Liang Guanghai stared at the cavalry and thought, They’re here.

The remnants of the royal family had always wanted to reclaim the throne and conquer this part of the world once more.

The Fu-Mu Entity was propagating, and there was the gap on the World Ring, so there was simply no way that the royal family would not get involved. He just wondered how much power they put into this attack.

Fortunately, they were also prepared.

This was the north of Oceanway District, which was one of the most unstable districts in the city. It also had quite a flat shore, so the municipal government had set up a lot of military facilities in the area. They even had a military unit stationed there.

After noticing the anomaly in the ocean, the airships that had been patrolling in the air immediately started flying over.

Loud rumbles came from behind them. It was the cannons in the base. When they hit the ocean, it was as if the cannonballs shot through an illusion. They touched nothing and only caused the water to splash.

That was because while the gaps seemed to be right before their eyes, the two worlds hadn’t completely merged, so the cavalry hadn’t yet come from the other side. What they were seeing was just an image that had sound.

The centermost cavalry troops moved to the side, and a giant of a person rode out from under the flags to cross over the gap.

His entire body was covered in thick armor, and Liang Guanghai couldn’t see his face clearly. Light shone off his chest plate. Along with his horse, he was more than five meters tall, and had a white feather on his helmet. At that moment, he held the reins in one hand and a long, black, metal spear with a white jade ornament in the other.

When he crossed the gap, the airships drew close to him and started firing with their mounted guns. Sparks flew out from the muzzles.

The bullets crashed into something invisible. They exploded into bright sparks around him and fell down.

At that moment, more cannon fire landed around him, creating large splashes, but the knight ignored them and continued riding forward. The horse’s hooves stepped on the waves, causing water to splash everywhere as it walked on water.

The cavalry behind him marched forward as well. The troop seemed endless, and when they moved, it was as if several long walls were moving together. The uniquely intimidating and majestic aura of armies of old oozed out of them.

Liang Guanghai examined the first knight, the flags behind him, and the majestic armor he wore, he identified the knight as a conqueror general of the royal family.

Conqueror generals held this title because of their ability to conquer a nation alone.

In the new era, such people were known as martial arts masters.

“Is he here yet?” he asked.

“Not yet,” the assistant replied.

Liang Guanghai sighed. That person had promised to arrive before midnight, but more than three hours had passed, and he still hadn’t shown up. If the conqueror general charged over, the army on the beach wasn’t going to be able to stop him.

If the person couldn’t make it...

Just then, the conqueror general tugged at the reins, and the horse came to a swift halt.

Someone was standing in front of him. He wore a blue-checkered dress shirt and had a mature, handsome face, but looked quite weathered and worn-down. His hands were in his pockets as he exhaled. “Thank goodness I made it in time.”

He cast a casual glance at the cavalry behind the conqueror general before turning to the general himself. Then, he smiled and gave the man a fist-and-palm salute. “Xue Shou, at your service. Let’s have a good fight.”

The conqueror general didn’t move.

Xue Shou, too, seemed to just be standing there leisurely.

For a time, only the sound of the waves could be heard.

At that moment, light flickered on Xue Shou and the conqueror general’s body. The seawater under their feet sank, as if the sea had collapsed.

Liang Guanghai sighed in relief. The capital had sent this particular martial arts expert over as support after considering what was going on in Jibei Road.

If the conqueror general noticed that Xue Shou was about the same level as he was, they might not end up fighting.

Unless they were given enough benefits, martial arts experts like conqueror generals wouldn’t attack as readily outside the merged space. The cavalry wasn’t going to charge into their well-fortified bases either.

The cavalry might be able to hold a portion of Central City’s forces, though.

If they weren’t able to do anything here, they might search for breakthroughs in other places. This was the most classic of conventional and unorthodox military strategies.

Where would the other force be, then?

Liang Guanghai turned his attention to the map of Central City. No matter what, they would have to barge in through a completely formed gap, and it had to be a rather big one, too.

The propagated offspring were the key, though. If they couldn’t retrieve them all right away and let them stay outside for an extended period of time, the propagated offspring would expand their habitat, which would lead to more gaps. The gaps would also widen and become more stable.

That was why it was so important to retrieve all the propagated offspring as soon as possible. But they were facing obstacles of varying degrees. Fortunately, the command center had allocated a large number of reinforcements to the emergency response units. Hopefully, the situation would change.

After around ten minutes, Sentry Tower said, “The obstacles in twenty-three areas have been eliminated. Target retrieval estimated to be within thirty minutes. Five areas are still fighting against their enemies. One response unit has been defeated and lost the ability to fight. The emergency response unit is currently engaging the enemy forces.”

Liang Guanghai immediately asked for the details of the defeated unit.

On the screen, he could see a flickering gap nearby, which had almost completely stabilized. In front of it was a person almost three meters tall. He stood with his arms crossed. With his square face, thick eyebrows and handsome face, he appeared to be around thirty-eight years old. He gave off an imposing air just by standing there.

Half a kilometer away were more than twenty defeated response unit members. Around them were crushed guns and cars. One of the cars was even burning.

Sentry Tower sent more information. The person’s identity showed up on the screen.

Chang Kuanghai, disciple of the Heavenly Pardon Gang’s Longevity Hall.

The emergency response unit arrived and tried to kill him.

This unit was made of two Third Limit martial artists, three marksmen, and two logisticians. They would have been enough for a regular fight, but the current situation was no good.

After all, they had to retrieve the propagated offspring behind the gap, so two people from the emergency response unit had to charge forward while unsure whether they could win. One of the martial artists cut into Chang Kuanghai’s arm with his saber, but it only led to a wave of white ripples on his skin.

Chang Kuanghai grabbed the martial artist’s wrist.

Snap!

He broke it. The other martial artist used the chance to thrust his sword at Chang Kuanghai’s neck.

But Chang Kuanghai didn’t move. The skin on his neck only sunk a little. With a swing of his arm, half of the martial artist’s face was crushed, and he was sent flying.

The martial artist with the broken wrist drew his gun and fired repeatedly at his face and chest point blank, but it was useless. When the bullets went in, they left behind shallow pits before bouncing off.

Before he could continue, a large fist landed on his face, and blood gushed out as he fell on his back.

Chang Kuanghai stared at the martial artist he sent flying before shouting, “You’re not the person I’m waiting for! Go back!”

In a muffled voice, the martial artist asked, “Who are you waiting for?”

Chang Kuanghai didn’t answer. He just crossed his arms again and stood still with his back facing the gap.

Liang Guanghai started thinking.

The Heavenly Pardon Gang, huh?

The Heavenly Pardon Gang’s martial arts came from the royal family’s Heavenly Pardon General. The general’s Heavenly Pardon Fist was a body hardening fist technique that could be used to run down formations.

Only the heavens may forgive a man’s act of burning an entire nation down. That was how the technique gained its name.

The average martial artist couldn’t possibly win against Chang Kuanghai.

Since he showed up here at this moment, Liang Guanghai had to wonder whether he was related to the conqueror general. Behind Chang Kuanghai was also a completely formed gap with an unretrieved propagated offspring.

They had to kill Chang Kuanghai as soon as possible.

“Is there any emergency response unit nearby that we can mobilize?” he asked.

Sentry Tower searched and answered, “The nearest one is twenty kilometers away. They will need at least fifteen minutes to reach. But there is a combat unit from the World Ring Defense Unit on standby within seven kilometers.”

Liang Guanghai cast a glance and found that it was Chen Chuan’s unit. “Are the lines of communication clear?”

“Their signal is parked on the platform.”

After a moment of hesitation, Liang Guanghai looked up and said, “Send Captain Chen to get rid of the target!”

***

After the Gate to Heaven opened, Chen Chuan saw no obvious trouble around and was just about to search for some information on the platform when the entire unit received an order from the World Ring Defense System.

His team members turned to him. “Captain?”

Chen Chuan cast a glance at the marked location. It wasn’t far away. “We’re going right now.”

He then threw his keys to Qin Qingque. “You drive, Officer Qin.”

“Roger!”

The four of them were prepared, and once they got their orders, they walked out of the house. There were ten guards left in the house, and they could use guns and electrified fences. Unless a gap appeared in the house itself, they could fend off regular people.

Before they reached the car, Chen Chuan sensed something and stopped walking. He looked over to the side.

Down the road a group of people dressed in the ancient martial arts uniforms of islanders was walking toward them. The one leading the group had short hair and a pair of round glasses. His top robe was red in color, while his bottom robe was black. By his waist was a saber with a black sheath.

The group was made of five people, and all of them were Third Limit martial artists.

Yuan Qiuyuan, Qin Qingque, and Su Wei also saw them. Their expressions turned stern as they spread to the sides and grabbed their weapons. They then made a signal to the house behind them.

The one leading the group brought his hand up, and the ones behind him stopped while he continued forward.

When he was around twenty meters away from Chen Chuan’s group, he stopped and bowed to Chen Chuan before straightening and putting on a warm smile.

“I’m Gongying Changxiu. You must have received my challenge letter, Mr. Chen.”