That night, deep within the plateau of the Perimeter Xilang Peak battlefield where no exact coordinates could be pinned down, Han Qingyu fought the hardest battle of his life to date—a battle of life and death.
Streams of light crisscrossed between the starlight column sword and the dead iron straight sword. Again and again, he was sent flying by slashing strikes, and again and again, he stood back up to strike back.
The low whistle of bullets came from deep within the dark grass.
Wen Jifei constantly shifted his position. Controlled by source energy, the 18mm bullets fired with whip-like snaps of his gun carved strange, uncanny arcs through the night, until even the sound of them cleaving the wind became shrill, ethereal, and impossible to predict.
Yet the true battle of that night was taking place on the main peak of Xilang Peak.
Past midnight, a massive ambush and covert infiltration abruptly erupted, pinning down layer upon layer of defenses. Amid the chaos of the battlefield, enemy super combat powers charged straight for the giant mothership at the mountain's summit... ten of them.
The sheer gravity of the crisis exceeded all expectations of Azure's top brass; for this battle, the enemy camp had actually gathered ten super combat powers.
Snow Lotus, Voyage, Pure Purgatory, Earth's Core, Deep Sea... the City of Iniquity. This was a joint operation uniting virtually every faction in the source energy world outside of Azure.
In truth, these organizations did not all share the same goal.
Some, like Snow Lotus and Pure Purgatory, intended to seize whatever they could, and even if they couldn't, to destroy part of it; others, like the top-ranked experts from the City of Iniquity, had come anonymously for promised source energy, wealth, and the super materials they might scavenge from the mothership; and still others, such as Voyage, even felt they had been forced into this drastic measure out of utter grievance and helplessness—the technology of the mothership was of paramount importance to them, yet Azure refused to let them touch a speck of it or share a thing...
"Let us participate in the research and share the results, allowing Voyage to make our own preparations so that one day in the future we might leave this planet to find a new home... How does that affect Azure at all?! Why must it come to this?"
Even as their own supers were already embroiled in the snowy peak battlefield, the leadership of Voyage was still contacting Azure Alliance Headquarters to press their logic of "grievance."
On such a chaotic battlefield, if super combat powers sought only to pass through, they were virtually impossible to stop with mere numbers.
The clamor of battle spread across the entire snowy peak... Amid the booming explosions of source energy, streak after streak of radiant light burst forth, lunging toward the giant mothership atop the mountain.
Armies pinned the lines; supers stormed the peak.
"Rumble..." Suddenly, an avalanche broke out high above.
The supers had engaged.
This was the first time humanity's pinnacle of martial power had clashed on such a massive scale, locked in duel after duel... Boundless source energy collided in midair beneath the moonlight, bursts of light exploding like bombs and illuminating the snowy peak, turning night into daylight time and again.
The supers whom the Azure Alliance had stationed around the mountain perimeter intercepted seven of them.
Three more broke through the perimeter positions and continued their charge toward the summit...
Soon, an overhanging precipice of ice and snow jutting outward appeared before them.
They recognized this cliff. In a set of photographs released by Azure not long ago, a young Huaxian man covered in blood had once stood atop this precipice, standard resting against his shoulder amid the wind and snow.
In just a few short days, the snow and ice had already repaired the battlefield of that day, leaving the cliff whole as before.
Looking up, icicles glistened under the moonlight, and the accumulated snow looked desolate.
With a shout, the three vaulted into the air.
The giant mothership was not far away now, resembling a black fortress.
Outside the fortress, tents stood like a forest; inside, lights shone bright, and researchers were bustling in and out... steadily continuing their work as if nothing were amiss.
"How dare they?!"
In their line of sight, on the inner side of the precipice, a thick, dark-green military tent stood pitched on the snow.
The tent flap was open. Mutton cooked down below and carried up the mountain, along with warmed wine, simmered over a specially made brazier. Two old men sat by a low table, glancing out into the night.
"Look at that, they've made it up, haven't they?!" The old chief of staff turned back to face the man across from him. "I told you long ago that you're past your prime. For over twenty years, even if the Red-Slaying Saber gathered no rust, it gathered dust. The three words 'Chen Buer' haven't been able to keep people down for a long time now. Haha."
Setting down his cup of wine, the old chief of staff laughed merrily. "Don't look at me. When it comes to fighting, I'm of no help at all."
"Bullshit! As if I need your help?!"
Having apparently bragged earlier only to be slapped in the face by reality immediately after, Chen Buer cursed in exasperation.
The old man had been in a foul mood for some time now—from Ye Jian showing up at the Huaxia All-Army Conference, to Alphonse defying all counsel to make a move on Han Qingyu, and now tonight, when these people actually dared to stand before him... It seemed the majesty of Chen Buer of the Mortal Realm was constantly being provoked.
Yet the old chief of staff could clearly see a childlike excitement in his eyes.
Chen Buer set down his chopsticks, preparing to stand.
The old chief of staff remained seated, leaning down to help slide open a long drawer beneath the table. The drawer was pulled all the way to its end until the outer edge tilted down to rest against the ground.
The most famous blade in the world for the past thirty years lay inside the drawer, rattling slightly with two rolling thuds.
The Red-Slaying Saber had no scabbard. In shape, it roughly resembled a traditional Huaxian goose-quill saber, though modified so that both the blade and the hilt were considerably longer.
Material-wise, the Red-Slaying Saber was merely of top-tier quality, on the same level as Wu Xu's and He Tangtang's heavy swords, falling short even of Master Longchi's little hatchet and Sean's knight broadsword. But it was enough.
Chen Buer gripped the hilt with his left hand. After a two-second pause, a smile touched the corners of his mouth. He lifted the long saber and strode outside.
"Crunch, crunch..."
His footsteps were neither hurried nor slow.
Standing in a triangular formation on the other end of the precipice, the three super combat powers exchanged glances. They had known all along that Chen Buer was here and had come prepared, but now that they were truly facing him, a flicker of apprehension still showed in their eyes.
Before them stood Chen Buer, invincible in the mortal realm.
This stubborn old Huaxian peasant and the Red-Slaying Saber in his hand had suppressed this entire era for more than thirty years.
"Don't worry. Don't forget that rumor. As far as I know, it's definitely true."
One of them spoke to rally their spirits. After addressing the other two, he turned, drew his saber, and faced Chen Buer.
After a brief silence, he curled his lips into a smirk and asked in slightly clumsy Chinese, "Commander, which of the three of us do you think is worthy of trading for your life?!"
In this world of source energy hidden behind the scenes, a rumor had circulated for a very long time: Chen Buer could still unleash one final slash. Whoever that slash struck would die, unstoppable by anyone. But after that slash... Chen Buer himself would inevitably be ruined—and to be ruined meant death.
"Pfft!" Chen Buer scoffed, utterly devoid of the demeanor of a grandmaster. Halting in place, he narrowed his eyes at them and asked, "You think you're worthy?!"
The three were momentarily taken aback. Not worthy? Three supers. Not worthy of trading for that one slash?!
"The wolf said the tiger had grown old, and the dogs took it to heart."
Chen Buer muttered under his breath once more.
That rumor was true.
Yet that slash was not something just any super was qualified to behold.
Chapter 335