Ten Days Later, Find One

Time passed slowly.

Over the span of ten days, the numbers on the Heavenly Dao Golden Ranking had undergone a staggering transformation.

Netherfrost Divine Realm: 2,147,100

Black Crow Squad: 20,000

Frostsky Sacred Realm: 1,900

Nine Heavens Sacred Realm: 1,200

Blazing Heaven Sacred Realm: 1,000

Absurd! Unbelievable!!

What can I even say?

"This... can't be real..."

Bai Wuchen's fingers dug deep into his palms, his usually indifferent pupils reflecting the glaring disparity on the golden ranking. Behind him, thousands of allied cultivators stood in stunned silence—some even collapsed to their knees, legs giving way.

They had tried every conventional method.

Massacring villages to establish dominance, raining down "divine punishment," even sowing chaos only to intervene as saviors.

Yet every time their faith points painstakingly climbed into the four-digit range, that astronomical number on the ranking would deliver a brutal slap to their faces.

Seriously?!

What the hell are we even playing at here?!

Does your growth rate have to be this insane?!

Huh?!

Answer me!

How the hell are you pulling this off?!

SPEAK!!

"Damn it all!!"

Lei Wuji trembled with rage, unwilling to accept the absurd gap. "That Netherfrost witch must be using some foul trick! There’s no way faith points can grow this fast otherwise!"

And most importantly...

What the hell is this "Black Crow Squad"?!

Has there ever been a sacred realm by that name in the Great Thousand Worlds?!

As his voice faded—

"Enough noise."

A cold voice drifted down from the summit of the altar.

The green-robed man seated in meditation slowly opened his eyes.

With just one glance, Lei Wuji froze rigid.

Tian Zixing!!

The prized chess piece of the Xuan Cang Domain’s Celestial Star Palace, nurtured with painstaking effort by the domain lord himself!

The trump card of this allied force—a half-step Dominator!

Not only did he possess the Celestial Star Palace’s unique divination arts, his combat prowess far surpassed that of ordinary Chosen!

Rumor had it that his participation in this Great Thousand War was meant to help him seize an opportunity—to break through to the Dominator realm!!

His gaze swept over the allied forces before he shook his head dismissively. "I thought my intervention wouldn’t be necessary."

"But who knew you’d all be so utterly useless."

The words sent a ripple of humiliation through the crowd, yet not a single person dared to retort.

The next moment—

With a light tap of his finger in the air, an image materialized before them.

It depicted the Netherfrost cultivators’ construction efforts.

Brick houses rising from the ground.

Spirit rice yielding a thousand pounds per acre.

Injuries and illnesses healed within days.

With each scene, the allied cultivators’ expressions darkened further.

Yan Li couldn’t hold back. "How... How are they developing so quickly in such a short time?"

"Even with our spiritual power, ten days shouldn’t be enough for progress like this!"

"Hmph."

Tian Zixing cut her off with a cold laugh. "These ants who crawled up from minor worlds do have some skill."

"But... this is as far as they go."

He waved his hand, dispersing the vision, then stood and addressed the crowd. "New orders. Each sacred realm will act independently."

"What?"

Bai Wuchen’s pupils constricted. "But our alliance was meant to—"

"Fool."

Tian Zixing shot him a derisive glance. "Rather than being led by the nose, we’ll hunt the Netherfrost cultivators directly."

"One-tenth of the hundred days has already passed. If we don’t act now, the gap will only widen."

"Since the Netherfrost Divine Realm has gathered so much faith for us... we’ll simply become the scythe that reaps them!"

With that, he pressed two fingers to his brow, his focus sharpening.

A glimmer of light condensed at his fingertips.

"Manifest!"

He flung the starlight outward, scattering it across the thousands of cultivators.

Instantly, information flooded their minds.

"This is...?"

Bai Wuchen’s eyes lit up as he processed the knowledge. "The locations of the Netherfrost Divine Realm’s cultivators?"

"But how was this possible?"

Tian Zixing spared him a glance. "The Celestial Star Palace has Tianjizi’s assistance this time. Combining our divination methods makes tracking specific targets trivial."

"However..."

He frowned. "The divine realm’s domain lord and her... consorts remain completely untraceable."

One of the allies quickly reassured him. "No matter. Only chess pieces like us can enter this place anyway."

The others nodded in agreement. "Exactly. If the domain lords could interfere, what use would we be?"

Tian Zixing didn’t respond, but his gaze held a trace of mockery as it swept over these so-called "Chosen."

To psychologically surrender before even trying—how could they call themselves destined by heaven?

I, Tian Zixing, have never been content to remain beneath others.

One day... I will stand at the pinnacle of the Great Thousand Worlds!

Netherfrost Divine Realm, you’re nothing but a stepping stone on my climb to the top!

......

......

In a minor world—

Hummm!!

The void tore open, disgorging a flood of figures.

To spread faith as quickly as possible, Qin Luo had dispersed a hundred thousand cultivators across countless minor worlds.

With technology guiding their efforts, victory for the Netherfrost Divine Realm was assured once the hundred days concluded.

But unlike the barren wastelands they’d encountered before—

The sight that greeted this group left them momentarily stunned.

This... was no untamed wilderness.

Though its technology lagged far behind the Netherfrost Divine Realm’s, it was leagues ahead of primitive eras.

"This..."

One man adjusted his glasses, brow furrowed. "Something’s off. How does this place have such advanced technology?"

Another muttered, "The civilization level here surpasses any minor world we’ve seen before."

A third was about to speak when his gaze locked onto a distant statue—

A massive, obsidian raven, wings outstretched, its crimson eyes gazing down upon the city below.

Frowning, he snapped an image with his spirit device and uploaded it to the cloud.

The others soon noticed it too, gathering in curiosity.

"A black crow statue?"

"Has another sacred realm already developed this place?"

"Unlikely. None of them possess this kind of technology."

"Then what’s going on? Should we report back to Master Qin first?"

"Agreed."

Just then—

Whooosh!!

A series of figures streaked through the sky, landing before the divine realm cultivators moments later.

Clad in identical black uniforms adorned with raven insignias, they carried unfamiliar firearms at their hips, their eyes sharp and wary.

Leading them was a short-haired woman, her gaze as piercing as a blade. "Which squad are you from? State your identification number!"

The divine realm cultivators blinked. "Identification number?"

Her voice turned glacial. "Playing dumb, are we?"

"This is our territory. Unauthorized entry is prohibited!"

The Netherfrost group exchanged glances before turning back to her. "Are you... talking to us?"

They seemed genuinely confused by the local’s hostility.

The woman’s eyes narrowed. She raised a hand, ready to order an attack—

Then—

HUM!!

The void trembled.

Cracks in space spread like a spider’s web, fracturing the sky in an instant.

An unprecedented sense of oppression descended from the sky, as if the entire world had been enveloped by some terrifying presence!

"…?!"

The short-haired woman’s pupils constricted violently, every hair on her body standing on end. Instinctively, she took a step back.

"Cap… Captain…"

The voice of the teammate behind her trembled, fingers gripping their weapon so tightly they turned white—yet they lacked even the courage to raise it.

Crack—!

Then, space shattered completely, and countless figures stepped out from the fissures.

They poured forth like a tidal wave, instantly filling the entire sky!

At the forefront stood two figures, a man and a woman, hovering mid-air.

The man wore black robes, his expression cold and stern, a faint smirk playing at the corners of his lips—yet his gaze was as unfathomable as an abyss.

The woman had hair like frost and eyes like icy stars, an aura of extreme cold swirling around her.

Merely standing there, she caused the surrounding temperature to plummet, as if even the air itself might freeze.

"Oh?"

Qin Luo glanced at the black-feathered woman, his lips curling slowly. "Finally found one."

Black Crow Squad: "…Huh?"