Huo Yuhao raised his hand and waved. The five Plane Seeds floated from his bosom, suspending before him, their purple-black Abyss origin energy surging within.
At the same time, the unrefined Abyss energy within his body was also mobilized, surging from his limbs and converging at his dantian into a purple-black energy ocean.
Huo Yuhao's eyes closed slightly as his divine consciousness gradually sank into his body.
Using the innate secret method as a furnace, his divine consciousness as fire, and the power of Creation as a guide, he actively dismantled, purified, and transformed the violent Abyss energy.
The purple-black origin slowly shed its impurities within him, transforming into gentle life energy that permeated his limbs like water.
As a pure energy plane, the Abyss Plane's Abyss energy and life energy were fundamentally similar—both were external manifestations of a plane's origin.
But Abyss energy naturally carried destructive qualities, like the wildness in a beast's blood. Without taming and conversion, it was difficult to turn it into life energy beneficial to the body.
Converting Abyss energy into life energy was a technical task.
But Huo Yuhao had mastered Creation power and various devouring abilities—this was clearly no challenge for him.
After all, on the path of devouring, the most important aspect was conversion ability. Without the means to convert harmful energy into beneficial energy, one couldn't walk the devouring path. (Tang San, Lan Xuanyu, and others: Yes, exactly.)
After all the Abyss energy in his body was converted, the purple-black ocean in his dantian had vanished, replaced by a vibrant lake of life energy—warm, dense, and calm, yet containing astonishing power.
Seeing this, Huo Yuhao took a deep breath and summoned the plane's seven-colored thunder tribulation!
BOOM!
Thunder surged through his body, its ferocious, destructive force tearing at his flesh.
Where the lightning passed, marrow, fascia, and flesh were repeatedly forged, his body growing more crystalline, even the Dragon King bloodline within him becoming more active.
At the same time, the lake of life energy in his dantian surged violently, its warm power flowing through his meridians to repair the thunder's damage, subtly enhancing his physical strength.
Destruction and creation, breaking and building—the two forces formed a perfect cycle within him.
His spirit power also quietly rose in this cycle.
Through recent cultivation and absorbing the Fire Dragon King's power, his spirit power, already at Level 94, began to climb rapidly.
Huo Yuhao sank completely into this transformation.
At the same time Huo Yuhao was tempering his body and breaking through to Flawless Golden Body, the Federation higher-ups who had received his intelligence urgently convened a meeting.
On the conference table lay a report personally compiled by Huo Yuhao.
The locations and defensive forces of the Holy Spirit Cult's two Blood River God-Slaying Grand Arrays in Tiandou City and Douling City, along with the Cult's strategy for the Xingluo-Federation war, were all laid out.
The attendees quickly browsed the documents. When they saw that the arrays required ten million sacrifices, they were shocked.
Even though they'd previously discussed that the Holy Spirit Cult would conduct blood sacrifices on Douling and knew the number wouldn't be small, actually seeing the Cult's ruthlessness still surprised them.
After reviewing the compiled intelligence, the Federation Council Chairman spoke gravely: "What are your thoughts on the Holy Spirit Cult's strategic plan?"
"We can't let them succeed. The Blood River God-Slaying Grand Arrays on the Douling Continent must be destroyed."
Yu Guanzhi snapped back to attention, his tone low. "The Dark Department has already infiltrated the Douling Empire. We can send reinforcements to disrupt the two arrays under construction."
Wang Hongchen disagreed. "Acting now would be too early—it would alert the enemy. The Douling Continent's population is there; we can't relocate them all."
"As long as the people remain, the Holy Spirit Cult can set up new arrays at any time. We need an opportunity to expel—or even wipe out—the Cult's forces on the Douling Continent."
Yu Guanzhi frowned, thought for a moment, and didn't argue.
Wang Hongchen made sense. Destroying the arrays under construction was only a temporary fix. Only by cleansing the Cult's forces from Douling could they solve the problem at its root.
But...
"According to Lord Spirit-Ice, the Douling Continent currently has the Demon Empress and the Killing God—the former he judges as having divine-level strength as well. In other words, there are two divine-level beings there now, plus several Three-Word Battle Armor Masters and even spirit beasts. A direct confrontation would require mobilizing considerable forces for a hard battle."
Yu Guanzhi looked at the Council Chairman. "We'll likely need to coordinate with the Spirit Transmission Tower."
"I'll contact them." The Council Chairman agreed. "But the Dark Department can infiltrate Douling City and Tiandou City in advance to monitor the Holy Spirit Cult's activities."
The others nodded.
Then, Yu Guanzhi considered and made another suggestion: "As for Xingluo, we might leverage this intelligence to win over their grassroots support and drive a wedge between their people and the Holy Spirit Cult."
If the Holy Spirit Cult's plan to sacrifice the Douling Continent was exposed, it would certainly be resisted by the Xingluo people. No normal person would support a faction planning such atrocities.
With proper handling, the Federation's victory over a Xingluo plagued by internal and external troubles would become much easier.
The Xingluo people wouldn't have to pay such a heavy price for the Cult's ambitions.
It might not be a win-win for Xingluo as the invaded side, but it was better than a lose-lose.
After all, according to the Cult's strategy, when Xingluo was crippled by the Federation, the evil soul masters would turn on them. Who knew if Xingluo would become a second Douling?
Hearing this, the Council Chairman recalled the people the diplomatic mission had brought back. "I remember the mission to Xingluo brought back some Xingluo natives?"
Yu Guanzhi nodded. "Yes, they're members of a resistance organization within Xingluo."
"Mm." The Council Chairman mused, "Contact them. See if they're willing to serve the Federation by bringing some 'truth' back to Xingluo at the right time—to give them a chance at survival."
Yu Guanzhi immediately understood.
Those resistance members were originally people dissatisfied with the Xingluo high command's collusion with the Holy Spirit Cult. They possessed considerable evidence of the Cult's crimes in Xingluo and were more eager than anyone to overthrow its influence there.
Compared to outsiders like them, having insiders spread the word was clearly more appropriate.
"I'll arrange contact immediately." Yu Guanzhi nodded.
The Council Chairman nodded slightly.
The meeting continued for another half-hour, and the specific division of labor and timelines for each action were finally finalized. Attendees gradually left, and the meeting room emptied.
The Council Chairman sat at the head of the long table, his hands clasped under his chin, his gaze fixed on the intelligence before him, not moving for a long time.
Only when his secretary entered did he speak: "What's the current progress of the Sea God Corps?"
The secretary opened a folder and reported quickly: "According to frontline reports, the Sea God Corps made first contact with the Xingluo main fleet three days ago. In that engagement, we destroyed a quarter of their warships and gained absolute superiority. Since then, Xingluo has been retreating while harassing and intercepting, avoiding further direct confrontations."
"Planning to drag us into a war of attrition?" The Council Chairman frowned, his tone sharpening. "Order the Sea God Corps to hold nothing back—full assault, seize the Xingluo coastline. Have Lord Yun Ming join the operation for a swift resolution to open Xingluo's gates!"
Originally, he'd sent Yun Ming with the Sea God Corps merely as a safeguard against the Killing God, not intending for him to directly intervene and force the Cult's divine-level experts into battle, turning the first engagement into a final one. The Cult's and Xingluo's trump cards were too unknown; being too aggressive could backfire badly.
As Chairman, he was responsible for those soldiers' lives.
But now, the wealth of intelligence from the Demon Emperor gave him the confidence to be slightly more aggressive.
With the Killing God and Demon Empress far away on the Douling Continent, no one on the Xingluo Continent could stop Yun Ming and their navy!
On the open sea, massive warships plowed through the waves. The fleet stretched across the vast ocean, an awe-inspiring sight.
Most striking were the four Red-Grade Motherships at the fleet's center.
They were like four floating steel beasts, their hulls astonishingly massive. The flagship at the front was the largest—like a mobile sea city, its deck carrying hundreds of the most advanced soul tool aircraft and thousands of mecha units, gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
Around the four Red-Grade Motherships, Black-Grade battleships, Purple-Grade frigates, Yellow-Grade gunboats, and White-Grade patrol ships formed layered defenses.
Over four hundred warships total. The cannons on each glinted with metallic luster, muzzles raised, ready to fire.
At the central bridge, the Sea God Corps Commander—Xiao Lingshuang—watched the distant scene with a slight frown.
On the horizon, the Xingluo fleet flickered in and out of view, always staying outside the Federation main fleet's cannon range.
Occasionally, high-speed patrol ships would approach from the flanks, fire a volley of long-range shells, then turn and retreat. Not all escaped unscathed—some slower ones were hit by return fire, trailing smoke as they fled, or were completely destroyed and sunk.
Most of the shells aimed at the Federation fleet were intercepted by Purple-Grade frigates; the few that hit the sea only raised massive water columns, causing no real damage.
"Harassment again," an officer beside Xiao Lingshuang reported quietly. "Commander, that's the fifth time today. Small units, hit and run."
Xiao Lingshuang sneered. "After that last engagement, they're scared. Too afraid to fight head-on, they're trying to stall us with this. In that case—"
Just as he was about to give orders, his communicator lit up with new commands from the Federation.
After reading it, Xiao Lingshuang's expression shifted from stern to solemn, then a smile tugged at his lips.
"If they won't come to us, we'll push straight for the Xingluo coastline." He set down the communicator and turned to his adjutant. "Order the fleet: leave a squadron to guard against Xingluo harassment; the main force will advance at full speed toward the Xingluo coastline. Notify Lord Yun Ming to prepare for action."
"Yes!"
Orders spread through the fleet like a tide.
Over four hundred warships quickly adjusted formation. Three Black-Grade battleship divisions and one Red-Grade Mothership detached from the main force, deploying on the flanks to intercept possible Xingluo attacks. The rest accelerated simultaneously, engines roaring, leaving hundreds of white wakes across the sea.
Seeing this, the distant Xingluo commander's expression changed, but he was helpless.
The technology gap between Xingluo and the Federation was vast, especially in naval equipment. That the Federation left only a squadron to intercept them was already a sign of respect in the commander's eyes.
Given Xingluo's naval strength, even with only a fraction of Federation forces, they might not break through—the engagement three days ago, which cost them a quarter of their fleet, had proven that.
But he couldn't just let the enemy sail through his defenses. He ordered a breakthrough attempt.
"Order the First and Third Fleets to attack head-on; the Second Fleet will flank! Tear through the Federation's blockade!"
The Xingluo fleet poured forth, artillery raining down on the Federation's interceptor squadron like a storm.
But the remaining Red-Grade Mothership was like a steel fortress, its soul tool shields fully activated, absorbing endless water elements from the sea to form a barrier that deflected the intense artillery fire.
Meanwhile, the Federation's Black-Grade and smaller frigates maneuvered flexibly through the gaps in the bombardment, their rapid-fire guns spewing blazing beams to weave a death net on the sea, exchanging fire with the Xingluo navy.
Three Xingluo battleships from the First Fleet tried to focus fire on the Red-Grade Mothership. The mothership absorbed water elements and unleashed dozens of blue beams equivalent to Super Douluo-level attacks, instantly piercing one ship's bridge. The explosion engulfed a kilometer, flames billowing, and the ship tilted out of control, slowly sinking into the sea.
The Second Fleet attempted to flank, but the Federation's carrier mecha units were already waiting. Hundreds of mecha units circled and dove over the sea, their soul tool beams raining down like a storm, shredding the small flanking vessels into pieces.
"Damn it!" Seeing his side quickly losing, the Xingluo commander slammed his fist on the console, turning to the Dark Qilin beside him with a dark expression. "Lord, won't you intervene?"
Tong Yu looked at the distant Red-Grade Mothership, speechless. He felt the commander was being unreasonable.
Could a semi-divine like him fight a Red-Grade Mothership?
That thing could absorb water elements to replenish all its energy—an infinite energy source on the ocean. With Level 10 soul tool-grade shields, even a quasi-divine would have trouble breaking its defenses.
And beyond its terrifying defense, its attack power could threaten Limit-level experts. Its thirty-six water-element cannons fired shells equivalent to Level 8 fixed-type shells.
Level 8 shells were already comparable to Super Douluo-level power.
The key was that the Red-Grade Mothership consumed water elements—unlike real Level 8 shells, which were consumables. On the ocean, the mothership's shells were infinite, requiring no resupply.
That didn't even count the surrounding escort ships, the mecha legions and soul tool fighters on board, the possible Level 9 or Level 10 fixed-type shells, and the Federation experts aboard.
Forget a semi-divine—even a quasi-divine might not survive a charge against it.
This was the Federation's true war machine, its oceanic deterrent no weaker than a quasi-divine. The Federation only had seven of them.
Having a semi-divine assault a Red-Grade Mothership? Don't make the Federation navy laugh.
Realizing he was being unreasonable, the Xingluo commander calmed down and sighed. "Withdraw. Continue the harassment strategy from afar."
After giving the order, he looked toward the Xingluo coastline.
He'd at least tied up some enemy forces and bought some time. He hoped the coast could hold against the Federation's assault.
***
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