"The spatial tunnel has been subtly interfered with!" Yan Zaizen deduced as they entered the vortex. Others may not notice, but Yan Zaizen comprehended the Spatial Form of Infinite Stability, it essentially covered the entirety of spatial spectrum except chaotic aspects of space such as distortions or collapse. With the Imperial Law of Spacetime, he had an even greater understanding of it.
Currently, the spatial laws within the tunnel were subtly being redirected elsewhere.
"Hmph!" Yan Zaizen coldly snorted. He pressed his right middle finger together with his thumb.
SNAP!
This snap wasn't very loud but a slight trembling occurred in the spatial tunnel. However, after this trembling occurred, Yan Zaizen only frowned further.
Amos and the girls were shocked by Yan Zaizen's sudden actions. Ayala even berated him for suddenly making a disturbance, but she was directly ignored.
Yan Zaizen felt his earlier actions were immediately nullified by a strong opposing force. Because of this, they were still being redirected elsewhere. This person's spatial laws exceeded his own!
"Perfect Domain level or initial Sovereign level?" As he pondered, a loud shout resounded from the main ship. It was the feminine voice from earlier.
"All ships prepare! The spatial tunnel has been tampered with!!" As she shouted, she erected her ship's shields and formations. The others ships didn't seem inexperienced, some even expected this. The formations for all the ships were activated immediately, but none of them attempted to shift through the void. If they did, it's highly possible that they could end up in chaotic space. After all, creating a tunnel within a tunnel was a highly intricate matter and realmships weren't so complex!
On the silver ship, Princess Itai had a solemn expression as she held the helm with a tight grip. The helm itself seemed to become slightly bent from her forcefulness. The mountain-like man stood behind her, solemn but oddly calm.
"If someone didn't try to interfere with the spatial vortex, we wouldn't have known!" Princess Itai bitingly said. She felt foolish in thinking that all was right. Yan Zaizen's actions earlier had essentially brought to light the tampering of the spatial vortex. The expert who established the vortex immediately sent a message to Princess Itai informing her of the circumstances.
This was how she knew.
Yan Zaizen had his suspicions, but he didn't care much about this. Instead, he focused his attention elsewhere. He closed his eyes to sense the spatial fluctuations at the end of the tunnel and deduced their location.
"Oh? In the middle line of the realm?" He deduced that they were being redirected and would exit at the middle border between both forces. If so, then perhaps it wasn't so bad? However, he found out he was very, very wrong!
As they exited, the ships were within some bubble-like construct. This was a miniature version of the barrier surrounding the realm, obviously set up by the enemy! When Princess Itai discovered this, her originally fierce eyes revealed a moment of helplessness and despair!
"A trap?" The others came to the same conclusion. Many erupted with their cultivation bases and attempted to create an opening in the barrier, but nothing could break through it. There was even a few who attempted to ignite their heavenly shrines to reach their most powerful state, but even in conjunction with others, they still couldn't produce a dent in the barrier.
Ayala and the other girls' expressions paled, even Amos's eyes that were originally dim turned dimmer. It seemed they didn't expect such a situation to occur! After all, if they agreed to be reinforcements, they were likely pulled by the promise of resources and safety before the war! Yet…
As many were attempting to break through the barrier, Yan Zaizen's eyes looked at the enemy side. A titanic ship the size of a moon was in the distance. It was far in the distance, at least several hundred thousand li away, but Yan Zaizen could still feel vigorous energy fluctuations effusing from it.
At the front of this ship, a single cannon the size of an entire mountain was mounted. This cannon had an indescribable amount of formations of vast complexities inscribed on its surface. Some of the inscriptions even reached into the barrel. It reminded Yan Zaizen of Sky Shatter.
"Zai! That's a Planetary Cannon!" Pinaka's voice resounded.
Planetary Cannon?
He recalled reading about Planetary Cannons in the Anima Syndicate. It was essentially weapons of mass destruction devised to destroy entire planets in a single shot! It embodied destruction laws, a world law, and incorporated a massive amount of formations to focus and amplify this law. With heavenly law liquid as its power source, it could replicate destructive-attributed heavenly essence!
Essentially, a single blast from this cannon was the same as a seventh floor destruction-based Heavenly Shrine!
"Oh," Was his only response.
Before he could think further, the feminine voice originating from Princess Itai once more resounded. "All ships, defend to the utmost!" As she said this, her ship was shrouded in a dense layer of silver light. This layer of silver light didn't originate from the ship but from a talisman. It radiated a peak-Heavenly Genesis heavenly aura that was incredibly powerful.
"She knows," Yan Zaizen calmly chuckled. Instead of informing others of the situation and saving as much as possible, she decided otherwise. She could bring as many people on the ship as possible before activating the life-saving talisman. However, if she did, it would definitely cause chaos amongst the ranks as they fought for a spot within the talisman's powerful shields. After all, no way all members could fit. Therefore, she decisively activated it after a brief warning.
The others with a high level of intelligence saw this and cursed.
So cruel!
It wasn't like she had the only life-saving talisman obtained or bought through other means, but none of which had the capabilities to encapsulate the entirety of a realmship. Many others were shrouded by orbs of dense heavenly might that were obviously created by Heavenly Commanders. However, these shields only contained a few people at most.
There were hundreds of thousands of people on the seven realmships!
Yan Zaizen couldn't help but laugh a little more at all this. He recalled the collapse of the sub-realm. Self-preservation truly was the first and foremost priority of many! There were even a few others who were growing more and more listless as time went on.
Some even stared at the cannon charging with calm expressions, ready to face death in its entirety. Amos had this reaction, his eyes were suffused with a dim light and an eerie calmness. As for the seven girls, many were trying to use their loose connections to contact others who were protected by lights, as for those who were just standing there useless, they didn't even try to join with them.
In truth, with the vast difference in cultivation, it's unlikely for many to survive even if they did team up together against this cannon!
Yan Zaizen only looked at all this with an amused gaze, then he softly tapped his finger in mid-air. A soft ripple radiated of space, but it was swiftly suppressed. "The barrier has the exact same characteristics as the realm barrier? So it is a cage!" He was rather calm despite the circumstance. To him, it was hard to disturb his heart after all the things he's been through.
"What does it use to suppress spatial fluctuations? Is it a formation?" He tapped once more but shook his head soon afterwards. A formation would need a medium for energy, and he didn't recognize this medium. Typically, a formation would use heavenly law liquid like the cannon, so it was even more unlikely to be a formation.
"Oh?" As he ruminated on the subject, his eyes brightened. "So that's how! Such a profound way to utilize heavenly materials!" It's been a while since he came across an array! An array and a formation had many differences; an array could include formations, but many different formations were not an array!
An array mainly used materials that gave off their own laws and energy in profound ways to execute and amplify various arts. It was essentially a proxy method to utilize arts!
The reason why he couldn't find any heavenly aura on the surface of the barrier yet it contained vast profundities of heavenly laws was because it was constructed from heavenly material! It was also powered by them. However, arrays weren't restricted only to heavenly materials. An array's power source can include physical bodies, spiritual forms, or other miraculous sources.
As for this particular array, not just the miniaturized version but the one that encapsulate the entire realm, the number of materials needed to do so was immense. Luckily, the energy in heavenly materials was vast. However, to do it on this scale, it would be a titanic expenditure! After all, it required copious amounts of top quality materials with dedicated array flags and a controller of a high comprehension of respective laws to use!
He also had other suspicions. He had a guess that the array actually used a multitude of Regalia of the Heavens as array flags! If so...it was beyond terrifying.
"So that's it! The expert that manipulated the spatial vortex without them noticing was also the same expert that constructed the barrier by using this array…" As he deduced this, he felt enlightened. The spatial methods from influencing the spatial tunnel and creating the barrier were similar and likely originated from the same array.
"Is it possible that they hadn't discovered this fact?" Yan Zaizen felt that it was a little odd. If they knew this, then they must've known that the spatial vortex could be tampered with…
Or was it possible that they underestimated their opponent?
"It's likely the latter," he concluded. There's no way an entire race couldn't come to the same conclusion he did, in that case...the expert was hiding his comprehension and skills! He may still be hiding it!
"A minor-Sovereign level expert? An expert on the same level as Shi Yan…" If his guess was correct, then unless the Lycans had an expert with attainments in space that could rival this, they were truly trapped in a cage with no way to escape! With an array of this level, would a peak-Heavenly Genesis expert be able to even leave if they wished?
BUURRRGH!!!
The canon had reached its peak in accumulating power!
It was now ready to fire!