Dozens of square-shaped creatures frantically dispersed, only to be caught up by the serpentine figures pursuing them from behind. The dragon-shaped beings spewed scorching fire toward the fleeing wyverns.

Dozens of searing flames struck into the flock of wyverns, but the nimble beasts evaded them. Hundreds of wyverns immediately retaliated, ejecting small, explosive organisms secreted from their bodies. These projectiles acted like heat-seeking missiles, relentlessly pursuing and blasting the tails of the dragon-shaped beings.

Poison!

The small organisms detonated instantly upon impact, with a few ricocheting toward other dragon-shaped creatures nearby. Amidst continuous explosions, dozens of the serpentine figures were grievously wounded.

Their wings were blown off, their bodies riddled with shrapnel and torn flesh, leaving almost no intact skin. Some were struck directly in the head and instantly vaporized.

Dragon-shaped creature after dragon-shaped creature tumbled toward the ground, spraying gore.

They crashed onto the plain, overturning several wild beasts that were already fleeing in terror. These beasts were legion, stretching as far as the eye could see, their pounding footsteps a deafening roar, creating an aura that suggested they could crush any enemy before them.

Yet, they were only running for their lives.

The natural predator of all life, the Zerg, which inherently occupied the apex of the food chain, had descended upon this planet!

It was apparent there were several types of these running beasts, belonging to numerous distinct herds. Perhaps under normal circumstances, they engaged in predator-prey relationships with one another, but now they were united in flight, paying no heed to whether their neighbors were potential meals.

Behind them, an endless Zerg swarm relentlessly chased and hunted them down.

The Zerg had only one core, absolute tactic: to drown the enemy in a tide of sheer numbers; everything else existed solely to facilitate this strategy.

The Zerg armies often moved in swarms so vast they were invisible from one end to the other. They fought while simultaneously breeding, using the fallen enemy as sustenance. Under the unstoppable reproductive capability and the self-sustaining military development model, even the most formidable foe was destined, eventually, to be swamped by the insect tide.

Ahead in the surging Zerg mass, a gargantuan, savage beast cleaved the head from another native behemoth of comparable size with a single sweep of its massive blades.

Yang Ying, standing atop the beast’s head in his Blade Emperor form, watched the torrential blood spray toward him without a flicker of emotion.

As the blood reached him, it strangely parted, diverting around Yang Ying’s sides and over his head, as if an invisible barrier stood before him, allowing no droplet to cross.

The savage beast finished its kill, then clanged its massive dual blades together. Licking the blood from the edge, it threw back its head and roared toward the heavens. Rolling clouds churned in response to its domineering howl, which echoed across the land, terrifying the fleeing herds ahead and driving them to run even faster.

In barely half a day, Yang Ying had led the Zerg army one hundred kilometers across the plain, annihilating over ten beast herds entirely and severely crippling another twenty, securing nearly twenty million corpses in spoils.

Countless worker drones, the Zerg farmers, followed the main force to collect the remains. They piled the vast quantity of carcasses in dozens of locations, and then, several workers at each site crawled into the center of their respective piles and lay down.

Soon, their flesh and blood began to spread outward, absorbing the surrounding corpses and forming massive cocoons. The exterior of each cocoon was coated in a translucent membrane, through which one could glimpse the deep-seated, developing vascular structures and tissues within.

Moment by moment, the cocoons expanded and contracted rhythmically, resembling respiration or a heartbeat. A network of vessels connected to the immense pile of corpses, ceaselessly drawing out their flesh and blood to satisfy the needs of the growing cocoons.

Yang Ying knew that within a few days, these cocoons would mature into Zerg hives. The sky, since earlier, had become heavily overcast, obscuring the fierce sunlight, yet the ground remained scorching hot, like a massive furnace, now compounded by a stifling humidity.

The clouds sank lower and lower, creating the illusion that the sky was pressing down, exerting tremendous pressure.

It seemed rain was imminent.

Yang Ying drew a deep breath and murmured to himself, “The calm before the storm. Quite splendid.”

According to reports from the geological and meteorological departments, the planet Xylos was subject to extremely frequent volcanic activity, constantly ejecting massive amounts of sulfur into the atmosphere. This resulted in most rain on the planet being acidic, which in turn gave the planet’s inhabitants, both flora and fauna, a common trait: extreme acid resistance. Many species even possessed naturally strong acidic blood.

Furthermore, because Xylos’s environment was harsher than Earth’s, its native life forms exhibited superior survivability compared to Terran biology—they were stronger, swifter, and possessed heightened senses, along with all manner of bizarre special abilities.

Yang Ying had been on Xylos for over ten days, frequently marveling at the sheer grandeur of nature’s creations; here, one could witness the infinite possibilities of biological evolution.

Suddenly, a dazzling bolt of lightning shot out from the dark clouds. It started as an electric serpent, branching out like tree limbs at its tip, instantly illuminating the sky.

BOOM!

The thunder followed immediately, a sharp, clear clap that shook the surroundings, possessing the majesty of creation itself—a true world apart from the roar of the savage beast moments before.

In an instant, a fierce gale swept across the plain, and the first drops of rain struck the ground. It was as if the first drops had triggered a cascade; more and more rain began to pour down, escalating rapidly from a drizzle to a downpour, and then to a deluge!

This rain seemed intent on washing away the accumulated blood on the plain, presenting an imposing front, as if demonstrating nature’s immense power to the Zerg army.

Yang Ying lifted his head, his gaze fixed sharply on the storm clouds above. Suddenly, the records of the Wind and Rain Summoning technique, detailed in the Psionic Temple archives, flashed through his mind. This technique demanded exceedingly high standards from the practitioner; even ordinary Master-level experts could not master it.

Only those with an exceptionally profound foundation in psionic power could wield the ability to alter the weather. In other words, only Grandmasters typically pursued its study.

This alien thunderstorm profoundly stirred Yang Ying, igniting a desire within him to connect more closely with the natural world.

He abruptly took a step forward, his chest expanding, his entire body seeming to transform into a black hole, sucking in the surrounding air as if space itself were collapsing.

HUUUURRRAAAH!!!

Yang Ying roared open his mouth, and a shockwave radiated outward in all directions, as if emanating from his very core. The towering column of rushing air instantly formed a tornado-like pillar that pierced the heavens!

The savage beast beneath Yang Ying’s feet was immediately flattened by the immense force of the column, emitting a low growl, its former ferocity vanished. The air pillar shot into the clouds, quickly forming a vortex that churned the cloud cover. From a distance, the section of the overcast sky looked like a funnel, with clouds spiraling down the chute, only to dissipate harmlessly midway. The surrounding clouds thinned rapidly, and the intensity of the rain significantly lessened.

Yang Ying’s roar did not cease; his lung capacity seemed limitless. As the area affected by the cloud churning widened, the clouds grew thinner and thinner. Finally, a single shaft of sunlight pierced through, striking the Zerg army below.

More clouds were dispersed, the rain quickly subsided, and the area bathed in sunlight expanded until the entire Zerg force was illuminated. Only then did Yang Ying cease his powerful shout, and the celestial air pillar, deprived of his support, quickly dissolved into the air.

Yang Ying had vocally dispersed a storm!

Had anyone ignorant of psychic power witnessed this spectacle, they would undoubtedly have revered Yang Ying as a deity. Yang Ying himself suspected that myths of gods on various planets might have originated from scenes such as this.

Having conquered the storm, Yang Ying nodded inwardly. This, too, was a valuable experience. After unleashing that mighty roar, he felt a confidence radiating from deep within, his spirit cleansed anew, adding a fresh surge of heroic ambition toward the path ahead.

Glancing at the time, he realized the scheduled arrival of the Jubilee in the solar system was fast approaching. Without hesitation, he summoned a clone soul to inhabit this body, while his primary soul instantly returned to the cabin aboard the Jubilee.

The clone would take over leading the Zerg army, ensuring the planet would soon be covered in Zerg hives.

Yang Ying’s main body, which had been meditating for the past twelve days, finally opened his eyes.

He rose and stretched, feeling almost no different than he had twelve days prior. However, within his body, there were some extremely fine areas—like a few capillaries—that registered a minute sluggishness.

This stagnation was almost negligible; had his cultivation not reached the peak of the Third Stage, he would never have noticed the slight disparity.

Yang Ying frowned, thinking, Twelve days of soul separation, while the body remained motionless, inevitably had some effect. Fortunately, the impact is trivial; one session of the Psionic Body Sculpting Technique will restore it immediately.

As the thought formed, Yang Ying acted, activating the Psionic Body Sculpting Technique. He focused his attention on those sluggish capillaries, controlling the surrounding nerves to stimulate the body's natural healing mechanisms.

With Yang Ying’s current sublime mastery, this process was incredibly swift. In less than ten seconds, all the areas of stagnation were repaired.

Stretching again, Yang Ying felt deeply satisfied. His body was restored to peak condition. He then left the cabin and proceeded to the bridge.

As the bridge door opened, Howard turned, saw Yang Ying, and smiled, “Sir, perfect timing. We will arrive at the Solar System in five minutes.”

“Excellent,” Yang Ying nodded, taking his seat and closing his eyes to conserve energy.

Five minutes later, the surrounding environment shifted abruptly. Yang Ying opened his eyes to see the Jubilee positioned just outside Manor City; the colossal orbital structure lay directly ahead of the bridge viewport.

“Send a message. Tell Kalia we’re back,” Yang Ying instructed Howard.

“Yes, sir.” Howard directed a staff officer to transmit the message.

Shortly thereafter, Kalia established contact, congratulating Yang Ying on his return and relaying recent happenings in the Solar System. The news most relevant to the Trant Mercenary Group was that several key leaders of the Council, including the Chairman, had been apprehended.

Yang Ying found this highly interesting and told Kalia to prepare the relevant documentation for him as soon as possible.

A while later, the Jubilee docked at Manor City.

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