Chapter 1317: Shock

The reports of the attacks across the Second Heaven reached the troops who were still in the middle of the total war, which had not yet come to an end.

This caused many people to be shocked, as everything had happened too suddenly. They had never expected the rebels to actually dare launch large-scale attacks across the entire Second Heaven.

The rebels were attacking their homes while many of their strongest powerhouses were away?

How bold of them!

“What?! Those rebels attacked our main family’s mansion? How dare they?”

“They took full control of the capital?! How is that possible?! What is the Grand Elder doing?!”

“Bastards! They already killed many of my family’s members and took control of the capital! Let’s go back! We will take back our city!”

“Let’s get back to our city! We will teach those rebel bastards what it means to be crushed by great power!”

Many powers within the alliance forces instantly intended to abandon the battlefield and return to their homes. They retreated in fury, intending to get back as quickly as possible so they could fight the rebels.

However, not all of those people had to wait until they returned home to fight the rebels.

Some of them had already encountered them, while others would soon do so. One such example was in a territory where the alliance force confronting the Southern Emperor would soon come face-to-face with one of Aldrian’s followers.

The one leading the alliance force in this part of the territory was a cultivator from the Higher Heavens.

He was a middle-aged man with long blond hair tied into a ponytail, wearing a white robe with a sword hanging at his waist. His calm expression only reinforced the aura of a powerful cultivator he exuded.

He was a Divine Realm cultivator, along with his other colleague standing beside him, who was at the same cultivation level. The figure beside him was a beautiful woman with long black hair. Her tight white robe showed off her curves nicely.

She also wore a transparent veil that did not hide her beauty, instead giving her a unique charm.

There had actually been three of them, but when the Southern Emperor escaped to the Higher Heavens, one of them had pursued him there.

At this moment, they were still within one of Tarius’ followers’ territories. They had decided to join the war merely for fun, as they believed that a total war should have been declared against Tarius long ago.

They were in the middle of occupying this territory when they received news of the attacks.

The news of the attacks truly irritated them, as they had happened at this time.

They watched as their troops fell into panic and unrest because of the rebels’ attacks.

The man and the woman actually wanted to leave the battlefield as well and personally hunt down the rebels.

To them, their number one enemy had always been the rebels, who had been a thorn in their side for a long time.

They were cultivators who had participated in the Great War in the past, so they knew just how dangerous and resilient the rebels were, regardless of the level of the heaven they fought in.

That was why, the moment they heard about the rebels launching attacks across the Second Heaven, their top priority became defeating the rebels before continuing the total war.

“Do you think this is strange, Carla? How dare those rebels take advantage of the time when the total war was declared. Don’t they know that even if they attack during the total war, they will still fail? They are greatly outnumbered and outclassed.” the man asked the woman.

Carla nodded.

“Yes, I find it strange as well. They are too arrogant if they think they can retake the Second Heaven while we are waging a total war against Tarius’ followers. Didn’t they know that we are here? They are truly overestimating themselves.”

“Well, whatever the reason is, let’s teach them a lesson. How dare they appear and take advantage of the situation? This time, we have to make sure to uproot them entirely after we capture some of them.” the man said.

As he said this, the man and Carla were about to leave the alliance forces and head to the nearest city to assess the situation.

However, before they could leave, they sensed two figures rapidly approaching their position through the sky. The millions of troops still gathered in the area also quickly sensed them, causing everyone to stop whatever they were doing.

They knew that the approaching figures were not part of the alliance forces because they were coming from a direction where no allied troops were stationed.

There was also the fact that the auras of the two figures were extremely peculiar.

The man and Carla, whose senses were far sharper than everyone else’s, finally realized what kind of beings were approaching them.

“This… they are a dragon and a phoenix?” Carla said in surprise.

“I don’t know why, but the dragon’s aura feels strangely familiar. I have sensed this aura before, but where?” the man said in confusion. His calm expression had already turned into a frown.

He couldn’t help but have a bad feeling.

“I feel the same. The phoenix’s aura also feels quite familiar.” Carla said with a frown.

After waiting for a few seconds, the approaching figures finally arrived above the alliance forces. Everyone present could finally see the two figures clearly as they floated high in the sky.

They were a man and a woman. The man was a young, handsome man with long blue hair, slit pupils, and dragon horns. The woman was a beautiful woman with long hair that blended blonde and red. She had sharp eyes and a symbolic tattoo on her forehead.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? We finally managed to find our prey after we appeared in the middle of nowhere and searched for some time, but I didn’t expect to find such special prey here. Not only are there so many of you, but to think I would even meet cultivators from the Higher Heavens.” The man with dragon horns said with a smile.

His expression showed how pleased he was to finally be here as he swept his gaze across the millions before shifting it to the man and Clara.

“Tianhai, don’t just recklessly jump into a fight. Remember, we have to offer them a choice first before we start killing.” The woman beside him said.

The dragon was Ao Tianhai, and the woman was his only companion in this group.

“Of course. I’m just expressing my happiness at finally finding my prey. I only hope no one surrenders here, as that would be far less entertaining.” Ao Tianhai said with a smile. His dragon eyes truly resembled those of a predator staring at countless weak prey waiting to be devoured.

At that moment, the divine realm cultivators on Avergis’ side had already widened their eyes in shock upon seeing them. Their gazes trembled, and their hearts shook violently.

A sudden feeling of dread and panic rose within them. They felt an overwhelming urge to flee to the Higher Heavens and alert everyone there about the appearance of this dragon and phoenix.

“How is that possible? How could he be here?!”

“How could she be here?!”

Both the man and Clara spoke almost at the same time.

“Zervis, I think we should retreat to the Higher Heavens right now. To think she was still alive and has appeared here. That phoenix is dangerous! She was the one who caused countless casualties among the gods on our side during the Great War.” Clara urgently transmitted her voice.

There was unmistakable fear in her voice, as if recalling the events of the past had awakened a trauma that still haunted her.

“I agree. As for that dragon, he is the embodiment of destruction to the alliance forces. He is known as the Storm Dragon, and his strength is enough to kill many gods on the same level, even those stronger than himself, all on his own. Many even say that he is one of the divine dragons closest in strength to the Ancient Dragon God, the Dragon of Origin, Long Shentian.” Zervis replied.

As for the millions of others, they were shocked to discover that they had encountered a dragon in this place.

For some reason, dragons had long since disappeared from the Second Heaven. However, they still knew the appearances of the various dragons and their human forms from ancient records.

The unique shape of Ao Tianhai’s dragon horns allowed them to instantly recognize that he was a dragon.

“Everyone here, I apologize for disturbing your peaceful time. Let us introduce ourselves first. We are the Liberation Force that will reclaim this heaven from all of you. So, if you don’t want to die, you’d better surrender and refrain from participating in the battle against us.” Ao Tianhai shouted to the alliance forces.

The woman beside him wanted to facepalm at the way he offered them the chance to surrender. With an offer like that, how could anyone possibly choose to surrender?

‘This guy is deliberately saying it like that,’ she thought.

And just as she had expected, everyone below glared at them angrily. They instantly forgot their wariness of him being a dragon.

“So you’re one of the rebels! To think that you actually dared to show yourself this time and attack our territories. I’ll make sure to torture you before dragging you back to your bastard friends!” one of the noble family patriarchs shouted.

“You rebels, how dare you attack our territories?! I’ll make sure you regret it!”

Shouts filled with curses and fury were hurled at Ao Tianhai and the phoenix, causing the dragon’s smile to widen. Not a single person chose to surrender.

Ao Tianhai didn’t hear a single word of surrender from anyone.

“It seems that all of you have already made your choice. Then don’t blame me for what happens next.” He said with a cunning smile.