Chapter 2670 Retreat
As the old man''s voice reverberated in the air, his gaunt palm emerged from the depths of the chaotic
void and reached across the vastness of the universe.
Bang! Bang! Bang
As soon as the hand so much as grazed them, the otherwise fearsome soldiers of the army of the dead
exploded and disintegrated into nothing
Chace felt a chill wash over him as he watched the obliteration of his troops. "Fall back!"
he shouted to the corpse soldiers outside the city walls, his steely voice cutting through the distant
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sts.
As hismand swept through the ranks, the low rumble of the army''s retreating footsteps began.
The rumbling quickly turned into a thunderous roar as tide after tide of corpse soldiers stampeded back
into the dark city.
But the old man''s palm followed closely at their feet, effortlessly catching up to them.
The ranks of the corpse soldiers continued to be decimated as the hand swept through them.
In an instant, almost half of the force was wiped out.
Even the most formidable of the dark army, the grim reapers with their soul-harvesting sickles, proved
no match.
Each of them had power enough to take on up to six sect ancestors. But the mighty palm simply
swatted the reapers down like insects.
Everyone who witnessed the scene was stunned.
The old man''s might exceeded all imagination.
Among those dazed at what they just saw was the leader of the Heavenly Pce.
He had always prided himself for being renowned as this universe''s strongest warrior.
But in this moment, he knew, without question, that if he ever found himself at odds with the old man,
he would not be able to withstand even a single blow.
He took sce in the thought that the old man, born at least thousands of years earlier than him, would
naturally be thousands of years ahead in expertise.
His reveries were broken by the sound of the old man''s hand mming right outside the walls of the
dark city.
Boom!
The impact caused the city to shake. As if summoned by the trembling sound, a ck fog started to
spread. It grew thicker and rose higher until it spewed like boiling water. Millions of ck runes
emerged and floated above the city, glowing with a ck light.
Each rune zed with the terrifying energy of a dark sun.
It was at this moment that the mighty palm swung over the city.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The runes exploded one after another, each one emitting piercing rays of ck light aimed at the
intruder.
The hand appeared to be unscathed from the attack, but it slowly moved back down.
The mighty palm mmed against the city walls and remained at rest for a while.
A stalemate in the battle appeared to have been reached.
"Huh! So theherworld has decided to put their most precious card into y. How unexpected."
The old man, deep in the chaotic void, snorted. Half an hour passed before he decided to withdraw his
hand.
In that half hour, Chace, Ervin and the other ck-robed men remained standing at the city ramparts,
waiting anxiously for the old man''s next move.
A relieved thrill ran across the assembly as the old man''s hand slowly retracted until it disappeared.
Now that the danger was gone, the frightened chattering broke out. Even Ervin, known for his
arrogance, was unnerved.
"That was terrifying! Who in hell was that damned old man?" he eximed, a tremble in his voice.
Ervin turned to look at the pale faces of hispanions. "Send a message back. Let''s find out
everything we can about this old man,"
he ordered, his face grim.
"Your Highness, it appears that we aren''t able to deal with this old bastard for now. Perhaps it would be
best for us to stay inside the ck Hell City. We cannot afford to act recklessly,"
one of his ck-robed counselors responded.
Ervin heeded the advice and nodded in agreement.
All of a sudden, the leader of the Heavenly Pce called out to announce his presence, "Forgive my
intrusion, sir. This is Ansell, the head of the Heavenly Pce."
"It''s a great pleasure to meet you, sir," he continued.
In a sh, Ansell entered the chaotic void. He strode toward the old man and bowed low.
Ansell had been so impressed with the old man''s power that he wasted no time trying to establish
contact.
"So his name is Ansell!" People around whispered under their breath.
After all, hardly anyone had seen the leader of the Heavenly Pce in person before, and they didn''t
know his real name was Ansell neither.
The old man, however, seemed uninterested in engaging in diplomacy. "So after all these millennia, the
Before Ansell could respond, the old man added, "I already smell blood and this is not gonna end well.
Act with caution and protect yourself."
The old man sighed, as if foreseeing the bad things toe.
His ominous words were meant as a warning not just for Ansell but for the entire universe.
The chaotic void where the old man stood started to vibrate as space-time disintegrated. A blinding
light shed around him.
The light cleared to reveal the old man was gone.
"Sir, please! The corpse soldiers are spreading throughout the universe! The destruction is getting direr
by the day! Please, help us!"
Ansell pleaded desperately and repeatedly to the air, to no avail.
He could only stare at the roiling chaotic void where the old man stood just moments before.
Even as he continued calling out to the old man, it was dawning on Ansell that he was noting
back.
In the end, all there was to do was leave the chaotic void and return to the Real Space.
BOOM!
The universe broken by Ansell and Chace crackled as it slowly began to repair itself.
The newly formed space barriers were melding and integrating into one another, starting to take a more
solid form.
As with most things, however, the healing would take a long time.
Austin, too, had wanted to enter the chaotic void to seek out the old man. But he hesitated at the
thought that the old man did not seem the type to wee outsiders.
The hesitation soon turned decisive.
It was probably the old man''s choice to cut all contact with others, Austin thought. Such a hermit would
probably have an unpredictable temper with strangers.
In the worst case scenario, Austin might just even end up earning the old man''s ire. Imagining this
oue, Austin decided it was best to give up on the idea of visiting the old man and just leave him
be.
Meanwhile, the massive army of the dead had justpleted its retreat into the dark city.
The mysterious ck clouds continued to shroud the looming fortress.
The city remained imposing and imprable.
After all, even the old man was unable to break through its walls.
This was but another testament to the city''s indestructibility.
Outside the city walls, Ansell stood his ground and red up at the towering city.
"Ghosts of theherworld! Come out and fight!"
Ansell shouted at the fortress in a bid to provoke its upants.
The ensuing sound waves mmed into the city walls, punctuated by rolling thunder and cracks of
lightning.
But the city remained silent, shrouded in the turbulent ck mist like a colossal beast hiding in the
shadows.
"Come out and fight me!" Ansell challenged.
"Where''s your fucking arrogance now? Come out, you goddamned cowards!"
Behind him, denizens from the other worlds started to join in the mor.
The creatures pointed their fingers and raised their fists at the dark city, demanding a confrontation and
hurling insults.
The beings spat out vicious curses from their ugly, putrid mouths.
Half a day passed like this, with the city remaining unmoved, offering no answers.
There was no one to heed the mob. Even those on the city ramparts had long taken refuge deep inside
the walls.
His anger finally spent, Ansell called out to hispanions. "Let''s leave them, for now."
He raised his hand and motioned for the mob to fall back and retire for the day.
Soon, the battlefield was once again cleared as the creatures from the various realms departed.
While the noise died down outside, curses were also ringing out inside the dark city.
"Damn it! So until now, nobody could tell me where this old man came from?
We lost almost half our forces to him, and we still know nothing about him? This is uneptable!"
Ervin was fuming with rage.
"Your Highness, that old man is beyond our reckoning. Our current forces are too small to withstand
him.
Perhaps, it is high time to report this to the superior. He may be able to send us more elite troops.
Otherwise, this may hamper our hunts across the universe, and our search for Peterson''s treasures,"
a ck-robed counselor reminded Ervin.
Ervin nodded in agreement. "You''re absolutely right.
Our leader should send help. The only reason I''m here in the first ce is to satisfy him and oversee
the search for those damned treasures."
He straightened up and came to a decision. "Very well, then. We shall push through and finish what we
came here to do, without fail.
I shall call on our leader right away for assistance,"
Ervin answered and resolved.
Outside the dark city, Ansell and the denizens from thousands of other worlds continued to keep a
close watch on the fortress, as they had done for thest dozen days.
Ansell ordered the most brilliant sect ancestors and the most skilled experts from across the universe
to set up a dense barricade of arrays just outside the city walls and the ck fog.
The arrays were meant to trap the army of the dead once and for all inside their damned city.
Countless volunteers from other worlds had joined in the cause, bringing with them all the resources
and manpower they could contribute.
Boom!
Array gs rose andnded where the ck mist ended, as plentiful and as close together as
raindrops.
The high-level arrays formed a fortress of its own outside the area of the ck mist, sealing it entirely.
The walls of arrays were made of such a vast amount of sturdy materials that even Ansell himself
eventually found it hard to move in and out of it.
Ansell was finally satisfied with this development. He ordered the armies from the various worlds to fall
back and stay on the sidelines.
The only ones he ordered to remain on the battlefield were the best martial arts masters, to monitor the
corpse soldiers'' next movements.
Austin gathered the troops of the Immortal End Alliance back to their warships and soon took off for the
Immortal End World.
Among the forces were Damon and the Evil Shadow King, who were secretly escorting Austin. Once
the ships safely neared the Immortal End World, however, the ndestine guards bid farewell.
As the escorts left, the warships continued to sail across the universe toward the Immortal End World.
A mysterious observer let out a malevolentugh at the sight.
"Wee to your death, Austin."
The cold, echoingughter followed in the wake of those warships sailing to the Immortal End World.