The current situation is as follows.

Cangqiong Ridge sits at the junction between the Central Plains and the Eastern Wastes within the Five Regions.

The Five Regions lie in the far west of the continent; to the east is the Great Wastes, further east are the coastal areas—the Sky Vault and the Mountain and Sea Holy Land—and continuing eastward across the sea brings you to the Free and Unfettered Holy Land.

If you press further east into the sea, you reach overseas areas like the Wild Sea and the Chaotic Crystal Sea.

The forces led by the Five Regions’ Female Emperor, Li Chengqian, the Sword Lord, and others have already arrived at or are about to arrive at Cangqiong Ridge.

You, positioned at the Hundred Death Mountains in the center of the Great Wastes, are now racing full speed westward toward Cangqiong Ridge.

You stuffed the people from the Three Great Holy Lands into the Cauldron Realm, while the Four Ancestors swallowed one hundred thousand of the Demon Tribe so that everyone could advance in unison and arrive simultaneously.

Half of the two hundred thousand-strong Dragon-Man army—the contingent attacking the continent—is moving westward from the eastern coast, penetrating inland.

The other half of the Dragon-Man forces are engaged in battle with the Starry Domains.

By the time you and the Four Ancestors reach Cangqiong Ridge, the Five Regions allied forces are already fully deployed.

Formation arrays rise up across Cangqiong Ridge. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Trained exotic beasts stand ready in tight formations.

Batch after batch of martial artists hold defensive lines.

Beacon towers, enemy-repelling walls, and crossbow fortresses spring up from the ground.

Large siege machines originally meant for assault have been transported here; even the usual defensive tools—rolling stones, rolling logs, fire pots, and even metal sap—are prepared in abundance.

There are fortified positions and traps ahead.

There are supply lines behind.

Camps spread across Cangqiong Ridge from north to south.

New forces arrive by the day.

“Song Family of the Central Plains, here to join the fight! Five thousand troops! One Martial King realm, five hundred Middle Martial Path, over four thousand Early Martial Path!”

“Greedy Wolf Tribe from the Northern Frontier, here to slaughter the enemy!! Two thousand troops! Martial King realm—none! Middle Martial Path eight hundred! The rest are Early Martial Path!”

“Xiliang Joy Union Sect, here to meet the enemy~ Six hundred troops~”

“White Pagoda Nation from the Southern Borderlands! The whole nation goes to war! Twenty thousand soldiers! Three hundred thousand laborers!”

“Feng Family of the Central Plains……”

The Five Regions are mobilized!

Holy Lands have fallen, the Starry Domains are in peril.

News that the alien race is marching in from the east has already spread throughout the Five Regions.

Nobody doubts it.

The Emperor, the Female Emperor, the sect masters of the Eight Pillars of the Five Regions—those usually elusive big names—all issued a joint wartime proclamation, clarifying the situation.

On top of that, everyone can actually see footage of the aliens slaughtering the Holy Lands.

Remember the Recording Stones?

Wu Yue and the others preserved footage during their battles.

Hua Wuyan, using the power of the Earth Spirit, can travel across the human world.

All she needs to do is project the images from the Recording Stones, using shamanic arts, into the skies above each city.

On Cangqiong Ridge.

You watch the tens of thousands of martial artists and civilians pouring out across the ridge, the surviving martial artists from the Three Great Holy Lands, and the Great Wastes’ Demon Tribe—led by the Four Ancestors—who continue to pour in day after day from the Great Wastes.

A towering surge of heroic fervor ignites in your chest.

“The human allied forces! Swear to hold the Cangqiong Ridge defensive line to the death! If the enemy steps over our corpses, it will not be only us who fall—it will be the entire human world!!”

After saying this, countless golden command pennants fly from your hands, spreading south and north along Cangqiong Ridge.

“Open, Immortal Array—One-Line Sky!”

This formation will cover the entire Cangqiong Ridge, reshaping this area into what you called a perfect battlefield.

Seventy-fifth year, ninety-four years old.

Extracting trait entry now…

Extraction successful!

“Aftermath” (Purple Epic): In simulation, you can see some events that occur after your death. This trait requires no equipping and is automatically active.

Adjust trait entries?

You replaced “Civil War God” with “Life Loan.”

You replaced “Bad News Spreads in Martial Circles” with “Chinese-Style Succubus.”

You replaced “Proficiency” with “Irritable Constitution.”

“Wuuu—”

A warning horn blows.

“Dong! Dong! Dong-dong! Dong-dong! Dong-dong-dong! Dong-dong-dong……”

Battle drums pound from a central watchtower on Cangqiong Ridge, and nearby towers echo back at the same rhythm.

One relays to the next, until the sound reverberates across the entire Cangqiong Ridge defensive line.

Beacon fires ignite, smoke columns billow, forming a line and soaring into the sky.

All of this indicates a single thing.

The Dragon-Man army has arrived!

“Rumble……”

On the ground.

Black war chariots, dozens of meters high and made of a material writhing like rotten flesh, roll forward, crushing every obstacle and leaving long furrows.

Endless war beasts from another world thunder forward, roaring. Each wears a long chain, the other end of which is held by a Dragon-Man beast-rider flying in the air.

These Dragon-Man beast-riders often control several, even a dozen, giant war beasts at once.

Earth Demon Spirits rise up from the ground, Metal Demon Spirits cut down forests, Fire Demon Spirits howl with heat, Wood Demon Spirits manifest as eerie specters, and Water Demon Spirits do not appear on land.

The Five-Element Demon Spirit armies are countless; as long as the Dragon-Men desire, they can summon more like planting beans and growing soldiers.

In the sky.

The Dragon-Man army is widely dispersed; they do not cluster like a locust swarm but remain far apart from each other.

That way, no matter how powerful someone is, they cannot eliminate many at once.

At the same time, with Five-Element Demon Spirits, large spirit artifacts, and other methods, they can stretch the battle line extremely long.

If one counts combat units, they far outnumber the human allied forces.

And this is only half of this expeditionary army; the other half is being held up by the Shen Family.

“Sea Blade—bang! Sea Blade—bang! Sea Blade—bang!”

Faced with the human allied forces’ obstruction, the two sides are about to erupt into full battle, and the Dragon-Man army shouts a loud battle cry.

Its meaning is similar to a confident “victory” rallying cry.

You fully release your divine sense.

To your surprise, the Heaven Venerable who once made you and Hua Wuyan unable to resist and who killed the Free and Unfettered God is missing.

“Is it Black Wind……”

Black Wind is the Dragon-Men’s natural counter.

You deduce that Black Wind must have severely wounded that Heaven Venerable, which is why he did not appear on the front lines.

When the tiger is away, the monkey acts king.

The five Earth Venerables have become the highest commanders in this battle.

However, they seem to disagree somewhat about who is the supreme commander.

“Humans! Give up struggling! Become slaves of the Dragon-Man tribe! Rest assured, your generation will live to a natural old age! Only you will be prohibited from reproducing future generations!”

The speaker is the Tenth-Rank Earth Venerable of the Sixth Expeditionary Army, Moss.

That green-scaled fellow.

Before he finished speaking, the other Earth Venerables snapped back at him in annoyance.

“Moss, we agreed that I would make the war proclamation. Who allowed you to overstep your authority?”

“Hmph! I am the supreme commander now, and the entire army will follow my orders! Including you lot!”

“Xi Ta! I only obey the orders of the Heaven Venerable! Who the hell do you think you are!”

“The Realm Master told me, ‘Heaven Venerable Lintian is frail and ill; you should encourage him!’ Do you know how much weight that sentence carries??”