Breaching the space dock landing port on the outer Divine Continent, straight from the border of the Blazing God Empire. Across the vast wilderness, a black palace, its diameter spanning tens of zhang, hurtled forward. It was ten times the size of a 100,000-ton displacement aircraft carrier, yet it moved faster and more fiercely than a heavy battleship.
A howling gale swept past. Ye Chen, with his snow-white hair, sat in the lounge adjacent to the main control room of the Demon God Palace. He gazed at the teacup on the table; the clear tea lay still as a placid mirror, reflecting his face. Despite the Demon God Palace’s breakneck speed, the interior remained as steady as solid ground.
“Master.”
As Ye Chen pondered, Zi Xiang’s melodious voice cut through his thoughts, yet it failed to provoke any anger. He turned his head to see Zi Xiang standing gracefully before him, playfully winking.
“According to the map you provided, we need to reach the Radiant Empire. There is a closer route, but since we are already wanted criminals within the Blazing God Empire, no city or feudal kingdom will allow us passage. They might even actively hunt us down to curry favor with the Emperor of the Blazing God Empire.”
Zi Xiang’s small face held a hint of seriousness as she laid out the current situation for Ye Chen. “On this shorter route, we will have to pass through thirty-eight feudal kingdoms, over a thousand megacities, and several thousand medium-sized cities.” She paused, then looked directly into Ye Chen’s eyes. “We can only force our way through.”
Ye Chen nodded slightly, patting her small shoulder. “Push through, by all means. If things get too difficult, I’ll step in.”
Zi Xiang grinned widely, revealing two rows of pearly white teeth. “I certainly will!”
And so, as if a beacon had been lit, the fighting began. The Demon God Palace soon arrived at the next necessary city. From afar, they could see the city was under stringent guard. It was highly likely that the coordinates of the Demon God Palace had been captured by the Sky Net system permeating the Blazing God Empire. Although in some vast wilderness areas, the palace’s signal jamming and stealth systems could evade the Sky Net’s detection, near cities, the system intensified manifold. Compounded by the city defense system’s detection radar picking up the Demon God Palace’s trajectory, troops were immediately mobilized to intercept them at the city gates.
Ye Chen knew this large city before them was "Hongfeng City"—a megacity whose military strength surely reached the level of Peak Deities!
The Demon God Palace charged straight ahead. Above the city, thousands of aircraft carriers, over a hundred thousand battleships, and countless fighter craft rose up, swarming towards them like falling rain. A hail of shell impacts flew through the air, and streaks of laser light, like falling meteors, slashed across the sky, hurtling towards them.
This epic confrontation erupted in an instant. Without witnessing it firsthand, one could scarcely imagine the shocking spectacle of this sky alight with war. On the road leading to the city, not a single pedestrian remained; most had likely heeded the early radar warnings and swiftly evacuated this perilous zone.
The Demon God Palace, a colossal entity, plowed through the barrage of fire, unleashing a ferocious counterattack under Zi Xiang’s command. In a flash, the entire palace roared like an enraged lion. The massive main cannon facing forward opened a thousand barrels and fired in unison!
Whoosh, whoosh…
A thousand dark beams, like falling meteorites, scored fissures in the void as they blasted into the carrier fleet. The carriers, positioned behind the battleships for cover, had their captains roaring orders to their generals, hastily altering formation to evade the ferocious onslaught.
However, in the face of absolute power, all tactics proved as fragile as paper tigers. Large carriers began to explode and plummet from the sky in quick succession.
A tapestry of laser fire, shell impacts, and fragments from exploding battleships interwove in the heavens, instantly shrouding the sky in conflagration, accompanied by deafening roars of detonation.
The Demon God Palace, shimmering with an icy luster, plunged headlong into the inferno, rushing forward at incredible speed. It slammed into several battleships along the way, shattering them against its energy shield, like a massive tank crushing all obstacles in its path.
Charge! Charge! Charge!
Zi Xiang slightly tilted her slender, pale neck. A flush bloomed across her fair skin, as if the blood boiling within had been ignited. Her dark, clear eyes held a cold glint of excitement as she fixed her gaze on the carriers and battleships ahead, piloting the Demon God Palace directly into them. Within moments, she smashed through the carrier formation and sped toward the formidable city.
“Break!” Zi Xiang’s eyes turned icy as she slammed her hand down on an 'F' key.
Screeech!
A terrifying, oversized cannon barrel rose from the base of the Demon God Palace, extended, aimed at the city’s energy shield, and fired with a deafening blast.
It was a magnificent beam of crimson light, beautiful enough to captivate the soul, slicing the long sky and seemingly dividing the entire starscape in half. It crashed onto the energy shield. The shield trembled violently, flashing with intense electrical light where struck, then concave inward, with cracks seeming to spread around the impact point.
The Demon God Palace roared and smashed directly into it.
Boom!
It shattered the energy shield and burst into the city, immediately encountering a massive city wall lined densely with laser cannons. As the Demon God Palace descended, these electromagnetic laser barrels fired in unison.
Swoosh, swoosh…
Countless tendrils of purple lightning entwined with blue beams spanned the sky, striking the Demon God Palace's energy shield and generating countless ripples. Under the force of so many projectiles, the shield’s energy rapidly depleted, consuming at a rate of one millionth per second; in that brief moment, a significant portion of its energy was gone.
The Demon God Palace whipped up a hurricane and slammed into the wall. The entire structure shuddered slightly; the hard metal buckled inward, the myriad cannons on its surface were crushed and shattered, and the wall itself began to collapse.
The Demon God Palace’s energy shield instantly lost 1%!
However, its energy system was connected to two Primordial Universes, rendering the supply virtually infinite. The energy reserves within those two universes were abundant enough to sustain the Demon God Palace’s ravenous consumption.
Moreover, against these mere ships crewed by pseudo-gods and gods, the Demon God Palace’s shield could easily withstand the assault, with the depletion rate only slightly outpacing its self-regeneration speed.
Whoosh!
The Demon God Palace swept out, positioning itself directly above the city’s residential sectors. In a megacity of this scale, the population numbered at least a trillion—one hundred times the entire population of Earth—highlighting the terrifying scope of this giant metropolis.
The Demon God Palace accelerated rapidly, reaching light speed, whistling through the aerial routes above the city. Any passenger transports encountered along the way managed to steer clear, but the electromagnetic waves emanating from the palace interfered with their signals, causing the aircraft to lose control and crash.
The path carved by the Demon God Palace through the colossal city instantly erupted in chaos.
At the City Lord’s Mansion, a tall, imposing man with golden curly hair and fair skin—his eyes a dark gold, reminiscent of a mythical vampire—stared at the rapidly blinking image of the Demon God Palace on the city defense monitors. His fists cracked audibly as incandescent rage flooded his heart. He roared, “Capture him at all costs!”
“Yes!” A Chief of Staff saluted in response.
But as the Chief of Staff turned back to the screen to issue orders, he froze, staring blankly at the entire display. “Where did that wanted criminal go?”
The screen showed nothing but empty space.
The Demon God Palace had slipped into subspace, pushing its thrusters to maximum capacity, initiating a cosmic warp jump. Each jump consumed 10% of the Demon God Palace’s energy.
The distance covered in a single jump was equivalent to the distance of one Primordial Universe, which, calculated by the scale of the Ancient Continent, amounted to the distance spanning about ten megacities, including the wilderness between them.
Simultaneously, in the distant capital of the Blazing God Empire, within a mysterious and ancient palace—towering and magnificent, surrounded by an honor guard composed entirely of Divine-level sentinels—the most shocking sight was at the main entrance: four guards in full armor radiated an aura that faintly hinted at Divine Emperor-level strength!
With Divine Emperors standing guard at the gate, one could surmise the caliber of the resident with a mere thought.
If Ye Chen were to see this palace, he would be utterly astonished, for its appearance was identical to the Nine Palaces manual! That manual was a secret art casually created by an astonishingly talented Emperor of the Blazing God Empire after gaining inspiration from observing this very palace in the past.
Inside the palace now, the light was dim. Slumped upon a grand, imposing throne was a middle-aged man with fiery red hair and a burly frame. His eyes were arrogant and insolent, flickering with a bloodthirsty, chilling glint that made one shudder upon a single glance.
Suddenly, a guard rushed in, kneeling on the floor, reporting respectfully, “Your Majesty, the Blazing God, the number one wanted criminal Ye Chen has been located. Personnel from the 0-248 Landing Port reported that the fugitive appeared there a short while ago before escaping pursuit, and his whereabouts have since been unknown. Personnel from the Sky Net Intelligence Department just reported that Ye Chen appeared in Lifeng City, then vanished into subspace, likely heading toward the Western Regions.”
“He has finally emerged,” the middle-aged man with blood-red hair narrowed his eyes, revealing a bone-chilling gleam. “That little thing dared to ruin my plans back then, forcing me to suffer an extra century of torment in the Blazing Domain. This crime deserves death!” He clenched his fist, and the very void seemed to hold its breath, as if even the air dared not flow.
The guard kneeling on the floor dared not even exhale, sweat beading profusely on his forehead.
“Daddy,” just then, a clear, sweet voice sounded. Immediately, a small boy came running in quickly from the outer gate, throwing himself at the middle-aged man’s feet, clinging to his leg and pleading, “Daddy, please release Brother Ye Chen!”