Everyone's expression shifted slightly, their gazes fixed upon the city. Immediately, they saw chaos reigning in the streets: countless towering structures were collapsing, and monstrous beasts, of every conceivable shape—some with dragon heads and lion bodies, others ape-bodied with bird heads—crawled up from the sewers and the earth, their visages savage and brutal, devouring anyone in sight.

Swish, swish, swish...

The city's defense department launched several divine warships from the military sector, which zipped through the sky like moths to a flame, blasting the monstrous beasts. However, these creatures possessed terrifying strength; the main cannons of the divine warships merely managed a dull thud upon impact, gouging a shallow dent and scorching some fur, but leaving no substantial wound.

Amidst the ravaged streets, rescue cruisers sped past, gathering the screaming, scrambling, and evading crowds aboard. Since the personnel inside these cruisers were at the Divine Spirit realm, the rescue process was swift; they simply channeled divine power to pull the panicked masses into the ships.

Roar~

A creature drilled out from the ground, as hard as diamond, its body covered in writhing tentacles. It let loose a piercing, shrill cry toward the heavens, causing countless nearby young mothers and children to clutch their ears and collapse in agony. Some, their minds exploding instantly, sprayed white brain matter in gruesome splashes across the ground.

The entire city seemed transformed into a hellscape, a cacophony of weeping, terrified screams, and enraged roars mingling together, enough to make one’s scalp tingle just witnessing it.

Shao Hao gasped in alarm, "What is happening? Has a passage to the Dark Great World near this city ruptured, allowing the dark beings to flood out? Why haven't the nearby cities been rallied for a joint annihilation?"

Nuwa gazed silently for a moment before slowly stating, "These ferocious beasts do not resemble dark creatures. They are saturated with death energy; they appear to be animated corpses!"

A wave of shock swept through everyone present.

Fu Xi suddenly recalled something, his eyelids twitching. He urgently commanded, "Quick! Back to the clan!"

Ye Chen also sensed the gravity of the situation and swiftly instructed Xiao Zhongsheng to accelerate the Heavenly Dao Divine Ark, sparing no energy to engage the Cosmic Instant Shift.

The gravity balance indicator next to the Heavenly Dao Divine Ark's control panel flipped from green to red. The vessel traversed a newly carved black corridor, the lightning-fast speed imperceptible, until a bright light appeared ahead. After a few minutes, the Divine Ark burst forth, the azure sky immediately filling their vision.

Ye Chen checked the electronic map, realizing they had arrived near Genius Peak. He looked down, his pupils instantly constricting. The entire ground surrounding Genius Peak was covered by a vast, oppressive army of ferocious beasts. Among them were numerous winged creatures, some with bodies so enormous their wings spanned a thousand zhang, resembling the Kunpeng described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas was the foundational scripture of the Beast Taming Civilization, divided into nine scrolls. One scroll was inscribed and passed down to descendants, who, through the Gate of Reincarnation, were reborn among the descendants of the Spiritual Civilization, resulting in the Classic existing on Earth.

Fu Xi and the others spotted the immense horde of beasts below, a sense of crushing pressure settling over them. They hadn't realized that in the short time they were gone, such a monumental cataclysm had befallen the entire Ancient World!

Ye Chen recalled his past life, where, after spending over 300 years in the Ancient World, he had returned to Earth. At that time, this great calamity had not yet occurred in the Ancient World. Why had it arrived so much earlier in this lifetime? Could it be because of him?

Ye Chen shook his head; he knew it couldn't be his doing. Despite being among the top figures of this age, he was still far from possessing the power to truly alter the gears of history.

"Could it be... this calamity is confined only to the Ancient Continent, and the peripheral Three Thousand Divine Provinces remain untouched?" Ye Chen frowned.

Whoosh!

The Heavenly Dao Divine Ark hurtled toward the distant Asura Sea. Looking out at the vast, mirror-like expanse of black water, Ye Chen felt an inexplicable prickle of dread.

Arriving above the Asura Sea, Ye Chen peered down through the external viewport. The surface was tumultuous, the water churning, with massive waves occasionally surging skyward as if some unknown deep-sea beast were playfully spouting water.

Suddenly—

Roar!!

The entire surface of the Asura Sea convulsed violently. A resonant roar echoed up from the depths, and a dark shadow suddenly erupted from the water, rocketing directly toward the sky.

Ye Chen’s pupils shrank. Staring at the incoming silhouette, his heart hammered against his ribs. It was unmistakably an arm! Countless scars of varying depths marred its surface, yet its color and shape were identical to the headless ancient corpses Ye Chen had encountered at Ancient Realm Peak!

Could there be a headless ancient corpse here?

Ye Chen felt a chill creep through his bones, and the others’ faces turned ashen. Gritting his teeth, Ye Chen roared, "You all get to the escape pods! I’ll hold it off here; hurry back to the clan and save people!"

Fu Xi and the others watched the whistling severed hand hurtle toward them, their spirits trembling. Nuwa bit her lower lip, her eyes flickering for a moment before resolutely stating, "Then we will leave first. If you cannot hold on, execute a spatial jump. In this Ancient Continent, space is unrestricted; you can set coordinates and jump freely."

Ye Chen nodded heavily.

Immediately, Nuwa and Fu Xi, along with Shao Hao and the others, withdrew swiftly. Facing this great peril, there was no time for lingering sentiment; they exchanged brief farewells of 'Take care' and departed one by one.

Ye Chen turned to look at Bai Yijun beside him. At this moment of life and death, looking at her beautiful, lotus-like figure, a strange calmness settled over his heart. He whispered softly, "Are you ready?"

"Mhm," Bai Yijun replied with a gentle smile and a nod.

Ye Chen smiled faintly, then abruptly turned back to the main control room, commanding, "Engage Heavenly Dao Mecha Mode!"

"Yes," Xiao Zhongsheng responded, quickly pressing a button.

Click-clack-clack...

The eject ports of the Heavenly Dao Divine Ark launched Fu Xi and the others away, who vanished into the distance. Then, the Ark rapidly began its transformation, shedding its appearance of an ancient warship to become a cold, imposing killing mecha. A surge of killing intent enveloped its frame, and on its back rested a chilling, blood-red great blade, making it look like an Asura War God!

"Die!" Ye Chen thrust the control stick forward, his eyes glinting with cold ferocity. The Heavenly Dao Mecha let out a howl and charged headlong into the fray. Upon closing the distance, it abruptly drew the blood-red blade from its back and slashed fiercely toward the severed hand's ring finger.

Zeng!

The blood-red blade bit into the skin of the ring finger, striking bone. The blade shuddered slightly, causing the mecha itself to vibrate faintly. Fortunately, through the force dissipation system and Ye Chen’s minute adjustments, much of the immense recoil was dispersed, preventing damage to the Heavenly Dao Mecha.

"G-i-v-e—Me—My—He—ad—B-a-c-k!!"

The severed hand let out a ferocious, savage howl. Disregarding the injury to its finger, its claw snatched down, seemingly intent on crushing the mecha.

A murderous glint flashed in Ye Chen’s eyes. He roared, "Black Glare Blade!" He rapidly pushed the control stick to second gear, then suddenly pulled it to the fourth gear, third level. In a movement too fast to perceive, his fingers danced across the virtual keyboard, finally striking the C8 key.

Whoosh!

The hard alloy of the Heavenly Dao Mecha's frame instantly became pliant, like soft skin. The mechanized blood-red blade in his grasp was infused with surging energy. The entire mecha twisted in a bizarre posture, descending from the sky like a tornado, stirring up a black wind as it slammed violently into the severed hand.

Ever since discovering that the Heavenly Dao Mountain could enter mecha mode, Ye Chen had secretly collected the pinnacle mecha martial arts of the Ancient Continent. The Black Glare Blade was one of the most terrifying techniques among them, capable of stacking all one's power onto the blade tip, drastically amplifying its destructive force.

This required extremely sophisticated mecha operation, the speed of which depended entirely on finger dexterity, speed, and vision. Given Ye Chen's state of mind, his control over his body had reached perfection; every cell, every inch of skin, could be manipulated as flexibly as his fingers, allowing him to master the Black Glare Blade with ease.

Boom!!

The blood-red blade slammed onto the back of the severed hand's hand, brutally grinding away the flesh and skin of the back of the hand, carving out a vortex like a drill bit. It only ceased its grinding motion after striking the bone beneath, and even then, it continued for a moment before stopping completely.

Ye Chen quickly controlled the Heavenly Dao Mecha, not retreating but advancing. He planted his feet on the severed hand, gripped the blade handle with both hands, and thrust down with all his might!

Zeng!

The blood-red blade, capable of cleaving through peak Dao Artifacts in a single strike, struck the bone on the back of the hand, producing only a metallic clang.

Ye Chen, sitting in the cockpit, clearly saw that the blade only penetrated a mere few meters into the bone before being unable to advance further. Relative to the severed hand's immense size, a depth of a few meters was akin to a superficial scratch only a few millimeters deep on a normal human arm—hardly visible to the naked eye.

Ye Chen was deeply shaken. He quickly retracted the blade and prepared to pull back and create distance. Just then, the severed hand suddenly went berserk, surging skyward with ferocious momentum, clenching into a fist and smashing down heavily toward the Heavenly Dao Mecha.

Boom!

The mecha's wing was grazed, causing it to instantly lose balance and sway slightly. Seizing the advantage, the severed hand followed up immediately, slamming another punch directly from the front.

Thump!

The fist struck the energy shield, causing the shield's charge level to instantly drop from full to red alert status, less than 30%! Ye Chen’s heart skipped a beat; he hadn't expected this severed hand to possess such terrifying power. He quickly stabilized the mecha and attempted to rapidly increase the distance.

At that moment, the severed hand suddenly accelerated, lunging forward and managing to grab one of the mecha's mechanical legs. Ye Chen’s expression couldn't help but change as his fingers quickly manipulated the controls, preparing to activate the leg thrusters to break free from the grip.

Whoosh!

The severed hand, clutching the mecha's leg, swung the Heavenly Dao Mecha around and hurled it toward the sea with the force of a shooting star. Even before nearing the surface, the resulting shockwave and pressure caused the sea water beneath to indent into a massive whirlpool.

The severed hand did not slow its pursuit. At this critical juncture, Ye Chen surprisingly calmed down, preparing to initiate a spatial jump for a temporary retreat. Just then, a rushing sound tore through the air from a distance. A colossal figure, approximately a thousand li in size, strode through the void. It had long, unbound black hair, was clad in armor radiating a dense aura, and wielded a gigantic battle-axe, charging furiously forward. (To be continued)