Roah Feng was like a speck of dust, yet he advanced through the boundless purple vines at a terrifying, ultimate speed. Although his size was minuscule, the "ripples" caused by that velocity could still be detected through divine sense.
Boom!
Over ten thousand True Gods clashed amidst the chaos, turning the heavens and earth dark with turbulent fluctuations. Unless one was close to Roah Feng, the relatively minor disturbance caused by his flight could not attract any attention.
"There it is."
Roah Feng swiftly sped toward the True God corpse.
The corpse of that alien beast True God lay submerged in a vast swamp, more than half of its body, stretching hundreds of thousands of kilometers, drowned beneath the mire, with only a portion ** exposed. As Roah Feng rapidly approached, the three True Gods nearest to the alien beast True God corpse—two Tribal True Gods and one alien beast True God—were locked in combat.
"Hmm?"
All three instantly locked onto the comparatively faint ripple. Following the fluctuation, they instantly identified the target: "Lord of Law!" All three glimpsed Roah Feng, a figure as tiny as a mote of dust.
"There was already a Lord of Law who stole the corpse of one of our Nine Smoke Marsh experts before. These corpse thieves... they must be on an army mission. Army missions are difficult, but stealing the corpses of our Nine Smoke Marsh experts is unforgivable." The two Tribal True Gods and the one alien beast True God immediately ceased their battle.
For countless ages, the two neighboring major powers, "Nine Smoke Marsh" and "Xuan Ji Mountain," had frequently engaged in skirmishes.
However, beyond the contention for minor benefits, these battles were fundamentally about honing the "Lords of Law." Thus, while the Lords of Law fought with maniacal intensity, True Gods, and even Void True Gods, exercised restraint. In every engagement, only weaker True Gods were killed; those truly seasoned by army tempering rarely perished. There was an unspoken understanding among them, but the constant theft of a fallen True God's corpse as spoils of war was something the living True Gods could not tolerate.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Three streaks of light carved brilliant, eye-catching arcs across the void, heading directly to intercept Roah Feng.
Whoosh!
A three-colored afterimage, resembling a rainbow, struck with even greater speed toward that tiny, dust-like point.
"I've been discovered!" Roah Feng glanced at the three incoming streaks of light. "But only three True Gods. They are nothing to worry about!"
"Peng!"
The sweep of the three-colored afterimage made concealment impossible; thus, there was no need to hide any longer.
"Boom!" Roah Feng's divine body violently swelled, rapidly expanding until it towered a hundred thousand kilometers high.
Not far from the periphery of the True God battlefield, a squad of soldiers, led by their captain, observed the fighting with constant vigilance. Many of the soldiers kept their primary attention fixed on the True God corpse belonging to the Nine Smoke Marsh side.
"Someone's moving to take the corpse!" Suddenly, a soldier transmitted a message.
Instantly, the captain and the others turned their gaze.
"Indeed, there is," the captain chuckled. "Gentlemen, did you see? That person trying to snatch the corpse was relatively cautious. But he was instantly intercepted by three True Gods. Why? Because your captain has stolen a corpse once before, and they are now on high alert! If any of you tried, you would also be besieged by three True Gods. If you couldn't escape in the shortest possible time, it would become five, seven, or even ten True Gods attacking you."
The other soldiers, especially those preparing to make a desperate attempt, felt a chill of fear.
"Let's see which arrogant fool it is. Is it Ku Fa? Or Yu Luo?" the captain remarked with utter nonchalance.
"It must be that idiot Yu Luo," one of the soldiers immediately quipped.
Boom!
In the far distance, as Roah Feng’s divine body expanded and revealed itself.
"It's... it's..." Suddenly, everyone stared at Roah Feng’s face in astonishment.
"It’s that new recruit!"
"The one called Galaxy!"
"The new recruit named Galaxy! He—he actually dared to go for the corpse, and he dares to emulate the captain?" Everyone was utterly bewildered.
"He's dead for sure," the captain stated coldly.
The captain knew exactly how dire the situation the new recruit Galaxy had stumbled into was. Even he himself, under such circumstances, would have to utilize his most precious mechanical life-form treasure, relying on it to unleash superhuman combat power just to escape.
"He's finished."
"Let's watch how he dies." Every soldier watched intently; they felt no camaraderie whatsoever for this new teammate of their small squad.
What happened next was...
As Roah Feng’s divine body swelled, he raised his hands—one gripping the hilt and the other the back of a blade—and used them to block the three-colored light from the side. Furthermore, he utilized the force of the collision to arc away at an even faster speed toward the True God corpse.
"Not bad, borrowing force."
"To be able to borrow momentum from a True God's attack, he truly deserves to join our Mang River Army." The soldiers nodded, transmitting praises for this maneuver. While it seemed simple, they too had to undergo considerable tempering to master it.
The captain even nodded: "This new recruit is decent, but it's a pity he encountered a calamity-level mission right upon arrival. Alas, those three True Gods are closing in. Based on speed, the new recruit probably won't even make it to the edge of that True God corpse."
They continued to watch...
In the distance, as Roah Feng charged toward the True God corpse, the three enraged and fully confident True Gods moved to intercept and kill him.
"He's dead."
"What a shame."
They all sighed deliberately.
"Truly—" The captain had just begun to speak when he felt as if his throat had been choked; his eyes widened roundly, unable to utter a single syllable, staring in shock at the distance.
All the other team members were also stunned, gazing into the distance.
An unbelievable, terrifying, and breathtaking scene was unfolding there.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Holding a blade in one hand, the blade moved like a phantom; his body followed the blade’s path. In an instant, his entire being transformed into a spectral image, appearing as a massive, ghostly blade shadow. Under the joint siege of the three True Gods,
This blurred "blade shadow" was ethereal and unpredictable. After a few brief contacts and clashes with them, it instantly zipped out from the encirclement of the three True Gods.
Roah Feng’s cultivation spanning over eight million epochs yielded two major gains that most greatly aided his strength!
The close-combat evasion technique, Flowing Gold (Liu Jin)!
The eighteen soldiers, including the captain, watched this scene in a state of stupefaction. It was an incredible sight: a Lord of Law effortlessly evading and breaking free from the siege of three True Gods. Even the captain, who had endured countless missions and even reincarnation trials, knew that he could never so easily shake off an assault by three True Gods.
What terrifying mastery of close-combat evasion and maneuvering this was.
"You two, state your names and what you specialize in."
"I, Wu He, I specialize in—I specialize in having a large divine body—my divine body is over a million kilometers long."
"I am Galaxy. My strength is slightly superior to Wu He’s, and my close-combat evasion is a bit better."
The stunned captain suddenly recalled the dialogue from his first meeting with the new recruit, Galaxy.
"A bit better? What does 'a bit better' mean?" The captain trembled inwardly. "Of all the Lords of Law I have ever seen, none possessed such terrifying close-combat evasion."
Little did they know.
Roah Feng possessed the Inheritance Space, which was a base established by the "Duan Dong River lineage" to cultivate successive inheritors! Besides the time-accelerated cultivation space within, what greatly enhanced his strength was the "Virtual Space" specifically designed for trial combat. That Virtual Space contained 282 opponents, including past Duan Dong Rivers! The strongest opponent was naturally the Third Generation Ancestor!
During the span of over eight million epochs, Roah Feng...
The gains in blade techniques were actually the smallest. After all, among the past Duan Dong Rivers, only some had created peak seventh-tier blade techniques. Roah Feng, building upon the peak sixth-tier blade technique Nirvana Rebirth (Niepan Xinsheng), made a slight further step, creating a seventh-tier blade technique, Light of Water and Fire (Shui Huo Zhi Guang). This provided a relatively limited boost to Roah Feng’s strength, merely one among the numerous harvests of those eight million epochs.
The two greatest gains were among them, one being the close-combat technique, Flowing Gold.
Since blade techniques were difficult to improve, Roah Feng began studying close-combat evasion techniques. He frequently sparred against numerous virtual opponents in the "Virtual Space," even fighting the Third Generation Ancestor. Regrettably, the Third Generation Ancestor was suppressed to the divine power level of a Lord of Law, yet he could still instantly crush and kill Roah Feng.
This was because the profound mysteries embedded in the Third Generation Ancestor's attacks represented the pinnacle of the ancient civilization.
Through this tempering, by absorbing the experience of generations and borrowing from numerous exquisite secret arts,
Roah Feng ultimately created Flowing Gold!
The large number of super secret art inheritances, the rigorous training against experts in the Virtual Space, and his own comprehension—all these factors combined were indispensable for this set of movement techniques.
The captain and the eighteen soldiers remained in a state of shock, witnessing everything unfolding in the distance.
The new recruit "Galaxy" first used an unbelievable close-combat evasion technique to effortlessly break through the encirclement of the three True Gods, directly reaching the True God corpse and instantly snatching it away.
He then immediately charged toward another vector, his figure subtly resembling a gigantic battle blade, swiftly slicing through the air. Even when two other True Gods tried to block him, they were easily shrugged off by that terrifying ability to change direction and maneuver.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Among the thickets of purple vine grass, the new recruit Galaxy plunged directly into them, vanishing completely from sight.
"Madness."
"Too, too strong."
"How can someone possess such formidable movement techniques?" The soldiers were utterly stunned and dumbfounded. "If the two major powers were thrown into a melee, with his close-combat evasion ability, all the other Lords of Law in the fray would be dead first. Oh, perhaps even most of the True Gods would perish before he was even touched."
They were all terrified.
The captain was also terrified. Despite the many trials he had endured, he considered himself to be at the peak level among the "Lords of Law." Even looking across the entire Eastern Army, perhaps only a few exceptional freaks were stronger than him. Yet, he had never imagined that a Lord of Law could achieve such terrifying mastery in close-combat evasion.
"If I fought him fairly, without resorting to mechanical life-form treasures, he would toy with me to death," the captain shuddered, thinking of a potential confrontation with the new recruit Galaxy.
"Of course, in a life-and-death battle, weapons and mechanical life-form treasures are part of one's strength. By relying on mechanical life-form treasures, my strength soars. And I would happen to counter him perfectly, capable of killing him." Only then did the captain calm down. Some powerful mechanical life-form treasures could even grant a massive immediate surge in a cultivator's strength!
I wrote two chapters last night and one this morning; posting them all together. Tomato is currently in Shaoxing. The hotel has no wired internet, and the wireless signal is extremely poor. Hotel staff worked on it for a long time yesterday without success. Tomato feels ashamed for the long delay in updates! Tomato is currently writing outside and hopes to finish another chapter this afternoon, planning to find a place to upload it by the evening. Not having internet is inconvenient and unfamiliar; last night, Tomato even dreamed that he suddenly had internet access! How absurd. Well, Tomato will post a fourth chapter this evening. Then tomorrow, Tomato will take the train back to Shanghai, and normal updates should resume tomorrow night. Please bear with me for these few days.