Thousands of sleek chariots, suspended in the sky like a swarm of locusts, were all a shimmering white-gold, sharp as cones, like massive ships, each carrying anywhere from ten to a hundred warriors.

These platinum chariots were significantly smaller than battleships, yet possessed extreme speed and unparalleled sturdiness, capable of instantaneous spatial travel.

The warriors aboard the platinum chariots were partially members of the Phantom Clan, with the rest being powerful figures from dependent races, all possessing exquisite and profound cultivation realms. Their total number reached seventy to eighty thousand.

The lowest among them were all at the God-King Realm; God-Source Realm, Void God Realm, and Primeval God Realm experts were everywhere, and a considerable number had reached the Immortal Realm.

This was the true strength of the Phantom Clan!

On board one of the chariots, many Phantom Clan Elders were gathered around Mei Ji, their expressions solemn as they regarded Shi Yan.

These individuals were all Immortal Realm powerhouses, two of whom had reached the peak of the Immortal Realm, having fully grasped the essence of Soul Energy, bringing them incredibly close to breaking through to the Domain Ancestor Realm.

They had originally been stationed, presiding over sovereign authority in their respective domains, but were summoned by Mei Ji due to the massive upheaval within the clan.

“Grandmother surely isn’t in any danger, right?” Ling Lu asked with evident skepticism. “If your intelligence is accurate, Grandmother’s whereabouts must have been leaked by Candice and Vandler. Those people, like You Yu, would never give her an opening!”

Ling Lu was one of these Elders. By seniority, she was actually an elder to Mei Ji. Time had left no trace on her features; she appeared as a beautiful woman in her thirties, with an exaggeratedly curvaceous figure—a famously voluptuous physique within the Phantom Clan in her youth, known for keeping many male consorts.

“She will be fine. Shi Yan said that Heaven Shaker, Judy, and Shiro have already gone; they will certainly ensure Grandmother’s safety,” Mei Ji explained.

By now, her power had recovered, and she radiated the same alluring beauty as before. Due to the escape of Candice and Vandler, and Mantis being trapped in grave danger, she had naturally stepped up to become the supreme leader of the Phantom Clan, responsible for planning the ensuing battle.

However, she had not yet completely won the trust of her clansmen, and Ling Lu was one of the doubters.

“You trust him that much?” Ling Lu’s challenge stemmed not from any personal grudge against Mei Ji, but purely from considerations for the race. She had no concept of politeness, humming scornfully despite Shi Yan standing nearby, “If it weren't for him, Candice and Vandler wouldn't have betrayed the clan, and Grandmother wouldn't be in peril. Now that Grandmother is in trouble, you insist on keeping us here instead of letting our people go fight personally. What exactly are you planning?”

Ling Lu and the warriors had rushed back from the outer domains, learning about the unrest in their ancestral grounds and surmising Mantis’s crisis.

They longed to immediately reach Mantis’s side and stand with her against the four major races, yet Mei Ji had stopped them, ordering them to prepare but not yet depart, commanding them only to wait.

Ling Lu had already waited a long time, and seeing Mei Ji still insisting on patience, growing increasingly impatient, her tone towards Shi Yan became sharper.

Mei Ji, cornered, couldn't help but quietly inquire, “How is it going?”

Standing in a corner of the chariot, Shi Yan, radiating intensely sharp spatial fluctuations, looked up into the void. Within that void, countless spatial blades crisscrossed and collided, violently churning the resulting light specks and forcing them outward, as if trying to forcefully carve open a passage through space.

“The Soul Clan has become defensive and added power to seal the space. I cannot condense a void channel from this distance,” Shi Yan said with a grim expression, turning to look back at Ling Lu and the others. “We are not going to the area where Mantis and the others are fighting. We will rendezvous with the Bone Clan and plunge directly into the heartland of the Soul Clan!”

“By what right do you make decisions for our entire race?” Ling Lu scoffed.

Shi Yan frowned, slightly annoyed by the woman's urgency. He waved a hand dismissively. “You know yourself how far this spot is from the Volcanic Cloud Sea. If you want to take a warship or chariot there, it will take at least half a year just for the transit. What use will you be six months from now, even if you arrive? If you are so anxious, take your people and leave. I can’t be bothered to explain further.”

“Didn't you say you could pierce a path to the Soul Clan? Why can't you send us directly to the Volcanic Cloud Sea?” Ling Lu pressed forcefully.

“Stop, stop arguing,” Aunt Fang, who was in charge of the distribution of elixirs, changed her expression immediately upon seeing Shi Yan grow angry and quickly stepped in to mediate. “Shi Yan certainly helped stabilize this area for us before. He definitely means us well, Ling Lu. Please, calm down and wait a little longer.”

She had personally witnessed the terrifying power Shi Yan possessed. Even if the Phantom Clan was currently reduced to just Mei Ji, or even if Candice and Vandler were present, none of them could withstand Shi Yan if he were to rage. Ling Lu? Not nearly enough to challenge him...

“The people from the Cloud Vast Domain have already been positioned on the periphery of the Soul Clan by me. We wait a little longer. Once the power sealing this space is broken, I can immediately punch through a channel and take you and the Bone Clan forces directly into the Soul Clan,” Shi Yan said, his eyes narrowed, casting a cold look at Ling Lu. “Don’t be ungrateful. Heaven Shaker, Judy, and the others have fought for a long time without securing access to the heartlands of the four clans. I am acting for the good of the Phantom Clan, and you still don't appreciate it—this is utter foolishness!”

“Who are you calling foolish?” Ling Lu exploded in rage. The surrounding space warped under the sudden doubling of gravity caused by her fury, making it difficult for others to draw breath.

She was among the last to arrive and was immediately thrust into high-level negotiations. She did not know the specifics of what had transpired before, nor fully grasp the true extent of Shi Yan's terrifying strength...

Many others shared her suspicion of Shi Yan; they suspected he was manipulating Mei Ji to seize control of the Phantom Clan’s authority and undertake actions detrimental to their race.

“Too irritating. Be quiet for a while,” Shi Yan said with an expression of intense impatience. He reached out towards Ling Lu and made a gesture of distant grasping. A spiritual will that seemed capable of sealing heaven and earth suddenly swept out, enveloping Ling Lu, all her subordinates, and their chariots and warships. Ling Lu’s group shrieked, attempting to mobilize their power to counterattack.

However, that entire expanse of space suddenly transformed into an isolated domain, like a massive, gigantic bubble encapsulating them all.

No matter how hard those people struggled, or how Ling Lu screamed and tried to exert gravitational force, that bubble-like space remained utterly undisturbed.

The Phantom Clan members who arrived later had initially felt the same discontent as Ling Lu regarding Shi Yan’s presumptuous decision-making, wanting to demonstrate their own might to him.

But now, seeing that the strongest among them, Ling Lu, was so helplessly restrained, a wave of dread swept through them, and they all fell silent.

Aunt Fang watched them quiet down and muttered softly, “I told you all long ago not to provoke him. You wouldn't listen. Are you quiet now?”

Those standing beside her looked embarrassed and sheepish.

“The Soul Clan, Ancient Demon Clan, and Black Demon Clan are the most powerful races in the Star Sea. Over the years, they have accumulated untold wealth and supreme treasures by plundering one domain after another, hoarding over half of the Star Sea’s resources and cultivation materials. Currently, You Yu, Rupert, and Beverly have taken the most elite warriors away from their territories, leaving their ancestral lands almost empty and undefended. Once conquered, their millennia of accumulated cosmic materials will change hands...”

As Shi Yan spoke these words, every member of the Phantom Clan, including Aunt Fang, and even Ling Lu sealed within the spatial prison, had their eyes alight, faces etched with shock and immense excitement.

They had never imagined that this seemingly reckless and wild man, Shi Yan, was planning to seize this opportunity to lead the Phantom Clan to massive fortune, plundering the cultivation materials, supreme treasures, countless Divine Crystals, and elixirs accumulated by the four clans over hundreds of thousands of years.

Such resources were the key to a race's prosperity, capable of transforming a minor race into a powerful one. If a race like the Sky-Eye Clan acquired the massive resources of even one of the four major clans, they could become one of the strongest races in the Star Sea after tens of thousands of years of growth!

And what about the already powerful Phantom Clan?

Thinking of this, their eyes shone with a strange light, their faces contorted with greed, verging on madness.

“Hmph!” Shi Yan’s expression turned cold. “Excited and thrilled now? The wealth of the four clans is not something the Phantom Clan can swallow whole. Before the Profound Sky Clan and the Bone Clan joined the fight, I made an agreement with them regarding the distribution of that wealth and the future control of the domains. You will only receive one share. Of course, as the direct operatives, you will have priority in selection.”

The Phantom Clan members were all glowing-eyed; even Ling Lu remained silent, seemingly calculating how to maximize their potential gains.

“When can we enter?” Aunt Fang also asked expectantly.

“We wait. It should be soon. I believe they can destroy the Soul Clan’s spatial locking power,” Shi Yan said confidently.

Suddenly, everyone found patience, gathering around Shi Yan and Mei Ji, waiting obediently.

After a long wait.

In the void before Shi Yan, strands of dazzling spatial light blades suddenly shone brightly, beginning an intense process of fusion and refinement.

Shi Yan’s eyes flared sharply, and he roared, “It’s done!”

Layers of spatial energy rippled outward, converging toward the dazzling point where the light blades met, as if a pair of hands were twisting the blades, kneading the spatial energy, slowly constructing a clear passage.

A void tunnel connecting this location directly to the heartland of the Soul Clan!

“Chi chi chi!”

As the spatial energy intensely refined, the passage gradually took shape. Under the excited and expectant gaze of all the Phantom Clan members, Shi Yan grinned, nodded, and said, “It’s about time.”

With that, he was the first to soar into it, vanishing in a flash.

All the Phantom Clan members, along with the forces affiliated with them, became immeasurably jubilant, surging wildly toward the void tunnel.

The next moment.

Shi Yan traversed space and reappeared in the territory of the Bone Clan, rushing to Emmaar, the mother of Little Skeleton, saying, “The time has come. Are you ready?”

Emmaar, who had not followed Dracula into the Volcanic Cloud Sea, looked at him with pleasure, “Everything is prepared.”

“Very well. I will open the spatial channel. You will all enter the Soul Clan heartland together, and begin the internal devastation of the four clans, starting with the Soul Clan,” Shi Yan smiled.

On top of colossal skulls, many Bone Clan members cheered in the ancient language of the Bone Clan, issuing shouts of impact and roars.

Amidst the massive wave of sound, another void tunnel slowly condensed under the influence of Shi Yan’s spatial power.

...RS