["Super Soul Combat Art!!"]

[The five Earth Venerables simultaneously entered the Martial God realm, locking you and Hua Wuyan in place, preventing you two from stopping the Dragon-Man army's advance.]

["Sword Lord! Lingyue! Elder Brother! Cheng Qian! Quickly lead the Martial Kings and Martial Saints to guard the valley!"]

The Dragon-Man army pressed directly toward the valley nestled between Bixia Peak and Qisong Peak.

There, a small formation lay concealed beneath layers of sand and vegetation, flickering faintly on and off.

This was one of the Formation Cores of the One-Line-Sky Grand Array.

A formation like One-Line-Sky wasn't a single formation by nature, but rather a combination of many formations arranged according to specific principles, functioning like a complex formation system.

The terrain here was narrow, flanked by towering cliffs on both sides, their rock exceptionally sturdy and difficult to destroy.

It could truly be described as a pass where one man could hold off ten thousand.

You had specifically chosen this location for the Formation Core.

The ordinary soldiers of the human world coalition didn't need to guard it—just having the Sword Lord and other powerhouses hold the valley entrance was enough.

The war had shifted from three dimensions to two, which indeed worked greatly to your advantage.

Otherwise, the Dragon-Men could simply fly over the valley from above, making them nearly impossible to stop.

The Dragon-Men had no shortage of strong fighters either.

The five Earth Venerables were Martial Saints capable of using the Super Soul Combat Art, and the expeditionary force still had many ordinary Martial Saints besides them.

Using the word "ordinary" before "Martial Saint" really didn't fit at all.

Even with the Sword Lord, Li Lingyue, and other powerful Martial Saints leading the fight, the powerhouses from the Five Regions and the Demon Tribe remained at a disadvantage throughout the battle to hold the valley entrance, with casualties occurring from time to time.

The Dragon-Men were simply unable to fly—everything else about them remained completely unaffected.

["Sword Heart Like a Song!!"]

The Sword Lord shone like a blazing star, his sword light illuminating three thousand miles.

Even the five Earth Venerables, busy restraining you and Hua Wuyan, were drawn to the Sword Lord's spectacle.

"Huh? How is this person..."

They seemed to notice something unusual.

But the battle was too intense, leaving no time to observe closely.

One Earth Venerable broke away from the fight and issued a command to the entire army.

"You fools!! Why keep attacking that cramped valley entrance? Blow up the mountain!!"

A group of Dragon Saints joined forces, attempting to destroy the peak.

The Four Great Demon Ancestors charged forward without hesitation, slamming headfirst into them.

"Dragon-Man tribe! Return our Demon World!!!"

The Demon Tribe fought with full fury throughout this war, throwing away all fear of death.

Demon tribe warriors followed their Ancestors in wave after wave, sacrificing their lives to resist, preventing the Dragon-Man powerhouses from destroying the peaks surrounding the Formation Core.

The Earth Venerable issued another command.

"You imbeciles!! What's that city-destroying cannon over there for? Ornament?! Blast it open!"

Through your Free and Unfettered Token, you promptly relayed the Earth Venerable's orders to the Sword Lord and the others.

The Sword Lord acted decisively, commanding all the Martial Saints and Martial Kings to ensure they locked down the Dragon-Man experts they were currently fighting.

This way, if the Dragon-Man army tried to use heavy weapons to destroy the area, they would end up hitting their own generals and experts as well.

Of course, the Sword Lord and his people would also be caught in the blast.

But there was no other choice—in this war, the human world coalition was outmatched. Every trade-off of one-for-one, no matter how small, brought immense benefit to the overall situation.

The Sword Lord also ordered the soldiers under their command to prevent the Dragon-Man army from firing the cannon.

If that shot came down, it would likely destroy the Formation Core along with everything else. Better to stop them from successfully firing.

The Dragon-Man tribe was unified from top to bottom in their desire for progress.

The soldiers operating the city-destroying cannon saw that their superiors were currently fighting their enemies right at the bombardment point. Firing the cannon would blow up both the target and their commanding officers together.

They were thrilled on the spot.

"General! Get off that mountain now! We're about to fire!!"

Their voices were urgent, and their hands were even more eager.

"Why is this shell so heavy? Hurry up! Give me a hand! Move it!"

The city-destroying cannon's construction was also made of writhing flesh-and-blood tissue.

It stood over a hundred meters tall and stretched more than a kilometer from side to side, pulled along by hundreds of otherworldly giant beasts.

After loading the shell, the firing angle had to be adjusted; otherwise, the cannon would hit their own superior—no wait, miss the target, that is.

But just then, martial artists from all corners of the Five Regions were rapidly converging on the cannon's position.

"Brothers! We must stop them from firing! If the One-Line-Sky Array is destroyed, we'll lose our chance to fight the alien race head-on!"

The newcomer was Martial King Sun Cheng'en, riding a black spirit horse as he galloped through the forest with the speed of the wind.

By his side were the army brothers who had fought and bled with him for years.

Most of them were now white-haired and advanced in years.

Sun Cheng'en led this personal guard in multiple charges, yet they could never break through the defensive forces surrounding the cannon.

Watching the cannon's terrifying barrel slowly lift, Sun Cheng'en felt for the string of cloth pouches at his waist.

"No choice. I'll have to blast through by force!"

Sun Cheng'en tore off the string of pouches, which were filled with star explosives from the Starry Domains.

This material could be considered the most powerful conventional weapon the human world possessed.

The key was that it required no special skill to use—anyone who could light a fuse could unleash this earth-shattering explosion.

Sun Cheng'en wasn't the only one with star explosives. Everyone present carried some—this was their final resort.

Thanks to the resource equalization plan you organized in your early years, star explosives had been able to circulate from the Starry Domains to the Five Regions.

Sun Cheng'en hurled the explosive pack and ignited it from a distance using martial arts.

The power of the explosion was tremendous.

But the Dragon-Man tribe had the cannon heavily protected. From a distance, whenever they spotted something flying toward it, they either shot it down in advance or activated a defensive barrier.

"General, this won't work. To blow up their cannon, we'll have to get close and detonate it point-blank!"

"But doing that... wouldn't that be a one-way trip?"

A group of veteran generals exchanged knowing smiles.

"Hahaha! General! We're all old and gray now. If we're not going to go out in a blaze of glory on the battlefield, are we supposed to just gasp our last breaths in a sickbed?"

"My family is all in the Five Regions. For them, I'm more than willing to give up this old life—it's worth it!!"

"General! The wars we fought before were for those royal nobles who never had to worry about the real world! But today, we're fighting for ourselves!"

Sun Cheng'en's personal guard charged out on their warhorses.

Sun Cheng'en was at a higher cultivation level than them and could have stopped them, but he didn't.

In that moment, his heart ached more than anyone's.

But soon, he found peace, because he knew he would follow in their footsteps.

"Boom!!!"

A deafening explosion echoed across the entire battlefield, accompanied by a chain of rising mushroom clouds.

Sun Cheng'en's personal guard had used their lives to blast open the cannon's outer defenses.

Sun Cheng'en followed close behind, his horse kicking up dust as he charged through the breach, racing straight for the city-destroying cannon.

"Ahhh!!!"

His old comrades had been blown to pieces, leaving nothing behind. Sun Cheng'en was consumed by rage.

In that moment, though he was only a Martial King, even the Dragon Saints near the cannon couldn't stop the charge he made with his very life.

"BURN!!!"

Sun Cheng'en slapped the star explosive pack deep into the cannon's barrel, igniting it the instant it left his hand.

"BOOM!!!"