Chapter 371: Slaughtering Emperor Ranks! The Terrifying Strength of the Vanguard! Raging

Chapter 371: Slaughtering the Sovereign! The Terrifying Might of the Vanguard! A Madman Ravaging the Cosmos!

At the edge of the universe lies the Heavenly Profound Pass.

It is neither a planet nor a continent, but a bastion of war stretched between the void and reality.

Its core is forged from hundreds of discarded stars, its surface inscribed with ancient arrays inherited by humanity over eons, every line soaked in the blood and souls of the ancestors.

Like an ancient behemoth crouching at the edge of a dark forest, it silently guards the brilliant galaxy known as the Human Domain.

Yet, at this moment, the beast is covered in scars.

Boom!

A torrent of ghostly green energy, capable of rending stars asunder and carrying the stench and shriek of Zerg-borne corruption, slammed into the central shield of the Heavenly Profound Pass.

The shield’s membrane twisted violently, like a water surface struck by a sledgehammer, sending out ripples of destruction.

The fortress groaned under the unbearable strain; countless arrays flickered, and hundreds of bottomless fissures spread hideously across its molten stellar body.

Hold the line! Energy at the third node is critical! Seventeenth Reserve, move in to fill the gap!

The Heavenly Profound Sovereign, a veteran among the ranks of the Sovereigns, stood with hair flying and robes stained in blood.

One of his arms hung at an unnatural angle, a testament to the heavy toll of the recent exchange.

Yet he remained like an unyielding spear driven into the heart of the formation, his divine sense sweeping the front line like thunder, his voice hoarse yet resonant with unquestionable authority.

Deep in his eyes, however, lay a despair he dared not acknowledge.

There were too many.

The enemy was simply too vast.

The coalition of Zerg and Demon clans, like two converging black tides, had completely submerged the Heavenly Profound Pass, that lonely boat in the void.

Hundreds of millions of low-level Zerg and beasts threw their flesh against the shield to drain its energy, while behind them, over thirty King-level powerhouses and... five true Sovereigns watched like predators.

Old man Heavenly Profound, why persist in this cornered beast’s struggle?

A cruel laugh echoed through the void, originating from a gargantuan beast the size of a small planet.

Its body was covered in shadow-like scales, and nine hideous serpent heads sprouted from its neck, each eye burning with mockery and malice.

The Demon Clan’s Shadow-Sovereign.

A renowned Sovereign known for his immense strength and physical prowess; his Nine-Headed Prison domain could turn an entire galaxy into a silent cage of shadows.

Beside him stood a creature of even more bizarre form.

It was a beetle burning with crimson hellfire, its carapace etched with magma-like veins; with every breath, it spewed flames so destructive they scorched holes into space itself.

The Zerg’s Red-Flame Sovereign.

Her Scorch-Heaven Flame could ignite the very laws of reality, making her one of the most troublesome entities on the battlefield.

Beyond these two terrifying Sovereigns, three others from the Demon and Zerg factions occupied the flanks, like three Swords of Damocles hanging over the Pass, ready to deliver a fatal blow.

On the human side, including the Heavenly Profound Sovereign, only three Sovereigns remained to hold the line.

One had suffered damage to his origin during months of bloody warfare, his combat power reduced to less than half.

This was a slaughter with no suspense.

Give up, Heavenly Profound Sovereign.

One of the Shadow-Sovereign’s heads leaned forward, its massive shadow engulfing half the fortress. Hand over the coordinates of the thirty human Sovereigns within the Eternal Mountain, and I shall grant you a decent death.

Bah!

The response came from the hot-tempered Rock-Flame Sovereign beside him. A bunch of scum! You want the coordinates? Step over my corpse first!

As you wish.

In the nine pairs of eyes belonging to the Shadow-Sovereign, the last shred of patience vanished.

He raised all nine heads at once, and the shadow domain behind him boiled, transforming into a viscous, ink-black sea that pressed down upon the Heavenly Profound Pass!

Nine-Headed Prison: Eternal Night!

Hum—!

Space and time seemed to be muted in that instant.

All light, all sound, and all energy fluctuations were swallowed and assimilated the moment they touched that sea of darkness.

Even the indestructible shield of the Heavenly Profound Pass emitted a glass-shattering crack in the face of this domain of finality.

The Heavenly Profound Sovereign and the Rock-Flame Sovereign turned deathly pale; under the influence of this domain, the flow of their own laws slowed by more than thirty percent!

It is over.

These two words surfaced simultaneously in the minds of all the defenders.

They had done their best.

Just as the endless darkness was about to consume everything, and just as everyone closed their eyes to await death—a mutation occurred.

Without warning, a will—absolute, cold, transcending the concepts of emotion and life, and impossible to describe in words—quietly descended.

The arrival of this will was not earth-shattering, nor did it bring cataclysmic omens.

It was as if a drop of pure nothingness had been placed upon a noisy, violent oil painting.

In the next heartbeat, the entire battlefield—this chaotic sector filled with war cries, explosions, and the roar of energy—abruptly fell into a deathly silence.

It was not that the sound had vanished, but that the very concept of noise had been forcibly erased.

Every Zerg, Demon, and human engaged in the slaughter, regardless of their cultivation, found their actions frozen in that moment.

Their minds continued to race, but their bodies were shackled by invisible chains, unable to move a muscle.

Even the five arrogant Sovereigns, including the Shadow-Sovereign in the midst of his killing blow, had their law domains forcibly locked; the Sea of Eternal Night, poised to swallow all, hung awkwardly above the Pass, neither advancing nor receding.

What... is this?

The Shadow-Sovereign’s heart surged with monstrous waves of terror.

What kind of supreme power is this? To command reality with a thought?

No, there was no thought, no word—merely the descent of a will that forcibly rewrote the fundamental laws of a cosmic-level battlefield!

Under the horrified gaze of billions of living beings, the space directly in front of the Heavenly Profound Pass rippled like water.

There was no tearing, no wormhole; the space seemed to possess a life of its own, gently and voluntarily parting to either side to yield a path.

A throne slowly emerged.

It was a throne whose magnificence and majesty could not be described in mortal language.

Forged from an unknown dark-gold metal that seemed to contain the truths of cosmic birth and decay, its lines were fluid yet filled with an absolute sense of order. The throne was not empty.

A figure sat quietly upon it.

He wore silver-white armor of such intricate construction that every component and every line seemed to be the perfect manifestation of the laws of the universe.

The armor covered his entire body, revealing only his eyes.

What kind of eyes were those?

Profound, frigid, and utterly hollow.

There was no anger, no joy, no pity, not even the emotional fluctuations inherent to life. There was only the purest "logic," akin to the state of the universe at its inception, before the singularity exploded.

It was as if all things in existence were, in his eyes, merely lines of code to be edited or deleted at will.

The Machine Race!

This realization detonated simultaneously in the minds of every powerhouse among the Human, Demon, and Zerg races.

Such a pure, absolute rational aura; such a creation, conforming perfectly to the golden ratio and the axioms of the universe—there could be no other than that pinnacle race which worshipped logic as god and data as creed!

But... why would the Machine Race appear here?

Had they not always remained on the sidelines, even maintaining a tacit collusion with the Alliance of Ten Thousand Races?

"Who are you?"

The Kui-Shadow Emperor was the first to break free from the suppression of that will; after all, he was a long-renowned Emperor-rank powerhouse, his strength unfathomable.

Yet, the gaze he cast toward the throne was filled with unprecedented gravity and trepidation.

"Junior of the Machine Race, this is a battlefield between the Human race and our two factions. Do you, the Machine Race, intend to intervene?"

The Crimson Flame Emperor also regained her mobility, the Heaven-Burning Flames around her body flaring violently, as if to dispel the chill in her heart.

On the throne, the figure offered no response.

He merely raised an index finger, slowly and mechanically.

It was a finger encased in perfect silver-white armor, the tip polished like a mirror, reflecting the incredulous expression on the nine snake heads of the Kui-Shadow Emperor.

No energy gathered, no laws fluctuated, no killing intent leaked.

He simply pointed, lightly, into the void toward the Kui-Shadow Emperor.

And then—

A beam of light.

A light of indescribable color, infinitely pure and infinitely condensed, appeared out of thin air before the Kui-Shadow Emperor.

This light was as thin as a strand of hair.

It appeared so abruptly that it seemed not to have been fired from a fingertip, but rather to have transcended time and space, defining its own "existence" directly at the level of the "result."

"No!"

The scales covering the Kui-Shadow Emperor’s body stood on end instantly. A terrifying sense of crisis, originating from the deepest depths of his life essence and sufficient to freeze his soul, caused his nine snake heads to roar in earth-shattering unison!

"Roar! Nine-Headed Prison-Suppressing Shadow Barrier!"

The "Sea of Eternal Night" that had been frozen before him instantly recoiled, condensing into a black crystal barrier of extreme density, forged from the pure law of "End."

This was his ultimate defense, capable of withstanding a full-force strike from an equal-ranked Emperor without damage.

Simultaneously, his massive body retreated with an agility that defied his size, attempting to flee into the void.

Yet, it was all in vain.

The hair-thin "Ultimate Divine Light," upon touching the Shadow Barrier, did not trigger any earth-shattering explosion.

It simply... passed through.

As effortlessly and naturally as light passing through glass.

The "Shadow Barrier," touted to devour all laws and end all things, was as fragile as a joke before this light.

It was neither shattered nor melted; instead, a small piece was "erased" from the very root of its concept. It was a perfect, hair-thin circular hole, its edges smooth and devoid of any residual energy.

The nine pairs of pupils belonging to the Kui-Shadow Emperor contracted to the size of needlepoints in the same instant.

He saw the light pierce his barrier, pierce his prideful, Emperor-grade flesh and scales, pierce his divine body, and pierce his soul essence.

He did not even... feel any pain.

There was only an absolute, cold "cognition" of his own "disappearance."

In his final moment, his thoughts lingered on an absurd notion.

"What... is... this?"

The next instant.

Under the dead-silent gaze of the billions of creatures present, the massive, star-like body of the long-renowned Demon Emperor, the Kui-Shadow Emperor, began to split from the center of his brow, silently, along a "line of light" thinner than a strand of hair that traversed his entire being.

Following this, the line of light, like the first ray at the dawn of creation, spread infinitely toward every dimension, every level, every particle, and every law-imprint of his existence.

No explosion, no wailing, no flying gore.

The entire existence of the Kui-Shadow Emperor was, before everyone’s eyes, decomposed by that light from the inside out into the most primitive, pure, and meaningless stream of particles, and then... completely annihilated into nothingness.

Dead.

One strike.

Instant kill.

A senior, powerful Emperor-rank powerhouse, one who held a place on the Emperor Ranking, was simply, cleanly, and trace-lessly "deleted" from this universe by a single point of a finger.

Silence.

A silence as dead as the grave.

On the battlefield, whether it was the invading Zerg and Demon forces or the defending humans of the Tianxuan Pass, everyone’s brains had completely crashed.

Their thoughts, their cognition, and their understanding of power were all shattered by this scene that defied all reason.

"Kui... Kui-Shadow... is dead?"

In the burning compound eyes of the Crimson Flame Emperor, for the first time, an emotion known as "fear" emerged.

Her voice was dry, sharp, and filled with disbelief.

"One finger?"

Beside the Tianxuan Emperor, the Flame Rock Emperor—a human Emperor-ranker known for his valor—felt his throat go dry and his body turn cold.

He looked at the figure on the throne, feeling as if he were gazing up at a... true god walking among men.

The Tianxuan Emperor’s pupils contracted violently. He stared fixedly at that figure, the raging waves in his heart more turbulent than anyone else’s.

He recognized that throne; it was one of the supreme vessels of the Machine Race, the Oracle!

To be able to ride such a vessel, one’s status within the Machine Race must be terrifyingly high!

But... why?

Why would a supreme existence of the Machine Race help the humans and slay a Demon Emperor?

It was illogical! It did not conform to the Machine Race’s consistent principles of interest!

"Bastard! Who exactly are you! Why do you stand against our Alliance of Ten Thousand Races!"

The Crimson Flame Emperor was, after all, a Zerg sovereign; the madness in her bones overcame her fear.

She let out a piercing shriek, and endless "Heaven-Burning Flames" erupted from her body, transforming into a sea of fire, intending to incinerate this star sector along with that throne!

Facing the monstrous sea of fire capable of melting a galaxy, the figure on the throne still made no move.

He merely, slowly, raised his other hand.

This time, he splayed his fingers, reaching toward the sea of fire, and clenched the void.

Hum—!

An even more inconceivable scene unfolded.

That violent, destructive "Flame of Burning Heavens," upon rushing within ten thousand meters of the throne, seemed to collide with an invisible wall.

No, not a wall, but a singularity of "law."

Every flame, before this singularity, lost its attribute of "combustion."

They were forcibly decomposed, analyzed, and reorganized.

In the horrified gaze of the [Crimson Flame Emperor], her "Flame of Burning Heavens," the innate divine fire she took such pride in, was actually kneaded in the void by that invisible hand into a... lotus flower, ice-blue and radiating the chill of absolute zero.

Then, the lotus bloomed.

Endless ice-blue light particles, imbued with the law of "annihilation," drifted in all directions like dandelion seeds.

The largest "petal" among them, at a speed surpassing thought, shot toward the [Crimson Flame Emperor].

"No—!"

The [Crimson Flame Emperor] let out a desperate shriek.

She tried to flee, but she found that the speed she prided herself on was, before that "petal," as slow as a snail.

Puchi.

A soft sound.

The ice-blue petal gently imprinted itself upon her forehead.

The next second, the [Crimson Flame Emperor]'s entire massive insectoid body, along with her burning soul, was instantly frozen into a crystalline ice sculpture.

Inside the sculpture, her final expression of terror and despair remained preserved.

Crack...

Upon the ice sculpture, fissures began to emerge.

Immediately, it shattered with a boom, turning into a sky of ice dust, dissipating into the cosmic debris.

Another Emperor-ranked being.

Had fallen.

Still a single strike.

Still a second-kill.

This time, the remaining three Demon and Insectoid Emperors completely collapsed.

"Devil! This is a devil!"

"Run!"

They no longer held a shred of fighting spirit, turning to tear through space and flee frantically in different directions.

Among them, the strongest, the Demon [Black Demon Emperor], even burned his essence, his speed reaching the absolute limit.

However, the figure on the throne seemed to have no interest in even pursuing them.

His gaze, those cold eyes devoid of any impurities, slowly swept over the three fleeing Emperors.

And then—

Three [Ultimate Divine Rays] ignited simultaneously.

There was no suspense.

Those three Emperor-ranked powerhouses, each an overlord within their respective races, suddenly stiffened in the midst of their flight, and then, like the [Shadow Emperor] and [Crimson Flame Emperor] before them, were utterly erased by that omnipotent light from the very root of their existence.

In a matter of mere seconds.

The five great Emperors who had besieged [Heavenly Profound Pass] and driven the human defenders to the brink of extinction were all annihilated!

The entire battlefield fell into an eternal silence.

The billion-strong coalition of Insectoids and Demons, like chickens held by the throat, saw all their ferocity and madness vanish before this god-like slaughter.

They stared blankly at the five empty voids where not even a ripple of law remained, their bodies beginning to tremble uncontrollably.

Their... Emperors, dead?

Five of them... all dead?

Died... so easily?

It was unclear who first let out a scream of terror, but it acted as a signal, instantly igniting the panic of the entire coalition.

"Run for your lives!"

"The Emperors... have fallen!"

"It's a god! That is absolutely a god!"

The rout began.

A mountain-collapsing, earth-shattering, disorderly, and total rout.

The billion-strong army now regretted having only two legs, fleeing madly toward the path they had come, even resulting in severe trampling and mutual slaughter.

Yet, the figure on the throne did not even glance at these fleeing cannon fodder.

His gaze, those emotionless eyes, slowly turned toward the direction of [Heavenly Profound Pass], falling upon the [Heavenly Profound Emperor] and the other human powerhouses.

The [Heavenly Profound Emperor] felt a chill surge from the soles of his feet to his crown.

They were saved.

[Heavenly Profound Pass] was preserved, and the human territory behind them was temporarily safe.

But... why?

He looked at the [Divine Oracle] standing silently in the void, looked at the mechanical powerhouse on the throne who radiated absolute order and reason like a god, and felt not a shred of joy, but rather found himself shrouded in an even greater, more terrifying mystery.

Who was he?

Why would he help the human race?

This earth-shaking strength, slaying five great Emperors with a flick of a finger—this was absolutely a supreme existence in the top ten, perhaps even the top five, of the [Emperor Ranking]! Since when did the Mechanical Race possess such a... strange supreme powerhouse?

Just as countless thoughts surged in the [Heavenly Profound Emperor]'s mind, a divine sense filled with resentment and madness arrived from the far distance, echoing across the starry sky.

It was the [Black Demon Emperor], previously erased by the [Ultimate Divine Ray], using his final shred of essence before his total demise to issue a curse.

"Vanguard—!!"

"You damned traitor! As the [Holy Son] of the Mechanical Race's Ninth Sequence, you dare to betray your own race! To help the humans!!"

"The supreme Mechanical God will never let you go, you... shameful traitor—!"

The divine sense ceased abruptly.

But the information it contained was like a creation-level thunderbolt, striking hard into the minds of the [Heavenly Profound Emperor] and every human powerhouse who heard those words.

A vanguard?

The Ninth Sequence’s... [Holy Son]?

A traitor?

[Emperor Tianxuan]’s eyes widened in shock. He stared at the solitary, towering figure upon the throne, his mind a blank slate. A newly crowned Mechanical [Holy Son], possessing the terrifying combat power to slay five renowned Emperors in an instant?

A Mechanical [Holy Son] publicly branded a "traitor" by the Emperors of the Allied Races?

He... was helping the human race?

Countless contradictory, absurd, and reality-defying thoughts swirled and collided in [Emperor Tianxuan]’s mind, eventually dissolving into a fathomless abyss of confusion and awe.

He could not comprehend it.

He was utterly... unable to understand.

Yet, upon the throne, Qin Feng, seated within the [Oracle], kept his eyes, hidden behind a cold metallic mask, as still as an ancient well.

He cared nothing for the [Black Demon Emperor]’s dying roar.

A traitor?

From the moment he decided to descend upon this place as the Mechanical Holy Son, that title was destined to echo throughout the cosmos.

He did not seek understanding.

He sought... submission.

His gaze rested calmly upon the ravaged [Tianxuan Pass], upon his human kin who had survived the catastrophe, yet remained filled with confusion and wariness.

He offered no explanation.

For a god need not explain himself to mortals.

He had come for one purpose only—

To end this war with the majesty of a sovereign.

...

Dead silence.

A silence more pure and frigid than the heat death following the burnout of stars and the collapse of galaxies shrouded the vast void battlefield before [Tianxuan Pass].

The fall of the five Emperors was not the end, but merely the prelude to this one-sided slaughter.

Upon the throne, the silver-white figure known as the "vanguard" slowly raised a head as perfect as a work of art.

His cold, hollow eyes swept across the vast distance to the swarm of Zerg and Demon allied forces, who, paralyzed by ultimate terror, were shattering and fleeing in billions of streaks of light.

In his gaze, there was no desire for the hunt, no pleasure in the kill, not even the slightest regard for the concept of "life."

He was like a gardener surveying a patch of overgrown weeds.

And his task was to pluck the thickest, most unsightly ones with the utmost efficiency and finality.

The King-level powerhouses, those of high status and potent aura within the allied forces, were these "weeds."

In the next instant, he raised his hand.

Not a finger, but his entire palm.

Five slender fingers, encased in intricate armor, opened gently toward the chaotic torrent of fugitives.

No words, no proclamation.

Only... light.

Infinite, boundless [Ultimate Divine Light]!

Hum—!

Centered on the [Oracle]’s throne, hundreds of beams, thin as strands of hair yet imbued with the ultimate logic of "termination," erupted in all directions like the plumage of a god’s peacock, striking with pinpoint, unerring precision!

Each beam locked onto a fleeing King-level powerhouse.

"No! What in the hell is that!"

A [Wind Roc King], famed among the demons for his speed, burned his very essence, his wings vibrating to traverse the distance of several star systems.

Believing he had escaped, a flicker of relief at surviving the ordeal rose in his heart.

Yet, a beam of light appeared before him, abrupt and unreasonable.

It ignored space, ignored time, as if from the moment of his birth, it had been destined to end his existence here, at this very moment.

"Break for me!"

The [Wind Roc King] let out a desperate shriek, his demonic power boiling as he instantly condensed ten thousand "dimensional shields" made of spatial and wind laws before him, each capable of withstanding a full-force strike from an equal.

However, the light simply passed through.

Gently, as if passing through the morning mist.

The [Wind Roc King]’s movements ceased abruptly. He looked down to see a hole, thinner than a hair, appearing in his indestructible demonic body.

He felt no pain; his thoughts were still racing.

"I... blocked it...?"

As the thought arose, his entire existence began to decompose from that tiny hole, dissolved by an incomprehensible "logic" into the most basic particles, returning utterly to nothingness.

...

"Form the array! [Ten Thousand Insects Devouring Heaven Array]!"

In another sector, dozens of Zerg King-level powerhouses, driven by extreme terror, were forced into a frenzy. Choosing not to scatter, they linked their law domains, manifesting a gargantuan void insect that blotted out the sky, constructed from the laws of pure destruction and consumption.

"Roar—!"

The giant insect bellowed, its might approaching that of a low-level Emperor!

"Even if we die, we will make you, this Mechanical traitor, pay the price!" the [Thousand-Eye King], leader of the group, roared through his divine sense.

Yet, the response was dozens of [Ultimate Divine Light] beams descending simultaneously.

The beams did not pause, piercing directly into the core of the [Ten Thousand Insects Devouring Heaven Array], striking every Zerg King maintaining the formation with lethal accuracy.

The roaring void insect’s cry still echoed in the universe, but its massive body crumbled and dissipated like a sand sculpture.

Dozens of formidable Zerg Kings were "deleted" from the universe in a single instant.

...

The same scene played out in every corner of the battlefield.

A Demon King who had just unleashed a fragment of a King-level secret treasure was reduced to nothingness, along with his treasure, before its power could even be triggered.

A Zerg King, master of illusions, who had hidden himself among billions of phantoms, found the light ignoring every decoy to strike his only true form.

A Demon King with a body as tough as an "Immovable Stone Mountain" saw his prideful defenses prove no different from thin paper before that light.

This was a... slaughter.

A cold, efficient, inevitable, and near-clinical slaughter.

The "vanguard" on the throne had not changed his posture from the very beginning. He sat there quietly, his open palm seemingly holding the power of life and death over all living things in the universe.

Light, flickering incessantly.

Life, fading continuously.

Those kings who once lorded over their respective star domains were now as fragile as candles in the wind, extinguished with effortless ease, one after another, by beams of light.

Atop the Heaven-Mystic Pass, every human soldier, the Heaven-Mystic Emperor included, fell into a deathly silence.

If the previous instant slaughter of the five great emperors had shattered their perception of reality,

Then this scene, the simultaneous "cleansing" of hundreds of kings, brought with it a chill that seeped from the depths of their souls—a coldness they could not suppress.

It was too terrifying.

"Power" was no longer a word sufficient to describe this.

This was a form of... "authority."

A supreme authority that defined life and death with a single word.

It was as if he decreed who should die, and they had to die; no matter where you hid, no matter how you resisted, the outcome had been sealed long ago.

The strength of this mysterious mechanical entity did not manifest in the vastness of energy or the profundity of laws, but in a higher, almost "Dao-like" dimension.

He was not fighting; he was... executing the rules.

"Gulp."

The Blazing-Rock Emperor swallowed with difficulty, feeling his teeth chatter beyond his control.

He looked at that throne, his eyes devoid of any will to fight, leaving only the most primal awe and terror.

"What... what exactly does he want?"

A surviving king asked in a hoarse voice, his body trembling slightly.

No one answered.

Because everyone was desperate to know the answer.

Finally, when the last fleeing king was erased by a divine beam that pursued him across millions of miles, the sky-filling radiance slowly dissipated.

The entire battlefield fell into absolute stillness.

The overwhelming coalition of billions had vanished without a trace, leaving only the low-level cannon fodder who had failed to escape, huddled in place like frightened quail, not daring to move a muscle.

And upon the throne, the silver figure slowly lowered his outstretched hand.

His gaze, those eyes cold enough to freeze time and space, once again traversed the void and landed upon the Heaven-Mystic Pass.

They landed upon the Heaven-Mystic Emperor.

Hum!

The Heaven-Mystic Emperor felt his soul pierced by an invisible icicle, an indescribable, crushing pressure descending upon him.

It is here!

The alarm bells in his heart rang wildly.

After purging all the alien powerhouses, this terrifying existence had finally set his sights on humanity!

The Heaven-Mystic Emperor’s spine straightened at that moment.

With a series of bone-cracking pops, he forcibly reset his mangled arm.

His blood-stained robes fluttered without wind, and a desolate, tragic, yet utterly resolute aura reignited within his aged body.

He knew he was no match for this mechanical powerhouse.

Never mind his current grievous injuries; even in his prime, he doubted he could withstand a single one of those seemingly casual beams of light.

But he could not retreat.

He was the Heaven-Mystic Emperor, the guardian of this majestic pass, the final line of defense for the billions of human kin behind him.

His duty was to protect.

Whether facing the siege of the Zerg and Demons, or facing... this unfathomable, terrifying entity of unknown allegiance.

"Blazing-Rock!"

The Heaven-Mystic Emperor’s voice was low and firm.

"Here!"

The Blazing-Rock Emperor took a deep breath, suppressing the fear in his heart, and stepped forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Heaven-Mystic Emperor.

"Prepare... for a fight to the death."

The Heaven-Mystic Emperor did not use divine sense; he spoke the words aloud. His voice echoed across the entire Heaven-Mystic Pass.

All the surviving human soldiers, upon hearing these words, were stunned for a moment, before their eyes shifted from confusion and shock to a shared, resolute defiance.

Indeed.

Having just survived such a bloody battle, they had long since cast aside thoughts of life and death.

Having driven away a pack of wolves, were they now to welcome a tiger?

Humanity never yields!

"Fight!!"

Someone shouted first.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!!"

A mountain-shaking, sea-roaring will to battle erupted from the scarred pass, converging into an unyielding torrent that faintly diluted the cold, deathly silence brought by the throne.

Around the Heaven-Mystic Emperor, the laws of the Imperial Dao began to burn.

He was ready; at the slightest sign of hostility, he would not hesitate to detonate his own Imperial essence to buy even a sliver of hope for his kin behind him.

He stared directly into those cold eyes, his divine sense sharpening into a needle, ready to issue humanity’s final challenge.

However—

At this moment of extreme tension, where war seemed inevitable.

The figure upon the throne seemed to have "seen" enough.

The gaze that had been fixed upon the Heaven-Mystic Emperor slowly withdrew. The terrifying pressure that could crush stars receded like a tide, vanishing without a trace.

Then, under the bewildered, confused, and blank stares of the Heaven-Mystic Emperor and all the human soldiers.

The supreme throne, known as the Oracle, slowly, with an elegance born of absolute order, turned around.

Not a word.

Not a gesture.

Not even a flicker of emotion.

He had simply come, killed, and then... left.

The throne transformed into a silver streak of light, silently driving into the depths of the void, and the space it had forcibly rent asunder slowly closed behind it, leaving not a single trace.

As if... he had never appeared at all.

Only a devastated battlefield remained, marked by the voids in the laws left behind by the fall of several Sovereign-level beings and thousands of King-level masters, and... a group of human powerhouses on the Heavenly Profound Pass, frozen in utter disbelief.

"..."

The Sovereign-level essence that the Heavenly Profound Sovereign had prepared to detonate hung awkwardly at the brink of eruption. The challenge he had gathered all his will to unleash remained choked in his throat.

His entire being seemed struck by a binding spell, frozen in place.

"He... just... left like that?"

The Blazing Rock Sovereign blinked, his voice rasping with a sense of absurdity.

"It seems... he did."

A nearby King-level master replied, sounding uncertain.

"Why?"

This question voiced the thoughts of everyone present.

Why?

He had gone to such great lengths to descend here, slaughtering the elites of the Demon and Insect races with the force of a thunderbolt.

Yet he had made no demands of the human race, shown no shred of malice, and hadn't even bothered to utter a single word before... simply leaving?

What was the point?

The Heavenly Profound Sovereign slowly dissipated his burning essence, a profound sense of helplessness and lingering fear washing over him.

He could not comprehend it.

As a human Sovereign who had lived through countless epochs, he considered himself well-traveled and knowledgeable, but what had just transpired was entirely beyond his scope of understanding.

That "Vanguard," that Mechanical race "Holy Son" branded a "traitor" by the Demon Sovereign—his behavioral patterns defied all logic.

He was like a phantom, an absolute variable that had suddenly intruded upon this cosmic chessboard, overturned a corner of the board in the most arrogant and unreasonable manner, and then quietly departed.

"Your Majesty... what do we do... now?"

A general stepped forward, asking with extreme caution.

The Heavenly Profound Sovereign remained silent for a long time, gazing in the direction where the figure had vanished, his eyes filled with immense complexity.

"Clean the battlefield, tend to the wounded, and repair the pass."

He paused, his voice carrying a trace of inescapable exhaustion and bewilderment.

"Then... report everything that happened here, exactly as it occurred, to the Holy Academy... let the Lords of the Limit... deal with the headache."

...

Meanwhile.

Deep within the endless void, far from the battlefield of the Heavenly Profound Pass.

The throne of the Oracle was performing a spatial jump at a speed that transcended the very concept of light.

Inside the throne, the consciousness of Qin Feng, hidden beneath the "Vanguard" faceplate, was as still as an ancient well.

He had seen the shock, fear, confusion, and wariness of the human powerhouses at the Heavenly Profound Pass quite clearly. But he did not care.

He had three goals for this trip.

First, to resolve the crisis at the Heavenly Profound Pass and defend the human border. This was his responsibility and his Dao heart as "Qin Feng."

Second, to carry out a thunderous slaughter in the name of the "Vanguard." This battle was enough to make the name "Vanguard," along with the identity of the "Mechanical race traitor Holy Son," resonate throughout the universe.

This would provide "deterrence" and "rationality" for his subsequent actions within the Mechanical race—after all, who would dare to easily question the decisions of a madman who dared to slaughter Sovereigns of all races?

At the same time, it would create a massive "information fog" among the myriad races of the universe, drawing all eyes toward this mysterious "Vanguard" and providing the best cover for his true self's actions.

Third, and most importantly, was testing and verification.

He had spent ten thousand years in seclusion in the Divine Study, initially smelting the twelve clan-protecting divine arts and integrating them into the Myriad Phenomena, resulting in a thousand-fold surge in his strength.

But he needed a real battle to calibrate exactly what level this surge had reached.

And the result left him very satisfied.

Obliterating famous Sovereigns with a flick of a finger, slaughtering thousands of Kings with a single thought.

Now, driven by this mechanical avatar and relying on his preliminary understanding of the twelve divine arts and the tyrannical nature of the Ultimate Divine Light, his combat power was firmly established among the top-tier Sovereigns.

"The crisis at the Heavenly Profound Pass is temporarily resolved. But the situation at the Eternal Mountain is the key."

Qin Feng's consciousness analyzed coldly.

"The reason the Golden Sovereign and the others abandoned the opportunities at the Eternal Mountain to hunt down my true self was to eliminate the future threat to the human race. Now that my true self has 'faked death,' they will inevitably return to the Eternal Mountain to launch a final siege against the nearly thirty human Sovereigns trapped there."

"I must get there as soon as possible."

The identity of the "Vanguard," while powerful, was not suitable for appearing at the Eternal Mountain. A member of the Mechanical race rescuing human Sovereigns? That was too bizarre and would only invite unnecessary trouble and suspicion.

Most importantly, although the Twin Mask could provide perfect disguise, the divine art system of the Mechanical race and the martial path of the human race were fundamentally different. Once he came into close contact with the human high command or even fought alongside them, the risk of exposure would increase significantly.

Therefore, it was time.

"The fundamental mysteries of the twelve clan-protecting divine arts of the Mechanical race have all been parsed, absorbed, and integrated into the first layer of the Myriad Phenomena's heart method by my Primal Singularity."

"The greatest value of this mechanical avatar has been realized. From now on, it will continue to operate in the universe as the 'Vanguard,' attracting fire and confusing the enemy."

"And to resolve the human crisis, another identity is needed..."

In Qin Feng's consciousness, his own human body, reshaped from the Ultimate God-King's physique, emerged.

"Returning in the name of 'Qin Feng' is the most logical choice."

"A 'fallen' genius miraculously resurrected, returning with even greater strength to participate in such a cosmic-level event—no matter how you look at it, it is more reasonable and can better unite the hearts of the people than the intervention of a mysterious Mechanical traitor."

He instantly finalized his entire plan.

The task of the "Vanguard" ended here.

Next, the protagonist of the stage needed to change.

Qin Feng's divine sense connected to the supreme intelligence of the Oracle and issued a new command.

"Set course, destination, coordinates, the hidden star field on the periphery of the Eternal Mountain."

"Command confirmed. Course plotted, estimated arrival time, seven cosmic standard days," the cold mechanical voice replied.

The Oracle shuddered slightly, instantly turning into an invisible phantom that merged into the deeper layers of hyperspace, speeding toward that legendary place where so many human powerhouses were trapped.