Chapter 452 – Harvest and Situation

Within the crimson mist-shrouded, fractured marshland, Dolai and the others stepped inside.

It, Sophia, Lu Liu, Xiliu, and Xie Yi all possessed the status of Heroes, granting them the authority to perform purification.

“Let’s begin.”

“Although this Foul Pillar doesn’t seem to have fully solidified yet, we should still finish this quickly.”

Sophia extended her hand, and a pure white light of purification shot into the sky, dispersing the crimson mist that had enveloped the area—unmoved even by storms and energy bombardments.

Light bathed the earth.

The corrupting erosion closing in from all directions immediately weakened significantly.

…

“It’s started.”

The Battle Armor General lit a cigarette, standing outside the marshland and gazing into the distance.

Not many had actually entered, as the concentration of crimson mist around the Foul Pillar was nearly as dense as in the Land of Red Mist. Even those in the Legendary Realm had to take precautions when entering, lest they become tainted by the filth, which would be troublesome to cleanse later.

Outside this long-shattered marshland, several elite legions had sealed off the skies, the ground, and all directions.

They eliminated wild monsters that strayed into the area and guarded against any potential hidden enemies.

“After all, these temporary Filth Nexuses often serve as advance outposts for top-tier monster forces expanding outward. Dragon’s Slumber Valley must place immense importance on them.”

Were there truly only a few Blood Dragons responsible for establishing the advance outpost and protecting the Foul Pillar?

A few Blood Dragons were no weaklings, each equivalent to an Epic Heaven-Earth Realm being, possessing combat power surpassing that of most ordinary Legends.

However, within Dragon’s Slumber Valley, Blood Dragons were merely the most basic advanced combat units.

The Battle Armor General understood this deeply.

“It’s highly likely that higher-ranking Dragon’s Slumber Valley commanders are hidden in the surroundings. I cannot let my guard down.”

“Fortunately, the commanders and soldiers of Tianyuan City also appear very cautious, even maintaining their Army Souls in a semi-resonant state, ready to manifest at any moment.”

Hundreds of Specters drifted in the air, like gusts of eerie wind;

Skeletal warriors clad in armor pulled bones from their own bodies, hurling them as Bone Spears to strike down high-level monsters with a single blow;

Warriors stood in formation, while archers occupied high vantage points, arrows nocked and ready.

“Highly elite, truly elite.”

“It’s hard to imagine these legions have only been trained for just over a year. Three Army Soul Legions!”

“Perhaps this is the kind of battle-hardened elite forged through wading through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, slaying monsters until they lay fallen, and cutting through storms of blood until all was extinguished.”

In the history of the Taixuan Alliance, aside from the earliest decade or so, no Lord had ever been like Tianyuan, forced to fight their way through until they carved out a safe path.

A normal Lord, after passing the Lord Trials, would generally be on track, encountering some turbulence and calamities during the Red Moon Disasters, but only during the major Red Moon calamities.

Tianyuan Lord faced disasters throughout. The Lord Trials he experienced were reputed to be the most difficult, and the Red Moon Disaster he encountered was the largest in the past decade.

His territory had even fallen into the depths of the Wilderness—a calamity unprecedented.Other renowned lords may have encountered numerous dangers and calamities, but these tribulations occurred externally, through their own initiative to venture out for training.

They still had the opportunity to choose.

The Tianyuan Lord did not.

Perhaps it is precisely such adversities that forge battle-hardened elite soldiers born from bloodshed.

…

Time ticked by.

Purifying such a Foul Pillar took far longer than cleansing an ordinary Root of Filth.

Even with several Heroes gathered here, the purification process still lasted twenty-six minutes.

A very long time.

During this period, affected by the Crimson Mist, the elite legions stationed outside the swamp engaged and eliminated many invading monsters.

Among them were high-level monsters.

A gathered tide of monsters was swept away and annihilated by the Skeleton Legion.

Somewhat to the Battle Armor General’s surprise, even as the white light completely purified the filth and the Crimson Mist visibly dissipated, the unexpected event he had been guarding against still…

Did not occur.

The invading high-level monsters and surging monster tides seemed no different from calm waters in his eyes.

“Was I being overly cautious?”

The Battle Armor General murmured, “Regardless, the purification of the Foul Pillar is a fortunate event, and the alert can truly be lifted now.”

…

Within the Land of Filth, the Crimson Mist gradually receded. The massive pillar covered halfway with red patterns resembled an ancient structure weathered for millennia, dissipating in the wind until it vanished completely.

“It’s over.”

A beam of heavenly light showered down.

The gifts of heaven and earth shimmered within it.

Half an hour earlier, in Tianyuan City.

Mu Yuan’s eyes swirled with luminous halos, simultaneously reflecting several scenes.

Two of these showed Dolai and the others, as well as the elite legions.

Additionally, there were views of Tianyuan City’s urban areas, the shadowy trees of the Crimson Great Forest, and more.

Mu Yuan’s consciousness expanded like a net, connecting various elite squads stationed throughout the Wilderness.

While half the elite troops were gathered outside the Foul Swamp, a small portion remained in the Wilderness, currently…

“With the main battlefield concluded, we can wrap up the remaining battlefields as well.”

“Squad 36, flank and snipe the enemy from Highland D26.”

“Squads 41 and 43, attack from both flanks.”

“Main Force Squad 15, surround and eliminate the remaining Blood Serpent Embrace legend. Sickle Moon will serve as main attacker.”

…

“Battlefield Three, Squad 27 will attack, with Bone Two and Bone Three as main attackers.”

…

“Battlefield Four, permission granted to use special units – the Tree Spirit Grandma’s Incarnation Seeds.”

As the Ten Directions Island Region experienced turbulent times, the intelligent monsters hiding in darkness became increasingly active.

It seemed they too understood clearly: with Tianyuan City’s main army on distant campaigns and its powerful figures far away… didn’t that mean Tianyuan City itself had become vulnerable?

Just earlier, within mere hours, Sophia’s first and second incarnations, along with Tianyuan City’s patrol teams, had uncovered sixteen fourth-order intelligent monsters.

Each was a powerhouse among fourth-order beings, with the strongest reaching the top hundred level of the Dragon Gate List.

However, the vast majority of these intelligent monsters were eliminated before they could even step foot within Tianyuan City’s territory. The strongest monster managed to stealthily approach Tianyuan City’s outskirts, coming within several hundred meters of the outer city district before being discovered by Sophia’s Black Crows.

Without the capability of a legendary Faceless One, infiltrating their Tianyuan City wasn’t so easily accomplished.Mu Yuan had long since established at least a dozen defensive lines, both overt and covert, inside and outside Tianyuan City. He himself often used his Lord’s vision to roam the territory, anticipating the unexpected.

Perhaps Tianyuan City’s defenses were too stringent. A Legendary Realm monster attempting to infiltrate sensed the impossibility and immediately executed a tactical retreat.

This brought Mu Someone a bit of trouble.

Lord Mu ordered Asun to harass the Legendary Realm creature from a distance, delaying it, then dispatched General-level powerhouses like Azure Frost, Cold Frost, and Hundred Fierce to capture it.

He had to admit, “Dragon’s Slumber Valley has indeed tied up most of Tianyuan City’s forces, to the extent that dealing with a mere Legendary Realm requires such a massive effort.”

He nearly intervened personally to provide ultra-long-range support to Asun and the others.

While Tianyuan City faced significant harassment, the isolated mines and outposts suffered even heavier blows, incurring some losses.

After all, to sweep the Wilderness, each mine had mobilized some forces, causing tremors throughout the Ten Directions Island Region.

But Mu Yuan had prepared for this.

He guarded against these dishonorable monster Legends ambushing their small mines.

In the eyes of intelligent monsters, Tianyuan City’s elite squads were merely sweeping and scouting, gradually dispersing.

But to Mu Yuan, these elite squads were nodes in a vast net—his eyes and hands.

A broad map of the Wilderness surfaced in his mind. Through these squads and the paths they tread, Mu Yuan could determine safe zones, danger zones, and uncertain areas.

He predicted where Legendary monsters were most likely to emerge.

Main squads like Sickle Moon’s and Bone Two’s advanced early to these potential zones, ready to strike at any moment.

Over a hundred kilometers north of Mine No. 3.

A Legendary of Blood Serpent Embrace knelt on one knee.

His serpentine eyes coldly watched the encircling human elites slowly closing in, never imagining he would fall to such a state.

Before, Blood Serpent Embrace and Jackal Fang were exposed, their forces scattered, while human power was concentrated. Humans struck their weak points with superior numbers, leading to repeated defeats.

But now, with humans in the open, foolishly dispersing their strength, and no Generals from Tianyuan City pursuing him…

He still lost.

Defeated by ordinary, unremarkable Tianyuan City elites.

And how long had it been since the old days?

Just over half a year.

“Only half a year?” Reflecting on this, the Blood Serpent Legend suddenly realized this incredible fact.

“Human Tianyuan City must not be allowed to…”

Bone Spears whistled through the air, carrying force enough to shatter mountains, engulfing the Blood Serpent Legend.

…

Ding~!

Mu Yuan retracted 90% of his dispersed mental threads, rubbing his slightly throbbing head.

Right on cue, the prompt sounded—Dolai, Lu Liu, and the others must have purified the Foul Pillar.

「Prompt: Your Heroes ‘Dolai’, ‘Lu Liu’, ‘Sophia’, … have purified the ‘Filth Nexus (Temporary)’, receiving the world’s reward.」”Prompt: In this campaign, you and your heroes have purified more than one source of Filth. Would you like to fuse all the gifts from heaven and earth to enhance their tier? (Fusion and enhancement are limited to the same campaign and the same territory.)”

As for what constitutes the same campaign? The final interpretation belongs to heaven and earth.

Last time, they eradicated the Great Serpent Clan and purified the remaining Filth from the Black Crow Clan and Blood Serpent Embrace, but heaven and earth did not classify it as the same campaign.

So what makes this time special?

The heroes didn’t even have time to purify the Root of Filth along the way.

Suddenly,

“Ding!”

“Prompt: Your hero ‘Deadbone’ has purified a ‘Filth Nexus (temporary)’ and is eligible to receive gifts from heaven and earth.”

“Prompt: Would you like to fuse the gifts from heaven and earth?”

Somewhere, the sky was gloomy.

A purifying white light slowly faded away.

This white light did not pierce the dark, heavy clouds but merely dispersed the drifting Crimson Mist and cleansed the Foul Pillars covered with crimson patterns.

The shattered land was littered with corpses everywhere.

The massive tide of undead had been reduced to less than one-tenth of its original size, with countless Legendary Realm undead creatures having fallen here.

However,

Deep within the pile of corpses, an undead being suddenly opened its eyes, the embers of its soul reigniting in the depths of its pupils.

…

“Prompt: You have fused the gifts from heaven and earth. The tier of the gifts has been enhanced.”

“Enhancement: You have obtained the epic Miracle Building ‘Ice-Fire Duality (Fire)’.”

——

“Ice-Fire Duality (Fire)”

“Description: A cultivation-type epic building containing a complete world within and 108 unique earthly fires. It can: 1. Temper the body to forge a diamond-like physique; 2. Temper the will to cultivate an indomitable spirit; 3. Refine energy and Domains, making them more condensed; 4. Cultivate fire-based abilities and elevate their limits.”

“Note ①: Additional cultivation functions are to be explored independently.”

“Note ②: Obtaining ‘Ice-Fire Duality (Ice)’ will complete this epic building and enhance its effects.”

A miniature model of a building, resembling the Taiji symbol but missing half, appeared before Mu Yuan.

Could this be… half of an epic building?

But even with only half, it remains epic.

After all, they had only purified two Foul Pillars, not a true Filth Nexus.

This harvest was already quite impressive.

He had to thank nature for its gifts.

Dragon’s Slumber Valley, what a kind soul.

…

Tianze City, the primary command post of the Pioneer Group in the Twilight Great Domain.

“Battle Armor General has sent the latest intelligence. The Foul Pillars have been purified. The Level 4 crisis alert can be lifted.”

“Already purified? The reinforcements haven’t even reached the Ten Directions Island Region yet, have they?”

“Did Tianyuan Lord handle a Level 4 crisis entirely on his own, with only Battle Armor General’s assistance?”

“Battle Armor General briefly mentioned in the report that Tianyuan Lord responded extremely swiftly. Less than an hour after the alarm sounded, Tianyuan City’s army appeared in the Wilderness. He was remarkably decisive, calm, and capable.”

“Um, additionally, Battle Armor General also stated in the letter that this crisis was entirely resolved by the Tianyuan Territory alone. He almost… no, he completely just went through the motions.”

The three Legendary generals in the command post exchanged bewildered glances.

This Battle Armor is praising this young man a bit too much, isn’t he?

But indeed, no matter how strong Battle Armor is, he is only one person. To resolve this crisis so quickly, the main force must have been Tianyuan Lord.

“It seems Tianyuan is no longer just a young Lord with extraordinary potential.”

…

Two days later.Land of Red Mist, Dragon’s Slumber Valley, headquarters.

An immensely majestic dragon, its pupils resembling the dusk of a setting sun, revealed half its form from within the Crimson Mist.

“Your Majesty, of our three advance outposts, only one has been successfully established. The advance outposts in the Jackal Island Domain and the Death Great Domain… have both failed.”

“Oh?”

The Twilight King let out a drawn-out query.

“The Divine Soul Incarnation of General Pupil Blade, who was dispatched to the Jackal Island Domain, was slain. He is now severely injured.”

“As for the Death Great Domain, although our advance forces were stronger, they encountered a tide of undead, likely commanded by a surviving high-level entity among them. However, after this battle, that high-level undead entity has gone missing, and the undead tide under its command has been reduced to less than a tenth of its original size. It is no longer a concern.”

After speaking, the dragonkin trembled as he awaited the Twilight King’s response.

After a long pause, just as the dragonkin wondered if the king had fallen asleep, the Twilight King spoke.

The Crimson Mist surged and drifted, and his resonant voice echoed through the valley like a majestic celestial sound.

“One advance outpost is enough.”

“Continue the preparations. We will use this as our spear to deliver a fatal blow to Taixuan.”

(End of Chapter)