70: Chapter 70 Breakthrough

The clerk behind the settlement counter trembled as he tapped furiously on his calculator.

He looked up, sweating profusely, at Li Zhengyang.

"Young brother..." The clerk swallowed hard.

"Based on the comprehensive assessment of these materials and your cleanup operation in Zone C7 this afternoon, the total comes to 61 million great xia currency!"

The hall was so quiet that only the sound of breathing remained.

The veteran team members watching were red-eyed with envy.

61 million!

Even for an elite team of the Pojun Division, or even one of the top five major squads, risking their lives in the most dangerous defense zone for a month would at most yield a payout of ten million.

This kid went out for half a day and brought back 60 million?

"Transfer it."

Li Zhengyang tapped the counter, his voice calm.

Ding.

His tactical watch vibrated, and the crisp notification sound of the deposit was exceptionally loud in the hall.

[Received: 61,000,000 yuan]

Li Zhengyang glanced at his account balance.

Including what he had on hand, it was exactly over 78 million.

Ignoring the shocked gazes around him, he grabbed his Dragon Spear, turned around, and strode out of the logistics settlement center.

Returning to his private villa.

The door lock clicked shut.

Li Zhengyang leaned the abyssal meteor dragon spear against the wall, pulled up a chair to sit, and immediately opened the system interface.

Nothing was more reassuring than turning money into strength.

"System, top up."

Amount entered: 70,000,000.

His finger hovered over the confirm button for half a second before pressing it without hesitation.

[Top-up successful!]

[Top-up amount: 70,000,000]

[Obtained Vitality Value: +700,000]

[Current Vitality Value: 1,298,628]

[Vitality Value threshold breakthrough detected!]

Boom!

700,000 Vitality Value poured into his body in an instant.

It was like a river and sea flooding in!

Li Zhengyang's body tensed abruptly, and the terrifying energy pushed him straight up from his chair.

The Vitality vortex in his Dantian began to spin and compress crazily.

Crack, crack, crack.

His bones were reshaping, emitting a series of popping sounds.

The crimson-gold light of his Indestructible Golden Body uncontrollably radiated from his body, illuminating the entire room.

[Realm Breakthrough: 3rd Grade Martial Emperor → 4th Grade Martial Emperor!]

The breakthrough did not stop.

The massive amount of Vitality continued to force its way into every dead corner of his meridians.

Li Zhengyang kept his eyes tightly shut, his teeth clenched.

The tearing sensation of his meridians being stretched to their limit intertwined with the refreshing feeling of rapid healing.

[Realm Breakthrough: 4th Grade Martial Emperor → 5th Grade Martial Emperor!]

Boom!

The air emitted two muffled bangs.

Li Zhengyang opened his eyes.

In his pupils, two tangible, sharp dark-gold glints flashed and vanished.

He raised his right hand and slowly clenched his five fingers.

The air in the center of his palm was directly crushed, emitting a harsh sonic boom.

5th Grade Martial Emperor.

He felt as if an ancient beast capable of tearing mountains apart was lurking within his body at this moment.

If he were to face that 7th Grade Dragon Emperor at Black Wind Pass again, he was confident he could kill it!

He withdrew his aura.

Li Zhengyang glanced at the abyssal meteor dragon spear leaning against the wall.

His strength was sufficient.

But just now, while killing the demon-man, he had noticed a fatal shortcoming.

The Mountain-Splitting Spear Arts could no longer keep up.

This set of martial arts was a god-tier killing technique during the Martial Master and Martial Spirit stages.

But he was now a Martial Emperor, and he held an SS-grade divine weapon.

Just now, piercing through the demon-man did not rely on spear technique at all, but rather on pure attribute suppression and the brute force infusion of Ancient Dragon Power.

Guiding Martial Emperor Vitality using the paths of the Mountain-Splitting Spear Arts was like connecting a plastic hose to a high-pressure water gun.

Not only was the force output inefficient, but it could even cause a backlash in his meridians.

It was time to change it.

He raised his wrist and tapped on his tactical watch.

Entering the internal shop of the Pojun Division.

Entering in the search bar: spear martial arts.

Filter conditions: S-grade and above.

The page refreshed.

[《Silent Annihilation Thunder Demon Spear》, S-grade, Price: 85 million]

[《Burning Desolation War Shadow Arts》, S-grade, Price: 120 million]

[《Eight Desolations and Six Harmonies Spear》, SS-grade, Price: 250 million]

...

Li Zhengyang's face darkened.

He only had 8 million great xia currency left in his card.

He couldn't even afford the cover of an S-grade martial art.

"I'm poor."

He did not exit; his finger slid through the advanced filter options and checked "Fragment/Incomplete Volume".

The list refreshed again.

At the very bottom, a dim jade slip icon popped up.

[Nine Heavens Thunder Control Spear (First Volume Fragment)]

[Quality: S-grade Martial Art]

[Description: Unearthed from an ancient ruin in the Northern Wilderness. Because it only contains the first half of the force-generating diagrams and lacks the core energy-guiding techniques of the second half, it is extremely easy to suffer from Qi Deviation and die from Vitality backlash.]

[Price: 3,000,000 great xia currency]

Li Zhengyang smiled.

Prone to Qi Deviation? Incomplete?

Those weren't flaws; they were discount labels tailor-made for him.

He tapped with his finger to purchase.

[Deducted: 3,000,000 yuan]

[Purchase successful! Martial art data has been sent to the terminal.]

A pale blue light screen immediately projected above his tactical watch.

In the light screen, a light-shadow figure made of lines held a spear and began to demonstrate.

First Form: Thunder Fall.

The light-shadow figure took a step, the spear striking like a dragon, with the tip faintly showing signs of thunder exploding.

Second Form: Silent Kill.

The spear body turned, and killing intent surged; the light screen even distorted slightly due to the simulated violent Vitality.

But when it reached the starting move of the third form.

The lines of the light-shadow figure suddenly flickered violently.

Then, with a pop, the light screen dissipated and stopped abruptly.

The fragment ended there.

Without the core energy-guiding technique, forcing oneself to continue training would cause even a Martial Emperor to explode.

Li Zhengyang was not panicked at all.

He was waiting.

Sure enough, the light screen had just dissipated.

[Detected incomplete S-grade martial art: Nine Heavens Thunder Control Spear (First Volume)]

[System can perform complete deduction and completion]

[Deduction cost: 5,000,000 great xia currency]

Li Zhengyang glanced at the last 5 million-plus in his account.

Just right.

This was the closed loop of the pay-to-win system.

"Deduce."

[Deducted: 5,000,000 yuan]

[Deduction started!]

A burst of golden light exploded in Li Zhengyang's mind.

A golden light-shadow figure, tens of thousands of times more detailed than the one on the tactical watch, danced crazily in the depths of his consciousness.

The originally incomplete and broken meridian paths were forcibly opened by the system.

Every detail was forcibly carved into his muscle memory.

Ten seconds later.

The golden light receded.

[Nine Heavens Thunder Control Spear deduction and completion complete!]

[Quality upgraded to: SS-grade Martial Art!]

Li Zhengyang opened his eyes abruptly.

He grabbed the abyssal meteor dragon spear from the wall.

There was no need to practice at all; the moment the technique was completed, it reached Great Perfection!

He held the spear with one hand, exerted force from his wrist, and the first form of the Nine Heavens Thunder Control Spear was naturally delivered.

He didn't deliberately perform it, relying only on the force-generating method of the martial art.

Swish!

A bolt of lightning actually appeared in the air in front of the spear tip!

"Good stuff."

Li Zhengyang retracted the spear and slung it behind his back.

Now, he had the strength, a suitable weapon, and a lethal martial art.

A Lord-class demon-man was not impossible to fight.

Just then, the tactical watch on his wrist suddenly flashed red.

It was the Pojun Division's all-channel emergency assembly order.

...