Swallowing the Stars: Analyzing All Things

On the square in front of the royal palace.

The king of the kingdom stood there alone, his grey robes fluttering in the wind, the hem stained with dust and dried blood.

He held the fist-sized statue to his chest with reverence.

"They're here!"

Suddenly, he looked up.

The dark red sky was torn open by the spaceship, creating a huge rift. The light from the sky streamed down through the crack, illuminating his aged, cracked face.

"most……"

"Everything starts anew!"

He looked at the dark red clouds, a hint of tenderness flashing in his dark yellow eyes, which then turned into final resolve.

Fortunately.

His last tenderness and last concern had already been sent away by him using the final power of the idol, and it seemed that this extraterrestrial legion had not noticed it.

"bring it on."

The king lowered his head, hugged the idol in his arms tighter, closed his eyes, and began to chant an ancient hymn.

With each syllable that fell, a visible ripple spread outward from his lips, vibrating the surrounding air, the stone slabs beneath his feet, and the entire square.

"Tch~"

Crimson flames ignited from his chest.

It was as if congealed blood was burning, spreading from his chest to his limbs, and from his limbs to his whole body, enveloping him.

Then...

Golden flames shot out from his head, soaring into the sky and converging into a massive pillar of light that pierced through the dark red clouds and connected with the statue he held in his arms.

"Buzz~"

The king's body dissipated.

The statue in his arms rapidly grew larger, its appearance remaining the same as before, except that its face was exactly the same as the king of the kingdom.

He became an idol.

He sacrificed everything he had to the idol.

"Evil——"

The voice of the idol was no longer a sonic attack, but a somewhat unfamiliar universal language, filled with anger and resentment suppressed for countless years, and the roar shook the entire capital city.

"Boom—"

The statue raised its hand.

Like a pillar supporting the sky, its right arm emerged from the clouds, its five fingers spread wide, each finger like a sharp sword, its fingertips gleaming with silvery-white light, as it suddenly grabbed at the giant spaceship.

"clang--"

Commander Xuan Yi appeared in front of the spaceship.

The jet-black spear twirled in his hand, its tip gleaming with a blinding cold light, before it stabs fiercely at the statue's wrist.

"Boom!"

A deafening explosion resounded through the sky.

A visible ripple of energy spread outward from the point of impact, tearing the surrounding clouds to shreds.

The statue's arm was jolted off course by the gunshot, its five fingers grazing the side of the spaceship, creating a violent gust of air that pushed the spaceship to one side as well.

"Your opponent is me."

Commander Xuan Yi hovered in front of the statue, his gaze coldly fixed on the silvery-white behemoth. Silver flames burned around him, scorching and distorting the surrounding air.

next moment.

His figure appeared before the king of the kingdom, and the black spear transformed into a towering pillar, smashing fiercely into the king's chest.

"laugh--"

A huge gash was suddenly cut open on the silvery-white stone skin, and dark gray blood gushed out from the gash like a waterfall, splashing onto the plaza below.

The king of the kingdom remained unmoved.

His right fist swung out, its surface gleaming with silvery-white light, and slammed fiercely towards Commander Xuan Yi.

"Bang—"

Commander Xuan Yi was sent flying backwards.

"This is……"

"Immortal title?!"

He steadied himself, sensing the portion of immortal divine power within his body that had been annihilated, and his expression became solemn.

If this statue truly possesses the combat power of a Marquis-level warrior, then their legion is in danger. The gap between an Immortal Army Lord and a Marquis-level Immortal is not so easily bridged.

But when he was about to order the entire army to retreat, he discovered that something was wrong with the statue.

Unstable.

Its power is waning.

After launching two attacks, the power of the statue's subsequent outburst was clearly weakening.

The king of the kingdom sacrificed himself, but his power was ultimately limited. How could a peak world lord who sacrificed himself continue to drive a statue of a marquis-level deity?

"So that's how it is!"

A look of understanding flashed in General Xuan Yi's eyes. He no longer held back and went all out.

The spear's edge flashed like a waterfall.

The jet-black spear transformed into countless afterimages, cascading down from the sky, each strike carrying the full power of immortal divine strength.

The spear beams intertwined to form an impenetrable killing net, like a roaring golden dragon swooping down from the sky and slamming into the king of the kingdom.

"Boom—"

The silvery-white stone skin on the surface of the statue shattered, peeled off, and turned into dust under the attack of Xuan Yijun.

Cracks spread from his chest to his limbs, as dense as a spider web.

The king's body was trembling.

His arms began to shatter, from his fingers to his palms, from his palms to his forearms... Grayish-white fragments peeled off his body, swirling, dancing, and dissipating in the wind.

"Heh...heh..."

The statue raised its head, and a glint of clarity flashed in its silver-white eyes. Its gaze bypassed the Xuan Yi Army Lord, pierced through the dark red clouds, and was cast into the depths of the dark universe.

There……

With a soft thud, the entire statue exploded, scattering silvery-white fragments that then drifted away in the wind.

In the center of the capital, the nearly thousand-foot-tall statue lost its source of power and began to slowly shrink, eventually turning back into a fist-sized, silver-white statue, lying quietly in the ruins.

"This thing..."

Lord Xuan Yi landed in the ruins, bent down and picked up the statue. The silver-white statue was slightly warm in his palm, as if it still had a trace of life.

This time.

He has probably made a great contribution.

If a secret puppet of the Marquis-level Immortal rank is brought back to human territory and handed over to those weapon-refining masters for research, it might bring some new combat capabilities to the human race.

……

The kingdom was destroyed.

The remaining clearing mission was naturally carried out by Lin Yan and his team.

Having lost its clan elders at the level of a realm lord and the protection of the divine statue, the kingdom's remaining power was like a pile of loose sand.

The tribes lost contact with each other, and the city-states were in a state of extreme panic. Faced with the mopping-up operations of the 57th Army's combat squads, they all fled in all directions, and some even wanted to fly away from the continent.

however.

The continent of Lanqi has long been under surveillance.

During this period, there were indigenous people who tried to fly away from the mainland, but as soon as they broke through the clouds, they were destroyed by the spaceship's energy cannons. Any indigenous people who tried to escape the mainland were directly dealt with in the void.

The clearing operation continues.

Lin Yan's squad was also on a mission, leaving no one alive in any of the tribes or city-states that were their targets.

War is war.

There is no right or wrong, only life and death.

……