177: Chapter 177 The Way of the Sword is Accomplished, Descendant of the Demon Queen

Concept, Rhyme, Spirit, Quality, and Domain—these five were no longer independent Moves.

Instead, they were five kinds of Origin comprehension flowing through the blood, surging within the True Qi, and branded upon the Soul.

They resonated with each other, pulling at one another.

Driven by Li Wen's consciousness, they began to attempt an unprecedented Fusion.

His movements became extremely slow; every tiny shift of the blade tip felt like pushing a ten-thousand-jun mountain, tearing through invisible barriers.

At first, it was like streams merging, carrying a raw friction and probing.

Gradually, the Intent became rounded and fluid; the "Concept" belonging to different Moves began to accommodate and stack upon one another.

The Yao demonic Qi coiling around his body rolled violently under the oscillation of the Saber Intent.

It was as if it had encountered a natural enemy, yet it was forcibly restrained and suppressed by this "Dao" that was taking shape, even faintly being drawn into the operational trajectory of the Intent, adding a touch of desolate, killing atmosphere.

Time blurred and slipped away in absolute focus.

The mountain breeze stilled, as if also subdued by this brewing pressure.

Suddenly!

Li Wen's eyes shot out an unprecedented, brilliant divine light, and an invisible ripple centered on his body erupted outward!

"Crack"

It was not a real sound, but a clear sensation of shattering originating from the level of the spirit and Soul.

That long-standing Bottleneck, like shattered glass, was completely pulverized.

Hum—!

The entire mountaintop seemed to tremble slightly.

Immediately after, an unprecedented, wondrous feeling enveloped Li Wen.

The surrounding world was no longer just space; it seemed to be filled with countless flowing, tangible, and perceptible energy lines and pulses.

The rhythms of the mountain rocks, vegetation, air, and even the planet beneath his feet were clearly reflected in his Primordial Spirit perception, within reach.

This was the Dao Realm—deep communication with the world, controlling the power of the heavens and earth!

With a slight shift of his mind, without needing complex Moves, and without even mobilizing much of his own True Qi, he casually slashed out a blade, drawing a wisp of surrounding heaven and earth power, so subtle it was almost negligible, to attach to the blade edge.

Swish!

A nearly ten-zhang crescent-shaped light cyan Qi blast flew off the blade, silently sinking into a hard mountain rock tens of meters high, hundreds of meters away.

Soundless and traceless.

The next moment, the giant rock slid along the smooth cut surface, the upper half slowly sliding off, the fracture as smooth as a mirror.

The imperceptible energy fluctuations remaining at the cut contained a sharpness and condensation that any full-power burst of a Blade Soul Realm master before could not reach.

Li Wen's eyes shone with a brilliant light.

He discovered that the Blade Technique he had been accustomed to in the past seemed to have been imbued with a brand-new life at this moment.

Even the most basic blade trajectory, under the resonance and blessing of the power of the heavens and earth, produced an effect that turned decay into magic; its power, speed, and Concept all jumped to a brand-new level.

The immense joy of first arriving at a new Realm turned into infinite motivation.

Li Wen no longer suppressed himself, unleashing his skills to his heart's content on this nameless mountaintop.

His figure was like the wind, the blade light like a rainbow; at times, he drew upon the power of the gale, whipping up sand and stones across the sky; at times, he pulled at the pulses of the earth, causing the rocks beneath his feet to hum and resonate; at times, he condensed the thin, icy water vapor in the Void Realm, turning it into biting frost crystals that danced with the blade—

He was immersed in the experience of the perfect Fusion of the power of the heavens and earth and his own Saber Intent, constantly testing and constantly comprehending.

The energy ripples triggered by his every Move grew wider and stronger.

Meanwhile, deep within the Underground Fortress Pass of Changning City, in the Spatial Anomaly Fluctuation Monitoring Center.

On the giant curved screen wall, dense streams of data and regional light points flickered.

Suddenly, at the edge of a block representing the western suburbs of Changning City, a blinding red light flashed! A sharp alarm sounded abruptly!

"Warning! High-intensity unknown energy source detected! Location: Nameless mountain area in the western suburbs of Changning City!"

"Energy level rising sharply! Peak value has broken the threshold—and is still rising!"

"Intensity is approaching Threat Rank!"

The monitoring room instantly fell silent enough to hear a pin drop, with only the harsh wailing of the alarm.

Several young monitors turned pale, staring dumbfounded at the blinding red light on the screen that represented a destructive threat.

"Quick! Zoom in on the image! See what it is!" someone shouted with a trembling voice.

The operator's fingers tapped rapidly, and the satellite optical view instantly focused on the nameless mountaintop.

However, the screen showed a violently distorted and blurred image, as if heavily shrouded by a layer of invisible interference waves; no matter how they switched resolutions or filter modes, they could not see any details of the core area.

"Report! Unable to parse! The energy field interference is too strong, satellite imaging has failed!"

"What should we do? Notify the emergency response team? Activate the city defense plan?" Panic was spreading.

"What are you panicking about!" A calm voice rang out at the doorway.

Captain Zhao Zheng walked in quickly with several core team members. His sharp gaze swept over the blurred red light area on the screen, where terrifying energy values were rolling; although his face was solemn, there was no panic.

He walked to the main console in a few steps, looked carefully at the coordinate point, and his tense body visibly relaxed a little.

"Captain, this is—" a team member asked nervously.

Captain Zhao Zheng raised his hand to stop him, his eyes fixed on the core location of the energy chaos, while an unconcealable look of amazement gradually rose in his eyes.

He took a deep breath, his tone revealing a complex and indescribable emotion: "Don't worry. This place—is the mountaintop where Team Leader Li usually practices his blade."

Hearing this, everyone was stunned at first, then looked at the red light on the screen in disbelief, and then at Captain Zhao Zheng.

Captain Zhao Zheng pointed to the violent energy field: "You can't see through it because the power of the heavens and earth there has been completely stirred up. This—is an unavoidable phenomenon when communicating with the heavens and earth and drawing upon surrounding energy after stepping into the Dao Realm."

He paused, his voice carrying a hint of emotion, "Although this commotion—is indeed a bit big. An enviable commotion."

After the shock, immense joy immediately surged into everyone's hearts.

Li Wen had broken through! This news was more exciting than any energy source.

"So that's it—then what about this energy alarm?"

"Keep monitoring and record the parameters. However, the warning level can be downgraded; it is not an enemy attack."

Captain Zhao Zheng showed a heartfelt smile, "It's a good thing, a huge good thing."

His heart was surging with emotion.

He was also a Dao Realm expert and knew well the difficulty and terror of this Realm.

The stronger Li Wen was, the more confident the defense line of Changning City and even the entire Jiangnan Province would be with him stationed here.

Just as everyone in the monitoring room was discussing excitedly, Li Wen, who was drawing upon the power of the heavens and earth and performing the "Space-Splitting" Concept to the point of changing the weather, keenly captured a trace of spiritual attention and satellite microwave detection fluctuations from far underground.

Although the fluctuation was weak, it was crystal clear before his third-layer Primordial Spirit perception.

"Detected, huh—" Li Wen understood in his heart.

He did not want to expose the detailed state of his Breakthrough too much.

With a slight shift of his mind, the power of the heavens and earth that had been violently rolling and dissipating in all directions instantly became restrained and orderly.

With his newly formed "Saber Dao Intent" as the core, he finely stirred and folded the chaotic energy field covering several miles around him.

In an instant, the invisible interference field increased several times, completely isolating all precise detection signals in this area, truly becoming as difficult to spy on as a black hole.

In the monitoring room, the screen, which was still struggling to parse the blurred image data, instantly turned into complete static noise.

"The signal is completely lost—"

"As expected of Team Leader Li—"

Everyone was amazed, yet all were filled with respect.

After confirming that the outside world could not probe, Li Wen settled his heart again.

He was not in a hurry to consolidate his new Realm; instead, he restrained the majestic power he had drawn from the heavens and earth and began to try another kind of combination.

He injected a wisp of Primordial Spirit Power, like weaving the most precise thread, carefully into the surging torrent of True Qi.

He did not draw his blade, only slightly slashed with his True Qi-infused fingertip.

Sizzle!

A twisted, transparent crack remained in the air, lingering for a long time, and a sharpness so fierce that it was enough to make an ordinary Great Sun Realm expert tremble suddenly erupted and then instantly retracted.

"Integrating the Primordial Spirit into True Qi, combined with the Blade Technique of the Dao Realm—" Li Wen carefully experienced it, a sharp light flashing in his eyes, "A full-power burst in this state, the conventional combat power—is infinitely close to the threshold marquis Rank!"

Suppressing a trace of excitement in his heart, he immediately tried the second method—integrating Primordial Spirit Power into the Physical Body.

He switched paths, sinking his mind completely into his Physical Body.

The massive Primordial Spirit Power no longer spread outward to combine with True Qi, but completely retracted, turning into an invisible quenching and power source, merging into every inch of tendons, bones, and flesh, hidden deep within the Qi, blood, and bone marrow.

Hum!

A feeling of incomparably powerful strength welled up from within.

No light shone from his body, yet his entire being exuded a terrifying sense of solidity and strength, as if forged from immortal divine iron.

He threw a casual punch, and the air was blasted into a tangible sonic boom wave; the pressure from the fist wind was so great that trees over ten meters away bent and swayed.

"Primordial Spirit fusing with the Physical Body—" Li Wen felt a power boost far greater than when fusing with True Qi, and a qualitative leap in his Physical Body strength, finally confirming: "In this state, relying solely on Physical Body strength combined with the power of heaven and earth that I have initially grasped, my conventional combat power has firmly reached the level of—a true 'threshold marquis'!"

This meant that, as of now, whether in the True Qi attack system guided by Blade Technique skills or in the aspect of Primordial Spirit secret arts, he already stood firmly above the threshold marquis level.

It had been little more than a year since he first entered the Great Sun Realm, yet he already possessed two Marquis Level combat methods; such progress could only be called terrifying.

However, Li Wen's gaze had already moved past his current achievements, falling toward a clearer, higher Peak.

"Once the Physical Body Realm is polished to the Peak of the Great Sun Realm, and the essence of life completes its transition—"

Li Wen's heart was clear; he looked inward, and his True Qi was surging, having reached the Middle Stage of the Great Sun Realm.

At that time, the three aspects of power would be completely fused into one, and with deep accumulation and thin emission, he would cross more than just a small step.

He would directly possess—the strength of a Top Tier Marquis Level!

Only then would he truly have the pivotal power to stabilize the situation on the battlefield against those veteran Yao Kings and even King-rank opponents.

The setting sun outlined long shadows on the nameless mountain Peak.

A purple rainbow light shone once again, but compared to when he arrived, this light was far more restrained and profound, as if carrying the momentum of the entire world, and it vanished in an instant in the direction of Changning City.

August 1st, 234, galactic calendar.

A full month had passed since Li Wen broke through to the "Dao Realm" of Blade Technique on the nameless mountain Peak in the western suburbs.

During this month, his mastery over the power of heaven and earth became more proficient. Combined with his Primordial Spirit, every time he patrolled the Changning City defensive line, a slight movement of his Divine Thought allowed him to perceive the flow of aura within a range of dozens of miles.

At this moment, he had just finished a routine patrol and was standing on a high slope outside Changning City, overlooking the orderly defensive line.

The sunlight was intense, baking the ground and causing steaming heat to rise.

Suddenly, a cold sensation on his wrist broke this tranquility.

The smart bracelet he was wearing shook violently, and a glaring red light flashed silently as an urgent rescue alert was projected onto the light screen before his eyes.

[Highest Level Red Alert!]

[Source: Xilin City Interstellar Gate Fortress]

[Alert Level: Fortress pass in critical condition, defensive forces on the verge of collapse! Requesting urgent patrol reinforcements!]

"Xilin City?" Li Wen frowned slightly.

Ever since Blue Star implemented the strategy of merging counties and cities to consolidate, a large amount of defensive power had been concentrated in key cities.

Strategic strongholds like Changning and Xilin had their garrison forces greatly strengthened, with a sufficient number of Great Sun Realm God-Demons and even experts of the Dao Realm stationed there.

Unless they encountered an extremely dangerous situation, they would rarely send such a level of cross-regional requests for help to neighboring cities.

This meant that the pressure Xilin City was facing at this moment likely exceeded the maximum bearing capacity of the fortress garrison.

Every time such a call for help sounded, it meant that the front line had reached a life-or-death moment, and every second was incredibly precious.

Without a moment of hesitation!

"Swish—!"

Li Wen's figure instantly disappeared from where he stood, leaving only a very faint trail of light in the air.

He did not choose to return to the Changning City Underground Fortress Pass to take a high-speed aircraft; instead, he traveled directly through the air, instantly pushing his speed to the limit.

In the past, he would never have done this.

Even though his own speed in the air was already comparable to a newly Advanced King-rank God-Demon, there was still a gap compared to the Human Race's most Advanced shuttle aircraft.

In the past, he would rather spend a few extra seconds returning to the fortress pass to ensure stability and speed.

But now, after stepping into the Dao Realm, everything was different.

His profound understanding of all things in heaven and earth seemed to have brought him into a strange, harmonious resonance with this space.

The air resistance was greatly reduced, as if the flowing water had opened its arms to him.

His numerical limit speed itself did not increase significantly, but in this low-resistance environment, the actual speed he displayed was forcefully raised by several levels.

This speed had already surpassed the air-travel speed of conventional King-rank God-Demons and was even faster than the fastest aircraft.

Return to the fortress pass? That would waste at least five to ten precious seconds.

In this level of rescue, five seconds could determine the survival of a city and the life or death of hundreds of comrades.

Purple-gold True Qi formed a sharp air shield on Li Wen's body, separating him from the violent air currents at high altitude and reducing resistance to the minimum.

He transformed into a brilliant rainbow light tearing through the sky, sweeping over the rapidly receding landscape below, with his target pointed straight at—Xilin City.

Space was compressed and distorted during his high-speed flight, and time seemed to become viscous.

Meanwhile, at the outer battlefield of the Xilin City Interstellar Gate Fortress.

The energy fluctuations were violent and chaotic.

The fortress's energy shield had long since been shattered by the violent impact.

The ground was covered with burning combat vehicles, craters, and traces of battles between God-Demons and the Yao Race.

The garrison forces, with their captain—a Peak Great Sun Realm God-Demon who had comprehended the "Dao Realm"—as the core, had barely managed to form a defensive circular formation.

Each of them was an outstanding talent within the Great Sun Realm, enough to guard a region in the past, but at this moment, they were being firmly suppressed.

The number of Yao Race surrounding and killing them was not large, only about twenty, but each one had a fierce aura, and the lowest among them was at the Peak of the Great Sun Realm.

Among them, there were five figures as dazzling as burning stars, each attack carrying the power to shake space.

They were the direct blood descendants of the Yao Emperor! They were the true Prodigies of the younger generation in the Monster Realm!

The Tiger Yao "Xiaolie" had a body as majestic as a small mountain, with fur like burning black flames.

He wielded a pair of giant hammers covered in demonic patterns; they were heavy and powerful, and each hammer blow carried a destructive shockwave that made even space tremble, forcing several Peak Great Sun Realm Human Race God-Demons to retreat repeatedly while blocking together, their palms splitting open.

The Peng Yao "Lingfeng" was incredibly fast, leaving trails of afterimages on the battlefield.

He held dual blades, his figure flickering in and out of existence, adept at launching fatal sneak attacks from tricky angles.

The vibration of his wings stirred up gale winds as sharp as blades, cutting through defensive shields like tearing paper.

The joint defense of the Human Race God-Demons was cut open many times as he found gaps with his ghostly speed.

The Turtle Yao "Panyan" was huge in size, carrying a cyan shell like a mountain, with runes flowing on the shell.

He stood at the very front of the battlefield, acting as a mobile fortress.

Any attack landing on that shell could only stir up ripples, making it difficult to break through the defense.

Waves of thick, earthy-yellow energy fields spread from his body, continuously suppressing the speed and True Qi circulation of the Human Race God-Demons, as if they had fallen into a quagmire.

His existence was the most despair-inducing Wall of Sighs for the coalition forces.

The Snake Yao "Youtong" had a relatively slender figure, but his eyes were strange vertical pupils, flashing with a jade-green light that made one's spirit sway.

His attacks carried strong mental erosion and deadly poison.

The long whip in his hand was like a poisonous dragon emerging from its cave, and the sprayed poisonous mist spread, making the nearby space viscous and corrosive, greatly weakening the mental perception and reaction speed of the Human Race God-Demons.

Even more fatal was his snake-tongue-like sword tip, which contained terrifying penetrating power, specifically designed to break through protective True Qi.

The Fox Yao "Fuye" was the leader of the five Yao, and his aura was the most mysterious and profound.

He was not the strongest in Physical Body, nor the most ferocious in attack, but his movement technique was as elusive as a ghost under the moon, and as his hands formed seals, Spells emerged one after another.

Ice shards, fireballs, and electric snakes intertwined into a net of destruction, accurately covering the weak points of the Human Race's defense.

More importantly, his long, narrow fox eyes flashed with a luster that insightfully perceived the battlefield, and he could always command the four Yao around him in time to avoid the desperate counterattacks of the Human Race God-Demons.

He was the true Soul core of the entire Yao Race coalition.

Under the joint command and fierce attack of these five Yao Emperor blood descendants, combined with more than ten equally powerful Peak Great Sun Realm Yao Generals, the Human Race garrison was exhausted, and their formation was constantly being compressed and torn apart.