"This is bad... this is bad... the Arrow Civilization's technique against the Theft Civilization has been broken by the Theft Civilization."

The Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization was already numb: "Does this mean that the Arrow Civilization's technique was broken by Lu Yuan."

The messenger of intelligence could only respond blankly: "Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization, you have already divined this."

The Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization sighed helplessly; in reality, it wasn't divination, but utter resignation.

The Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization originally had two major advantages.

First, the advantage of the Son of the Waste. The killing power displayed by the Son of the Waste before the battle was astonishing, but unexpectedly, the Son of the Waste actually died tragically at Lu Yuan's hands.

The second advantage was that the strength of the Desolate Immortal Buddha Alliance was greater, comprising more general civilizations. However, not only did Lu Yuan slay the leaders of multiple civilizations, but Lu Yuan had also prepared so many counter-techniques before the battle, causing the civilizations on the side of the Martial Arts Law Alliance to gain the upper hand in what should have been an evenly matched contest. This was incredibly frustrating.

Lu Yuan, it was Lu Yuan again!

Wherever one heard the name Lu Yuan, there followed only reports of disaster.

Lu Yuan was unstoppable now!

Lu Yuan was slaughtering with monstrous power!

Lu Yuan was killing like a demon!

Lu Yuan was killing like a god!

Lu Yuan had transcended the divine!

Simultaneously, war reports arrived one after another, overwhelmingly negative; not a single positive report could be seen. The Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization now had a single sensation: a wind, yes, a wind was rapidly sweeping through, and the Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization understood deeply that the tide had turned—the Desolate Immortal Buddha Alliance had lost this final great decisive battle.

The Ancient Civilizations were one matter, but the seventeen ordinary civilizations under their command were now mostly suffering defeats. How could this great decisive battle not result in a loss?

Because of one man, Lu Yuan, this final decisive battle of the Desolate Immortal Buddha Alliance was now showing massive defeats.

The power of a single individual had brought things to this pass.

How could anyone believe this if it were recounted?

But this was the undeniable truth.

The Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization silently repeated Lu Yuan's name in his heart. He would certainly remember this name—the person who caused his near success and the failure of the entire Desolate Immortal Buddha Alliance.

Damn!

This battle was lost! But Lu Yuan must be killed. The loss in this battle would indeed have a significant impact, but the Four Great Ancient Civilizations would not perish. Lu Yuan's danger level was simply too high; only by eliminating Lu Yuan could the Four Great Ancient Civilizations survive safely to plan a counterattack later.

The Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization had already conceded more than halfway; what he needed to do now was unleash the trump card he had prepared to kill Lu Yuan.

This was the final trump card prepared before this engagement.

"Mana Ring Array." The Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization roared, "Prepare the Mana Ring Array."

"Yes." His assistants also sprang into action, beginning the preparations for the Mana Ring Array. Countless pieces of intelligence were relayed through a special channel, communicating with the Deputy Lords of the various civilizations. Communicating with the other Deputy Lords via divine sense was easy, but doing so without being detected was difficult. The Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization had long been prepared, allowing him to communicate easily without detection. He contacted countless Deputy Lords and, upon successful connection, briefly explained the current situation to the Deputy Lords of the Desolate Immortal Buddha Alliance.

On the battlefield within the Solidified Star Domain, the Deputy Lords of the Desolate Immortal Buddha Alliance received this news simultaneously. They had sensed the battle turning unfavorable, but being constrained by time and location, they couldn't grasp the full picture, thus remaining unaware of how dire the situation had become—the state of defeat. Hearing the explanation that Lu Yuan alone had achieved this filled them with infinite shock. Lu Yuan's momentum was growing ever fiercer. Upon learning that the Mana Ring Array was to be used against Lu Yuan, almost everyone agreed; Lu Yuan was such a monstrous talent that they had previously thought the Son of the Waste could suppress him. Now that even the Son of the Waste was dead, if Lu Yuan lived, he would bring terrifying changes in the future. Thus, they all channeled two-tenths of their own mana into the rings they wore. Prior to the battle, every Deputy Lord had received a ring, meant for just such a moment.

Innumerable streams of mana flowed through the rings, converging into the crystal bead held by the Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization. Watching the color of the crystal ball shift continuously—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and finally Chaos—the Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization felt the immense concentration of mana within the bead was beyond imagining. He chuckled darkly and suddenly moved, arriving at the location of the Fire Civilization, which happened to be where Lu Yuan was situated. Heavenly Sword Yan Cangtian had gone off to trouble the Immortal Ancient Civilization, as he held significant grudges against them, while Earth Sword Zhou Qingxuan had vanished—he always did this, disappearing without warning. Just as Lu Yuan was considering his next move,

He saw a stooped, grey-robed old man appear. This grey-robed, hunchbacked elder exuded an aura of infinite mystery. His aura clearly indicated the mana of a Nine Epoch, yet he was far more mysterious than the average Nine Epoch practitioner, giving the impression of being formidable.

But Lu Yuan was currently in a killing frenzy, transcendent and divine; he cared not how mysterious this man was. Any being below the level of Civilization Lord, everyone must fall before me!

Lu Yuan laughed loudly: "The Desolate Immortal Buddha Alliance has come to offer sacrifices."

The mysterious old man looked at Lu Yuan: "I am the Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization. I have come this time to take your life."

Lu Yuan paused slightly: "You've come for my life?"

"Yes." The mysterious old man nodded, then detonated the crystal bead in his hand. Instantly, boundless mana was unleashed. Lu Yuan was immediately enveloped within this endless sea of mana. It was an ocean of vast and mighty power. Lu Yuan felt that no single stream of mana was overwhelmingly strong, but there were easily over a hundred streams of Civilization Realm mana surging toward him. This torrent of power contained illusionary mana, explosive fire-based mana, lightning and thunder mana, the mana of the Waste, the ethereal mana of the Immortal, the steadfast mana of the Buddha, the wicked mana of the Demon, the comprehensive mana of Copper, the extremely sharp, piercing mana of Arrow, the continuous, growing mana of Tree, the vibrant, dazzling mana of Flower, the strange and unpredictable mana of Poison specialized against the human spirit, the weakness-targeting mana of Theft, and so on and so forth.

One stream of mana was insignificant, but over a hundred streams?

Individually, each stream of this mana was somewhat inferior to Lu Yuan's own power, but when combined, the collective force was far, far stronger than Lu Yuan's inherent mana. In terms of quantity, this collective mana probably wouldn't lose out to that of a Civilization Lord, only its quality was less potent than a true Civilization Lord's.

Lu Yuan was effectively being assaulted by a pseudo-Civilization Lord, one even more terrifying than a standard pseudo-Civilization Lord due to its myriad properties. The sheer force of this attack was comparable to that of an ordinary Civilization Lord. This was the true nature of the Mana Ring Array: using a specialized method to combine the offensive power of over a hundred Deputy Lords, generating an attack of extreme strength, equivalent to that of a Civilization Lord. This was one of the Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization's ultimate moves, but since it required extracting two-tenths of the mana from over a hundred Deputy Lords, which would significantly reduce their combat strength, it couldn't be used lightly. This time, Lu Yuan's relentless rampage had forced his hand to this extreme. Seeing Lu Yuan's continuous massacre, the Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization had no choice but to employ this move, intending to kill Lu Yuan and then initiate a full retreat for the entire army.

And how terrifying was the two-tenths mana contributed by over a hundred Deputy Lords? This colossal mana was heaven-defying; if not for the inferior quality of the mana compared to a true Civilization Lord, even a Civilization Lord might have to retreat in the face of it.

Lu Yuan was instantly struck by this Mana Ring Array, slammed right into the epicenter.

At this moment, Lu Yuan felt a searing pain erupt across his skin. This was the torment of the Mana Ring Array. Fortunately, the array's power was distributed and wide-ranging rather than needle-point sharp, otherwise Lu Yuan felt he might be blasted to death—though this dispersal was also a consequence of the sheer volume of mana involved.

Lu Yuan realized he couldn't endure within this Mana Ring Array for much longer.

What potent offense!

He absolutely had to devise a countermeasure in the shortest possible time, or he truly would be played to death by this Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization. He never expected the Desolate Immortal Buddha Alliance still held such a hidden trump card.

Seeing Lu Yuan trapped in a bitter struggle, on the verge of collapse, the Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization unleashed countless talismans. These talismans were varied, mostly incredibly powerful explosive types, such as the Great Explosion Talisman, the Heavenly Dragon Burst Talisman, and the Myriad Core Talisman. Among the most terrifying were the Heaven-Shattering Talisman, the Eternal Talisman, and the Five-Dimensional Talisman. The Heaven-Shattering Talisman could destroy the Heavens of an Epoch; the Eternal Talisman carried a hint of eternity; and the Five-Dimensional Talisman was composed of three spatial dimensions, one time dimension, and one mysterious, unknowable dimension.

As mentioned earlier, the Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization was an extremely intelligent individual; otherwise, he wouldn't have been appointed commander-in-chief of the Desolate Immortal Buddha Alliance to direct strategy.

While gathering intelligence, he discovered reports of techniques being broken by Lu Yuan from every direction, except for two areas: the Array Civilization and the Talisman Civilization. The Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization quickly analyzed this, deducing that while Lu Yuan excelled in breaking techniques, he might be powerless against non-technique based attacks. Therefore, before coming here, he visited the Deputy Lord of the Talisman Civilization and acquired numerous talismans. Now, after activating the Mana Ring Array, he threw all these talismans at Lu Yuan in an attempt to secure the kill.

It must be admitted, the Deputy Lord of the Fate Calculus Civilization was formidable; he had discerned Lu Yuan's weak points at a glance.

First, his reserves of mana, and second, attacks that were not technique-based.