Extraterrestrial demons invaded; I laid the groundwork eight years in advance.

Just as the two demons charged forward, the first-order barrier in Shen Bai's mind finally broke through under the repeated erosion of spiritual energy within his body.

A vast space unfolded in his consciousness; it was his spiritual sea.

At first, the sea of ​​consciousness was a chaotic mess, like a wilderness shrouded in thick fog. As the spiritual energy poured in, the fog began to surge and condense.

At the center of the sea of ​​consciousness, a faint light shone, like the first star in the night.

That was the first wisp of spiritual energy. Then, the second and third wisps of spiritual energy emerged from the mist, intertwining and entwining with the first. The three wisps of spiritual energy resonated with each other, slowly rotating in the sea of ​​consciousness, forming a tiny vortex.

With each rotation of the vortex, spiritual power grew stronger. The boundaries of the sea of ​​consciousness expanded outward, and the mist slowly dissipated.

The changes in one's spiritual consciousness occur in reality in the blink of an eye.

Shen Bai closed his eyes.

His spiritual power emanated from his body, and invisible tendrils extended in all directions.

He "saw" the rubble behind him, every pattern on the armored demon insect's shell, and the flow of demonic energy on the four-tusked demon elephant.

Two demons were attacking from the left and right sides simultaneously.

His eyes were still closed, but his body moved.

He sidestepped, and the giant pincers of the armored demon worm grazed his waist, narrowly missing. Almost simultaneously, he flipped his right hand, and the dragon-patterned battle halberd swept out horizontally.

The moment the mental energy was released, a slight tremor came from the dantian.

The spiritual energy vortex spun rapidly under the pull of mental energy, and the originally loose spiritual energy quickly condensed, compressed, expanded, and compressed again—a stable vortex was born in the dantian.

Under the control of his consciousness, spiritual energy flowed along his meridians. Shen Bai instinctively poured spiritual power into the halberd, and a faint golden light immediately appeared on the halberd, flowing along the dragon patterns.

With the aid of spiritual power, the halberd easily sliced ​​through the armored demon insect's carapace, and with a sharp roar, the armored demon insect was sent flying.

At the same time, with the birth of the spiritual energy vortex, the spiritual energy began to accelerate the condensation of qi and blood.

The power of qi and blood surges forth from the limbs and bones, and every muscle expands, contracts, and reorganizes, like steel that has been forged, becoming denser and more powerful.

The four-tusked elephant's trunk came crashing down from the left.

Shen Bai stood still, stretched out his left hand, his five fingers like hooks, and directly grabbed the thick elephant trunk.

The immense force came from his arms, and his feet plowed two shallow furrows in the ground, but his left hand still held firmly to the elephant's trunk.

With his first-tier physique and full power of qi and blood, his grip strength was enough to crush steel.

He thrust out his right halberd, aiming straight for the elephant's eye.

The four-tusked elephant suddenly shook its head, and the halberd slashed across its cheek, leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound on its scales.

Shen Bai took a deep breath and released the elephant's trunk. With a flash, he leaped into the air, and with the weight of his entire body and the enhancement of spiritual and mental power, he slammed the halberd down hard on the head of the four-tusked demon elephant.

The scales only offered a moment's resistance before being sliced ​​open, the halberd blade piercing flesh and splitting open the skull. Through the crack, the grayish-white brain inside could be vaguely seen.

  

"boom--"

The four-tusked elephant's body froze for a few moments before collapsing with a crash.

Beside him, the armored monster tried to get up, but Shen Bai landed and pierced its head with a single halberd.

At the critical moment, Shen Bai broke through to the first level in all three aspects: essence, energy, and spirit.

He drew his halberd and glanced toward the entrance to the mine tunnel.

The battle for the Ninth Squad was still at a stalemate—the Golden Scale Demon Tiger had already injured three of its members, and Zhou Ming was barely holding it off with the last reserve member.

Each swing of the Golden Scale Demon Tiger's claws was imbued with demonic energy. Zhou Ming struggled to defend himself with his weapon, his short sword nearly shattered, and his combat uniform torn in several places, his entire body stained with blood.

Shen Bai pushed off with his feet, his figure moving like lightning, covering the distance of a hundred meters in an instant.

The Golden Scaled Demon Tiger was about to strike Zhou Ming with its claws when Shen Bai attacked from the side, sweeping his halberd horizontally and striking its foreleg with spiritual power.

The halberd blade cut into the bone, and the Golden Scaled Demon Tiger let out a miserable howl and staggered backward.

Zhou Ming was stunned. Before he could even see what was happening, Shen Bai's figure had already blocked his way.

"Step back," Shen Bai said without turning his head.

The Golden Scaled Demon Tiger steadied itself, and the not-yet-fully-grown bone horn on its forehead suddenly glowed with a dark red light.

It suddenly lowered its head, and an energy arrow shot out from the bone horn, striking Shen Bai's chest with a whooshing sound.

Shen Bai dodged to the side according to the illustration, and the energy arrow grazed past his combat suit, blasting the minecart behind him to pieces.

The Golden Scaled Demon Tiger raised its head again, and the light on its bone horns shone brightly once more.

Shen Bai did not give it a second chance.

He lunged forward, his halberd piercing precisely into the base of the bone horn.

Spiritual energy surged forth, causing the bones and horns to shatter, and the Golden Scale Demon Tiger let out a mournful howl.

Shen Bai swung his halberd downwards, slicing it down along its neck.

Black blood gushed out, and the tiger's head rolled to the side.

Shen Bai sheathed his halberd and turned to look at Zhou Ming and the other reserve team members.

Their faces still bore the terror of surviving a disaster; some had blood trickling from the corners of their mouths, and others had their arms hanging limply at their sides.

"Continue the fight."

"We can't let a single monster leave this place."

Zhou Ming gritted his teeth and gripped the short knife tightly in his hand: "Understood!"

Shen Bai leaned on his battle halberd, extending his mental energy into his abdominal cavity to adjust his ribs.

The first-tier physique greatly enhanced recovery abilities; muscle fibers were rewoven, and bones healed rapidly under the catalysis of spiritual energy. The wound on the left leg also stopped bleeding and scabbed over at a visible speed under the cleansing power of qi and blood.

Shen Bai raised his head and looked at the crack.

The dark red light continued to surge, and the monsters continued to push their way out.

While he was fighting the first-tier monsters, many apprentice-level monsters rushed out of the mine, but they were all temporarily repelled by the firepower of the emergency response team.

With the death of the four first-tier demons, under the suppression of the laws of heaven and earth, the edges of the three rifts began to shrink slightly, and the openings of the rifts gradually became smaller.

Shen Bai breathed a slight sigh of relief upon seeing this.

If the rift continues to widen and more Tier 1 monsters emerge, the battlefields in other areas may spiral out of control.

The fact that the cracks are now narrowing indicates that the scale of this invasion will not continue to expand.

He let out a long breath and asked in his mind, "Little Orange, report on the global distribution of rifts and the number of monsters."

Xiao Cheng's voice quickly rang out: "Master, according to the Eye of the Spirit, network monitoring, and the Apostle panel data of the Dawn Team members, a total of 1,531 rifts have been discovered so far. Among them, more than 1,200 are within the Dragon Kingdom, and more than 300 are abroad. A total of 138 Tier 1 monsters have appeared, and the number of Apprentice-level monsters is close to 60,000. Monsters are still pouring out."

Shen Bai remained silent for a moment.

One hundred and thirty-eight Tier 1 monsters. Each Tier 1 monster could cause massive casualties in an area where no one could defend against them.

"Don't worry about evolution points in an emergency."

"Ready to provide support at any time."

"Understood, Master."