The sunset was a blood-red shade.
Far above in the sky, numerous layers of clouds had obscured everything and made sure no one could see what was above.
Two clusters of immense energy were clashing within the layers of clouds.
The gigantic hole in the sky was obviously created from the aftermath of their clash.
The air was rapidly being sucked into the hole like it was a vortex.
On the earth below, untold amounts of blood, mud, broken limbs, broken equipment as well as other items were slowly being sucked into the air and into the hole as well.
The war between humanity and the Desolate monsters had already reached its end.
On every front of the battlefield, countless monsters violently charged forward, wave after wave, like a never-ending tide that mowed down any cultivators that tried to fight back.
Meanwhile, at the back of humanityâs front, almost a dozen top-class cultivators were surrounding a single white-haired old man, striking the sword that was taking shape in the forge with their martial Secret Arts in order to speed up the forging process.
The reason they were so desperate to finish forging this sword even if they had to give up everything was because Xie Gu Hong had obtained the method for forging the twin swords Heaven and Earth from the Tie Wei fortress wall within the Desolate world.
The legends spoke of the twin swordsâ boundless power, capable of killing both the Divinities and Desolate monsters in troves.
And now, the Heaven swordâs forging process had reached its most crucial point.
Humanityâs fate would be decided right here and now.
At least, that was what the entire cultivation world believed.
âMy role in the forging process is doneâ
A Three Thousand Worlds realm great cultivator dispelled his hand seals and declared.
He then charged as fast as he could towards the frontlines and led a group of cultivators into the ranks of the countless monsters.
Following after him, every great cultivator who finished their role would swiftly join the war efforts.
The Desolate monsters had completely dominated humanityâs frontlines and pushed them into a corner, so they had to push them back as soon as they could.
But humanity was still moving towards what seemed to be certain defeat.
As the battle raged on, the Desolate monsters took the full initiative and killed humanityâs higher ranking cultivators one by one, thus obtaining their victory in the war.
It was also the moment when the Heaven swordâs forging was completed and it was combined into the weapon of the Eternal Abyss.
All of this had repeated countless times over.
But today, starting from this moment, everything would only happen one final time.
It was now.
Gu Qing Shan had arrived.
Without any signs or warning, they silently appeared at the most secluded corner of the battlefield.
Luo Bing Li appeared first and landed behind a mountainous hill.
Followed by Shannu who had returned to her original form and carried Little Disk in her hands.
And finally, Gu Qing Shan.
Luo Bing Li took out a jade tag and explained to him as she read it: âWeâll do it exactly as the process saysâ
âVery well, tell meâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
âLook to your North, the Desolate monsters would march from that direction, on their way, they would run into a few squads of humanityâs armyâ Luo Bing Li said.
Gu Qing Shan looked up, squinted his eyes to look over the entire battlefield, and nodded: âEight attack squads in total: a sword cultivator camp responsible for breaking the enemyâs ranks, three spell caster squads, two vanguard battalion consisting of martial cultivators, a supply team and a squad of 30 formation usersâ
He muttered: âThe vanguard battalion that is approaching us wouldnât be able to hold on for much longer, there are already signs of their formation breakingâ
Luo Bing Li told him: âExactly, right after everyone in this vanguard battalion dies, a legion of monsters would charge through this camp and advance on the spell caster squadâ
âWhat do we do?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âAfter this, an opening would appear inside the monsterâs ranks as they perform a long-distance assault, take a look over thereâ
Luo Bing Li pointed at another camp.
It was the sword cultivatorsâ camp who were constantly ready to provide aid to any place that needed them.
âI see themâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
âFollow meâ Luo Bing Li told him, âAfter the vanguard battalion is destroyed, we will go through that gap and head into the sword cultivator campâ
âAnd then what?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
Luo Bing Li answered: âI will show them the Immortal Kingâs badge and order them to charge into the enemy ranks, this way we would create another opening in the Desolate monsterâs ranks and make it one step closer towards the weapon forging areaâ
Gu Qing Shan went silent briefly and said: âThat way, all of them will dieâ
Luo Bing Li: âAll of them will surely die, they donât exist within any timeline after this so you donât have to pity themâ
âWhat would happen if I saved them?â Gu Qing Shan asked with some clear thoughts in mind.
Luo Bing Li was shocked and quickly stopped him: âYou absolutely cannot do that. History has already been set in stone for several ten thousand years, only this single moment was undetermined. If you change the events that happened at this moment, countless people and events within the next several ten thousand years would also be greatly affected, you will be erased by both the Law of Time and Law of Fateâ
Gu Qing Shan nodded: âBecause they are not in any versions of the future, so they must be left to die during this hidden moment to make sure the timeline conforms to how they were supposed to develop, correct?â
âExactly!â Luo Bing Li was still not over her shock.
âThen how come the three coins were able to cross through Space-Time and change a lot of things, but the user of the coins is perfectly fine?â Gu Qing Shan doubtfully asked.
âIt was because of the three coins causing a great disturbance in Space-Time that humanity drew the attention of those terrifying monsters, they were the root of all this calamity!â Luo Bing Li refuted him.
âGot itâ
Gu Qing Shan nodded to signal that he understood.
Luo Bing Li continued: âIn summary, since I have the Immortal Kingâs badge, wherever we go on the battlefield, humanityâs cultivators would willingly throw their lives away for you, the one who came to take the sword. This is already the last time, the Heaven sword is the most crucial piece that cannot fall into the hands of the Abyssal monstersâ
âAlso, 30 breathsâ worth of time later, the vanguard battalion will arrive here at our hill. At that time, I will use the Immortal Kingâs badge to order them to charge into enemy ranks right away and sacrifice themselves a bit earlier, this way we will save a bit of timeâ
Luo Bing Li stopped.
No response.
She turned around and was shocked again: âWait a minute, what are you doing?â
She saw Gu Qing Shan solemnly taking out tiny clusters of light and carefully checking each of them.
âI need to make a bit of preparation for the battle aheadâ he said without looking up.
As there wasnât much time and not a lot of material was left in the Divine King inheritance vault, Gu Qing Shan had to use up all the material he took from the Abyssal Jail in order to create these 30 personal combat Soul Artifacts.
All the materials present inside were exceedingly precious, but they were used up all at once.
Even less cost-effective for him was that in order to learn the method of making these experimental Soul Artifacts, Gu Qing Shan had to spend over 1 million Soul Points with [War God Skills].
And even less cost-effective than that was that these Soul Artifacts had an expiration date.
After a short time, these personal combat Soul Artifacts would turn into sentient Divinities.
But he would be able to utilize them without an issue during this operation.
Gu Qing Shan held one of the clusters of light in his hand and lightly tapped it.
The cluster of light then turned into a miniature humanoid glowing creature.
A small cluster of light was silently burning in between this creatureâs eyebrows.
The miniature Divinity had a blank look on its face as it spoke with an emotionless voice:
[I am the Fire Spirit Provider, would you like to engage in combat?]
Following its question, Elemental Fire appeared on Gu Qing Shanâs body.
Since he originally had Elemental Lightning, now that he was reinforced with Elemental Fire, he was essentially able to use two Elements at once.
Gu Qing Shan then grabbed a blurry green cluster of light and crushed it.
An invisible airflow exuded from his body.
Following that, various black cracks manifested in the void of space, circling while flashing in and out of existence around his body.
Three different powers were reinforced onto a single person.
This had already surpassed the limit of natural Laws.
âWhat are youâ-?â Luo Bing Li hesitantly asked.
âI made a few personal combat Soul Artifacts with an expiration date, and right now would be the first time ever I test their combat effectivenessâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
âSo you even made these things, Iâm surprised you even remember that the Divine race used to be personal combat Soul Artifact created for warâ Luo Bing Li sighed.
âIn all matters big and small, the devil is in the detailsâ Gu Qing Shan casually replied.
He tapped another cluster of light.
One by one, the clusters of light manifest as Soul Artifacts that floated behind his back.
Finally, there was only a single cluster of light still floating in the air.
Gu Qing Shan didnât touch it right away.
He recalled the words of the man in the recording that he saw while inside the Divine King inheritance vault.
...
[In truth, besides Magic, I also tried to infuse various other types of power into these weapons, like Mystic-type, Savage-type, Technological-type, Dark Spiritual-type, Nihility-type,... so on and so forth. In short, a lot of unprecedented power combinations were created]
[This personal Combat-type Soul Artifact unit is different from the previous one. It contains Savage-type power, but since I had no way to absorb it, I had to infuse a Mystic-type power into it as well to create this unit]
The man slowly said.
He lightly leapt into the air.
All of a sudden, his body started to change.
After displaying the power of his creation, the man began to speak again: [As everyone knows, the Indestructible Giant is extremely famous among supernatural creatures. Its body is immune to all magic attacks while physical attacks are practically unable to break through its defenses]
[And now, Iâve used this personal Combat-type Soul Artifact unit to harness its power]
The rock giant clenched his fist, about to punch the ground.
He suddenly stopped.
[Ahaha, I almost forgot, this storage facility isnât able to take my and the Indestructible Giantâs powers combined]
The glowing rock giant slowly shrank down and turned back into the man from before.
...
Gu Qing Shan held this cluster of light tightly and took a deep breath.
Until finally, it was time.
While retaliating against their enemies, the vanguard battalion was retreating towards the hill.
Luo Bing Li once again reminded him: âIâll order them to no longer retreat, after theyâve all lost their lives, we will move towards the sword cultivator camp right away, got it?â
Gu Qing Shan sighed and told Shannu: âWhen we begin, just focus on protecting Little Dusk and follow after meâ
Shannu nervously nodded.
At this point, the martial cultivators of the vanguard battalion had finally reached the foot of the hill.
Luo Bing Li took out a glowing badge and emerged from behind the hill.
Gu Qing Shan swiftly followed her.
âTroops, take your order!â
She loudly declared.
The cultivators looked over to see Gu Qing Shan and Luo Bing Li standing on top of the hill.
A general covered in wounds came over, swiftly scanned the badge with his inner sight, and loudly responded: âSo it was the Immortal Kingâs badge, please give your order!â
Seeing the badge, all the cultivators appeared as if they had met their saving grace and quickly looked over, silently waiting for their order.
Luo Bing Li stayed silent briefly, feeling a bit tough to open her mouth.
She knew how strict humanityâs military discipline was, and she knew that by carrying this badge, it was as if the Immortal King had arrived here himself.
She also knew exactly how these cultivators with hopeful looks in their eyes would end up.
As soon as she gave the order, these cultivators would immediately move forward to throw their lives away without question.
Luo Bing Li bit her lip.
Stop thinking useless things, all of this are necessary sacrifices.
Yes, for the fate of humanity, for the Heaven sword, countless people must be sacrificed to exchange for one final chance!
Everything is necessary and canât be avoided!
Luo Bing Li raised the badge to the air and loudly declared: âI order you toâââ
Suddenly, Gu Qing Shan swiftly and lightly took the badge from her hand.
âMilitary orders need to be swift and urgent, you talk too slowly, let me do itâ he said.
Luo Bing Li was startled.
Gu Qing Shan took a step forward and raised the Immortal Kingâs badge up high.
Countless miniature Divinities appeared from the void of space behind his back.
Crimson flames, silky white frost, emerald wind, light-blue lightning, darkness and light, illusory and real, shadowy and solid, sharp and blunt...
Numerous powers were reinforced onto his body.
This scene caused everyone to feel shocked to the point of being stunned.
This had completely surpassed these human cultivatorsâ understanding and knowledge, but it didnât stop them from sensing how overwhelming this power was with their inner sight.
This was power that surpassed the limit that humanity had ever been able to achieve, great power surpassing even the Divinities!
Someone suddenly cried out loud.
âSo we donât have to dieâ someone sobbed.
âI knew it, we still had hopeâ someone else mutteredâ
âLook! Look at that! This is the power of humanity! This is our power!â someone shouted in excitement and uncontrollable joy.
Gu Qing Shan turned to Luo Bing Li.
Luo Bing Li had already frozen.
âYou will die...â she muttered blankly.
âNo, no one will have to dieâ
Gu Qing Shan spoke with resolve.
He took out the final cluster of light and lightly tapped it.
The cluster of light scattered into countless sparks that all quickly entered his body.
Boom!
His two gigantic feet landed on the ground and caused the earth to shake with a thunderous rumble.
Sturdy ashen-grey skin, a body made completely out of polished rock material with fierceness exuding from all over his body.
Gu Qing Shan had transformed into a glowing, 6-meter-tall Indestructible Giant.
Several hundred flying swords swiftly appeared behind him from the void of space and gathered to form a giant sword.
The Indestructible Giant grabbed the sword.
He pointed at the tide of Desolate monsters from afar and declared with a thunderous rumbling roar: âFOR THE FATE OF HUMANITY, CHARGE!!!â