Chapter 114: Making Preparations

One week until the gods descend.

The catastrophe from his memories had finally arrived. The countdown had begun.

Lin Fan let out a long breath; the moment had come at last. But this time, Great Xia was ready. Without a moment’s delay, he spoke urgently to Situ Hong: "You stay here to handle the cleanup. Order the local departments to recover the corpses of these Yetis. Then, return to the Great Steel Wall project immediately and prepare for battle."

Situ Hong nodded. "And you?"

"I’m heading back now." Lin Fan turned and shouted, "All members of the God-Slaying Legion, fall in!"

One hour later.

At the Western Region airport, a military transport plane roared to life, piercing the sky.

At four in the afternoon, the plane touched down at a hastily constructed military airfield on the coast of Ludong. Lin Fan stepped off the aircraft, followed closely by the members of the God-Slaying Legion. He glanced at the First Squad—including Xing Ye and Dao Wanqian, whose foundations had been restored—and said, "Having consumed the meat of the Yeti leader, your bodies now contain the essence of the Tianshan Snow Lotus. Go and cultivate immediately. I want you at your peak in the next seven days. Those of you in the First Squad whose foundations have been repaired—I want you all to reach the Demigod realm within a week!"

The First Squad of the God-Slaying Legion was the elite unit Lin Fan had personally selected. Unlike other squads composed mostly of awakened individuals, Xing Ye, Dao Wanqian, Mo Buxie, and Master Beimin were all heirs to martial sects or ancient families. They had practiced martial arts since childhood, pushing the human body to its absolute limit. Previously, whether due to talent or age, they had failed to reach the Demigod realm despite practicing the God-Slaying and Demon-Killing Arts.

But now, with the appearance of the Tianshan Snow Lotus, their damaged foundations had been mended, and their bodies had been cleansed and transformed by the medicinal power—they were nearly perfect. Reaching the Demigod realm in seven days was entirely possible.

"Yes! We guarantee we will reach the Demigod realm!" Dao Wanqian and the others replied without hesitation. Everyone knew this was their final chance. Only a Demigod could truly stand against a god.

"Also, tell all your disciples to gather here. They must stand with the soldiers to hold the Great Steel Wall and block all the marine beast followers of the descending gods!"

"Understood!"

"Dismissed, back to cultivation!" Lin Fan waved his hand. The legion members left in an orderly fashion, their faces etched with unprecedented gravity and tension.

The gods... that word, which had weighed so heavily on their hearts, was finally descending. It was an immense pressure.

Once these arrangements were made, Lin Fan walked over to Elder Chen.

"You're back," Elder Chen greeted him with a smile, though Lin Fan could immediately see the intense anxiety and strain behind that forced expression. After all, this was the final week.

"I'm back," Lin Fan exhaled, handing three test tubes of blood to Elder Chen.

Elder Chen was startled. "This is..."

"The blood of the Tianshan Yeti leader," Lin Fan said, his expression grave. "Before it died, it consumed a Tianshan Snow Lotus, and the essence is now in its blood. I need you to analyze the components within this final week and mass-produce it. We must inject this essence into all fifty million soldiers. Only then will they avoid being instantly torn apart when facing the followers who have been blessed with power by the gods. This serum can open their meridians, allowing them to practice the God-Slaying and Demon-Killing Arts. Time is short, but at least reaching the first or second rank should be no problem."

Elder Chen’s eyes were complex. "Are ordinary people not even qualified to face those followers?"

"No," Lin Fan nodded, his eyes devoid of any false hope.

"Understood!" Elder Chen looked at the test tubes and nodded. "I will begin the analysis immediately. You and Elder Jin handle the rest; I will put my all into this."

Elder Chen knew time was running out. Injecting fifty million soldiers with the Tianshan Snow Lotus essence was a monumental task. Even with Great Xia’s current, staggering level of cohesion, it would take at least four or five days. In the remaining two days, he had to lead his research team to analyze the substance and set up mass production. It was nearly impossible, but it had to be done. This would be a silent battle—a battle on which the survival of Great Xia depended. They could not afford to lose.

Dressed in a pristine white lab coat, Elder Chen hurried away.

"Lin Fan," Elder Jin approached quickly. "The Great Steel Wall is nearly complete. Come with me to see what needs improvement so we can make last-minute adjustments. After all, you are the one who understands those enemies best."

Lin Fan nodded. While he had provided the general blueprints for the wall, the details had been perfected by Elder Chen and his team. Furthermore, even though the Steel Wall from his previous life had been perfect, it had still revealed shortcomings when facing the gods.

Lin Fan and Elder Jin boarded a jeep and headed for the wall. As they approached, Lin Fan saw it from afar—a massive barrier connecting the earth to the sky, stretching along the coastline and holding back the ocean. It looked like a giant beast lying between heaven and earth. It was endless.

A hundred-meter-tall wall. Two thousand kilometers long, spanning the entire Jiaodong coastline. It was the greatest miracle in human engineering, surpassing the Great Wall and the pyramids. Even though he had seen it in his previous life, Lin Fan could not help but be shaken. At that moment, he felt both the insignificance and the greatness of humanity. This was human power. This was the power of Great Xia.

How small humanity was, yet when countless people of Great Xia gathered to roar, it was enough to alter the heavens and hold back the sea.

As the jeep drove toward the wall, every soldier and worker who caught sight of Lin Fan stopped to salute.

"Greetings, Commander-in-Chief!"

"Commander!"

Lin Fan’s influence in Great Xia was second only to the State Leader. Everyone knew that this boy, once a high school student, was the most vital—and only—commander facing the invasion of the gods. He was the commander who understood the enemy best. Even though the descent of the gods one week away pressed down on them like a boulder, making it hard to breathe, it seemed that as long as this boy was here, everything was possible.

Looking at those faces, different but filled with the same hope, Lin Fan smiled back. His eyes grew hot. Memories flooded his mind: the hundred-meter waves crashing down, the roar of marine beasts, the countless people fleeing in terror, swept away by the sea or torn apart by beasts in their despair. Back then, he was just a teenager who hadn't joined the military, hiding behind his parents.

"This time, I will not hide behind anyone else."

"I am ready."

"Great Xia is ready."

"I hope you are ready to die, too," Lin Fan murmured to the sky.