Huaxia, the northeastern fringe of the plateau, on the border between two provinces near the Chibuzhangcuo area.
On the outskirts of a village stood a civilian house covering quite a large plot. From the outside, it appeared rather old and utterly ordinary, and the people coming and going in daily life were a local household.
Yet now, in the dead of night, standing or sitting in the brightly lit inner room were seven or eight Latin American faces—a rare sight in such a remote region.
This was a covert outpost of Snow Lotus within Huaxia's borders.
As one of Snow Lotus's organizers for the Xilang Peak operation, Lucius had set up his command post here... which seemed a bit too far from Xilang Peak.
Lucius was the leader of Moss, a branch of Snow Lotus. In proportion to his status, his personal combat prowess was not overly formidable, still somewhat short of top-tier. At the same time, he possessed an extremely cautious personality, and most of his confidants were fellow Latin Americans.
"Huaxia has an old saying: the most dangerous place is the safest place. No one would ever imagine that we'd actually set up our command post right in the Huaxia Front's backyard."
Under the light, Lucius casually stroked the beard on his chin and looked around at his subordinates with a touch of smugness. They had been staying here for a while now, perfectly safe and sound.
On the table before him sat a freshly brewed, steaming cup of green tea. In recent days, Lucius had begun to develop a taste for these eastern leaves.
"Indeed. The Huaxia Front is certainly not one to provoke, but they must have their hands completely full right now. Both the Xilang Peak and Perimeter Xilang Peak battlefields must be tying up a huge amount of their energy. On top of that, Ye Jian made a scene at their All-Army Conference not long ago..."
"I heard Ye Jian was wounded there."
"Yes. That self-righteous bastard was besieged and nearly died there. Later, by sheer luck, he managed to escape, and even now he's probably still being hunted down by top experts of the Huaxia military."
"God bless... may he drop dead."
Everyone in the room chuckled in delight. Even within Snow Lotus, Ye Jian was a 'comrade' whom many wished would meet a violent end day and night.
*Clack-clack-clack-clack... Thud, bang, bang, bang!*
Footsteps approached from the courtyard... Soon after, a barrage of knocks rang out against the wooden door, urgent enough to set everyone's nerves on edge.
Including Lucius, everyone in the room swiftly grabbed their weapons, engaging their devices and preparing for battle.
"What happened?!"
"Ye—Ye Jian is here!"
"..."
Ye Jian dragged a bench over by himself, sat down, and let the lamplight wash over him. Right now, he looked in a terrible state. His combat uniform showed the stiff creases of fabric soaked through and left to air-dry, and patches of crusted mud and broad stains had not been cleaned off.
Bloodstains were glaringly evident—on his clothes, on his chest, at the corners of his mouth... and there were even streaks of blood trailing down from below his temples.
He truly was severely wounded.
"No one's drunk from this tea, right?" Ye Jian asked. Then he narrowed his eyes, scrutinized it, and said, "Seems to be freshly brewed."
With that, he picked up the cup and took a sip.
"You're injured?" Lucius stood somewhat farther away than usual without realizing it. He still remembered the last time: because of what happened at the Huaxia Front's Medical Station 101, Ye Jian had come looking for trouble with him and left behind a death threat.
Back then, he had hidden, never expecting they would cross paths here.
"Yeah, a bit hurt." Ye Jian nodded, raised his head, glanced around the room, and said, "Not serious, though. Still easily enough to hack every single one of you to death."
All the Moss members around him wore grim expressions. Even though they had never gotten along, those words were far too blunt. Both belonging to branches of Snow Lotus, Hidden Snow was not ranked above Moss in status. Yet within Snow Lotus, Ye Jian had always maintained this arrogant demeanor, and his personal stance made people uneasy as well.
Swallowing his anger deep inside, Lucius kept his composure. "Do you need me to call a doctor? We have one here, right in the next room."
"No need. I brought medicine and bandages myself." Ye Jian declined, then turned his head and asked, "By the way, any news from Xilang Peak?"
"Yes. The Legion Commander of the Huaxia Sole Witness Legion arrived in person to oversee the main peak battlefield." Lucius's gaze suddenly took on a provocative edge as he said, "Shouldn't you know this best? You claimed you'd tie them down, but you failed."
Ye Jian nodded candidly and replied, "An accident. Two brats ruined it. See? The young folks in the Huaxia Front are just that remarkable."
"Mind your stance, Ye!" Full of self-righteous indignation, Lucius's tone instantly turned into an interrogation.
As he spoke, his confidants remained vigilant, closely watching Ye Jian. There were two top-tier fighters among them, and the rest were far from weak.
If a conflict broke out—or if they simply judged that there was an opportunity and assurance to kill him—they would execute this man before them without hesitation or scruple.
"Just stating the facts." Ye Jian looked up and swept his gaze across them, acting as if he sensed nothing amiss. "What I want to know is, has there been any new development over there recently?"
"Oh, there has. This afternoon, that Huaxia Sole Witness Legion Commander suddenly broadcast a transmission directly from the Xilang Peak command post, announcing the existence of the Huaxia Front's fifth super combat power and declaring that he has already entered the Perimeter Xilang Peak battlefield."
This involved the emergence of a brand-new super combat power. Such a transmission would undoubtedly spread across Azure and the entire source energy world within minutes. Lucius had received word early today, though it had nothing to do with him.
He was merely surprised that this newly minted Super would be deployed to the Perimeter Xilang Peak battlefield rather than the mothership battlefield at Xilang Peak.
Was there any need?! According to Lucius's intelligence, a top-tier from Pure Purgatory had just been wiped out on the perimeter battlefield by that Major Qing from the Huaxia Front. Technically, there shouldn't have been any demand for combat strength above the top tier there.
"The fifth Super... who is it?!" Ye Jian asked.
"Ninth Army, Golden Eraser Captain, newly promoted Major General Shao Xuan."
"Oh... him. I know him."
Ye Jian nodded, momentarily recalling the young private who had once stood at the end of the ranks and said to him, *I will follow in your footsteps and stand beside you in battle one day.*
"Back then, I was still the hero of the Ninth Army."
"It seems every young man in Eraser who once viewed me as a hero and a goal to strive toward ended up using killing me with his own hands as his drive to forge ahead."
"A+, a Super under forty years old. Not easy."
Ye Jian suddenly fell quiet, seemingly lost in memory.
Lucius waited for a moment before he couldn't help asking, "Don't you find it strange? That they would actually take the initiative to make it public..."
In the source energy world, every newly emerged super combat power—whether for Azure or any other faction—was an apex secret that had to be concealed until they first revealed their strength in action...
That first strike typically yielded massive results.
The underlying logic was just like a card player secretly holding an unsuspected bomb in their hand.
"Especially the Huaxia Front. They've always loved keeping things under wraps, setting traps around a new Super to lure us in. When Hua Bixuan and Lü Moyi appeared, they did the exact same thing. But this time..." Lucius continued.
"It is very strange."
Ye Jian understood Chen Buer. When that simple old peasant set traps and schemed against people, he possessed a tenacious, earthy stubbornness, and he never tired of it.
Not to mention, he had that nameless old staff officer beside him. Ye Jian had always believed that the old man, who reportedly had no martial prowess to speak of, was in some ways the far more terrifying opponent.
Over the past two decades and more, most of the Huaxia Sole Witness Legion's large-scale operations and strategic choices had stemmed from his designs.
To be so straightforward this time... Ye Jian concentrated his thoughts and asked, "Have any notable names appeared on the Perimeter Xilang Peak battlefield these past few days? I mean people from the Huaxia Front."
"Yes." Lucius quickly listed several names, lingering with the heaviest emphasis on one: Han Qingyu. "That young Major just took down a top-tier from Pure Purgatory over there."
"Ah, shielding his cub."
Ye Jian understood in a flash.
For Chen Buer to disclose the Huaxia Front's fifth Super so abruptly and directly, while explicitly announcing his deployment—the purpose behind such an urgent show of force... was to protect someone.
The message boiled down to one thing: *This boy matters deeply to this old man. Don't touch him.*
Throwing out a newly minted Super straight away meant he was genuinely frantic!
However, Pure Purgatory lacked the capability to mount immediate retaliation, nor could they possibly make Chen Buer panic like this... Just who on the Perimeter Xilang Peak battlefield was threatening that young Major's survival?!
And toward whom was Chen Buer implicitly flexing his muscle?!
Since he had taken such a stance, if anything happened to the boy, there would certainly be no end to the fallout. The old man's unspoken words were: *If you touch him, this old man will destroy you.*
Still, couldn't he have called them out by name directly?!
He was the Invincible on Earth, Chen Buer.
And the old man had always loved naming names when threatening people.
Ye Jian couldn't fathom it. From what he knew, Snow Lotus had not committed any super combat power to the Perimeter Xilang Peak battlefield; right now, every faction's trump cards were concentrated around the main peak mothership.
With old man Chen being so frantic and on edge, just who was he trying to scare off?!
Shaking his head, Ye Jian stood up.
"Are you heading to Xilang Peak?" Lucius asked earnestly.
"No, maybe later. Going by the plan, even if I rushed there now, I'd likely be too late to join the battle, and I'm injured," Ye Jian said patiently.
"Then what are you doing now..."
"Finding a room next door to sleep."
Ye Jian stepped toward the exit as he spoke.
"..." Lucius and his subordinates exchanged speechless glances. Unable to hold back, Lucius gave a cold sneer behind him. "You're injured, severely injured. Staying here, aren't you afraid we'll take the chance to finish you off?"
Ye Jian looked back at him, wearing an expression of faint incomprehension.
That look was utterly infuriating... Lucius refused to back down. "Ne said it himself: if any of us bears a grudge against you and wants to kill you... anyone is permitted to kill you at any time."
"Yes." Ye Jian nodded and said flatly, "Except you don't dare... You don't even dare try."
"Why don't you give it a shot?" he added.
No one in the room answered.
Ye Jian turned back and walked out, genuinely finding a room next door. Entering, he bit down on a towel, quietly applied medicine to his wounds, and wrapped them in bandages... Then, lying down on the bed fully clothed... before long, he unconsciously curled up into a ball.
That same night, from White Eraser, Long Blade Squad, Venezuela's Mérida, Mexico's Chichen Itza... more than thirty elite fighters dispatched privately from over ten elite squads across nearly ten front armies were dashing madly through the darkness of the plateau.
These were the people Lao Jian had sought out one by one, following Wen Jifei's prior instructions.
...
Hearing the sound of horse hooves fade into the night... Han Qingyu slowly turned back around. Under the gazes of the twenty-two men standing on the grassy ridge ahead, he unhurriedly unfastened the rectangular black wooden box from his back.
Chapter 330