The five Heaven Venerables flew along, bickering the whole way, unable to agree on who should be the supreme commander.

Suddenly, all five of them began free-falling.

No matter how they flapped their wings or deployed their Dragon-Man battle arts, they couldn't regain altitude. They could only watch helplessly as they slammed into the ground.

BOOM!!!

Those five massive bodies crashed down, leaving five enormous craters. Cracks spread out in all directions, mountains split, earth shattered, and dust filled the sky.

"What's going on?! Why can't I fly anymore?!"

"Me too!"

"Don't come closer, you behind! Something's wrong here!"

The Earth Venerables were leading the charge, flying at the front. After sensing the anomaly near Cangqiong Ridge, they immediately ordered the Dragon-Man troops behind them to halt their advance.

You stood on a high peak ahead of these Earth Venerables.

A recently built commanding platform stood here, and you now stood atop it, watching the awe-inspiring Dragon-Man army that filled both the sky and the ground.

You raised your hand lightly, and array patterns lit up beneath your feet. This formation was deployed across multiple points on Cangqiong Ridge, synchronizing your voice and amplifying it so everyone could hear.

"Soldiers! The One-Line-Sky Formation has taken effect! The entire Cangqiong Ridge is now under an airspace lockdown!

If the Dragon-Man army wants to fight us, they have to do it on the ground! Whether they're a king, a saint, or a god, remember that!

Do not get tangled up with their war machines!

There are few Dragon-Men, so killing even one is a massive gain!

All troops, obey my command!

Slay the Dragon-Men, protect our homeland!"

The moment the order was given, the entire army erupted in fervor!

Human and Demon tribes alike, their killing intent soared to the heavens!

For a moment, the Dragon-Man army was stunned by the blazing morale erupting from the beings of the human world.

Moss Earth Venerable scoffed at this.

"So they set up an airspace lockdown formation, so what? Send the war beasts and demon spirits to the front, and hide our men behind them!"

Broken Star Earth Venerable objected.

"Our Dragon-Man tribe is the noblest race in the Void Realm! Acting like this would mean we're afraid of their humans and demons? Line up in a single-rank formation, advance side by side, and crush them head-on!"

Another Earth Venerable countered.

"Broken Star! Where did your military knowledge go? Did you feed it to the dogs?

We have fewer men, and the war machines can't operate without the soldiers!

Their goal is to close in on us and exploit their numerical advantage to trade lives! We must not fall for their trap!"

"Then what do you suggest?!"

"Send a small force to infiltrate and destroy this airspace lockdown formation!"

The five Earth Venerables finally reached a consensus.

Their main force spread out in the sky east of Cangqiong Ridge and stopped advancing.

Only five thousand beast tamers controlled the war beasts, with hundreds of thousands of demon spirits providing cover, as they charged into Cangqiong Ridge territory.

All five Earth Venerables, being battle-lovers, took the lead in the charge.

Even if they couldn't fly and had to sprint on the ground—something that looked rather undignified for their rank—they still scrambled to be the first to charge forward.

Probably because that Cold Heaven Venerable had really met his end, and they wanted to advance.

At the front lines, promotions probably didn't need to consider cultivation realms. After all, if the supreme commander was gone, they couldn't just wait for someone below to break through before appointing a replacement. The war was still raging.

The war on Cangqiong Ridge erupted once more.

The last simulation had been a war between humans and demons.

This time, it was the beings of the human world against alien invaders.

Although only a small force of the Dragon-Man army had entered, they couldn't be taken lightly. The war beasts and demon spirits they controlled were devastatingly destructive and numerous.

The One-Line-Sky Formation treated everyone equally.

Among the human world coalition, anyone above the Martial King realm also couldn't fly; they had to engage the enemy on the ground.

But overall, this worked in your favor.

Because even Dragon-Men below Martial King could fly naturally.

Now that they were all pulled down to fight at close quarters, there were more opportunities to kill Dragon-Men.

No matter how many of their war machines you dismantled, they could just keep manufacturing more.

Only by killing their living forces could you weaken the enemy's combat power.

This formation was originally an Immortal Formation, but after being strengthened by your trait tags, it could now be called a Super Immortal Formation.

Not only was its coverage wide, but its effect was so powerful that even Hua Wuyan, a Martial God, couldn't take to the air.

On the battlefield, leaders from all sides—Sword Lord, Female Emperor, Chen Jing, Li Chengqian—led from the front, fighting valiantly and racking up brilliant records.

Martial artists of the Five Regions fought with all their blood and might.

The Demon Tribe refused to be outdone, roaring through the mountains and forests under the leadership of the Four Ancestors.

This was wilderness, the terrain where the Demon Tribe excelled.

And of course, there was you.

The Dragon-Man tribe's true Strict Father!

Every area you defended also granted those around you the "Leader Aura" buff, resulting in extremely low casualty ratios.

The five Earth Venerables also paid you special attention, keeping you under tight surveillance.

By using the Super Soul Combat Art to enter the Martial God realm, along with a host of Dragon-Man technology enhancements, they could still hold their own against you.

If all five attacked together, you even had to temporarily avoid their edge.

Fortunately, you had Hua Wuyan by your side as a top-tier support, so you were never in real danger.

The presence of the Earth Venerables prevented you from going on a solo rampage among the ordinary Dragon-Men.

Days later.

The Dragon-Man army's attempt to use small forces to figure out the formation's structure was a complete failure.

The human world coalition, resisting with all their might, achieved an average ten-to-one casualty ratio, slaughtering those few thousand Dragon-Men until only a few hundred managed to retreat by luck.

You ordered the entire army not to pursue and to only engage the enemy within the One-Line-Sky Formation.

Once outside the area, Dragon-Men could fly again, and with their standard-issue Magic Bullet Cannons, any martial artist below Martial King would become a sitting duck.

"I told you this was a lousy idea! Going with a single-rank formation and crushing them head-on is the most badass move!"

"Badass your dead head! What's so hard about defeating these weaklings from the human world? I just don't want to lose too many of our soldiers!"

"We've already lost a few thousand! So what if there's an airspace lockdown? Send the whole army out! Wipe these bastards out, and the human world won't have any resistance left. This war will be over!"

You heard the Earth Venerables arguing again.

But as they argued, they suddenly stopped, as if they had received some critical intelligence.

Soon after, the Dragon-Man army launched a full-scale assault, with all combat units rushing forward en masse.

"Knowing that the area beneath One-Line-Sky is disadvantageous for them, they're still going all out? Something doesn't feel right..."

The human world coalition once again prepared for battle.

Cangqiong Ridge turned into a massive meat grinder, with countless lives falling there.

Within a few days, you found out what was wrong.

The Dragon-Man army had a clear target—they were aiming to destroy the formation core of One-Line-Sky!

A formation of this scale wouldn't completely fail if a single core was destroyed, but its effectiveness might decrease. For example, a Martial Saint might be able to fly again.

"How did they find out?"

A spy?

Impossible. No one understood this formation. After you set it up, you hadn't told anyone where the cores were.

You couldn't figure out the reason.

For now, all you could do was defend the formation core with everything you had!