All the major factions were studying the aurora’s recording. Someone had recorded it clearly. A beam of the aurora streaked across the sky and penetrated Skysplit Tower.
Then, Skysplit Tower seemed to instantly heat up, producing terrifyingly high temperatures that turned the entire tower into a red-hot piece of metal.
Then, the tower shattered and collapsed—the explosion producing a powerful shockwave that destroyed everything in a radius of nearly fifteen kilometers. It was as though the end of the world had arrived.
“That’s Skysplit Tower. How many people have designs on Skysplit Tower? Even a Terror-grade powerhouse can’t return on a trip there. It was destroyed with just one shot?” Xia Liuchuan was dumbfounded. It was a while before he could speak.
“The intensity of that aurora beam should be comparable to a Calamity-grade’s strength. However, it doesn’t seem to be a skill of a Calamity-grade creature. It’s more like a laser weapon fired by humans,” Zhang Chunqiu said with a strange expression.
“That can’t be. Can humans create weapons of that magnitude?” Xia Liuchuan found it incredulous.
“Who knows?” Zhang Chunqiu wasn’t sure either.
The entire world was discussing the aurora’s origins. At the same time, many people cast suspicious gazes at Luoyang’s An family.
The League of Guardians chased after An Tianzuo with all their might, but at that moment, Skysplit Tower had been blasted apart. This was too much of a coincidence.
However, people were very suspicious if An Tianzuo really had that much power. Even someone as powerful as the four war gods couldn’t possess such potent strength.
Furthermore, An Tianzuo hadn’t been near Skysplit Tower then. He was far away at Mount Laojun.
However, soon, more suspicious points appeared. As Luoyang was closely monitored by various factions, someone discovered that An Sheng had brought a group of men and escorted a behemoth into Luoyang.
It wasn’t strange to escort something into Luoyang, but at the critical moment of the An family’s life and death, An Sheng, a loyalist of the An family, hadn’t been at Mount Laojun. Furthermore, after investigations, they discovered that the path he had used to return was likely in the direction of the Skysplit Tower.
What was even more suspicious was that someone had discovered traces of Thief Sage in the desert. The An family didn’t seem to have caught him at all.
All the evidence pointed at the An family, but no one dared to touch them. The League of Guardians, who had suffered greatly, didn’t act rashly.
Even the spies of the various factions in Luoyang were ordered to temporarily evacuate. Many of their plans for the An family were temporarily put on hold.
No one wanted such a terrifying strike to land on their home. If a place like Skysplit Tower could be destroyed, no one dared to imagine the consequences if the target was their lair.
Instantly, the An family turned into a ferocious beast. Everyone’s expression changed at the mention of it. Before confirming if the An family could still use such terrifying power, it was unlikely anyone would dare to attack them.
However, many people tried to investigate the An family and figure out the aurora’s origins. This was the best outcome An Tianzuo wanted. At the very least, no one dared to harm his family.
An Sheng returned to An Tianzuo’s side at the An family residence.
“Overseer, I didn’t let you down and successfully completed the mission.” An Sheng led the soldiers to report to An Tianzuo.
“Did you enjoy it?” An Tianzuo asked with a smile.
“Yes,” An Sheng answered.
“Did it give you a kick?” An Tianzuo asked again.
“Yes!” all the soldiers who participated in this operation answered loudly.
“That’s good. In the future, if anyone makes us unhappy, we’ll have a kicking good time. All members participating in this operation will be awarded the Sunset Tristar Medal. All of you will be promoted by a rank…” An Tianzuo rewarded the participating members and all the members of the Sunset Army.
During the period An Tianzuo had strategically evacuated Luoyang, there hadn’t been any unrest. All the troops who had stayed behind without knowing the situation carried out their duties, preventing any major upheavals in Luoyang.
Li Mobai, who had always given An Tianzuo a headache, had helped stabilize the situation in Luoyang. This surprised An Tianzuo.
An Tianzuo originally wanted to take this opportunity to clean up Luoyang. Li Mobai was his greatest threat, but he never expected that Li Mobai had no intention of occupying Luoyang during the chaos.
“It was really close this time.” Li Xuan had been staying in the Li family the entire time. After hearing the news of An Tianzuo’s return, he felt relieved.
He wasn’t worried about An Tianzuo, but he was glad that Li Mobai hadn’t taken the opportunity to forcefully occupy Luoyang.
Li Mobai glanced at Li Xuan in contempt. “To think you’re so close to the An family. You can’t even see through such a trivial trick from An Tianzuo. What else can you do?”
“I’m not someone who does big things.” Li Xuan shrugged indifferently.
However, he was truly impressed by Li Mobai. He knew very well how much Li Mobai wanted the Li family to replace the An family as the kings of Luoyang, but in the face of such a huge temptation, Li Mobai had actually seen through An Tianzuo’s intentions. Furthermore, he firmly believed that An Tianzuo could return. This was indeed something no ordinary person dared to do.
…
Not long after An Sheng returned, he went to look for Zhou Wen.
Zhou Wen had also seen the video online. He had long guessed that it was An Sheng’s doing. Furthermore, he had already guessed what had produced the aurora.
Back then, An Sheng had taken him to see the huge compression accelerator. However, Zhou Wen never expected it to be so terrifying. Even Zhou Wen didn’t dare withstand the might of the strike. It was probably comparable to the Calamity grade.
An Sheng didn’t hide anything from Zhou Wen and told him the entire story.
“Young Master Wen, Overseer didn’t mean to hide it from you. It’s just that this operation was too risky. The fewer people who knew about it, the better. If people noticed something amiss, we wouldn’t have been able to lure Cave Era and the rest over. It’s actually very difficult to power up the accelerator at that distance without being discovered by Cave Era,” An Sheng explained.
Zhou Wen didn’t mind this matter and nodded. “It’s indeed very risky. Not only did you lure Cave Era over, but you even lured the people from the Holy Temple over too.”
An Sheng smiled and said, “Actually, Chancellor Leng was nearby. As long as Overseer gave the signal, he would rescue us.”
Zhou Wen wasn’t surprised. This was An Tianzuo’s style. There was no reason for him to take such a huge risk without any preparations.
“However, although Overseer won’t say it, I can tell that he’s very touched that you helped him at the critical moment,” An Sheng said.
“I just don’t want anything to happen to Sis Lan and company. It has nothing to do with him,” Zhou Wen said.
An Sheng smiled and said, “We’re family. There’s no need to draw the lines so cleanly.”
After a pause, An Sheng said with a bitter expression, “However, this blast wiped out years of the An family’s savings. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that we have returned to a state of poverty overnight. We will have to tighten our belts in the future.”
Zhou Wen was slightly taken aback. “That thing consumes so many resources?”
“It’s not just a huge amount. It should be called a terrifying amount. If we don’t chance upon a large number of unexpected resources, it will be impossible for a second shot to happen in the next few years,” An Sheng said.
“Aren’t you afraid that the League of Guardians will seek revenge?” Zhou Wen said with a bitter smile.
“That depends on whether they have the guts to take the bet. Overseer said that they don’t have the guts.” An Sheng looked very relaxed as he said to Zhou Wen, “However, Overseer said that we can’t let anyone other than our family know about this. Otherwise, it will be terrible.”
“I can only guarantee that the news won’t leak from me,” Zhou Wen said solemnly.
An Sheng laughed. “If he didn’t trust you, Overseer wouldn’t have tacitly allowed me to tell you.”
As the two of them were talking, An Sheng suddenly received news that another creature had entered the Venusian dimensional zone.
