Gu Xichen spoke generously, and the leaders of Penghua and the Nine Netherworld Sect—demons, monsters, ghosts, and spirits—all let out strange, cackling laughter, delighted to the core. One-tenth of all the treasures? The Asian Dao Alliance comprised hundreds of major and minor sects; if these treasures were sent back to Earth for equitable distribution, each sect would receive precious little. The Nine Netherworld Sect alone would monopolize a full tenth!

Penghua laughed so hard he bent over, repeatedly slapping Gu Xichen’s shoulder, trying to say something, but he was laughing too loudly to utter a single word.

The expressions of Daoist Zhang and the other disciples of the Alliance shifted to one of deep strangeness. Was the Nine Netherworld Sect taking too great an advantage here?

It was one thing for the righteous disciples to be discontent; the members of the evil sects frowned, secretly contemplating whether they could poach members from the Nine Netherworld Sect. After all, they were known for being lawless—which one among the assembled evil cultivators actually abided by any law?

Gu Xichen merely smiled faintly. By giving away this tenth of the treasures, he had secured a powerful backer. In the past half-month, he had thoroughly investigated: the true strength of the Nine Netherworld Sect surpassed that of the Three Sorcery Sects by more than tenfold. The Nine Netherworld Sect was the leading faction among the heretical schools in the Asian Dao Alliance!

“Time to head back!” Gu Xichen muttered to himself, stroking his chin in contemplation.

The hazy rain clouds overhead were suddenly swept away by a fierce gale, and silver-white, radiant clouds materialized out of nowhere, instantly filling the entire sky.

Andre’s weak voice resonated, “In the name of the Heavenly Lord, all things in this world were created by the Lord, and all things in this world belong to the Lord!”

Bebisa’s voice, hoarse and unpleasant, yet lacking in true strength, echoed immediately afterward, “The Gods created this world; everything in it should belong to the glorious Gods!”

More than a dozen ships and vessels of various sizes tore through the distant cloud cover and descended. Over two thousand members of the Alliance of Gods and the Fan Digou Papal See burst forth from the surrounding forests.

Gu Xichen stamped his foot violently and roared, “Fellow Daoists, be careful! Road bandits have arrived!”

Having shouted this at the top of his lungs, Gu Xichen swiftly ducked behind Penghua with a shhh-lip sound.

Penghua stamped his foot fiercely and laughed sternly, “Robbing the Nine Netherworld Sect? Are you joking? This is our specialty!”

Daoist Zhang roared sharply, “Fellow Daoists, concentrate quickly! These newcomers are hostile; today’s business cannot end peacefully!”

Hiding behind Penghua, Gu Xichen nodded inwardly. Indeed, things today certainly would not end peacefully. The Asian Dao Alliance had obtained so many magic artifacts, spirit elixirs, and cultivation manuals. If these treasures were allowed to be taken back to Earth, the Asian Dao Alliance, which had previously stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Alliance of Gods and the Fan Digou Papal See, would immediately surpass both factions. How could Andre and Bebisa tolerate such a thing?

Gu Xichen sighed softly. Since they had come knocking at his door, should he spare no effort to assist?

Before he could finalize his decision, Andre, whose face was withered, clearly suffering from depleted essence, and Bebisa, walked forward, each surrounded by a large contingent of followers.

Andre stared grimly at the disciples of the Asian Dao Alliance and stated arrogantly, “Your treasures are mine.”

Bebisa’s tone was slightly gentler, but equally unreasonable: “Heaven Star is federal territory; everything upon it belongs to the Federation’s citizens. These treasures should not be monopolized by you. Any power that monopolizes what originates on Heaven Star will face the united condemnation and strike of all Federation people.”

Daoist Zhang stepped forward, eloquently attempting to reason with Andre and Bebisa. Penghua coldly scoffed with impatience: “That old ox-nose is just making noise. What reason is there to discuss? They’ve seen the great treasures in our hands; of course, they’re greedy!”

Gu Xichen sighed chillingly, “Yes, I think they are very greedy. There’s no arguing against that… Hmm, Xin Jia?”

Xin Jia stamped his foot heavily, and a bizarre ripple suddenly surged from the ground.

Thump-thump-thump-thump! A barrage of sharp stone spears erupted from below, piercing upward with incredible speed towards Andre, Bebisa, and the dozens of their subordinates surrounding them.

Brilliant light instantly flared on the bodies of Bebisa and Andre. They naturally possessed self-activating protective gear. The earth-spikes shattered upon contact with the radiance surrounding them. However, their subordinates were not so fortunate. Dozens instantly let out agonizing screams and collapsed. Large gouts of blood jetted from their thighs, hips, and even certain embarrassing areas. These men were almost instantly stripped of all strength.

Andre and Bebisa turned ashen with rage and simultaneously shrieked, “Attack!”

Daoist Zhang suddenly flipped up his Daoist robe and drew out a heavy machine gun. He tilted his head, then tossed the machine gun aside. Flipping his robe again, he drew a four-foot-long bronze ancient sword.

Swinging the great sword forward, Daoist Zhang roared, “Fellow Daoists, brothers! For the sake of treasures, elixirs, and divine techniques, damn it all, let’s fight them to the death! Three Pure Ones… uh… above! Chop these sons of bitches to pieces!”

The three factions immediately became entangled in a chaotic melee.

Penghua let out a long cry and darted forward first, leading more than ten demons and spirits from the Nine Netherworld Sect.

Gu Xichen also let out a low roar, bending down. His gang qi exploded beneath his feet like a bomb, propelling his body into a fierce gale, rushing into the ranks of the Papal Knights even faster than Penghua.

Claws extended, chilling air surged skyward. Gu Xichen ruthlessly tore the silver armor from seven Papal Knights, shredding it into dust and bringing forth gouts of blood and countless ruined internal organs. “Doing business is all about harmony bringing wealth, sharing profits equally. Damn it, do they think they can pull off a zero-cost venture right under my nose?”

Gu Xichen muttered curses upon the ancestors of Andre and Bebisa, his cloud boots stirring faint wisps of mist below him as his body spun around with ghostly speed. His Snow Soul Claws conjured vast swaths of misty cold energy. As the frigid air gathered, the silver clouds overhead shed intense light onto the coldness, causing the dazzling glare to form a brilliant rainbow.

Hidden within this rainbow was a deadly, soul-snatching killing move. Gu Xichen struck out with one hundred and forty-four claws in an instant. Twelve surrounding Papal Knights shrieked; their heavy armor could not withstand the invasion of the Snow Soul Claws, and they all fell dead with fractured limbs. A thin sheen of light flickered over his Ruyi Gloves; even though the Papal Knights activated their protective Holy Light Shields, under the unstoppable might of the Ruyi Gloves, their Holy Shields shattered as easily as their armor.

Xin Jia charged into the ranks of the Papal Knights with a muffled whoosh. Wherever Xin Jia went, the knights retreated. This fellow had somehow manifested a colossal rock several meters square; he was now swinging it wildly in all directions with both hands. Could sheer human strength resist a stone of that magnitude?

Penghua charged in right behind Xin Jia, his entire body saturated with powerful evil energy. He furiously unleashed hundreds of punches in all directions. The evil energy, death qi, and Holy Light fused and clashed, emitting a piercing squeak-squeak sound. A strong stench filled the air. Penghua’s fists sizzled as they were burned by the Holy Light Shields, but his heavy blows sent Papal Knights flying dozens of meters away; once struck by him, they could never rise to fight again. Penghua thus battled the Papal Knights with both pain and exhilaration woven together.

Gu Xichen sent two Papal Knights, who were swinging flails at him, flying back. Amidst the chaos, he glanced at Penghua, whose body was enveloped in black smoke, his hands sizzling and smoking. Gu Xichen remarked with feeling, “Does someone truly engage in self-mutilation like this? I am impressed, truly impressed! He lives up to his reputation as the First Senior Brother of the Nine Netherworld Sect!”

Shaking his head, Gu Xichen suddenly shot straight up nearly a hundred meters. Purple light flashed around him, and a hundred burly men, including Zhao Yi, rushed out of the purple light with fierce shouts.

Thunderbolts, ice shards, flames, wooden stakes, earth chunks, and metal blades—the Five Elements Dao Techniques rained down like a deluge, immediately throwing the formation of the Papal See and the Alliance of Gods into disarray.

From afar, Andre watched Gu Xichen display his terrifying might, single-handedly shaking the foundation of the Papal See’s position. He immediately gritted his teeth, pulled a white scroll from his sleeve, and tore it open forcefully.

“Damn sinner, you once rejected the Lord’s benevolence; today is the Lord’s punishment for you!”

The scroll in Andre’s hand erupted with blinding white light, manifesting a Level Nine single-target divine spell: the Archangel’s Sacred Judgment Sword, on the verge of being unleashed.

Xin Jia sensed the colossal energy fluctuation emanating from Andre’s position from a distance. He kicked away several Papal Knights whose bodies were surging with white light, turned, and formed a hand seal toward Andre. “Command: Essence of the Earth, expel evil, break the demonic!”

With a muffled groan, a yellowish stone about a foot wide erupted from the air before Xin Jia’s palm. The stone transformed into a beam of white light, striking Andre with fierce speed.

The great stone slammed heavily into Andre. A thick layer of white light sprayed from Andre’s white robe, colliding with the stone. A streak of earthy yellow lightning flashed across the stone. The white light and the earth lightning cancelled each other out amidst a loud crash. The stone pierced through the white light and struck Andre’s chest, knocking his upper body backward.

The fully formed Archangel’s Sacred Judgment Sword was released, but the struck, vomiting-blood Andre lost the thread of spiritual focus that had locked onto Gu Xichen. The Sacred Judgment Sword, having lost its target, shot straight into the high sky. A beam of light a meter thick, intensely brilliant and impossible to look at, carrying immense angelic hymns, pierced straight up, instantly exiting Heaven Star’s atmosphere and vanishing into the vastness of space.

In space, the fleets of the Federation and the Romans remained in a tense standoff, neither side daring to initiate a large-scale naval battle.

The Archangel’s Sacred Judgment Sword accurately struck the Nebula Trident, the flagship of the Roman First Elected Family. In a clean cut, the royal warship—already heavily damaged once—was ripped open. Twenty seconds later, the Trident exploded in a huge burst of fire before the eyes of all observers, scattering countless fragments in all directions.

The two fleets, which had been hesitant, instantly opened fire. The rocket trails and high-energy beams instantly illuminated the pitch-black void of space.

The war ignited by Heaven Star had truly begun.

Before Jade Essence Cliff, three white-robed cardinals simultaneously charged toward Gu Xichen and Penghua, who were fighting back-to-back for mutual cover. Dozens of extremely powerful Holy Light Slashes roared down from the sky.

Gu Xichen laughed long and loud, leaping into the air, his twin claws meeting the descending light head-on.