Chapter 525: Unrivaled Power

Chapter 525: Unrivaled Power

The Sun King remained still.

In the myriad of satellite orbits at various altitudes above Earth, countless satellites kept constant surveillance on the Sun King's residence and areas of activity.

A dedicated team within the Excalibur Bureau monitored his every move, with specialists analyzing the data and reporting any anomalies immediately.

The Fuhrer had taken the Sun King's potential actions into account even before today's plan was set in motion.

Multiple contingency plans had been devised.

One of them included instructions for Ji Xinghuo to select a battleground and eliminate the Sun King at all costs should he make a direct move.

Of course, the likelihood of this scenario was extremely low.

Whether it was Ji Xinghuo or the Sun King, both were strategic weapons for their respective factions. Previously, the APEC had dared not act recklessly, relying solely on their greater numbers and stronger national power while maintaining a defensive posture.

Now, however, the two sides were locked in a mutual deterrence.

Even during the Sun King's reign when he dominated the globe, he had not dared to act with impunity. Now that there was someone who posed a threat to his life, he would be even more cautious about making a move.

With this, the fragile balance between the APEC and the AF was shattered.

Time was on the APEC's side.

There was no need for impatience.

While Ji Xinghuo could disregard everything and rush into the AF to eliminate the Sun King and all hostile Heavenly Kings, it would undoubtedly cause immense chaos and create greater resistance for future global governance and human unification.

Ji Daosheng had long been confident about this.

With the odds in their favor, he intended to execute the plan step by step, starting with the easiest tasks and gradually progressing to the more challenging ones, ultimately achieving global unification. This approach would minimize the growing pains of national and ethnic integration and reduce population and economic losses.

Of course, they couldn't afford to be too slow, either.

Otherwise, the enemy, aware of their inevitable defeat, might have extreme anti-human elements within their ranks who would choose to bring about mutual destruction.

After thorough consideration, the Fuhrer determined that if the plan proceeded smoothly, the fastest timeline for global unification would be one year, and the slowest it could take would be three years.

Ji Xinghuo waited for a moment.

He could directly access satellite footage on his phone and view the Sun King's residence.

It was a magnificent skyscraper called the "New Empire State Building" in the center of the AF's capital, St. Louis. The building stood at a height of over two kilometers, and the entire structure was the Sun King's private property.

Within the New Empire State Building were dozens of companies.

These companies existed solely to serve the Sun King, catering to his every need, from daily necessities to cultivation, ability training, entertainment, banquets, media appearances, propaganda, beauty treatments, meetings with political figures, legal counsel, and more. Altogether, over ten thousand people worked within the building for the Sun King.

The top floor of the skyscraper was the Sun King's home.

His abode was also the highest point in St. Louis, offering a panoramic view of the entire city. He lived like a king, or perhaps even above one!

Most of the time, the Sun King remained within the New Empire State Building.

Whenever he made a public appearance and participated in political events across the AF, he would always return to the New Empire State Building afterward, no matter how far away he was.

This skyscraper was the Sun King's private kingdom.

More importantly, it was the heart of the AF.

Even under the cover of night, the exterior of the New Empire State Building remained dazzling, visible from dozens of kilometers away. On the massive projection screens, the Sun King's radiant image was displayed—a sunny, smiling figure, though he himself was nowhere to be seen.

The Excalibur Bureau's agents embedded in the nearby streets had also not detected any signs of the Sun King leaving the building.

"He dare not," Ji Xinghuo said with a nonchalant smile.

This was in line with the Fuhrer's previous prediction.

Today, in South Asia, he had intentionally displayed strength powerful enough to threaten the Sun King, hoping to lure him out. But according to the Fuhrer's psychological analysis, the probability of the Sun King making a move was less than 1%, or even lower.

"The Fuhrer's prediction was right, as always," Ji Xinghuo shook his head, unsurprised.

The Sun King's intervention was the biggest variable.

Now that he hadn't shown up, the AF, located on the other side of the planet, would have little influence on the situation in the South Asian subcontinent.

The outcome was decided!

The next step was to suppress the opposing forces in South Asia and eradicate the remaining enemies.

Then, they would go through the political procedures to obtain legal recognition and officially incorporate the entire subcontinent into the APEC's territory.

This would take at least a month.

Ji Xinghuo didn't have the patience to linger in South Asia for that long, as it would interfere with his cultivation. Fortunately, his newly upgraded Shadow Clone came in handy.

The stellar power he had just consumed had already recovered.

He activated his Shadow Clone ability.

This time, he invested a full 100,000 points of stellar power, reaching the upper limit of a Level 5 Shadow Clone, and created a single clone.

A hundred thousand points of stellar power were already quite impressive.

Most Heavenly Kings at the second stage of the Sixth Rank, who had initially completed the star array and reached the second-stage upper limit, would have around the same amount of stellar power.

Moreover, Ji Xinghuo's Shadow Clone possessed most of his abilities, making it stronger than the majority of peak Heavenly Kings!

He observed this Shadow Clone, and its senses were synchronized with his own.

"It has roughly half of my strength now."

"Previously, it could reach seventy percent."

"With the upgrade, the Shadow Clone's strength relative to my own has decreased. In the end, the power of the original body is too overwhelming, and this is an inherent limitation of the clone ability," Ji Xinghuo said with a hint of emotion as he sensed the clone's state.

"It would be great if the Shadow Clone could recover its stellar power on its own."

The biggest drawback of the Shadow Clone was that the stellar power consumed could not be replenished, causing the clone to grow weaker as it engaged in combat.

However, it was more than sufficient for use on Earth.

After all, if the clone was destroyed, he could immediately create another one, and there was no cost to the stellar power consumption.

"I wonder if the Shadow Clone will be able to recover its stellar power when it upgrades again," Ji Xinghuo mused as he opened the interface of the Myriad Star Pupil, looking at the 5.11 million units of spiritual source energy required for the clone to reach Level 6, which gave him a bit of a headache.

The Eclipse ability, Electromagnetic Polarization, only required 3.35 million units of spiritual source energy to upgrade from Level 7 to Level 8, yet the Shadow Clone was still considered an ultra-limit ability.

Absurd!

Shaking his head, Ji Xinghuo created a second Shadow Clone.

The first clone immediately took off, reaching Earth's supersonic speed and flying in the most stellar power-efficient manner.

A riot had broken out in the Daravid Republic, and this clone was on its way there.

Soon, the second and third Shadow Clones were also created.

But Ji Xinghuo possessed the King of Darkness, and the two of them resonated with each other, along with the Yetao Linglong Heart and the resonance provided by the Photosynthesis Ring.

It would only take him about seven minutes to restore his stellar power to its peak state.

His stellar power was consumed and then replenished.

In this cycle, one after another, shadow clones were created, each endowed with 100,000 units of stellar power.

After more than half an hour, the number of shadow clones reached the upper limit of 16.

Ji Xinghuo dispatched all his shadow clones, with most of them distributed across the Hindi Kingdom and the Daravid Republic. One clone guarded the Bhopal Stargate in the center of the South Asian subcontinent, and two entered the Bengal Federation.

Within a 500-kilometer radius of each shadow clone, there was at least one other clone, forming a transmission network that covered the entire South Asian subcontinent.

It took about one second to perform a displacement.

In just a few seconds, Ji Xinghuo could swap to the shadow clone closest to the incident location and then fly to his destination.

In fact, most of the time, there was no need for his main body to go; the shadow clones could handle everything.

Gradually, many people realized that Ji Xinghuo seemed to be everywhere in the South Asian subcontinent. He was in New Bharat, killing enemies one minute, and the next minute, he appeared in Mumbai, suppressing hundreds of believers of the Brahma King.

As soon as the situation in the Hindi Kingdom was resolved, something happened in Hyderabad, and Ji Xinghuo arrived in just a matter of minutes.

There were several occasions when Ji Xinghuo appeared in multiple places simultaneously.

The upper echelons of the APEC were the first to discover this, and each of the Heavenly Kings was astounded by such a tactic.

Even the Fuhrer couldn't help but inquire.

Upon learning that it was Ji Xinghuo's clones, everyone was full of praise.

Everyone had heard of shadow clones, but they had never seen such exaggerated ones. There were many clones, and they were strong, with no discernible difference from the main body. They could sustain themselves for so long and were deployed over a range of thousands of kilometers.

"Good, good, good!"

After inquiring privately with Ji Xinghuo, Ji Daosheng was delighted.

This meant that Ji Xinghuo alone could match a dozen or so top Heavenly Kings, and with his power alone, he could suppress the entire globe! This increased their chances of achieving global unification more quickly.

A day and a night passed.

From the afternoon of March 25th to the evening of the next day, the situation in the entire South Asian subcontinent was completely stabilized.

Ji Xinghuo himself couldn't remember how many enemies he had killed. In any case, for several hours, no enemy in the Hindi Kingdom and the Daravid Republic dared to show their faces, and the two countries' governments and militaries were completely under control.

On the international diplomatic front, APEC and the AF clashed fiercely, exchanging intense accusations.

Condemnations, protests, demands for accountability, statements, rebuttals...

All diplomatic means were employed, with extremely harsh words that amounted to verbal abuse.

Countries around the world took sides.

Apart from a few ironclad allies of APEC, most nations expressed their opposition, including the New Roman Empire, which implicitly accused APEC of overstepping its bounds and failing to respect the sovereignty of the South Asian countries.

On the other hand, the seven South Asian countries issued statements of support. However, at this point, the stance of the pawns was no longer of significance.

Ji Xinghuo paid no heed to the diplomatic war of words or international public opinion.

He didn't care.

What couldn't be gained on the battlefield couldn't be attained at the negotiation table either.

The foundation of diplomacy lay in a country's comprehensive strength. Such verbal sparring across the airwaves couldn't change anything. The fact that the AF didn't intervene in South Asia at the first opportunity was, in essence, an acknowledgment of the status quo.

After reporting to the Fuhrer, Ji Xinghuo was given permission to return home.

After three displacements.

His main body arrived near the Bhopal Stargate, flying into the Stargate fortress, which had been completely taken over by APEC's Star Realm Army.

The original "Flood" Mostaque Rahman had already been transferred elsewhere.

Currently, Luobaogu led two companies, a total of 240 titanium-cobalt dragon men, guarding the Bhopal Stargate and prohibiting passage.

As Ji Xinghuo entered the Stargate fortress, it was like revisiting an old haunt.

The abnormal beings of the Star Realm Army looked at him with awe.

They didn't recognize Ji Xinghuo's appearance, but they had received notifications from higher-ups and knew exactly who he was.

Amidst the reverent gazes of the Star Realm Army, Ji Xinghuo walked through the stringent defenses and arrived at the Stargate hall. Titanium-cobalt dragon men in powered armor guarded the Stargate, their leader towering at over three meters tall, carrying a large sword like a moving fortress.

"Xinghuo."

Luobaogu stepped forward and opened his helmet visor, revealing a rugged face that usually wore a stern expression but now looked amiable.

"Captain Luo," Ji Xinghuo replied, "I'm heading back first."

"Then I won't see you out."

Luobaogu and the group of titanium-cobalt dragon men watched as Ji Xinghuo entered the stargate.

Ji Xinghuo's appearance in Olympia's Stargate Square caused a slight stir, and someone recognized his identity, but he immediately entered the stargate again, returning to the Chaka Stargate before flying towards Chang'an.

Along the way, Ji Xinghuo disbanded two of the shadow clones in South Asia that had the least amount of stellar power remaining.

He created two new shadow clones.

One remained in Chaka City, where the stargate was located, and the other was stationed in Jin City, between Chaka Stargate and Chang'an.

With this arrangement, it would only take two displacements for his main body to reach the stargate.

Then, he could pass through the stargate to travel to South Asia or any other continent on Earth.

He sped along at a rapid pace.

Ji Xinghuo didn't go to see the Fuhrer. Everything that needed to be said and done during this day and night had already been accomplished.

He flew directly back to his home in the Qinling Mountains.

As he entered the villa, he saw his three older sisters, Zhao Manying and her family of three, as well as the An siblings and their entourage of bodyguards, all gathered in the living room, watching the news on the screen.

Over the past 24 hours, the entire world had been fixated on the developments in South Asia.

"I'm back," Ji Xinghuo said with a smile as he walked into the living room.

Seeing his relaxed posture and immaculate appearance, as if he had just gone for a stroll, they couldn't reconcile the person before them with the unstoppable powerhouse they had seen in the news. The contrast was so stark that everyone was momentarily stunned.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end