The grizzled Commander once again led a contingent of administrative officials away from the base; he was going to the Military Department to file a lawsuit. 1 This time, the Hell's Angels Mercenary Corps had suffered grievous casualties, and the Commander felt he absolutely had to extract some benefits from the Military Department. Gu Xichen, naturally, became the supreme commander of the Hell's Angels Mercenary Corps' Ice Cap Base, and no one interfered with his actions anymore.

Within the Ice Cap Base was a specially designed testing chamber capable of measuring the power level of innate-grade fighters. Gu Xichen was currently inside that very chamber.

The testing room, over two hundred meters long and wide, was walled on all sides with two-meter-thick specialized alloy. In the center stood the testing apparatus, costing over a billion credits to build. The massive device resembled a cannon; it featured a base cast from solid alloy spanning twenty meters, a barrel ten meters long and roughly three meters thick, and a striking pad made of special material positioned at the muzzle.

By striking this meter-square striking pad with full strength, the tester could perfectly absorb the entirety of a fighter's full-power attack and convert it into standard numerical data.

The limit of attack power the Hell's Angels Mercenary Corps' testing apparatus could withstand was the full strike of a high-tier Pluto-class fighter.

Standing ten meters away from the striking pad, Gu Xichen inhaled and exhaled deeply. He did not mobilize a single bit of energy from his Dao Embryo, nor did he engage the whirlwinds within his one hundred and eight acupoints. Gu Xichen merely channeled the abundant innate Gang Qi filling his Dantian. The dense, pure innate Gang Qi slowly concentrated on his right claw, which became coated in a layer of white ice about three millimeters thick. Gu Xichen's right claw had turned perfectly transparent, like crystal. Fine, biting cold air continuously jetted from his fingertips, the swirling white vapor trailing out nearly a meter.

The accumulated power reached the very limit the right claw could sustain. Gu Xichen took a deep breath, then shot forward with lightning speed, his right claw tearing through the air with a muffled roar as it slammed fiercely onto the striking pad. Bang! It seemed the entire testing room trembled slightly; the striking pad depressed by a few millimeters under Gu Xichen's full-force blow.

The impact point felt empty, as if striking a black hole; not the slightest recoil force bounced back. The specialized material composing the striking pad was reportedly smuggled from the Romans; the Earth Federation had not yet managed to replicate the material. It was indeed miraculous; Gu Xichen’s full-power claw strike was perfectly absorbed.

After about ten seconds, a light screen projected from above the tester, displaying the index of Gu Xichen's strike force converted into standard numerical values: Thirty-nine point seven Zakla!

"Already broken through the Pluto-class fighter level; now I'm at the lower-middle tier of Neptune-class." Gu Xichen muttered to himself.

The so-called Zakla standard value was derived from the explosive power generated when all the energy contained within one gram of standard-mass crystal extracted from a standard Zakla crystal was drawn out to create a high-explosive charge. Coincidentally, the total energy explosion of one gram of standard Zakla crystal was equivalent in power to one kilogram of standard TNT!

A power of thirty-nine point seven Zakla meant that the burst power of the Gang Qi in Gu Xichen's single strike was equivalent to the explosive force of thirty-nine point seven kilograms of TNT explosives!

The Earth Federation established a complete fighter power system based on the Zakla standard, using the names of the nine planets in the solar system.

Strength from one Zakla to nine Zakla constituted a Pluto-class fighter.

Strength from ten Zakla to ninety-nine Zakla constituted a Neptune-class fighter.

Strength from one hundred Zakla to nine hundred and ninety-nine Zakla constituted a Uranus-class fighter.

And so on, the stronger the fighter, the closer their title was to the core of the solar system.

Gu Xichen's explosive strike power reaching thirty-nine point seven Zakla proved that he had successfully entered the ranks of Neptune-class fighters.

Glancing coldly at the figures on the screen, Gu Xichen shook his head, clearly dissatisfied. "Earth is filled with countless powerhouses. Relying on this little bit of strength to get by will be hard! It seems I must seize the opportunity while Beardy Uncle is away to truly improve myself. Hmm, can humans really draw energy from Zakla crystals? Doesn't that make them mechanical engines?"

Turning to leave the testing room, Gu Xichen failed to notice the stunning physician Maria sneak into the chamber right after him.

"Tsk, thirty-nine point seven? Neptune-class fighter?" Maria quickly recorded the corresponding data on her personal computer. "This fellow is progressing at least twice as fast as an ordinary true innate fighter! What a pity; if Beardy Uncle were willing, I’d truly love to dissect him alive, hehehe!"

After sealing the automatic door to his residence and activating all defenses, Gu Xichen sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion used for his practice, quietly gazing at the small pile of multi-colored crystals before him.

Three days prior, the harassing fleet led by Bolport was driven away by Gu Xichen, who then extorted a large amount of equipment and Zakla crystals from him. It was clear that Bolport was the type of spoiled rich kid who valued his own life above all else. The backup energy reserves on his ship were astonishingly vast. The Zakla crystals Gu Xichen extorted totaled one hundred and fifty cubic meters—enough for an Earth Federation first-class warship to circle the solar system along Pluto's orbit seventeen or eighteen times at maximum curvature-speed flight.

With such rich spoils, the Commander generously gifted Gu Xichen ten cubic meters of Zakla crystals and specifically established a small warehouse next to Gu Xichen's quarters.

His fingers brushed across the surfaces of the Zakla crystals—smooth, clean, and spotless. These crystals had been polished into standard ten-centimeter cubes. The semi-transparent interiors were muddied with many impurities. Each piece carried a faint, unique halo, perhaps blue, perhaps red, perhaps white, or pale green.

These semi-transparent crystals, tinged with impurities, were the standard Zakla crystals used to measure a fighter's Zakla index. There were crystals with a higher degree of luster, containing more energy per unit weight. Legend claimed that prospecting teams had once discovered a few small pieces of crystal that were perfectly transparent and brilliant like top-grade sapphires. These supreme-grade crystals were rare and unpredictable, and the energy they contained was incredibly immense, often used as the core for various high-level energy weapons.

Picking up a red crystal, Gu Xichen grasped it in his palm, letting his Gang Qi touch the crystal through his skin.

With a sharp crack, the crystal, whose density was twice that of ordinary steel, sustained a hairline fracture from Gu Xichen's Gang Qi. Gu Xichen stared speechlessly at the cracked crystal, frowning. "How is this absorbed? Ordinary fighters can't cultivate with Zakla crystals; only Realm Masters can absorb the energy within them. Why is that?"

Only Realm Masters can absorb the energy within the crystals—is it all because of the 'Realm'?

Taking a deep breath, Gu Xichen slowly entered a meditative state, clutching the crystal tightly. His entire focus converged on his Zifu Sea of Consciousness, patiently attempting to interface with that immeasurable 'Realm.'

Gu Xichen easily sensed the immeasurable Realm; he vaguely perceived its existence. Furthermore, he discovered that his spirit and this Realm had essentially become one; he could easily mobilize whatever was contained within the Realm. However, this Realm seemed utterly empty. He nearly exhausted his mental power just to forcibly draw out a thin thread of purple mist.

Profoundly mystical. Upon contact with this fine thread of purple mist, his mental energy perceived an overwhelming sense of the profound—a power entirely different from innate Gang Qi, purer, more refined, and vastly stronger. Gu Xichen even felt that the power contained in this mere wisp of mist rivaled thirty percent of the innate Gang Qi in his Dantian; it was a hundred times more formidable than innate Gang Qi.

"No wonder Realm Masters hold such a special status in the Earth Federation—legal immunity? They can be granted such absurd privileges!" Gu Xichen mused. "If the power held by Realm Masters is identical to this unknown force, even the weakest Realm Master could send a high-tier fighter scrambling for cover. Such privileges are understandable."

The humiliation of having to feign death and flee from Siren that day vanished completely. The suffocating feeling in Gu Xichen's heart disappeared without a trace. Realm Masters and fighters were simply beings on entirely different planes; playing dead and running from a Realm Master was no cause for shame. For a Pluto-class fighter to escape from the clutches of a Realm Master was a source of pride.

Carefully manipulating the purple mist, this thin, pale wisp obeyed Gu Xichen's command and flowed through his meridians. Wherever the purple mist passed, the Gang Qi within Gu Xichen, which had already reached its refinement limit, seemed to shrink slightly in volume. His Dantian, previously so packed he couldn't add more Gang Qi, became somewhat pliable again.

Gu Xichen was ecstatic. If this was the case, by utilizing this wisp of purple mist, he could significantly compress the Gang Qi within his body. Every martial artist knew that the greater the compression ratio of Gang Qi, the stronger its destructive power, and the compression of innate Gang Qi was a monumental hurdle for all practitioners. Many fighters might never compress their innate Gang Qi in their entire lives, severely limiting their progress in the martial path; reaching the level of a Neptune-class fighter was their ceiling.

"If all Realm Masters are like me, they could all use this method to compress their innate Gang Qi, meaning Realm Masters could effortlessly possess immense martial power? Not to mention the special abilities they possess!" Gu Xichen rejoiced internally but was also shocked. "No wonder the Federation calls Realm Masters the Guardian Gods of the Federation—the ultimate force against the Romans! Tsk, it's a good thing the Romans have more difficulty fusing with Christo Crystals than Earthlings!"

The silken, misty purple energy circulated once through the Great Heavenly Cycle meridians inside Gu Xichen, finally arriving at the palm of his right hand, which was tightly gripping the crystal.

Like a pack of greedy wolves catching the scent of a lamb, this wisp of purple mist obeyed no control from Gu Xichen and rushed out of his palm.

The red crystal floated up from Gu Xichen's palm, enveloped by a faint purple mist. Powerful energy surged out of the crystal, rushing along Gu Xichen's meridians directly toward his Zifu Sea of Consciousness.

Dozens of strands of purple mist roared out from the Zifu Sea of Consciousness, ferociously pouncing upon the red crystal. Gu Xichen's Zifu Sea of Consciousness withered slightly, and he almost passed out.

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