Chapter 650

Long Linxing arrived by tearing through the continuity of space-time. This mechanical planet, which took the form of the former Caliban and fused three ancient artifacts—the Ouroboros, the Tuchulcha Engine, and the Plague Heart—roared in the material universe. Within its metal jungles, factories thundered like lightning, furnace fires surged like solar flares, and the sounds of hammers, forging, and treads, along with the wails of billions of daemon-workers fused into the production lines, echoed and reverberated.

The moment Long Linxing manifested, waves surged in the surrounding Warp, and those space hulks that had been lost and fallen into the Warp, having fused together, revealed themselves.

Each of these ships was like the wildest, most disordered mechanical creation, revealing the malicious creative power of the Warp's pure instinct. They were creations of the Malicious Art domain itself, using the ships that had perished in the Warp as materials.

Subsequently, within Long Linxing, an intangible will transformed into surging electric sparks, transmitting to those space hulks. In an instant, the hulks were controlled by Vashtorr's will, becoming Omens of Ark, sailing toward that massive rocky planet.

Vashtorr considered this his advantage.

Zhou Yun did indeed occupy more of the Malicious Art domain, but Zhou Yun was not extreme enough, not twisted enough, and lacked sufficient understanding of the darkest, most chaotic, and most insane powers within the Malicious Art.

Vashtorr, however, could utilize those powers, manifesting those most malicious creations in the material universe to assault Zhou Yun.

Stepping on the crest of the Warp tides, the constantly ascending Zhou Yun remained expressionless. His will connected to the master control protocol, and with a single thought, the Necron fleet suspended in the Duat system became his fingertips. Emerald lightning poured out, colliding with Vashtorr's Necron forces.

The two of them used the fleets as extensions of themselves, initiating the first round of collision in the Duat system.

"I recognize these weapons; they were designed during the War in Heaven, and they are the malicious creative powers that triggered my birth."

". I understand them better than you, Zhou Yun."

Vashtorr's voice sounded along with a series of roaring electric sparks. Those sparks, wrapped in Warp energy, shot out from the Omens of Ark, turning into a series of semi-mechanical nematodes that pierced toward the Necron ships.

The Necron ships attempted to use various weapons to block this attack, but a scorching arc burst forth from Long Linxing, and the continuity of space-time was suddenly torn. Those semi-mechanical nematodes directly bypassed the limitations of space-time, piercing into the Necron ships.

These nematodes were Vashtorr's creation, the Daemon-Steel Neural Plexus, which Vashtorr used to control the space hulks. Now, these Daemon-Steel Neural Plexuses were implanted in the Necron ships, releasing a series of silicon filaments that spread throughout the entire ship, instantly paralyzing its various functions.

Sanguinius watched this scene, remaining composed.

Vashtorr's birth was closely linked to the arms race during the War in Heaven, and if, as Zhou Yun said, Vashtorr was also closely linked to the most extreme faction among the Old Ones, using Necron ships to oppose Him was indeed at a great disadvantage.

But, hadn't Zhou Yun yet to reveal his own authority?

A joyful laugh came from the Warp, instantly dispersing the gloom within it, as if thousands of children were giggling for a beautiful world.

Countless mini-Doraemons were born out of thin air in the void. These tiny machines, only the size of a palm, filled the entire void. They reached into their pockets and instantly pulled out all kinds of wonderful gadgets.

These gadgets were all Zhou Yun's, and the pockets of these tiny mini-Doraemons were directly connected to the Four-Dimensional Pocket through the Warp, allowing them to obtain gadgets directly from it.

As for the money... honestly, Sanguinius didn't know where it came from, and Zhou Yun probably didn't know very well either. Only Guilliman knew how he squeezed these massive sums out of the Empire's economy, which seemed to be on the verge of collapse at every moment.

However, Sanguinius had once asked Guilliman this question out of curiosity, and Guilliman only replied that the Empire's problem now was not that it couldn't produce, but how to consume after producing, and what to consume it on.

Guilliman even claimed that Zhou Yun's existence had even solved the Empire's consumption problem to a large extent. Not only did it not have side effects on the Empire's economy, but under Guilliman's regulation, it promoted economy and production, solved some problems in the Empire's economy, and alleviated issues like overcapacity...

Sanguinius listened, feeling confused, not knowing how Guilliman managed to do it.

Those mini-Doraemons, holding various gadgets, surged toward the Necron fleet controlled by Vashtorr and collided with the Omens of Ark.

Some held Reflection Cloaks to bounce back the artillery fire of the Omens of Ark, some used Mechanical Marbles to reverse-control the Omens of Ark, and some piloted Titanic Robots to begin tearing apart the ships one by one.

The wave of mini-Doraemons soon approached Long Linxing.

That orange-yellow light arc, like furnace fire, on Long Linxing sprayed out again, and in an instant, one-third of the mini-Doraemons were drawn into the gaps between space and time.

But this didn't mean much; more mini-Doraemons were created by Zhou Yun's power, turning into a violent wave surging toward Long Linxing.

Long Linxing was indeed extraordinarily powerful; it was a complete Old One artifact. Even if its own function was merely a key to the Old One treasury, its power surpassed the understanding of all civilizations in the galaxy today.

But relying solely on Long Linxing to block Zhou Yun was almost impossible.

This was also where Sanguinius felt it was strange.

Why did Vashtorr take the initiative to meet him, so impatiently?

He could clearly have waited for Zhou Yun to attack him. The final step of Zhou Yun's ascension was to devour him, and Vashtorr had, over the long years in the past, forged the one-third of the domain he occupied into the Soul Forge, a realm independent of the four gods. Relying on the Soul Forge, Vashtorr could better stall Zhou Yun and create opportunities for himself...

Wait.

Sanguinius understood what Vashtorr was planning.

In the Warp, above the Empyrean, red, blue, green, and purple colors intertwined incessantly. The gods and the daemons under their command were warring.

At the same time Zhou Yun ascended to godhood, the gods erupted into battle at this moment. Khorne and Slaanesh, Tzeentch and Nurgle—these two pairs of old rivals fought until the tides in the Warp flowed backward, the sky and sea were inverted, and all things lost their luster.

Khorne's power was the most formidable, especially after He accepted the fate of sitting forever on the Huang Tong Wang Zuo. Although He could no longer leave the Huang Tong Wang Zuo, every wound on the battlefield was contributing power to Him, and also shedding His power. He was now the savior of war, bearing the cost of war together with His warriors.

But it was precisely because He could not leave the Huang Tong Wang Zuo that an opportunity was created for Slaanesh. Slaanesh's power was the weakest among the gods, but He had one point stronger than Khorne... He still had the card of Fulgrim in His hand. In the situation where Khorne could not personally enter the field, Fulgrim became the true battlefield god of slaughter, rolling with Slaanesh's power to fight in the Warp.

As for Tzeentch and Nurgle, they carried the tacit understanding between old rivals. Tzeentch's power had been weakened significantly in recent times, while Nurgle had become increasingly powerful. The boundary between the second and third strongest in the Warp was no longer so distinct, and both chose to commit the Primarchs in their hands to other locations.

In the Soul Forge, Mortarion held his scythe, accompanied by the Death Guard lords and the seventy-seven Shroud Guard, stepping into this Warp realm that once existed independently of the gods.

This domain was originally the production site for many unclean weapons in the Warp, eternally shrouded in black oily smoke, producing weapons for different daemon legions and Astartes warbands in the Warp... Of course, Mortarion and his legion were not among them; Mortarion's creations and equipment were all independently designed, independently developed, and independently produced.

It's just that I don't know why, the Plague Crawler tank that Mortarion designed to surpass the Empire's corresponding weapons was obsessively called "Little Mo SU7" by that Saint Doraemon.

Mortarion looked around, and in just an instant, he understood that this Soul Forge domain had been almost emptied.

The remaining things that couldn't be taken away, as well as the daemons enslaved by Vashtorr, were all before him.

Skulls, skulls from 880,000 different kinds of daemons were piled together, turning into a blood-stained trophy mound.

And atop the trophy mound sat a massive humanoid Khorne daemon engine. His figure was somewhat like a Cerastus-class Knight, slender and tall, but even more non-compliant with physical laws, even more like a scarlet giant rather than a machine, and even more agile.