Similar to before, An Jianyou and the others did not immediately kill the powerful enemy, the Lord of the Blood Lake, but instead sealed him within the Netherworld.
However, the Lord of the Blood Lake was unique. He might have been granted power by the Crimson Moon. Even after his bloody expanse was shattered, most of it destroyed, and he was suppressed, it still possessed a rather fast recovery speed.
"At this rate, the Lord of the Blood Lake will recover more than half his strength and break free from the seal in just three days."
Of course, he would only break the sealing ritual and skills; the Lord of the Blood Lake could not breach the barrier of the Netherworld.
This was An Jianyou's domain. Even if the Lord of the Blood Lake fully recovered, she would not fear him. However, it would consume a considerable amount of her power, and expending energy on a 'super soldier' like the Lord of the Blood Lake was unwise.
She spread her five fingers, and five black pillars rose from the ground, firmly sealing the small bloody pond within.
Even the consciousness of the Lord of the Blood Lake was imprisoned.
But the bloody pond still writhed and expanded at a rapid pace.
Then, there was no then.
The expanding bloody pond activated the Netherworld's absorption ability. It recovered a little, and the Netherworld consumed a little. Not more, not less.
An Jianyou's eyes lit up as she watched.
"If only I had captured an infinite power bank like the Lord of the Blood Lake earlier, the scale of the Netherworld could have expanded much further."
...
An Jianyou's team returned to the command center to rest and await orders.
Meanwhile, many of the Ancients continued to fight on the front lines. However, they held no grudges, as the power displayed by An Jianyou and other human great powers had truly conquered them.
They were conserving their strength, undoubtedly for more important matters.
Indeed, it was so.
At this point, three days had passed since the true awakening of the evil gods.
For ordinary people and ordinary awakened individuals, these three days felt like an eternity. Even with the dual protection of the oasis walls and rituals, they remained fearful and despondent.
Some oases even erupted with defiled calamities.
This was unavoidable!
Even with the oasis walls operating at full power, they could not completely isolate the evil gods' defilement. If even a sliver of this defilement leaked in, it would be a disaster of extinction for an entire oasis.
"Roar~"
In Black Soil City, a Level Six Oasis.
The peace was suddenly shattered. Many shelters descended into chaos, and countless people hiding in their homes frantically broke through windows and doors.
Their skin had turned black, their faces contorted with ferocity, their eyes blood-red, and they lunged at anything living.
"They're contaminated, shoot, shoot quickly!"
The awakened individuals of the local oasis, wielding rune firearms produced by Xin Huo, opened fire with loud pops. Each shot could create a pit half a meter in diameter in the ground.
However, many humans infected by the defilement were also awakened individuals. After infection, their physiques became stronger, and they were fearless of death. The infection also came extremely suddenly. Many awakened individuals saw their companions suddenly turn bizarre, and before they could react, they were pounced upon and savagely gnawed.
After a while, the awakened individual, whose body was riddled with bites, stood up shakily. The scarlet color in the depths of his pupils slowly brightened. He too lunged at living beings.
Within Black Soil City, shouts of battle and explosions erupted. Simultaneously, piercing alarm sirens blared, echoing through the city like the mournful cry of deathbirds.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Black Soil City would soon become a dead zone.
Swipe—
Two young men wearing crimson flame trench coats appeared in the sky above Black Soil City. A scan of their divine senses caused their expressions to shift slightly.
"Is this a zombie crisis? Or an enhanced version!"
Some early 'zombies' that were defiled became mobile sources of contagion. Without direct contact, other survivors hundreds of meters away would gradually become defiled.
The oasis walls and city rituals protected against the outside, but not against the pollution that erupted from within.
"This is... calamity!"
"More tragic than the calamities that occurred on our Blue Star back then."
The young man was named 'Zhou Jing,' a graduate of the 366th session of the Xin Huo training camp, an ordinary Mythical Being with two divine natures.
Back then, when the Blue Star mysteriously descended and calamities swept across the land, he was still an ordinary person unable to even awaken. He could only migrate with the masses and hide in shelters.
"But if our mentor hadn't founded Xin Huo, established the training camp, and built the Dawn Defense Circle, our Blue Star would have suffered an equally tragic fate... In fact, in the early years, countless humans in Western countries died under the hands of the strange and calamitous events."
Among these two, Zhou Jing was the senior, and the other, slightly younger, was a junior.
Both had overcome numerous challenges after the establishment of the Blue Star Alliance, triumphing over countless peers and growing into skilled individuals.
As they spoke, the two continuously acted, eliminating the sources of defiled contagion one by one.
However, this method was still too slow.
They dared not use wide-area techniques and could only eliminate them one by one. Yet, even as they prioritized eliminating the larger sources of pollution, the remaining zombies were still countless and mixed among living people, making them difficult to deal with.
"Let's request reinforcements," Zhou Jing said.
"Reinforcements? We can take a little longer to clear out these fallen ones; this is hardly a matter that requires disturbing the higher-ups."
"This is no small matter. While we are capable of clearing it up, at this rate of spread, how many survivors will be left by the time we finish? The oasis itself might even shrink.
"Our duty is to stabilize the interior; we cannot take any risks. Send out the request for reinforcements, and it will be up to the higher-ups to decide if reinforcements arrive."
Compared to the novice Mythical Being he was accompanying, Zhou Jing was an experienced veteran.
He understood better the purpose of his mentor assigning them, Mythical Beings, to the rear.
The disaster in Black Soil City was a minor incident amidst the current calamities. However, Black Soil City was part of the oasis walls. Even a thousand-mile dam could be breached by an ant's nest. Any emerging calamity had to be nipped in the bud.
The signal was sent out quickly.
And based on the situation in Black Soil City, the headquarters dispatched Mythical realm experts capable of handling the current situation.
A disaster was quickly quelled, but the deceased could not be resurrected.
And incidents similar to Black Soil City had occurred hundreds of times in these three days, both large and small. Fortunately, they were all suppressed by the prepared Xin Huo Mythical teams.
In the sky above, the Red Sun, the Extreme Night, the Black River, the Old Days... and other phenomena continuously intertwined, spreading terrifying calamities.
Fang You gazed afar, directly into the depths between the unnameable evil gods, engaging in direct combat.
"Evil gods such as the Extreme Night Nether Lord, the Twilight of the Old Days, and the Mother of Desires have all awakened. However, the remaining four, the Eternal Frozen Land, the Calamity of Despair, the Weaver of Infinity, and the Fallen Emperor, are still nowhere to be seen... Even though the disaster of the evil gods has spread throughout the entire universe, there is no place for them to hide in this vast cosmos."
He had some speculations, but the information in his hands was insufficient to confirm them.
He could only use his guesses as pivots, constantly extending various scenarios and preparing countermeasures.
At this moment, the awakened evil gods above the gray mist could be roughly divided into two battlefields.
The Extreme Night Nether Lord, in league with the Twilight of the Old Days, jointly confronted the Crimson Moon.
The Shadow of Obscurity, alongside the Mother of Desires, jointly resisted the Distorted Black River.
"The evil gods are fighting fiercely, but they still retain their sanity. Otherwise, the Shadow of Obscurity would not have cooperated with the Mother of Desires."
The Shadow of Obscurity symbolized darkness, death, negative emotions, shadows, and other concepts, while the Mother of Desires represented life, reproduction, emotions... They should have been mortal enemies, but their alliance was born out of necessity.
Facing the Distorted Black River, the combined forces of these two unnameable evil gods still found themselves at a disadvantage.
He saw the Black River pierce through billions of shadow dimensions, dyeing the pink clouds with patches of gray and black.
"Is the Distorted Black River that powerful?"
"Perhaps, the Shadow of Obscurity was attacked by the Distorted Black River before its awakening, and its power is already damaged."
But even without this incident, the alliance of the two evil gods could probably only match the Distorted Black River fifty-fifty.
On the other side of the sky, the Crimson Moon also suppressed the Extreme Night Nether Lord and the Twilight of the Old Days with its great terror. The red moon was everywhere, its light illuminating every inch of space.
If a high-ranking being gazed at it for too long, a red moon would rise in their deepest minds, leading them to fall and become a devotee of the red moon.
Fang You was naturally unafraid. He was observing and preparing.
In his vision, besides the terrifying scenes of calamity in the sky, there was also a river of starlight formed by countless collected beliefs.
Over the past three days of incessant evil god calamities, the belief power generated by humans and other living beings had also been exceptionally strong.
These clusters of belief light were his confidence; he had been gathering them for a full three days.
Fang You maintained these clusters of belief light, preventing them from igniting for now.
"With so much belief as support, I can kill evil gods too!"
"However... I might only have one chance, a chance to gather all my strength and fight to the death."
"And there are far more than one evil god."
The evil gods were fighting, and they had allied. This was good news for the living beings.
With their alliance, the Extreme Night Nether Lord and the Twilight of the Old Days faced the Crimson Moon. Even though they were still at a disadvantage, the gap was not as large. Otherwise, they could not have battled for three days and three nights.
The Crimson Moon suppressed the other two, causing them to weaken, but she herself also sustained damage.
Fang You saw it clearly!
The Crimson Moon could devour other existences, but before devouring, she was genuinely weaker! This was an opportunity.
They had to seize every opportunity they could.
"And soon, the opportunity they have been waiting for will arrive."
...
Destiny is inscrutable.
As expected, the unexpected occurred.
On Battlefront One, cannon fire still raged, but Liu Feng's expression changed upon receiving the news.
"Retreat!"
His voice boomed, "Evil God, Shadow of Obscurity, has arrived. We will fight relying on the city walls!"
The faces of the Ancients turned grim. Each of them flung off their entangled opponents and turned into streams of light, flying backward.
They would not doubt the accuracy of Lord Liu Feng's words, but...
"Why would an evil god come here? Aren't they still fighting?"
Indeed, they were fighting, and a victor was about to be decided.
Precisely because of this...
In the distance, there was churning gray mist, like waves of black, with strange beings, a desolate and ruined land, and mountains. However, the Ancients could see an endless shadow stretching from the edge of their vision.
Despite the area beyond the oasis walls being devoid of any light and shrouded in darkness, they could still clearly see the approaching shadow.
A conceptual shadow!
The Shadow of Obscurity herself, she, she, she had arrived!
An unspeakable pressure surged, overwhelming them, making the Ancients feel suffocated.
"Do not panic. This evil god is heavily wounded. She likely wants to recover her strength by devouring us living beings. We need to stop her."
Stop... intercept an unnameable evil god?
The Ancients swallowed.
But no one deserted, as there was nowhere to flee.
When retreat was no longer an option, they could only fight to the death.
An Jianyou, Chi Yan, Wei Bao, Hei Dao... the top powerhouses of the Xin Huo organization arrived one after another.
Only their mentor was nowhere to be seen.
At this critical juncture, that adult was still at ease, not even needing to be present at the scene?
The Ancients roared in their hearts, and their tension eased considerably.
The darkness, the all-consuming shadow, soon spread to the front of the oasis walls.
Liu Feng raised his Divine-Demonic Sword. "My swordsmanship is invincible; even an evil god cannot stop it."
He rode his sword upwards.
The Great Sun Divine Venerable, the Moon Lord, and the Lord of Stars who rushed from other defense zones gritted their teeth and prepared to act.
Their shadows suddenly stretched.
In front of the oasis walls, the shadows of the Ancients all lengthened.
From their respective shadows, a figure, entirely black but with the same facial features as them, emerged.
Their shadows!
Boom—
The Lord of Stars' face changed again. "The power of this shadow is no less than the original body! And it has used the same abilities... even the authority's power has been replicated!"
This, this was the true power of an unnameable evil god?
Before they had even truly fought, a despair-inducing pressure washed over them.
The powerhouses were forced to fight their shadow doppelgangers.
Liu Feng unleashed countless sword rivers, his eyes icy. "How can my swordsmanship be imitated by you!"
"Slash—!"
After dozens of slashes, the brilliant sword river finally pierced through the imposter and continued unabated, striking the encroaching shadow.
It cut out...
A ripple.
But Liu Feng was not alone.
An Jianyou made a move, her red clothes and white sashes merging, unleashing supreme power that the shadows could not replicate.
A giant silk ribbon, stretching for tens of thousands of miles, flew from the ground and constantly weaved through the shadows.
Hei Dao formed a formation.
"The legion is immortal, we fight to the death without retreat!"
The heroic spirits roared, and formations gathered one after another, like reefs resisting the encroaching shadow.
They held.
But they only held back a small part.
Fang You was certain that An Jianyou and the others had injured this evil god to some extent, but the Shadow of Obscurity was determined to break through the oasis walls.
With their current means, they could not stop her.
And if the battle of the evil gods erupted within the city walls, it would be disastrous.
"I originally intended to contend with the evil god using personal strength, but looking at it now, that was a naive idea. I must use some true trump cards."
Two figures walked out from beyond the oasis walls.
The two figures bore a three-part resemblance to each other.
One was mature, the other innocent and romantic, appearing like sisters.
They were Liu Shang and Fang Liu Yin.
However, their strength alone was naturally insufficient to directly confront an evil god.
They held hands.
The majestic silhouette of a tree emerged from behind them, transitioning from ethereal to solid.
The Eternal Object, the World Tree of Yidola, revealed itself.
Its branches swayed, its leaves like myriad stars, each a world like a star.
Thousands? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands?
The power of infinite worlds converged, white and green light intertwined, forming a dam that stood before the tide of shadows.