103: The Secret of the Kunlun Mountains

The snow continued to fall, but the entire battlefield seemed to have been put on pause.

Wang Kai's mouth hung open, and his battle saber clanged to the ground.

Liu Hongyan and Zhou Mingyuan secretly swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

The Wu Brothers unconsciously took half a step back, as if it wasn't Su Lei standing there, but a resurrected ancient War God.

Lin Qianqian covered her mouth, a suppressed gasp escaping through her fingers.

Her eyes reflected the golden figure, her heart pounding violently, as if it would burst from her chest.

The soldiers of the army were even more stunned.

Some had their firearms slip into the snow, others unconsciously stood at attention and saluted.

Those Martial Masters who had wavered earlier were now pale, their legs trembling uncontrollably—

They had almost made a move against such an existence just now?

The dead silence lasted for a full ten seconds.

“Cough…”

Chen Xuan suddenly coughed, breaking the eerie silence.

His expression was unusually complex, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Lei Qianjue's corpse and Su Lei, finally letting out a long sigh.

“Su Lei…”

“Do you know that you just killed the third young master of the Lei Family, a direct descendant?”

“Lei Mietian, the Lei Family Patriarch, is the current President of the Martial Alliance Association.”

Chen Xuan said, word by word, “You… will probably have to contend with the entire Martial Alliance Association now.”

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over everyone's heads.

Liu Hongyan's smile froze on her face, and Lin Qianqian's pupils suddenly contracted.

Even the most composed Wang Kai couldn't help but cast a nervous glance.

The Martial Alliance Association—a behemoth controlling 60% of the Federation's Martial Artist power, boasting fifteen Grandmasters and three Great Grandmasters!

The golden flames around Su Lei slowly receded.

He looked down at his own palm, then calmly raised his head.

“So what?”

Three words, yet they made Chen Xuan's body tremble.

Su Lei's gaze swept over everyone, finally looking towards the distant snow-capped mountain peaks.

“If the Martial Alliance wants to fight, then we fight.”

The snow gradually subsided, but the flames in Su Lei's eyes grew even more intense.

Looking at the majestic snow-capped mountains in the distance, he had already made his decision.

Martial Alliance Association?

Lei Family?

Since they were destined to be enemies, then he would crush them completely!

He turned, his gaze like a blade sweeping over everyone present.

“Transmit my order—”

The voice wasn't loud, but it exploded like thunder in everyone's ears.

“First, fully take over command of the Western Military Region, all troops are to immediately enter combat readiness.”

The soldiers in the army subconsciously straightened their backs, and those officers who had once followed Zhao Tian were now silent as cicadas in winter, no one daring to raise the slightest objection.

“Second, clear all areas of the Kunlun Secret Realm, especially the altar deep within the ice cave. Any abnormalities are to be reported immediately.”

Liu Hongyan's eyes lit up, and she immediately understood Su Lei's intention—

That mysterious metal was likely just the tip of the iceberg, and they might discover even more rewards!

...The military's efficient execution was fully demonstrated at this moment.

Within just three days, dozens of temporary bases were established around the periphery of the entire Kunlun Mountains, and the roar of heavy engineering machinery was incessant day and night. Large numbers of scientific researchers moved in, carrying the most advanced detection equipment, and began a comprehensive scan of the mountain range.

“This isn't right…”

Liu Hongyan's fingers rapidly slid across the holographic projection, continuously enlarging the energy spectrum.

On the screen, a 3D model of the Kunlun Mountains was slowly rotating, and countless faint blue energy pathways, like blood vessels, were clearly visible.

They extended from deep within the Earth's crust, like some kind of precise “circuit,” ultimately converging at the main peak's summit.

“This is practically like a…” she murmured.

“Energy extraction matrix.” Su Lei's voice suddenly sounded from behind her.

Liu Hongyan sharply turned her head, realizing that he had already stood in front of the command console at some point.

“You mean…” Liu Hongyan unconsciously swallowed, “the arrangement of these mountains isn't natural? It's artificial?”

“Impossible, to change the topography and landforms on such a large scale, with humanity's current technology…”

“It's not impossible, but it would take at least decades and an unimaginable amount of manpower and resources.”

“I grew up in the west, and I've never heard of the Federation undertaking such a massive project, and what would be the benefit of doing so?”

Su Lei said calmly, “It might not be the work of humans.”

“It might not be the work of humans.”

The air seemed to freeze instantly.

Liu Hongyan sharply turned her head, her pupils contracting violently.

Su Lei glanced at the constantly fluctuating values on the screen, then turned to look at the continuous mountain ranges in the distance.

“Some mysterious force has subtly transformed this mountain range.”

“And their purpose… is to extract geothermic energy to create star marrow.”

Liu Hongyan was dumbfounded, and it was a long time before she recovered.

“If that's truly the case… that would be an extraordinary discovery!”

“It's just a guess for now.” Su Lei shook his head slightly.

“To confirm further, you need to check the geological records of the Changbai Mountains, where star marrow last appeared.”

Liu Hongyan slowly nodded.

“Understood, I'll take care of this.”

...After chatting with Liu Hongyan for a while, Su Lei pushed aside the thick cold-proof door curtain and returned to the temporary command tent.

He took off his tactical gloves and entered a complex password on the control panel, activating the encrypted communicator.

After a few flickers of the holographic projection, Elder Ye's haggard face appeared.

The wrinkles at the corners of the old man's eyes were deeper than when they last met, clearly etched like knife marks.

The environment behind him was dim and oppressive, with only a few emergency lights providing faint illumination, and faint “Top Secret” seals visible on the walls.

“I finally got in touch with you.” Su Lei sighed softly.

After making the decision to explore the Kunlun Secret Realm, he immediately thought of Elder Ye, but the entire Central China branch had lost contact.

Elder Ye also sighed.

“No choice, it was a temporary emergency mission, of great importance, SS-level confidentiality protocol, all communication devices were confiscated by the higher-ups.”

“Including me, thirteen Shadow Blade members were dispatched for this mission, including the person in charge, Silver Owl.”

“Also… Zhao Zheng and Pang Hong unfortunately sacrificed themselves.”

Su Lei's gaze darkened, “What kind of mission is it, exactly?”

Elder Ye gently shook his head.

“It's still because of the blue crystal we discovered last time.”

“Even a small fragment contained extremely terrifying energy, capable of briefly opening a spatial rift and teleporting hundreds of kilometers away.”

“After a thorough investigation into Lin Xiaotian's past, we found a Secret Realm he had once explored and uncovered some clues there.”

“After expending a great deal of manpower and resources, we finally found a… in a Secret Realm.”

He suddenly fell silent, coughing unnaturally twice.

“In short, it's related to the catastrophe a hundred years ago.”

“We are one step closer to the truth this time…”

Big Wolf Book Source kindly reminds: Due to special reasons, the group has been forcibly disbanded! A new group has been rebuilt, Group 1 ID (298732622), Group 2 (1062268835) to prevent loss of contact, Telegram: t.me/dahuilang888. This message will be displayed until tomorrow noon!