81: Reinforcements arrive

In the damp, dark dungeon, the smell of rust and blood intermingled and permeated the air.

Su Lei knelt on the cold stone floor, his pale forehead covered in sweat, his hair clinging to his cheeks. In his downcast eyes, turbulent emotions were suppressed.

When that wondrous change quietly occurred within his body, his heart suddenly trembled, as if it had been tightly clenched by an invisible giant hand.

The path of Martial Arts cultivation is long, like climbing a ten-thousand-foot peak.

Reaching the Realm where Qi and blood are like mercury is only the beginning; one still needs to endure countless hardships, continuously refine Qi and blood to the extreme, before there is a possibility of giving birth to a wisp of Protective Aura.

This wisp of Protective Aura is the crucial first step to entering the Grandmaster Realm.

Yet, it is also a huge chasm that countless Martial Artists struggle to cross in their entire lives.

Many stop here, regretting it for the rest of their days.

Under the extreme suppression of the energy chains, Su Lei felt as if his entire body had fallen into an ice cellar, every inch of his skin invaded by bone-chilling cold.

However, he unexpectedly turned misfortune into a blessing, prematurely touching this long-dreamed-of Realm.

The moment the Protective Aura appeared, the chains wrapped around his wrists suddenly emitted a sharp, scorching 'hiss'.

Wisps of pungent black smoke rose up.

"It really works!"

Su Lei suddenly looked up, his eyes blazing with sharp light.

He continued to let that wisp of Protective Aura, with its faint golden glow, flow beneath his skin.

Soon, he could clearly feel the suppressive force of the chains significantly weakening.

The energy that could originally devour Qi and blood was now being counteracted by the Protective Aura.

Su Lei frowned, enduring the discomfort to activate his Mental Energy, continuously scanning and analyzing the structure of the chains.

These energy chains were not a single entity, but rather composed of countless tiny runic interlocking rings.

Every seven rings formed a cyclic node, like a precise mechanical device.

"The weakness of the chains is at the seventh joint."

"As long as enough strong Protective Aura is injected at the node, it will be enough to resist these negative energies..."

Soon, a faint, almost imperceptible 'click' sound came from the chain on his right arm.

Su Lei's body stiffened slightly, and a faint smile played on his lips..."Protective Aura? Is he entering the Grandmaster Realm?"

In the shadows outside the dungeon,

Lin Xiaotian, who had been quietly observing everything, suddenly straightened his body, which had been lazily leaning against the wall.

His gaze was sharp, like an eagle, fixed intently on Su Lei inside the dungeon.

He muttered to himself, his pupils slightly constricted.

According to his calculations, even if Su Lei was exceptionally gifted, it would take at least three days for him to adapt to the suppression of the chains, and now less than twelve hours had passed!

What surprised him even more was that Su Lei had achieved a Breakthrough under this immense pressure.

Moreover, the color of that Protective Aura was not the usual silvery-white of an ordinary Grandmaster, but carried a unique faint golden glow.

Just then, a piercing alarm suddenly broke the deadly silence of the dungeon.

Crimson warning lights flashed wildly in the corridor, illuminating Lin Xiaotian's grim face.

"Warning! Defenses in Zones A to D have completely collapsed!"

"Three Grandmaster-level energy signatures detected!"

"Identity scanning in progress..."

"Ye Qingyun (Martial Alliance certified First-Rank Grandmaster), Chen Xuan (President of Huaxing City Martial Alliance Association), General Zhao Shanhe (Lieutenant General of the Northern Military Region)..."

Along with the emotionless mechanical broadcast,

the monitoring screen automatically popped up, displaying real-time footage from outside the base.

Five hundred fully armed Martial Artists formed a battle formation, orderly and unified, crushing through the last defensive fortifications like a torrent of steel, raising dust wherever they went.

The three leaders, in particular, moved as if in an uninhabited land, their postures agile, their Aura like a rainbow.

Lin Xiaotian suddenly turned to look at Su Lei, his face gloomy.

"You planned this all along?"

In the center of the dungeon, rusty chains hung to the ground, making faint clinking sounds.

Su Lei, who had been curled up in the shadows, slowly raised his head, a sharp, eagle-like smile appearing on his pale face.

The faint golden Protective Aura on his body suddenly surged, illuminating the damp, moldy spots around him in exquisite detail.

The decaying smell in the air was instantly swept away.

"Did you think I would venture into the Death Desert alone to die?"

Su Lei's voice was metallic and cold; before the last syllable faded, veins suddenly bulged on his right arm.

"Crack!"

Accompanied by the crisp sound of the chain breaking, the runic interlocking ring at the seventh joint exploded with a roar, sending fragments flying and striking sparks against the walls.

Lin Xiaotian's face was extremely grim.

"I was careless."

"It seems I must use coercive measures against you..."

"Then come and try." Su Lei looked at the other party expressionlessly.

"They will arrive here in ten seconds."

Three seconds later, Lin Xiaotian suddenly turned, his black trench coat flapping in the airflow, and his entire body transformed into a phantom, disappearing into the shadows in the corner of the wall.

Almost simultaneously, dense footsteps and the clang of weapons came from outside the corridor.

"Zone A cleared!"

"Zone B suppression complete!"

"Dungeon entrance found!"

The heavy alloy door was slammed open, and three figures surged in, enveloped in a fierce Protective Aura.

Ye Qingyun, leading the way, his white hair flying, the sword at his waist let out a Dragon's roar before even being drawn from its scabbard.

Chen Xuan's palm glowed with mysterious purple runes, the Martial Alliance emblem on his cuff faintly visible within the Protective Aura.

General Zhao Shanhe's epaulets glinted with cold light, his face grim, seemingly ready to attack at any moment.

Upon seeing the scene inside the cell, the three men simultaneously halted their steps.

The air trembled.

In the center of the dim cell, Su Lei stood as still as a pine tree, a wisp of faint golden Qi flowing around him.

That Qi, thin as a cicada's wing, carried a chilling sharpness, like an invisible blade cutting through the surrounding air, emitting a faint hum.

"Protective Aura?!" Ye Qingyun's pupils contracted sharply.

"A Grandmaster... at thirty?" Chen Xuan frowned deeply, unable to resist glancing at Ye Qingyun beside him.

General Zhao Shanhe's Adam's apple bobbed, but the next moment he immediately realized something was wrong.

He suddenly took a step forward and exclaimed, "This is not ordinary Protective Aura!"

When an ordinary Grandmaster first condenses Protective Aura, it is merely a thin mist covering their body.

But Su Lei's Protective Aura flowed like a living thing, at times transforming into intricate lightning patterns, at others solidifying into sharp blade-like edges, with an indistinct sound of a Dragon's roar!

Su Lei slowly opened his eyes, a golden electric light seeming to flash deep within his pupils.

He glanced at the three, a slight smile on his lips. "You're slow."

Elder Ye glared at him angrily.

"You brat, after I received your call, I immediately contacted reinforcements."

"I nearly ran my legs off to call these two Grandmasters!"

Saying this, he frowned and looked around, "Where's Lin Xiaotian?"

"He disappeared." Su Lei pointed to the distorted light and shadow in the corner of the wall, "He has mastered a method to open a spatial rift."

General Zhao Shanhe immediately activated his wrist terminal; in the holographic projection, Lin Xiaotian's figure twisted bizarrely at the end of the corridor, finally transforming into a streak of light and disappearing into the wall.

Chen Xuan's frown deepened.

"Still a step too late, did that guy escape...?"

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, TG: t.me/dahuilang888, this message will be displayed until tomorrow noon!