183: Chapter 183 A Mere Threshold to Become a Marquis

Viper Tooth did not have the habit of wasting words; his figure instantly blurred, leaving only a lingering afterimage in his place.

The real him had already appeared like a ghost on Captain Zhao Zheng's flank, his palm transforming into a claw, five fingertips extending ghastly green energy blade-lights, stabbing directly at Captain Zhao Zheng's ribs.

This strike was ruthless and tricky, and it also contained powerful Primordial Spirit Power erosion; if it were an ordinary Great Sun Realm Peak, they would be severely injured instantly.

Captain Zhao Zheng was startled but not panicked; he let out a loud shout, and the Primordial Spirit Power he had just condensed erupted without reservation, mobilizing his True Qi to form a thick, golden light shield in front of him.

"Puchi!"

The energy blade-lights pierced into the light shield, emitting a harsh, eroding sound.

The light shield fluctuated violently, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared at the edges.

Captain Zhao Zheng was pushed back repeatedly by a tremendous force, his Qi and blood surging, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

The gap was clearly revealed; he was barely holding on and was completely at a disadvantage.

But holding on for a period of time was already enough.

Just as he was hard-resisting this strike, Captain Zhao Zheng quietly crushed a simple-looking jade talisman he had been holding tightly in his hand.

A faint but extremely unique spatial fluctuation suddenly spread, penetrating this area faster and more covertly than ordinary signal transmission.

Almost at the same instant that Captain Zhao Zheng was attacked and the energy shield collapsed, producing the first violent energy explosion.

In a quiet room temporarily carved out inside an inconspicuous mountain hundreds of miles away, King Shanyu, who was sitting cross-legged, suddenly opened his eyes.

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and a very faint smile crossed his lips as he whispered: "The fish has finally taken the bait."

As soon as the words fell, King Shanyu's figure disappeared into thin air like a bubble within the quiet room, leaving only an imperceptible ripple of space in his place.

The next instant, he had turned into an invisible, brilliant streak, tearing through the sky and flying at high speed toward the coordinate point where Captain Zhao Zheng's distress signal was emitted.

At the same time, in the Underground Fortress Pass control center of Changning City, the alarm siren representing high-intensity energy conflict suddenly sounded.

A blinding red light instantly lit up Captain Zhao Zheng's location on the map, and the energy index instantly soared to the warning line of a Marquis Level collision.

Li Wen, who had just returned to the courtyard, received the highest-level emergency buzzing and coordinate information on his wrist communicator simultaneously.

His pupils constricted, and his gaze landed on the direction of that familiar coordinate—it was an area that Captain Zhao Zheng had to pass through on his route to the Kindling Hall.

"Senior Brother Zhao?!" Li Wen's heart sank sharply, and he reacted instantly.

Without any hesitation, he stepped out of the quiet room, and the True Qi and Qi and blood power around his body erupted with a bang, the terrifying speed granted by the Nine Heavens Divine Body Nine-Layer Perfection instantly displayed to the extreme.

"Shu—!"

A blazing rainbow light tore through the sky at a speed invisible to the naked eye, directly penetrating the defensive energy layer above Changning City; its speed was so fast that it even left a briefly lingering vacuum channel behind it.

Its momentum was even a fraction faster than that of King Shanyu just now!

In the desolate valley, the battle was becoming increasingly intense.

Viper Tooth's attacks were like a violent storm, ruthless and tricky.

Captain Zhao Zheng pushed his newly acquired Primordial Spirit Power to the limit, and combined with exquisite defensive martial arts, he was like a small boat in surging waves under the Marquis Level fierce attack; although it seemed like he could capsize at any moment, he stubbornly turned danger into safety time and time again.

The ground was blasted into huge deep pits, and gravel flew everywhere.

The injuries on his body were increasing, and his movements were becoming somewhat sluggish, but his eyes were becoming increasingly calm and concentrated; beneath that appearance of "terror" was a kind of steady and solid resilience.

"A dying struggle!" Viper Tooth had been attacking for a long time without success, and a trace of impatience and irritability flashed in his eyes, making his attacks even more frantic.

He decided not to delay any longer, spread the fingers of both hands, and a more cold and terrifying energy began to gather in his palms, preparing to launch a kill strike.

Just at this critical moment!

A gaze so sharp it was enough to sever the spirit seemed to cross space and instantly locked onto Viper Tooth.

Following that, a cold voice exploded over the valley like rolling thunder: "How dare a mere threshold marquis run wild here; you are courting death!"

Before the voice had faded, a blade light, as dazzling as the scorching sun, carrying a majestic Saber Intent that could sever everything and annihilate the Void Realm, tore through the sky, arriving before the sound and appearing above Viper Tooth's head faster than the voice itself.

This blade light was sharp and exposed, and it also contained a terrifying Primordial Spirit will that far exceeded that of an ordinary Great Sun Realm.

The sudden attack interrupted Viper Tooth's charging.

He turned his head in shock, only to see a figure wearing a standard human combat uniform swooping down at an inconceivable speed; before the person arrived, that violent Saber Intent already made his Primordial Spirit feel a stinging pain.

"Li Wen?!" Captain Zhao Zheng's heart shook violently, and he almost blurted it out; the "terror" on his face was instantly replaced by genuine surprise.

The core of the distress signal he sent was a special encrypted channel given to King Shanyu; how could Li Wen be the first to arrive? This was completely beyond his plan.

Just in the split second that Captain Zhao Zheng was stunned, Li Wen, with full firepower, had already arrived.

The Absolute Focus state was activated, and the Primordial Spirit Power of the fourth layer of the Day-Roaming Realm was injected into the blade without reservation.

The terrifying blade light that was originally intended to kill Captain Zhao Zheng was seized and redirected by Li Wen with one hand, tracing a profound arc and carrying the collapsing power as heavy as a mountain, slashing fiercely at Viper Tooth who was hurriedly defending.

The ghastly green energy shield that Viper Tooth had hurriedly condensed collided fiercely with the incoming blade edge.

"Bang—!!"

The harsh sound of energy explosion swept through the entire valley.

Viper Tooth only felt a tremendous, irresistible force slam into his body along his arms, and his Primordial Spirit experienced a violent shock.

He let out a muffled groan and was actually slashed by this heavy, powerful blade, his feet leaving the ground, and he flew backward uncontrollably, crashing heavily into the mountain wall, with dust and smoke filling the air.

Before he could land and steady himself, Li Wen's figure had already followed like a shadow.

The terrifying blade moves of the Xuanqiong Five Styles unfolded continuously; there were no complicated techniques, only blade paths that were fast to the extreme, heavy to the extreme, and accurate to the extreme.

Each blade carried the charm of the "Dao Realm" that could tear apart everything, accompanied by the Soul pressure of the fourth-layer Primordial Spirit.

"Bang! Boom! Clang!"

Viper Tooth was both shocked and angry, completely suppressed by this storm-like offensive.

Although he had the Marquis Level Realm and a stronger energy foundation, he was tied up in front of Li Wen's extreme speed, violent power, and the perfect Fusion of Saber Intent and Primordial Spirit.

Every blade of Li Wen was heavy and powerful, accurately slashing at his weakest point of defense, leaving him exhausted and struggling to cope.

He was actually being beaten by a human in the Late Stage of the Great Sun Realm, slashed back and knocked flying time and again; the Qi and blood in his body surged endlessly, and even his Primordial Spirit faintly throbbed with pain; a trace of disbelief and panic finally arose in his heart.

"Damn it! This guy is not right!" Viper Tooth roared in his heart.

He was a marquis, and even if he was only close to a normal marquis, he should never be suppressed like this by someone in the Great Sun Realm.

Seeing that it was absolutely impossible to kill Captain Zhao Zheng as planned and that the mission had already failed, Viper Tooth made a decisive decision and did not linger any longer.

He risked taking a hard blow from Li Wen's blade aimed at his shoulder blade, used the force to forcibly twist his figure, turned into a twisted shadow, and fled frantically toward the other exit of the valley.

"Want to leave?" Li Wen's eyes sharpened, his speed erupted again, and he pursued relentlessly like an arrow released from a bow.

His speed was more than a notch faster than Viper Tooth's escape light, and the distance between the two was closing rapidly.

During the chase, thoughts flew through Li Wen's mind.

The runes of the seventh layer of the "God-Shocking Sting" lit up slightly in his Sea of Consciousness, and a powerful mental attack was ready to be launched, enough to deal a devastating blow to the opponent.

But after a slight hesitation, he finally decided not to reveal this trump card for the time being, and only used his absolute speed and power advantage to tightly entangle the opponent.

Just as Viper Tooth was about to escape the range of the valley, and Li Wen was preparing to speed up again to intercept him with full force, the entire sky suddenly darkened.

It was not dark clouds blocking the sun, but a trace of "subsidence" at the level of rules.

A tall, burly figure appeared silently over the valley, as if he had always been there.

He was dressed in simple, ancient battle armor, with his hands behind his back, standing as steady as a deep pool and a towering mountain.

Wherever his gaze reached, the space froze.

It was King Shanyu.

"Hmph, a tiny viper, how dare you run wild in this King's territory?" King Shanyu's voice was calm, but it carried an unquestionable majesty, like the laws of Heaven and Earth.

He extended his right hand and pressed it through the air toward the direction of the fleeing shadow.

In an instant, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi frantically gathered into an invisible giant hand.

Under the coverage of the giant hand, the expression on Viper Tooth's face, who had just rushed out of the valley, suddenly froze, turning into endless terror.

He felt that the surrounding space had instantly turned into a cage billions of times stronger than deep-sea black iron.

He was like a bug trapped in amber, unable to mobilize even a trace of True Qi, and his Primordial Spirit was wailing and disintegrating under that invisible rule pressure.

He didn't even have time to let out a scream.

That invisible giant hand simply closed gently, as if snuffing out a faint spark.

Pfft—

With a soft sound, the Marquis Level aura permeating the air, along with the Primordial Spirit fluctuations belonging to Viper Tooth, were instantly and completely annihilated without a trace.

Not even a speck of dust was stirred up.

King Shanyu withdrew his palm and turned his gaze toward Li Wen and Captain Zhao Zheng, who had just recovered from his shock.

When his gaze fell upon Li Wen, an undisguised sense of surprise and appreciation shone through his majesty.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would find it hard to believe that you, Junior Apprentice Brother Li, could suppress a Marquis-level Divine Demon in such a crushing manner while still in the Great Sun Realm. This talent is even more terrifying than the Principal anticipated." King Shanyu's voice was filled with heartfelt admiration.

At this moment, Captain Zhao Zheng also flew over to them, his face showing a complex sense of relief after the shock, along with a trace of imperceptible embarrassment.

King Shanyu looked at Captain Zhao Zheng and nodded slightly: "Junior Nephew Zhao, you've worked hard. You acted well, luring out a Marquis." He directly exposed the truth.

Li Wen paused, his gaze shifting between Captain Zhao Zheng and King Shanyu, and he immediately understood.

He looked at the genuine injuries on Captain Zhao Zheng's body, then thought of his own frantic, full-speed rush to reinforce him, and in the end, he could only shake his head with a wry smile: "I was wondering why I hadn't received a distress signal—so that's why."

King Shanyu laughed: "Usually, these rats hide too deeply. If we don't throw out some real, substantial bait, how can we lure them out? Captain Zhao Zheng condensing his Primordial Spirit is real, and this trip is indeed a critical step in his attempt to reach the Marquis Level. It's just that the rumors we spread were specifically designed to make him travel openly."

He looked at Captain Zhao Zheng, who looked calm: "You did well. How do you feel now? Are your injuries serious?"

Captain Zhao Zheng circulated his energy to suppress his roiling blood and qi, and said solemnly: "Thank you, Junior Martial Uncle, for acting in time. The injuries are not serious, mostly just the shock from clashing head-on with a Marquis. A bit of meditation will fix it. Junior Apprentice Brother Li—thank you for the reinforcement."

He looked at Li Wen, thanking him with a sincere gaze, his heart even more shaken by the terrifying strength Li Wen had displayed.

Li Wen waved his hand, signaling that there was no need to be polite.

King Shanyu looked in the direction of Kindling Hall: "That is good. There is no more danger here. I will escort you for a part of the way to ensure you arrive at Kindling Hall smoothly and complete the final step. Junior Apprentice Brother Li, Changning City still needs you to hold the fort. Also, regarding today's events, just tell the outside world that you arrived a step late; do not easily expose such exaggerated combat power."

"Yes, Junior Martial Uncle." Li Wen nodded in response, feeling at ease in his heart.

With King Shanyu personally escorting him, Captain Zhao Zheng's trip was now foolproof.

After the three of them briefly confirmed the plan, King Shanyu did not delay any longer. A gentle force of rules lifted Captain Zhao Zheng, and the two turned into streaks of light, continuing to fly toward Kindling Hall.

Li Wen watched the light disappear into the horizon and retracted his True Yuan.

Looking around at the chaotic battlefield, he did not linger.

A Long Rainbow reappeared, and with the same astonishing speed, he turned back and flew toward his post as a guardian of Changning City.

The wild valley returned to silence, with only the huge craters and charred marks silently recording the Marquis Level ambush and the shocking counter-reinforcement that had just occurred.

galactic calendar year 235, October 3rd, noon.

After Captain Zhao Zheng left for Kindling Hall, the personnel vacancy he left behind was soon filled.

An official transfer order document from Kindling Hall quietly arrived at the information terminal of the Changning City Underground Fortress Pass.

The content of the transfer order was very clear.

First, the former Vice Captain Li Wen is to assume the position of Captain of the Changning City Interstellar Gate Fortress Garrison, effective immediately.

Second, a new Vice Captain will be appointed by headquarters and will arrive soon.

To Li Wen, this change was nothing more than a natural handover of duties and did not cause much of a stir.

He was more concerned with the daily defense of the fortress pass and the clearing of newly infiltrated Yao Race members.

But for the others in the team, this was undoubtedly a matter worth celebrating.

"Captain Li, congratulations on your promotion!"

"Congratulations, congratulations, Captain Li!"

Li Wen, who had just finished his patrol, walked into the command room and was immediately surrounded by the team members who came to greet him, offering their congratulations in a chorus of voices.

Their smiles were an acknowledgement from the bottom of their hearts.

During his few years in Changning City, Li Wen had achieved brilliant military exploits, crushing the invasions of the Yao Race time and time again, and had long since established an unrivaled prestige.

Facing everyone's enthusiasm, Li Wen waved his hand with slight helplessness: "It's just a position; the duties remain the same. Everyone just needs to do their respective jobs."

But this obviously couldn't dampen the team members' excitement.

Seeing that he couldn't refuse, Li Wen had no choice but to comply with everyone's wishes: "Alright. In that case, tonight I will treat everyone to a small gathering in the canteen. We'll have a simple meal, which will serve as a farewell for Senior Brother Zhao's departure and the beginning of my—assuming my new office."

By the evening, the small canteen was brightly lit, and the atmosphere was exceptionally lively.

Almost all the team members had come.

During the meal, everyone raised their glasses one after another; what was poured in the cups was ordinary fruit wine from the logistics department, which was not particularly precious.

They toasted to Li Wen taking on heavy responsibilities, and also to Captain Zhao Zheng's bright future.

"Come, come, come, Captain Li, this cup is for you!"

"Captain Li, with you here in Changning, we all feel at ease. Let's have another!"

"Yes, I hope everything goes smoothly for Brother Zhao over there, and that he succeeds in his breakthrough soon!"

Li Wen also smiled and raised his glass to respond, drinking with everyone.

Although the drink in the cup was already like plain water to Divine Demons with cultivation above the Flying Star Realm, the camaraderie contained in this meal made it exceptionally precious.

After three rounds of drinks, everyone circulated their Cultivation Technique, and the insignificant alcohol molecules in their bodies were instantly vaporized and broken down, dissipating without a trace, leaving them as energetic as ever.

The next morning, at the first light of dawn.

After completing his routine high-altitude city patrol and inspection of the fortress defense nodes, Li Wen did not immediately return to his quiet room to study books or hone his Saber Intent as he usually did.

The new Vice Captain mentioned in the transfer order would arrive this morning.

As Captain, welcoming a new partner and colleague was a duty that should be fulfilled.

He tidied up his combat uniform and walked with steady steps toward the empty tarmac inside the Underground Fortress Pass.

Before long, a silver-gray high-speed aircraft bearing the emblem of Kindling Hall descended precisely into the designated position, accompanied by a low roar.

The engine airflow gradually subsided, and the cabin door slid open slowly.

A figure wearing a crisp combat uniform appeared at the cabin door.

The person was tall and straight, with a handsome face and eyes as sharp as a blade. He carried an aura of heroism from long-term combat and a trace of honed sharpness.

"Senior Brother Ling Feng?"

When that familiar face came into view, even though Li Wen's state of mind was as steady as a mountain, a clear trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.

The young man stepping onto the solid ground of Changning City was none other than Ling Feng.

Watching the fleeting astonishment on Li Wen's face, the corners of his mouth curled up into an imperceptible arc, carrying a sense of "as expected" realization and a trace of indescribable complexity.

"Junior Brother Li, have you been well?" Ling Feng's voice was clear and carried his usual crispness.

After a brief moment of surprise, Li Wen's face quickly returned to calmness, and his smile was sincere: "It really is you. Welcome to Changning City." He stepped forward.

The two men's gazes met in the air.

At this moment, Li Wen stood tall, his demeanor refined, and the depth and strength tempered by countless bloody fires naturally exuded from him.

Even Ling Feng, who had long since entered the Great Sun Realm and prided himself on being hard to find an opponent among his peers.

At this moment, clearly perceived that Junior Brother, who had once needed his help, possessed an oppressive feeling as deep as the deep sea and as heavy as a mountain, as well as a sharpness that had been restrained to the extreme.

The former pursuer had now actually walked ahead of him, leading a region.

A trace of indescribable emotion mixed with amazement quietly swept through his heart.

It was immediately suppressed by his pride as a Genius, replaced by a strong fighting spirit—this was also good, proving that his choice to apply for a transfer to Changning was indeed the right one.

Li Wen did not notice the instantaneous change in Ling Feng's heart, assuming he was just surprised by the environment here or by being recognized.

He turned to the side and introduced him to the core team members who had followed behind: "Let me introduce everyone. This is Senior Brother Ling Feng, a famous Genius Divine Demon from Kindling University. From today on, he is our Vice Captain of Changning City."

"Captain Ling!"

"I've long admired your reputation, Captain Ling!"

The team members greeted him with smiles, their tones filled with respect.