169: Chapter 169 Threshold for Marquis Status: Strength

Five hours passed in an instant.

A faint sense of mental fatigue arrived; the abundant Mental Energy within his Sea of Consciousness, after five hours of continuous squeezing, was finally approaching the brink of exhaustion.

Li Wen slowly withdrew his blade, and with a thought, deactivated the [Absolute Focus] state.

The sound of the long blade returning to its sheath was crisp and neat.

The cultivation session that had just ended yielded results far exceeding expectations.

The 140% Comprehension Ability bonus from his Scholar level breaking through to Lv14 allowed his understanding of the "Profound Vault Rainbow Silence Chapter" to reach a new depth.

The subtle details of the Blade Dao's trajectory were infinitely magnified and dismantled; past accumulated doubts and points of stagnation were connected and dissolved one by one during this selfless practice.

The results of these five hours could actually match several months of hard work in the past.

This sense of Breakthrough was like experiencing a minor Epiphany, and the improvement was quite considerable.

At this point, the primary changes brought about by this Scholar level increase had basically been tested.

The strengthening of his Physical Body, the growth of his Primordial Spirit, the expansion of his perception, and most importantly, the progress in his Blade Technique were all clearly understood.

Only one final item remained.

Li Wen's gaze narrowed slightly.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the thought regarding the sixth-layer rune of the "God-Shocking Sting" became incredibly clear.

He had long since mastered the contents of all seven layers of this Primordial Spirit secret technique; what had hindered him in the past was purely the limitation of his Primordial Spirit Realm itself.

Now, the leap in Scholar level had brought a massive boost to his Primordial Spirit, and that invisible barrier seemed to have loosened.

Completing the inscription of the sixth-layer rune should no longer be an unreachable goal.

A faint, hidden expectation quietly rose.

If the sixth layer of the "God-Shocking Sting" was nurtured to Perfection, its power would be enough to rival an ordinary "threshold marquis" expert.

Possessing Marquis-Rank combat power while in the Bright Moon Realm was a feat that broke all conventions.

With this expectation, Li Wen turned back and returned to the quiet room.

Without any delay, he took out an expensive and highly effective mental recovery potion and drank it in one gulp.

Cool energy flooded into his limbs and bones, soothing his exhausted Sea of Consciousness.

Next, he sat cross-legged and entered a state of deep meditation.

After stepping into the Flying Star Rank, sleep was no longer a necessity; deep meditation was enough to quickly recover mental consumption.

Just one hour later, when Li Wen opened his eyes again, the Mental Energy consumed by practicing his Blade Technique in the afternoon was already full and overflowing.

His Sea of Consciousness was clear and translucent, like the sky after a rain.

The timing was perfect.

Li Wen no longer hesitated, his will sinking into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.

The Primordial Spirit avatar, which had already grown to over seven feet tall, suddenly opened its tightly closed eyes.

Deep within its eyes was not emptiness, but rather what seemed to be a reflection of ten thousand galaxies, with brilliant radiance flowing and swirling, deep and unfathomable.

Following that, the Primordial Spirit avatar opened its mouth slightly, and a cone-shaped object, completely translucent and emitting a cold, sharp Aura, slowly flew out from within.

This was exactly the "God-Shocking Sting" that had been nurtured to the fifth-layer Perfection and had become one of his trump cards.

Next came the most critical part: the inscription.

The Primordial Spirit avatar lit up with a hazy yet condensed spiritual glow; this glow was like the tip of a physical engraving knife, falling with absolute precision onto the transparent body of the God-Shocking Sting.

Every movement was heavy and focused, and every stroke condensed a majestic amount of Primordial Spirit Power and a deep understanding of the secret technique's essence.

Under the guidance of the spiritual engraving knife, the complex and profound sixth-layer rune structure began to emerge, solidify, and link bit by bit on the surface of the God-Shocking Sting—

The entire inscription process lasted for a long time.

The consumption of Mental Energy was like a flood breaking through a dam, surging and powerful.

When the final stroke of the rune was finally completed and perfectly integrated into the body of the God-Shocking Sting, a more restrained yet even more heart-palpitating sharp Aura suddenly erupted, as if even the ethereal Sea of Consciousness was being cut into ripples by this invisible sharpness.

Success!

The cost was also significant; the Primordial Spirit avatar, which had just been glowing and imposing, was now dimmed by more than a notch, revealing a sense of deep exhaustion.

It opened its small mouth again, and the God-Shocking Sting, containing terrifying power, was slowly sucked back into its body to begin a new round of nurturing, allowing the newly inscribed runes to completely merge with the main body.

Li Wen's strongest trump card had finally stepped into the sixth-layer Realm.

With this power, he was only the time required for nurturing it to Perfection away from threshold marquis combat power.

The real Li Wen inside the quiet room couldn't help but have a very faint curve appear at the corner of his mouth, which then quickly vanished.

Just as Li Wen successfully finished inscribing the sixth-layer rune of the God-Shocking Sting in the quiet room on Nine Heavens Peak and felt slightly mentally fatigued,

deep within a desolate mountain Peak located in the border area between Qingshi County and Antai County, not too far from Qingshi County,

the night was deep and everything was silent; even the chirping of insects had vanished.

In the shadow of a huge rock, a figure seemed to blend into the surrounding darkness, his Aura completely withdrawn like a venomous snake that had been lying in wait for a long time, without a single trace leaking out.

His face was covered by a cold, snake-shaped mask, revealing only a pair of eyes devoid of any emotion. His gaze pierced through layers of mountains, coldly casting toward the direction of Antai County.

He had been lurking here for several hours.

Suddenly, an extremely faint spatial fluctuation, which an ordinary person would find impossible to detect, was transmitted from the direction of Antai County territory, like a pebble thrown into stagnant water.

Although they weren't extremely close, that unique energy ripple was still accurately captured by his perception.

Almost at the same time.

Deep underground in Antai County, that Interstellar Gate, which had been silent for several months, suddenly erupted with a strong, eerie blue light.

Countless complex light patterns flowed rapidly across the gate frame, spatial ripples distorted the scene inside the gate, and a violent and unfamiliar Demonic Qi gushed out like a physical substance!

"Woo—woo—woo—!!!"

The shrill and ear-piercing alarm instantly tore through the tranquility of the entire Underground Fortress Pass.

Red warning lights flashed crazily, casting a blood-red glow on the cold alloy walls.

"Assemble! Emergency assembly!"

"Enemy attack! The Interstellar Gate has been activated!"

"Quick! Maximum combat readiness!"

Scrambled footsteps, tense and urgent shouts, and the sounds of equipment clashing intertwined.

God-Fiend warriors on duty and on break rushed out from every corner, sprinting toward their designated battle positions at the fastest speed.

Everyone's expression was extremely solemn; not a trace of their usual relaxation could be found.

The reason was simple.

The Yao Race were not stupid beasts; after the first invasion, every time they launched an attack, it inevitably meant they had gathered enough troops behind the gate that they believed they had sufficient certainty.

Every time the alarm sounded, it was a life-or-death, incredibly difficult battle to hold the pass.

Every invasion could cost a price in blood, just like the battle of Qingshi County.

The eerie blue light reached its Peak, and the spatial vortex in the center of the Interstellar Gate rotated crazily.

The first batch of invaders appeared.

The number was twenty!

Twenty figures crossed the Interstellar Gate simultaneously, their heavy bodies landing and stirring up visible waves of Demonic Qi.

They were of various forms, but without exception, the energy fluctuations they emitted had all reached the Bright Moon Realm Late Stage.

The pressure belonging to the Yao Race, mixed with a violent and bloodthirsty Aura, filled the entire underground space.

This was the limit of the energy a small-to-medium-sized Interstellar Gate could transmit at once.

The first batch being twenty Bright Moon Realm Late Stage Yao was an extremely rare and dangerous opening.

Their appearance alone meant that the Yao Race's determination this time was extraordinary.

The twenty Late Stage Yao stepped onto Blue Star territory and did not immediately launch a mindless charge, but instead quickly formed a stable formation.

Cold beast pupils scanned the Human Race defense team that was waiting in solemn formation, seemingly evaluating, and even more so waiting—waiting for the Flying Star Rank Yao soldiers to be transmitted afterward.

"Requesting reinforcements! Maximum-level red alert for reinforcements! Antai County is facing a large-scale invasion, first batch confirmed as twenty Bright Moon Realm Late Stage Yao! Repeat, twenty Bright Moon Realm Late Stage Yao!"

The defense captain roared into his communicator with all his might, his voice hoarse and breaking.

The disparity in strength before them was too great; requesting reinforcements was the only way to survive.

There was no nonsense.

Almost at the same time the captain shouted for reinforcements, the gazes of both sides met in the air.

One side was facing a great enemy, ready to die; the other side was cruel and bloodthirsty, certain of victory.

The battle broke out instantly!

The Human Race defense team had only ten God-Fiends. Although there were experts among them, under the double disadvantage of absolute quantity and quality, they fell into an extremely passive situation upon the first contact.

Exquisite cooperation and the will to fight to the death barely maintained the defense line in local areas for the time being, but the overall situation was already like a broken dam, irreversibly sliding toward the abyss of collapse.

Blades flashed and swords shadows loomed as Demonic Qi surged everywhere.

The sturdy Underground Fortress Pass passages had turned into a meat grinder, where the loud bangs of energy collisions, the clanging of weapons, the muffled groans of the wounded, and the roars of the Yao Race mingled with piercing alarms to weave a symphony of despair and tragedy.

Every breath was accompanied by new wounds and fading strength.

Defeat seemed to be only a matter of time.

An Aura of despair silently spread among the Human Race garrison members as casualties rapidly mounted.

The red alert from the Antai County Interstellar Gate tore through the night, the signal piercing through space and instantly reaching Li Wen's communication terminal in Qingshi County.

Without the slightest hesitation, and without even having time to give further instructions, Li Wen's figure had already turned into a stream of light, shooting toward the aircraft on the landing pad.

The hatch closed, the engine let out a low roar, and the aircraft instantly broke the sound barrier, turning into a silver meteor tearing through the night sky, heading straight for Antai County at a terrifying speed of dozens of Mach.

Shortly after the aircraft piloted by Li Wen sped away, a figure silently emerged above Qingshi County.

It was the Cloud Dragon King, who had arrived several days ago.

Without relying on any external objects, his figure paused slightly as if merging into a gentle breeze, and in the next moment, he followed at a speed not at all inferior to that of the aircraft.

His posture was leisurely, yet the trajectory he drew through the air was too fast for the naked eye to discern.

Meanwhile, in the shadows of a desolate Peak at the border of Antai County and Qingshi County, a figure stood like molten rock, its Aura restrained so perfectly that not a drop leaked out.

Beneath that cold, dark silver mask carved with intricate snake patterns, icy eyes pierced through the darkness, firmly locking onto the silver light racing across the horizon—Li Wen's aircraft.

“He's here,” came a raspy self-mutter, barely audible.

When the aircraft entered a certain invisible threshold, the figure on the desolate mountain suddenly moved.

There was no world-shaking commotion, only a cold, vast, and terrifying pressure that seemed to freeze the Soul suddenly descended.

Boom!

An invisible Aura, like hundreds of millions of tons of seawater pressing down from above, instantly enveloped the entire airspace.

The high-speed aircraft felt as if it had slammed into an invisible wall of divine iron; its speed plummeted, and the fuselage let out an overburdened groan.

Inside the cockpit, Li Wen's pupils suddenly constricted, and a massive sense of crisis rooted in biological instinct pierced his spine like an icicle.

In an instant, he felt as if the surrounding space was completely solidified and locked down; his blood seemed to stop flowing, and even his thoughts became sluggish.

That was an absolute suppression of Rank, the 'Aura' of a King-level Expert!

Through the porthole, Li Wen clearly saw the figure suspended in the air ahead.

The dark silver snake-patterned mask glinted coldly in the faint light; the opponent merely stood there calmly, yet seemed to be the center of the entire world.

He raised his hand, and a giant claw condensed purely from dark energy appeared out of thin air, ignoring spatial distance. With fingers spread wide and carrying a destructive Aura that could annihilate everything, it struck down ruthlessly toward the aircraft—or rather, toward Li Wen inside. The shadow of death instantly gripped Li Wen's heart.

In the face of this claw, the speed, power, and Blade Technique he took pride in seemed utterly pale and powerless; there was truly no escape. Just as the dark giant claw was about to touch the aircraft, a sudden change occurred!

A gentle yet irresistible force silently swept across, completely encompassing the airspace where Li Wen was located.

This power had no violent momentum, yet it carried a supreme majesty and an unfathomable depth.

As if the warm spring sun had melted hard ice, or a clear stream had washed away filth—it was the Cloud Dragon King's Domain.

Buzz!

The King-rank pressure enveloping Li Wen vanished without a trace, like mist scattered by the wind.

That dark giant claw, capable of easily crushing stars, dissolved and disintegrated silently upon touching that layer of soft radiance, as if it had never existed.

In the next moment, an even more majestic and profound pressure erupted with the Cloud Dragon King as its center!

Like a sleeping dragon opening its eyes, its momentum was brilliant, and its pressure was like the actual vault of heaven collapsing, instantly covering dozens of kilometers around.

Under the terrifying Aura of this top-tier King-rank existence, all things fell silent, and even the stars seemed to dim.

The figure of the Leader of the Snake Department stiffened slightly the moment the Cloud Dragon King's Domain appeared.

Facing the suddenly appearing Cloud Dragon King, a look of 'as expected' flashed in his eyes beneath the mask; there was no surprise, nor any intention of getting entangled.

“Humph!” An ambiguous cold snort.

Almost at the same time the Cloud Dragon King erupted with his full Aura, the Leader of the Snake Department's figure turned into a distorted shadow.

Without the slightest hesitation or testing, he tore through space directly and fled in the opposite direction of Antai County, his speed also surpassing all limits.

“Trying to leave?” The Cloud Dragon King's low voice was calm and steady as his figure also merged into the Void Realm, like a streak of green light, instantly piercing the sky in pursuit.

The figures of the two King-level Experts were so fast that not even an afterimage remained before they disappeared into the pitch-black background of the Universe.

Everything happened in a flash.

From the Leader of the Snake Department launching the surprise attack to the Cloud Dragon King saving the day and then the two of them chasing each other into the distance, only a few breaths had passed.

The aircraft hovered in mid-air; Li Wen stood before the porthole, his back soaked in cold sweat.

That terrifying sense of oppression between life and death just now, that destructive claw capable of crushing him thousands of times over, was deeply branded into his Sea of Consciousness.

The power of the King-rank—even just observing that brief glimpse of an Aura collision—left his mind and Soul shaken, truly making him realize the cruelty of the saying 'all below Marquis-Rank are as ants.'

“Too strong... just a tiny bit of the aftershock could have shattered me to pieces...” Li Wen murmured to himself, his heart still drumming wildly.

But he knew now was not the time for shock.

The Cloud Dragon King had gone in pursuit of the enemy, but the danger was not over.

The moment his mind settled slightly, his Primordial Spirit Power—which had become exceptionally sharp after multiple Scholar Rank enhancements—

Suddenly captured an extremely hidden energy fluctuation coming from somewhere on the desolate mountain below, which quickly turned into an icy killing intent.

“There's an ambush!” Li Wen's eyes turned sharp as he decisively pressed the emergency button. A small hatch opened in the belly of the aircraft, and he shot out like a sharp arrow.

Almost as he left the aircraft, a cold light like a venomous snake's tongue suddenly erupted from within the desolate mountain below.

Whoosh!

A figure with incredible speed arrived first despite starting later, instantly intercepting the descending Li Wen in mid-air.

The newcomer's figure was shrouded in a dark uniform, and they also wore a snake-shaped mask on their face.

However, the material was clearly much worse than that of the Leader of the Snake Department from before, and the patterns were somewhat crude.

Nevertheless, this person's Aura was equally startling.

A storm-like sweeping energy announced his Realm—the Peak of the Great Sun Realm.

What made Li Wen's heart even more solemn was that the Aura this person emitted carried a hint of the 'Dao'.

That was the sign of a technique Realm stepping into the Dao Realm.

The foundational power of the Peak Great Sun Realm, combined with a technique Realm of the Dao Realm, meant his comprehensive combat strength was already infinitely close to the threshold of the Marquis-Rank.

Furthermore, Li Wen clearly perceived that the opponent had also condensed a Primordial Spirit.

“It seems the Shadow Snake Division really thinks highly of me.” Li Wen's thoughts raced as his expression grew grave.

The assassin the opponent sent had strength far exceeding his public record of killing a Fox Yao who had just entered the Great Sun Realm.

Such a configuration was clearly brought with the determination to kill.

The eyes beneath the mask were cold, and the killing intent was undisguised.

Facing Li Wen, this person had no intention of wasting words, nor did he show any contempt because Li Wen's Physical Body Realm was 'merely' at the Peak of the Bright Moon Realm.

The moment the killing intent surged, a sharp claw shadow that seemed capable of tearing through the void already covered Li Wen's head. The power contained within the claw shadow was enough to easily tear through alloys.

Clearly, the time the Leader of the Snake Department had bought for him was extremely limited, perhaps only a short minute.

He had to complete the kill and flee the scene before the countdown for the Cloud Dragon King's potential return ended.

“Humph!”

Faced with this fatal strike, there was no fear in Li Wen's eyes; instead, a trace of almost crazy, burning Battle Intent ignited.

He did not choose to rely on speed to maneuver, but made a judgment in an instant.

Buzz!

A strange and absolute tranquility descended upon the core of Li Wen's consciousness—Absolute Focus, activated!