Chapter 3046: Reinforcements
Lu Yin was quite surprised, as the fact that the Infinity Empire had tried to invade G.o.d"s Domain and been repelled was an amazing coincidence. He was also interested to learn that G.o.d’s Domain was capable of driving back the Infinity Empire. When wielding the power of four elephants, the Divine Maiden possessed a level of strength comparable to the Seven SkyG.o.ds. Even if the Emperor Shang’s twelve-ring mecha was as powerful as a sequence powerhouse, there was no possibility of the mecha being more powerful than the Seven SkyG.o.ds. Reaching a higher level would mean becoming an Ortuser,[1] or even a Dukkhan.
If the Infinity Empire possessed that level of strength, it was highly unlikely that they would have been routed by G.o.d’s Domain.
Lu Yin fell into deep thought. The Infinity Empire and G.o.d"s Domain... things are getting interesting.
When Lu Yin had left G.o.d"s Domain, he had shared Aeternus Nation’s coordinates with them so that the people of G.o.d’s Domain could flee to the Origin Universe if they encountered an unbeatable foe. There was no telling when such a crisis might occur.
G.o.d"s Domain was constantly being threatened by Di Qiong. If the Infinity Empire had encountered G.o.d"s Domain, it was also possible that the Infinity Empire had encountered Di Qiong and Aeternus as well, which would connect everything together.
Lu Yin wanted to go after the Aeternals’ other Scourges after forcing the First Scourge to seal itself off. This was the perfect time to attack the other Scourges.
The Infinity Empire needed to join the war against Aeternus.
Lu Yin left the jiao in the Astral Beast Domain for the time being. The only Progenitor-level being that the Infinity Empire knew was in the Fifth Mainland was the jiao.
As for Bu Qing and the pilots, Lu Yin had their mechas moved away so that they could be studied. The pilots themselves were not particularly valuable, which meant that Lu Yin needed to find a use for them.
Half a month pa.s.sed. During this time, the jiao occasionally flashed its claws and terrorized the Infinity Empire"s battleships that were stationed around the spatial rift. The people aboard were horrified by the beast.
The jiao exerted an incredible level of pressure. The entire reason why the Infinity Empire’s mechas were so large was due to their admiration for enormous creatures. However, that admiration was touched by fear.
The jiao was quite content, as it had been too long since it had last frightened anyone.
One day, a mecha appeared from the spatial rift, and it immediately moved to confront the jiao.
This mecha was a similar blue to Fei Sui’s, but a deeper color. Additionally, it lacked the smooth hull that Fei Sui"s and Bu Qing"s mechas boasted, and it instead had many scars from numerous battles.
"Are you the strongest creature in this universe? I am Fei Yan, a Marshal of the Infinity Empire," a voice rang out from the mecha.
The jiao lifted its body, letting out a roar as it brandished its claws in an attempt to intimidate the mecha.
Inside the mecha, Fei Yan frowned. "I am talking to you."
The jiao continued to roar, trying to scare the mecha with its sharp claws.
Fei Yan"s expression fell. "Given your strength, you shouldn"t be a dumb beast. Are you really refusing to communicate with me?"
The jiao again raised its sharp claws, continuing its intimidation tactics.
Fei Yan"s expression grew grim. "You are seeking death!"
With this declaration, he stepped forward in a flash of blue light. The mecha instantly appeared in front of the jiao, and as the beast stared on in confusion, a fist flew at it.
The mecha"s fist was large and hard.
The punch forced the jiao’s neck to turn, and after that, Fei Yan continued to rain blows down on the jiao’s neck. He was targeting what should be the most vulnerable part of the creature.
The mecha’s speed meant that Fei Yan’s a.s.sault did not let up in the slightest.
After being struck dozens of times, the jiao grew angry, and it wildly swung its claws. There was a loud bang as the mecha was sent flying, but Fei Yan was unharmed. The jiao’s claws were unable to breach the mecha’s shield.
At the same time, the mecha was also unable to do any real damage to the jiao.
Fei Yan eyed the jiao suspiciously, impressed by its toughness.
The jiao’s eyes flared, and it suddenly charged at Fei Yan.
Time pa.s.sed, and many astral beasts stared on as two ma.s.sive objects clashed in s.p.a.ce. Fei Yan’s mecha was fast and possessed incredible defensives, while the jiao was enormous and could release large attacks. It was also incredibly tough, and neither of the two could overpower the other.
Lu Yin calmly watched the exchange from the distance. He knew that, if the jiao was given enough time, it would eventually win. Lu Yin had already seen the extent of the jiao"s durability. The mecha was a machine, and there was a limit to how long it could withstand the abuse for. On top of that, its ring energy was finite.
The battle dragged on, and a long time later, Fei Yan gasped for air as he stared at the jiao. The beast was still brandishing its claws, looking completely unharmed.
Eleven rings. This beast definitely has the strength of eleven rings.
Fei Yan knew that he could not win, but luckily, while the jiao was incredibly robust, it was not particularly fast, and it lacked the destructive power of a real eleven-ring creature. It was also quite stupid. If not for all that, Fei Yan would have already died.
Victory was impossible, and negotiations were completely out of the question. With that, the Infinity Empire resolved to explore the universe.
Fei Yan was reluctant to do this, but the empire had commanded the universe to be explored. If their forces encountered similarly formidable creatures, it was very likely that the invasion would be abandoned.
As for Bu Qing and Fei Su, they were left to fend for themselves.
This was simply the nature of war. In the process of conquering countless parallel universes, the Infinity Empire had witnessed countless separations and deaths of their own people. They also had to endure terrible losses.
The Supreme Emperor had lost four of his sons, and the Grand Marshal had also lost a son.
Fei Yan ordered the army to release the mechanical hummingbirds so that they could scout the universe.
The jiao moved to attack the mechanical hummingbirds, but Fei Yan rushed forward to stop the beast. However, this time around, the jiao did not fight back at all. It was focused entirely on stopping the mechanical hummingbirds, and it accepted all of Fei Yan"s attacks without putting up any sort of resistance.
Given the jiao’s enormous size, as well as the other astral beasts intercepting the mechanical hummingbirds, none of them could escape the area.
Fei Yan started to feel uneasy, and a horrifying suspicion started to sprout.
The jiao seemed to lack any form of intelligence and was clearly quite stupid, and yet it knew enough to stop the mechanical hummingbirds from exploring the universe. Could the beast be acting under the orders of someone else?
That was a very distinct possibility. Fei Yan already knew that the universe had humans and giants, which meant that there was intelligent life present. It was rare to encounter a universe where beasts ruled over other sapient species, and it was also quite clear that the jiao was acting on someone’s orders.
The more that Fei Yan considered the matter, the more confident he was in his suspicions.
Far away, Lu Yin frowned. The jiao"s actions were too obvious, and it had likely alerted the Infinity Empire to the fact that something more was going on. However, Lu Yin did not have any choice in the matter. The Infinity Empire could not be allowed to explore the Fifth Mainland.
Even if the jiao had ignored the mechanical hummingbirds, they would have still been destroyed, which would have caused the Infinity Empire to make the same conclusion.
It had been necessary to take action.
If everything else failed, Lu Yin would have taken action himself.
The Infinity Empire was able to maintain spatial rifts with ring energy, while the Fifth Mainland could use sourcebox arrays to do the same thing.
Lu Yin had already made his preparations, and if the Infinity Empire decided to abandon their invasion, Lu Yin would have Grandmaster Xiu Ming and Highsage Grandmaster take action.
People all had their own priorities and morals. Seeing the jiao’s actions, Fei Yan could guess that things were more complicated than what he knew, but he decided to not report the matter to the empire. If he did, the universe would be categorized as a much greater threat, and the empire might choose to abandon the invasion. That would mean abandoning Fei Yan’s son as well.
If there was a chance, Fei Yan wanted to take it.
These were his thoughts as he returned to the spatial rift to request for more reinforcements. There were things that did not need not to be said, while there were other matters that could be discussed.
The jiao roared. It wanted to attack, but it was held back by Lu Yin.
It would be best to not push the Infinity Empire too far, as Lu Yin did not want them to leave.
No one could say for certain what was on the other side of the spatial rift; it might be the Infinity Empire itself, or a parallel universe that the empire used as a relay point.
The Infinity Empire was not a part of the known megaverse, and Lu Yin would not be able to find it with Bi Rong’s compa.s.s.
On the other side of the spatial rift, a ma.s.sive s.p.a.ceship that could carry dozens of mechas loomed. Such a ma.s.sive vessel was nonexistent in the Origin Universe.
Once Fei Yan was back inside the ship, he emerged from his mecha. As he walked out, he received various salutes.
His face solemn, Fei Yan approached a communication station. "Connect me to the Marshal."
A middle-aged man with a stern, cold expression and an intimidating scar on his face soon appeared on the display.
"How did things go?" This man was the Grand Marshal of the Infinity Empire, Bu Wu.
Fei Yan"s expression was grave. "This place will be difficult to handle. That creature has a defensive capability of eleven rings, though it thankfully lacks the matching destructive power, and it also isn’t particularly fast."
"Were you able to scout the universe?"
"We failed to do so. The creature"s size alone allows it to destroy vast regions of s.p.a.ce, which made it impossible for our mechanical scouts to leave the surrounding area."
"What do you estimate the level of that universe to be?"
Fei Yan considered the question. "We need eleven-ring mechas."
"We don"t have them," Bu Wu answered bluntly.
Fei Yan frowned. "Without that level of power, we can"t defeat that creature. Your daughter has also been captu-"
"I know, but that’s her fate. We can’t worry about that," Bu Wu interrupted.
Fei Yan fell silent. It was not that Bu Wu was indifferent to his daughter"s plight, but that his position simply did not allow him to wallow in his emotions. When his own son had died in a battle, he had revealed almost no signs of emotion, but had proceeded to seclude himself for thirty days. When he returned, his hair had turned white.
That incident had earned the man a great deal of respect across the entire Infinity Empire.
He only had his daughter remaining, and the pressure he had to be suffering could not be imagined.
"We don"t have any eleven-ring mechas, but I"ve used some of my personal connections to get Jiang Dongjian to help. If he can"t win, we"ll have to abandon that universe. We can"t spend an indefinite amount of time exploring a single universe when we could be exploring others," Bu Wu stated.
Fei Yan was taken aback. "Jiang Dongjian? The one who’s known as the empire"s greatest prodigy?"
"He"s the same age as Xiao Qing and Fei Su, yet is capable of piloting a ten-ring mecha. He"s one of the best ten-ring pilots in the entire empire, so if he can’t win, that’s the end of this invasion," Bu Wu added. With that, the call ended.
Fei Yan exhaled. "Jiang Dongjian, huh? While he’s not the same as an eleven-ring mecha, he’s not far off. He should be able to hold that creature back while I try to rescue Fei Su and the others."
He felt some level of confidence in Jiang Dongjian. Fei Yan did not believe himself to be the youth’s equal.
However, how did the Grand Marshal have a personal connection to Jiang Dongjian?
Time moved on, and about half a month pa.s.sed. During this period, Fei Yan visited the Astral Beast Domain on several different occasions. Each time, he tried to get past the jiao to search for Fei Su and the others, but the jiao blocked him every single time, while also ignoring all of the man’s attempts to communicate.
Fei Yan decided it would be best to try to speak to Yao Di, Ku Wei, or one of the giants who had tried to negotiate with the Infinity Empire at the beginning, but no one paid Fei Yan any attention.
More than ten more days pa.s.sed, and then, finally, Jiang Dongjian arrived with his mecha: Sublime Sword.
Jiang Dongjian was about as old as Fei Su and Bu Qing, but his nature was more aloof. He gave off the impression of an unsheathed sword. He was a normal human, but just looking at him made people feel like they were being cut.
This impression had nothing to do with cultivation, as it was simply Jiang Dongjian"s personality.
He was adored by countless young women in the Infinity Empire. He was heralded as one of the most brilliant geniuses, and with the addition of his handsome face and rather tragic backstory, he had succeeded in drawing even the Emperor"s attention on several occasions.
1. We tried to find some way to use "origin" for the name, but nothing sounded good. Ortus is Latin for origin/dawn. ☜