“The Patriarch ordered us to evacuate, what are you doing? Get moving if you don’t want to be left behind, this place is collapsing!”

A large group of cultivators was quickly flying back into their golden palace for protection. Luckily their elders had informed them of the impending doom before they got too far away from their golden fortress. At the moment the massive army of clones was getting pushed back but after the order was given they started retreating.

Some of the warriors were saddened by this decision but their trust in the leaders was unbreakable, they must have had a reason for ordering them to stand down. The huge monster that was before them that looked like a black centipede continued to produce shockwaves while battling with multiple nascent soul masters. They too started retreating which brought the attention of this monster to the flying golden fortress.

This exposed it to more danger and damage as all the enemy forces that had been previously spread out throughout the battlefield started concentrating on one location. There were a lot more of them there but at least the angelic automatons didn’t seem to be going back. They aided the cultivators in retreating while taking the brunt of the counterattack. Soon the whole area started rumbling and finally, everyone realized why their leaders ordered them to retreat.

“The pocket dimension… it’s collapsing!”

A ripple shot through the entire area and came from within the huge monster. The moment this shift took place this large being stopped in its tracks and started crumbling. It wasn’t the only one that stopped, the same happened to the cloned troops that just remained stationary. It was as if there was some type of off switch in their brains that was triggered and now they didn’t know what to do anymore.

Some of the creatures started crumbling into dust just like the rest but the humanoid clones just remained there. They seemed confused by the situation as if a veil was lifted from their heads for the first time. Even when the whole place was collapsing they just stared at it all while not knowing what to do. Some of them even started crashing to the ground as if they forgot how to utilize their spiritual energy to keep them afloat.

Everyone previously saw the Patriarch charge into the beast not that long ago. Now that it was crumbling it was clear to them that he had managed to destroy what was keeping it alive. The bonus of the clone armies becoming disoriented was a fortunate boon as it allowed them to quickly rendezvous at the golden palace.

“Everyone, hurry up, we don't have much time.”

To their surprise, the man that they were just thinking about suddenly appeared right above the golden palace. The blue light that shone before his appearance informed them about the teleportation technique that he used. Before they could give out a resounding cheer of praise to their leader they felt a strange force surrounding them.

It didn’t feel dangerous or out of place, instead, it actually felt quite warm and welcoming. It looked like a veil of golden light wrapping around their bodies. The energy was very reminiscent of something familiar so they didn’t defend against it. Soon after though, this warm force quickly yanked the people that were still outside of the golden palace towards it.

Even the large ships that were slowly floating back into the range of the golden palace’s shields started speeding up. It was as if there was a black hole created in the middle that was sucking them all in. Soon enough all of them were in range of the outer shields and Zhang Dong gave out the next order.

“Everyone, grab onto something and close your eyes, this won’t be pleasant!”

The soldiers weren’t sure what to make of it but before they closed their eyes they could see the world around them crumbling into pieces. It was as if even the air was disintegrating into nothingness before them. This was the moment when they realized why their leader was forcing them within the confines of the golden palace. Right before the world crumbled they were teleported somewhere.

“Ugh…”

“Blergh…”

Some of the people that were caught in the teleportation technique started vomiting the moment it finished. It was a lot rougher than what they remembered from before but they were safe. Now that they could open their eyes they saw darkness everywhere. They were under the dark sea again through which they traversed before. The silence was quickly broken through as something started to rumble in the distance.

“Isn’t that the chasm that we dove into before? It’s collapsing…”

There was a strange scene playing out before them. The large gash on the sea floor was vanishing before their eyes. It was surrounded by a strange dark glow as it began to close onto itself.

“Was this some type of spatial anomaly?”

Some of the elders called out as they could feel various energy fluctuations coming from that spot. It seemed that the angler fish that they were swallowed by before wasn’t the real entrance to the pocket dimension. This was this large chasm and now it was collapsing unto itself.

“Does this mean that even if we escaped from that beast, we would be stuck in a crumbling pocket dimension?”

The elder cultivators started sweating while thinking of what would have become of them if they were stuck in there. Only thanks to their Patriarch that were able to teleport them out of the crumbling dimension were they able to survive. It was either a miracle or his knowledge that allowed for this miracle. They could see themselves escaping outside of the large fish only to be then greeted by nothingness and no way home.

“The Patriarch is great…How did he know?”

“I don’t know but it’s over now…”

Everyone looked up to where a man covered in shiny white armor was floating. This was the leader that had brought them victory once more. Even though this trip didn’t bring them many treasures they had gotten rid of the underwater bearings plaguing their lands. Now they could claim this territory and its riches as their own. This was enough as there were still many undiscovered locations down there, even being able to harvest the fish living down here was worthwhile.

Their eyes started sparkling almost as much as their leader was. They all quickly clasped their hands together while bowing before him. It started with one person and quickly turned to thousands of soldiers honoring their leader.

“Long live the Patriarch, Long live the United Element’s Sect!”

…

‘Whew, that was close, glad that I had Bob make an analysis or this could have gone really wrong.’

Just as some of his elders assumed he was going to attempt teleportation that took the shop into the chasm. His first thought was to get out of the large angler fish before escaping back up. However, this was a trap in itself as all of them would be caught in another pocket dimension that was now going through self-destruction.

‘Who would have thought that the chasm was the entrance to another dimension, I didn’t feel anything at all when going through it…’

Bob was able to present him with the full scope of the pocket dimensions they were all trapped in. He knew that after defeating the Empress a chain reaction would be started. The smaller dimensions would start imploding while also generating a strange effect.

‘This was really a mission for one person.’

The calculations presented him with the truth. He was a system holder and would have been affected by these pocket dimensions in a different way. Others would be torn to shreds but he would be sucked into another teleportation gate. It was hard to pinpoint where he would come out but it was just a setup to force him to go down a certain path.

‘Perhaps I’d end up in another Empire and have to make my way back home again? Or it could have been another hidden area that I haven’t discovered… I need to analyze this room first.’

He was not sure what was in store for him but for now, he decided to gather more information. The shell that would allow him to absorb two new Daos was not used yet. Zhang Dong wasn’t sure what would happen after adding the two. Perhaps he would manage to germinate this seed that was stuck inside of him. If that happened it would be better to prepare for a confrontation with the Overseer as they would probably become aware of his change.

‘I might become more powerful than her but it might not be enough… The transformation to the next level could also take longer than I expect…’

There were too many variables for now so he decided to let it rest. Three out of the four Empires were now dealt with and the last one was part of his allies. Argus and Lucious weren’t around for this journey and he had also not discovered any new parts of their secret armor. However, they didn’t pose much of a threat to him at this point. Even if they decided to point their swords in his direction, they weren’t capable of defeating him.

After destroying the Cerulean Empress he realized that his power had risen tremendously. The Emperor level enemies he faced were all around the same level with the transformed Phoenix Emperor being the strongest of the bunch. Their power level seemed to correlate to the number of Daos that he could get from them. This would put this Empress somewhere in the middle of the other two.

“Is everything all right? Are there enemies somewhere?”

“Enemies? No, I was just thinking about some things, we are safe here.”

While the chasm was collapsing Liena approached him. Her form was clad in the armor that he created for her with the help of the system. Right behind her was Huo Qiang as well as Zhang Zhi in similar ones that allowed them all to be closer to his level. Thanks to these four people he was able to somehow get the larger group outside. Now that it was finally over he decided to deactivate his own armored garb and look at his friends and family that had gathered here.

“Let’s go home, everyone.”

The others nodded back and removed the armored pieces just like he did. The battle was over and the war was almost over, now only one real threat existed that he needed to prepare for…