Chapter 1245 On the eve of the war

Before dawn, the square in the Huaxia Safe Zone was already packed with superhumans. Liu Yang, clad in lightning-patterned armor and wielding the Ice-Fire Immortal-Slaying Sword, stood on the high platform. The pressure of his Ascension Realm cultivation slowly spread out—this power was not offensive, but carried a reassuring sense of weight. The previously restless crowd instantly quieted down, and all eyes were focused on him.

"Everyone, the Zerg army will arrive on Earth tomorrow." Liu Yang's voice, amplified by his immortal power, resounded throughout the entire plaza. "They want to destroy our homes and harm our loved ones, but today, we will not retreat!" He raised his hand and pointed to the sky, a golden beam of immortal power shooting straight into the heavens, transforming into a massive screen of light high above. The screen projected the smiling face of a pregnant woman in a medical pod, and scenes of children playing in the safe zone. "Behind us are those we want to protect; in our hands are the power to fight. As long as we are united, there is no enemy we cannot defeat!"

A deafening roar erupted from the crowd, completely igniting their previously low morale. Taking advantage of this, Liu Yang gave the order to begin the formal deployment of combat forces:

Li Mengting was appointed as the commander-in-chief, responsible for connecting safe zones around the world through her psychic abilities and transmitting the Zerg's movements in real time; cyborgs assisted her in controlling radar and satellites to locate the Zerg mothership and mark the weak points of its energy core.

Su Xiao led three thousand ice-type ability users to build a "triple ice wall" outside the Earth's atmosphere. The outermost ice wall was mixed with cultivation materials to resist the feeding of the Star-Eating Insects; the middle ice wall contained immortal power to freeze the insectoids that approached; and the inner ice wall connected the defensive fortifications of each safe zone to form a closed-loop defense network.

Chen Dan led 5,000 fire-type ability users, divided into ten squads, carrying "Armor-Piercing Immortal Bullets" and "Flame Burst Bullets," aboard modified fighter jets, to launch a focused attack on the Zerg mothership. Meanwhile, Liu Yang infused some of his immortal power into specially made "Immortal Power Cannons," distributing them to each squad to enhance their weaponry.

The mermaid princess led her people to communicate with marine life and deploy defenses in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The sound waves of humpback whales could interfere with the mental signals of the insectoids, while the giant sharks were responsible for tearing apart the star-eating insects that broke through the coastal defenses. The snake woman and other special ability users formed the "dark raid team" to lurk outside the safe zone and wait for an opportunity to kill any insectoid lords that escaped.

Li Qingyue and Bai Jingjing remained in the safe zone, responsible for refining the Immortal Marrow Liquid and the Immortal Gathering Pill. The Immortal Marrow Liquid was mixed into the drinking water and distributed to all ability users to enhance their spiritual resilience; the Immortal Gathering Pill was given to the frontline team, which could quickly restore their abilities in critical moments. At the same time, twenty high-level mental ability users were deployed to guard outside the medical pod to isolate the insectoids' mental wave interference.

After completing the deployment, Liu Yang flew above Su Xiao's ice-type ability team, raised his hand to release his immortal power, and merged it into the ice wall that was forming. The ice wall, which was originally light blue, was instantly coated with a layer of golden light, and tiny runes appeared on its surface—these were defensive runes he had extracted from the "Meteorite Immortal Technique," which could increase the hardness of the ice wall tenfold and automatically reflect the energy attacks of the Zerg.

“In this way, the ice wall can hold off the Zerg for at least two hours.” Su Xiao reached out and touched the ice wall, feeling the immortal power contained within it, his eyes full of confidence. “We will take turns injecting ice-type abilities to ensure that the ice wall does not melt.”

Liu Yang nodded, then turned to Chen Dan's fire-type ability team. At that moment, the team members, under the guidance of the cyborgs, were loading armor-piercing immortal bullets onto their fighter jets—bullets infused with fragments of the Ice-Fire Immortal-Slaying Sword, capable of easily penetrating the steel hull of the Zerg mothership. Liu Yang walked to a young team member, looking at her trembling hands, and whispered, "Don't be afraid, immortal power will protect you." He raised his hand and drew a rune on the team member's fighter jet. "This is a 'speed rune,' which will allow the fighter jet to avoid the Zerg's energy cannons."

The team member hesitated for a moment, then nodded vigorously, the fear in his eyes turning into determination: "Thank you, leader! I will definitely protect Earth!"

As evening fell, news arrived from all global safety zones: all deployments were complete, and the superhuman armies were all in place. Even the previously wavering European safety zone, after witnessing the preparations of the Chinese safety zone, reaffirmed its resolve to resist. Li Mengting transmitted images through her psychic abilities: superhumans in the African safety zone were constructing a celestial power defense array, while fighter jets from the American safety zone had taken off, heading towards the ice wall outside the atmosphere.

“The Human Alliance has finally truly united.” Li Mengting walked to Liu Yang’s side, her tone filled with relief. “Before, everyone was suspicious of each other, but now they are all willing to follow your lead.”

Liu Yang gazed at the gradually illuminating taillights of the fighter jets in the distance and said softly, "It's not because of me, it's because everyone wants to protect their home." He raised his hand and summoned a space teleportation mirror, the mirror reflecting the latest movements of the Zerg army—they were only twelve hours away from Earth, and the vanguard of the Star-Eating Bugs had begun to approach the atmosphere.

"Rest for one night, and tomorrow we'll fight side by side." Liu Yang put away the teleportation mirror, turned to look at Li Mengting, his eyes full of tenderness. Under the lights of the command center, the two figures nestled together, behind them countless superhumans busily working, ahead of them the impending great battle, but at this moment, there was no fear, only the unwavering determination to protect their homeland together.

As dawn broke, a piercing screeching sound echoed from outside Earth's atmosphere—the vanguard of the Zerg army had arrived. Countless jet-black Star-Eating Insects swept across the starry sky like locusts, swarming against the triple ice walls set up by Su Xiao, making a "crackling" gnawing sound as they devoured the outer ice walls, instantly leaving them riddled with cracks.

"Attention all squads! The Star-Eating Insects have broken through the outer ice wall, prepare to attack!" Li Mengting's voice echoed across the entire battlefield through her psychic abilities. Chen Dan's fire-type ability team immediately took off, their fighter jets' cannons aimed at the swarm, and armor-piercing bullets rained down like golden droplets—each bullet piercing the Star-Eating Insect's shell would trigger a small explosion, instantly blasting dozens of Star-Eating Insects into pieces.

But the number of Star-Eating Insects was simply too great; five million swarms surged like a black tide, relentlessly crashing against the ice wall. The immortal runes on the middle layer of the ice wall began to flicker, freezing the approaching swarms, but were quickly overwhelmed by the subsequent waves of Star-Eating Insects. Su Xiao gritted his teeth, channeling all his ice-based abilities into the inner ice wall: "Hold on! We must wait until the leader arrives!"

Just then, a golden sword light pierced the sky. Liu Yang, wielding the Ice and Fire Immortal-Slaying Sword, flew into the sky above the battlefield, his immortal power erupting and forming an "immortal power domain" tens of miles wide. Within the domain, the flow of time suddenly slowed down, and the movements of the Star-Eating Insects were as if they had been put on slow motion, even the flapping of their wings became sluggish.

"This is... the domain power of the Ascension Realm!" A look of surprise flashed in Su Xiao's eyes, and he immediately commanded the ice-type ability users to cooperate in the attack.

Liu Yang raised his hand, and the Ice and Fire Immortal-Slaying Sword drew an arc in the air. The immortal powers of ice, fire, and lightning intertwined to form a sword aura several miles long, which slashed towards the swarm of insects. Wherever the sword aura passed, the Star-Eating Insects fell like grass being cut down, and the black insect corpses piled up into mountains under the starry sky, instantly clearing out an area.

"Our leader is mighty!" Cheers erupted on the battlefield, and the morale of the Human Alliance soared instantly. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Chen Dan led his squad in a surprise attack. The armor-piercing celestial bullets accurately hit several approaching small Zerg warships. The hulls of the warships were pierced, and the Zerg soldiers inside struggled for a moment in the vacuum before losing their lives.

However, the Zerg Queen was clearly unwilling to give up easily. Deep in space, more than three thousand Zerg motherships suddenly lit up with red light, and dozens of energy cannons shot towards Earth—the trajectories of the energy cannons carried an aura of destruction, and if they hit the ice wall, the inner defenses would collapse instantly.

"Don't even think about it!" A cold glint flashed in Liu Yang's eyes as he teleported to the path the energy cannon was bound to take. He raised his hand and summoned his lightning-patterned defensive armor. The lightning patterns on the armor's surface erupted with dazzling light, forming a golden defensive barrier. "Boom! Boom! Boom!" The energy cannons crashed into the barrier one after another, and the shockwaves generated caused the surrounding fighter jets to shake violently. However, Liu Yang remained unmoved, and the defensive barrier did not even have a single crack.

"Is this the power of the Ascension Realm...? It's terrifying!" The superhumans in the European safe zone stared at the scene on the screen, their eyes filled with shock.

Just then, a black figure flew out from the Zerg mothership fleet—it was a massive Zerg guardian, its body covered in hard insect armor, its arms transformed into two sharp scythes, and the energy fluctuations emanating from its body were comparable to those of an early-stage Ascension Realm cultivator in the Immortal Cultivation World. It roared at Liu Yang, its scythes imbued with black energy, and instantly teleported behind Liu Yang, slashing down fiercely.

"Finally out?" Liu Yang had sensed it coming. He dodged the attack to the side while simultaneously thrusting out the Ice-Fire Immortal-Slaying Sword. The immortal power of the sword collided with the energy of the Zerg Guardian, creating an explosion that rippled through the surrounding starry sky. The two instantly clashed—the Zerg Guardian was incredibly fast, each swing of his scythe carrying the aura of tearing through space; Liu Yang, on the other hand, used spatial power to teleport and evade, while simultaneously searching for an opportunity to counterattack.

"Your speed is not bad, but it's not enough." Liu Yang sneered, suddenly releasing all his immortal power. The power of ice, fire, and lightning condensed into a three-colored light blade on the sword. He teleported to the top of the insectoid guardian's head and slashed down with his sword—the light blade instantly pierced through the insect armor, cutting from the insectoid guardian's head to its abdomen.

"Roar—" The Zerg Guardian let out a shrill scream, its body gradually turning into black powder and dissipating into the starry sky.

The moment Liu Yang slew the Zerg protector, his oppressive aura erupted once more, causing brief chaos among the Star-Eating Zerg swarm in space, even momentarily halting the attack of the Zerg mothership. Seizing the opportunity, Li Mengting used her mental abilities to command: "All teams, counterattack now! Target the Zerg mothership's energy core!"

The Human Alliance's fighter jets hurtled towards the motherships like arrows released from a bow. Armor-piercing celestial bullets and fiery explosive bullets struck their targets one after another, destroying the energy cores of many motherships, which plummeted towards the planets in plumes of black smoke. Su Xiao also led the ice-type ability users to repair the ice walls, and the celestial power runes lit up again, firmly keeping the remaining Star-Eating Insects outside the atmosphere.

Liu Yang hovered beneath the starry sky, watching the Zerg hive fleet gradually retreat in the distance. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes—he knew this was just the beginning; the real opponent, the Zerg Queen, had not yet made her move. He gripped the Ice-Fire Immortal-Slaying Sword tightly, his immortal power swirling around him, preparing for the great battle to come.