The Pure Ones of the Heart stared, their eyes wide, as they saw the demon-catcher Fang Gen. Li Xin drew a sharp, deep breath. They exchanged glances, and the Archangels spoke in unison: “Doomsday Judgment is indeed a fine idea. For these pious believers, for those who perished miserably, we must do this.”
Hatanlong Yin raised his head, speaking in a heavy tone, “I believe someone needs to take charge of this land of faith. I feel it would be most appropriate for me to temporarily manage the faith here. What do you all think?”
The Archangels fell instantly silent, their gazes flickering, and not a single one offered Hatanlong Yin a direct affirmative answer.
Hatanlong Yin clenched his fists tightly. A restless, silvery divine light coated his body’s surface, and he asked in a low voice, “Then, you have objections?”
One Archangel stepped forward, speaking smoothly, neither subservient nor aggressive, “Lord Hatanlong Yin. This operation is to be led by us. You are merely to cooperate in the action.”
Another Archangel stated plainly, “The Power Angel Legion is the regular army of our race, always responsible for external campaigns. Matters concerning the spreading of faith and seizing believers should remain our purview!”
Yet another Archangel chuckled, “We shall not compete with Lord Hatanlong Yin for the believers present here, but as for the ownership of this land of faith, that warrants further discussion.”
Hatanlong Yin’s eyelids drooped. He said coldly, “Is that so?”
Gu Xiechen suddenly stepped in front of Hatanlong Yin and spoke softly, “My Lords, to be granted an audience with you is the greatest honor for us believers. Regarding the jurisdiction of this parish, perhaps it should be left to the believers to decide. Forgive my presumption, but with external enemies watching hungrily, wasting time over parish ownership is hardly worth the effort.”
Hatanlong Yin glanced gloomily at the Archangels opposite him. The twelve Archangels simultaneously retreated a step, and two of them manifested fist-sized white crystals in their palms, within which a faint golden divine light shimmered. Hatanlong Yin’s brow furrowed. He glanced at Feng Xiechen, his eyes filled with doubt.
Gu Xiechen met Hatanlong Yin’s gaze with self-assurance, his expression rich with unspoken meaning—Rest assured, everything is completely under control!
After a moment of contemplation, Hatanlong Yin nodded. He said faintly, “Then…”
Gu Xiechen interrupted him, speaking gravely, “Then, before your Lordships proceed with the Doomsday Judgment upon those heretics, I implore you to address the believers gathered here! To witness your true forms is a tremendous encouragement for the faithful!”
The eyes of the angels lit up, and they all nodded in agreement. Eliminating the Star Alliance Coalition forces outside was one thing, but securing the faith of this bountiful land of belief was paramount.
Under Gu Xiechen’s guidance, the thirteen High Angels, who had increased their stature to about ten meters tall, slowly approached a military base encircled by nearly a hundred cathedrals. Gu Xiechen introduced to Hatanlong Yin and the others that this military base, named Gabriel I, originally housed 700,000 soldiers and logistical personnel. The nearby towns boasted 5.9 million devout residents. However, in the attack by the heretics, half the soldiers and staff perished, and fewer than thirty thousand ordinary citizens survived.
Sensing the power of faith permeating the air above the base and in the two ruined cities nearby, the eyes of Hatanlong Yin and the other angels seemed to ignite. Millions of devout believers—what an immense source of power!
The people on the ground had also noticed the thirteen colossal angels appearing in the sky, and gradually hundreds of thousands gathered below. Gu Xiechen pointed towards Hatanlong Yin and shouted sharply, “Brothers, our God has descended! This is our God, our faith! We shall come under the wings of God, and from this moment forth, darkness, fear, and death shall forever depart from us!”
The hundreds of thousands of ‘civilians and military’ in the city were all hypnotized; subconsciously, they had accepted their status as fervent believers. Yet, this fervor differed slightly from true fanaticism. Only after Gu Xiechen gave a secret signal and pointed at Hatanlong Yin did they erupt in a cheer. The power of faith from hundreds of thousands converged into a torrent of pale gold that rushed into Hatanlong Yin’s body. Hatanlong Yin was suddenly bolstered by the faith power of hundreds of thousands of ‘fervent believers’; his body momentarily swelled beyond his control, and the pleasure was so intense he nearly groaned aloud.
The complexions of the twelve Archangels darkened, and they glared furiously at Hatanlong Yin, who was wreathed in golden light, but they were utterly unable to utter a word.
Angels often encountered such things when proselytizing. Some intelligent beings stubbornly refused to become believers, yet when another angel spoke to them for just a few words, an entire race would suddenly pledge allegiance. Such matters of faith could not be faked by any angel; they could only watch helplessly as Hatanlong Yin monopolized the worship of these hundreds of thousands of devout believers.
Hatanlong Yin laughed triumphantly toward the heavens. He gleefully plucked one of his own silver feathers and handed it to Gu Xiechen, saying in a deep voice, “This is a holy technique unique to me. Study it well and practice diligently!”
The Archangels were startled in horror, but Gu Xiechen was overjoyed. He eagerly accepted the silver feather and thanked Hatanlong Yin with profound respect. He sent his divine sense into the feather and discovered within it a highly unique body-forging cultivation method that incorporated the application of the Laws of Space and Gravity—a technique purely focused on overwhelming force.
This cultivation method, like all secret techniques of the Holy See, could be practiced as long as one possessed faith power, requiring extremely low aptitude or insight. Essentially, anyone who wasn’t vegetative could cultivate it. Furthermore, those with singularly focused minds produced exceptionally pure faith power due to their concentrated spirit, thus achieving better cultivation results with this technique.
It seems rather excellent. Faith power is easily obtained. After hypnotizing them with Mohe’s peculiar technique, even a pig could be made to generate a certain amount of faith power, and we still control the method of cultivation. This can vastly elevate the strength of the Earth Federation!
While calculating this inwardly, Gu Xiechen led Hatanlong Yin and the others across several continents of Heaven Star, channeling the faith power of everyone on the entire planet into Hatanlong Yin. Millions of relatively strong soldiers providing faith power simultaneously, and they were all hypnotized ‘quasi-fervent believers’—the faith power exceeded Hatanlong Yin’s expectations in both quantity and quality. The strength offered by tens of millions of soldiers was even several times that provided by all the believers in his own dedicated land of faith!
The Archangels beside him turned green with jealousy, while Hatanlong Yin’s smile stretched from ear to ear. He hastily urged the Archangels to prepare the deployment for the Doomsday Judgment immediately.
The Archangels suddenly felt a loss of motivation, but this was a task assigned by the higher-ranking angels. Even though Hatanlong Yin had claimed this territory of faith for himself, they could only sullenly obey his commands. They returned to the interior of the star within the Heaven Star System, leading all the angel legions to prepare to launch a Doomsday Judgment of a certain magnitude.
Three hundred thousand Power Angels bypassed surveillance from the Star Alliance warships, dividing into several thousand squads to infiltrate Heaven Star secretly. They established a massive Holy Power Formation on the planet's surface, negating any potential threat the Doomsday Judgment might pose to Heaven Star.
When Gu Xiechen inquired about the exact method of attack for the Doomsday Judgment, Hatanlong Yin merely gave him a mysterious smile, telling him he would know soon enough by continuing to watch. Hatanlong Yin frankly told Gu Xiechen that if he controlled the Doomsday Judgment attack alone, he was confident he could do so without deploying the Holy Power Formation and without any residual shockwave affecting Heaven Star. However, since twelve Archangels were controlling the attack alongside him, precautions were necessary to safeguard Heaven Star properly.
The Archangels didn’t dare attack Hatanlong Yin, but they couldn’t guarantee that one of their fingers wouldn’t twitch, causing the Doomsday Judgment to instantly shatter Heaven Star. Such accidental damage to a tribal land of faith had happened before, was still happening, and perhaps was unavoidable in the future.
Three days later, Gu Xiechen once again left the atmosphere of Heaven Star alone, slowly pacing his way towards the Star Alliance Coalition fleet.
This time, Sar, Viking, and the others didn’t give Gu Xiechen a chance to speak. As soon as he approached within a thousand kilometers of the Coalition fleet, tens of thousands of bizarrely shaped small fighters swarmed toward him. Trailing the fighters were ultra-high-speed warships, followed by rapid assault cruisers, and then bombardment ships specialized in anti-planet attacks. Trailing these were one hundred fully charged White Wing-class warships and a Death Star vessel equally saturated with energy.
Gu Xiechen let out an angry cry. He theatrically raised his silver longsword with both hands and pointed it toward the void. The secret technique bestowed by Hatanlong Yin was activated.
Five hundred kilometers ahead, a fist-sized sphere of white light suddenly surged forth, spewing an overwhelmingly powerful gravitational field. The engines of tens of thousands of small fighters that swept past the sphere howled as they were sucked into the light sphere like sand caught in a whirlpool. Moving at extreme velocity, the fighters crashed into each other, instantly exploding into bursts of firelight everywhere.
Before long, a large number of smaller warships also swept past the light sphere, and these vessels, small, lightly armored, and insufficiently powered, immediately met the same fate as the fighters.
As the space erupted in flames, one hundred White Wing-class warships broke through the firelight and surged forward. Although the small light sphere released by Gu Xiechen possessed intense gravitational pull, it proved somewhat inadequate against the powerful engine units of the White Wing-class vessels. The White Wing-class warships broke through the light sphere’s obstruction and sped within two hundred kilometers of Gu Xiechen.
At such close range, the White Wing-class warships were fully confident they could strike Gu Xiechen.
Just as they expected, the main cannon fire from eighty White Wing-class ships struck Gu Xiechen’s body, and twenty localized spatial collapses caused by spatial folding also impacted him. At this proximity, there was no room for Gu Xiechen to dodge.
But Gu Xiechen didn't intend to dodge. A set of crystal-clear armor, shimmering with dazzling divine light, suddenly enveloped him. Six pairs of transparent white wings sprouted from the armor’s back, occasionally beating to release clouds of sparkling, brilliant feathers. A fist-sized golden cross hovered over his chest, emitting wave-like ripples of holy light that spread outward, perfectly shielding Gu Xiechen within the luminous pattern.
The main cannon beams from the eighty White Wing-class ships were neutralized and dissolved by the sparkling feathers sprayed from the armor before they could reach Gu Xiechen. The twenty spatial collapse attacks only managed to crack the space slightly before the light ripples from the golden cross swiftly smoothed the spatial fissures, restoring the void to tranquility.
Watching the battle through the surveillance system, the Star Alliance high command was dumbfounded. What was that thing on Gu Xiechen’s body?
Gu Xiechen, meanwhile, laughed heartily, raising his longsword and charging toward the warships ahead. The armor was the Armor of Life, worn only by high-ranking figures equivalent to Legion Commanders of the Angel Legions, possessing defensive power equivalent to a Mid-grade Immortal Artifact, capable of withstanding the full-force blow of a beginner Golden Immortal at least. As for the golden cross, it was Hatanlong Yin’s natal holy artifact, a supreme treasure that emerged with him at his birth. This golden cross contained a portion of the Laws of Space; smoothing out the spatial fissures caused by minor spatial collapses was child’s play.
Hatanlong Yin currently cherished Gu Xiechen like his own eyesight, so he unreservedly lent his natal holy artifact to Gu Xiechen.
Amidst the gasps of Sar, Viking, and the others, Gu Xiechen plunged into the formation of White Wing-class warships. His longsword whipped up a massive silver rain of light, effortlessly tearing through the ships’ armor. High-temperature, blazing flames surged into the vessels, detonating everything flammable within them. Nearly a hundred White Wing-class ships detonated simultaneously, their fierce fires illuminating the void, illuminating the pile of scrap metal—the fighters and warships sucked together by that tiny white light sphere.
The Death Star ship trailing behind hadn't even managed to fire before Gu Xiechen transformed into a streak of light and struck the armor plating of the vessel.
A cold laugh from Hatanlong Yin echoed from the golden cross. A powerful golden beam shot out, having poured all its energy into the main cannon. The Death Star ship had only managed to generate a shield barely three inches thick, which the golden light shattered instantly. Before the formation within the Death Star ship could react, Gu Xiechen blasted the secret formation-breaking mantra into the hull through his feet.
With a tremendous explosion, the two-hundred-kilometer-diameter Death Star ship was pierced by the golden light. To outside observers, it appeared as if the immense power of the golden beam had utterly destroyed the entire ship. A golden aura bled out from the core of the Death Star ship, slowly enveloping the entire vessel. The Death Star ship burned like a flammable sponge and was soon reduced to ash.
Gu Xiechen flew back to the front of the Star Alliance formation. His massive psychic energy fluctuation enveloped the hundreds of thousands of warships ahead, relaying his voice to them clearly.
“Evil heretics, sinners who attempt to subvert the glory of My Lord, turn back! This is your final chance!”
Gu Xiechen was answered with a massive barrage. Hundreds of thousands of warships, near and far, attacked him simultaneously. Such concentrated firepower made even Gu Xiechen’s expression change. Fearing his armor might not withstand such an assault, he hastily transformed into a streak of light and shot upward. Hundreds of thousands of powerful beams pierced the afterimage Gu Xiechen left behind, stirring up a dazzling rain of light.
“Venerable Lord Hatanlong Yin, they are beyond saving! Annihilate them!”
Gu Xiechen smiled easily, “After destroying them, we shall conquer their territory and guide their populace to become the lambs of My Lord!”
In the core of the star within the Heaven Star System, Hatanlong Yin nodded gravely. “Irredeemable sinners! You all witnessed how they treated a devout believer! Two violent assaults in succession! Unforgivable, absolutely unforgivable! Such sinners deserve to go to hell.”
The twelve Archangels nodded in unison and shouted together.
Inside the star, millions of angels linked hands, forming a complex, multi-layered three-dimensional sphere. Hatanlong Yin and the other thirteen highest-ranking angels occupied the center of this sphere, which was precisely the core region of the star. They were surrounded by pure, rapidly compressed white flames—the most violent and turbulent region within a star, where temperatures reached an astonishing billion degrees Celsius. If these angels, creatures born deep within stars, could not endure such heat.
Hatanlong Yin and the others began chanting an ornate incantation. The chanting of millions fused into a single, unified wave. Rings of white and silver divine light spread out from the angels’ bodies, gradually permeating the entire interior of the star. As Hatanlong Yin and the others chanted, the volume of the star slightly decreased; its diameter compressed inward by about a hundred kilometers.
Several hundred gigantic bubbles, thousands of kilometers in diameter, appeared on the star’s surface. These bubbles were filled with searing flames capable of destroying all artificial materials in this universe. Purple-red flames spun within the bubbles. As immense volumes of fire were continuously compressed into the bubbles, the flames inside the gigantic voids gradually compressed into a material as viscous as magma.
The power of all the angels converged in the palms of the thirteen leading angels. Accompanied by the final word of the chant, the thirteen angels simultaneously fired the blinding spheres of light in their hands in all directions.
The star of Heaven Star trembled once. With this slight shudder, the hundreds of bubbles on the star’s surface vanished in an instant amidst blinding white light.
The next moment, thick clouds of fire enveloped the entire Star Alliance Coalition fleet. Countless scorching fireballs surged in from all directions, with white holy flames dancing within them. All vessels below the Star Alliance's Tier One warships turned into wisps of smoke within one-tenth of a second of the fire clouds appearing. One second later, all Tier One warships began to melt under the flames, gradually turning to ash, while every crew member inside was burned away into thin smoke.
The White Wing-class warships endured the sea of fire for a full fifteen seconds, demonstrating the extraordinary quality and materials used in their construction.
The Death Star ships belonging to twenty-five Six-Star Civilizations, over a hundred in total, retreated into subspace amidst rolling thick smoke, attempting to evade the terrifyingly destructive flames. But the fire clouds pursued them into subspace, clinging to the surface of the Death Star ships and continuously burning them. The intense holy flames amplified the fire clouds’ power, and under the Doomsday Judgment—a fusion of the star's immense power and the angels’ holy might—the Death Star ships were finally reduced to pools of molten liquid drifting in subspace.
Brilliant sunlight immediately bathed Heaven Star. How many days had it been since Heaven Star had seen a ray of daylight?
Gu Xiechen stared at the clean void and suddenly sighed heavily.
The road ahead was vast; how could humanity be allowed to multiply in this stellar expanse? Gu Xiechen could no longer bear to witness the destruction of Earth!
Midway through a sigh, a cloud of eerie blue plasma mist suddenly jetted out from an extreme distance ahead, and a colossal entity leaped out of subspace.
It was an artificial celestial body so large it induced despair.
It was a massive celestial body shaped like a dragon’s head.
It was the ultimate crystallization of the Old Ancestor Council’s technology—the Star Annihilation Ship!
One hundred and fifty Dragon Star Envoys at or above the Fifth Grade of Celestial Immortal rank, backed by a formidable force of thousands of Celestial Immortals!
The Star Annihilation Ship was here! (To be continued)