Fierce Battle

Almost simultaneously, everyone turned their eyes toward the Lord of the Stars. As a peak Dominator whose talent rivaled Fu Qingxuan's, the Demon Lord had naturally possessed the qualifications to enter the demigods' field of vision. Gang Leader Jiang asked in astonishment, "The Demon Lord's death was related to you as well?" The tiny sapling swayed its tender leaves. "Not only him—it was related to the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods as well." The demigods turned to look at the Chairman of Heaven's Punishment. Fu Qingxuan frowned and asked, "Who participated in the battle that claimed the Demon Lord's life?" The Chairman of Heaven's Punishment said impassively, "The Wind and Thunder Twin Gods, the Lord of the Stars, the Goddess of Beauty, Void, Ling Tuo, the two presidents of the Spirit Society, and that Fear Heavenly King of the Soldier Master sect. "Heaven's Punishment had its own Day Wanderer to support, and the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods did not want the Demon Lord to continue growing, so they joined hands with the Lord of the Stars. Void and the Goddess of Beauty, meanwhile, joined with the Fear Heavenly King to protect him." As for Ling Tuo and the two presidents of the Spirit Society, needless to say, they had naturally been there to kill the Demon Lord. The President let out a cold laugh. "At the time, the Demon Lord possessed a Fragment of Taiyin Origin and a sun fragment. If you hadn't brought about his downfall, Ling Tuo would never have gathered the complete Taiyin Origin. Why would the orthodox faction have ended up in such a passive position?" The voice of the Lord of the Stars echoed from all directions: "If the Taiyin does not return to its throne, the Sun Dungeon cannot open. Both the Demon Lord and Ling Tuo were fallen Night Wanderers; consolidating their resources, it made no difference which one was killed." The President slowly rose to his feet. "Back then, I asked if you would join hands with me against Ling Tuo, and you refused! You believed killing the Demon Lord was more important than killing Ling Tuo. Yet the reality is that the Demon Lord's corruption could have been cleansed with the Solar Origin; he could have returned to normal. "To put it bluntly, it was for your own selfish gain. If Ling Tuo obtained the Taiyin Origin, you could still compete with him for the throne of the Lord of the Sun. But the Demon Lord possessed a sun fragment—as long as he lived, you could never attain the Sun. "Lord of the Stars, your selfish greed brought the orthodox faction to this pass, yet you expect me to pay the price?" The demigods silently exchanged glances. No wonder Void was fixated on nurturing his own Lord of the Sun, and no wonder he adamantly refused to surrender the compass fragments. There was bad blood between the two. The figure condensed from starlight said slowly, "Void, right and wrong do not matter; heroes act according to the tides of the times. If we must speak of right and wrong, back then Celestial Master Zhang lobbied the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods to ambush and slay Ling Tuo, tearing a Taiyin fragment from his grasp—that, too, led to today's outcome." "Bullshit!" the President said coldly. "Twenty years ago, when the Old Marshal fell, my vitality was gravely damaged and my reserves completely depleted. Had the Sun Dungeon opened then, the orthodox faction might not have won. Celestial Master Zhang bought twenty years for the orthodox faction. "Without those twenty years, how could the Five Elements Alliance have been founded? The secret technique of Five Elements Unity would never have been developed." Before the demigods could speak, the President shifted his tone: "You are right. Right and wrong do not matter; that is simply how things go in this world. I just cannot stand your hypocritical face. "As an orthodox demigod, I will prioritize the greater good. In three days, I will hand over the fragments of the Compass of Light to you, in exchange for a rule-based item." Having said that, he turned, took a single stride, and vanished from the dungeon. *** Paphos Island! Herasine and Amini falling in love had been Cupid's doing? What Cupid did would be considered mischievous in a child, but in an adult, it was utter madness... Zhang Yuanqing's cheek twitched. Was Cupid mischievous or stark raving mad? He believed it was the latter. Because this god who never grew up was not a real child. His true age was beyond calculation; to mortals, he was an ancestor-level figure. *Saiketia has already noticed me. Even though it was only a warning, if she tells Cupid about it, that brat will definitely seize the chance to retaliate. Tsk, the greater good, prioritize the greater good...* Zhang Yuanqing muttered inwardly, pulled up the blanket, and went to sleep holding Herasine. The next morning. Herasine awoke and wrapped herself around him like an octopus, her voice lazy and languid: "Amini, I spent all night in dreams making love with you. Heavens, all night long! You must be too amazing to leave my thoughts, making me continue to meet you in my dreams." Zhang Yuanqing squeezed her shapely buttocks and smiled playfully. "Seems I haven't fed you enough. Do you want lunch today, dinner, or a whole day of fasting?" A blush rose to Herasine's pretty face, and her lovely eyes flashed with fright. "No, no, Amini, I want to go eat breakfast right now." With that, she bounced up from the crude bed, perked her fair, rounded rear, leaned down to snatch up her one-piece gown, and pulled it on. "I'm going back to my room to wash first..." Barefoot, she cheerfully opened the door and left. Zhang Yuanqing dressed, put on his strapped shoes, and walked to the wooden bucket to scoop out a ladle of water to wash his face and rinse his mouth. Ten minutes later, he left the room, intending to head to the dining hall to collect the slaves' breakfast. Just as he stepped out of the domed building, he saw a guard walking toward him. "Amini, Lord Cupid is looking for you," the guard said impassively. *That brat is looking for me again?* Zhang Yuanqing bared his teeth. "What does he want?" "Mind your tone," the guard warned coldly. "You'll know once you get there." Unable even to take a bite of bread, Zhang Yuanqing could only head to the western garden. There, amid lush green lawns, he saw Cupid—plump, adorable, looking like a little fairy. "Oh, my dear Amini, you're finally here." Cupid flapped his pure white wings and flew over, circling around him. "The believers of the God of Light have launched an attack. You have a new task." Zhang Yuanqing bowed. "Lord Cupid, what are your orders?" Cupid giggled. "Build ten trebuchets and hand them over to me tomorrow." Build ten trebuchets in a single day? Zhang Yuanqing froze. How was that possible? Mechanical siege engines like trebuchets required both materials and manpower. Paphos Island simply did not have the means to build ten trebuchets in one day. Even with yin corpses and spirit servants, it was useless; this kind of work required genuinely skilled craftsmen. "No, Lord Cupid. That is a task only gods could accomplish, whereas I am merely a slave," Zhang Yuanqing replied, bowing. The little boy hovered in midair, his face coming so close to Zhang Yuanqing's that their noses almost touched. "Then are you prepared to fall in love with a ewe?" *Fucking ewe again! Don't you ever give me a chance, or I'll make a ram fuck you in the ass!* Zhang Yuanqing's brow furrowed slightly. He felt something was off. This dungeon was strange. So far, the role he played in the war between the God of Light and the Goddess of Beauty was that of a manual-labor slave. He didn't have to take the field or devise strategies, and his level of involvement was far too low. Furthermore, for three whole days, he hadn't felt any threat from the God of Light. Instead, Cupid—from his own faction—was targeting him at every turn. The difficulty was escalating step by step. To the point where today, he was given an impossible task. An S-rank dungeon where, aside from manual labor, all he did was screw his sister—how was this an S-rank dungeon? This was clearly paradise. Glancing at the small bow in Cupid's hands, Zhang Yuanqing yielded prudently: "Lord Cupid, your will is my command. I will complete the task." He would placate him first, then figure out a way. A flicker of surprise passed through Cupid's eyes, quickly replaced by the glee of a scheme succeeding. "Your obedience pleases me greatly, but if..." Suddenly, the tall bell tower rang out with resonant chimes that echoed across all of Paphos Island. Cupid's expression changed. Paying him no further mind, the boy immediately flew toward the bell tower. Zhang Yuanqing used illusions to hoodwink the surrounding guards, slipped into Night Roaming, rode the wind into the air, and looked out across the shimmering sea. Sea and sky merged into one, birds soaring overhead; there was nothing unusual. *No, in the sky...* Zhang Yuanqing realized something and looked up toward the azure heavens. Sure enough, more than a dozen black specks were flying in from the horizon, hurtling rapidly toward Paphos Island. He narrowed his eyes and pushed his vision to its limit before making out thirteen warships. They were virtually identical to yesterday's warships, except today they had no sails, and wooden wings had been added to both sides for balance. *Couldn't break through by sea, so they switched to airships?* Zhang Yuanqing was astonished. If the followers of the God of Light had had airships, they would have used them yesterday. Most likely, these had been retrofitted overnight, possibly by integrating Wind Mage items into the warships or inscribing incantations. Such engineering in this era was truly impressive. Paphos Island had no anti-air weaponry, and the Dominators did not dare approach alone, so they could only watch helplessly as the thirteen airships drew near. Once the fleet closed in on Paphos Island, they immediately slowed down. Warriors dressed in one-piece white robes with gold ornaments on their foreheads leaned out from both sides of the gunwales. The warriors drew their bows toward the castle below, and in an instant, arrows fell like rain. *Boom, boom, boom...* Arrows glowing with faint golden light struck the castle and detonated like hand grenades, blasting shallow craters into the ground, walls, and gardens. Many slaves were caught in the blasts, blown limb from limb and dying on the spot. Slaves scattered in panic, while the guards drew their bows and fired fiercely toward the sky in an attempt to retaliate. However, the warships floated dozens of meters in the air and had hulls to shield them, so the arrows from below posed no real threat. Just then, Menia, valiant and heroic with sword and shield in hand, dashed out of the castle. She drove her longsword into the ground before her and declared solemnly: "Rule of this battlefield: No flying or floating!" A bronze light rippled outward from the sword. In the next second, the thirteen warships plummeted from the sky with deafening crashes. Masses of warriors on the decks were killed or injured. Zhang Yuanqing was also knocked down from the high sky, losing his ability to fly. The castle guards seized the opportunity to counterattack, shooting thunder arrows toward the warships. Thunderclaps exploded and plasmatic arcs burst forth, inflicting considerable casualties. The slaves also rolled forward the trebuchets and hurled massive boulders. A barrage of booming crashes resounded as stones smashed through decks and fractured hulls. An elderly man in a golden robe stepped forward and raised a golden staff. The staff emitted pure golden light. Bathed in the golden radiance, warriors wounded by thunder arrows or crushed by boulders healed rapidly, raising their bows once more to return fire. Over a hundred warriors clad in white with golden ornaments on their foreheads leapt down from the five-to-six-meter-high ships. Carrying bows on their backs and knives in hand, they charged toward the slaves operating the trebuchets. Menia held her stance, leaning on her sword, as the bronze light erected an illusory wall. A meteor-like shower of arrows struck the wall, bursting into clusters of golden light, unable to shake the thick barrier.