In the Ash Desert, Yang Ying and his six companions unleashed spell after spell, forcing Hardek to veer sharply to the right, delaying his movements. Not long after, the six of them caught up to him again, but after only two exchanges, Hardek took a strike from Yang Ying’s lightning bolt and managed to break free from the encirclement, resuming his mobile skirmish.

Though the six of them appeared to hold a six-on-one advantage, they couldn't fully utilize their collective strength; at most, only two or three individuals could engage Hardek at any given moment.

Hardek's movement technique was simply too elusive; he would touch and go immediately. He clearly possessed an extremely rich combat experience, displaying a colorful array of tactics even when fighting against multiple opponents. This was precisely what Yang Ying lacked. Although he could send out clones to learn everywhere, his only true life-or-death contest against another peak master had been the encounter with Horas half a year prior. For Hardek, however, this might not be the first time he had dealt with a siege by several peak masters.

While pursuing, Yang Ying constantly contemplated how to pin down Hardek's form so he could deliver the decisive blow. During the fight, he had unleashed several Great Whirlpools, but each was countered by Hardek—either by slicing through the energy of the whirlpool spell with a light technique or by simply evading them entirely.

The fighting continued, halting and starting, stopping and starting, for countless rounds. The battle had already pushed deep into the heart of the grassland when, suddenly, Yang Ying and the six stopped attacking. They merely trailed behind Hardek, even sheathing the golden light swords they held.

Hardek’s eyes narrowed. Far from thinking Yang Ying had given up, he sensed something deeply unusual, a sure sign of trickery. Without hesitation, he decided to strike first to disrupt his opponent's next move. He shifted his feet and charged straight toward the leading Yang Ying, his light staff held in his right hand, the tip pointed directly at Yang Ying in a lunge, much like a medieval knight charging an enemy with a long lance. However, Hardek’s footwork surpassed that of a charging warhorse by thousands of times!

The attack arrived before Yang Ying in an instant. Yang Ying showed no sign of retreat. Although the hilt of his light sword had vanished at some unknown point, he still moved to block the golden light staff with empty hands, as if a sword were truly there!

Zzz!

With a massive sound, a powerful shockwave erupted, blowing the ash and grass across a fifty-meter radius high into the sky, clearing a patch of blackened earth!

Hardek's light staff was abruptly caught mid-air!

Yang Ying held his hands loosely clasped before him, trembling slightly, seemingly under immense pressure, and Hardek’s light staff trembled equally in the void, as if wrestling with the very air!

In the next moment, Hardek abruptly withdrew his strength and recoiled backward, but it was already too late. Several deep, bone-visible gashes appeared on his body out of thin air. A faint red light emanated from the wounds—the color of blood. Had his mental energy not contained the flow, preventing it from gushing out, he might already have been reduced to a bloodied beast.

As Hardek pulled back, Yang Ying brought his hands together and unleashed a blinding bolt of lightning, striking Hardek heavily. Hardek did not use his light staff to block the lightning and was immediately sent flying backward.

While airborne, Hardek endured the electrical surge across his body, raised his light staff, and spun it into a whirling disc of light. The air hissed and crackled as if the staff were striking something intangible.

Finally, Hardek brought the staff down in a heavy chop, shattering Yang Ying's lightning attack. However, his injuries were severe. A faint reddish mist of blood began to emanate from him, spreading outward, revealing numerous burn scars across his skin caused by the electricity.

"You! You just used an invisible light sword," Hardek ground out through clenched teeth. The hatred accumulated within him was clear; his opponent possessed trump cards beyond his imagination, including an unseen blade!

"You are correct. Next, I will show you another kind of power!" As Yang Ying spoke, all six figures melted into the darkness, seemingly turning into mere air, vanishing from Hardek's sight.

The invisible light sword paired with the invisibility technique—Yang Ying was currently employing the ultimate skill of the Dark Templar.

Of course, there were slight differences. If Hardek possessed eyes capable of piercing illusion, he would see the sky above the battlefield filled with countless invisible light swords patrolling like swimming dragons, giving the impression of a brewing tempest.

Yang Ying had long been able to manipulate multiple light swords with his mental power. As a quasi-master, he could control twelve. Now, his cultivation had increased tenfold, making the manipulation of one hundred and twenty light swords a trivial matter.

And at this precise moment, each of Yang Ying’s six figures was mentally controlling one hundred and twenty invisible light swords, gathered high in the sky—a total of seven hundred and twenty blades!

The next instant, all the light swords simultaneously turned and shot downward like a rainstorm, their target being Hardek!

See how you dodge now! Yang Ying thought to himself.

Meanwhile, outside the orbit of Pluto, the ten colossal Battlecruisers that had completed their orbital bombardment regrouped and headed toward Charon Star nearby. According to intelligence gathered by the observers, every valuable target on the surface of Pluto had been annihilated by the rain of nuclear bombs from the bombardment. Following the plan, the next target was Charon.

Just as the fleet arrived outside Charon, they were met by over two thousand assorted fighters emerging from the void.

"The entire garrison fleet of the Ancient Legion's main base was stationed on Pluto, and now they are dust from the orbital bombardment. Charon Star possesses no large-scale defensive forces, so once we eliminate these fighters, Charon's defenses will be completely wiped out."

Howard stepped forward two paces and addressed his staff officers: "Ghost fighter squadron, deploy! Shoot them all down!"

"Yes, sir!"

As the order was given, the dorsal armor of the ten massive capital ships suddenly split open on either side, revealing a central fissure over three hundred meters long. This gap gradually widened to nearly twenty meters, allowing fighter after fighter to stream out.

Such a large opening did not cause any loss of atmosphere because a faint membrane of light connected the edges of the fissure, locking the air inside the vessels. However, the Ghost fighters could pass through this membrane unimpeded, ensuring their deployment was unaffected.

This design allowed the hangars to be continuously pressurized, eliminating the need to divide the warship into air and vacuum zones and saving personnel the time wasted passing through isolation chambers between zones—a massive boost to the fighter wing's operational efficiency.

The current Ghost fighters had been upgraded to the fourth generation, significantly surpassing the capabilities of the third generation in terms of firepower, armor, speed, agility, turn rate, and overall handling.

The power of the firing cannon had tripled, and the number of barrels had increased from two to three. Combined with a more responsive and precise fire control system, this provided immense assistance to the pilots. An apprentice-level Viper fighter could now easily take on three or even four enemies.

Upon leaving the warships, the Ghost fighters activated their cloaking mode, vanishing into the void as they stealthily charged toward the Ancient Legion's fighters. Since the Terran Mercenary Group had already revealed the existence of spatial jumps to the outside world, exposing their stealth was no longer a major concern. Moreover, the ape fighter pilots might not survive to relay any information about the cloaking.

However, there was one complication: among the Ancient Legion's fighter contingent were several Master-level fighters, led by the Peak Master, Balomon. Balomon's original orders were to gather forces and await Hardek's next command. But as Pluto was engulfed in a sea of fire from the orbital bombardment, and those ten terrifyingly powerful Battlecruisers were turning toward Charon, Balomon could no longer stand idly by.

He managed to establish contact with Hardek and learned that the Legion Commander was being hunted. Balomon desperately wanted to rush to Pluto to provide support. But even while fighting Yang Ying and the six, Hardek had ordered him not to approach Pluto, instead commanding him to take every fighter unit he could find to intercept the enemy warships and protect Charon Star's equipment as much as possible.

Thus, Balomon led his squadron to charge the Battlecruiser fleet. When he saw the Ghost fighters' radar signature appear on his screen only to vanish completely an instant later, a bitter smile involuntarily crossed his lips. He certainly didn't believe the enemy fighters had self-destructed immediately after appearing or been shot down by some unknown friendly force. The way the Ghost fighters disappeared so cleanly from the screen clearly indicated the enemy possessed some secret method of concealment.

Balomon tried every reconnaissance device on his fighter, but nothing worked; the fighters seemed utterly nonexistent, leaving not a trace.

Suddenly, he felt a dangerous premonition. He immediately used his fighter’s instantaneous movement ability to teleport two hundred meters away. In the next moment, his previous location was enveloped by a dense net of light constructs that materialized and vanished instantly, like the trace of an antelope’s horn—leaving absolutely no sign.

Balomon felt a powerful pressure emanating from his mental world, as if he were being targeted by an unseen entity. Judging by the sheer force of that pressure, the entity's strength was superior to his own, perhaps not far behind the Legion Commander's.

Who exactly is it?

If he had been an ordinary person, Balomon would likely have been sweating profusely. But as a Peak Master, he retained considerable composure. He instantly cleared his mind of all distractions and began sensing with all his might to locate the unknown enemy.

A specialized model of the Ghost fighter, operating in a stealth state, was concealed nearby. The pilot inside was, naturally, one of Yang Ying’s clones.

This was already the fourth-generation specialized Ghost fighter, superior in every aspect to the third-generation Master-level Ghost fighters. In addition to the triple boost in firepower from its remote drones, it was equipped with a near-light-speed engine, a plasma shield, and a beam deflection system capable of warping light. Depending on its role, it could be sub-divided into a Beam Deflection Shield to counter light-based weaponry, or a Beam Deflection Cannon for offensive use.

The beams from the remote drones were no longer straightforward; they could now bend at will, launching precise and dense attacks from every angle and direction, targeting every vulnerable part of the enemy.

Under this flawless barrage of light beams, Balomon was forced into a desperate struggle! If you wish to know what happens next, please visit [Website Address] for more chapters, support the author, and support legitimate reading.