Chapter 252: Deployment

Boundless darkness.

The azure‑blue semi‑transparent glacier surged forward, gliding slowly through the pitch‑black infinite void.

Though it seemed slow, it actually covered a million li in an instant; the glacier and the giant ship upon it streaked through the void at an astonishing speed, far surpassing ordinary light by an unknown margin.

Far beyond the azure glacier, in the most distant reaches.

In the void there is no up or down, no north or south, no east or west; the position of all things is merely relative.

In the direction opposite the keel of the glacier's giant ship, deep in the remote dark void, an existence that ordinary language cannot precisely describe hovered silently.

It hovered there.

It seemed the beginning of all things, the end of all things, as if it itself embodied eternity, creation, the Dao of all knowable and unknowable changes, and also the most primitive, simple, constant law.

It was square and flat like a tile, entirely black yet seeming to contain every color.

The ratio of each of its sides matched the perfect proportion of heaven, earth, and the universe, with no error whatsoever.

It was immeasurably vast—so vast that the glacier's distance from it was staggering; those on the glacier and in the giant ship, including You Jieya and others, if they looked this way, this immeasurably wondrous presence still filled almost their entire field of view.

A blazing red fireball and a serene azure light cluster, two massive orbs of light, sped around it in rapid flight.

Where the crimson red fireball shone, one could see faintly intricate patterns on its surface, each naturally formed, brimming with an indescribable mystical aura, as if these patterns had naturally given birth to the indescribable Dao between heaven and earth.

If one drew nearer, those seemingly negligible patterns would reveal themselves as towering, immense, inconceivable mountain ranges and surging, raging rivers like great dragons.

The azure‑blue semi‑transparent glacier shot past from the far distance.

Nearby, a wholly seven‑colored shimmering crystal stone star abruptly halted from its same extreme‑speed flight.

From extreme speed to sudden stillness, this crystal stone star, nearly a hundred thousand li in diameter, decelerated not at all—it simply stopped outright, as if it had always been embedded in that patch of void, never having moved.

An extremely long multifaceted prism slowly drilled out of the crystal stone star.

Hundred meters, kilometers, ten thousand meters…

Hundred li, thousand li, ten thousand li…

The seven‑colored multifaceted prism extended tens of thousands of li from the crystal stone star; then, with a base diameter of only about a hundred meters—exceedingly slender relative to its length—it began to adjust slowly.

The prism's tip made minute left‑right, up‑down adjustments; for a prism tens of thousands of li long, each shift of the tip was only a ten‑thousandth or millionth of a hair's breadth.

Terrifying control.

One can imagine how infinitesimal and precise the adjustment of the prism's base must be.

After an ultimate precision adjustment lasting a full twelve double‑hours, concentric rings of multicolored light burst from the prism's tip, washing back over the crystal stone star like waves of spray.

A sharp, piercing, extraordinarily high‑frequency shout—beyond what ordinary people can imagine—rang from the crystal crystal.

The entire crystal stone star began to erupt with seven‑colored intense light, becoming a mass of seven‑colored light and fire, transitioning from matter to pure energy, until it turned into a terrifying cluster of energy.

"Hiss!"

An extremely sharp tearing sound rang out; the void directly ahead of the seven‑colored multifaceted prism was ripped apart.

A beam of seven‑colored divine light, up to ten thousand li in diameter, shot violently from the prism, striking the void and spawning rapidly spinning semi‑transparent black holes that roared with a terrifying, heaven‑shattering din as they rushed toward "it."

The emission of the seven‑colored divine light lasted a full two quarters of an hour.

The seven‑colored divine light's flight speed was terrifyingly fast—in the snap of a finger it traversed ten thousand times the glacier's speed, covering hundreds of billions of li in an instant.

Even at such incredible speed, after two quarters of an hour of emission, the seven‑colored divine light was still far, far from "it."

The seven‑colored divine light darted through the void, swiftly approaching "it."

The seven‑colored divine light inched forward through the void, creeping toward "it" like a snail.

The energy‑formed seven‑colored star slowly condensed from a mass of light and fire, gradually returning to the state of seven‑colored crystal stone; however, the originally radiant, light‑filled seven‑colored star had grown dim and dark, large patches of its crystal turning black.

Filaments of exceedingly fine drift‑light slowly seeped out of the seven‑colored star.

These trickles of light gradually filled the seven‑colored star, bit by bit restoring its dim glow; but at this rate, regaining its original brilliance would take at least several years.

The seven‑colored star twitched slightly, then began to accelerate leisurely, just like the azure glacier, continuing to revolve slowly around "it."

The seven‑colored star's speed gradually increased, but it was obvious that the previous burst had expended too much energy; once its speed stabilized, it amounted to less than one percent of its original velocity.

From a more distant viewpoint one could see that, surrounding the inconceivable existence, surrounding "it," besides the azure glacier and the seven‑colored star, there were dozens of other bizarrely shaped artifacts constantly emitting terrifying force‑field undulations.

There were palaces, mountain peaks, star bodies… in short, every shape and variety.

The seven‑colored divine light darted through the void, continually blasting open semi‑transparent black holes; after frenziedly racing for several double‑hours, it finally slammed heavily into the space above "it."

A dim veil of light quietly appeared.

Within the veil, the phantom of seven great cauldrons flickered into view.

The seven‑colored divine light burst forth in a vast shower of light, accompanied by a tremendous roar; rings of light tens of thousands of li high surged outward in all directions. The dim veil was shattered in a single blow; the phantom of the seven great cauldrons trembled and vanished without trace.

The seven‑colored divine light, which had been ten thousand li thick, suddenly shrank inward by over a thousand li; it continued its charge, and another feeble‑trembling dim veil rose.

Three tattered banners flashed within the veil.

Apricot‑yellow, pitch‑black, vermilion—the three banners emitted a faint glow, quivered, then a great boom rang out; vast ripples spread across "it"'s surface in all directions, the veil broke, the seven‑colored divine light shrank by over ten thousand li, and then it surged forward again.

Yet another dim veil of light appeared.

Within the veil, a half‑broken ancient bell sprayed forth a blaze of radiant light, barbarically and domineeringly striking the seven‑colored divine light head‑on.

The seven‑colored divine light shuddered violently, countless specks of seven‑colored light exploding like fireworks in all directions.

The ancient bell trembled, emitted a tremendous boom, and vanished.

The seven‑colored divine light dwindled to a thickness of just over a thousand li, its brightness dropped several grades, and its speed was halved.

On the surface of "it," another dim gloom‑light appeared.

Within that gloom, a broken seal could be seen exuding a somber black‑and‑yellow aura, with bolts of dragon‑shaped fierce light erupting from it and incessantly crashing into the seven‑colored divine light.

The seven‑colored divine light was gradually worn away, yet it stubbornly pressed forward, slamming hard into that broken seal whose surface was riddled with countless cracks.

From the seal's cracks countless specks of light sprayed out, and the seal disappeared.

The seven‑colored divine light narrowed to a width of only a hundred li, its brightness greatly reduced; yet after enduring repeated interceptions it became more condensed and solid, like an arrow forged of seven‑colored crystal, and it continued to rush toward "it" at great speed.

A frenzied roar rose from the surface of "it."

At the peak of a mountain tens of thousands of li high, a blood qi surged up to the heavens; a hazy figure ten thousand li tall, left hand gripping a beast-faced heavy shield, right hand gripping a great axe, roared as it leapt up from the blood qi.

This semi-transparent phantom had no head; on its chest left and right each grew a huge eye; its navel became a bloody maw; veins throbbed like a dragon across its body; the phantom swung its right-hand great axe, striking hard at the seven-colored divine light.

The seven-colored divine light suddenly accelerated; the great axe spat out a blood-colored axe light, wide as ten thousand li and long as hundreds of thousands of li, which heavily struck the tail of the seven-colored divine light.

The seven-colored divine light exploded apart; an extremely piercing point of divine light shot out from the seven-colored radiance and instantly submerged into the surface of 'it'.

The blood-colored axe light, vast like the Yangtze River, howled as it shot straight up into the sky.

This axe light's speed was somewhat faster than the seven-colored divine light; it howled all the way, tearing the void, racing through the void as a Benz……

Whether intentional or not, after several hours, the trajectory of this axe light coincidentally overlapped with the flight path of a colossal palace in the void, its entire body flashing with silver light.

From within the silver palace complex spanning tens of thousands of li, an angry roar burst forth.

A gigantic scepter radiating ten thousand zhang of light shot out from the largest palace; the scepter, ten thousand zhang long and entirely silver, was inlaid with large chunks of dazzling silver gemstones; atop its head stood two exquisitely crafted, winged maiden statues back-to-back, their hands clasped before their chests in a devout prayer pose.

The massive scepter released terrifying power, directly blasting a black hole with a diameter of tens of thousands of li into the void.

The blood-colored axe light howled as it rushed into the black hole, instantly vanishing.

The black hole violently trembled, shooting out blood-colored cracks in all directions, then abruptly collapsed and disappeared.

The silver scepter likewise shuddered violently; a blood-colored light streak extended straight from the tip to the base. The blood-colored light streak flickered intensely, while the silver scepter sprayed out rings of dazzling silver light, firmly resisting the erosion of the blood-colored streak.

After a full half-hour, the blood-colored light streak finally faded away slowly.

The surface of the silver scepter bore no trace; merely, its originally dazzling radiance had dimmed considerably, slowly returning to the appearance of the palace hall, and it no longer bore the heaven-splitting, unparalleled aura it had when it burst forth from the hall.

That listless appearance was like a male wild boar that had taken a heavy blow to its hips, giving a feeling of staggering, desolate steps.

On the surface of 'it', the headless giant phantom atop the mountain peak let out a frenzied roar into the void; afterward, the blood qi that had surged from the mountaintop gradually withdrew, and this terrifyingly mighty giant phantom also gradually dissipated.

On the surface of 'it', mountain ranges and rivers faintly glimmered with threads of light.

The surrounding void trembled slightly; from the black holes burst open by the seven-colored divine light, the blood-colored axe light, and the silver scepter, tremendous torrents of energy howled out, converging toward 'it'.

The azure glacier, the seven-colored celestial body, the silver palace, and dozens of other constructs simultaneously released massive energy fluctuations; these wondrous, splendid constructs turned into gigantic vortices, frantically seizing the energy pouring from the black holes.

About seventy percent of the energy was seized by these constructs.

After the originally dim seven-colored celestial body swallowed a portion of the energy torrent, it suddenly brightened, its luminosity increasing by a level over before, and it continuously sprayed seven-colored light in all directions.

About thirty percent of the energy surging from the black holes quickly arrived near 'it'.

The surface of 'it', with faintly flowing light, absorbed this energy into its body; faintly visible, the volume of 'it' seemed to have increased somewhat.

However, 'it' was originally so enormous that, after absorbing this energy, the added volume was negligible compared to its original mass, almost ignorable.

Nevertheless, 'it' did indeed grow a tiny bit.

Within the seven-colored celestial body, that sharp, high-pitched, extremely high-frequency sound suddenly rang out, like steel needles, howling far into the surroundings.

「Mu……damn it, I said not to frequently use tactical strike deployments……you always want to save effort, but how much trouble have you caused us? 」

「Every time, even if Mu's volume changes just a tiny bit, we must reset the spatial coordinates of the Heaven-Scanning Mirror……Of course, you won't understand our trouble; you only keep asking us……come once, come twice, come three times……」

「I solemnly warn you all, tactical strike deployment is extremely dangerous……Perhaps it can effectively eliminate a portion of promising enemies tactically……but strategically, any growth of Mu is……an unacceptable, terrifying consequence for our future. 」

「Always remember, their terror! 」

The sharp, high-pitched, extremely high-pitched voice complained for a while, then flew into a furious roar: 「Youcang……send over a box of Eternal Ice Brew, otherwise, within the next hundred standard great circulation cycles, all tactical requests of your Ice Spirit Divine Clan……will be relegated to the last batch! 」

On the azure glacier, a beam of cold light flew toward the seven-colored celestial body.

The pitch-black void returned to calm.