Chapter 623: Sub-Saint

Just as they prepared to climb, a figure appeared silently about thirty yards ahead.

His dark gold robes whipped in the sandy wind, a dark red spear held in his hand, its tip angled toward the ground.

Xu Wuyi looked up at the three of them.

"This path is closed."

The old man’s pupils constricted. He hadn’t sensed the man’s approach at all; it was as if he had materialized from thin air.

And his aura... it was unfathomable.

"Who are you?" the old man asked warily, his hand on the hilt of his saber. "Why are you blocking our way?"

The native language of Great Liang shared many similarities with that of the Federation. Only some intonations were different, but direct communication was possible.

This wasn’t an isolated case. In fact, the Federation had long been aware that throughout the entire Star Realm Battlefield, the vast majority of Human Race Civilizations possessed similar linguistic and cultural systems, differing only in their direction and stage of development.

Some scholars theorized that these civilizations all shared a common origin in the distant past, while the Alien Race civilizations developed later, which would explain their completely independent linguistic systems.

Xu Wuyi didn’t answer.

He raised his left hand and made a grasping motion.

The Gravity Field shifted abruptly.

The three Martial Artists from Great Liang all felt their bodies grow heavy, as if an invisible mountain were pressing down on them.

The younger Martial Artist grunted, nearly forced to his knees.

The old man’s expression changed drastically. "This is... Momentum? You’re a Sub-Saint?!"

Only a Martial Artist at the Sub-Saint level could wield Momentum to such a degree, forming a Domain Suppression.

Xu Wuyi remained silent.

He raised the spear in his right hand, a glint of gold flaring at its tip.

"Retreat, or die."

His voice was calm, yet it carried an undeniable finality.

Cold sweat broke out on the old man’s forehead. He could sense this was no empty threat. If that spear thrust came, the three of them wouldn’t be able to stop it.

But duty-bound, he could not retreat.

"Formation!" the old man shouted, drawing his saber through gritted teeth. "Stall him! Wait for Sub-Saint Zhao to arrive!"

The three men quickly formed a triangle, their saber light weaving together to create a cyan Energy Barrier.

Xu Wuyi shook his head.

’Time is precious. I don’t have time to waste on them.’

The spear thrust forward.

No flashy Techniques, just a simple, direct thrust.

But the instant the spear shot forward, the Gravity Field shifted again. The air around the three Martial Artists from Great Liang thickened like glue, slowing their movements by half a beat.

And that half-beat was all it took.

The dark red light of the spear pierced the cyan barrier like a hot knife through butter.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

Three soft sounds.

The Curved Saber in the old man’s hand shattered. A bloody, thumb-sized hole had appeared in his chest. He stared down at the wound, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The other two were struck at the same instant and collapsed, unmoving.

Xu Wuyi withdrew his spear and, without a single glance at the three men, turned and returned to the cave.

From start to finish, it had taken less than three seconds.

Inside the cave, Captain Chen and the others had watched the entire exchange on the monitors. They were all stunned.

They knew Xu Wuyi was strong. To be assigned a mission like this by the military, he had to be at the Quasi-Grandmaster Level.

But this level of strength was beyond anything they had imagined.

’Three Innate Martial Artists, all above Level 45, in a defensive formation... taken out with a single spear thrust?’

"Charging progress?" Xu Wuyi asked as he walked into the cave.

"S-seventeen minutes remaining," Captain Chen replied hastily, snapping out of his stupor.

Xu Wuyi nodded and walked back to the entrance, taking his position once more.

’The battle was brief, but the Energy Fluctuation must have been detected. The Great Liang forces must be aware by now.’

’The real test is only just beginning.’

Sure enough, less than five minutes later, a new reading appeared on the edge of the gravity sensors.

This time, it was just a single contact.

But its Energy Level... was 48.

And it was moving extremely fast, almost skimming the ground at over three hundred meters per second.

Xu Wuyi’s eyes narrowed.

’The Sub-Saint is here.’

’And he’s fast. At least five minutes earlier than I anticipated.’

"How much longer on the charge?"

"Twelve minutes!" Captain Chen’s voice was strained.

Xu Wuyi took a deep breath.

"Keep going. Don’t stop. I’ll hold him off."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he vanished from the cave entrance.

Outside the crater, a figure descended from the sky like a meteor, slamming into the stony desert and kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

As the dust settled, a powerfully built, middle-aged man was revealed.

He wore dark gold Battle Armor and wielded a long halberd with a chillingly sharp tip. His features were rugged, with thick, blade-like eyebrows, and his eyes held the authority of one long accustomed to a high station.

It was Zhao Yuanwu, one of the Sub-Saints stationed on Liang Wei Third.

Zhao Yuanwu glanced at the three fallen patrol members on the ground, his expression grim.

"A single, fatal blow... Such ruthless methods."

He looked up toward the crater.

"Which master is this, skulking in the shadows? Show yourself!"

His voice boomed like thunder, echoing across the wasteland.

Xu Wuyi emerged from the shadows, stopping about a hundred yards in front of Zhao Yuanwu.

Their eyes met.

Zhao Yuanwu’s pupils contracted slightly. The young man before him looked to be in his early twenties, yet his aura was as profound as an abyss, and even he felt a flicker of pressure from it.

’And that dark red spear...’

"You’re not one of the Great Liang people," Zhao Yuanwu said gravely. "An off-worlder?"

Xu Wuyi didn’t deny it. "Step aside, and you live."

Zhao Yuanwu laughed, his anger turning to amusement. "Arrogant! I have guarded Liang Wei Third for thirty-seven years, and this is the first time anyone has dared to speak to me in such a way!"

He brandished his halberd, its tip pointed at Xu Wuyi.

"State your name. My halberd does not slay the nameless."

Xu Wuyi shook his head.

"There’s no need."

As the words faded, he moved.

He didn’t charge Zhao Yuanwu. Instead, he retreated rapidly, simultaneously making a grasping motion with his left hand to erect three layers of gravity barriers before him.

Zhao Yuanwu froze for a second, then realized. ’He’s stalling for time!’

"Trying to stall me? Dream on!"

He swept his halberd in a wide arc. A cyan crescent of light shot out, tearing through the air and crashing heavily against the gravity barriers.

The first barrier shattered on impact.

The second vibrated violently but held.

Zhao Yuanwu snorted. The Momentum of his halberd shifted from a sweep to a thrust. A cold light exploded from the tip, transforming into a thousand fine streams of Qi Force that shot forward like a torrential downpour.

This was his signature technique, "Thousand-Army Break."

Each stream of Qi Force had the power to pierce iron armor; a thousand of them fired at once could turn a small mountain into a sieve.

Xu Wuyi’s expression remained placid.

He flicked the spear in his right hand. The dark gold patterns on its shaft lit up as he drew a perfect arc in the air before him.

The Gravity Field rotated with his Spear Momentum, forming an invisible vortex.

The thousands of Qi Force streams flew into the vortex, only to be twisted, scattered, and ground down until they dissipated completely.

Zhao Yuanwu’s expression finally changed.

’This is no longer simple Momentum,’ he thought. ’This is the precise manipulation of the Power of Heaven and Earth. A Realm that even I have yet to touch.’

"Just who are you?!" he demanded.

Xu Wuyi didn’t answer.

He could feel the charging device in the cave entering its final phase.

The Energy Fluctuation began to intensify, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

Zhao Yuanwu noticed it too. He looked sharply toward the base of the crater, a look of dawning comprehension in his eyes. "You’re trying to escape?!"