The Citadel of Jiangzuo was carved into the interior of an iceberg, sprawling across a vast area. The core section of the fortress was immense, with dozens of ice corridors suspended high in the air, fifty to one hundred meters above the bottom floor, connecting every part of the complex and allowing passage across more than ten vertical levels. These corridors were framed with cold-resistant alloy and built with ice bricks.

In the sub-zero temperatures of Europa, these ice bricks were the most readily available and cheapest building material. Of course, this was only a stopgap measure born of time constraints. Had the Ancient Legion been afforded a few more years, even the Ape-men could have replaced the ice bricks with more durable materials.

At this moment, Master Garcia’s figure flashed past on one of these ice corridors wide enough for ten people to walk abreast. He sprinted at full speed toward the midpoint of the walkway.

“Halt! Do not try to flee!”

Gang Di’s voice echoed behind Master Garcia. He immediately charged onto the corridor, gripping his silver light-staff tightly before him with his right hand while thrusting his left forward, unleashing a fierce barrage of ice spikes intended to slow his opponent.

Two Ape-man Quasi-Masters trailed far behind Gang Di; their speed was noticeably inferior to that of a Master-level expert.

Master Garcia’s footwork was fluid, like flowing clouds. He deftly sidestepped the ice spikes, sweeping his hand backward without turning his head. A single gesture caused the ice walls above, below, and to the sides to detonate explosively. With a deafening boom, the nearly ten-meter section of the corridor disintegrated.

That wasn't enough. Master Garcia struck again repeatedly. The ice corridor beneath his feet shattered into pieces, the force of the blast too great even for the alloy rebar within to withstand; it fractured along with the ice walls. He then spun around, brought his hands together, and propelled a massive pile of shattered ice shards like cannonballs toward Gang Di behind him.

Gang Di roared in fury, his left hand slashing from right to left, batting the ice chunks aside. He darted through the fractured gap in a flash, saw his opponent still running, and continued the pursuit.

Meanwhile, an Observer drone hovered directly above the Citadel, projecting everything happening inside the fortress onto the screen before Yang Ying’s clone via its penetrating reconnaissance equipment.

“Qingfeng Mingyue seems to be progressing smoothly. Master Garcia is being hunted, but he doesn't appear to be in any serious immediate danger. In that case…”

In a room approximately five hundred square meters in size, he leaned against a wall. Before him, a Lower High-Rank Ape-man leading over twenty combat robots charged into the room, heading toward another corridor.

Suddenly, without any warning, the entire squad was sliced cleanly in half at the waist.

“The monitors should all be down by now. I can afford to be a little reckless; it shouldn't be dangerous,” he remarked with a faint smile, turning to leave.

Ten minutes later, he stopped before a massive warehouse.

This warehouse occupied an extensive area, its thick walls fronted by a five-meter-tall alloy main door bearing a large Ape script character: “Zero.”

The plaza before the entrance was guarded by a substantial force. The commander was a Higher High-Rank Ape-man, leading a squad of Apprentice High-Rank Ape-men, three squads of regular Ape-man elites, and controlling over three hundred robots. The area was fortified with ready-made defensive structures like pillboxes, electric fences, and advanced systems such as olfactory molecular detectors.

With the main power system compromised, these defensive systems could still operate at one hundred percent capacity, unlike many other facilities in the Citadel that had completely ceased function, indicating the profound importance of this particular warehouse.

In fact, this was one of the most crucial weapon storage facilities in the entire fortress. Deep within the vault were hidden several nuclear warheads, naturally receiving the utmost priority from the Ancient Legion.

The objective was right there. The clone performed no superfluous actions, simply shifting his feet to stand behind the Higher High-Rank Ape-man commander. He drew his invisible light-saber and brought it down in a heavy vertical slash from above.

Just as the saber neared the commander’s head, the Higher High-Rank Ape-man felt an extreme, mortal terror surge from behind him—the result of his precognitive ability activating, warning him of impending doom before it occurred.

Though he could not sense the presence of Yang Ying’s clone, his survival instinct flared at the moment of ultimate danger.

However, even with the warning, he couldn't evade. Before he could react, he was cleaved clean in two down the center by the blade.

With the Higher High-Rank Ape-man dead, the Apprentice High-Rank Ape-man squad reacted the fastest. Scattered around the main door, their responses varied: one High-Rank Ape-man immediately moved to trigger the alarm, while two others shouted warnings. Simultaneously, the entire squad reached for the light-sabers or light-staves at their hips, preparing to draw them.

But Yang Ying’s clone was faster. He tapped his waist, instantly ejecting eleven hilts of invisible light-sabers. Their unseen blades sprang out, shooting in all directions!

Each saber targeted a different High-Rank Ape-man, circling the neck before redirecting to another target. In the next instant, one High-Rank Ape-man’s head fell to the ground.

In a single pass, the entire High-Rank Ape-man squad was annihilated.

The invisible light-sabers then weaved through the remaining guard force of Ape-men and robots at incredible speed, slicing and piercing through bodies as easily as scissors cutting paper. Limbs of flesh and metal flew into the air—a scene where gore and engine oil mixed in a single hue.

The guard force instantly descended into chaos. Several surviving Ape-men shrieked hysterically, their sanity shattered by the unseen, cutting edges. They directed their robots to fire wildly in all directions, heedless of hitting their own comrades, plunging the area into utter disorder.

But this confusion did not last long. The eleven invisible light-sabers pierced and weaved through the Ape-men and robots ten times over, leaving behind a field of corpses and twisted metal wreckage.

With a thought from the clone, the invisible light-sabers dispersed, piercing the pillboxes, severing the electric fences, and disabling all defensive systems. They then shot straight toward the warehouse’s alloy door, arranging themselves in a circle. With another rotation, they cut a perfectly circular entrance into the massive door.

The clone stepped over the debris and entered the alloy entrance. Behind the door, dozens of automatic projectile machine guns suddenly sprang out from the base of the walls, corners, floor, and ceiling, rapidly forming a three-dimensional, seamless curtain of fire.

But the eleven beams of invisible sword light instantly separated and weaved around, shredding every heavy machine gun into fragments.

The clone recalled the weaving light-sabers back to his belt, keeping only the one in his hand, and proceeded into the interior of the warehouse.

He reached the security control room. Inside, a monitoring wall displayed dozens of screens showing surveillance feeds from both inside and outside the warehouse. The external monitors now displayed the Ape script characters for "No Signal," while the internal screens showed silent, empty corridors and intersections.

Every chair before the screens was vacant; not a single shadow of an Ape-man was visible in the entire room.

However, the clone did not accept this emptiness. He tossed the light-saber in his hand, which transformed into an invisible streak of light, circling behind several large pieces of equipment.

He heard a few sharp cries, and the light-saber returned to his hand. Several pools of blood began to spread out from behind the large equipment.

“Now there shouldn't be anyone left to disturb me. Wait, these Ape-men must have already sent out an alert. I need to finish everything here before reinforcements arrive.”

The clone left the security control room and proceeded deeper into the warehouse.

“This time, you won’t escape!”

In a narrow corridor, Gang Di finally intercepted Master Garcia. He brandished his silver light-staff and charged forward.

“That’s not for you to decide! Boy!”

Master Garcia also drew his silver light-saber, parrying Gang Di’s light-staff. He retreated a slight half-step while doing so.

They pushed their weapons forward against each other, separated briefly, then adjusted their stances and clashed once more.

The two Quasi-Masters were temporarily left behind; in this confined engagement, Gang Di had no choice but to fight alone against Master Garcia.

Both were Master-level experts, possessing unimaginably deep combat experience. They understood the techniques of every known martial school, even if they hadn't formally learned them. Any move deployed was immediately seen through; the outcome of their duel could no longer be decided by mere techniques.

After several exchanges, their movements grew slower. Eventually, every strike was immediately followed by a cautious retreat. They would maintain a standoff for several seconds, thoroughly dissecting the possibilities of the next move before committing.

Both had already unleashed their lifetime's most refined techniques, yet neither could gain the upper hand—the East wind could not suppress the West wind, nor could the West wind suppress the East wind. Two massive fields of opposing pressure held a tense balance in the center, like the stillness preceding a great storm.

An ordinary person watching would only perceive the two Masters’ fighting as too placid, lacking any intense atmosphere or showy maneuvers worth praising.

However, any expert who had reached the Quasi-Master realm would sense a chilling, killing intent simmering beneath the calm surface—a force so potent that a single surge would shred a person into fragments, and those fragments into subatomic particles, leaving nothing behind.

In this atmosphere, the two Ape-man Quasi-Masters finally caught up.

Gang Di felt the balance tipping in his favor; the two Quasi-Masters were like two feathers added to the scale, insignificant in weight, yet enough to disturb equilibrium.

Master Garcia’s expression grew grave as he saw the two Ape-man Quasi-Masters arrive.

Beep! Beep!

Suddenly, a sharp alarm blared from Gang Di’s arm. The monitoring band on his forearm lit up red.

Gang Di’s expression immediately contorted, a ripple of emotion crossing his mind.

Master Garcia seized the opportunity, executing a supreme move. He calculated his own momentum, the surrounding environment, and Gang Di’s posture, merging the external world with himself into a momentary state of Heaven-Man Unity, striking instantly before Gang Di.

“Go quickly to Weapon Vault Zero!”

Gang Di roared, concentrating all his power into the light-staff in his hand. He thrust the staff out to meet Master Garcia’s incoming sword strike. Losing his footing, he was shoved back nearly ten paces before regaining his balance and dodging aside.

The two Ape-man Quasi-Masters were momentarily stunned, realizing Gang Di was speaking to them. They exchanged a glance, shouted, “Yes!” and immediately turned to leave.