449: R Country Sinks (Part 1)

Ling Qi nodded: “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Shang Wan Ning lazily waved her hand and curled up on the inner side of the phoenix couch: “Alright, I’ll close my eyes and rest for a bit. When the Yamata no Orochi has devoured R Nation until only a few million survivors remain, come and call me; then we’ll have Little Four activate the Formation.”

After speaking, the Empress closed her eyes, and the Jiaotai Palace quickly fell back into silence... In the Netherworld, the alternation of the sun and moon is imperceptible, and time flows exceptionally slowly here.

Ling Qi stood in the hall, where the light screen unfolded before her, divided into dozens of sections, reflecting in real-time the tragic situation within R Nation and the operations of the various departments of the Underworld.

The rampage of the Yamata no Orochi was nearing its end.

This island nation, once teeming with hundreds of millions of living beings, now had fewer than half a percent of its peak population remaining.

On the scorched and broken land, the massive and hideous serpent shadow slowly moved. Every time it lowered its head, it was accompanied by the extinguishing of large swathes of spiritual energy.

Its strength was rapidly increasing during this act of consumption. The black mist enveloping its body was nearly liquefied, and the aura it emitted stiffened the backs of all Transcendent beings across the Mercury Plane.

“Trash of Takamagahara, where have you hidden?”

A serpent head, growing twisted deer antlers, suddenly reared up, hissing at the dim sky: “See this? The people you protected are now all my sustenance.”

Another head slammed directly into a crumbling skyscraper. Cement and steel bars disintegrated upon impact, and the survivors hiding inside were swept into the enormous mouth along with the ruins.

“Cowards, only cowards who hide behind others! If not for your insidious tricks back then, how would I have ended up like this?”

“...”

“A Ning, it’s about time.”

Ling Qi looked up at the phoenix couch. The instant her voice faded, Shang Wan Ning opened her eyes, which shone with cold light, completely devoid of sleepiness.

“What is the situation?”

“Approximately four million living beings remain. The Yamata no Orochi has touched the threshold of Rank Eight Peak and can complete its breakthrough at any moment.”

Shang Wan Ning rose, her dark everyday robe trailing on the ground. She wore no crown, only a simple jade hairpin loosely securing her long hair: “It’s faster than expected.”

She walked to the center of the hall, her Divine Sense naturally connecting to the System Light Orb on the dome.

“Little Four.”

“great host, the firing range is ready, energy pathways are clear, and the 'Closing the Gate, Absolute Kill' protocol can be executed at any time.”

The cheerful electronic voice carried irrepressible excitement.

In the light screen, the Yamata no Orochi was coiled on the smoke-filled ruins. One head spat out dark flames, instantly burning tens of thousands of people among the broken walls and remnants into charcoal.

The horrifying screams abruptly ceased.

“Hmph, the wailing of ants, it has a certain flavor.” That head chuckled dully.

A side serpent head deftly coiled around several large bags of cumin found in a collapsed warehouse, quite skillfully sprinkling the yellowish-brown powder evenly over the charred “food.”

“Hahaha, Susanoo! Did you ever imagine that the land you protected, the people you sheltered, would all enter my belly today?”

The air was filled with a strange smell of burnt meat mixed with spices.

Shang Wan Ning's eyes darkened suddenly, and she uttered two words: “Activate.”

Fluctuations at the rule level suddenly burst forth from the core of the Netherworld, silently enveloping the entire territory of R Nation.

The Yamata no Orochi, currently enjoying its “feast,” suddenly raised all eight heads. The extreme danger warning from its life instinct caused its massive body to immediately freeze.

The surrounding space became sluggish like thick paste.

An invisible barrier completely isolated the inside from the outside. A dark blue giant net covered the sky, and nine bone-chilling forces of confinement surged from the ground, firmly pinning down its divine soul origin.

“Who? Who is it?”

The main serpent head roared in shock and fury, the sound waves causing another section of the ruins below to collapse: “You damned bastard, you rat who hides his head and shows his tail, get out here...”

It could clearly perceive that the Rank Eight Peak realm it had just touched was now precarious under the confinement.

“Is it the remnants of Takamagahara? Or some new god who doesn't know death?”

The main serpent head scanned its surroundings warily, its vertical pupils blazing with fierce light, and it roared: “Dare to scheme against me, and I will surely destroy your souls.”

Without hesitation, all eight heads simultaneously erupted in violent attacks: Dark Breath corroded the void, poisonous fog covered the sky, psychic screams pierced the soul, spatial cutting shattered objects... This terrifying offensive, enough to instantly destroy several continents, condensed into a runaway surge of violent energy, smashing fiercely against the dark blue giant net caging the world.

The expected collision did not occur. That star-destroying force, upon hitting the net woven from energy vines, only stirred up a few quickly fading ripples.

All that massive destructive energy was absorbed and transformed by the grid, instead becoming the power to reinforce the cage.

“This... what kind of ghost Formation is this?” The Yamata no Orochi was both shocked and enraged, realizing its strength was draining away.

“Mere tricks! Watch me break it.” The most irritable serpent head roared, condensing even stronger dark energy again.

“Something’s wrong, this Formation is absorbing our power.” The more cautious serpent head issued a warning.

The Yamata no Orochi descended into madness, instantly realizing that this was not a common trap at all, but a tailor-made, absolute death trap for it.

Its newly grown dark, metallic-lustered scales stood on end. The eight heads converged toward the center, and a point of ultimate darkness, capable of swallowing all light, rapidly condensed and compressed.

That was the power of origin it had comprehended after reaching Rank Eight, containing the true meaning of “Returning to the Ruins,” its ultimate trump card.

Around the darkness, space itself was trembling and collapsing.

“No matter who you are, forcing me to use this move, I will surely make your body and soul perish.” The main serpent head roared, shaking the heavens, filled with the mad arrogance preceding destruction.

Just as the Returning to the Ruins Darkness was about to erupt, threatening to drag down the heavens, the earth, and the Formation with it, Shang Wan Ning's indifferent command exploded within the System Space: “Energy overload, Netherworld Bone-Corroding Vine Matrix, detonate.”

The dark blue grid covering R Nation suddenly erupted with light more intense than a supergiant star.

There was no earth-shattering roar, only energy of ultimate purity exploding violently in a destructive manner.

All the Netherworld Bone-Corroding Vine mother plants and sub-bodies completely burned up their own existence. The accumulated energy instantly detonated, transforming into pure white light that annihilated everything.

The Yamata no Orochi's Returning to the Ruins Darkness couldn't last even a single breath against the targeted energy tsunami, dissolving instantly like water splashed onto a red-hot iron plate.

Its mountain-like body was tightly enveloped by the destructive white light. Scales harder than ten-thousand-year divine gold cracked layer by layer along the muscle lines, shattering into dust.

The terrifying, newly grown flesh, blood, and bones on its body directly evaporated into mist. The eight heads that once looked down upon all living beings, filled with endless fury and resentment, slowly dissipated in the white light.

“No! I am unwilling!!!”

The last trace of resentful intention, like a spark extinguished by a gale, vanished in an instant.

Twenty-one minutes, from the activation of the Formation until the white light dispersed.

On the scorched earth where the serpent shadow had once coiled, there was only a bottomless, massive pit with strangely smooth edges.

At the bottom of the pit, only a wisp of incomplete origin mark belonging to the Calamity God was rapidly dissipating.

Disappearing along with it were the Netherworld Bone-Corroding Vine Matrix and massive amounts of incense offerings energy.

The Nine Netherworld Prison Suppressing Nails, deeply embedded into the fragile nodes of the Pacific Plate, were now dull in luster, resembling common iron, and were slowly sinking toward the deepest parts of the Earth Veins... All the energy stockpiled for the “Sunken Firing Range” plan was completely exhausted in this battle.