Wei Qing moved with brutal efficiency. Once the order was given, it took less than half a day for his own Cloud Knights—along with the three thousand elite soldiers reassigned from the Xiaowei Camp—to assemble at the starport in full battle readiness.
Jingliu and Baiheng came to see them off.
Baiheng fussed nonstop, rattling off reminders and precautions as if Wei Qing weren't heading to war, but merely going on a long trip.
Jingliu, meanwhile, stood quietly to one side. Her red eyes stayed on Wei Qing as he completed final preparations—deep, steady, and unreadable.
Only when Wei Qing was about to board did she step forward. In her hand was a talisman—roughly made, plainly rushed, the stitching even a little crooked. She placed it into his palm.
"Come back safe."
Wei Qing paused for the briefest moment, then closed his fingers around it. He nodded.
"Relax. A few Abundance pests aren't enough to keep me."
He turned and strode up the gangway onto the flagship.
Yingxing was leaning against the side of the boarding ramp, arms crossed, wearing that familiar, lazy grin. He had clearly seen the talisman for what it was: something hastily sewn together on short notice, with crooked seams that practically screamed made by someone who never held a needle in her life.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." When Wei Qing drew close, Yingxing lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear. "Marching out with a beauty's protective charm in hand… General Wei Qing, you're basically guaranteed victory. Nothing evil can touch you."
He flicked his eyes at the uneven threadwork. "Though this needlework… looks like our Sword Champion is still far better with a blade than with a needle."
Wei Qing shot him an annoyed look. He didn't know whether it was Jing Yuan or Dan Feng, but somehow his business with Jingliu had already spread through their circle.
"After that day," Wei Qing asked abruptly, "Jingliu didn't do anything to you, did she?"
Yingxing's expression immediately darkened.
Even if he'd been drunk that night, his memory was excellent. He knew exactly how the things he'd said had landed—what kind of provocation they'd been, to someone like Jingliu.
"Ahem… the Sword Champion is broad-minded," Yingxing said, eyes drifting away. He clearly had no intention of describing the extra training that had left him gritting his teeth for days.
Wei Qing snorted, amused despite himself, and clapped Yingxing on the shoulder.
"Yeah, alright. You look exactly like someone who got punished. Now—did you bring everything I told you to bring? Don't you dare choke when it matters."
"Listen to you." Yingxing patted a metal case beside him—one that looked absurdly heavy. "Latest batch from the Artisanship Commission. Top-tier goods. I'll make sure those Abundance freaks get a taste."
Then he gave Wei Qing a measuring look. "But you? You just saw some serious stuff in that Qiongguan Array. Now you're turning around and biting straight into hard bone. Your body and mind really holding up?"
Wei Qing rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. Your Brother Qing here is built like steel."
He leaned in just slightly, voice casual but pointed. "You, on the other hand—stay with the formation. Don't go diving into some wreckage to scavenge forging materials. If we have to send people to fish you out, I'm going to laugh."
"I'm not that kind of person," Yingxing protested.
They kept trading jabs as they walked onto the ship's bridge.
Yingxing coming along on this operation didn't surprise Wei Qing. In terms of combat power, Yingxing was no slouch—but he wasn't the future "blade-man" the legends would one day speak of, either. Compared to the Luofu's absolute top tier, he still fell short, and no one needed him stationed behind to hold the fort.
And as a short-lived species, even if his status in the Artisanship Commission wasn't low, he was still excluded from the true inner circle. He didn't live the kind of sheltered life where "frontline deployment" was unthinkable.
When all preparations were complete, the enormous starship eased out of Luofu's starport, leading a vast Cloud Knight fleet toward the Wasteland.
…
Half a day passed.
The closer they drew to the Wasteland, the more broken and lifeless the surrounding starfield became—ruined, silent, suffocating.
Countless hulks and shattered fragments drifted through the void, wordlessly testifying to the brutality of wars long past.
"Report!" A Cloud Knight officer rushed in with fresh data. "Recon elements have returned readings—energy levels in the Wasteland's core are spiking sharply. Confirmed large-scale life signatures!"
Wei Qing stood at the bridge's main console, eyes sweeping across the star map as massive clusters of red points erupted into view.
As if sensing their arrival, the darkness outside began to stir.
"High-intensity spatial jump signatures detected!" a transmission blared. "Multiple targets closing fast! Borisin wolf-ships—numbers… extremely high!"
Beyond the viewing window, the dead vacuum of space suddenly looked like a hornet's nest that had been kicked over. Countless Borisin wolf-ships—crudely fused together from flesh and metal—burst out of concealment and lunged toward the Cloud Knight fleet with a hungry, animal roar.
"All units—engage!" Wei Qing's voice thundered across the entire formation.
The Cloud Knight fleet shifted formation at once. Massive ballista cannons flared with charging light. Squadrons of knights launched in attack craft and winged exo-frames, swarming outward like a disciplined hive to meet the onrushing enemy.
Side-ship cannons released a deep, resonant hum—
Then several searing beams ripped through the void, punching straight into the densest cluster of wolf-ships.
Explosions lit up the dead Wasteland like sudden suns. Debris was thrown outward by shockwaves. The Borisin vanguard took catastrophic losses in the very first volley.
But the Borisin were even more vicious than expected.
They didn't retreat at the destruction of their own. If anything, they became more frenzied, surging forward with doubled madness.
Wei Qing didn't remain on the bridge to command.
He understood better than anyone: in a chaotic encounter battle like this, decisive strike power—top-tier force cutting through the enemy—could determine everything.
"Yingxing." Wei Qing spoke quickly, already moving. "You take temporary command of the bridge. Maintain fire suppression. I'll be back."
"Hey! You're doing this again?!" Yingxing shouted—too late.
Wei Qing's figure vanished from the bridge.
In the next instant, he appeared at the very front line of the battlefield.
He hadn't taken a skiff.
He stood directly in open space, supported by sheer physical might. The power of the Hunt flowed around him, condensing into an invisible spearhead. Wherever it passed, Borisin wolf-ships split apart—clean and effortless—like hot steel cutting butter.
Enemy attacks struck him at times—spore rounds, bone spikes, even full-ship ramming impacts—
But the moment they touched the thin, dark-red sheen surrounding him, they dissolved like snow against flame, unable to inflict even the slightest harm.
"That's… Lord Wei Qing!"
"My gods—he charged straight into their formation!"
"Move! Keep up—cover Lord Wei Qing!"
The Cloud Knights saw it, and their morale surged. Their offensive grew fiercer, sharper, more relentless.
Wei Qing weaved through the enemy mass, and his purpose was clear.
The Borisin weren't mindless beasts. Even without the system's warning, Wei Qing refused to believe they would act with this level of recklessness for no reason.
After losing Hulei, Borisin power had weakened to the extreme. Their high-end combat strength was severely lacking.
If they weren't colluding with other Abundance factions, then with the rabble in front of him—
Wei Qing alone could wipe them out.
Something was off.
His perception expanded like an invisible web, spreading through the battlefield. Almost immediately, he locked onto something hidden behind the wolf-ship swarm: a vessel far larger than the rest, its surface layered with thick bone plating and pulsing, wormlike veins.
So there really is something strange here.
Wei Qing's mind shifted, and he moved to force his way through—straight toward that ship.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 90)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 95)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter70)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter70)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter60)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 30
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 30
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