Just as Tyretis finished speaking, five demon gods, each revealing their true forms spanning ten to over twenty thousand meters, brazenly made their moves.

However, they didn't charge directly toward the alliance. but instead triggered the dark demonic qi with their own principles.

Boom!

The demonic qi, stretching across the forbidden zone's entrance and covering more than a hundred thousand kilometers, surged violently. It coalesced into a sinister dragon head tens of thousands of kilometers tall, adorned with thirty-six demonic horns. Though it was condensed from black, smoke-like demonic qi, a horrifying aura burst forth the instant it appeared.

Boom!

The earth immediately groaned under unbearable pressure. Mountains within ten thousand kilometers of the dragon head collapsed, and towering trees shattered, splintering outwards like radiation.

Roar!

The massive dark dragon head emitted a chaotic, mindless roar and lunged toward the Nine-Heaven Palace suspended between heaven and earth, which resembled overlapping ethereal worlds of red, blue, yellow, and purple. Standing within the second layer of the palace, Qian Tian held the Divine Yin-Yang Wheel as his figure erupted with black-and-white divine light.

The Nine-Heaven Palace, the racial weapon of the Faeries, could unify the power of all supreme powerhouses. When a single supreme powerhouse acted, their strike would explode with twelve-fold compounded strength. As Qian Tian fully activated the wheel, heaven and earth split instantaneously into yin and yang.

"Yin-Yang Reversal, disperse!"

Heaven and earth became like a black-and-white world-ending millstone, merging violently as the dark dragon head lunged downward.

Boom!

The colossal dragon head, spanning over a hundred thousand kilometers, instantly collapsed into endless torrents of demonic qi scattering in all directions. Earth-shaking explosions followed, causing the entire forbidden zone entrance to tremble.

The surging demonic qi flooded everywhere, its edges glowing like rainbows. Those were chains of order created by the laws of heaven and earth, made visible by the impact of this enormous, violent power.

Yet, as the demonic qi flooded the forbidden zone entrance spanning over a hundred thousand kilometers in width and fifty thousand kilometers in depth, it suddenly collided against an invisible barrier.

The bottommost layer of the Nine-Heaven Palace, the expansive Houtu[1] Heavenly Palace stretching over two hundred thousand kilometers, emitted a pale-yellow glow linked directly to the earth, radiating an unshakeable presence.

Simultaneously, strands of white principle light flickered between heaven and earth outside the illusory palace. These were strands of the power of heaven and earth refined by the alliance's divine kings, faintly forming a principle domain that resisted all dark powers.

Yet, compared to the demonic qi drawn by the combined force of eighteen demon gods—possessing an overbearing contaminating property—the mere simple principle-infused heavenly energy wielded by Qian Tian and the others was inadequate.

The entire region swiftly became contaminated by the dark tsunami as it devoured the land. Only the Nine-Heaven Palace remained steadfast, glowing brightly and immovable like a colossal continent spanning over two hundred thousand kilometers amid an ocean of darkness.

"Kill!"

"Charge!"

"Slaughter every human!"

Within the forbidden zone entrance engulfed by mist-like black demonic qi, hundreds of millions of the Purgatory legions roared fanatically. Riding demonized colossal beasts, they surged toward the frontlines like an unstoppable tide.

Floating swiftly above these invading legions, dozens of demon king castles moved forward, each surrounded by hundreds of thousands of demonized flying beasts. Most strikingly, on the backs of these winged beasts spanning hundreds of meters, structures resembling massive turrets were built, flashing with black demonic runes.

Hum!

With a surge of energy, these hundred-meter-tall demonic cannons lit up with dark-red brilliance, emitting potent energy fluctuations comparable to tactical nuclear bombs. Meanwhile, among these legions, tens of thousands of mammoth-like beasts, each towering a thousand meters and several kilometers long and resembling mountains of condensed stone, advanced steadily.

These mountainous creatures seemed slow, but crossed over a kilometer with each step, surrounded by surging black shockwaves and exuding overwhelming presence. On their backs stood even more immense dark-red structures, which resembled an altar but also a turret. Around these colossal platforms stood dozens of advanced true demons, activating demonic inscription arrays to absorb and gather the surrounding demonic qi.

Standing atop the highest layer of the Nine-Heaven Palace, Faerie King Xuntian observed coldly, slowly saying, "These are elite long-range legions from the Ankor Empire, the Heavy-Destruction Corps. They have an attack range extending tens of thousands of kilometers. Once both sides' frontline armies engage and our higher forces become entangled, it will be nearly impossible to counter."

Hearing this, Qian Tian nodded slowly. "Indeed, with such a vast attack range, it's troublesome."

A range of tens of thousands of kilometers was negligible to powerhouses at the level of divine or faerie kings, but that applied only when they could spare attention. Otherwise, suppressed by the dark demonic domain and surrounded by demon king castles, even chief-god-level beings charging forward could struggle against these mountainous legions.

However, when it came to long-range attacks, humanity also excelled. As the Purgatory legions approached overwhelmingly, more than a hundred human legions had already lined up at the border influenced by the power of the Houtu Heavenly Palace. These legions, primarily composed of unmanned human mechs with battle patterns, relied on the fortified structures, calmly awaiting battle beneath the protective yellow barrier of light.

Meanwhile, high above in the sky, the Celestial Satellite System floated amid clouds thousands of kilometers overhead. It flickered faintly as it uploaded all imaging and mapping data.

Inside the rear God Defense System's base, countless lines of data streamed across a massive screen. On the tactical map of the soon-to-collide front lines, over ten thousand light dots appeared on either side. One-third of the light dots were white, positioned in the mountain ranges on the human side, close to the battlefield.

More red light dots, however, were scattered throughout the churning demonic qi, penetrating no more than ten thousand kilometers deep and locking onto one Purgatory legion after another.

"Coordinates calibrated."

"A3, A5... Fifty-seven missile launch bases with a ten-thousand-kilometer range have been deployed..."

"Strategic bombers equipped with crystalline hydrogen warheads have taken off. They are expected to reach designated launch zones within half an hour for extended-range deployment."

"The Heavenly Feathered Race's Divine Light Battleships are ready for long-range strikes, targeting seventeen coordinates in their assigned defense sector."

"The Faeries' five azure-sky-level battle fortresses have completed energy charging and are ready to launch attacks at any moment..."

"The Celestial Annihilation Satellite is expected to complete charging in thirty minutes. The world passage has been realigned. Heavenly King of the Void, prepare for guidance..."

After the initial head-on clash, the eighteen demon gods stood amid the roiling dark demonic qi, confronting Qian Tian and the others from a distance of a hundred thousand kilometers. Chen Chu and Divine King Tarodell stood at the outer edge of the Nine-Heaven Palace, just outside of that unique domain.

Though both sides appeared to be coldly eyeing each other, silently awaiting the outbreak of the great battle, they had already exchanged thousands of blows on the level of principles. The dark tides that spanned heaven and earth were the demon gods' tentacles, constantly tearing through the ambient principle powers.

Faced with the demonic qi that carried the entire Purgatory Domain and the power of the Purgatory Primordial Ancestor, Qian Tian and the others had been steadily forced back. Even the faint power of heaven and earth, imbued with a weak will of principle, was swiftly contaminated and demonized upon contact.

This demonic qi was overwhelmingly tyrannical and unstoppable. This was merely a partial manifestation of the Purgatory Primordial Ancestor's power, yet it was already this powerful. All of the supreme powerhouses on the Human Alliance side were deeply shaken.

Even veterans like the Heavenly Feathered divine kings and the faerie kings, who had fought the six empires for centuries, were encountering this overpowering dark power for the first time. The demonic qi they'd fought in the past had merely been an extension of Tyretis or Cardeos's powers. Though powerful, it hadn't been unstoppable.

However, in just a short time, this qi, which blotted out the sky, had advanced several thousand kilometers again, eroding even the territory under the Houtu Heavenly Palace by over a thousand kilometers.

At this pace, the entire forbidden zone battlefield would be engulfed in less than ten days. Seeing this, Tyretis and the other demon gods grew even more frigid in their gazes. With the overwhelming momentum on their side, a thought emerged in their mind.Let's see what you use to resist this time.

Slaying a demon-god-level being was extremely difficult unless one's overall strength had reached a level of absolute suppression, just like when Chen Chu had slain Deorus.

Sometimes, though, killing a demon-god-level being could be very simple; one could just crush it with overwhelming force. That was how the Heavenly Feathered and Faerie Races had been wiped out.

On this, Tyretis and the demon gods were experienced. As long as they extended the dark domain to flood and contaminate this forbidden zone, and even the entirety of human territory, then the humans would be forced to either flee their lands or fight to the death. Regardless of the race, any who chose to battle within the dark demonic region faced only one outcome: certain death.

More importantly, they had to seize the chance to completely eliminate Chu Batian. At that thought, many demon gods cast fleeting glances toward Chen Chu, who stood high in the sky.

A wave of intense malice instantly enveloped him. Sensing the murderous intent behind those gazes, Chen Chu narrowed his eyes. "So, these bastards still want to ambush me first, just like last time."

However, since Tyretis and the other demon gods weren't rushing, neither was he. In his perception, the Dragon Emperor had already led the colossal beast army across half the distance. About two hundred million kilometers remained; if nothing went wrong, they should arrive within three days.

If not for the abundance of dangerous forbidden zones along the way, some of which even the Destructive Dragon Emperor had to detour around, they could have arrived in just half a day.

At that thought, Chen Chu sent a divine soul transmission to the divine and faerie kings nearby."Hold your ground. We only need to stall for three days."

"Three days?" Those who had been feeling immense pressure, like Xuntian, were suddenly invigorated.

More than three hours passed while the top-tier forces on both sides stared each other down. The sky-obstructing tide of darkness advanced another twenty thousand kilometers.

Because the forbidden zone resembled a gourd shape, narrow in the front and wider as it went deeper, the lateral spread of the dark domain had already exceeded four hundred thousand kilometers. Endless black mist rolled forward, flooding the battlefield with suffocating oppression.

Just then, an invisible, powerful signal pierced through the front of the dark domain. In an instant, it swept past the roiling demonic qi and reached the rear of the advancing Purgatory legions, five thousand kilometers behind, where nine dazzling mushroom clouds began to rise.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Crystalline hydrogen bombs, each equivalent to hundreds of millions of tons of explosive yield, had long been buried underground. Their detonation illuminated thousands of kilometers of darkness as if nine stars had erupted on the surface.

The destructive energy rocked the entire world, especially the nuclear explosion's temperature, tens of millions of degrees Celsius. It instantly formed annihilating shockwaves that swept through everything, and dozens of Purgatory legions were engulfed in the first wave. The searing heat ignited all material at ground level. Rocks melted. Over a million lower-ranked demonized aliens were vaporized into ash before they could even scream.

The advanced true demons reacted quicker, unleashing demonic qi to defend themselves, but even they lasted only a single breath before the nuclear shockwave flung them away, screaming as they were slowly incinerated in the rolling inferno.

1. Hòutǔ or Hòutǔshén, also known as Hòutǔ Niángniáng, otherwise called Dimǔ or Dimǔ Niángniáng, is the deity of all land and earth in Chinese religion and mythology. ☜

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