A Decent Effort, but Not Much

In an instant, it felt as if heaven and earth had shattered. The raid struck with lightning speed and savage ferocity. Using countless derelict hulks and illusions as decoys, they had drawn everyone's attention, while sixteen pirate vessels slipped beneath the waves, surged against the current, and leaped straight for Xinquan's throat! An EMP bomb acquired from the Empire knocked out Xinquan's entire power grid in the blink of an eye. The rampaging electromagnetic pulse instantly crippled who knew how many heavy exoskeletons waiting in full battle array. Immediately after, the full assault began. At that moment, the spear in Pacquiao's grip had transformed into a banner of blood. As its flaming tail whipped and fluttered, scarlet spiritus fire washed over every single water ghost pirate. Like venomous flames, it seethed their spiritus, stimulated their potential, and drove them mad! As for the aftereffects— You were already a damn water ghost pirate, living one day with no promise of the next. Who had time to worry about losing a few years off their life? While the blood was pumping, wanton slaughter, arson, and looting every last coin was the only business that mattered! Even without Pacquiao's blessing, countless men had already snorted powders to fuel the rush, shrieking and howling continuously. Driven by forbidden narcotics, feeling neither fatigue nor pain, they vented their fury without restraint—long lost in the boundless, ever-escalating ecstasy of Weiyang! The captains and ringleaders of the other flotillas raised no objections either. In the Thousand Islands, things like water ghosts were like weeds in a field: never truly burned away. Hand them a gun and a bag of powder and they would gladly take the job. What was there to pity? Besides, Pacquiao had already made a promise: after taking Xinquan, he would not take a single cent. Every scrap of reserves in the vaults would be divided among the participating flotillas. Whoever breached the defenses first would claim half for themselves! Anyone who claimed Ji Jue's head with their own hands would not only receive a staggering bounty, but also the secret rites of the sacrificial offering, personally guided and imparted by Pacquiao himself! Under such lavish bounties, even a stray cur could turn into a rabid dog. Now, swarming in droves, these water ghost pirates were faster than rabid dogs off the leash! Under the suppressing fire of modified machine guns raking from the ships behind them, speedboats surged out of the Longjiang River and drove straight up onto the shallows. Dense, unbroken waves of figures flooded forward. Shoulder-fired rocket launchers locked onto the towering guard posts and fired boldly. Streaks of fire shot across the distance, and in the ensuing blasts, the barbed wire shredded to pieces as the high walls crumbled. In a flash, smoke and fire erupted everywhere! Dancing flames rose from the earth as thick smoke billowed into the light rain, plunging the gloomy world back into a hellish nightmare of slaughter. The way of the Swarm was conquest and slaughter. Once committed to action, one had to conceal their claws, endure, and wait—until the very instant an opportunity presented itself, and then strike like thunder! This was vastly different from the usual path familiar to pirate water ghosts. In this day and age, bullying the weak while fearing the strong was the norm; even when forced to tackle a tough nut, pirates would exhaust every trick to weaken the target first. Poison, moles, long-term intimidation, and hit-and-run harassment—that was the superior approach. Unfortunately, none of that worked in the least against that bastard Ji Jue. Xinquan looked porous on the surface, but beneath the facade it was truly watertight. Under omnipresent surveillance, there was simply no room for treachery. And waging a war of attrition against an Embers cultivator who built towers from flat ground was nothing short of suicidal. If there was one thing Ji Jue did not fear, it was an enemy trying to wear him down! After so much development, Xinquan was effectively an extension of his workshop. To crush such an opponent, one had to raid the core at the very start and sweep everything before them with crushing ruin! Drive straight into the dragon's lair without regard for losses or cost! Use the fastest speed, the crudest tactics, and the most direct method to cut off every possibility of an unexpected turn. Now, a force of ten thousand tons came howling in alongside the storm! "Is that Ji Jue?" At the highest point of the deck, bathed in curling blood-flames, Pacquiao looked up toward the tallest vantage point in Xinquan. At the very top of the Haian Industries building, a lone figure stood holding an umbrella, looking down upon it all. He looked nothing like the genial young man in the photographs. No, he seemed an entirely different person! Beneath the black umbrella, that face illuminated by flickering light showed not the slightest tremor or panic. From start to finish, he remained as calm as still water. He simply looked across the distance with utter detachment. Their eyes locked for an instant. Staring at that unfamiliar face, both appeared equally expressionless. Yet their gazes were completely different— One was savage and ferocious; the other, indifferent and contemptuous. In that fleeting, lightning-fast crossing of gazes, Pacquiao finally caught the slight curve tugging at the corner of Ji Jue's mouth—brimming with mockery! "Not a bad idea," Ji Jue murmured softly. Overlooking the turmoil rocking Xinquan on all sides, he sighed faintly. "A pity there isn't more to it." At that moment, his fingers finally rose in a slow, elegant sweep, showering down grace and good tidings. Amidst the shimmering silver radiance, the light of spiritus illuminated all! Deus Ex Machina! In a flash, the intricate circuits of Non-Offensive surfaced across his palm, remaking all things! Everything dormant in the darkness shuddered violently. Countless spiritus circuits buried beneath Xinquan blazed to life in an instant, expanding until the entire town was bathed in their glow. Beams of searing light flared again from searchlights, illuminating the night. Innumerable screeches of grinding steel echoed between heaven and earth, harsh and grating layers of sound converging like a rising tide. And then—amidst the pirates' ecstatic roars, screams of agony abruptly erupted. Boom! On the outskirts of Xinquan, from the fiery ruins of the collapsed guard tower, a mechanical hand suddenly thrust outward, clamping shut around a pirate's throat. Seven fingers tightened casually, crushing it to pulp! Blood sprayed, splattering against the red-hot metal faceplate and hissing violently! Twisted steel beams ground together and collapsed. As the flames parted down the center, a metal giant standing over three meters tall strode out, dragging a heavy anchor-style impact cannon before sweeping it across in a wide arc! The massive weapon struck like a colossal pillar, effortlessly smashing another pirate in two at the waist. Then, braving a hurried barrage of scattered gunfire, it surged forward. Pushing through the rattling machine-gun fire, it raised the barrel in its hands and pulled the trigger! A searing, rod-like metal projectile tore through the air, piercing clean through who knew how many charging pirates. Aided by Isis's targeting calculations, it crossed hundreds of meters of light rain and blazing fire to slam directly into a pirate vessel in the distance. A machine-gun mount blew apart in a violent explosion. The pirate operating it flew through the air, dragged along by the metal rod and impaled against the hull, bursting apart on impact! That was only the first. Then came a second, a third, a fourth... Amidst the blazing firelight, the clanging footsteps merged together, thundering like war drums. One massive, pitch-black figure after another trampled through the flames, marching out in organized ranks! Following standard Federation tactics, they raised massive armored shields in one hand while wielding various heavy weapons in the other, covering one another to establish a brand-new defensive line. An iron wall rose from nothingness. Countless water ghosts slamming headlong into it were reduced to mush in an instant! Over two hundred heavy exoskeletons rebooted. Fully equipped and loaded, these instruments of war no longer concealed their lethality, brutally ravaging the foes right in front of them. It was like chopping melons and dicing vegetables. At this point, no matter how fanatical or crazed the water ghosts were, chills began running down their spines—damn it, could they have taken a wrong turn and barged right into Haizhou's military garrison base? Heaven have mercy, what the hell was the enemy wearing, and what were they wearing?! At best, they had only been handed a rifle and a cheap vest of body armor! Don't give me that bullshit about it just being an exoskeleton and nothing to fear. If something looked like power armor, wore like power armor, and slaughtered grunts just like power armor, what damn difference did it make to the water ghosts?! With the organization and equipment of this trash, they couldn't even scratch the ceiling of a heavy exoskeleton, let alone exploit any supposed weaknesses or flaws. It was as if a meat grinder had ground into full gear. Booms, screams, wails, and crunching impacts rang out without pause. Anchor impact shells, thermal-blade vibration axes, electromagnetic impact hammers, and even vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns—Ji Jue had knocked off nearly every famous armored weapon from the Federation and the Empire, rolling out countless budget versions. Even if they couldn't match the originals, they were cheap! Cheap enough that having one for every pair of hands was more than enough! Now, before several steadily advancing tactical squads, the boundless horde of water ghosts suddenly shattered. The only consequence of running too slowly or acting too stubborn was a gruesome, violent death! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! The butcher's harvest had only just begun. "Where are the cannons?! Where are the damn cannons?!" The pirate ship leading the charge was already on the verge of breaking. The first mate on deck roared, urging them on: "Tell the vanguard not to retreat! Hold the line! And you lot—fire the cannons, fire them!" "We did! We're trying!" The second mate in charge of fire control was on the verge of tears. "It's broken! Everything's fucking broken! Even the machine guns are..." Before he could finish, a thunderous roar erupted from the deck. A cannon blasted. Infuriated, the first mate swung his hand and delivered a sharp backhand across his face: "Doesn't that damn well work?! Where's it broken? Tell me where the hell—" Before the words left his mouth, he heard agonized shrieks from the stern, accompanied by violent tremors. Looking up, he saw that the secondhand naval cannon—which had cost a small fortune to salvage from the Federation Navy—had blown itself to pieces. As countless shards tore outward, they reaped through the deck like a scythe through wheat, leaving behind an endless trail of gore and severed limbs. A bore rupture?! At this moment, the fine rain continued falling from the heavens, drenching everyone to the bone. Reflected in the interplay of flames and fading embers, the tiny droplets sparkled like jewels. Hardly anyone noticed the faint, negligible glimmer of silver hidden within that light. Quicksilver! Isis's hands had long since extended outward in complete silence. After that initial volley of artillery, the mounted firepower across the dozen-plus pirate ships had begun malfunctioning at visible speed. Myriad threads of vapor condensed into shifting liquid quicksilver, seeping into every crevice to solidify or jam the mechanisms at critical junctures. At first, it was merely sluggish rotation and targeting delays. Then the systems stopped responding entirely. And now, the crack of bursting barrels echoed continuously, popping like firecrackers. An EMP? Ji Jue almost laughed out loud when he saw it—did they really think they were the only ones who had that kind of trick? It was only because Young Master Lou had been burying himself in brutal cultivation lately, refusing to step foot outside no matter what bait Ji Jue offered. Otherwise, he would have gladly let these backwater beggars experience what true total magic suppression meant, what a true Spirit-Shattering Domain was! The reversal had come without warning. Xinquan's situation had seemed hanging by a thread for a single heartbeat, only for the pirates to be sent scurrying for their lives in the next. Amidst the chaos, frantic chatter flooded the communication channels. "What's happening?! Pa—General, sir!" A trembling voice rang out. It was the captain of the lead vessel. Because he had charged too far forward, he had absorbed eighty percent of the incoming firepower in one go; his entire ship was on the verge of blowing apart, driving him to frantic despair. Yet no matter how anguished and panicked he was, the moment he dared to demand an answer, his tone dropped involuntarily, and he asked through tears: "You never said anything about this!"