Chapter 104: Rising Again (the Fifth Watch)

Three aircraft flew toward the North Pole. At the same time, every base and every city defense around the world had raised to the highest alert.

Li Dawei stood atop the rampart, staring out over miles of churning sea.

“Will this time work?”

Zhou Zhengyong muttered at his side.

Most of the martial adepts from the Jiangnan Base City’s Martial Hall had gathered here. By comparison, the sea defenses were the most dangerous, and those ruins, in truth, were mostly training grounds for soldiers and generals.

Before this, the beast-lords of several disaster zones near the base city had already been eliminated in precise strikes. The rest was not worth worrying over.

“We can do it, absolutely we can,” Li Dawei said, clenching his fist. “In the Great Cataclysm, at the dawn of the Great Nirvana, we kept retreating step by step. At first there was even talk of extinction. Later, as martial ways flourished, we slowly gained ground and established the base cities, but even then we were only on the defensive. Every year we face the tide of beasts; every year countless warriors die in slaughter. Every year I wondered when we could strike back. Now that Hong and Thunder God have entered the field, we have confidence. If they fail, then calamity from Heaven will fall. But if they move, they will succeed—and that will begin humanity’s counteroffensive. Clear the threat on land first, then suppress the source of disaster at sea.”

“I’m not that optimistic,” Zhou Zhengyong shook his head. “Even if we clear the land, what about the sea? The news won’t stay hidden; the sea beasts will revolt. Not an ordinary revolt—how will we hold them off then?”

Li Dawei was silent for a while, then said firmly, “That step must be taken sooner or later. If this generation must be sacrificed so peace can last forever, then so be it.”

“In a war between races, who survives without sacrifice?” Zhou Zhengyong exhaled grimly. “Since coming here I have settled my household affairs. I have already prepared to sacrifice myself.”

“From the moment I took command here, I never planned to leave alive,” Li Dawei smiled. “Death itself is no terror; what is terrifying is seeing no hope. Now I have seen hope, so even death will be with clear eyes.”

That day, that moment, many were ready to give their lives.

At the North Pole, three aircraft roared in.

When they were still three hundred li from the target, all aircraft stopped, and Qin Ming and the others stepped out, walking on empty air.

The cold wind screamed, every droplet turning to ice.

“As planned, go!” Hong called, turning to the left.

“The key is you—don’t let it escape!”

Thunder God said it and flew to the other side.

Qin Ming held still for a moment, then moved.

Their plan was simple: with Hong and Thunder God flanking, a creature of such strength would surely run. And this unknown young man was the weak link, surely trying to break through here.

At the polar summit, they formed a three-sided kill.

Whether from the world’s great upheaval or some older curse, the wind here blew above level ten year-round. Snow fell like knives; even stone could be shattered with ease.

It was March, and most of the North Pole lay in perpetual daylight.

The raging snowstorm still did not obscure vision.

Soon Qin Ming spotted the top of an ice mountain where a towering flying creature crouched, a hundred meters tall even in repose.
Its feathers were pure white, and in a grade-twelve gale they did not even stir. The whole body seemed fused with the cold wind, a king seated at the very edge of the world. Its keen eyes were colder than the gale itself.

“Strike!”

Hong’s voice came through the wrist device.

Boom.

In the next moment, both Hong and Thunder God’s energies burst forth—heavy as abysses, feral as prisons. Their speed leapt to the limit, and in an instant they were nearly upon the Snow Carver.

Qin Ming surged forward too. The three formed a triangle, trapping the Snow Carver in the center.

A hollow cry rang out. The Snow Carver recognized the two supreme kings among humans, and though it made no obvious movement, its form had already vanished.

Qin Ming stared in astonishment.
Its speed was too great; even Thunder God, famed as the swiftest, would be outpaced.

It offered no resistance. It vanished in an instant, running straight toward Qin Ming’s side.

“Then you shall not escape,” Qin Ming said, and triggered his Domain.

A radius of four thousand meters became the extent of his Domain.
His cultivation had reached Planetary Fourth Rank; his teleportation range likewise reached four thousand meters, and so his Domain naturally covered that same distance.

Fortune favored the hunter—the Snow Carver ran straight into it.

For a fraction of a second, space twisted and seemed to collapse. The beast stumbled, as if sinking into mire, its sight dimming, its bearings gone.

“Cut!”

Qin Ming gave a long shout; his war blade swept in a braided line of light and struck at the base of its right wing.

A keen cry. The Snow Carver sensed danger and hurled violent streams of cold from within, stirring the void to break the spatial constraints and block the stroke.

But how could it hold?

Its fate had been sealed the moment it ran from Qin Ming’s side.

Thunk.

One stroke tore through the cold torrents and the storm-torn void, brutally slicing off the wing. It dropped.

With no wings, the flyer lost all balance, its body trembling.
A bird without wings is a lamb led to slaughter.

The sword-flash curved once more, a streak like a galaxy, splitting the polar storm and severing the head.

Qin Ming withdrew his Domain and stood in the storm, a smile on his face.

“Clean and decisive. Well done.”

A bolt of lightning shot toward him and struck at his feet—Thunder God himself.
“Your Domain was so unexpected, even I could have died of humiliation before it. Let alone a mere beast.”

“Open the Domain, sever one wing, then cut off the head—you measured the timing perfectly,” Hong added as he arrived. “Still, the core brilliance is the Domain itself. It alters the opponent and strengthens the user. I think that is the true subtle art.”

“Only when one masters the laws within the Domain,” said Qin Ming, “is one truly powerful.”

“The laws inside a Domain…?”

They paused briefly, then began sweeping through the king-level beasts dwelling in the North Pole.

There were not few. Three Polar Bear Kings, one Snow Fox King, and one Snow Wolf King—all dispatched without hesitation. They packed every body into the aircraft.

“Something is amiss,” Qin Ming said, brow furrowed after the last one fell.

“What is wrong?” Thunder God asked.

Hong’s thoughts moved. “Do you mean there are too many king-level beasts here?”

Qin Ming nodded. “This is a harsh polar cold, nearly untouched by human tracks, with little in the way of resources. How can so many king-level beasts arise here—plus one pseudo-imperial one?”

“Where men are few and food is scarce, growth should be difficult. Yet here there are five full king-level beasts and one pseudo-imperial. Put that together, and it is indeed strange,” Thunder God mused. “Could there be some hidden secret?”

“If there is a secret, it is only one place,” Qin Ming said. “The ice mountain where the Snow Carver was.”

“Go!” Thunder God turned.

Qin Ming and Hong followed.

Above them circled three aircraft.

They reached the destination quickly, and there the ground lay carpeted in frozen blood.

“Activate maximum-power scanning!”

Hong ordered his aircraft.
It was the world’s only Primordial-class intelligent warplane—Thunder God did not even have one.

Beep-beep-beep. “Cold-Ice Spirit Source detected. It is a precious treasure that can aid evolution. Located within the belly of the mountain.”

“Within the mountain?”