Duke Storm finally understood why the Parents' Association was able to immediately ambush the orc army in the north after just passing through Jianmen Pass: it was because the Parents' Association had produced a large number of A-level experts!
Last time, dark magic forced the parents' association to leave for distant lands, abandoning City 10. Everyone cowered like turtles, hiding in the Black Leaf Plain.
This time, the parents' meeting did nothing, yet it completely defeated the arbitrators.
In fact, the old man on Ginkgo Mountain was waiting for this moment the parents' meeting embarked on its long march.
The revenge of the parent-teacher conference has only just begun from this moment on.
In the distant wilderness, Xiao Qi and Xiao Jiu were leading their team, full of vigor and high spirits, walking through the mountains.
Xiao Qi, limping, teased, "You're Xiao Jiu from our parents' meeting, but look at the boss's senior sister, Wang Xiao Jiu, she's already a demigod, and you're only an A-level, that's not very good."
Xiao Jiu said irritably, "How can you compare them? They are legitimate knights... By the way, where did those reserve knights go after they were questioned by us?"
“I don’t know. Boss’s master, Li Shutong, took them away. Maybe they went to continue challenging the life-or-death trials,” Xiao Qi replied. “What I’m concerned about now is whether the Arbiter has cursed us. Those bastards forced us to run away before, and now they should get their revenge.”
"Hahaha, I bet they suffered a backlash. If the conditions weren't so restrictive, I'd love to see how bizarre their deaths were!"
"We've won a great victory, where's next?" Xiao Jiu asked.
"Of course, we need to win another battle! Ni Ergou said he found another orc army, let's go and pull off another heist!" Xiao Qi sang loudly under the setting sun: "The sun sets in the west, the red clouds fly, the soldiers return to camp after target practice, return to camp~"
The song carried far, and the depression in everyone's hearts at the parents' meeting dissipated.
...
...
The atmosphere inside the Storm was unusually somber. Duke Storm sat silently in his command seat. The Jesters had already left on airships; they would join the orc forces to bring good fortune and avert disaster for each orc legion.
At this moment, a soldier cautiously said, "Your Majesty, we have located the Qing Clan's air force. I have locked onto them on the radar. Judging from the number of airships, they should be the main force of Qing Yu's troops. Commander Qing Yu should be in the Scepter-class air fortress!"
Duke Storm's expression softened slightly: "Annihilate them all, and finish this quickly."
While the orc legion was drawing everyone's attention on the ground, the Storm had already broken away from the orc legion and arrived in front of the Qing Clan's air force!
They must eliminate the Qing clan's last threat in the air as quickly as possible!
In this way, the orc army can now advance unimpeded without any worries.
As for the parent-teacher conference... Duke Storm believes that the parent-teacher conference alone is not enough to restrain the orc legion.
Chapter 992, The Final Journey (Part Four)
early morning.
A group of young people carrying huge backpacks, more than a hundred of them lined up in a long queue, crossing the wilderness like lonely travelers.
It was autumn, and the tree trunks beside pedestrians were covered with golden leaves, while the withered weeds made the earth look somewhat desolate.
But the pedestrian remained steadfast, showing no sign of backing down.
They crossed a ravine and climbed a ridge; everyone was agile, even though most of them were just ordinary people.
Finally, they sat on the ridge, gazing at the distant land, as if waiting for something.
The land is vast, and the mountains and rivers are magnificent.
The tiny humans sitting on the mountain ridge looked exceptionally lonely.
Chen Zhuoqu looked at Li Shutong: "Master, aren't we supposed to be going through a life-or-death ordeal? But we've already completed the life-or-death ordeal of mountain biking."
Li Shutong laughed and said, "The title 'Master Grandmaster' suddenly makes me feel old... I'm still in my prime."
Hu Xiaoniu: "..."
Chen Zhuoqu: "..."
Hu Jingyi: "..."
Li Shutong sat on the ridge and calmly asked, "How many life-or-death trials do you still have to overcome?"
Chen Zhuoqu replied, "Hu Jingyi and I passed the 'Question of the Heart' test, so we only need to complete two more life-or-death trials to become demigods. The others did not pass the 'Question of the Heart' test, so they need to challenge three more life-or-death trials to advance to A-level... wingsuit flying, penetrating the earth's core, low-altitude parachute descent."
These are also Qingchen's last three life-or-death trials.
Li Shutong said, "You want to pass three life-or-death trials in one go?"
Chen Zhuoqu replied earnestly, "Yes."
"Why?" Li Shutong asked. "In the history of knights, there has never been a precedent of anyone completing three life-or-death trials within a week. Even your master couldn't do it."
Chen Zhuoqu said earnestly, "We are definitely not as strong as our master, but we are not necessarily less courageous than him."
“You’re just like your master, always racing against time,” Li Shutong smiled. “Why the rush?”
“Because we don’t have time,” Chen Zhuoqu analyzed. “You know that the Western Continent doesn’t want to encounter the Hundred-Eyed Demon in the final battle, so they will definitely find a way to fight us within four days. Now that Master hasn’t returned, there are still six of the seven old monsters awakened by the Fate Master, plus the Storm Duke… We don’t have enough demigods to keep them in check, so I have to become a demigod.”
The girl's tone was exceptionally firm, as if she never doubted that she would one day become a demigod.
"Are you always this confident?" Li Shutong asked.
“If I don’t even believe in myself, who else will believe in me?” Chen Zhuoqu said.
Now that Li Tongyun has left with the parents' meeting, Chen Zhuoqu has become the decision-maker in this team. Every day, she makes sure to maintain her best mental state so that all her fellow students can see a figure that never gives up.
Li Shutong suddenly sighed, "However, if you want to overcome the three life-or-death challenges in a short period of time, I'm afraid you'll need a catalyst."
The other knights were puzzled; what opportunity did they need?
Only Hu Xiaoniu's eye twitched slightly when he heard the word "opportunity"...
When Qingchen said that he and Li Ke lacked a catalyst, Dingdong chased them for five kilometers.
Li Shutong suddenly said, "Opportunity is the slang term within the Knights, but this time the challenge you face is much more difficult, so the opportunity you need is also different. Be patient and watch what happens next. It is something that is destined to happen, but I need you to remember it, engrave it in your hearts, and then you will understand what kind of people this world, at this moment, needs."
Chen Zhuoqu looked up at the distant sky and saw the Scepter slowly emerging from the clouds: "Wait, is a battle about to break out here?"
Li Shutong did not answer the question, but calmly said: "The beginning of a story is always extremely gentle, and the end of a story is always full of devastation."
In the distance, artillery fire erupts, just like this world that is gradually crumbling.
At a higher elevation, Li Ke, instead of carrying a backpack, stood with Zhang Mengqian at the highest point of the ridge, carrying a small, lightweight bag.
The small bag looked familiar; it seemed to be one of the forbidden items that Qing Chen had seized on the north slope of Mount Everest in Nepal, but the Knight Reserves had no idea what it was for.
When all the knights had gathered before, Li Ke hadn't yet carried this forbidden item, but after the Forbidden Tribunal came for three months, he started carrying it with him at all times.
Looking at the battlefield in the distance, Li Ke said to Zhang Mengqian, "Do you need me to explain it to you?"
At this moment, Zhang Mengqian, blindfolded, stood to the side and said, "Although my eyes are blind, my heart is not."
As he spoke, he stretched out his palm in front of him, and the wind and distant sounds painted a vast picture in his mind.
Li Ke said, "According to the old man's plan, if we successfully challenge the life-or-death situation, we will have to split up and act separately. I'm afraid we won't see each other again until after the final battle... or we might not see each other at all."
As the two senior disciples, they only had two life-or-death trials left, so they were a little faster than the others.
Zhang Mengqian smiled and said, "We will meet again... Mr. Yun Jing?"
As they spoke, the two turned around and looked behind them. Li Yunjing was sitting cross-legged on the mountaintop, cultivating calmly. Right there on the mountaintop, the clouds and stars in the sky seemed to form a ribbon pouring down on his head.
The clouds, like star rings, surrounded Li Yunjing, making the mountaintop resemble an independent galaxy, with a magnificent presence.
Originally, Li Yunjing rarely cultivated; he was dedicated to protecting Li Ke and Zhang Mengqian.
But after City 18 vanished, he began to cultivate day and night, while Li Ke and Zhang Mengqian took the lead in protecting him.
Li Shutong stood up on the ridge, walked to the top of the mountain and said to Li Yunjing, "I remember you used to say that cultivation is a matter of fate. When the old man was fishing, even if you were hiding in the dark and daydreaming, you didn't really cultivate."
Li Yunjing opened his eyes: "The Li family is gone."
The moment I opened my eyes, the clouds dispersed and the stars vanished.
The Li family he had protected for the first half of his life was destroyed in a war. The Half-Mountain Manor, Baopu Tower, Longhu Lake, the broken bridge over Longhu Lake, and the old man were all gone.
Li Yunjing said, "Someone has to avenge them."
...
...
Inside the Scepter, Qingyu stared intently at the holographic sand table and the Storm Sky Fortress that had suddenly appeared on it.
Duke Storm actually tried to shake the entire air force fleet of the Qing Clan with a single, isolated aerial fortress.
While air fortresses can indeed carry many fighter jets and airships, serving as temporary floating islands for them, the Storm carries a total of 80 fighter jets and 220 airships.
On the Qingyu side, there were 120 fighter jets and 620 airships, including those carried by the Scepter, which was a completely overwhelming force.
But the Storm still launched its attack without hesitation, as if one air fortress was enough.
The Qing Clan's fleet began to accelerate towards the Storm. All the fighters on the Storm's deck took off using electromagnetic catapults. Once the deck was empty, it opened up like a door, and airships took off one after another, swarming out!
The two fleets clashed in the air, but unexpectedly, Chen Zhuoqu and his men saw that the Qing fleet was completely at a disadvantage.
"How could this be..." Hu Jing asked in a daze, "Don't we have more people than those on the Western Continent?"
“Because the air fortress technology of the Western Continent is more advanced, and they fight by relying on each other’s air fortresses, the Western Continent is naturally more powerful,” Chen Zhuoqu explained. “You see, although the number of main firepower cannons of the Storm is the same as that of the Scepter, their aiming program is more accurate, their orbital movement is faster, and their energy storage is faster. They may look the same, but the parameters are completely different.”
“That’s strange,” Chen Zhuoqu said, “The Qing Clan’s fleet doesn’t seem to be primarily focused on destroying enemy fighters and airships; they’re escorting the Scepter toward the Storm at high speed…”
Seeing the airships of the Qing Clan fleet fall one by one, the Scepter and the remaining fleet resolutely continued to charge toward the Storm.
Under Qingyu's command, the fleet maintained a disciplined formation and fought with unwavering courage. Even when more than half of the airships were lost, the air force showed no sign of retreating.
What constitutes a truly elite force? It doesn't necessarily mean overwhelming strength, but rather that even when faced with setbacks, they don't disintegrate.
More and more airships crashed, and the wasteland was filled with smoke and fire, as if the earth had cracked open and ancient lava from the ground was bursting out, setting the world ablaze.
The Qing fighter jets had run out of ammunition, but they were still advancing.
A story has been passed down in the Qing Air Force Academy: a teacher asked his students on the podium, "How many missiles did the Qing Star Destroyer-11 carry in total?"
The students answered: 4 main missiles, 12 secondary missiles, a total of 16.
But the teacher shook his head and replied: It's 17 missiles. When you run out of ammunition, and the target enemy still poses a threat to your comrades, you and your vehicle are the 17th missile.
When the Scepter and the Storm were 40 kilometers apart.
Qingyu sat expressionlessly in the command seat and opened the communication channel: "Final report from the fighter crew."
The pilot's voice came through the communication channel: "The fighter crew has 7 aircraft remaining. They are out of ammunition and have 57% of their fuel remaining. Our unit will continue to advance. We expect all aircraft to crash in 3 minutes."