The might of the Divine Crystals was formidable, and the White Wing Battleships were undoubtedly exceptionally superior vessels. However, the time required for a White Wing Battleship to fully harness the energy of a Divine Crystal for a full-power strike was excessively long, typically demanding half an hour to completely draw out all the energy contained within. This half-hour span sealed the doom of the Polaris Empire’s fleet.

The battleships’ standard attacks were utterly incapable of locking onto the Violet Wolf God. He darted through the void like a streak of violet light, dancing wildly across the expanse. Countless high-energy beams whipped past his body, yet not a single hair on him was grazed. Instead, the Violet Wolf God continually pounced upon one White Wing Battleship after another, effortlessly shattering them to dust and then swallowing the Divine Crystals within them whole.

Before the commander of the Polaris Empire fleet could devise a countermeasure, powerhouses among the dark creatures, led by Bloodhorn, ascended from their respective administrative planets and launched an assault on the White Wing Battleships hovering in the void outside the celestial bodies.

...Bloodhorn’s twin battle-axes, crafted from pure gold, unleashed twin dazzling flashes. The long arcs of light swept across hundreds of miles of space in an instant, cleaving three White Wing Battleships in half at the waist.

The Great Chief of the Wolf Clan merely stood in the air. After gathering a slight surge of strength, he opened his mouth and spat out seven successive beams of intense light. Seven White Wing Battleships, clustered too closely to evade, detonated in mid-air.

The Great Chief of the Blood Clan flapped his bat wings with a sinister air and soared upward. With a casual gesture, he drew a black talisman in the void, then flicked his finger lightly. Every crew member aboard the more than twenty White Wing Battleships within his sight convulsed simultaneously; the blood inside their bodies erupted uncontrollably, instantly draining them into desiccated husks.

The Great Chief of the Juling Race charged skyward, dragging a river of lightning several kilometers thick, accompanied by several hundred of his strongest clansmen. They simultaneously released all the energy within their bodies. A sprawling electric net instantly enveloped the entire planet, upon which countless colossal bolts of lightning furiously struck the White Wing Battleships, pulverizing them to smithereens in an instant.

Above the planets where Necromancers were active, massive, ash-black fog clusters, tens of kilometers in diameter, suddenly surged into the sky. White Wing Battleships were enveloped by these masses. When the mist dissipated, not a single living soul remained within the ships; everyone's spirit had been torn apart by the sharp, shrieking ghostly cries echoing from within the fog.

Powerful experts from various races fought above more than four hundred planets, their combined strength capable of delivering fatal blows to the White Wing Battleships. Within a mere three to five minutes, over seventy percent of the ten thousand White Wing Battleships were lost. The remaining two thousand-plus vessels, abandoning their attacks on the dark creatures on the planets’ surfaces, retreated in a hurried scramble amidst the horrified cries of their fleet commander. The dark creatures pursued relentlessly, using the unique methods of their respective races to destroy the fleeing ships one by one.

The White Wing Battleships posed a lethal threat to the dark creatures, who, possessing exquisitely sharp senses, perceived the danger these vessels presented to their lives. They hunted these battleships across the cosmos almost instinctively, refusing to allow a single one to escape. Under the combined assault of the allied races, the frantically fleeing White Wing Battleships were destroyed even before they could successfully jump into subspace; one ship after another exploded in the void. The Divine Crystals they carried were flung far afield by the blast forces, scattering across the heavens.

The Violet Wolf God followed the retreating fleet in a rage. The lure of the Divine Crystals was immense, but the force generated when those battleships exploded was tremendous, sending the crystals flying far away. Collecting them proved exceptionally difficult for the Violet Wolf God. He cursed the dark creatures who struck with too little restraint along the way, ordering them to destroy the battleships "gently."

Gu Xiechen followed silently behind the Violet Wolf God. His divine sense was incredibly sharp. When the thirty-thousand-meter-long White Wing Battleships exploded, the Divine Crystals—no larger than a human head—were blasted clear of the flames, yet they did not escape his divine lock. His vast divine sense acted like a nimble octopus; any Divine Crystal within the scope of Gu Xiechen's control was snatched across the distance and stuffed into a massive sack he carried in his hand.

The fleet retreated continuously, fleeing from one star system to another via myriad star gates. Yet, no matter how fast they fled, the savage dark creatures pursued them relentlessly.

By the time only the final three hundred-plus White Wing Battleships remained, the overwhelmingly powerful dark creatures had encircled them completely. Bloodhorn positioned himself at the forefront of all the dark beings and gruffly ordered the fleet commander to surrender immediately. In Bloodhorn’s words, surrendering now meant becoming slaves; surrendering later would mean becoming zombies. To punctuate Bloodhorn’s threat, several powerful Necromancers summoned hordes of zombies, skeletons, and undead nearby. The skeletons flitting about in the air so terrified the remaining White Wing Battleships that they instantly raised the white flag.

Gu Xiechen flew to the side of the Violet Wolf God, carrying the heavy sack, and swung it open to show him. Over four thousand fist-sized Divine Crystals inside emitted a captivating, dark, subtle light.

The Violet Wolf God paused, then nodded approvingly at Gu Xiechen and, opening his mouth, unceremoniously swallowed all the Divine Crystals. He let out a satisfied burp and looked gently at Gu Xiechen, laughing, "You are a good person—truly a good person. Look at those bastards; they're swift at killing, but don't expect them to do anything helpful for me."

Sighing deeply, the Violet Wolf God shook his head and said, "Your name is Huang You? That’s a fine name! Hmm, how about this: you follow me from now on. Later, you slice open all those bird-like battleships for me and extract these crystals inside."

Gu Xiechen glanced at the ships ahead, which were surrendering with their massive hatches thrown open chaotically, and nodded with a chuckle.

Before long, the dark creatures had captured the last three hundred-plus White Wing Battleships and casually executed some of the captured Polaris Empire officers whom they found most displeasing as a show of force. Under the strong advocacy of the Violet Wolf God, all the Divine Crystals from these captured three hundred-plus battleships, as well as those previously seized, were dug out and ended up filling the Violet Wolf God’s stomach.

Having devoured so many Divine Crystals, the sheen of the Violet Wolf God's fur seemed even brighter, and his eyes had grown significantly deeper. In Gu Xiechen's divine perception, the fluctuation of the Violet Wolf God's magic power had become more concealed, suggesting a transformation from quantitative change to qualitative change was underway. Moreover, the purple light sphere, formed from the Mother Body hovering beside him, appeared more solidified, with faint, peculiar talismans subtly emerging from its core.

After crushing this sudden invasion by the Polaris Empire fleet, the dark creatures accelerated their sweep of the surrounding star fields.

The Polaris Empire leadership had discovered the massacre in this star field from the communication logs of the destroyed fleet, yet the Empire strangely showed no reaction whatsoever.

Within three months, the dark creatures, having seized control of the Polaris Empire's star gate distribution, had already infiltrated nearly half of the Empire's territory—close to a hundred thousand administrative planets, with countless citizens either slaughtered or abducted. The wealth on the planets had been plundered bare, the structures painstakingly built over countless years were reduced to ruins, and the planetary environments had been arbitrarily reshaped by the dark creatures according to their preferences. Some planets had become entirely unsuitable for normal human habitation. For instance, the Scorpion-men, a race among the dark creatures that specialized in desert life, used dark magic to transform the surfaces of thousands of planets into deserts.

Yet, the Polaris Empire still offered no response. Initially, scattered troops mounted attacks on the dark creatures, and a few cultivators of moderate power levels clashed with them. By now, the Polaris Empire's military seemed to have vanished; not a single figure from the Polaris Empire could be seen again. The whereabouts of the Empire's cultivators were unknown; no one resisted the dark creatures’ incursions any longer.

Finally, on this particular day, the dark creatures arrived at the perimeter of the Polaris Empire’s Starlight Domain. They were separated from the Starlight Domain by the travel time through a single star gate. Furthermore, the Dark Shadow Clan, the most mysterious and unpredictable among the dark creatures, had gained control of the anti-air fortifications on both sides of the star gate. Large numbers of dark creature-controlled vessels poured out from the gate.

The path ahead was clear; the capital of the Polaris Empire lay just beyond.

But the Starlight Domain remained starkly empty. Not a single warship, not even a civilian transport, was visible. As the dark creature vessels slowly and cautiously approached the atmosphere of the administrative planets, everyone could see the panicked Polaris citizens fleeing everywhere on the ground. Without spacecraft, where could they possibly escape?

After several months of calculated proximity, Gu Xiechen had become the Violet Wolf God's closest and most trusted confidant. The Wolf God generally conducted all his affairs without excluding Gu Xiechen.

As was the case now, the Violet Wolf God was passionately engaged in mating with several female members of the Golden Wolf Clan, vigorously spraying his life essence in hopes of breeding more descendants for the Violet Wolf lineage. Gu Xiechen stood by, rolling his eyes in a corner of the cabin, his gaze fixed on the ground through the porthole.

The Violet Wolf God was in high spirits, thrusting with all his might, causing the Golden Wolf maid beneath him to emit rapid, piercing cries. The close-quarters combat lasted a full three hours. The Violet Wolf God finally roared in ecstatic release, collapsing onto the bed on his back, panting heavily.

After a long while, the Violet Wolf God rolled over, allowed the several trembling, flushed Golden Wolf maidens to wipe him clean, and slowly wagged his tail as he approached Gu Xiechen.

"Dong You, you are one of the few among the Minotaur race who still has some semblance of a brain. Can you tell me why we haven't encountered any resistance along our entire journey?"

Clearly, the Violet Wolf God had sensed that something was amiss. Could it be that the Polaris Empire had prepared defenses and laid many traps, deliberately luring them in only to seal the gate and crush them? Strangely, the Wolf Clan language also contained the idiom for "sealing the gate to beat the dog," and the Violet Wolf God was particularly sensitive to this phrase. During the war council two days prior, because the Golden Wolf King had accidentally uttered this very phrase, he had been severely punished by the Violet Wolf God.

Gu Xiechen feigned deep thought for a moment before nodding and saying, "My Lord Wolf God, command the brothers of all races to temporarily halt the massacre. Allow me to scout ahead and gather intelligence."

The Violet Wolf God licked his lips and said dismissively, "Then go scout. Uh, I will instruct those undead creatures to be a bit slower in their slaughter. However, don't you think you can gather sufficient intelligence just from their souls?"

Gu Xiechen looked at the Violet Wolf God with feigned surprise and said, "The problem is, we haven't obtained any useful intelligence so far. This suggests that the methods of those Necromancers aren't very effective."

"Is that so?" The Violet Wolf God, having only recently manifested, immediately lost faith in the soul magic of the Necromancers after hearing Gu Xiechen's words. He roared to the sky, using his divine sense to inform all the dark creatures to postpone the slaughter, then nodded to Gu Xiechen: "Then go and see. Go find out if you can gather any news."

Gu Xiechen bowed respectfully to the Violet Wolf God, turned, and departed from the dark creature army.

The dense swarm of dark creatures besieged the entire Starlight Domain. Excluding Starlight One, which had already been destroyed, the skies above the remaining thirty-five planets were choked with all manner of undead: zombies, skeletons, ghosts, and resentful spirits. These undead piled up so thickly they completely obscured the surface of the planets from any light.

The spirits of the beings from over one hundred thousand administrative planets, transformed into undead creatures, formed a thick canopy above the atmosphere, completely smothering those thirty-five planets.

Three days later, Gu Xiechen returned to the Violet Wolf God’s flagship, bearing injuries sustained while scouting. After whispering privately with the Violet Wolf God, Gu Xiechen left hurriedly again. Soon after, he returned with ten Daoists whose faces were motley and strange—save for one woman whose features were coldly beautiful, the other nine looked like overripe, grotesque fruits.

Gu Xiechen introduced them to the great chiefs and high-ranking officials of the various races, claiming that he had encountered danger while scouting and was attacked by several cultivators from the Polaris Empire. He said he only managed to escape thanks to the timely assistance of these ten Daoists.

Then, before the great chiefs and elders could raise any doubts, the Violet Wolf God decisively decreed that these ten Daoists were now his followers.

Not a single dark creature dared to utter a word of dissent. The Violet Wolf God was their living god; how could a god be wrong? Regardless of what Gu Xiechen and the Violet Wolf God had whispered, the ten Daoists had undeniably become part of the dark creatures.

Only after accepting the allegiance of the ten Daoists did the Violet Wolf God explain the reason behind the Polaris Empire’s apparent defensive vacuum. Naturally, the credit for gathering this intelligence was attributed to Gu Xiechen.

Months earlier, the new Emperor of the Polaris Empire, Ashura Viking, with the substantial assistance of the Wood Daoist and Merlin, had unified all the military might of the Polaris Empire, augmented by a group of eccentric cultivators whose origins were unknown, and launched a full-scale offensive against the Viking Empire.

When news of the dark creatures' invasion arrived, Ashura Viking dismissed it as insignificant. He even recalled all the fleets assigned to take over administrative authority in various star sectors, redirecting them entirely into the campaign against the Viking Empire.

Currently, the massive fleets of the Polaris Empire and the Viking Empire were locked in a bloody battle along their mutual border. Other six-star civilizations were restless, seemingly eager to participate in this unprecedented head-to-head war between six-star civilizations.

Bowing his head to nibble on his own foot, the Violet Wolf God looked up and boomed, "This is the best opportunity for us to conquer this star field!"

He paused, then roared loudly—

All the dark creatures simultaneously puffed out their chests, staring straight ahead at the Violet Wolf God.

The Violet Wolf God nodded with satisfaction. Laughing heartily, he rapidly issued a string of operational commands based on the advice Gu Xiechen had provided him.

All the dark creatures were divided into a staggering ten thousand major legions. Each legion comprised millions of strong warrior races, such as Minotaurs and Wolf-men, supplemented by an enormous contingent of undead creatures supporting the combat efforts. These ten thousand legions were required to conquer the entire territory of the Polaris Empire with maximum speed, transforming all Polaris Empire residents into undead creatures. Afterward, they were to converge rapidly and, taking advantage of the war between the Polaris Empire and the Viking Empire, launch a decisive strike against the Viking Empire!

Under this operational plan, any captured soldiers from six-star civilizations were to be immediately converted into puppets using the secret arts of the various races, employing these dark creature-controlled soldiers to fight against the other humans. Necromancers could control the souls of these soldiers; Blood Clan warriors could bestow the curse of the bite upon them—in short, by whatever means necessary, a massive army capable of proficiently utilizing high-tech battleships and engaging six-star civilization fleets had to be assembled as quickly as possible.

No one questioned the Violet Wolf God’s command. All the dark creatures rapidly dispersed their forces and marched toward the directions designated by the Violet Wolf God.

Gu Xiechen remained by the Violet Wolf God’s side, assisting him in leading one large contingent to sweep the entire Starlight Domain. Accompanying the Violet Wolf God were Gu Xiechen, the ten defecting Daoists, and one hundred elite guards assigned to the Violet Wolf God by the Wolf Clan. Each of these guards possessed strength infinitely close to the peak of a Five-Tribulation Loose Immortal.

The dark creatures soon seized control of the Polaris Empire's communication systems, and reports of each legion’s progress flowed back to the Violet Wolf God every moment. Without the protection of a regular army, the dark creatures advanced like cutting through dry grass, conquering the major star regions of the Polaris Empire. The downfall of the Polaris Empire seemed imminent.

On Starlight Two, the Violet Wolf God lay luxuriously in a hot spring pool while Gu Xiechen combed his long fur with a comb carved from gold.

"Mmm, mmm," the Violet Wolf God was utterly relaxed, unable to suppress small moans of pleasure. The hundred guards assigned to him by the Wolf Clan had long been sent off by Gu Xiechen, eagerly dispatched to burn, kill, and plunder other planets. Now, on the entire Starlight Two, only Gu Xiechen, the Violet Wolf God, and the ten defecting Daoists remained.

Firmly kneading the neck of the Violet Wolf God, Gu Xiechen smiled and said, "Wolf God, are you still interested in hearing about the secret regarding your ten followers that I mentioned to you that day?"

The Violet Wolf God’s eyes immediately widened. He smiled heartily at Gu Xiechen and nodded repeatedly.

"Of course, I want to know. You said that secret would benefit me, but there are too many high-ranking officials from other clans present. If they learn the secret, they will tell their gods to contend with me for the benefit. That’s why you didn't tell me what the benefit was that day—hurry up, tell me what the benefit is!"

Gu Xiechen laughed heartily, then swung his hand and produced the Primordial Yin Profound Bead.

White vapor coiled around the Primordial Yin Profound Bead, and an icy aura radiated outward, making the Violet Wolf God sneeze involuntarily.

"It really is a great secret." As a primordial being, the Violet Wolf God possessed an almost instinctive awareness of innate supreme treasures. He stared blankly at the Primordial Yin Profound Bead, almost drooling.

"Dao You, you truly are a good person. Such a treasure is for me?" The Violet Wolf God narrowed his eyes and smiled slyly at Gu Xiechen.

"Of course, it’s for you!" Gu Xiechen said with a serious expression. "If you hadn't cooperated with me in sending away the members of the other clans, I would never have dared to bring this treasure out. They would surely have killed me for it!"

The Violet Wolf God nodded repeatedly. "That’s right, that’s right. They absolutely would have killed you and seized this treasure. Ah, offering this treasure to their god would be a great merit."

"Indeed," Gu Xiechen nodded forcefully, then channeled all his true energy into the Primordial Yin Profound Bead, activating all the power he could currently control, and slammed it viciously against the Violet Wolf God's forehead. With a crack, the Violet Wolf God’s forehead caved in, his eyeballs bulging out, spewing streams of blood.

Before the Violet Wolf God could recover, the True Magnetic Primal Two-Polarity Split Light Sword pierced through his seven orifices, violently churning his internal organs.

Immediately following that, three Primordial Yin Thorns were thrust fiercely into three vital points: the Violet Wolf God's crown, heart, and lower abdomen. The extreme cold instantly froze his body solid.

The Violet Wolf God let out a sky-rending howl; he was about to counterattack when a rosy glow erupted around him, and the Ten Absolute Formation enveloped the surrounding void.

A flash of golden light erupted, catching the Violet Wolf God completely by surprise. Trapped at the core of the Ten Absolute Formation, he was smashed into a pulp of flesh and bone within moments. A wisp of primordial spirit, radiating boundless resentment, was casually extracted by Gu Xiechen.

Holding the Violet Wolf God's primordial spirit in his left hand and his primordial Mother Body in his right, Gu Xiechen’s eyes narrowed into a pleased slit.

"You can't blame me! Ashura Viking actually gave up resistance; I couldn't let you continue to harm so many people. My feud is only with the Polaris Empire; destroying the Polaris Empire is enough to satisfy me. The other six-star civilizations have no grudge against me, and I am unwilling to accumulate too much karmic slaughter!"

He roared with laughter three times towards the heavens, then shoved the struggling, roaring Violet Wolf God into the Primordial Yin Profound Bead for preservation.

Glancing at the hazy sky, Gu Xiechen pulled out his communicator and connected to Xiao Xiao, instructing him to immediately send a message through the Polaris Empire's communication system to all the dark creatures: The Polaris Empire's Ashura Viking, the Wood Daoist, and Merlin had jointly besieged the Violet Wolf God. They had successfully slain the Violet Wolf God on Starlight Two, and the Minotaur Huang You was utterly annihilated while protecting him!

The moment this message was sent, it seemed Gu Xiechen could hear the furious roars of countless werewolves, their rage pushed to the absolute limit. He thought of the staggeringly vast werewolf population within their tribal lands and couldn't help but shiver. Hastily, he formed a hand seal and struck the void, launching a magical inscription.

In the Death Starfield, the spatial tunnel shimmering with black and white light suddenly disintegrated.

The maddened dark creatures, still drenched in gore, rushed back toward the Starlight Domain. They found nothing but a few long strands of fur left behind by the Purple Wolf God; beyond that, they discovered absolutely nothing.

The dark creatures, nearly driven to frenzy, immediately began a desperate, frenzied retaliation against the Polaris Empire, their vast fleets rapidly surging toward the sector where the Polaris Empire and the Viking Empire were already locked in battle.

The Dark Tide was about to clash head-on with the Star Alliance's six-star civilization!