Witch Wind

Chapter 428 The Battle of Saints (Part 1)

Li Xing.

Among the many wooden horses and flowing oxen created by Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, the 'Ten Golden Crows' he made, modeled after ancient myths and legends, hung high in the void.

The ten golden crows, each with a diameter of tens of millions of miles, are dark gold in color. Each of them has a lifelike three-legged golden crow carved on its surface, with a jet-black color, and are neatly inlaid in the center of the huge artificial star.

Because of the presence of the Ten Golden Crows, the temperature on the entire planet Lixing rose by about ten degrees on the plains, the glaciers at both poles showed signs of melting, and the sea level rose slightly.

Wei Yan sat upright on the surface of the first giant golden crow, looking down at Li Xing with an expressionless face.

Large contingents of Shu Han soldiers are searching the surface of Li Xing, apprehending the royal family and high-ranking officials of the Great Li Holy Dynasty. After all, it was a powerful empire that had lasted for millions of years. Faced with the sudden attack from Shu Han, many members of the royal family and nobles used various pre-established means of survival to escape the first round of capture by Shu Han.

Of course, they will eventually fall into the clutches of the law and face trial and punishment from the Shu Han.

Wei Yan was not worried at all about this.

His mood, like his expression, was solemn and serene.

The Five Tiger Generals, along with numerous civil and military officials, were led by Liu Bei and Prime Minister Zhuge Liang to attack Sun Wu. Liu Bei had already attained sainthood, and the greatest goal of the war against Sun Wu was to help Guan Yu and Zhang Fei completely sever their ties and entanglements from their past lives, and to thoroughly clear away all confusion and obstacles on their path to enlightenment.

Lord Guan, Lord Zhang...

Their path is clear.

Wei Yan, on the other hand, was ordered by Prime Minister Zhuge Liang to remain and guard the homeland of the Dali Holy Dynasty.

How similar this mission is to my past life and to those days?
Wei Yan was seriously considering many things.

His past life.

His present life.

The path he has walked in the past.

The path he will take in the future.

"Pick it up?"

"lay down?"

Wei Yan frowned and vigorously stroked the three short wisps of beard on his chin.

Seriously... damn it... those unpleasant things from his past life, even after so many years, still make him feel a little embarrassed within the Shu Han Group.

This minor embarrassment, over the past millions of years, gradually fermented and settled, eventually becoming a deep-seated inner demon that Wei Yan found difficult to sever. His cultivation had not improved in the slightest for a very, very long time.

Even some of the younger generation have gradually caught up in terms of cultivation.

Wei Yan let out a breath.

Over the years, he has worked very hard to overcome his inner demons and clear his path. He has studied Confucian classics, comprehended Buddhist secrets, and practiced Taoist magic. He has led large armies in numerous battles against the armies of Sun Wu, Cao Wei, and the Sima Jin Dynasty, fighting bloody battles on the battlefield in order to achieve a breakthrough in the military strategy he is now focusing on.

But alas, inner demons are hard to eradicate!
Wei Yan knew perfectly well that this inner demon not only existed in his heart, but perhaps even in the hearts of Prime Minister Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei, there was a trace of gloom in their hearts as well.

and so……

Prime Minister Zhuge Liang appointed Wei Yan to command a large army, stationed in the heart of the Dali Kingdom, to capture its high-ranking officials and nobles, and to completely transform the Dali Kingdom into a form similar to Shu Han.

If Wei Yan were left to handle this matter alone, it would be fine. He alone commands millions of soldiers and could easily deal with those three-foot-tall bastards.

but.

Wei Yan looked into the distance.

In the distance, a bright moon hangs high in the sky, its pure and cool yin energy permeating the air—that is another giant wooden horse and flowing ox, 'Taiyin Star', personally crafted by Prime Minister Zhuge.

Clad in heavy armor, with a scarlet cloak billowing behind him, Jiang Wei sat on the roof of the main hall of the Guanghan Palace on the Taiyin Star, holding a small wine jar and sipping his wine.

Sensing Wei Yan's gaze, Jiang Wei raised the wine jar and smiled at him.

Both were at the Quasi-Saint level; even if they were separated by tens of millions of miles, to them they were practically within arm's reach. Wei Yan nodded slowly, muttering in a low voice, "I've been abstaining from alcohol for many years... Wait, what's going on here?"

Wei Yan originally wanted to say something to Jiang Wei.

He really wanted to ask Jiang Wei, as the last great loyal minister of Shu Han, what his self-evaluation was.

But suddenly, a terrifying torrent swept across the entire universe, and the Heavenly Dao of this world trembled violently, like a bull whose rump had been pierced by a red-hot iron rod. The Heavenly Dao of the entire world was trembling and roaring, and began to vibrate violently, causing all cultivators' magic power, immortal souls and physical bodies to tremble.

Jiang Wei and Wei Yan both lowered their heads.

Above the vast Li Star, countless technologically advanced ships were slowly moving forward. A large number of Shu Han soldiers, clad in armor and riding on beams of light, were inspecting each ship one by one, each with a specially made bronze mirror in hand.

Suddenly, all of these ships changed.

All the ships simultaneously erupted with blinding sparks, countless powerful currents spewing out from within the ships, accompanied by a buzzing roar. The main control systems of these ships, the computing cores that provided powerful computing capabilities, underwent drastic changes at the same time.

The ship's internal sound system simultaneously emitted a cold, merciless roar: "Supreme Ruler... Slaughter all!"

With a series of strange electronic noises and the frantic folding, twisting, and mutating sounds of mechanical parts, these ships instantly came to life!
Whether it was a military warship or a commercial or civilian transport ship, countless high-energy rays were spewed out from the cabins, instantly killing everyone inside. Many ships, especially those super-large commercial transport ships, did not have such internal offensive and defensive capabilities, but they somehow gained terrifying destructive power in this dramatic change!

The lives inside the ship were completely wiped out in just a few breaths. Wei Yan, Jiang Wei, and the Shu Han generals who stayed behind at Lixing all heard the cries of countless wronged souls.

The crying stopped abruptly.

The violent torrent of energy instantly obliterated the souls of the slain creatures.

Above the star Li, there were at least millions of ships of all kinds, and the total number of people aboard these ships was well over a billion. Among these people, only a few lucky individuals with sufficiently powerful cultivation and the protection of secret treasures managed to shatter the ship's armor plates and escape in a sorry state.

Given the circumstances of the Dali Holy Dynasty, these fortunate cultivators who escaped those ships were precisely the targets of the Shu Han army's manhunt.

But at this point, who has the leisure or inclination to apprehend them?
The constant crackling sounds were deafening. The civilian merchant ships were one thing, but their thin hulls writhed like mercury. Inside their ships, a few high-energy weapons used for self-defense and to shatter various meteorites and meteors in the void writhed and changed shape, appearing on the outer surface of the ships.

These merchant ships possess very few self-defense weapon systems.

Those warships, whether in terms of power furnaces or weapon systems, were a hundred times better than these merchant ships.

The colossal warships twisted and shifted, and in the blinding light, countless mutated and upgraded weapon systems appeared densely packed on their hulls. The next instant, countless streaks of light tore through the void.

The energy and weapon systems of these warships have undergone tremendous evolution and improvement out of thin air. The destructive power of each streak of light has reached at least the early stage of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm... and some of the already extremely advanced heavy warships have already reached the Quasi-Saint level in terms of destructive power.

Caught off guard, the large groups of Shu Han soldiers were struck by the streaks of light. Without uttering a sound, they were instantly reduced to ashes as faint clusters of light.

On the ground, countless technological creations stirred with excitement.

Looking down from the sky, the entire surface of Lixing was ablaze with countless cities, large and small, bursts of fire, and all sorts of technological creations mutated, evolving into various kinds of lethal weapons that launched a frenzied attack on the bewildered and helpless people of Dali. Even the vending machines, which were originally harmless, evolved powerful high-pressure jet systems, hurling their various beverage bottles and snack boxes like cannonballs.

'Bang, bang, bang!'
The people of Dali were weak, and 99% of them had no cultivation whatsoever.

The restless machinery on the surface of Lixing slaughtered all of Lixing's inhabitants in just two or three breaths.

Not just Lixing.

In the Great Li Holy Dynasty, on tens of thousands of habitable planets, all the high-tech creations stirred up agitation, and trillions of tiny native people were blasted to pieces.

On the contrary, everyone on the hundred or so habitable planets directly under the jurisdiction of Shu Han, from top to bottom, from officials to commoners, possessed sufficient cultivation. Moreover, because of Prime Minister Zhuge Liang's Wooden Horse and Flowing Ox technique, which was completely unaffected by this wave of evil energy, the mutated high-tech products on those hundred or so planets were negligible.

The Shu Han army that remained behind quickly blasted the few remaining mechanical constructs to pieces.

On more than a hundred planets directly under the jurisdiction of Shu Han, the native little people suffered almost no casualties, and among the people of the Nine Provinces, the number of casualties was less than ten thousand.

Wei Yan's eyes were bloodshot.

This time, it was Prime Minister Zhuge who personally ordered him to stay on Lixing and take charge of the cleanup work of the entire Dali Holy Dynasty.

but now……

Wei Yan leaped into the air, transforming into a thick, murderous, iron-gray cloud that hurtled towards Li Xing. Wielding two long swords, he roared hoarsely, "Who is it? Who is it? Show yourself..."

Directly below Wei Yan, near Mount Li, a massive energy hub erupted with terrifying lightning bolts tens of feet thick and thousands of miles long. Accompanied by a deafening roar, this energy hub, covering a radius of a hundred miles and supplying over thirty percent of the energy to the entire planet Li, from which millions of ships could replenish their energy, came to life!

Countless massive metal components melted and reformed.

Countless energy channels, large and small, melted and crystallized wildly, then pieced together according to strange laws.

A gigantic face, over a hundred miles in diameter, with cold, hard lines, appeared in the surging intense light—dozens of long, narrow, giant electronic eyes opened simultaneously, their scarlet gazes locked onto Wei Yan's body.

With a 'hum', the huge metal face suddenly opened its mouth, and a beam of red light ten miles thick shot out.

The entire atmosphere of the planet Li was breached, and half of the planet's atmosphere was instantly ionized, turning into shimmering plasma that exploded with a deafening roar. A significant portion of the planet's surface rock melted away, transforming into scorching magma that spewed wildly.

Wei Yan was struck squarely by the red light.

He let out a muffled groan, and the black and red innate spiritual treasure-level military flag above his head let out a mournful cry of unbearable strain, dozens of extremely fine cracks appearing on its surface. Wei Yan's heavy armor was frantically assaulted by the enormous red light, and the armor rapidly turned crimson red. The terrifying heat burned Wei Yan's skin until it tore open, and an extremely rich aroma of roasted meat permeated the void.

Wei Yan was blasted back millions of miles by the blow. The flesh on his palms was even vaporized, leaving only his iron-gray finger bones gripping two long swords tightly.

"You beast!" Wei Yan cursed angrily, "Jiang Boyue, be careful! This fellow's strength is even greater than General Guan's!"

Something terrible happened.

The entire underground of Lixing contains a vast number of technologically advanced mega-structures, including energy cores, warship factories, assembly plants for large-scale war machines, and various storage facilities.

The massive energy hub transformed into a metallic face, its entire body spewing high-temperature plasma. The entire planet Li was rapidly melting and collapsing in the plasma, and countless mechanical creatures that had come to life took to the air, avoiding the burning plasma.

Inside Lixing, all the technological creations cheered and roared as they merged into the spewing plasma, quickly piecing themselves together with the enormous metal face.

In just a few breaths, a colossal silicon-based life form, nearly a million miles tall, slowly rose from the wreckage of the exploding planet. Beside it were hundreds of millions of newly formed silicon-based life forms of all sizes.

Among these silicon-based life forms, the largest are those transformed from dozens of war fortresses in outer space of Lixing, each with a size of tens of thousands of miles.

The slightly larger ones are silicon-based life forms transformed from various warships and transport ships, and their height ranges from tens to hundreds of miles.

Smaller ones, such as vehicles, airships, ocean ships, and chariots on land, range in size from tens of feet to several feet in height.

There are even smaller things, such as pots and pans, toys, communication equipment, etc. These tiny odds and ends range in size from the size of a palm to more than a foot tall. Although they are tiny, their numbers are in the trillions, densely filling the void, which is truly astonishing.

Besides Lixing, hundreds of habitable planets of all sizes and distances nearby also exploded at the same time.

On these planets, almost all the Shu Han soldiers and all the citizens of the Dali Holy Dynasty were slaughtered in the blink of an eye. The planets exploded, and from the wreckage, countless silicon-based life forms rose into the air, surrounding Wei Yan, Jiang Wei, and the less than 100,000 Shu Han officers who had escaped.

Some enormous silicon-based life forms, with long metallic limbs, grabbed the remnants of habitable planets and frantically devoured the various useful materials contained within them, rapidly strengthening their bodies.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of burnt metal.

Cold, merciless electronic fluctuations swept across the void, and countless newly formed silicon-based life forms were gradually becoming familiar with their newborn 'limbs,' especially their newborn 'intelligence'... Regardless of size, they were all unleashing their electronic fluctuations to their hearts' content, frantically proclaiming the title of 'Life Master Xiuge Ri.'

From all directions, faint points of light flickered.

Many Shu Han officers with sufficient cultivation who had luckily escaped were rapidly converging on the Ten Golden Crows and the Taiyin Star.

They landed awkwardly on the surface of the Ten Golden Crows and the Moon Star, shouting incoherently.

These Shu Han officers who managed to escape were all at least at the late Golden Immortal stage, with the weakest being at least at the late Golden Immortal stage.

With over 100,000 subordinates at the late Golden Immortal stage or above, plus eleven giant wooden horse and ox artifacts personally crafted by Prime Minister Zhuge, this fighting force was truly formidable.

But when faced with trillions of silicon-based life forms slowly surrounding them from all directions, both Jiang Wei and Wei Yan felt a chill run through their bodies, their hearts floating in the air, unable to settle down.

"What the hell is going on?!"

Similar things happened in Cao Wei's territory.

However, the Cao Wei regime was a self-contained system, and the Great Jing Holy Dynasty they supported also had many indigenous people with cultivation levels. Precisely because there were so many cultivators, the Great Jing Holy Dynasty's high-tech creations were few in number and mostly concentrated in the army.

Faced with the suddenly mutated warships, the Cao Wei army, after losing a large number of native soldiers, relied on the continuous stream of native soldiers who fought desperately, along with powerful generals such as Dian Wei and Xu Chu, and these newly born silicon-based life forms, and became embroiled in a bitter battle.

The best-case scenario, without a doubt, was that of the Sima Jin Dynasty.

The Sima clan didn't treat those indigenous people as human beings at all—they didn't develop any high technology among the indigenous people; they just treated them as slaves and the cheapest cannon fodder.

Throughout the entire Sima Jin Dynasty, there were very few decent high-tech creations.

Even the large energy hubs were concentrated near the capital of the Sima Jin Dynasty, established solely to provide more comfortable living conditions for high-ranking officials and nobles.

Faced with the sudden mechanical catastrophe, the Sima Jin Dynasty suffered the loss of a few habitable planets and some weak native beings. The few isolated silicon-based life forms that emerged from them were killed by Sima Yi and other high-ranking officials and directly torn to pieces.

The border of Sun Wu, a battlefield in the void.

Sun Wu's reinforcement fleet had arrived. The massive fleet spewed blinding bolts of lightning and was accompanied by a deep electronic sound. Like a swarm of crazed hornets, it hovered silently in the void, recklessly radiating suffocating malice towards the Shu Han army and Sun Ce's troops.

On the first silicon-based life form, which was tens of millions of miles in diameter, made entirely of metal, and fully activated, Xiu San San, Xiu Li Ya, Dong Zhuo, Sun Ce, and others appeared one after another.

Liu Bei spotted Dong Zhuo's body, which was almost completely mechanized, at a glance. He said in a deep voice, "Dong Zhuo? You scourge, it's been many years! With you here, nothing is too big to ask for."

(End of this chapter)