I changed the world.

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Above the beacon tower, Zhang Jing withdrew his gaze from the fiercely battling fleet and looked back at the surging chaos ahead. After the tiger dragon left, Zhang Jing clearly felt that the surrounding situation was slowly changing. The unknown entity that had been wearing him down seemed to be becoming increasingly restless...

He could sense that the opponent's power was increasing, and the surrounding space was becoming increasingly unstable.

It's coming!

At this very moment, the spiderweb-like threads in the space surrounding the beacon tower suddenly began to grow, rapidly expanding further and further away!

At the same time, the chaotic and dark universe ahead suddenly boiled over. Then, like a shattered mirror, a dark cave was forming in the universe, surrounded by flashes of eerie blue lightning. Next, a black segmented limb emerged from the huge cave, followed by a second one...

An unusually large monster emerged from the cave formed in the void. It was an indescribable and bizarre creature with countless chilling black limbs. Its body was twisted and slippery, like a mixture of a spider, an octopus, and a leech, with tentacles extending in all directions.

On these countless tentacles, each end spews out silk threads, and each of these threads extends a long distance. Clearly, it is the true core of the surrounding "spider web"!

Its body has a strange feeling that is a mixture of illusion and reality, as if it is shrouded in layers of illusion, making it difficult to see clearly.

It stretched its body out of the empty cave in a strange posture that was hard to describe as either "crawling" or "swimming".

However, even at this point, the monster had not yet brought its entire body to the world. Instead, it remained partially hidden, with a significant portion of its body still residing in the cave in the void. Even as the cave slowly closed and gradually merged with the surrounding dark chaos, the monster seemed to exist in two spaces simultaneously, with a part of its body always remaining in the void.

This incredibly bizarre-looking entity was also exceptionally large. The portion that appeared before Zhang Jing was several times larger than the Songyue heavy cruiser. Along with it came a large number of fat "ghosts" and "worms," ​​like a swarm of ants surrounding their queen.

The monster's body had a twisted head at the front, which appeared to be its mouthparts, resembling countless starfish with their outstretched tentacles. Behind the mouthparts were numerous compound eyes, and at that moment, Zhang Jing had a feeling that all those compound eyes were looking in his direction...

The surrounding chaos grew increasingly dark and profound. Zhang Jing could feel an even stronger spiritual pressure generating in front of him, rapidly eroding the magic array beneath him.

Countless whispers seemed to echo in his ears. Zhang Jing could sense that the person before him was probing his mind from every angle. However, these probes still couldn't break through his mental barrier.

A slight smile appeared on Zhang Jing's face as he patted the longsword lying across his lap: "The time has come!"

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Jing's expression turned extremely solemn, and he raised his hands and slowly brought them together.

He didn't close his hands quickly; on the contrary, it was rather slow, as if something invisible to ordinary people was being compressed between his empty palms.

Finally, Zhang Jing brought his hands together, forming a profound hand seal. At the same time, he uttered a single word: "Array!"

Chapter 598 The Cage!

As soon as the words fell, the magic array, which had been compressed and retreating step by step, suddenly shone brightly, and lightning surged like a torrent. The entire magic array began to expand rapidly to a greater distance, pushing the surrounding darkness and chaos outward!

The flames of thunder danced, and the blazing white lightning spread in all directions like a tide.

At the same time, a phantom figure appeared on Zhang Jing's body; that figure was none other than Zhang Jing himself. After appearing, this figure immediately entered the Heavenly Punishment Sword before him…

Just after the illusory figure was thrown into the Heavenly Punishment Sword, the Fengsui Fortress and the surrounding vast area seemed to tremble. It was as if some sublime and great existence that had been sleeping deep in the void had awakened and was approaching this world!

On the beacon tower, the soldiers who were still resisting were not yet aware of anything, or rather, they had no energy to feel anything. The air was filled with desperate shouts and curses. From officers to soldiers, everyone was fighting with weapons in hand.

However, in that instant, the monsters that were still fighting them seemed to sense something that terrified them. They all turned around at the same time, completely ignoring the attacks of the human soldiers, and began to retreat like a receding tide...

At that very moment, the enormous monster that had just descended upon this world seemed to realize something was wrong. Its tentacles suddenly straightened and began to tremble silently at an extremely high frequency!

Within the surrounding airspace, the spiderweb, which had been continuously extending further and further, began to tremble, and then began to shrink.

These "nets" began to rapidly shrink towards the monster, while the retracted "threads" began to entangle with the ever-expanding array beneath Zhang Jing. This strangely textured, seemingly illusory yet real, thread-like yet viscous substance, intertwined with the rapidly expanding array, actually slowed down its expansion for a short time!

Taking advantage of this window of time, the monster twisted its body, its black limbs flailing around it. The previously invisible void rippled as if it were made of cloth. Then, its body began to retreat, and the cave in the void began to reappear. It was constantly retreating back into that cave...

However, at that moment, the monster's body suddenly paused noticeably, and then began to twist violently, like a snake or insect whose tail had been burned. The threads on its tentacles snapped one after another, and many threads tangled together in the struggle. The chaotic spiritual pressure distorted the surrounding space, making it increasingly indistinct, like light and shadow distorted by the summer heat.

At this moment, the monster changed direction and began to crawl out rapidly, trying its best to crawl its entire body out.

At this moment, Zhang Jing finally saw clearly that the monster's hindquarters were made of countless threads that constantly changed shape, appearing both real and illusory, making it exceptionally eerie. Just looking at it gave one a sense of chaos and madness...

At the same time, he also noticed that there was a conspicuous and terrifying wound at its tail, which was shrouded in a clear light. This clear light, like a maggot clinging to the bone, kept eroding the surrounding threads, and it looked shocking!

The wound was clearly causing the monster extreme pain; it writhed and twisted, its tentacles lashing out and even blasting some ghosts that got too close into the air...

The next moment, a beam of clear light burst forth from the still-open cave, forming a pillar of light that shot into the void!

The second course followed immediately!

The third way!

A beam of light formed and surrounded the monster and the area around the beacon tower. It shot out from the void and vaguely resembled a cage, locking the monster in the very center!

"Bind!"

At the same time, a burst of bright white flames erupted in Zhang Jing's eyes, and the array beneath him suddenly expanded. The boundless lightning instantly scorched and evaporated the tangled threads, and then rapidly expanded in all directions, echoing the clear light and enveloping the monster within it.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of huge chains made of lightning appeared around the monster, binding it from all directions.

At this moment, the monsters such as "ghosts" and "worms" that had been surrounding them suddenly surged towards the chains with almost frenzied frenzy, as if a hornet's nest had been stirred up...

The blazing white current burned ghosts and similar monsters to ashes almost instantly upon contact, leaving no time to delay. Even worms, which were only slightly delayed, were quickly reduced to ashes by the intense current.

In just a moment, several chains had wrapped around some of the monster's tentacles, and the blazing white electricity crackled and popped as it came into contact with the monster's body, scorching its flesh! It was an extremely gruesome sight!

Meanwhile, the dark and chaotic background of the surrounding space was rapidly fading, indicating that the monster was no longer able to resist its erosion of the surrounding area and was withdrawing all its power back to itself.

The monster was clearly not going to sit idly by and wait to die. It struggled fiercely, with all its tentacles fully extended and vibrating at a high frequency. At the same time, a large number of threads were spewed out, like longer tentacles, which forcefully broke free from some of the chains that had already been entangled!

At this moment, the spider webs in the surrounding airspace have all been pulled back, and everything, from the beacon tower to the surrounding asteroid belt, has returned to the normal cosmic environment.

Within that massive, all-encompassing array, countless layers of silk threads enveloped the monster, resembling a giant cocoon. Although the scene within the cocoon was invisible, Zhang Jing could sense through the array that the monster inside was undergoing a drastic transformation…

Then came a rapid contraction, followed by expansion, and then an explosion...

The cocoon burst open from the inside, and the condensed and twisted spiritual energy acted like a mental bomb, instantly warping and shifting the chains binding the cocoon. Taking advantage of that brief opening, the monster broke free from the cage constructed of chains and array diagrams.

At this moment, it appeared much smaller than before. The tail made of silk threads had disappeared, replaced by a pair of wings that seemed both real and ethereal. One end of the wings seemed to connect to another space, and Zhang Jing subconsciously thought of flying fish in the sea, which could fly back and forth between water and air...

Chapter 599 The Shocking Fleet

The monster reached extremely high speed with a flap of its wings and flew out from the chains that bound it!

However, before it could accelerate further, the surrounding clear light pillars suddenly shone brightly, and complex runes were generated in the void. It was as if a lock had been added to the surrounding space, directly locking the accelerating monster in place!

"Forbidden spells!" An aged voice seemed to come from afar...

In just a moment, the chains around it, which seemed to flow like plasma, surged again and bound it once more! These chains, though seemingly invisible, were exceptionally strong, holding the monster tightly so that no matter how much it struggled, not a single one broke.

"cut!"

Zhang Jing raised the Heavenly Punishment Sword in his hand and gently tossed it upwards, sending the longsword soaring into the sky...

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Zhu Xuting was standing next to Captain Huang Haizhong, staring blankly in the direction of the beacon tower in the distance.

Not only him, but many crew members, including Captain Huang Haizhong, stared wide-eyed as they worked, but couldn't help but subconsciously look in the direction of the beacon tower.

Although modern society boasts a rich entertainment industry, with various films, games, and novels making people far more receptive than their ancestors, and their knowledge base is also much broader, not a single member of the fleet had ever witnessed what it looked like to see gods fighting!

Now they have truly witnessed it. Right there in front of them was the beacon tower, a scene that seemed to exist only in mythology!

Those bizarre and terrifying monsters had vanished without a trace. Under the command of Commander Deng Yue'an, the fleet was rapidly adjusting its formation while simultaneously carrying out battlefield rescue and repair work.

In the battle just now, the fleet lost a destroyer - the destroyer Zhongxiang was hit by the orbital main gun from Songyue in the chaos. The Zhongxiang's power room, which had already lost some power in the space storm, was directly hit and could not be repaired. It had to be abandoned, but there are still some crew members on board who need emergency rescue.

Several small rescue boats were launched to retrieve the escaped crew members from the Zhongxiang. Besides the Zhongxiang, the other warships also sustained varying degrees of damage, much of it internally caused by the chaos, and a significant portion suffering from instrument damage due to electromagnetic pulse waves during the battle.

Many of these require emergency repairs to prevent further damage and to preserve the fleet's combat effectiveness as much as possible.

Meanwhile, the medical staff on board were working at full capacity. There were a considerable number of casualties on each ship, and the large number of wounded people requiring emergency treatment kept the ship's medics extremely busy. As a result, each ship allocated some people to help with some auxiliary work.

However, although most of the crew members were at work at this time, they would find that as long as there were portholes around, they would be distracted and staring at the universe outside the portholes.

The enormous monster, resembling a dragon from mythology, was slowly roaming around the fleet, seemingly enjoying itself and showing no hostility towards the human fleet.

What drew the crew's attention even more was the spectacular scene unfolding in the direction of Fengsuibao.

The chaotic and dark state, including the countless "spider webs" around it, was receding, which allowed the fleet to clearly see what was happening at the beacon tower.

It was a huge, intricate pattern made of lightning, so spectacular that it enveloped the entire beacon tower and the surrounding area!

It presents a regular circular structure, nested layer upon layer, while countless complex textures are formed around it. Incredibly, these regular patterns are all made of lightning!

What is most shocking is that at the center of this circular structure is a pattern that is extremely familiar to all the people of Zhao Kingdom—a huge yin-yang fish made of thunder!

Almost every citizen of Zhao Kingdom, and even those from Eastern countries within the empire's cultural sphere of influence, recognizes this symbol! It is the iconic symbol of Xuanmen, the oldest orthodox religion in the Zhao Empire and hailed as the world's oldest religion: the Taiji diagram.

What shocked everyone was a person sitting cross-legged in a Tai Chi diagram!

The images transmitted back by the detector clearly show that it was a person wearing a feathered robe and a crown!

Just sitting in outer space without any protection!

Around that enormous graphic, space was visibly distorted, even shattering... Beams of light shot into the sky, like torches of gods in mythology, seemingly emanating from the other side of space! These beams of light also seemed to form some kind of complex rule among themselves...

Is that... a celestial being from the Xuanmen sect making a move?!

At this moment, this question was the only one that flashed through everyone's mind.

Following the orders from the flagship, all the sensors on all the ships were activated, recording the astonishing scene unfolding before them in real time.

For the first time, humanity encountered the unknown creature that had nearly destroyed the entire beacon tower...

Huge, bizarre, twisted, terrifying... these are the first impressions everyone has of this creature.

Under normal circumstances, even if there is a great distance between them, and even if the creature is currently bound by layers of lightning, such a scene is not something that ordinary people can face directly. The human spirit cannot withstand such a strong impact.

If they were to confront the illusions directly, the crew members would most likely only fall into a mental breakdown caused by various hallucinations, or even undergo mutations.