782 Broken Sky

"Cannons, ready!!!" The moment when the blinding light shone out of the clouds, Egor shouted his command from the bridge, staring ahead with his bloodshot eyes.

The dynamic valve was pulled all the way with a low rumble. Shortly after, the entire iron boat began to tremble with a roar. After shaking off the unnecessary armor, the patrolling Mountain of Nomadism traveled in an arc across the sky and, from a thousand miles away, it adjusted its aim at the source of the blinding light.

At this moment, above Aurora and within the music theory of Great Wall, not only was the land being sealed by the never-ending illusion of cloud layers and the surface of the sea being covered by fog, but even the changes in geomagnetism and sunlight were unstable. No one on the inside would be able to determine their own location or take a look at the changes that were taking place.

But now, with the appearance of that streak of light, the monster that had been patrolling in the dark had finally found its target. This opportunity would only last for a moment; there would not be a second chance after this.

The sound of the alarm was ear-shattering and above the vault of heaven, the quiet iron star was lit up. "Pioneer," which was an instrument of harmonious melody that hung high within the vacuum, received the feedback from the bridge. In an instant, the encryption key and authorization, that represented Ye Qingxuan, began to run and the movement of "From the New World" was called upon.

The first connected was completed, followed by the second, then the third. The signal had been anchored.

Thousands of miles away in Anglo, the silent net of aether suddenly began to spin. Within the gigantic three-dimensional crystal was blinding light. At the highest point of the realm of aether, massive power was running and flowing down the hundreds and thousands of structures made of the net of aether. They broke through the barrier that separated the Physical World and the realm of aether before entering the sea of aether. They absorbed the endless aether and kept expanding until they all gathered together once again.

Brilliant streams of light flowed from the "Pioneer" and onto the Mountain of Nomadism. In the blink of an eye, one-third of the heat sink, which had been exposed, was burnt red and was as hot as molten lava. Shortly after, the driving power climbed steadily. It was suppressed by hundreds of throttle valves so it lingered on the brink of collapse and all of its power was pumped into the central aether pool.

Egor removed his tie and was excited as a rabid dog. He screamed at the top of his lungs, "Fire!!!" 

Galaxies burst forth. Countless stars gathered together to form a river—no, a "waterfall." At this moment, there was a hole in the wall of the universe, and the stars behind the wall gushed out to form a torrent that rained down on the world!

Tens of thousands of movements were destroyed in a short span of time to form an aether vacuum, which was a massive hole that the entire world could see in the sea of aether.

The price to pay was that the cooling liquid of several tons of lazurite evaporated instantly to become fog within the hurricanes. They were shot out from the massive iron structures of the ship and onto land.

A valuable part that would have been able to support hundreds of shots had instantly become a one-off expendable. After the shot was fired while it was in overdrive, the entire Mountain of Nomadism was now in a state of half-collapse. The sirens of countless cabins began to sound.

This single shot expended so much that even if they tried their best to repair and replace the equipment, the next time they could unleash it again was probably 16 hours later. In exchange for such a great sacrifice was the light of purgatory, that was equivalent to the explosion of tens of thousands of suns.

On the ground, everyone looked up in shock because the felt tentage, that was made from steel, had been burnt completely red.

Across the greyish black layer of clouds, one could see the burning flame dancing in the sky as countless burning light fell from the sky. The friction between light and the cloud layer released a roar like metal clashing against metal. It was the clash between the torrent of movement of "From the New World" and the music theory of Great Wall.

In the history of Aurora, a terrible battle of such scale had never been seen before. After a movement that required the absorption of one-tenth of the net of aether had been prepared, it produced an effect that was the equivalent of tens of thousands of official musicians attacking simultaneously. The powers of the military were all gathered together and unleashed at the same time. Even the Great Wall, which was also known as the Eternal Wall, began to tremble under such a devastating attack.

Countless streams of light slammed against the barrier like water jet cutter. They would pierce through bit by bit before widening the holes until thousands of streaks of electricity were like hammers as they slammed against the black felt tentage. The huge roar of impact reverberated all around. In the end, several gaps appeared on the vault of heaven, that had been thoroughly burnt red. The sky had broke.

Poisonous flow of light descended from the sky and as they kept spreading in all directions, they transformed into a destructive rain. Despite being weakened by several layers of obstructions and no longer being capable of destroying the entire Golden Palace like before, it was still able to create a sight of doom in the country of Aurora. Even though Aurora was protected by layers of enchantments, there was nothing much they could do against the star of destruction that was falling from the sky.

In an instant, all the buildings within a circumference of several miles were crushed into pieces and dust, and there was a huge crater in the ground. From this day on, "Wang Gong Square" and four other squares that it was connected to were all erased from the map forever. As the flow of light swept across, cracks began to appear even on the walls of the palace. Countless enchantments were destroyed only to be revived, again and again, as they tried to ensure that the palace would remain unharmed.

The musicians in the sky were the first to bear the brunt of the attack. Some of them managed to escape in time, while the others were instantly burnt into ashes by the attack. It was a devastating sight everywhere.

Other than Ye Qingxuan, who had already propped up a barrier from the very beginning, one-third of the entire imperial city was completely flattened by the attack, and the rest of the city was only slightly better off. Although there were not a lot of inhabitants in the interior of the city in the first place, such a terrible attack still led to tens of thousands of casualties.

Amidst the charred earth and debris, Ye Qingxuan tossed his cigarette onto the ground and extinguished it with his foot. Within the amount of time taken to smoke a cigarette, the entire city was already almost completely destroyed.

Ye Qingxuan turned back and looked around him. He was frowning.

"What? Did anyone survive that?"

"Finish him off! What are you waiting for? Can't you tell that he is just pretending?" The commander, who was hiding behind the group of musicians and soldiers that were lucky enough to survive, looked pale as he waved his hand and gave the order. "He has been sealed by the dragon bloodline of Great Wall and will not be able to wield any aether! Take him down now!"

There was a shimmer in the blades. With the clanging of metal armors, the armored knights, who had almost been completely burnt red, drew their weapons and raised their white tiger banners before charging at Ye Qingxuan!

"What a headache." Ye Qingxuan sighed softly.

A roar sounded. As the flow of light dissipated and the vault of heaven was quickly repairing its wound, something seemed to fall out in an arc before landing on the ground.

With great accuracy, it passed through the crack in the Great Wall and landed not far away from Ye Qingxuan, creating a huge crater. It was a metal box that was several meters tall and was made out of heavy and dense iron. It looked like a huge casing for giants to hibernate in. 

At this moment, the metal casing began to open very slowly. The friction with air caused the shiny surface to be burnt into a pitch-black color, but the exquisite and delicate machinery within remained unharmed. After it was dismantled in a very delicate and complicated way, the iron opened up to reveal a chilly and murderous light that enshrouded Ye Qingxuan.

When Ye Qingxuan stepped out, the thin and slender young man had already been covered by metal and steel, and the heavy bronze armor reflected the light of flames. There was a long metal casing in his right hand. When he stepped on the ground with his metal boots, there was a deep and low sound.

Under the turbulent and violent suppression of the molten lead weapon, he raised his palm and aimed directly at the ten or so white tiger knights that were charging towards him. He gripped his hand and the berserk electric light gathered together. Everyone turned pale. Aether, which he should have been able to wielded, was being gathered in his hand, taking the form of the destructive electric light of Gungnir. 

It shot forward.

There was a huge roar and explosion of electric light as all the armored knights were devoured, the burning molten iron burst forth in all directions, and the metal remains landed everywhere. The fragile human bodies had already been completely evaporated from the terrible lightning attack. There was nothing left.

"Oh yes, what were you saying just now?" Ye Qingxuan looked at the commander, who was lying paralyzed on the ground. His voice sounded hoarse and blur from the armor that he was wearing.

In his hands, the long metal casing finally revealed the characters that had been hidden on the side. They were "Ninth Stein Chamber—Portable Aether Backup Equipment" and "Possession of National Military—Circulation is Forbidden."

Based on theory alone, it was an object that was similar to the "aether pool" that could be found on warships and large-scale military equipment, except that it had been degraded and shrunk many times. It would not be wrong to perceive it as a "high-pressure gas cylinder."

The only difference was that instead of containing gas, it contained "aether" that had been compressed from liquid to solid state. If it was not used or stored appropriately, the damage it could cause could be many times more powerful than an aether bomb.

Right now, this was still a prototype that was full of flaws, but to Ye Qingxuan, it was the perfect object to fulfill a pressing need. After all, what he needed to do now was to demand the person that he needed. It was best to be fully prepared. 

Originally, Ye Qingxuan was prepared that in the scenario where the Emperor would not give permission, he would have no choice but to attack the capital of Aurora. In comparison, his preparation now could be considered as trivial. The only pity was that Ye Qingxuan had been very extravagant and dramatic in his ways so far, but this bottle of high-pressure aether would not last very long. 

"In that case, we will just have to settle this quickly." Ye Qingxuan walked slowly towards the palace, the aether backup equipment in hand.

This day was turning out to be a nightmare for all the citizens and aristocrats in the capital. At first, there was a huge roar, then after the sky was broken, countless streaks of destructive light landed. When everything seemed to have finally calmed down, streaks of light kept rising from far away.

Pillars of electric light rose from the ground with huge roars as they cruelly destroyed layers of defenses and slowly extended towards the palace. In the end, the gate of the palace was within sight.

"Shut the gate, shut the gate!" After a few defeated musicians squeezed through the gap, the imperial guards that were guarding the top of the city wall immediately gave the order.

As countless machinery began to turn, the metal gate, which was several tons, began to close and no one would be able to slip in anymore. Some of the retreating musicians were not fast enough and were caught by the closing gates. The lower half of their bodies were crushed into minced meat.

"Raise the defenses, all military personnel on alert!" A general kicked the original commander to one side. Then, he drew his sword and beheaded this incapable and cowardly fellow.

Despite the layers of enchantments and the boost provided by the projection of the Great Wall, at this moment, the towering and majestic palace failed to provide him any solace. Their enemy only consisted of one person. Compared to the imperial palace, which had gathered all the powers from the entire world and had been standing for centuries, the enemy was like mere dust.

Yet, when the young man walked calmly towards the imperial palace in his armor, everyone was filled with dread and defeat and fear of what this "dust" would do. 

But they had the majestic palace, hundreds of layers of enchantments, a boost from the dragon bloodline, coverage from the Great Wall, while he was alone. Under the circumstances of not being able to control aether, perhaps even the King of Yellow would not have been able to do much with what little aether he had in hand. So, what were the chances that he would win?

Just as countless crossbows and molten lead weapons had taken aim and locked on to the target, Ye Qingxuan stopped in the middle of the massive plaza in front of the imperial palace.

"Hey…" He shouted at the top of his lungs before taking out a stick-like object from his pocket beneath the armor. He shook it in his hands. "Before we fall out with each other, there's something that you left behind!"

With that, the short bronze-colored stick, which was approximately the length of a ruler, was held in his hands. It was something that he found when he was rummaging through Mr. Hu's corpse.

Ye Qingxuan could not find any alchemy formations or aether pathways. It was just like the legendary "hidden gem," but when Ye Qingxuan shook it in his hands, everyone in the city turned pale. It was super-mass tidal brake valve!