If there existed a critical threshold in all of this, Ye Jian was confident he could spot it because he was himself one of the few standing at the absolute peak of this world. Moreover, the path he had walked within the realm of supers had long been recognized within Azure as possessing the world's most ferocious explosive burst.
Beyond him, the remaining few who might even touch this threshold hardly required counting on one's fingers—there were virtually none.
And if one could not reach this critical threshold, whether there was one enemy or three made little difference to Chen Buer.
"A strike meant to fell dragons and elephants, yet even pigs dare test it!"
Inside the military tent, the warm wine cup touched the old staff officer's lips, but he could not resist pulling it away to shout a curse outward first.
What a refined man he had once been—rumored to have been the top scorer of the national college entrance examinations... yet he had been led astray in the end.
"Are you trying to turn my Legion Commander Chen into a butcher?! Do you think he never moonlighted as a butcher back when he herded sheep?" the old staff officer continued to bellow.
"..." Chen Buer turned to give him a helpless look... *Aren't you a goddamn scholar? It isn't easy for your old buddy to finally strike with his saber again to jog this world's memory, and here I thought you'd recite a poem.*
He turned and drew his blade.
The saber momentum surged!
A vast rainbow spanned the sky!
Thunderous roars shook the heavens.
Across the entire snowy mountain from crest to base, whether ordinary soldiers or supers locked in desperate combat, every single person halted at this moment, turning back to look up.
The martial power of the mortal realm could actually reach such heights...
"Run!" The three facing him finally understood why that man was called "Chen Buer of the Mortal Realm"... Without hesitation, they turned and fled recklessly at the very first instant.
*Boom!*
The long saber cleaved downward.
That night, after an interval of more than twenty years, Azure's Chen Buer finally unleashed another slash.
From that day forth, Xilang Peak gained a new sheer cliff.
Of the three enemy supers, two died on the spot, while the sole survivor tumbled down the snowy peak, gravely wounded.
"Th-this is that legendary strike?!"
"So, is Chen Buer going to die?!"
As the roar of the saber subsided, enemies and Azure soldiers across the mountain watched in suspense.
Moonlight spread anew over the snow and ice after the blizzard settled... On the icy precipice that had just been sheared away, a familiar silhouette slowly walked out and stood there. The tassel of the Red-Slaying Saber behind his shoulder fluttered in the wind.
The legend lived on.
"Invincible in the mortal world."
He simply stood there.
The enemy forces storming the mountain broke and routed.
***
Knowing that the Legion Commander was stubborn and liked to force himself to hold on, Lü Moyi and the others, worried sick, gave no thought to pursuing the fleeing enemies and rushed onto the cliff.
Inside the cliff edge, the military tent's entrance remained open.
Chen Buer sat beside the low table, a piece of mutton held between his chopsticks. He turned his head and barked, "What are you staring at? Haven't you got men to go chop down?!"
Lü Moyi: "Oh, right."
After they left.
The old staff officer put the Red-Slaying Saber back into the drawer, closed it, and looked up, saying, "I wonder how that kid is doing. Can he win his fight?"
Chen Buer furrowed his brows and thought for a moment. "Who knows."
***
Perimeter Xilang Peak battlefield, deep within the plateau.
When a man looks fearless in the face of death, he says it is to survive.
*Boom!* Sean once again sent Han Qingyu and his column sword flying with a cleaving blow.
He didn't know how many times this had been.
*Slash!* The edgeless dead iron straight sword whipped out unexpectedly, carving another gash into him.
He was still striking back!
The fourth wound. The first two had been when sudden bullets momentarily blocked his line of sight, giving Han Qingyu an opportunity for a surprise attack. Now, after Sean had raised his vigilance, the bullet-screen trick was useless against him, yet Han Qingyu was still hitting back, still able to strike back.
Reaching down to brush over the wound on his abdomen, Sean looked up with a resentful gaze. Soaked in blood, Han Qingyu stood back up, holding the column sword.
Clearly, in every direct clash between them, with every hard parry Han Qingyu made, the boundless, scorching life source energy upon the knight sword would surge through the dead iron straight sword or the starlight column sword, pouring into Han Qingyu's body.
In his current physical state, even the parts of his body without visible wounds suffered extensive capillary ruptures; he was covered in blood.
"He should be dead... Just what on earth is keeping him going?!"
Sean simply could not understand it.
Yet he knew full well in his heart that if this continued, Han Qingyu wouldn't die before Sean exhausted himself to death. The continuous, repeated outpouring of life source energy caused Sean's own condition to deteriorate steadily.
"If that's how it is, I'll send you on your way all at once." Sean gritted his teeth, his mind made up. Rather than clinging to life and draining it bit by bit, it was better to stake it all in one go.
When Han Qingyu was sent flying in yet another frontal clash, he landed near the expected position.
"Shield thrust formation!" Sean called out as he swept forward at high speed.
The seven-man shield formation quickly enclosed Han Qingyu once more. This was the second time, after the one strike that had succeeded earlier. Ordinarily, it should have been useless... Han Qingyu still held that blue starlight column sword in his hand; he was fully capable of severing the blades thrust inside and shattering the shields.
"Kill!"
Seven dead iron straight swords pierced through the shields from different angles, thrusting toward Han Qingyu.
"Ah..." Trapped in the formation, Han Qingyu swung the starlight column sword with both hands in a sweeping whirl. *Home, I still have to go home...* He was already close to receiving a Star of Azure. Besides the source energy reward, the Star of Azure came with the opportunity to file a special privilege application.
For instance, Alphonse had previously used this privilege to claim Azure Nepal's Third Fixed Exploration Site as his family's personal domain.
The people around Han Qingyu and even Chen Buer had assumed that once Han Qingyu obtained it, he would use it to try to bring down Alphonse. Han Qingyu himself had once thought the same. But in truth, after Chen Buer took over that matter... Han Qingyu quickly changed his mind. He wanted to save that privilege application to take Squad 1777 back with him to be stationed in his hometown region, not far from home.
"If Dad goes up the mountain to chop trees, I'll secretly chop them for him in advance."
"If there are large boulders on the highway outside the shop, I'll go move them in the dead of night."
"If a matchmaker comes to the house to lay the groundwork, I'll sneak off first to take a look at the girl."
"If anyone bullies my parents, well, that'll shake heaven and earth!"
"..."
*Clang, clang, clang, clang...* The blades thrusting in from all directions were cleanly severed under the sweeping whirl of the starlight column sword.
The shield formation was on the verge of breaking.
Sean's knight sword lunged in.
*Clang!*
Han Qingyu swept his column sword and deflected him away.
At the same time, an abrupt *boom!* echoed.
It was not the sound of a clash—it sounded like roaring fire.
Then, a bizarre sight unfolded: in an instant, all seven shields of the formation turned incandescent red like volcanic magma, softening.
Dead iron was melting, fusing together, flowing like living growth, constantly congealing.
This time, Sean had staked half his life source energy in one go, intent on casting Han Qingyu to death inside the shield formation.
The men holding the shields screamed in agony.
Sean landed, his body swaying, his gaze fixed forward. The casting formation was nearing completion. Summoning the last of his strength, he thrust his sword forward one final time.
*Aooong...*
From within the incandescent shield formation, an indescribable cry resonated—like that of an alien beast.
Then, with a resounding *thump*, an explosion erupted!
The shield formation blew apart into fragments, raining scorching, fiery red chunks of dead iron like molten volcanic debris.
The shieldbearers were hurled away with agonizing shrieks.
"Someone once taught me blacksmithing," Han Qingyu's voice rang out through the rain of fire.
Half of the dead iron chunks in the air rapidly solidified, descending like a shower of swords upon Sean.
*Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft...*
The distance was simply too close. Sean scrambled to parry and dodge, sustaining several cuts before landing in panic.
A large glob of pliable molten iron wrapped toward him...
At that exact instant:
*Bang!* A gunshot rang out.
Followed by a faint *clink*—the sound of iron striking iron.
Recently, Han Qingyu had been using a tattered curtain cloth scavenged from the Huaxia All-Army Conference hall to wrap the blue starlight column sword. That curtain cloth still had several iron hanging rings attached to it.
Earlier, when the starlight column sword was drawn, the curtain cloth had fallen to the ground.
Now, a bullet struck an iron ring, shattering it, yet also flinging the curtain cloth into the air.
*Bang... Clink!*
Another shot tore the curtain cloth into a long strip, sending it hurtling toward the center of the battlefield at high speed.
*Flap!*
It unfurled.
Chapter 336