Zhou Fei’s Soul Orb was around 2.5 million li in size. Ouyang Fang’s Soul Orb was a little above 3 million li in size.

Yin Na’s Soul Orb was a titanic 5 million in size.

A cataclysmic event was occurring within the realm.

The 3 Suns, for the first time since who knew when, broke their eon-long game of cat-and-mouse!

The cyclical movement of their orbits broke, as they fled the far corners of the realm in pursuit of the 3 generals, who had split in separate directions.

Since the beginning of Yin Na’s awareness in this realm, he and countless other Soul Orbs regarded the revolving 3 Suns as the symbolic center of this realm. It was the revolving beacon of brightness within the dark space of the realm; a method to pinpoint orientation in this gravity-less space and now that they had split off, it created a cold chill in the center of the space where they once made their territory.

The ants which have lived their lives nourished by the wake of the light orbs left by the 3 Giant Suns suddenly found themselves in a state of winter.

Although they were fast, the movement of the 3 Suns appeared to be like that of an eclipse back in the real living world: faster than they could be aware that it was happening.

The smaller Soul Orbs traveled therefore for many years in order to escape the darkness and towards the movement of the Giant Suns which have left them.

Several million of the loner ants also sought refuge in the wake of the 3 generals, who absorbed them into their army.

The 3 Suns were in rage.

From the perspective of each general, Yin Na was leading them to salvation, which was anywhere away from the approaching, blinding light of the Sun hot on their trail.

It was truly a terrifying sight, even for Yin Na.

He was leading his army, who if they “looked” behind them, was facing a colossal orb of light that was only growing in size as it gained speed on them.

“It’s fascinating,” thought Yin Na. “I’m not sure if this is an ability or not, but the Suns are much faster than they appear now that they’re single mindedly devoted to the goal of our destruction.”

Yin Na was full of alarm. Yin Na judged the distance between his army and the Sun was dangerously close, but not yet within “eating distance.”

The distance that a Soul Orb can launch one of their souls was the eating distance. At smaller sizes, merely “feeling” the distance was enough to judge how far one Soul could consume another soul from, but with something as massive as one of the three Suns itself, Yin Na had to rely on mathematical skills derived from astronomy which he learned as a mortal cultivator.

Using rapid calculations, he determined that they would be within the Sun’s eating distance within less than a century if they did not evolve some other methods or abilities.

This was a lethal century, it signaled the apocalypse.

The “culture” of Yin Na and his two generals’ worlds became correspondingly apocalyptic.

It was vital that they still regularly held cultural events that enforced the current reform or action. The ants had to accommodate their dances constantly so that their movement took into account their constant motion away from the eating distance of the Sun.

“The time has come for heroic deeds of self-sacrifice,” were one of the propaganda dances.

Several times they actually carried out their drills they’ve practiced for centuries. They sent out scouting ants, which were armies of tiny 10-li ants that flew as fast as they could to the other two Generals to collect and spread intel. They made a few drastic moves which entailed sacrificing a quarter or even half the army to a direction away from the main army.

The size of these armies were tempting, and would have provided gains that even a Sun would not be able to resist, but the Suns were adamant: they refused to deter from their course.

Each Sun was locked on the movement of a general. Their hatred for Yin Na, Ouyang Fang, and Zhou Fei was bordering on single-minded madness.

Yin Na’s calculations were soon estimating that his particular pursuing Sun was only less than twenty years away from eating distance!

“The rate of their pursuit is accelerating,” Yin Na thought. “Are they expending more light orbs behind them in order to gain this burst of speed? This is a grim development; even if the Suns lose a lot of mass in doing this, they’ll still have more than enough mass in each half to swallow the armies and myself whole if they split themselves and launch within eating distance.”

The size of the Suns was simply too terrifying, it was their single greatest source of dominance!

The thought of their multi-millennial developed culture being swallowed within years by this foreign, tyrannical sun was too horrifying to fathom for the ants. It was a fear that Yin Na had to direct and exploit carefully in the interest of warfare.

“End the tyranny of the Sun! Aid Yin Na at all costs!”

Yin Na wasn’t leading them blindly away in any direction. He was leading his armies towards pockets of particularly rich, giant Soul Orbs to be absorbed.

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Like locusts, his frontal assault troops poured out in all directions, pouncing on loner Soul Orbs almost completely unaware.

Yin Na’s army was growing in size while on the run.

But unknown to all except the generals themselves, Yin Na was actually coordinating his escape route alongside Ouyang Fang.

Using scouting ants to send messages back and forth, Yin Na and Ouyang Fang gradually moved to bring their two Suns on a converging route.

The goal was to have the threat of the Suns’ splitting themselves cancel each other out in close proximity. Once the Sun splits itself in order to launch itself within eating distance, both of its halved masses are in danger of being consumed by one intact Sun, which could take advantage of the vulnerable moment a Soul Orb takes to prepare itself to throw its other half.

There was no way that the Suns could not be aware of Yin Na’s strategy. However, due to desperate, expert maneuvers Yin Na and Ouyang Fang managed to bring their 2 pursuing Suns within eating distance before the twenty years’ limit.

It was an awkward halt to the two Suns’ momentum, as they slowed down in their movement in the nearby presence of one another.

The Sun that was pursuing Yin Na was the largest, but if he split in half to launch at Yin Na now, his other half was within the second Sun’s eating range. He would gain much, but lose far much more if he were to have his billions of years of foundation eaten by one of his rivals.

The Sun which was pursuing Zhou Fei also slowed down its movement. In fact, it was showing hesitation through its wavering movement, as it was clearly worried that if one Sun consumed the other that it personally would be next!

Then, an unexpected event occurred.

“YOU. DARE.”

Audible language.

These were words that weren’t spelled or danced out, but were clearly, audibly spoken. A voice rang out that lost all of its humanity, sounding like it belonged to an entity more ancient than time itself.

“YOU. DARE.” The voice rang out again, coming from the largest Sun, who was pursuing Yin Na.

Yin Na immediately realized that this was a Soul ability.

The voice sent a ripple of fear through the 3 general’s armies, and the billions of loner Soul Orbs floating through space.

One of the real Suns revealed that they could speak!

The largest Sun was pushed to the limit.

In his life, he was Zhuang You Ling, but he himself had long forgotten that. He was a demonic legend in his time, and perhaps one of the first to enjoy the benefits of the 9-yin Treasured Brick.

But billions of years of vying for supremacy among the other Soul Orbs trapped within the Brick had worn away his humanity. He had forgotten his deeds, friends made, his childhood and family. He had even forgotten about the world of cultivation itself. Only vestigial shreds of human memories and language remained in his consciousness like nonsensical puzzle pieces.

Zhuang You Ling had devolved into a singleminded devourer of Soul orbs, as the current largest Sun.

Yin Na’s impudent attempt to strategize against the Suns made him want to cough blood if he still had a mouth! It was nothing but brazen defiance! It angered a primal emotion within him that it warranted him to use his Soul Ability.

Soul Articulation!

After a billion years of silence, all within the realm heard a (barely) human voice. The raw, ancient power and hatred within it was enough to demoralize millions of ants, who froze.

All nearby Soul orbs had lost mass! The 1-li Soul Orbs simply perished immediately, having evaporated like raindrops!

A Sun’s voice was truly this terrifying.

Yin Na’s army suffered a massive blow: everyone including himself had lost a bit of mass from the force of the Soul Articulation, and he had lost hundreds of thousands of 1-li ants at the rearguard permanently.

This unexpected, wanton destruction demoralized the spirits of the ants, and the propaganda dances changed to reflect the desperate situation.

“Better to be absorbed by a brother than by a stranger!”

The ants began mentally preparing themselves to sacrifice themselves to Yin Na.

Yin Na saw that this was good, but not the right time.

He simply did not have enough mass yet. Even if he absorbed his entire army, he would not be able to swallow the sun.

He reminded his forces to view the situation in a positive light: Even though they were within eating distance, the two Suns would not launch themselves because they were canceling each other out with their presence.

“As long as they do not suddenly cooperate we would be safe,” thought Yin Na. “We need to prolong the chase until the next phase of the plan.”

Soon, Ouyang Fang was able to direct his army safely towards Yin Na. The two Suns were in a frenzy, but could do nothing, as they were still wary of each other taking advantage of the opportunity.

Yin Na sent a message via the remaining scout ants to Zhou Fei to begin dragging the third Sun towards them.

Yin Na thought, “The last thing the Suns would want is for me to consume either Ouyang Fang or Zhou Fei.”

Zhou Fei and his forces were simply too far away right now to be of significance, but Ouyang’s 3 million soul, plus his 3 million-strong Soul Orb army once absorbed into Yin Na along with his own personal army would turn Yin Na’s Soul into a Sun instantly: He would be over 15 million li in diameter.

He would become the imminent fourth sun.

By then the Suns would be desperate enough to make a temporary truce between themselves in order to eliminate this brazen outsider no matter what!

Within just two decades, Yin Na and Ouyang’s forces combined their fleet by flying as one. They were now both being chased by two Suns, while Zhou Fei was still being pursued by the third Sun, but not far behind.

This finally provoked the second Sun to use Soul Articulation as well:

“ZHUANG YOU LANG.”

It was a calm, rational voice that retained its gentle and intelligent qualities. It did not directly destroy any of Yin Na’s army through its sound waves, but it demoralized them all the same:

“ZHUANG YOU LANG. IF YOU STILL HAVE A BRAIN YOU’D FOCUS YOUR HATRED ON THESE OUTSIDERS AND ALLOW ME TO DEVOUR THEM.”

Yin Na’s entire force, and even Yin Na himself felt impending doom from these words. The Second Sun was asking direct cooperation from the first Sun to take conclusive action!

The first Giant Sun took only one month to respond:

“WANT. EAT!”

These two words sent a wave of destruction once again wiping all of the tinier ants in Yin Na and Ouyang Fang’s rearguard, sending them in further disarray and chaos.

“NO, YOU IDIOT,” The second Sun chided. “YOU’RE ALREADY THE BIGGEST. NOW LET ME EAT THEM BEFORE SOMETHING HAPPENS.”

Yin Na’s mind was full of alarm.

“Now is the time!” He thought.