Yang Zicang noticed that only a few Defenders remained around him. Of the dozen or so figures earlier, a third were no longer in the field.

With Tong Wenqi’s help, Yang Zicang pressed forward. The long spear in his hand emerged from the spinning Graviton Arc and instantly lit up with an orange radiance.

This seemingly ordinary glow shone brilliantly within the psychic field, bringing courage to allies and striking fear into enemies!

Boom!

The long spear, trailing orange flames, shot toward the throne on the wall—or rather, the empty eye socket nest!

Yang Zicang’s figure swiftly pierced through the illusory projections, crossing twenty meters in an instant alongside the spear. With a whoosh, the spear accelerated over the final twenty meters to crash into the sound-wave eye nest disguised as the throne!

Several Defender figures charged in front of the spear at sonic speed!

Accompanied by an explosion, one, two, and then three Defender clones shattered into splashing ripples. The orange ethereal flame on the spear dimmed to red, and only a faint electric arc indicated that it still carried over nine thousand cycles of time—striking the very center of the nesting nest.

Crack, boom!

The wide, ornate throne of the Eye blasts away with a colossal thunderclap.

“So that was indeed one of its key elements!”

Yang Zicang felt as if his will had been shrouded, never once straying toward this line of thought, until the moment it suddenly clicked.

[I feel I have been blinded by these whispers.]

{Too late. Your last chance has already slipped away.}

[The nameless guardian is bestowed the title of Monarch: King of Sound Shrouds]

The nameless Defender’s mental voice echoed in everyone’s hearts. He emerged from the shattered eye socket with a manic grin, his throat vibrating as tangible shockwaves rippled outward.

“Thanks to the two of you for granting me this chance to be reborn.”

The Defender, now enrobed in a ceremonial-like red energy mantle from acquiring the legion’s title, let his eerie and monstrous gaze fall upon Yang Zicang and Cheng Yunze, still locked in a melee with the energy beings. His throat clearly punctured the stillness of air, articulating a human voice foreign to his form.

“Thanks? What do you mean?”

A hundred paces away, the people huddled against the wall demanded in shock and fury.

“Is he saying that without us, he would never have emerged!”

These supporters, who had drawn the fire of many energy soldiers, felt that the force fields on their hands were shattering faster. The density of the sound-wave-converted energy bullets had increased by about two to three times, carrying the countless last thoughts of the deceased constrained within the bullets along with their cries, curses, and condemning words, crashing into these force fields, turning into clouds of energy like spreading smoke and dust.

“From the last mental waves emitted by these deceased, it’s clear, you two, that you are the culprits behind the birth of this hell. Hmm hmm hmm, hahahaha.”

The King of Sound Waves raised his hand, and several twisted human faces, like aggregated spheres, charged towards the silver spearhead fired by Yang Zicang again.

It could have destroyed them, yet Yang Zicang swiftly withdrew the halved spearhead.

Only because, in these spheres, there was clearly Mo Li’s head, as well as the heads of a few people he had seen before.

These were their last remaining thoughts!

Yang Zicang gritted his teeth in anger and roared, “Disintegrate their thoughts quickly!”

The Defender withdrew his hand, and the spheres quickly retreated.

“Do you think that is a possibility? However, perhaps after you become my general, I can make him your capable assistant again.”

The Defender smiled at Yang Zicang: “What do you say? Resurrect your friend again, how about it? Just nod, and it’s done.”

Resurrect?

Yang Zicang stared in stunned silence for a moment.

As he spoke these words, the King of Sound Waves spread his arms wide, as if welcoming the rising sun and embracing the future.

[“Nameless Guardian of Sekberd” Establishes Legion: Wave Vortex Phalanx.]

The circular wall behind him, riddled with countless cracks, suddenly surged with dense sonic waves, manifesting black vinyl records as massive as super millstones.

Several eyeball speakers, with flame-like energy, distorted the air around these energy-manifested records.

Tones like ocean waves emerged within these eyeballs. The crowd, along with the hundreds of thousands of temporal sequence investors observing the battle, witnessed a variety of sounds converging into an ocean of tones, overwhelming their ears.

Beneath the records, overlapping silhouettes of energy figures began to appear.

As agonizing cries in an unknown language rose like tidal waves, a multitude of figures emerged from behind it, flooding the hall like a deluge.

“Oh my god!”

“Where did these signal waves come from!”

“Flee, Yang Zicang, and Cheng Yunze!”

“That’s a number impossible to fend off!”

These beings, clad in strange attire with faces resembling humans but definitely not of Earth’s race, raised their arms in unison, then rapidly manifested various military uniforms and weapons on their bodies.

Whether they were two to three thousand, five to six thousand newly born energy beings, or ten to twenty thousand phantoms, they quickly joined the seven armies created by the “Nameless Defender, King of Sound Waves,” swelling the ranks of these seven forces.

Seeing the shock in Yang Zicang’s eyes, the Defender smiled with the satisfaction of having finally accomplished some great feat.

Morrie’s figure materialized ahead, clad in black armor, and he spoke to Yang Zicang:

“Both of you are extraordinary talents. It would be a true waste for you to die like this. Zicang, come, join our ranks. The Demon Hero Hall, which gave birth to the King of Sound Waves, will become a permanent structure here.”

“Permanent structure?!”

The veins on Yang Zicang’s forehead bulged with fury.

“From now on, this place will become a battlefield open to all in this world, a crucible to temper their will. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

The outsiders who were watching this place erupted into an uproar.

Sure enough, once this Defender becomes the master of the Demon Hero Hall, the hall—otherwise destined to exist for only half a month—will stand here permanently!

This means those two cities will become places of death.

Soundwave Morrie put on a formulaic smile and said, “By then, we will be the trialmasters for these Electors. Come on, Zicang, and you too, Cheng Yunze. This legion needs your leadership. Become our left and right legion commanders and carve out a new future for us!”

Feeling as if his heart was bleeding, Yang Zicang raised his hand and said:

“You no longer have a future… at the very least, that mental wave of yours has no future!”

He swung the spear with a crash. The faint traces of the final sounds from Morrie’s life faded into the ocean of sound… shattering into nothing…

[I have gained 0.1 R.]

Yang Zicang swung his Virtual Zero Chrono Weapon, charging furiously at the Defender’s true body. Each time the blade swept across these energy beings, their figures exploded.

His figure swiftly moved across ten-plus meters.

Clang! The short sword collided with a palm covered in beautiful scales.

The 50N output of the Virtual Zero Chrono Weapon was far from enough to cut through the Defender’s palm. The King of Sound Waves watched Yang Zicang with a composed calm, as if these fifty years of wear and tear were nothing more than a trivial amount of time to him.

The corner of his mouth curled up slightly as he said to the human youth, “You still don’t get it, do you?”

“Who are they!” Yang Zicang forced these words out from his throat with difficulty.

“Oh?” The King of Sound Waves let out a cold snort. “As expected of the kid everyone keeps talking about. Even at a time like this, you don’t forget to pry for information. Quite impressive. Your behavior… it’s just like…”

“Just like what!”

“Just as annoying as a supporting character in a movie…”

A frantic, enraged expression appeared on the Defender’s face as energy from the Star Element surged in its hand! Compared to this materialized energy, the temporal defense appeared utterly hollow!

The King of Sound Waves swung his arm, and Yang Zicang was sent flying back by a force as immense as a great steel axe!

“Fight!”

[Adjust Sequence!]

In the nick of time, Yang Zi’e agilely spun his footwork, retreating with swift steps like a martial arts master.

Boom!

Immediately beside the Defender, two figures carrying energy rounds fired a cannon blast!

At the moment when the energy cannon trajectory was distorted, two soundwave shells exploded with a thunderous burst, sending rolling ripples of sonic waves spreading violently, forming two small mushroom clouds.

“Ahhh!”

In the distance, nearly ten figures were turned into ashes by bullets and shells the moment the force field shattered.

Whoosh! Whoosh! The Skeleton of Light flickered into existence again, striking twice before swiftly returning to protect its master, but during these intervals, Yang Zicang pressed forward to attack, and occasionally Tong Wenqi, while drawing enemy fire, found opportunities to create openings for the duo.

But this won’t do!

Yang Zicang felt his nerves stretched to the breaking point. He couldn’t understand why this was happening—even after lifting the ten-thousand-year timeline constraint and amplifying the twelve-thousand-year timeline effect with his quadrangular ability by a factor of four, he still couldn’t deliver a lethal blow!

Because the King of Sound Waves always managed to evade at critical moments.

Compared to Zhao Anlong’s seemingly plain and unadorned combat style, he shouldn’t be significantly weaker.

Cheng Yunze advanced alongside Yang Zicang in a coordinated assault, yet the Sound-Wave Master dodged with imperceptible timing again.

“I can’t alter his trajectory!”

[It’s the Stand (Domain Presence)!]

“Domain suppression! My abilities can’t reach their full potential!”

“Oh? Even knowing that, it’s hopeless. Your so-called Stand (Domain Presence) has already peaked at the Thousand-rank in this world.”

Hundreds, even thousands of figures surged forward in attack.

Some people had already begun to evacuate, shouting for Yang Zicang to leave quickly. After an emergency discussion by the headquarters board, everyone decided to ambush this suddenly appearing legion outside the Demon Hero Hall. Fighting in the King of Sound Waves’ lair would only supply him with controlled members for no reason.

In this short time, those in the city who saw the situation clearly had decided to move the battlefield outside the Demon Hero Hall. They only prayed that those outside who died wouldn’t become puppets controlled by the King of Sound Waves.