What about the cultivators? They, too, continuously sent out various signals, summoning numerous peers from another Bizhe Cave to join the fray. However, these later arrivals were clearly several tiers weaker than the Daoists cultivating on Heaven Star JL. Yet, their sheer numbers were terrifyingly vast. Especially since these Daoists possessed strange abilities; they seemed capable of borrowing immense power from any random star in space to attack their enemies, and they could even summon overwhelmingly powerful entities from alternate dimensions to participate in the battle.
The great war stalemated, but soon, new discoveries by some cultivators sent the conflict spiraling out of control!
The blood of the Angelic race could be refined into miraculous spiritual elixirs, allowing cultivators to significantly boost their True Qi cultivation and the strength of their Nascent Souls. The wings of the Angelic race could be forged into powerful defensive magic treasures, capable of weakening negative energies—such as curses and virulent poisons—by over ninety percent. The core of an Angel, the energy center where they condensed the vast majority of their essence, spirit, and vitality, could be used to smelt various magic artifacts, unleashing extreme might.
As for the teeth of the Werewolves, they could be used to refine all manner of malevolent magic tools. The medicinal paste rendered from the sinews and bones of Werewolves could enhance the physical strength of body cultivators. The eyes of the Werewolves could refine artifacts capable of piercing all manner of shadowy illusions and obstacles. The sharp claws of the Werewolves were also premium materials for artifact crafting. The fur of the Werewolves could be woven into superb armor, granting extreme resistance to all manner of physical strikes!
Other races, such as the Vampires, were even more prized by the unorthodox cultivators; not a single part of them, from head to toe, went to waste!
When a Grandmaster of Artifact Refining used one hundred and eight cores from Six-Winged Archangels to forge a flame-attributed Immortal Artifact!
When an Evil Corpse King absorbed the vital blood of thirty-six Vampire royal lineages and successfully ascended to the status of a Flying Night Demon!
When a Venerable Buddhist Monk successfully condensed energy crystals akin to Sarira from the bodies of several alien races!
The cultivators went mad!
Cultivators driven by greed for profit are the most terrifying cultivators in the world!
The Angelic race and the alien races coming from the wormhole jump points, who had previously managed a tense standoff with the cultivators, were now being hammered back by the Daoists. The cultivators had deployed thousands of dense arrays and restrictions outside the wormhole jump point leading to the alternate world; they captured virtually every alien that arrived, immediately flayed them, boiled their bones, and refined them into various pills and artifacts which were then distributed. Except for a few lucky ones who sensed the shift in momentum immediately upon exiting the jump point and fled in time, the number of alien beings slain by the cultivators numbered in the tens of billions!
Eventually, the kings of the various alien races realized the situation had deteriorated. After dispatching a massive army for reconnaissance, only to see it completely annihilated within half a month, the aliens decisively sealed off that wormhole jump point, severing all further contact with this side.
With their strength greatly enhanced, the cultivators immediately turned their slaughtering blades toward the origin of the Angelic race!
Hundreds of millions of Angelic beings fought a rear-guard action along the way, suffering continuous, miserable defeats. Countless Angels were made into spiritual elixirs and forged into magic artifacts; the sheer volume of these items made the cultivators stronger and stronger, while the strength and influence of the Angelic race diminished continuously!
The planet inhabited by the Thirteenth Generation Angels fell, and all its inhabitants were massacred.
The planet inhabited by the Twelfth Generation Angels fell, and all its inhabitants were massacred.
The planet inhabited by the Eleventh Generation Angels fell, and all its inhabitants were massacred.
Finally, the massive army of cultivators, blotting out the sun and sky, converged on the last Angelic planet—the world where the First Generation Angelic Progenitors resided. This was the last territory of the Angelic race, holding the final hope of ten million souls.
The proud Angelic race mobilized their entire race for a counterattack, but they were easily routed, their final wave of resistance utterly crushed by the well-prepared cultivators. By this point, millions of cultivators had reached the limit approaching Ascension; the vital essence of countless aliens and Angels had boosted their strength to an unimaginable degree!
The entire Heaven Star, save for three or five young page-boys guarding the gates, saw all other cultivators massed at the borders of the Angelic territory. How could they possibly hold them back?
Ultimately, the Mother Temple of the Angelic race was breached, and the cultivators surged directly inside.
The First Generation Angelic Progenitors despaired. They sacrificed their own lives, sending a final, desperate plea toward their Mother Star above.
The old Angel still remembered that grand and unbelievable scene to this day. The sun in the sky suddenly expanded a hundredfold its size, and the Mother Star erupted with endless, raging flames. Not a single cultivator gathered in space escaped; they were all instantly reduced to ashes in the Mother Star’s furious retaliation. The cultivators who had stormed the planet instantly lost over ninety percent of their strength, and the dying Angelic race members annihilated the rest.
The Angelic Progenitors had called upon their Mother Star, expending their entire lives to trigger its most violent retribution, and they perished simultaneously.
The remaining Angels, exhausted in the chain of continuous battles, spent their last reserves of strength. They didn't even have time for a final word before they fell one by one upon the battlefield.
The once glorious Angelic race left behind only one remnant: the crippled old Angel, Tzit, an Angel who no longer possessed the power to even leave the atmosphere. The destructive energy the cultivators had implanted within him constantly invaded his flesh and soul, and his mighty Holy Power could not expel the alien impurities within him.
Finishing the account, Tzit led Andre and the others through the cemetery and arrived at a hall behind it.
Comfortably, he set down his cane and settled steadily onto a white cushion woven from his own shed feathers. He picked up a massive crystal flagon beside him and gulped down several mouthfuls of his homemade fine wine. The wine exuded an almost unbelievably rich aroma, causing Andre to involuntarily swallow.
Tzit roared with laughter. He crushed a piece of white stone beside him, enveloping it in a ball of Sacred Flame which burned for a moment, refining three wine cups, each the size of Andre’s head. Carefully holding the flagon, he poured three drops of the fine wine into the cups, which seemed minuscule compared to Tzit, and raised the flagon, laughing, "Come, let us have a toast... For so many years, I could only glean fragments of news from you all. Last time, I sent you one hundred drops of the vital blood extracted from my own body through the magic array; did you receive it?"
The Holy Angelic Blood that suddenly manifested from the hands of the Pope originated from the old Angel Tzit before them!
Andre and the other two dared not pick up their cups; instead, they knelt piously on the ground. Andre spoke with reverence, "Your Majesty has indeed received those one hundred drops of vital blood and successfully used them to transform the constitutions of several dozen of our most devout followers. Once they accumulate enough strength, they can undergo the final transformation ritual to become Luminaries!"
Tzit nodded in satisfaction, raised the flagon, and heartily drank a few more mouthfuls of the wine.
Wiping the wine from the corner of his mouth, Tzit chuckled happily, "Originally, I thought I was the only remaining member of my race in this world; I had considered death! But I never expected that some little ones from our race managed to run off to the cultivators' main encampment and even established a foundation there."
Shaking his head and smiling faintly, Tzit continued calmly, "It is just a pity that they, too, suffered too heavy an injury."
Andre lowered his head, tears of blood streaming from his eyes.
Tzit spoke softly, "My power can only sustain my own life; I cannot offer you great assistance. But the power of your Pope is unstable; some Popes are not strong enough to contact me through the Wheel of Time left behind by those little ones. The Wheel of Time also requires accumulating sufficient energy to activate once. After all these years... I have finally touched the believers of our race!"
The three lowered their heads simultaneously. Andre reverently placed the cross that had been suspended on his chest before Tzit.
It was an exquisitely crafted silver cross, engraved with complex vine patterns. While it looked ordinary in Andre's hand, the moment it fell into Tzit's grasp, it erupted in a burst of intense light. An Angel composed of luminous flame, no taller than one meter, flew out from the radiance, the cross suspended above its head.
Tzit stared blankly at this expressionless Angel, and two silver tears rolled down his cheeks.
"This was left by the First Generation Progenitors... it integrates a drop of their strongest vital blood, offered separately by each of them! This is the Holy Blood Angel, the totem of our race! Where did you find this?"
Andre knelt respectfully on the ground and recounted the history of the cross.
The Papacy and the Alliance of Gods had been played for fools by Gu Xiechen. The Dao Alliance had already returned to Earth with countless treasures, while the two sides were still locked in a life-and-death struggle on Heaven Star. After a chaotic brawl, both sides were so severely wounded that they could no longer fight. Only then did they reluctantly divide the territories on Heaven Star and dispatch personnel to search various locations.
After searching for over two months on Heaven Star, the Papacy’s people finally discovered an ancient grotto-mansion within a secret cave.
This secret cave was not among the renowned celestial treasures of Heaven Star, but it was considered a minor subsidiary grotto. The owner of the grotto-mansion had slain Cai the Angel, the highest commander fighting on Heaven Star—who was the King of that generation of the Angelic race—and seized the Holy Blood Angel Cross, the supreme seal of the Angelic race.
Unfortunately, outsiders could not activate the power of the cross, so the grotto's owner left it behind as a useless souvenir.
Andre found the cross, and after channeling his Holy Power into it, he immediately sensed the cross’s attraction to the Mother Star. This was why he had urgently brought the Papacy’s auxiliary fleet here.
If not for this, how could Andre possibly locate the Mother Star in the vast, boundless cosmos?
Caressing the Holy Blood Angel, Tzit gazed at the three pious believers before him.
"Then, are you willing to transform into a pure Angelic body? This is the vital blood from the Progenitors, capable of directly transforming you into the physique identical to the Second Generation Angels."
"Inherit the prestige of the Angelic race, propagate our lineage... Can you eliminate our eternal enemies?"
Andre, Fernand, and Lagus raised their heads. They knelt respectfully on the ground and solemnly chanted the holy name of the Lord God.
Tzit smiled, looked up at the silver-white sky outside the hall, and let out a soft breath.
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