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"My lord... it seems like... from the rear..."

"The rear?"

At this moment, the battle of Vermilion Bird City had just begun.

Vermilion Bird City had been at peace for many years, without any external forces disturbing it, causing it to become almost an independent kingdom.

It was divided into several factions with the potential for mutual conflict.

If not for the Heavenly Dao’s prevention, they would have likely fought to the death long ago.

Now, facing a sudden attack, these fire-affiliated Great Demons, who had never been invaded by foreign enemies, were almost completely unresponsive.

By the time they assembled, the crucial city gate had already been seized.

Even so, the Divine General found himself and his cohorts in a precarious situation.

The number of Great Demons in Vermilion Bird City was more than he had imagined, and their quality was terrifying.

Although they had never fought outside, the combat power they exhibited was no less than the city’s heyday.

There were over a hundred Great Demons at the King Level, a terrifying scale not seen for millions of years.

Were it not for these Great Demons lacking structure and sophisticated formations and tactics, merely relying on their quality and quantity, even if the entire Heaven’s Court were mobilized, they might not necessarily win.

And at this critical moment, a scout reported, someone had arrived from the rear!

The Three-Eyed God General, without hesitation, instantly moved to the high point at the city gate, and immediately saw the unexpected arrivals.

"Divine General..." A man in white smiled and greeted, "It’s been a long time."

The Three-Eyed God General remained silent.

In that great war of the past, Chen Qing’s forces were formidable.

Even after being betrayed by Old Liu, it still required the combined might of three families.

Back then, Chen Qing, who commanded the Yin Yang Dao Fruit, had strong combat power, fighting alone against thirty-six Buddhas, seventy-two Heavenly Generals, and a hundred and eight Asuras!

Using that thing left by Pu YunChuan, he was the true War God. Unfortunately, with strength alone, he couldn’t grasp human intent, ending up a failure.

Now, returning once more, his style was completely different from before. But who knew how much of his former strength remained?

"You have indeed betrayed us." The Divine General coldly remarked, eyeing the White Tiger Star Officer beside Chen Qing.

"All of you expected I would betray. If I didn’t, would I still be alive?" The White Tiger sneered, "You, a dignified Divine General, don’t tell me you didn’t know they sent Ziwei to kill me!"

The Three-Eyed God General was silent. White Tiger was of a different race, and Elder Long’s side would never accept him. At such a critical time, how could they allow a foreign Demon King to control the Four Spirit’s power?

Her death was inevitable; her very existence was a crime.

"Just with this few people?"

The Divine General looked at Chen Qing, his eyes deep. The Four Holy Guards of the Eastern Sea, the higher-ups weren’t unaware of their existence, but they weren’t yet worthy of surveillance by the Heavenly Mirror.

The Four Holy Guards were indeed strong, but numerically insufficient.

With just a few thousand soldiers, overturning the tide seemed like a fool’s dream, so the priority for surveillance was the Imperial Court’s three hundred thousand Ghost Army and Chen Qing’s three hundred thousand Warrior Army in the North.

As for those eight thousand Four Holy Guards, they were indeed a nuisance but ultimately limited in capability.

He had speculated that if Chen Qing were to deploy forces, it might likely be these, as Chen Qing had made an agreement with the King of Qin, making it not impossible for him to bring these troops over.

"Though few in number, if used at the right moment, turning the tide is not impossible." Chen Qing smiled, "Not easy to take Vermilion Bird City, right, Divine General?"

The Three-Eyed God General frowned, "You anticipated the situation here?"

"What’s there to guess?" Chen Qing laughed immediately, "Back in the day, I personally suppressed this place.

No one knows it better than I do. Elder Long and his group are famously conservative and would never easily move here unless their backs were against the wall.

But after three eras of inactivity, this is the Land of Four Spirits.

How could Pu YunChuan pass up this opportunity?

Without your interference, the number of Demon Kings inside surely exceeds what you imagine. "

"I see..." The Three-Eyed God General nodded, "You’ve indeed changed. You could never calculate like this back then. Perhaps... you’re not him at all."

"I never was..." Chen Qing sighed, "Data is just data. A copy of data, no matter how similar, is still new data. How could it be the same as before? The former Chen Qing and the current Chen Qing, fundamentally, aren’t the same. Though the memories are similar, and some traits are the same, they’re not the same entity. Haven’t you ever truly felt this? "

The Three-Eyed God General was silent. Back then, he joined Elder Long because Long promised to bring his family into the data world to become eternal life.

His wife had cancer at the time, and his two children were still young.

In such chaotic times, he had no other choice.

After his wife survived in the data world, he was excited for a long time.

But after living with his wife in the data world for some time, he began to notice something was wrong.

Some people and some things seemed the same, but after extended contact, they always felt different. Over the long years, both he and his wife gradually noticed this.

Yet neither wished to break the illusion, but neither could accept it. Gradually, he began using combat to numb himself while his wife secluded herself in Guanghan Palace, avoiding the world after their child’s death in battle.

"Perhaps... you’re right." A hint of realization flashed in the Three-Eyed God General’s eyes, which quickly turned sharp again, "Back then, they said you were the strongest Venerable One beneath the Heavenly Dao, and no Venerable One possessing the Innate Dao Fruit was your match because you knew best how to utilize it.

Do you still have that braveness today?"

"How could it be the same?" Chen Qing immediately laughed, "Back then, bullying you was because most of you were game novices. Pu YunChuan himself was a seasoned player. Coupled with the fact the game was his design, possessing his memories meant adaptability beyond your capabilities. But now, you’ve all lived so long; how could a gamer’s memory compare to your mastery of your own power? "

"So, you can be humble too..." The Three-Eyed God General pointed his long halberd, "Then how do you plan to deal with us? With this force, even if there are enemy troops inside Vermilion Bird City, I can break through from outside at any time. With your few men, blocking us seems unrealistic, doesn’t it? "

The Three-Eyed God General watched Chen Qing cautiously. Chen Qing came with elite troops, and the best way to swallow his forces was through a decapitation strategy.

Otherwise, this meager force couldn’t halt his army’s charge. Regardless of how problematic the monsters within Vermilion Bird City were, he could always retreat from there if he wanted, at most sacrificing some rear guard.

Major losses seemed implausible, and Chen Qing wouldn’t personally come just to make him lose some rear guard forces, would he?

If he broke through, there would be no opportunity for a space escape, and he would become the pursuer.

What was his true intent, bringing so few soldiers?

Just as he wondered, an extremely bizarre event transpired.

Just moments ago, Chen Qing and those few thousand Four Holy Guards were right before him, and then, without warning, they vanished!