After obtaining the Primordial Soul Crystal, Ian Song immediately began absorbing it. Even the slightest increase in strength would improve his chances of survival, so he never missed any opportunity to grow stronger.
In the blink of an eye, the third day arrived.
As long as they made it through today, they could leave the most dangerous vanguard camp behind—and complete their mission.
"Vanguard camp, charge!"
"Vanguard camp, charge!"
Once again, the vanguards of both nations collided on the battlefield, launching into brutal combat.
Today, Ian and his group deliberately kept a low profile, hoping to avoid drawing attention from Holy Emperor-level warriors.
But as the saying goes, "the tree wants to be still, but the wind won't stop."
Unexpectedly, eight Holy Emperor-level warriors from the enemy side began to encircle Ian and the others.
Something felt off.
Ian sensed that something was wrong.
"Could it be...?"
He thought of a possibility.
"Is it what I suspect? I'll know if I test it!"
With a thought,
he immediately used his Divine Sense to invade the sea of consciousness of one of the Holy Emperors.
His Divine Soul had undergone sixteen metamorphoses and was even stronger than most Creators, so it was easy for him to invade the Holy Emperor's sea of consciousness. There, he found the man's soul shrouded in a layer of black mist.
This black mist was all too familiar—it was surely Gavin Jiang's Nightmare Demon God power.
Ian quietly withdrew, then checked the other seven Holy Emperors, discovering that their souls were all shrouded in black mist as well.
"That guy is planning to use these Holy Emperors to kill me!"
Song Yan sneered, feeling more convinced than ever of Gavin Jiang's sinister cunning.
"What now, Song Yan?"
Meng Ling and Song Yan exchanged glances.
"Take the initiative, break them one by one. All eight Holy Emperors are under Gavin Jiang's control!" Song Yan's voice rang out directly in everyone's mind.
"That bastard, always up to dirty tricks!" Cheng Xie cursed.
"Yeah, that's just his style!" Meng Ling snorted coldly.
Then,
They sprang into action, clearing the obstacles ahead and charging toward a Holy Emperor on the left front.
But that Holy Emperor saw through Song Yan's plan.
He actually cleaved through several God Emperor soldiers and moved to link up with another Holy Emperor.
At the same time, the other six Holy Emperors also began moving to join forces.
"So cunning!"
Song Yan sneered. If he revealed his true strength, killing these eight Holy Emperors wouldn't be hard. Clearly, that's Gavin Jiang's goal—he's not sending these puppets to kill him.
Instead, he wants to probe Song Yan's trump cards.
"Retreat!"
Song Yan called out, leading his squad in another direction.
The eight Holy Emperors, now joined together, aggressively charged toward Song Yan's group.
"Heh!"
Song Yan mocked, tossing out several god-crystals and rapidly weaving hand seals. Instantly, their combined-attack formation shifted.
"Boom boom boom!"
Light flashed—their combined-attack formation erupted with astonishing power.
Within a ten-meter radius of the formation,
everyone felt like they were sinking into a swamp, their bodies growing sluggish.
"Kill!"
Song Yan's group swung their weapons, cutting down enemy soldiers with ease—none could withstand even a single exchange.
Seeing this, some soldiers even took the initiative to cluster around Song Yan's squad.
"Everyone, get behind us!"
Song Yan shouted!
Then, the seventeen-man formation became a sharp spearhead—wherever they struck, enemy soldiers were caught, and the trailing Prosperia troops surged forward to finish off those trapped in the 'swamp.'
"Splurt splurt splurt!"
Blood splattered, hot blood boiled, and the fighting spirit surged.
Three hours later,
the battle was over.
Under Song Yan's lead, the seventeen-man squad crushed the enemy vanguard camp.
In the end, their side lost three thousand soldiers.
Westpeak's vanguard camp lost eight thousand, with only two thousand escaping.
The retreat signal sounded.
The vanguard camp withdrew.
That night, Song Yan's seventeen-man team was rewarded with five Primordial Soul Crystals each.
Meanwhile, a Creator-level thousand-man commander summoned Song Yan's group for questioning.