Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

He rubbed his nose. A slight throbbing in his temple triggered a series of encrypted long-distance mental communications in his mind.

—Zhang Jie and his team have finished dealing with the Southern Flame Continent team. The Southern Flame Continent team has been completely suppressed, and all the characters in the story have been transferred to the independent and safe Tower of Babel world. Soon, Zhang Jie and Xiao Honglu's team will come to join them and participate in the battle against the Celestial God team.

This is good.

He gazed at the distant mountains, his fully extended perception telling him that the Celestial Team was located in a mountain range about a hundred kilometers away—they had eleven members, the weakest of whom had unlocked the second stage of their genetic lock and possessed combat power equivalent to approximately BB-level enhancement. The strongest team consisted of three members, one of whom was undoubtedly at the early stage of the fourth stage of the genetic lock, while the other two had surpassed the third stage and possessed some kind of special power system or secret treasure, making them absolutely capable of unleashing fourth-stage power.

They are very strong.

But I am stronger.

Therefore, even if they activated their mental shield, their will could still lock onto their movements and deter them from making any rash moves even from a distance of 100 kilometers.

The decisive action of the Zhongzhou team seemed to have caught them off guard, and although the Tianshen team eventually reacted and planned to deal a heavy blow to the Zhongzhou team with a swift attack, the Tianshen team was first held back by Dongmei, and after Dongmei's people broke away, they were ambushed by Zheng Zha halfway.

I'm stronger than them, but I can't take them down by myself. So I have to wait for the others to arrive before we can deal with this enemy squad… It's strange, why aren't these reincarnation squads united even though they're clearly weaker than us? Are they too stupid, or is there some other special reason?

Zheng Zha frowned, utterly perplexed. He didn't quite believe the Celestial Team were brainless idiots, but the facts left little room for argument. He pondered for a moment, then finally decided to give up. Because just then, the Celestial Team, before Zhang Jie and his group arrived, did exactly what he had predicted.

The Celestials launched an attack.

Section 25: The Battle - Please Treat Long-Term Employees Well

The Celestial Team launched an attack, their offensive as fierce as Zheng Zha had anticipated. Two of the three individuals he sensed possessed fourth-tier combat power were the first to launch a surprise attack on him. Before they even arrived, a beam of azure light swiftly struck Zheng Zha's brow!

"A flying sword? A cultivator?" Zheng Zha raised his eyebrows. With his senses fully unleashed, the azure light, which was moving at a speed exceeding Mach 30, suddenly seemed to drop to the level of an ordinary racing car in his perception. He clearly observed the actual shape and some internal structure of that azure light, and even discerned the sword-shaped body enveloped in the light.

Flying sword.

A blue flying sword.

Based on the cultivation system, it is a famous cyan flying sword.

A lot of knowledge that Alice had forced him to memorize in his spare time flashed through Zheng Zha's mind. Finally, a description that matched the flying sword in his perception by about 50-60% settled in his mind. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and could roughly determine what kind of sword it was and where it came from.

[The Azure Chain Sword from the Purple and Azure Twin Swords of Mount Shu? Given the opponent's fourth-tier level, using such a magical artifact is fitting. However, exchanging cultivation points with the Main God requires 70,000 reward points. Margot Royd once said that if you encounter a legitimate cultivator, they most likely obtained their inheritance from the story world rather than spending a fortune to exchange for it with the Main God!]

[Prepare for the best! Since the opponent can wield the Azure Chain Sword, assuming maximum assessment of its danger, they have likely learned corresponding spells and formations from the story world and should be able to use them effectively—making them a scholar-type spellcaster similar to Margot Royde. We cannot allow them to stall us, nor can we give them the opportunity or time to build their defensive positions!]

Zheng Zha's thoughts raced, and when the radiant light formed by the flying sword was still more than forty kilometers away from him, he unleashed it with all his might! An unparalleled amount of energy was squeezed out of his body and used to support his body, adjusting all his attributes to the maximum he could control—he suddenly swelled up a lot with a low roar, and the surging energy even formed a huge vortex around him like wings!

The ground beneath her feet shattered. The destructive greatsword she gripped in her hand instantly charged. The incantation runes drawn by Patchouli during the foundation-building ceremony, used to manipulate and control this Apocalypse weapon, lit up one by one along the blade's spine. The immense positive and negative energy contained within then transformed into a pure, dazzling light through extreme compression!

I'm not very good at coming up with names...

Zheng Zha took a step forward, and in an instant, his figure moved forward several kilometers. The crimson blade, which gathered boundless radiance, was dragged along by him, leaving a narrow band of light in the sky he traversed.

[But an energy purer than true qi and deeper than blood energy was coalesced using this sword as a vessel.]

The distance of several kilometers passed in the blink of an eye, and every subtle change and transformation covering tens of kilometers of the surrounding area was brought into his perception. An unnamed light seemed to be gathering within his heart, and his thinking, already at its peak, became even faster. He could even vaguely sense the faint connection between the flying sword and its wielder. And behind the attacking flying sword, the lightning-infused blade within the body of the powerful figure possessing true fourth-tier combat strength!

This power has transcended 'fusion,' surpassed 'destruction,' and defied 'annihilation'—it has reached a new level with me. And this level, I have decided to name—

"Primordial Era - Creation!"

A low growl, a streak of light. Time seemed to stand still for a moment. And in that instant when everything seemed to fall silent, a soft shattering sound like glass breaking suddenly rang out!

'Crack! Crackle!'

Starting from the point where Zheng Zha unleashed his blade, the spatial structure extending nearly thirty kilometers in a straight line was completely destroyed in that instant. This dark, abyss-like rift continued to rapidly extend towards the location of the Celestial Team, with spiderweb-like black fissures spreading outwards accompanied by lightning bolts born from the energy surge. Although the two extraordinary beings reacted immediately, either dodging or defending, they were still completely trapped within this cleaved fissure!

Heaven and earth seemed to boil like a cauldron. He could almost hear the low growls and curses of the Celestial Team's reincarnators.

To reach the fourth level of the gene lock, the minimum requirement is to reach the level of microscopic control. Once one reaches the level of microscopic control, although there is still a possibility of some energy loss when unleashing those extremely powerful, trump card or desperate moves, Zheng Zha is very clear that the energy wasted due to exceeding his control range in this slash is less than five percent.

Five percent of the dissipated energy transformed into a natural disaster spreading outwards. The remaining ninety-five percent, however, formed the arena within this temporal storm!

Zheng Zha knew very well that this strike wouldn't kill the two fourth-tier opponents; they were too far away, and at most, it would only injure them slightly. However, whether they were injured or not was actually irrelevant, because once this strike landed, this world became his domain!

Margot Royd once told me that the prerequisite for setting up a powerful defensive position is a stable space. However, within a spatial storm, neither western nor eastern defensive positions function smoothly. This is the most effective strategy for someone like me, who isn't good at deciphering, when dealing with enemies who are accustomed to relying on external forces. Because until this storm subsides, it's one-on-one!

He stepped on a fragment of space he had slashed out, performing a short spatial jump. The moment he easily passed the void turbulence he had created, a middle-aged man with a cold and stern face, surrounded by lightning, appeared in his field of vision.

[Oh? Is that the swordsman from the Celestial Team who possesses actual fourth-tier combat strength? I clearly aimed at the cultivator's location, but I ended up here. It seems either my ability to manipulate space is still too immature, or this guy in front of me just isn't lucky enough!]

"Zhongzhou Team, Zheng Zha." Zheng Zha slightly raised his knife and greeted his opponent.

The next moment, the crimson blade of destruction collided with the lightning surrounding the Celestial Team swordsman!

"Let me experience the strength of the fourth-tier expert of the Celestial Team."

The next moment, the blades clashed.

Thunder transformed into flowing water, the water turned to new green, the green leaves ignited into flames, the flames sank into the yellow earth, and from within the yellow earth, a gleaming longsword was forged!

"Team Celestials, Song Tian." The gleaming longsword and the Blade of Destruction collided in mid-air. Despite Zheng Zha's absolute power being more than five times that of his opponent, the two greatswords, one silver and one white, only slightly outmatched each other at the moment of impact!

Zheng Zha took a small step back, and hundreds of invisible strands of energy pierced his arm along the trajectory of the impact, darting around under the skin of his left arm like a group of tiny mice. However, although they penetrated the surface of Zheng Zha's arm with their extremely high penetrating power, they ultimately stopped before reaching the dermis. Until the mental energy and alien power contained within the energy were dissipated and neutralized, they failed to cause Zheng Zha any damage other than a minor skin abrasion.

This was the price Zheng Zha paid, while his adversary, Song Tian, ​​lost one-sixth of his bones and one-fifth of his muscles in an instant. A cloud of blood sprayed out from behind him, only to return to his body under the interference of his cellular will. And in the instant his bones were reset and his muscles were regenerating, the next impact followed.

It looked terrible. But for a transcendent being who had reached the fourth level, it wasn't considered an injury. The broken muscles and cells were rapidly broken down into the raw materials for building biological tissues. And the enormous energy surging within the swordsman's body ensured that this process could continue uninterrupted.

Blade clashed with blade a thousand times. Song Tian's blade teetered on the brink of shattering a thousand times, yet withstood the destructive strikes a thousand times. The surging energy of the five elements formed a complete cycle around Song Tian, ​​ensuring the integrity of his body while simultaneously diminishing the terrifying power carried by the destructive blade.

With each strike he received, he was wounded. With each wound, he became more familiar with the power contained within Zheng Zha's blade.

By the time of his 1333rd strike, every cell in his body, including his brain, had undergone thirteen remodeling processes. And on his 1334th strike, he shattered Zheng Zha's sword momentum, leaving a 15-centimeter-long white mark on Zheng Zha's chest.

The clash between the two swordsmen suddenly paused. Stepping on the void torn apart by the spatial storm, the two simultaneously pulled a small distance away from each other.

Zheng Zha looked at the white mark on his chest, raised an eyebrow, and the white mark, along with the alien energy attached to it, disappeared.

"A sword technique based on the five elements?" Zheng Zha asked, but his tone was one of certainty. "The proportion of energy contained in each strike subtly changes. Is the goal to use a pseudo-exhaustive method to experiment and find the most effective attribute ratio for me, and then use a tug-of-war approach to secure victory?"

"If you want to defeat me this way, you might have to spend a month with me. And if you fail even once, you will be doomed to defeat."

Song Tian slightly lowered the long sword in his hand, and the circulation of the five elements around him immediately accelerated.

“It won’t take that long.” His voice was cold, like frost. “Your knife is too complicated.”

"Mixed? Perhaps." Zheng Zha grinned, revealing a wild smile. He wasn't particularly skilled with swordsmanship to begin with, and he knew absolutely nothing about the so-called sword intent or sword spirit. Because those things were meaningless and worthless to him—he simply tightened his grip on the hilt of the Destruction Greatsword with his five fingers.

"My sword is indeed mixed, I don't deny it," Zheng Zha said softly. The next moment, the massive amount of positive and negative energy within his body collided violently at his chest!

“But your knife—” Zheng Zha’s eyes flashed with light, and his life force suddenly surged to more than three times its previous level at the moment of the collision between the positive and negative forces!

"Too weak!"

......................................................

'puff--'

With a crisp sound like a bubble bursting, the young cultivator from the Celestial Team emerged somewhat disheveled from the chaotic spatial vortex. Many exquisite and beautiful jade artifacts adorning his body crumbled and shattered as he left, scattering into the atmosphere only to be swept away by the surrounding gales to some unknown, unknown place.

"What the hell are these people?! The experts from the Central Continent Team are just too outrageous! They're like a crazed, super-strong gorilla. This is beyond the early fourth tier!"

He stomped his feet in frustration—the damage to his equipment was secondary; what truly troubled him was the vast spectacle before him. This incredibly powerful spatial storm was confined to a strip-shaped area no more than seventy kilometers long. Its expansion had ceased, and even the surrounding thunderstorms and hurricanes generated by spatial repair forces couldn't destroy it in a short time. The only thing those on the outside could do was wait for the storm to gradually subside; until then, any intervention within the storm would be futile!

He alone cannot safely traverse this temporal storm. And if he fails to act in time, Song Tian, ​​trapped in the storm, may face some unfortunate consequences.

He sighed heavily.

"Damn, I can't get this guy out by myself. I need Adam's help... Damn it, this Zhongzhou team is completely different from what Adam analyzed! Didn't Adam say that the Zhongzhou team is a benevolent team, and as long as we don't provoke them... Damn it, it seems we really did strike first!"

The young cultivator's lips twitched, and he pressed his temples to activate the mental link between the celestial beings.

However, just before he could speak, a cold will locked onto the back of his neck.

"Luo Yinglong?" A voice rang out about a kilometer outside the storm—he turned his head sharply, and the somewhat dim-looking Qing Suo sword turned as well. His pupils contracted slightly when he saw the black-haired figure at the edge of his vision, and an inexplicable sense of déjà vu rose in his heart.

"Who are you?" He sized up the young man at the end of his line of sight, who was dangling an unlit cigarette. His heart rate inexplicably fluctuated uncomfortably. "Do we know each other?"

“Zhang Jie, a nobody from the Zhongzhou team. You probably don’t know me.” Zhang Jie stared at him, his gaze revealing a complex emotion that was hard to describe.

"But I remember you, Luo Yinglong. The former captain of the Zhongzhou team!"

Chapter Twenty-Six: Battle - Where are my heads?!

"Captain of the Central Plains Team..." Luo Yinglong's fingers, which were secretly forming a sword incantation, trembled slightly, and a strange smile appeared on his lips. "The last time I heard that title was when I arrived at the Celestial Team. I thought that would be the first and last time, but I didn't expect..."

“I remember you. You are Zhang Jie, the new veteran who entered the world of reincarnation in a wheelchair.” He waved his hand, and the Azure Sword, which had been hiding in the void and waiting for an opportunity, appeared and floated behind him. Many strange and complex alien energies surged out of his body and quickly poured into the sword, which was somewhat unstable after Zheng Zha slashed it from a distance.

“I thought you had great potential back then, and now it seems you're quite close to that door.” Luo Yinglong’s lips twitched. “What, here to catch up? Sure, considering our past connection, I can chat with you for five minutes.”

The cigarette between Zhang Jie's fingers lit up. He took a deep drag, sensing the inter-frequency mental communication coming from afar, which he had completely blocked with his will. Even without turning his gaze, he could see the appearance and figure of the Celestial Team's mental power user from here, and he was also very clear that the white woman's level was far inferior to his.

—The other side of the Celestial Team was being attacked by another squad from the Central Plains Team. Their two most powerful reincarnators, who constituted their main fighting force, were being held back by Zheng Zha and Zhang Jie respectively. Luo Yinglong's willingness to stop and reminisce wasn't entirely because he was the former captain of the Central Plains Team. Part of the reason was his apprehension towards Zhang Jie, who was present.

After all, in the cycle of reincarnation, a fully enhanced Tier 3 ultimate mental power user already has the confidence to stand on equal footing with a Tier 4 non-mental power user. More importantly, Luo Yinglong is currently injured, and he has not actually reached the fourth stage of the gene lock.

"If you hadn't chosen to leave the Zhongzhou team back then, the situation might be very different now." Zhang Jie lightly flicked the ash from his cigarette. "Going to the Celestial team was probably a mistake for you. Because of that decision, you're now forced to stand in the way of the Zhongzhou team's chariot... Do you regret it?"

"Heh, the Zhongzhou team back then." Luo Yinglong rubbed his head, looking quite troubled. "You mean that Zhongzhou team that consisted of nothing but thugs, hooligans, disabled people, and murderers? Well, I'm sorry, but even if I could do it all over again, I wouldn't choose to stay. Although it's quite surprising that the Zhongzhou team has developed into such a powerful team... it doesn't matter anymore. Since I made my choice back then, I naturally won't regret it now—I am Luo Yinglong, the reincarnator of the Heavenly God Team, nothing more."

"Is that so? Well, you really are a stubborn fellow—in that case, the power of the Zhongzhou team will have to be crushed over you." Zhang Jie chuckled, casually tossing aside the half-burnt cigarette. His body swayed slightly with this action, trembling like a poorly positioned projection.

“I want to thank you. Although you left the Zhongzhou Team during that horror movie when I entered the Reincarnation World as a newcomer, the protection you provided before leaving the team did help me a lot back then.” A glint appeared in Zhang Jie’s eyes, and his unstable form disintegrated into a phantom. “As a reward for this good deed, I won’t stop you if you plan to run away later.”

The next moment, the airspace within a radius of about one kilometer centered on Luo Yinglong was covered by a blurry, shimmering light and shadow. Colors were indistinguishable, and atmospheres were indistinguishable; the world seemed to be divided into an outer and an inner side. And outside this airspace, which resembled a murky dye vat, the imprisoned spatial storm was beginning to disintegrate outwards.

..........................................

Meanwhile, at the location of another group of members of the Celestial Team.

“The plan over there is progressing smoothly, so now it’s our turn to focus on this.” Zhan Lan’s gaze swept over the spatial storm that stretched across the sky. She gripped the psionic spear, and tangible psionic light began to emanate from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth—she was currently ten kilometers away from the area where the other part of the Celestial Team was located. Through satellite imagery and the precognitive abilities of the Eldar, she could clearly see the remaining members of the Celestial Team rapidly moving towards the battle zone.

— Zheng Zha's attack triggered a spatial storm, so there is no need to worry about the opponent using spatial jumps to travel.

Before taking action against the cultivator, Zhang Jie had already subtly disrupted the perception of the Heavenly God Team's mental energy users. Therefore, there was no need to worry about the ambush team being exposed until the other party realized and dealt with these disturbances.

Everything is ready.

The other participants in Zhan Lan's mental network also used their unique signals to announce that they had taken their positions.

So……

[Zhan Lan, make your move.]

"I summon you, thunder, fall!"

A clap of thunder sounded, and dark clouds instantly filled the sky. Countless tiny bolts of lightning danced among the clouds, and they struck down almost as soon as the celestial team realized the anomaly in the sky!

"Boom!"