Chapter 107

In the city of Daya, West Asia, once a bustling metropolis with towering skyscrapers, the entire city had been flattened to the ground.

Four massive spaceships hovered directly over the former site of Daya.

These four ships differed in design: two resembled flying saucers, each as large as several football fields.

The other two were identical in shape and size to the Divine Seeker that Ding Huan had seen before, with the two smaller ships guarding the sides of the large saucers.

Surrounding the four ships were at least ten thousand undead spiders.

Each of these spiders was at least two meters in size, standing motionless like statues, encircling the four ships.

……

Outside the borders of the West Asian nation, a network of defensive trenches and walls had already been constructed, with hundreds of thousands of Federation soldiers stationed there.

From the bloodstains and dense craters in front of the trenches, it was clear a battle had taken place not long ago.

Commander Gu Zhong's face was grim; in the previous battle, the Federation lost thousands of troops, yet the undead spiders showed no sign of reduction.

No one knew what material these spiders were made of—even when a shell blasted clean through them, they still rose to fight and regenerated within moments.

Who could possibly defeat such a thing?

All he could do now was wait for reinforcements from the Gene Alliance and the Martial Arts Alliance; these spiders were clearly beyond the reach of ordinary artillery.

As for missiles, none could land over West Asia—after a few were fired and bounced back, they dared not launch any more.

What troubled Gu Zhong most was not that he couldn't capture the alien outpost, but that he didn't know what the aliens intended.

They could have easily shattered the Federation's defenses with a single counterattack—so why hadn't they struck yet?

At the same time, inside the circular saucer, a meeting was being held.

The meeting was still chaired by Captain Baru, who appeared delicate-skinned and fair-complexioned, though in truth his temper was extremely volatile.

Baru was hot-tempered, but not reckless:

"We've now secured our foothold. Based on recent encounters, this planet has forces capable of fighting back—we must proceed with caution."

"Captain, my suggestion is to strike swiftly and decisively. If they learn the secret of our undead spiders, it'll become far harder to fight them," a woman said, standing up.

She was An Qing'er, one of the advisors on this mission.

"An Qing'er, Captain Baru hasn't launched a full-scale assault precisely because he fears they'll uncover the secret of the undead spiders.

Look at this army—these soldiers fight without fear of death; once close combat begins, we won't be able to preserve the spiders' secrecy.

What do we rely on? Isn't it our energy and the undead spiders? Our energy reserves are limited and cannot be replenished. Once they're gone, defeat is certain," said Zang Yu Dinghui.

His chin jiggled with each word he spoke, looking absurd.

But no one found him funny—he was short and pudgy, yet the most ruthless among them.

It was he who proposed burying every man on Earth as fertilizer and keeping only some women to build homes for them.

As for Earth's technological civilization, he considered it worthless and not worth preserving.

Captain Baru nodded:

"Zang Yu Dinghui is right. Even if we could easily crush them, we must remain cautious. Moreover, we cannot crush these people outright.

There are powerful individuals here—extremely powerful ones.

The one killed by the undead spiders earlier—I suspect he discovered their secret before dying. If more such individuals appear, how can we guarantee victory?

We have no retreat. Only by enslaving this planet can we return to Zhan Shen Continent, so we must conserve the energy needed for our return. From my observations, this planet has no high-grade energy sources."

Having heard Captain Baru set the tone, the others fell silent and obeyed his orders.

Baru continued:

"Ting Ti, Ji Yuan, you will take Zhan Shen Guardian One and locate the Divine Seeker. According to our tracking, the Divine Seeker is not far from here.

It has remained on Earth for so long—it must have recorded vast amounts of data. Once we retrieve it, that will be our time to strike."

"Yes." Two young men stood up in unison, replied, then walked out.

……

Eighth-grade Gene Cultivator, Ding Huan exhaled.

This Zhan Shen Crystal was incredibly effective—in just half a month, he'd reached Eighth-grade Gene Cultivator, and he'd used up…

Ding Huan froze, staring at the single remaining Zhan Shen Crystal beside him.

Only then did he realize he'd consumed eighteen Zhan Shen Crystals in half a month.

No good—I must capture the dung beetle.

Without capturing the dung beetle, I can't find Zhan Shen Crystals; I'll never reach Ninth-grade Gene Cultivator on Earth. Even if I found a pile of Qi Stones, it'd still be hard.

Once you've gotten used to Zhan Shen Crystals, who'd want to grind away with Qi Stones?

As for cultivating without Qi Stones or Zhan Shen Crystals—might as well not cultivate at all.

Glancing at Qi Qi Xinyue, still meditating, Ding Huan decided to step outside and forge a long spear first—practice the Nine Paths.

Huh? This girl's talent is impressive—she's already reached Third-grade Gene Cultivator in such a short time?

Even with Zhan Shen Crystals, this pace of advancement—her spiritual root potential seems even better than my own gene spiritual root?

Without disturbing Qi Qi Xinyue, Ding Huan stepped out of the cave.

Africa's forest resources were truly exceptional—precious hardwoods were everywhere; before he even began searching carefully, he spotted a piece of Zi Guang Tan.

This wood was extremely hard—more than enough for a temporary training spear.

Ding Huan had no intention of searching further—he'd take this Zi Guang Tan.

He drew his Starry Sky Knife, ready to cut down the Zi Guang Tan, when the edge of his divine sense brushed against a piece of Bai Jianmu.

Bai Jianmu was far harder than Zi Guang Tan, and Ding Huan's divine sense detected that this particular Bai Jianmu was a gene-mutated species.

Definitely a treasure—he immediately abandoned the Zi Guang Tan.

Bai Jianmu was known as one of the strongest woods on Earth's surface, though its top status wasn't absolute. But with gene mutation, this particular specimen could unquestionably be called the hardest wood on Earth.

Ding Huan's Starry Sky Knife slashed directly into the tree's root.

This time, Ding Huan did not use true qi—he simply slashed down with his knife, deliberately not putting much force into it.

To Ding Huan's surprise, this time the white-jian wood did not split. His Starry Sky Knife was a product of an alien civilization, yet it still failed to cut through—clearly, this wood was incredibly hard.

Ding Huan gathered his true qi, and this time he easily split the white-jian wood in two.

With the Starry Sky Knife's enhancement, Ding Huan took only the core of this mutated white-jian wood.

This mutated white-jian wood was simply too thick—even the core alone allowed Ding Huan to craft five long spears.

For each spear, Ding Huan left about two meters in length—too long would be inconvenient to carry, too short would prevent full power from being unleashed.

Until he found a true replacement for a long spear, this white-jian wood spear would accompany him for a while longer.

After crafting the spears, Ding Huan brought one to an open field.

Nine Paths—the spear is the Ninth Path; one path, one layer; nine paths tore through the nine layers.

This aura was indeed supremely arrogant, but Ding Huan loved this arrogant spear-path aura.

He felt this spear technique suited him perfectly—if it was a killing move, how could it kill without an arrogant aura?

Practicing the Nine Paths requires the spear to follow intent, using intent to command the spear; the first strike sends forth a thousand speckles of light, and when the spear falls, ten thousand souls are shattered.

Good heavens, is the first strike already this brutal?

True qi condensed—Ding Huan thrust his spear forward, and streaks of spear-light flickered into existence at its tip.

"Crack!" Only after forming a dozen or so spear-light points, the spear in his hand shattered into fragments.

Ding Huan frowned and tossed the broken shards onto the ground.

If this kept happening, his few white-jian wood spears could never sustain his training of the Nine Paths.

Moreover, just now he felt he hadn't truly unleashed the first strike of the Nine Paths.

He hadn't felt the spear's intent—only the form, not the spirit.

The spear follows intent—that is the true essence of the Nine Paths.

If the spear truly followed intent, how could the spear shatter the moment it was thrust?

Only by thinking the spear must bear your power would the spear break.

A true spear master does not make his weapon bear the force—he makes his opponent bear it.

Thinking this, Ding Huan went back and chopped down the purple-glowing sandalwood, then swiftly carved over a hundred spears.

True qi condensed again—the Nine Paths' spear intent, thrust forward, spear-light flashed—and the spear in his hand shattered…

Ding Huan was not discouraged—he had prepared over a hundred spears precisely to practice the first strike of the Nine Paths.

An entire day passed; Ding Huan shattered two hundred and seven spears, and midway he had to remake wooden spears.

But Ding Huan grew more excited, because each time he could feel why the spear shattered—that was true progress.

The next day, Ding Huan continued training the Nine Paths.

When Ding Huan gripped the three hundred and twenty-sixth spear, he thrust it forward—and hundreds of spear-light points exploded before him.

Boom—boom—boom! Rows of giant trees were torn through by these spear-light points, yet the wooden spear in Ding Huan's hand showed not a single crack.

Ding Huan looked at the wooden spear in his hand, and his heart grew calm.

Just now, with the spear as a conduit, he had unleashed hundreds of killing intents—without letting his wooden spear break under that killing force.

Because the spear was his companion—he had succeeded in unleashing the killing technique without forcing the wood to bear the pressure, so his spear did not shatter.

In the future, as his cultivation advances and his grasp of spear intent deepens, it won't be just "a thousand speckles of light, ten thousand souls shattered."

Even "a thousand thousand speckles of light, hundreds of millions of souls shattered" would be normal.

Because chopping wood carries no killing intent—this spear path can only advance faster through real slaughter; only when blood is seen does life emerge.

Excellent spear path!

How could such an excellent spear path have no name?

The first strike of the Nine Paths shall be called…

"Ten Thousand Kills"—no, too common, no aura.

His strike had turned hundreds of trees into dust.

How about…

"When next September eighth arrives, after my spear strikes, ten thousand souls shall die!"—call it "Shattered Souls."

Ding Huan gripped the wooden spear, and a surge of heroism rose within him.

He could not wait until autumn's ninth day—he must journey to the Changyi Continent for revenge, so it must be next year.

Next year, if he returns to the cosmos, let Du Jia's ten thousand souls be shattered beneath his spear path.

(That's all for today's update, friends—goodnight. Wu the Fifth kindly asks for monthly votes!)