The bombardment led by the three super-Dreadnoughts ionized the air across nearly a hundred kilometers, turning that entire expanse of atmosphere into a plasma electron cloud. The ensuing friction between the particle surge excited by the solar storm and the ionized atmosphere formed an aurora field hundreds of kilometers thick and nearly a hundred kilometers wide.

Beneath them lay a vast crater, almost a hundred kilometers in diameter and over three hundred kilometers deep. For the massive Planet Nine, this pit hardly caused a devastating blow to its geological structure; it merely triggered a chain reaction, resulting in several hundred minor earthquakes. With the technology of the Roman people, provided they were willing to invest the resources, this crater could be repaired quickly; the sheer scale of terraforming they demonstrated when subjugating Mars dwarfed the effort of filling this mere pit.

A cold, ruthless electronic light flickered in Dukat’s eyes. After a brief calculation, he muttered, "That strange non-human entity absorbed ninety percent of the bombardment's power. Otherwise, this salvo might have dealt catastrophic damage to Planet Nine, potentially punching right through its mantle and causing irreparable geological disaster."

"Then... is he still alive?" Gu Wuchen drew in a sharp breath. Ninety percent of the barrage? This Hanyusheng truly was formidable!

During the War of '93, the only reason the combined might of the three major factions of the Dark Alliance managed to repel the Roman offensive was because the Pantheon and the Knightly Orders shamelessly coordinated their attack with heavy naval bombardment. At that time, the most powerful cultivators of the Asian Dao Alliance were only at the peak of the Incarnation stage; they had not yet reached the Void stage, where one could draw upon external energy ceaselessly and at will. Consequently, a full-load barrage from the Roman warships often left the masters of the Dark Alliance severely wounded and scattered.

It was fortunate that the Romans did not deploy their most powerful capital ships during the War of '93; their last super-Dreadnought was lost in the vastness of space. Had they possessed those, the forces of the Earth Dark Alliance at the time would have stood no chance against the Romans. It wasn't until the core strength of the Dark Alliance was crippled, the Roman Knightly Orders utterly destroyed, and the Pantheon brought to its knees, that the Earth Federation finally coordinated its global forces, launching massive nuclear strikes from across the globe to obliterate the Roman warships—which had exhausted their energy bombarding the Dark Alliance masters—thus achieving victory and forcing the Romans to sign the first peace treaty with the Earth Federation.

Bombarding the Hanyusheng with ship cannons was merely Gu Xichen mimicking past actions, deliberately bullying his opponent.

The Romans of that era had depleted their ancestral capital ships and Dreadnoughts, thus their threat was limited to cultivators at the peak of the Spirit Transformation stage. But today, Gu Xichen commanded three super-Dreadnoughts, modified by Dukat and Xiao Xiao, possessing one hundred percent of their combat power and lethality. This is why Gu Xichen brazenly sent a spiritual command for the Dreadnoughts to lead all escort vessels in a bombardment of the Hanyusheng. Even though the Hanyusheng had gained Void-level power, and even though his strength multiplied tenfold after each supposed 'death,' surely that would inflict massive damage upon him?

Time ticked by, second by second, as the aurora field gradually dissipated.

A towering figure, easily three meters tall, materialized before them, seated cross-legged in the void.

Beneath him bloomed a mass of cyan and purple clouds, perfectly forming a lotus pedestal with nine distinct petals.

Observing his features, it was the Hanyusheng who, moments before, had been less than one and a half meters tall. A stream of cyan and purple energy surged from the crown of his head, transforming into a cloud platform nearly a hundred meters wide. Seated upon it, one on the left and one on the right, were a man and a woman, both naked, yet bearing an exact resemblance to the Hanyusheng himself.

"Heh heh!" The Hanyusheng suddenly chuckled. He slightly opened his eyes, and two streams of fierce cyan-purple lightning shot out, tearing across tens of kilometers to instantly slam into Gu Wuchen and the others.

With a cold snort, Gu Xichen strode forward. As his eyes snapped open, two bolts of fierce gray-white lightning, subtly laced with five-colored rosy clouds, shot out in response. This was a soul-shaking spiritual attack launched through Gu Xichen’s eyes, not actual lightning meant to strike physical bodies.

The four bolts of lightning collided violently in the void, stirring the surrounding winds and clouds. A terrifying, eerie wave of fluctuation rapidly spread outward. Gu Xichen’s sleeve fluttered slightly, and his body only retreated a single step. The Hanyusheng, however, fared much worse; he stumbled, pitching backward from the lotus pedestal as if struck by a massive hammer, sent flying dozens of kilometers.

And blood, entirely the color of cyan and purple, sprayed from the corners of the Hanyusheng’s eyes. Clearly, he had suffered a significant loss.

Gu Wuchen laughed, a genuinely joyous sound: "Hanyusheng, your soul strength is inferior to mine! Shall we engage in another round of soul impact?"

The Hanyusheng struggled to his feet, his face grim. He vigorously wiped the blood from his eyes, completely ignoring Gu Xichen's suggestion.

Having been struck by the combined fire of the three Dreadnoughts, the Hanyusheng’s power had surged significantly again. His aura had now completely surpassed the Void stage, nearly reaching the level of Gu Wuchen's Golden Armor Puppet. Just as the Hanyusheng was eagerly anticipating using his newfound strength for a decisive blow against Gu Wuchen and the others, Gu Xichen had mercilessly made him suffer a heavy setback.

Despite possessing such immense physical power, the Hanyusheng's soul strength was, at best, comparable to a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage. Evidently, he followed an unorthodox, dark path of cultivation, not the righteous path of nurturing true life force. His physical power neared that of a Celestial Immortal, yet his fragile soul power was utterly incapable of controlling such might. The true extent of the strength he could wield was limited to the peak of the Void stage—the only advantage being that he never needed to fear running out of energy, allowing him to attack wantonly within that limit.

As for Gu Xichen, having cultivated ancient methods, his soul had condensed into an adamantine Soul Orb, further protected by the Heaven-Defying Artifact, the Haotian Pagoda. Anyone attempting to match him in soul power was surely attempting to smash an egg against a stone—seeking only their own humiliation.

Watching the Hanyusheng with keen interest, calculating his next move, Gu Xichen swiftly signaled Siren and the others to depart.

How cunning were Kan Hua and Siren? The moment Gu Wuchen signaled, they immediately grabbed Dukat and began ascending toward the sky, preparing to return to the Dreadnoughts for an immediate withdrawal.

But the single-minded Dukat sharply gripped Kan Hua’s and Siren’s wrists with both hands. He sternly reprimanded them in a low voice, "Are you attempting to abandon your comrades and flee? Whoever dares to leave, I will execute!"

Kan Hua was stunned; Siren was stunned. They exchanged a glance, then looked down with expressions verging on tears.

Dukat snorted. His Unrestrained Flow armor sprouted two metal wings from his back, and on his feet, his boots flared. "You suggest I abandon friends I acknowledge? This is an insult to me. I will not do such a thing. What is there to fear besides dying together?"

Two faintly malevolent red lights shot from Dukat’s eyes. The Unrestrained Flow armor rapidly morphed and shifted around his shoulders, and two multi-barreled missile launchers materialized there. Dukat’s body vibrated violently as he gripped a storage ring given to him by Gu Wuchen, furiously extracting the energy from the massive reserves of Zakura Crystals stored within. Immense power flooded into Dukat’s body, then channeled into those two missile launchers.

Exchanging a look, Kan Hua and Siren gritted their teeth and stepped forward a few paces to stand beside Gu Xichen.

"I certainly don't fear dying in battle!" Kan Hua sighed. "I've already died once; what is there to fear? I'm just worried about marring my handsome face—how will I seduce cute little girls afterward?"

"I certainly don't fear dying in battle!" Siren sighed as well. "The leader of the White Hall Knightly Order is not afraid of combat! I am merely accustomed to obeying someone's orders; alas, must I fear death now?"

Gu Xichen turned and looked at the three, giving Dukat a hearty clap on the shoulder: "Good brother. Hmm, better than those other two!"

A streak of cyan light descended from the high altitude. Lily arrived, stepping off a cloud of azure vapor, and landed next to Dukat. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around Dukat’s waist. Her immensely potent Primordial Azure Wood Spiritual Qi rapidly surged into Dukat's body, condensing within his missile launchers into the devastatingly powerful Primordial Azure Wood Divine Thunder.

The Hanyusheng wiped the blood from his eyes and sneered, "Courageous children, I favor you the most... Seeing you so cheerfully rush toward death, I am quite willing to clear up some mysteries for you. Do you find it strange that I am seemingly unkillable? And why does my power increase so rapidly? Aren't you curious?"

"Speak plainly, if you have something to say, don't waste time!" Gu Xichen, Kan Hua, and Siren roared in unison. The three exchanged glances, then burst into loud laughter—they were facing an expert at the Celestial Immortal level!

"Stop the rambling. Excessive talking is the patent of old women, though I suppose you qualify as one!" Dukat’s words were less fluid than the others, but far more malicious and hurtful.

The Hanyusheng turned ashen with rage and prepared to strike with a cold laugh. However, the satisfaction of his recent success made him pause. He decided he would first let these juniors grasp his greatness and magnificence before he struck them down; that would bring more pleasure.

He had wandered alone on the 'Great Dao' he had comprehended for several hundred years, and the Hanyusheng was desperately lonely. This loneliness was something no one in the Roman Kingdom could understand. He was the only one in the Roman Kingdom who had devoted himself to the boundless Great Dao; the other three Dark Sovereigns could never comprehend it.

With a mixture of restraint, pride, and the ecstasy of imminent success, the Hanyusheng recounted the secret behind his rapid power growth.

First, the Hanyusheng was the previous Director of the Roman Kingdom’s Academy of Sciences—the wisest man in the kingdom, possessing the greatest knowledge.

Understanding the Hanyusheng's identity explains why he was unkillable and why his power increased so swiftly.

The Hanyusheng cultivated what he haphazardly interpreted as the Great Dao: the ultimate integration of Yin and Yang into Taiji, which then evolved into Chaos. At the beginning of his cultivation, all his knowledge of Daoist arts came only from a few Daoist texts plundered by the Romans. Lacking foundation and guidance, the Hanyusheng practiced blindly based on these incomplete manuscripts.

The Daoists spoke of the concept of ten thousand clones. The Hanyusheng used his own genes and somatic cells to cultivate tens of thousands of clones of himself.

Since Daoist clones could roam the world freely, acting as if alive, the Hanyusheng painstakingly researched a machine capable of segmenting spiritual power. He partitioned eighty percent of his soul essence into tens of thousands of portions and injected them into his clones, directing them to begin cultivating.

Centuries of cultivation and comprehension deepened the Hanyusheng’s dark path. Ten years ago, he began gradually absorbing and devouring the power cultivated by these clones, causing his strength to leap into the Void stage in one go. Unfortunately, since he was not following the orthodox Daoist method of cloning, his clones began acting in ways identical to him.

The clones started fighting, devouring, and merging with each other—a process akin to raising venomous insects (gu). After absorbing the power of over one hundred thousand clones, the remaining clones began devouring each other until only a few remained whose strength rivaled his own, though their soul power was slightly weaker than his.

The Hanyusheng was driven to madness. Although these surviving clones were generally still under his control, the moment he revealed any intention to absorb their power, they instantly turned on him, attacking in concert, and had nearly devoured him several times, leaving him on the brink of death. If it weren't for the twenty percent of his original soul essence providing a subtle influence over the clones' actions, the Hanyusheng would have long since been annihilated by the very evil cultivation method he invented.

"So, you used our hands to eliminate your separate bodies! We thought we killed you, but in reality, we killed your clones!" Gu Xichen frowned.

This perverse Daoist method, combining biotechnology with Daoist tenets, was truly unheard of. But undeniably, the Hanyusheng had succeeded on some level. He had successfully acquired power approaching that of a Celestial Immortal. Although he could only manifest the strength of the Void stage peak, he had succeeded. Who knew if he had other methods to elevate his soul power to the Celestial Immortal level? If he could, he would truly become a Celestial Immortal entity.

A complete, highly intelligent Celestial Immortal is fundamentally different from Gu Xichen's Celestial Immortal-level puppets. While their power levels might match, the sheer destructive capacity of a complete, true Celestial Immortal would certainly surpass that of the Golden Armor Puppet.

The Hanyusheng smiled smugly and nodded: "Yes, you guessed correctly. Your last attack just now killed my final clone, allowing me to smoothly absorb all of its power. And that world-destroying energy has forged all the energy within my body into a single entity. The power I possess now... you can never imagine!"

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