Technological advancement begins with devouring.

Chapter 242 Confrontation Between the Lords of the Universe (2nd Update)

More than a hundred war bases were destroyed, and countless participants perished.

Hundreds of thousands of immortals at the King level alone died, including hundreds of thousands of invincible kings!

Such a loss would be devastating even for a top-tier race.

When the news reached the clan, the high command of the Machine Race was immediately shaken.

Less than an hour later, a burly mechanical giant clad in purple armor descended upon the Eleventh Extraterrestrial Battlefield.

This is the 'Lord of the Strings' of the Machine Race, a super being who commands respect throughout the universe.

Although there is still a certain distance between them and the top cosmic masters.

However, as a fourth-order universe master, he can be considered a super strong being in the entire primordial universe.

Through information relayed by the last group of powerful members of the Machine Race to fall, the Machine Race leadership has confirmed that these 155 war bases were destroyed by the 'Machine Clan', a race within the Hong Alliance of the Human Race.

The cause was something the master of the zither didn't care about.

Since it was the human faction that did this, then the human faction should bear the consequences.

He appeared directly on the eleventh extraterrestrial battlefield, intending to destroy all human war bases in this extraterrestrial battlefield as well.

A war base, normally capable of holding off a powerhouse at the level of a Universe Venerable, is no different from a paper doll in front of a Universe Lord; it can be easily destroyed with a single blow.

However, just as the Lord of Hengxian was about to make a move, he suddenly sensed a powerful aura, no less than his own, emanating from the human camp ahead.

Before the Lord of Hengxian could discern the details, a towering figure traversed space and arrived before him.

That towering figure had dazzling long golden hair, and his eyebrows were so long they reached his chest; he was none other than the 'Lord of Void Gold' of the human race.

"Hengxian, if you make a move, then war will break out between our two clans."

The Lord of False Gold spoke calmly.

The tone was very calm, as if it were not a threat, but rather stating a fact.

Lord Hengxian realized that he would not be able to exact the same revenge on the human race this time.

The power of the Lord of False Gold is no weaker than his.

In fact, if it weren't for the advantage of the treasures, the Lord of Hengxian would not be a match for the Lord of Xujin at all. He could only barely fight the Lord of Xujin to a draw because he had better treasures.

With the Lord of Illusory Gold here, it's simply impossible to destroy the human race's war base.

It's not that it's impossible, but if the Lord of Hengxian dares to destroy those war bases, the Lord of Xujin will definitely take this opportunity to attack and injure the Lord of Hengxian.

Even if a cosmic lord is injured, losing less than one percent of his divine body, it is still a huge loss for a top-tier race.

The treasures consumed in restoring these divine bodies alone are worth ten or even a hundred times more than the value of more than a hundred war bases.

The Lord of Hengxian would definitely not make this exchange; it would be too much of a loss.

However, the master of Hengxian was unwilling to suffer this loss in vain.

After a moment of silence, the Lord of Hengxian spoke: "Hand over the mechanical familiars, and I will pretend this never happened."

Ultimately, it was the Mechkin, not the Humans, who destroyed the Mechkin's war base.

There's no point in fighting to the death with the human race.

Moreover, the mechanical race is extremely envious of the special technologies possessed by the mechanical clans.

Although they had only recently obtained the remains of those puppets, the Machine Race had already confirmed that the Machine Familia's technology in 'mechanical puppets' was absolutely superior to that of the Machine Race.

If the relevant technology could be obtained, it would be of extremely important value to the machine race.

After all, in this universe, the mechanical race is the most adept at using technology.

However, just as the Lord of Balance and Strings could see this, so could the Lord of Void and Metal.

Moreover, the Lord of Void Gold is one of the few high-ranking members of the human race who knows the true origin of the 'Mechanical Families'.

There are no mechanical clans, they are all Jiang Chen's mechanical apostles!

Humanity's high-level meetings repeatedly elevated Jiang Chen's value and status.

Now, Jiang Chen's strength is simply too far behind. Otherwise, even if Jiang Chen's strength has not reached the level of the Lord of the Universe, just based on the benefits he has brought to the clan and the future 'expectations', Jiang Chen would still have a place at the Giant Axe Conference.

Should the human race hand over Jiang Chen?

Anyone who dares to say such a thing is no different from betraying their tribe!

Of course, the Lord of Void Gold wouldn't reveal any information, and said directly, "Humans don't have the habit of betraying their allies. It was your Machine Race that broke the rules first, and you suffered a loss, so you have to accept it! If you're unwilling to accept it, then let's start a war!"

When he uttered the words "start war" once again, the Lord of False Gold's tone remained calm.

It was as if they were not negotiating with a mortal enemy, but chatting with an old friend they hadn't seen for many years.

However, even in this calm tone, the Master of Hengxian sensed an undeniable meaning.

The "war" mentioned by the Lord of False Gold is naturally not referring to the small skirmishes on the battlefield outside the domain.

It is a war of annihilation with the Lord of the Universe at its absolute core, a war of life and death between the two races!

Is war really going to break out?

The Lord of Hengxian shook his head slightly in his heart.

Not to mention that the mechanical race has not been in a good situation recently. Although there are not many internal troubles, the external threats are very serious.

If they were to fight to the death against the human race, it would be fine if they won, but if they showed any signs of weakness, many enemies would surely take the opportunity to kick them while they were down, pounce on them like mad dogs, and wipe out the mechanical race.

Although the Lord of the Strings did not believe that the Machine Race would lose, the risk of a full-scale war with the Human Race was simply too great.

One wrong move and the mechanical race's lineage will come to an end, cut off completely.

Such a major event is clearly beyond the control of the ruler of Hengxian.

Besides, it's not worth going that far with over a hundred war bases.

As for the mechanical familiars...

In the judgment of the Lord of Balance, this value is also not included.

But the Lord of Hengxian was not so willing to retreat just like that.

"You mean, we're just going to let the losses of my Mechanical Race go?!" Lord Hengxian asked.

"On the battlefield, what kind of logic is it to lose a battle and then demand compensation from the enemy?!" the Lord of False Gold sneered.

The victors always exploit and oppress the defeated.

Demanding compensation from the victor after losing a battle—when in the primordial universe has such an absurd thing ever happened?

However, the Lord of Void Gold also knew that if he didn't give the other side a way out, even if the Mechanical Race didn't want to go to war with the Human Race, they would still cause a lot of trouble in order to save face.

After a moment's thought, the Lord of Void Gold spoke, "If your Mechanical Race is dissatisfied, why not start a great war? It's been hundreds of epochs since the last great battle on the extraterrestrial battlefield. Let's start another great war. Whether you want revenge or to gain benefits, let strength decide on the battlefield!"

After a pause, the Lord of Void Gold continued, "However, this time, if anyone breaks the rules again, then there's nothing more to say. Let's prepare for a full-scale war!"

The so-called 'breaking the rules' means 'forbidding the intervention of cosmic venerables in the extraterritorial battlefield'.

Of course, in the context of the 'final battle,' it means 'forbidding the Lord of the Universe from intervening.'

In the former case, the four clans were not strictly controlled, and as long as they did not go too far, they would turn a blind eye.

However, in the latter case, each of the four races would send more than one Universe Lord to oversee the extraterritorial battlefield, and with each restraining the others, none of them could actually make a move.

If any party breaks the rules, the other three parties will immediately join forces to kill this Lord of the Universe.

Risking the loss of a universe master just to kill a group of enemy universe venerables on the extraterrestrial battlefield—anyone with a brain wouldn't do that.

After a moment's thought, the Lord of the Strings asked, "Will the Mechanical Familia participate?"

If the mechanical clans participate, then being able to kill or capture members of the mechanical clans on the battlefield will greatly help the mechanical races acquire the opponent's technology, which can be considered as 'making up for the losses'.

“The Mechanical Kin are also members of the Hong Alliance, so they will naturally participate,” the Lord of Void Gold said casually.

He knew, of course, that Jiang Chen's mechanical legion would participate.

Jiang Chen proposed launching a 'great decisive battle' to raise the combat power ceiling of the extraterritorial battlefield.

If the situation in the extraterritorial battlefield remains normal, and the mechanical legion enters on a large scale, either the enemy will not respond at all, or they will break the rules and send powerful figures to take action. Jiang Chen will not be able to benefit from it at all.

Why not simply raise the ceiling and let Commander-level Apostles lead mechanical legions into battle? This way, we can capture a large number of strong individuals from the opposing faction.

Therefore, Jiang Chen proposed to the founder of the Giant Axe whether it was possible to start the "Great Battle" in the extraterritorial battlefield ahead of schedule.

The Lord of Void Gold, sent by the Founder of the Giant Axe to negotiate with the Mechanical Race, said: "We can give it a try; there's a high probability it will succeed."

Upon hearing this, the Lord of Hengxian nodded and said, "I will contact the demon race, and you will contact the insect race. Let's start another 'great battle'."

The Lord of Void Gold suddenly spoke up: "There's no need to fully activate it. In my opinion, we should just do it here on the eleventh battlefield."

In the past, the "decisive battle" was launched simultaneously in eleven overseas battlefields.

A large number of powerful individuals entered the battlefield to fight, turning the extraterritorial battlefield into a giant meat grinder, trying to eliminate as many powerful individuals as possible from the opposing faction.

Even reversing time and space to revive requires a lot of resources, and even the most powerful clans can't handle too many resurrections.

However, less than a thousand epochs have passed since the last "Great Battle," and the simultaneous commencement of the "Great Battle" in eleven extraterrestrial battlefields will have a significant impact.

The Lord of Void Gold proposed that the "Great Battle" be launched in only one battlefield, while the rule that "Universe Venerables shall not intervene" shall be maintained in the other ten battlefields.

"No!" Lord Hengxian rejected it outright.

On the eleventh extraterritorial battlefield, the Machine Race has just lost 155 war bases!

Without a sufficiently safe war base for combatants to rest and recuperate, the disadvantage would be enormous.

If a full-scale 'decisive battle' were to commence, the Lord of Hengxian would not care about this disadvantage.

However, with the decisive battle taking place entirely in the eleventh outer battlefield, it is almost certain that the Machine Race will be targeted by the other three parties working together.

The Lord of Hengxian would never agree to this proposal.

The Lord of Void Gold was merely testing the waters. Seeing the other side's opposition, he dropped the matter and changed his tune, saying, "Let's contact the Demon Race and the Insect Race first. Once this is settled, the four races will meet to finalize the details."

"Alright, I'll inform the demon race, and you'll handle the insect race." Lord Hengxian left after saying this.

The Lord of Void Gold looked in the direction where the Lord of Balance Strings had left, paused for a moment, and then his figure suddenly became blurry and gradually disappeared from the spot.

Strangely, their departure did not cause any spatial fluctuations, nor did it trigger any perceptible energy fluctuations.

This is the powerful control that a master of the universe has over 'spacetime'!

Neither the demon race nor the insect race objected to starting the 'Great Battle' ahead of schedule after receiving the news.

No matter how much commotion occurs on the extraterritorial battlefield, it won't have a significant impact on the top-tier races.

At least it won't be an event of life or death.

If the human race and the machine race are determined to start the 'Great War', the demon race and the insect race will be powerless to object. On the contrary, they will suffer greater losses on the outer battlefield because they have not sent enough strong people to participate in the war.

Therefore, after receiving the notification from the Lord of Void Gold and the Lord of Balance Strings, the insect race and the demon race agreed without much discussion.

After a brief discussion, the powerful figures from the four races decided to select one of the eleven extraterrestrial battlefields as the location for the 'Great Battle,' while leaving the other ten battlefields unchanged.

Furthermore, each side dispatches a Lord of the Universe to oversee the extraterritorial battlefield, ensuring that no one breaks the rules.

If the Lord of the Universe were to make a move, the destructive power on the powerful beings fighting on the extraterrestrial battlefield would be immense, and countless cosmic venerables and immortal gods would perish in an instant.

Therefore, it is essential to establish clear rules.

The location for the final battle was chosen by drawing lots.

However, the lottery only applies to the first, fifth, seventh, and ninth extraterritorial battlefields.

The reason is that only these four extraterrestrial battlefields have environments that 'absolutely prohibit spatial teleportation' and 'block the dark universe'.

Without such an environment, in battles between cosmic sovereigns, unless the difference in strength between them is too great, it is difficult for one side to perish.

Even if they can't win, they can still escape after paying a certain price.

Only in a special environment where the dark universe is also sealed off, and spatial teleportation, especially divine kingdom teleportation, is completely blocked, can a large number of cosmic lords from the four major factions perish.

The purpose of the final battle was to have a large number of strong individuals fight each other to eliminate one another.

This is both to allow those with potential to advance further in the face of life and death, and to make the opposing camp expend a lot of resources on resurrecting the strong.

For immortals below the rank of king, if they don't have a powerful background, once they die, they're gone and it's very difficult for them to be resurrected by reversing time.

But once you become a king, you've bought a 'ticket' to immortality. Even if you perish, your clan will resurrect you at some point in the future by reversing time and space.

The same applies to Cosmic Venerables. Even if a Cosmic Venerable from a small race is affiliated with a top race and dies in a power struggle within that race, he or she will be resurrected.

This requires a large amount of resources and is one of the important purposes of the existence of battlefields outside the region.

The side that loses fewer strong warriors and inflicts greater losses on the opposing camp at a lower cost can also be considered an advantage.

As for which side will suffer losses in this completely chaotic battlefield, we'll only know after the fighting starts.

At least before the war began, the four top races were very confident in the strength and methods of their own factions.