Chapter 1 The Shattered Ice Sea

The shattered surface of the Ice Sea was littered with chunks of ice and the wreckage of destroyed Source Energy skiffs.

Countless corpses bobbed in the waves.

The thick fog had dissipated.

"Dead... all dead..."

A low murmur echoed across the sea, swallowed by the waves.

Yin Zhuo, the Fourth Elder of the Guang Ming (Light) Temple, stood alone, distraught, atop the relatively intact alloy dome of the main skiff.

His hair was disheveled and he was in a sorry state. His magnificent and sacred white robe was in tatters, and a laser beam had pierced his chest. The unhealed flesh still emitted a sizzling heat.

During the final bombardment, the main Guang Ming skiff failed to break through and was completely shot down. The escort skiffs exploded in mid-air.

This could no longer be described as heavy casualties.

Survivors were one in a hundred.

And those were missing limbs and close to death.

Yin Zhuo looked at the Guang Ming believers floating on the sea, his heart filled with pain. Every believer cultivated by His Holiness was Guang Ming City's "property." They could die, but not die so worthless... Guang Ming City had paid a huge price for this Ice Sea operation.

What he couldn't accept the most was seeing the Changye fleet of Central City withdraw unscathed.

"Yin Zhuo..."

Not far from the crash site of the Source Tower's main skiff, a withered voice suddenly sounded.

The commander-in-chief dispatched by Zhongzhou this time was Meriz, a renowned figure of the Holy Cross Academy, bestowed with the title "Ju Yue" (Giant Moon) by the Upper City Council.

"Meriz, are you alright?"

Yin Zhuo hurried over to check on his injuries.

【Ju Yue】's luck was terrible. In the final volley, he had been pierced by laser beams all over his body to protect the main skiff. Even with his powerful mental strength to repair the wounds, his life force was still weakening... However, for a titled powerhouse, these injuries were not immediately fatal. Yin Zhuo quickly unfolded a holy light to shield him within.

The Guang Ming City excelled at "healing techniques."

"I... I'm fine."

Meriz smiled. He looked at the vortex where the storm had dissipated and murmured, "I never thought... the Ice Sea mission was a scam."

Yin Zhuo felt a chill run through his body.

Those who were still alive, about ten or less, began to move closer to the location of the two titled powerhouses.

Although the Ice Sea was calm at the moment, the disaster had not stopped. Those lucky ones who had survived the initial cannon fire and lasers still had to face a problem...

They wanted to return, but there were no vehicles here.

"Do you believe that 'prehistoric civilizations' really exist in this world?"

Meriz suddenly asked this question.

Yin Zhuo looked up at the distant sky. The Ice Sea mist on his fingertips had dissipated, and the shadow of the giant ship protruding from the sea had completely disappeared at this moment.

From beginning to end, they had not seen the face of the "enemy," nor had they seen a single "extraordinary life"...

There was no doubt that the vanguard team must have been completely annihilated.

The fleet had also been severely hit.

"You see it?"

"This is... a conspiracy."

Meriz spoke with difficulty in the holy light, "A conspiracy targeting the Source Tower, Guang Ming City..."

This sentence instantly awakened the dazed and confused Yin Zhuo.

That's right.

The Storm Church's sacrifice was just the prelude. The Storm Divine Throne concealed such important information in order to lure the Five Continents fleets to set off together. For this purpose, the Holy City spared no effort.

But thinking a step further.

Could it be that the only one who spared no effort was not just the Holy City?

"I suspect that the Nan Zhou Holy City has joined Changye, Central City..."

Meriz stared seriously at Yin Zhuo. He forcefully squeezed the hand of the Fourth Elder of the Temple and said, word by word, "Everything that happened in the Ice Sea today was by no means accidental."

...

...

"One of our own?"

The three words spoken by Wei Cheng sounded somewhat comical.

Osmonde and Gu Nanfeng had already counted the number of people. The list for this southward mission was personally finalized by the two of them.

The vanguard team had even returned with all its members.

Under such circumstances, where would another one of their own suddenly appear, like a deity, manipulating the 【Ice Sea Remnants】to beat up Guang Ming City and the Source Tower?

This was very unreasonable.

But... this was the only explanation.

"It's like this, we encountered some trouble in the 【Ice Sea Remnants】..."

Wei Cheng briefly described what happened in the remnants.

Now that things had come to this, the existence of the black-haired ogre could not be concealed. It would be better to explain the process of this matter, so that the two commanders could discuss how to deal with the aftermath after returning to the Five Continents.

It was just out of previous security considerations.

Wei Cheng omitted many details, such as the "ogre" healing his hands... In his heart, this seemingly ferocious ogre must be an old friend from Dongzhou or Beizhou.

Perhaps this was a "backup plan" arranged by the higher-ups?

"..."

Wei Cheng quietly spoke about the trip to the snowfield, the events encountered by the vanguard team.

After Osmonde and Gu Nanfeng listened, they were silent for a while. The entire spiritual conference room fell into absolute silence.

Not to mention these listeners.

When they encountered the "black-haired ogre" at the beginning, the vanguard team members were also confused, and it took a long time to recover.

"Are you sure... that so-called 'ogre' killed the Julu Saint and the Xuangui Divine Envoy after his promotion with his own strength?"

Lu Zhe, the deputy head of the current Investigation Corps, asked in surprise.

The Julu Saint's strength was average.

But the Xuangui Divine Envoy was no ordinary person. Once this kind of super genius was promoted, he would not be considered weak even among the titled powerhouses.

At the titled level, it was much more difficult to fight one against two than at the fourth level!

What's more, these two titled powerhouses also used the 【Authority】bestowed by the Divine Throne, 【Cloud Mirror】plus 【Tide】, which was another great weapon!

"I'm sure."

This time, Wei Cheng didn't need to speak.

Zhong Fan, the leader of the Dongzhou vanguard team, said, "We saw it with our own eyes... the battle was very fierce. In the end, the 'black-haired ogre' bathed in blood, cut the Julu in half, and then cut off the Xuangui's head."

"Why haven't I heard of such a powerful combat force before..."

Lu Zhe's expression was solemn.

There shouldn't be many transcendents of this level in the Five Continents.

But he had never heard of such a person in his memory.

What black-haired ogre, unheard of!

"Brother Nanfeng, is this a backup plan laid out by your Dongzhou?" Lu Zhe looked towards the conference room.

"No..."

Gu Nanfeng shook his head. He admitted frankly, "I don't know this so-called 'black-haired ogre.' There is no such person in Dongzhou."

Wei Cheng and Zhong Fan looked at each other, their expressions becoming strange.

Wei Cheng couldn't help asking, "Isn't this an arrangement by the higher-ups?"

"An arrangement by the higher-ups..."

Osmonde smiled helplessly and asked, "If the higher-ups really had such an arrangement, would they have been plotted against by the Storm Church? Don't forget the first round of shelling of the 【Ice Sea Remnants】. We were also targeted. If the protective shield hadn't been strong enough, the fleet would have lost at least half of its members."

"Who is this person?"

The higher-ups of the two continents looked at each other.

Wei Cheng looked at Zhong Yuan without saying a word. The latter had stopped speaking after entering the conference room, and he was even more silent about all the details of this operation.

"..."

Wei Cheng sighed softly in his heart. Among the details he had concealed was Zhong Yuan's strange reaction.

He knew.

This guy had probably guessed something.

It's just that Zhong Yuan didn't say it, and he couldn't ask him face-to-face.

"The problem now is the pressure we may encounter after returning to the Five Continents... In the Ice Sea mission, we had no casualties, and the fleets of the Source Tower and Guang Ming City were completely wiped out."

Luo Yu spoke, his expression a little troubled, "This is difficult to explain."

Osmonde and Lu Zhe also fell into thought.

"Just go back like this, no explanation needed."

A faint voice rang in the conference room.

Gu Nanfeng said calmly, "Was it us who initiated the 'self-destruction' and caused the 【Ice Sea Remnants】to attack?"

"...No." Luo Yu answered subconsciously.

"Then what explanation do we need? In this incident, we were also victims." Gu Nanfeng said, "According to the truth of this incident, what really needs to be explained is the Storm Church that launched the attack. They are the ones who provoked the dispute."

Luo Yu immediately said, "But Guang Ming City and the Source Tower will be furious and think this is a conspiracy."

After Luo Yu spoke, he immediately understood what the young master meant.

The truth is meaningless.

In the eyes of Dongzhou, Dongzhou is the victim.

But the Source Tower and Guang Ming City would not think so... because Dongzhou had zero casualties!

"So explanation is useless."

Gu Nanfeng said calmly, "If we follow the wishes of the Source Tower and Guang Ming City and make this really a conspiracy... then what should we do?"

This time, it wasn't just Luo Yu.

Everyone understood the deeper meaning of Gu Nanfeng's words.

"In this incident, the only victims are the cloud skiff fleets of Guang Ming City and the Source Tower."

"The Storm Church has long been prepared to lose everything--"

"They don't care about their own casualties, because in their plan, the Five Continents fleets would be completely wiped out in the 【Ice Sea Remnants】."

"Now we are back alive."

"Then the Storm Church's 'self-destruction'... if it's not a conspiracy, it's also a conspiracy."

Osmonde slowly opened his mouth, his one eye flashing with an appreciative look, and looked at Gu Nanfeng opposite him: "021, worthy of you... You want to take advantage of this 'Ice Sea Incident' to formally divide the Five Continents into clear camps."

Five continents, two major alliances.

Regarding the layout of the two Divine Thrones in the highest seat, Osmonde and Gu Nanfeng could vaguely guess some of it. These two Divine Thrones were both fierce and good at fighting, and they would never be willing to be suppressed by the alliance of the Sky and Guang Ming, so the "union" in recent years was to accumulate strength, and the rumors of the Divine War have been raging in recent years.

But everyone is very clear.

If you fight.

Dongzhou and Beizhou will suffer losses -

Even if they are united, they are still a little short of strength.

If you want to win, then you have to kill a Divine Throne first... In recent years, the big figures who are close to the two Divine Thrones and are truly at the pinnacle of power in the two continents have vaguely guessed some clues.

If the Empress and Bai Shu want to take action, then the one who is most likely to be killed should be Storm.

No other reason.

Nanzhou is the weakest!

But from another perspective, if we can pull the "Storm" into our camp, we can also produce the same effect.

"It's not that simple to divide camps."

"It's just a matter of embracing the Storm Church, which is the unique and best solution in the current situation."

Gu Nanfeng's expression was neither happy nor sad, "Now that the Ice Sea incident has evolved to this point, what we can do is negotiate with the Holy City, express the attitude of Changye Central City, as for whether this matter will ultimately succeed or not, it's not up to us."

"If Guang Ming City and the Source Tower say this is a conspiracy."

"Then..."

"This is a conspiracy."