Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The darkness dragon slammed into the superheated fireball, sending molten lava in all directions. As the darkness and the bright red flames mixed together, the resulting explosion spread the flames nearly ten kilometers in all directions, turning all of the nearby Darkness Demons to ashes. Even the joint armies and Gloom City suffered from splash damage, forcing the joint armies to hurriedly retreat and causing Gloom City’s defenses to dim significantly.

The ground had been completely scorched by the explosion.

This was the same ground that was known for its resistance to Origin Skills. Even so, in that moment, the unimaginably powerful explosion actually appeared to have glassed the ground, and a corner of the Darkness Door had been blown off.

The Darkness Devil King had lost an arm, yet it was still howling and thrashing.

However, now that the Darkness Demons that had been pulling it into the battlefield had all disappeared, the powerful Darkness Devil King began to sink back into the world that it had come from.

“NO!” it roared fiercely, attempting to force the door open wide. However, the Darkness Door was already beginning to shrink, forcing it backwards.

“Have a safe trip!”

Su Chen’s Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect appeared behind him as he pointed his finger in the direction of the Darkness Devil King.

That finger tap made it seem as if space itself was about to collapse. Some irresistible force seemed to be drawing all things towards itself.

Su Chen’s finger was the center of this pulling force. Under the influence of his finger strike, even the Darkness Devil King’s return to its world was slowed.

The Darkness Devil King showed no sign of happiness, however. Instead, it asked in shock, “This...... What is this technique?”

“I have no clue,” Su Chen calmly replied.

He had unleashed this finger strike after perceiving the changes in his environment. Even though it appeared incredibly simple, it was actually filled with profundity.

Su Chen had always been incredibly logical. Every technique, every Origin Skill he could use had all been the product of hard work. He didn’t rely on mysterious principles, and he didn’t have faith in ineffable skills. Even so, the truth was that the deeper these rational roots went, the more likely it was for such moments of miraculous inspiration to occur.

That was the case with Su Chen’s finger strike. There had been no need for analysis or experimentation. Rather, his accumulated knowledge had suddenly given him a moment of inspiration. Whether the finger strike was actually profound or not was hard to say.

And it was this divinely inspired finger strike that had allowed him to unleash such incredible power.

The resulting spatial distortion spread, drawing everything into itself. Even the Darkness Door was no exception, and the rate at which it disintegrated only began to increase. The Darkness Devil King’s flesh similarly began to crumble away under the might of this finger strike, disappearing into nothingness.

“How is this possible?” the Darkness Devil King cried out in terror.

This was the first time that it was no longer attempting to squeeze its way through the doorway, but instead, retreating.

It was afraid!

The soldiers who saw this scene were all dumbfounded.

How could a simple finger strike be that powerful?

Finally, the finger light dissipated, and the Darkness Door collapsed.

The Darkness Devil King had returned to its former world, but it had permanently left behind one of its arms.

Dark crystals glittered in the sky.

Su Chen reached out and inspected it closely, only to find that it was Darkness Essence. Darkness Essence was incredibly difficult to obtain, as it was basically the crystallized form of darkness Origin Substance. However, its crystalline state made it much easier to absorb and use. Su Chen’s black flames had used this Origin Substance at its core.

As Su Chen had gotten stronger, he had begun to outgrow those techniques. To the Boundless Sect’s disciples that were cultivating those techniques, however, these crystals were incredible treasures.

Su Chen gathered all of the Darkness Essence around him without hesitation before tossing it to Lin Shaoxuan. “Add these to the list of items that the disciples can purchase with their contribution points. One thousand contribution points is enough to buy one gram. They are used to aid in cultivation of darkness Origin Skills.”

“Understood.” Lin Shaoxuan excitedly stowed away the sizable amount of Darkness Essence.

“Husband, look at this,” Gu Qingluo said happily as she picked up a jade-like, sparkling bone.

“That’s the arm bone of the Darkness Devil King,” Su Chen immediately identified.

The Darkness Devil King’s arm had been destroyed by Su Chen and Gu Qingluo’s superheated fireball. The bone itself, however, was still intact, an obvious indication of its quality.

Su Chen weighed it in his hand before chuckling, “This is the real treasure. When we get back, we’ll have the sect’s blacksmiths fuse it with some Void Starmetal. It should make for quite a powerful weapon. After all, you are still lacking a suitable Origin Tool, Qingluo.”

“I don’t want a weapon made out of bones,” Gu Qingluo pouted.

Su Chen laughed. “There are people who would kill for such a weapon.”

“Right, what was that finger strike of yours earlier?” Gu Qingluo suddenly remembered and asked with great interest.

“You could say it was a divinely inspired finger,” Su Chen replied. “I didn’t expect for it to be that powerful either.”

“Congratulations, my husband. Now you have mastered yet another peerless technique,” Gu Qingluo chuckled.

Su Chen, however, shook his head. “It was just a spur of the moment attack. I doubt I will be able to replicate it for some time.”

“That’s fine. If it can happen once, it will happen twice and a third time,” Gu Qingluo said happily. “I believe that you will definitely do it.”

Su Chen gazed at his own finger, silent. He began to mull over what he had felt when unleashing that finger strike.

As they were speaking, the battle was still unfolding.

The joint armies had resumed their advance, and all of the darkness creatures had been completely exterminated at this point.

These darkness creatures also provided the soldiers with Darkness Essence. In the future, this would arouse quite a bit of interest in the Boundless Sect’s black fire techniques.

The battle returned to its former equilibrium.

The cannons were still firing away.

The joint armies were determined to blast away at their opponents from long range.

After dealing with the Darkness Creatures, the armies continued their destruction of the Tower Forest.

At the rate they were going at, it seemed like it would take no less than a few months to work their way through.

However, a few months was no time at all in the joint armies’ eyes. The Harpies were willing to fight for not just a few months, but even a few years or decades, and they had already sent a second wave of reinforcements.

It appeared as if the Astrals were also aware that their days were numbered.

As the cannons blasted away, a consciousness fluctuation suddenly enveloped Su Chen, Lonely Skyleap, and Danba, echoing near their ears: “Are you all truly planning on leaving the Astrals no place to rest their heads?”

Su Chen raised his eyebrows. “Menelaus the Wise?”

“You can just call me Menelaus.” Light began to condense into a figure that gradually took form before them. The Astral figure wore a purple crown on his head, and wielded a staff with a tricolored gem set on its top.

The fact that he could appear before the three of them even over a distance of dozens of kilometers was a testament to his strength.

Lonely Skyleap said, “Menelaus, if you are willing to hand over the Immortal’s Soul, we will spare the Astrals.”

Menelaus, however, ignored him and turned to glance at Su Chen and Danba. “Sect Master Su, Chieftain Danba, is that how you all feel as well?”

Su Chen said, “If you give him the Immortal’s Soul, he will naturally leave, but Danba and I will continue to fight.”

Lonely Skyleap was startled before he shot Su Chen an angry glare.

Su Chen gazed coldly at Lonely Skyleap. “General Skyleap, I know that you have a high status amongst the Harpies and that you don’t respect us...... The Harpies have never respected anyone. But if you keep overriding my authority like this, I can only let you search for the Immortal’s Soul on your own.”

Lonely Skyleap fiercely glared at him but didn’t dare to say anything more.

Su Chen turned to glance at Menelaus. “I apologize for us making fools out of ourselves, leader Menelaus.”

Menelaus shook his head. “I never planned on handing over the Immortal’s Soul in the first place. But I do have another suggestion that you three may be interested in hearing.”

“Oh? What do you propose?”

Menelaus replied, “My proposal is very simple. Retreat now, and I will spare you all. What do you think?”

Lonely Skyleap was taken aback for a moment before he suddenly began to guffaw. “Are you crazy, you half-alive half-dead creature? Spare us? How absurd!”

This reaction was not strange.

They had never believed that the Astrals were suddenly on their last legs, or that the Darkness Door was the last resort that the Astrals possessed.

The Astrals probably hadn’t used their actual killing technique yet.

Su Chen and the other high-ranking officers had discussed this extensively already and brainstormed a number of possibilities.

The simplest was that there was some kind of Origin Beast or Desolate Beast hibernating below Wanlai Caves that would be awakened when they were in danger and would kill everyone present.

However, this theory was quickly disproven.

First of all, the resistant nature of the earth in the Wanlai Caves was not suited for an Origin Beast or a Desolate Beast to live in. If they fell asleep here, they would likely never wake up. After all, their hibernation was closely linked to the decline in Origin Energy content on the continent. If they were to further isolate themselves from Origin Energy by hibernating underground, wasn’t that basically committing suicide?

And even if there had been an Origin Beast or a Desolate Beast, they could still put up a fight. They would never win against an Origin Beast in a fight, but those hibernating Origin Beasts wouldn’t fight. At most, they would unleash a single blow before dying. Back in the Death Region, the Origin Beast had been awakened and had unleashed a stunningly powerful attack. After that, however, nothing else had happened. Desolate Beasts could live for a few days at least, but the Boundless Sect was strong enough that they wouldn’t all be wiped out in an instant and would have enough time to escape.

As such, they concluded that even if such plans did exist, the Boundless Sect wouldn’t be completely decimated even if they did suffer serious losses. This was part of the reason why they had chosen to forge onwards fearlessly.

It was completely expected that the Astrals had more trump cards ready to use. But they were far too naive if they believed that these trump cards would allow them to turn the tables on the joint armies.

Most of the time, trump cards were merely used to limit the number of casualties.

This was why Lonely Skylea had laughed in the face of Menelaus’s threat.

It was obvious that the threat was not very effective.

Even Danba said indifferently, “If you do have anything else prepared for us, please just bring it out. There’s no point in trying to scare us with empty words.”

Another ancient-sounding voice echoed in their consciousness. “Then what if I serve as a mediator? Are you willing to accept that and give me face?”

Following this voice, Su Chen, Danba, and the others found themselves in a world filled with flowers and birdsong - a far cry from the bloody battlefield they had just been on.

This strange, beautiful world was flourishing with life. Countless tiny spirits were floating through the sky. The scenery was very beautiful and harmonious. Su Chen, Danba, and Lonely Skyleap, however, received quite a significant shock.

Any skill that could transport them directly from the battlefield into another realm was no ordinary skill.

Most shockingly, this realm was incredibly familiar to them.

The Dreamrealm.

“The Lord of the Dreamrealm!” Su Chen blurted out.