingness—there was nothing in the depths of his black pupils, no longer any firelight, no longer any halo, no longer any obvious signs of power.

He sat quietly in the center of the formation, his posture unchanged from before, his back straight as a sword, his wrists resting on his knees.

But the moment he opened his eyes, all the dark golden light in the entire underground palace went out at the same time.

Then, in the same instant, all the light transformed into something else—not light, but "emptiness".

The array on the dome stopped rotating, and the lines marking the myriad star fields faded and went out one by one.

The ancient array was still operating, but the road signs had been severed. The fusion of the giant shadow with him changed the coordinates of the Tianxuan Continent from "broadcast to the outside world" to "visible only to internal users".

Dongfang Weiwo stood up, dusted off the corner of his robe, and walked out of the underground palace.

As he stepped onto the stone steps, walked through the empty streets, and pushed open the gate of the old house, the first rays of dawn were rising from the eastern horizon.

The morning light was golden-red, without any silver trace left by the celestial envoy—that trail had vanished on its own sometime last night.

In the morning light, everyone in Baidi City had already woken up.

Everyone stood silently on both sides of the street watching him emerge from underground—no one asked what had happened the night before, but everyone saw the emptiness in his pupils.

That is not an emptiness from the loss of power, but rather the power itself has been contained to the point that it no longer needs to be manifested.

Yan Kuangtu climbed up from under the wall, looked him up and down for a moment, and then grinned.

Xiang Yutian floated down from the roof, his iron staff paused on the ground, and he whispered, "It's done."

Meng Chixing turned around on the city wall, and for the first time, a look of awe appeared in his usually indifferent eyes, but it was fleeting.