What? You opened a resort on the battlefield of all races?

"Hodge, there's no need to prolong your life any longer!"

On the other side of Demon Emperor Star, amidst the surging blue waves, a voice slowly descended.

"If you submit to the heavens, I will inform the Star Lord and grant you the position of Star Messenger."

The battlefield fell silent for the time being.

The scattered wood fragments were bathed in emerald light, their roots wriggling against the scorched earth. In the distance, the tree-man who had just fallen propped up half of his body, the emerald light in his chest flickering.

Above the sky, a giant bird spreads its wings.

The wings blocked out the sunlight; the layers of feathers were formed from rich life energy, with a pale golden luster flowing at the edges.

With each gentle flap of its wings, large swaths of azure light scatter down, falling upon the recovering wreckage.

Those eyes surveyed the battlefield, calm and undisturbed.

"Your star lord has abandoned you."

The giant bird spoke in human language, its voice even carrying a hint of regret.

"With your own star lord absent, it is truly remarkable that you were able to break through to the Star Realm on your own."

"Don't waste your talent."

Hodge was breathing heavily in the shadow cast by the wings.

He was a middle-aged man with a cold, hard face. His black hair was stuck to the side of his neck with blood, and there was an old scar on his left brow bone. Beneath his tattered armor, his chest and abdomen rose and fell with his breath, and occasionally demonic energy would seep out and dissipate into a thin black mist.

Two long swords hung at his sides.

One of the blades was chipped at one corner, while the other still had a greenish liquid dripping slowly down its edge into the soil.

Behind him, all the demon soldiers and monsters had retreated into the anchor point altar.

Some people leaned against stone pillars, while others knelt beside their companions, using their hands to stop the bleeding from their wounds.

More people, weapons in hand, peered longingly at his retreating figure through the dimly lit barrier.

No one was urging him.

They are waiting.

When the leader, as in the past, raises his two swords and tells them they can still hold on.

Hodge tightened his grip on the hilt of his knife, shifting his gaze from the tip to the sky.

The blue waves surged and rippled, the outline of the giant bird appearing and disappearing intermittently. The overwhelming life force pressed down on him, making his chest feel increasingly suffocated.

The demonic energy, passing through the damaged meridians, suddenly stagnated.

Hodge groaned, a metallic taste rising between his teeth, and his thoughts began to wander.

The emerald light before my eyes flickered.

In a daze, he remembered a lamp from long ago.

Back then, the demonic flames on the city walls of my hometown burned all night long. Caravans leaving the city set off through the morning mist, while guards leaned against the gate, lazily checking the passes.

When he was born, the Demon Emperor already ruled this planet.

For young Hodge, the names of adults, like the ever-rising light above his head, were beyond doubt.

He has good talent.

While his peers were still practicing gathering demonic energy, he was already able to wield two swords and neatly slice through the stone pillars on the training ground.

Later, cultivation resources were delivered to him, and some people explained the cultivation methods to him, while others instructed him in swordsmanship.

He just needs to keep walking forward, and walk fast enough, and he will always see higher steps.

Later, he was summoned to the Demon Emperor's Palace.

Hodge still remembers that day, how he repeatedly wiped the scabbard, and how his palms were still sweating with nervousness as he approached the palace gate.

The Demon Emperor on the high seat glanced at him.

"good."

Only two words.

Hodge, however, stood ramrod straight and walked a long way from the main hall, his ears still burning.

He thought that he would have to develop some skills in the future to live up to this praise.

The Mahayana path was entered on those days.

On the day of his breakthrough, he swung his sword in the courtyard, and the sword's energy cleaved through the clouds, lingering for a long time.

His fellow clansmen, who were watching, congratulated him with smiles. He gripped his twin swords and felt that the days to come would likely be just as bright and promising.

But the change came without any warning.

That refreshingly irritating scent first settled on the distant mountains, then spread along the earth's veins.

Tender shoots sprouted from the black stones, and vines emerged from the cracks in the city wall.

The world's anchor points are being eroded one after another, and the once familiar rules of heaven and earth are gradually becoming unfamiliar. Even circulating demonic energy requires more effort.

The Demon Emperor accepted the challenge.

Hodge didn't see the whole battle clearly, only remembering that the sky split open and demonic flames and emerald light illuminated the entire city, making it flicker between light and shadow.

When the turmoil finally subsided, the Demon Emperor had already fled in defeat.

The adults will come back.

At that time, many people said that.

Hodge believed it too.

He took his twin swords and joined the resistance, retreating to the anchor point altar, where he told his fearful people what he had said.

As long as they hold this place, they can return home when the Demon Emperor comes back.

At first, he killed with great gusto.

The blade sliced ​​into the tree trunk, black flames burned through the vines, and those things that had set foot on their homeland collapsed before him.

But as the fighting progressed, he discovered that there were always just as many enemies.

The branches cut off yesterday can sprout again today. The charred roots burrow into the soil and soon support a new body.

How many tree-men has fallen under his blade?

Hodge couldn't remember anymore.

All he remembered was that fewer and fewer people were able to stand beside him at the altar.

Someone, on their deathbed, held his hand and asked the Demon Emperor when he would return.

He held that gradually cooling hand and said over and over again, "It'll be soon."

He talked so much that he didn't even dare to stop.

Later, he realized that he was probably not strong enough.

If you can't kill all the enemies in the Mahayana realm, you can always kill more if you take another step forward.

So, during the lulls in the battle, he began to train desperately.

Without the support of the Demon Emperor's planetary origin power, cultivation becomes much more difficult.

He slowly eroded the alien power in the wound and gathered up the scattered residual demonic energy bit by bit, not even wasting time waiting for the bleeding to stop.

Sometimes the pain would make his vision go black, so he would grip the knife handle tightly and wait for the pain to subside before continuing to operate it.

Finally, the aura of the Eternal Realm surged into the sky from the altar.

On that day, his people surrounded him, and their faces, which hadn't shown a smile in a long time, regained their light.

They called him the leader.

Looking into those eyes, Hodge felt that all the suffering he had endured in the past had finally come to an end.

But when he charged out of the altar again and cleaved through the array of tree people, a star messenger emerged from the Sea of ​​Life.

The same eternal realm.

The other person's clothes were clean, and behind them was a continuous stream of emerald light.

Hodge gripped the knife, his wounds, which had not yet fully healed, began to bleed again.

In that battle, he was unable to lead his people to reclaim their lost territory.

They managed to save a few more wounded soldiers.

He is not satisfied.

So they continued to fight and practice.

Each time he retreated to the altar, he would first look at the casualties, then find a secluded corner to sit down and hide his trembling hands between his knees.

Once his hand was steady, he was able to grip the knife again.

He will go out again once his injuries have healed.

Time and again he exhausted his demonic energy, time and again he crawled back from the brink of death. He seized every opportunity he could grasp, and finally broke through that distant threshold that seemed to exist only in legends.

Starry Sky Realm.

As he broke through, Hodge looked up at the sky and laughed until tears streamed down his face.

This time, should that be enough?

He even planned to first reclaim the mountain range east of the altar before going to meet up with his separated kinsmen.

The phrase "wait a little longer" that has been said so many times can finally be changed.

Come with me.

Drive these damned invaders back to their homeland.

But what awaited him was two wings unfurling on the sea of ​​life.

The giant bird, which blotted out the sky, lowered its head and blocked his path.

Hodge's vision gradually cleared.

The wind swept past the blade, and he found himself still standing in the same spot.

There was blood on the knife, wounded soldiers behind him, and endless greenery overhead.

It seems not much different from many years ago.

He suddenly felt very tired.

He suddenly wanted to sit down, even for a moment, without thinking about anything or caring about anything.

When will this hopeless battle finally end?

Hodge asked himself.

There is no answer.

He had progressed from the Mahayana stage all the way to the Starry Sky Realm, yet the Anchor Altar was still failing, and his people were still dying. Every breakthrough he achieved with all his might only allowed everyone to hold on a little longer.

and then?

How much further do we have to go before we're allowed to take a breath?

He used to smile whenever someone praised his talent.

Hearing those words again now only made his shoulders feel heavy. The better one's talent, the more one should persevere; the higher one's cultivation, the less one should retreat. But no one had ever told him what to do when all paths were blocked.

The giant bird's words echoed in his ears again.

Don't waste your talent.

Hodge wanted to yell back, to raise his knife and point it at the other person, just like he used to, and tell them to get off this planet.

His lips moved, but he couldn't utter a sound.

Perhaps the bird was right.

With the opponent being so powerful, what's the point of my persistence?

If I put down my knife, would fewer of the people behind me die?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he felt his face burning.

He couldn't tell whether he was trying to find a way to survive for his people, or whether he had finally given up and wanted to find a better excuse for his weakness.

If the Demon Emperor is going to return, why is there still no news?

Could it be... that the master has already died in the starry sky?

The thought sent a shiver down Hodge's spine.

That sound was right; he'd remembered it for so many years.

He had never forgotten the cultivation and appreciation he had received. But he had already sacrificed his hometown, his comrades-in-arms, and even his body had been shattered countless times.

How can this debt of gratitude ever be repaid?

He instinctively tried to suppress it, but suddenly he had no strength left.

A suppressed cough came from behind.

Hodge wanted to turn back, but he didn't dare to.

Those eyes are still waiting for him.

But this time, he simply couldn't bring himself to say "soon".

The two swords he had been gripping tightly slowly drooped down.

"Over the years, I've done more than enough for the Demon Emperor..."