The night was as thick as ink, clinging heavily to every contour of the rolling hills.
Four figures glided silently through the darkness, their forms merging with the shadows.
After a few days of adaptation, the crushing weight of the [Gravity] rule had become the very foundation of their steady footsteps.
The closer they drew to Winred City, the more foul the air became.
A pink mist, cloyingly sweet and suffocating, seeped into their senses, leaving no corner untouched. It was like an unseen demoness whispering hot breath into their ears, coaxing the deepest impulses from their hearts, attempting to drown all their strained reason in an abyss of desire called "Bliss."
But for this team—who had faced an Evil God Avatar and collectively experienced "Sage Mode"—this level of Mental Pollution was little more than a slightly pungent whiff of industrial exhaust.
Lin Qingyue even had the leisure to lower her voice and offer a culinary critique:
"This aftertaste is even more pungent and heady than that durian snail rice noodle hotpot we smelled at the school cafeteria last time."
Beside her, Lin Xiyue immediately let out a tsk of utter disgust.
Xia Lian's reconnaissance report was clear: just over the next hill, three kilometers away, lay the mottled walls of Winred City.
However, just as the four were about to reach the summit of the hill—
A deafening explosion that tore through the night sky erupted without warning from the other side of the hill!
BOOM—!
The dull thud of some heavy metal being violently torn apart, mixed with blood, flesh, and energy in a synchronized explosion.
An orange-red fireball roared into the night sky, briefly illuminating half the firmament in a pale white.
Following that was the sharp scream of colliding energy and the ceaseless roar of Alchemic cannons!
"Something's happening!"
Lin Xiyue's body reacted faster than her brain; [Blackstone's Protection] instantly materialized in front of her.
The four moved as one, dropping their bodies low and pressing against the ground.
Xia Lian's figure practically melted into the nearby bushes in the next second.
A few breaths later, she slipped back silently, gave everyone a "Safe" hand signal, and pointed toward the top of the hill.
The four exchanged glances, tacitly lightened their steps, and silently crept up the slope.
When they peeked out from behind the rocks at the summit, the scene below made them all freeze.
It was an execution ground of iron and fire.
The basin at the foot of the hill had been completely ravaged into scorched earth.
A dozen or so Steam Magitech Mecha were arrayed in a grim formation, creating a cold semicircle of death.
The single-eyed searchlights on their chests shot out pillars of pale white light, weaving into a celestial net that illuminated the center of the battlefield as bright as day.
Stalking between the mecha's ranks were dozens of creatures with grotesque forms.
Humanoid monsters covered in withered, decaying branches, their joints twisted.
Ebon Deer with coral-like, dead-white antlers and eyes gleaming with an evil light.
And several burly Werewolves, drooling profusely from their mouths.
It was undeniably an Abominations of Abundance Legion in the same style as Tina and Modu's!
Struggling to survive under the onslaught of the mecha and the Abominations were two men and three women whose style was completely out of place in this world.
They wore ancient-style, ethereal blue-green Daoist robes embroidered with cloud-patterned bagua.
At this moment, although the robes were already tattered and stained with blood and dust, the transcendent aura rooted in their very bones remained completely untarnished.
The leading young man had handsome features and held a long sword with a green blade. Every swing unleashed an incomparably sharp, green sword qi that cleaved the lunging Werewolves in two mid-air.
Another tall man held a hand seal and muttered incantations under his breath.
Bolts of purple lightning, each as thick as a bowl's rim, tore through the night sky like spears of Heavenly Retribution, striking with precision at the mecha trying to open fire.
A series of blinding electrical sparks erupted, causing their movements to stiffen noticeably, with one even collapsing to the ground in a plume of black smoke.
Among the three female cultivators, the red-haired girl wielded two crimson short swords, transforming them into two spinning streaks of fire that unleashed a rain of blood through the monster horde.
The black-haired girl raised a Light Screen, struggling to block the alchemical artillery fire from all directions.
The Light Screen was already covered in a web-like network of cracks, and every tremor made a trickle of fresh blood seep from the corner of her mouth.
The last, a purple-haired girl, continuously infused streams of gentle green light into her companions, clearly acting as the healing support role.
Flying swords, lightning arts, sword qi, talismans...
This pure Xianxia-style battle scene instantly caused the three little spectators on the hillside to start chatting up a storm.
"Holy shit! Look at that guy in white! He just points his finger and the sword flies out!"
Lin Xiyue's eyes widened into perfect circles as she excitedly nudged Su Wan with her elbow.
"A sword immortal! This is absolutely a living sword immortal! It's so much cooler than us swinging staves and slapping with shields!"
"An energy system completely different from ours. My spell model cannot deconstruct it,"
Su Wan adjusted her non-existent glasses, data streams flashing rapidly in her azure eyes.
"But judging by the degree of energy dissipation, their output efficiency is not high, and... the spiritual energy fluctuations have already become very weak. Their endurance is at rock bottom."
"But... but they're wearing Daoist robes,"
Xia Lian murmured softly, her tone carrying a strange sense of cultural kinship and yearning.
"Just like they walked out of a movie... so much poise."
This familiar art style made Lin Qingyue's DNA tingle.
Back in Blackrock Stronghold, the roar that Modu, the Moon-Howling Werewolf Chieftain, had let out while pointing at her disguised as Jingliu, was now incredibly clear in her mind:
"Order's lackey!"
"Cultivators..."
Lin Qingyue murmured softly, a hint of "watching the drama without minding the trouble" shining in her pink eyes.
So, those enemies Modu mentioned, the ones opposing the Mother of Rebirth in the void, truly existed.
Their art style did indeed bear a slight resemblance to the Xianzhou Alliance.
But a giant question mark rose in her mind.
Is this it? This is the mortal enemy the Evil God's minions always mention as their greatest threat?
Why does it feel like... they're not quite up to the task? It looks like they're about to be steamrolled by a wave of elite mobs and iron cans.
Or are they currently weakened? Suppressed by the Evil God?
The situation on the battlefield also confirmed her judgment.
Although those few cultivators employed sharp techniques, their spiritual energy was clearly depleted, and they were already at their wit's end.
The sharpness of the sword aura was fading, the thunderous roar was growing quieter, and the Eight Trigrams light display was even more precarious, as if it would completely shatter in the next second.
In contrast, the enemies had only two steam mechs disabled, while the severed remains of those Abominations wriggled on the ground for a few moments before reassembling, sprouting new limbs, and continuing to charge forward without fear of death.
With one side waning and the other waxing, defeat was only a matter of time.
"Sis, we..."
Lin Xiyue looked at Lin Qingyue, lowering her voice, her dark, bright eyes full of eager fighting spirit.
Although their art style was different, they were still fellow beings from the same origin, and moreover, they were the Evil God's mortal enemies.
Watching them die without helping wasn't her style.
"Save them."
Lin Qingyue replied decisively, without the slightest hesitation.
But her next sentence almost made Lin Xiyue and the other two struggle to keep up with her peculiar logic.
"Of course we have to save them!"
"If you're playing a game and stumble upon a limited-time world event, would you just watch a friendly elite NPC get killed by mobs and miss out on a hidden questline?"
"These are living experience packs and walking information vendors! How can we let those iron cans and rotten wood waste them?"
Su Wan's lips tightened as she forcibly suppressed the urge to complain.
Xia Lian habitually showed her adorable, blank expression: "I don't quite understand, but Sister Qingyue is right."
Only Lin Xiyue, who had long been immune to her sister's logic, immediately asked excitedly, "Then how do we fight? Should I rush in first and break their formation?"
"No need to go to such trouble."
Lin Qingyue shook her head, her gaze sweeping over the intricately structured Steam Magitech Mechas below, a glint of cunning flashing in her eyes.
"Against these tin cans, we'll use a more 'elegant' solution."
She thought silently.
"System, activate Lynette Character Card!"
The next second, that familiar glow of intertwined deep blue and shadow, which made Xia Lian instinctively cover her face, Su Wan slap her forehead, and Lin Xiyue's eyes fill with anticipation, once again enveloped Lin Qingyue.
Lin Qingyue looked down at the Mecha Legion, which had already begun to tighten its circle and was preparing to launch its final strike, a smile like a magician about to take the stage appearing on her face.
It was time.
It was time to give these pursuers, as well as those "Daoist friends" in despair...
A surprise they would never forget in their lives.