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Chapter 407 Eternal Night

Boom! The enormous explosion shook the very fabric of space. One by one, the spatial locks of the eighteen levels of hell began to loosen under the tremors, and the enemies imprisoned by the Black Mountain Demon quietly slipped out.

This group, who were preparing to take revenge on the Black Mountain Demon, decisively chose to leave after sensing the battle between Sun Wukong and the Black Mountain Demon. They fled the scene. When great gods fight, it is easy for innocent bystanders to get caught in the crossfire. They didn't want the two sides fighting desperately to end up unharmed while they were all dead.

In the human realm, with a thick barrier in place, the sounds of battle were much quieter when they reached this place. Apart from the occasional tremor similar to an earthquake, there was nothing else.

"It's finally all coming to an end." Zhuge Wolong plopped down on the ground, looked up at the sky, and said with a hint of relief in his voice.

Once the Black Mountain Demon is subdued by the Victorious Fighting Buddha, everything will gradually return to normal. The endless stream of ghosts and monsters in the human world will be restricted by the rules and will no longer appear. The disaster is over, and the next step is post-disaster reconstruction.

"Yes, it's coming to an end." Master Taixu sighed, placing his hands on Zhao Li's body. In his current state, it would take Zhao Li quite a while to recover.

Lin Zhengying took out some medicine from his pouch, intending to give it to Zhao Li, when his personal computer suddenly received a series of messages.

This information comes from the observation system in Xiejia Village. Without a base station, the information could not be transmitted properly after they entered the underworld. The information transmission system kept sending daily monitoring reports repeatedly. Now that they have returned, the information has finally found a terminal.

Looking at the curve formed by the monitoring results over such a long period of time, Lin Zhengying suddenly froze on the spot. The decrease in the sun's activity did not end because the Black Mountain Demon's plan was broken. On the contrary, the rate of decrease was constantly increasing, which had triggered the emergency line originally set by Zhao Li. The monitoring was also automatically adjusted from daily monitoring to real-time monitoring.

Looking at the curve on the screen that pointed straight to the sky, Lin Zhengying broke out in a cold sweat. He quickly zoomed in to observe it carefully and found that the major inflection point of the curve coincided very closely with the time when Xie Bi'an unsealed the Victorious Fighting Buddha.

Could it be... that all of this was caused by the Victorious Fighting Buddha?

Lin Zhengying quickly shook his head, banishing the terrifying thought from his mind. That was impossible. If Sun Wukong wanted to do something, he wouldn't need to go through all that trouble; simply accepting the Black Mountain Demon's invitation would suffice.

Even a Black Mountain Demon who couldn't use his true form almost wiped them out. Add to that a legendary warrior who had been unsealed, the strongest vanguard officer of Heaven, and they wouldn't even have had the chance to leave the underworld alive, let alone leave with their last words.

Therefore, there is only one possibility: the person behind the scenes took advantage of the chaos to break free from some kind of suppression and is now accelerating his plans.

Just as he was about to voice his guess, Lin Zhengying looked at the unconscious Zhao Li, as well as Xie Bi'an and Master Taixu who were taking good care of him, and swallowed his words back.

Their own team was already exhausted, and even Lin Zhengying himself was completely drained, with no extra energy left. If he were to talk about the potential crisis now, it would only be a death sentence and might even alert the enemy.

Thinking this, Lin Zhengying squatted down and silently applied medicine to Zhao Li's wounds. Now he could only wait until Sun Wukong was free to deal with everything that followed.

However, the battle lasted far longer than Lin Zhengying had expected, for a full three days, and the tremors in the underworld continued from time to time.

"Demon! Get out here, you old Sun!" Sun Wukong rode his somersault cloud, circling the entire Black Mountain, searching for the core of the Black Mountain Demon.

The outcome of the battle was determined the moment he made his move. The Black Mountain Demon's strength was indeed not to be underestimated, but as the most powerful being who had become a spirit from the cornerstone of the Yin Realm, he had not experienced many battles since he gained self-awareness.

He only managed to dominate the underworld by finding opportunities to trick the underworld's administrators. As for the other demons and monsters, it goes without saying that the Black Mountain Demon couldn't fight them; it was like bullying children.

With such a huge difference in experience, in less than half a day, Sun Wukong had defeated the Black Mountain Demon so badly that the demon dared not show its face and its spirit hid inside the Black Mountain Demon's physical body.

After sitting in the turtle-like posture, Sun Wukong had an even bigger headache. Black Mountain was so vast, and its connected lands were spread throughout the underworld. If it were to be directly interrupted, it would be no different from the legend of Gonggong angrily crashing into Buzhou Mountain. The underworld could forget about restoring order within a thousand years.

"Monster, I've accepted your invitation, so come out now!" Sun Wukong tapped on the mountain and sighed.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" The Black Mountain Demon remained silent and hid a little further into the mountain. Sun Wukong was clearly trying to trick him into coming out, but he wasn't a fool.

Suddenly, Sun Wukong raised his head and sensed something was wrong. The yang energy of the entire planet had begun to drop rapidly in a short period of time.

Panic erupted in various cities.

Just now, a black spot appeared at the center of the sun. This black spot spread rapidly in all directions and has now blocked out the entire sun. The bright fireball hanging in the sky has turned into a dim, dark red spot. At the same time, the brightness of the entire planet has rapidly decreased to the point of being invisible to the naked eye, darker than a night with a bright moon.

Eternal night? So soon?

The Black Mountain Demon, who also sensed something was wrong, began to feel uneasy. He could roughly guess that it was the outsiders who were originally imprisoned in the seventeenth level of hell who had made their move. But it shouldn't have happened so quickly. According to the information read from the soul extraction, it would take at least a hundred years to block out the sun and plunge the world into eternal night. It had only been a few days. How could this be?

Never mind, the yang energy dissipates and the yin energy returns. With this ebb and flow, how can you fight me, monkey!

The Black Mountain Demon laughed twice, then stopped. No, the yang energy had decreased, but the yin energy did not increase as rapidly as he had expected. Instead, it began to slowly decline along with the yang energy.

"I've been tricked?!" The Black Mountain Demon was filled with shock.

Boom boom boom!

"Do you know something? Get out here, or I'll tear this mountain down!" Sun Wukong said, banging hard on Black Mountain. The whole world was in crisis, and if Black Mountain didn't confess, he really planned to demolish it. He had to save either the underworld or the human world.

"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind; it seems neither of us is the oriole." Black Mountain honestly emerged from the mountain, his face full of worry, and told Sun Wukong everything he knew.

Chapter 408 There are two suns in the sky

Listening to the Black Mountain Demon's rambling, Sun Wukong managed to glean a few key words from his speech: outsiders, non-humans, the plan to extinguish the sun and create an eternal night...

Considering the current internal and external situation of the Human Alliance, the result is obvious: the one who is hiding behind the scenes is the Dark Elves from the main universe. These guys originally came to disrupt Sun Wukong's restoration ritual.

The planet's energy input mostly comes from nearby stars. If the stars are plunged into eternal night, Sun Wukong's plan will either fail or be greatly delayed. However, what they didn't expect was that not only did Sun Wukong suffer losses in this world due to incomplete information, but they themselves also suffered losses.

As soon as they broke through the space and entered, they were caught red-handed by the Black Mountain Demon who was always watching the world. After sacrificing some of their compatriots, the Dark Elves successfully wove a great lie using brain-sealing and memory-weaving techniques, which made the Black Mountain Demon believe it and ultimately led to the world becoming what it is today.

"Alright, stop pretending to be wronged!"

Sun Wukong shouted at the Black Mountain Demon, who was trying to blame everything on the Dark Elves. The Dark Elves entered this world after him. If it were true, as the Black Mountain Demon said, that everything was the result of the Dark Elves' seduction, then he would not have been suppressed under the Black Mountain beforehand.

The Black Mountain Demon fell silent, watching as Sun Wukong raised his golden cudgel and drew a circle around him. When the circle connected end to end, the Black Mountain Demon's perception of his true form was severed, leaving only a faint, directional perception that was difficult to control.

"Stay here and behave yourself. I'll come back to you after I've dealt with those little demons!" Sun Wukong tapped the Black Mountain Demon with his golden cudgel, and the immense gravity forced him to bend over. Combined with the surrounding binding array, the environment directly simulated his experience under the Black Mountain.

That's just how Sun Wukong is; he takes revenge on the spot and never lets it linger overnight.

After taking one last look at the locked-up Black Mountain Demon, Sun Wukong turned around and traveled directly from the underworld to the human world. The brightness here was much lower than when the eternal night had begun. Now, even a cultivator like Zhi Qiu Yi Ye, who already possessed magical power, needed to bring a light source to see his surroundings.

"Great Sage, you've arrived." Lin Zhengying saw Sun Wukong arrive and finally found his pillar of support. This matter had escalated to the point where it was completely beyond his control.

"How's the situation? What did they say back home?" Sun Wukong tossed his golden cudgel into the air, turning it into a small sun that hung in the sky, and then asked.

"The situation is very bad. The temperature has started to drop rapidly. It is expected that within a week, the average temperature of the entire planet will drop below zero. We also can't contact our hometown for the time being. Space has been blocked," Lin Zhengying said succinctly.

"The space has been blocked again?" Sun Wukong frowned. This had happened once before in another Marvel universe. "They say we should learn from past mistakes, but this time we weren't prepared at all?"

“Yes, there is… but…” Lin Zhengying turned to look at Zhao Li, who was unconscious on the hospital bed, “Because of the time constraint, we each studied a portion of the relevant knowledge. This part was what Zhao Li studied; I don’t understand it…”

Sun Wukong was taken aback. As technology continues to advance, all-rounders no longer exist. Even Heimerdinger was only proficient in a portion of knowledge. He couldn't expect Lin Zhengying to know everything; that was unrealistic.

Sun Wukong reached out to check Zhao Li's injuries and shook his head helplessly. Lin Zhengying's first aid and follow-up treatment had been very good. He was not a medical expert and could not even add to the good work. Now, he could only let Zhao Li recover slowly on his own.

"You all rest here, I'm going to meet those guys!" Sun Wukong said, leaping into the air like an inverted meteor, shooting directly from the planet into space.

After leaving the planet's atmosphere, Sun Wukong braked suddenly and stopped in mid-air. If it was nighttime inside the planet, it was deep night outside, which affected even Sun Wukong's senses.

This is the advantage of going first. If they were to meet head-on, Sun Wukong would have already killed them all with a single blow before the other side could deploy their various instruments. But once the instruments are deployed, the difficulty of killing them increases by more than one level.

A body outside the body!

Sun Wukong shook himself twice, and his hairs fell off like rain, instantly transforming into little monkeys that flew at full speed in all directions.

After a while, the monkeys that had flown further away had their fur bristled and returned with their memories, while those that were closer gathered around Sun Wukong.

After piecing together all the information, Sun Wukong helplessly discovered that the dark elves had set up an extremely complex Klein space maze nearby, relying on the star, and the time required to break it was unknown.

If you're lucky, Sun Wukong might break the lock in the next second; if you're unlucky, you might have to wait until the damage reaches the limit of the lock's effectiveness.

This is troublesome... There's only one way to break this deadlock...

Sun Wukong clasped his hands together, sat cross-legged in the universe, and his body kept changing, as if he was adjusting his frequency little by little.

After some time, Sun Wukong's appearance stabilized. He now looked exactly like Leona, and he also had the Seventy-Two Transformations. He not only changed his appearance, but his essence also became infinitely similar to hers.

This is why Sun Wukong didn't imitate the Three-Legged Golden Crow, but chose to imitate the relatively familiar Leona.

Sun Wukong pointed one finger upwards and the other downwards, saying, "Today, at this moment, there are two suns in the sky."

Leona's voice reverberated throughout the surroundings, aided by mystical vibrations.

Suddenly, a blazing sun rose, its rays completely sweeping away the surrounding gloom.

Don't forget, the Dark Elves' natural enemy is shining stars. Whether they're using Thanos's technology or their own civilization's reserve technology, as long as the manipulators are still the Dark Elves, then light is their best weapon.

As the light gradually spread outwards, the planet's position was quickly restored from Sun Wukong's perception, while the Klein Lock in the distance was rapidly filled with light carrying a mysterious quality.

On the planet, Lin Zhengying looked at the suddenly appearing sun and prepared to move Zhao Li outside to bask in the sun.

Just then, a magnetic voice rang in his ear, "Take Zhao Li home first, I'll finish dealing with this so-called Eternal Night before I head back."

At this point, Lin Zhengying realized that the spatial locks around him had been opened, or more accurately, eroded and dissolved by the light.

Lin Zhengying didn't know how to break spatial locks or enhance the anti-interference capabilities of teleportation devices, but he was at least very familiar with how to use teleportation devices—a basic skill for dispatched personnel.

Chapter 409 Defeat Before Victory

The portal to Lin Zhengying's location appeared on Earth, at the Huaxia Cultivation Preparatory Academy. This place is located inside the solar system, making it relatively safer than the multiverse portals and battle stars in the Oort Cloud.

"Quick, someone come! Help!" Lin Zhengying shouted as soon as he carried Zhao Li out.

With a whoosh, Zhao Ling'er appeared in front of the two. The healing energy of the Water Spirit Orb covered Zhao Li's entire body. It had an effect, but it wasn't very good.

"Bruce Banner, please take care of Lam Ching-ying. I need to take the injured to another place." Zhao Ling'er looked up and gave this instruction to Bruce Banner behind Lam Ching-ying before disappearing from their sight.

Lam Ching-ying collapsed to the ground, letting out a sigh of relief. It felt good to be back.

Banner helped him up. "The ground is cold. Did the mission not go well?"

"It's not that things didn't go smoothly, but it's just that things didn't go smoothly at all." Lin Zhengying was full of bitterness. "When I arrived, I found out that my opponent was a legend, and then I found out that there were dark elves causing trouble behind the scenes. Da Sheng is still there dealing with the aftermath. I just rushed back with Zhao Li."

“That’s quite an achievement,” Banner chimed in.

Lin Zhengying sighed, then realized that it was a bit deserted around him. Usually at this time, there would be all sorts of noises, training sounds, and studying sounds, which would be quite loud.

"Why is it so quiet today? Did they give us an early holiday? Or is there something wrong with the time flow over there?" Lin Zhengying asked.

Banner shook his head. "We entered the final preparation stage a while ago. Many teachers were transferred back, and the students went to another place. To win, we must first admit defeat. If we lose, they will be the last spark of the united civilization of diverse humans."

"Has it come to this...?" Lin Zhengying sighed. Ever since the last conference, tension had been spreading throughout the civilization. The war machine was ready to be started at any moment.

"Well, actually I'm also compiling my personal experience report, preparing to transfer it to the backup system. If you had come back any later, I might not have been at school anymore," Banner explained.

"..." Lam Ching-ying took a deep breath. "Then I won't go to the lounge. Please take me back to my room. I need to organize some things and upload them."

.......

Meanwhile, on a planet nearly a hundred light-years from our solar system, a semi-permanent portal remains constantly lit in a remote location.

"How's the Seed Room One? Is there any problem with the energy supply?" Tony Stark asked Ivan Vanko, who had rushed over, as he flipped through the report in his hand.

“No problem. The plant seeds are all in good condition, the temperature is within a suitable range, and the thermal, wind, and solar power generation devices are all functioning well. Combined with the integrated Ark battery pack, it should be able to operate for hundreds of years without any issues,” Ivan Vanko replied.

“Okay, then let’s prepare to set up the second embryo bank. The original frozen embryos and sperm banks are also ready. We can just go down there and pick them up.” Tony Stark’s mind was racing. “Also, I’ve set up the basic artificial intelligence program. Please check it again later to see if there are any oversights.”

“No problem. Should we send over the weapon production line data from various technological eras?” Ivan Vanko walked to the side and, while speaking, accessed the underlying logic network of the new artificial intelligence.

"Let's wait until Natasha finishes her investigation. Some special information should be kept in a more distant place."