58: Changes at Yuncheng Pass

Throughout the entire day, Xun Xiuyuan was constantly supporting various fortresses.

The exotic beast attack this time was very strange; they attacked as if they didn't care about their lives, and they didn't retreat until the exotic beast army was destroyed, with only a few scattered exotic beasts returning to the mountains.

In this battle, nearly 400,000 exotic beasts of the Shadow Demon Clan died, and roughly 200,000 soldiers from human fortresses were killed in action.

Of course, Xun Xiuyuan had the greatest harvest, gaining over 20 million military merits alone; a few more times like this and he would likely be unrivaled in the entire army.

During the subsequent rescue efforts, he obtained 3.5 billion exotic beast value, and at this point, Xun Xiuyuan's mental power had reached 6,500, comparable to that of a typical Transcendent Realm cultivator.

After all, ordinary humans usually advance to the Transcendent Realm when their mental power reaches 5,000.

Nearly 5,000 draws yielded a secret technique: Sword Qi Traverse.

Sword Qi Traverse (Perfected): Greatly increases the power of martial arts techniques for bladed weapons such as swords and sabers; at the Perfected stage, it can double the power.

It was precisely because he drew this skill that Explosive Ignition Art + Berserk Blade Technique + Sword Qi Traverse made Xun Xiuyuan's group combat ability incomparably strong.

In subsequent support missions, facing the encirclement of early-stage Transcendent Realm Shadow Demons, he was able to take them down with a single slash, no longer needing the sneak attack of Heaven Piercing Slash.

The surge in mental power and the improvement of martial arts techniques caused Xun Xiuyuan's combat power to increase several times over.

Of course, the rare items from the draws were not limited to a single martial art technique; there were three Transcendent-grade equipment selection treasure chests, but since Xun Xiuyuan was not lacking in weapons and armor, he did not open them.

He could open them when needed, for example, the Overlord Spear, a birthday gift, which Xun Xiuyuan obtained by opening a treasure chest, and there were some other items whose specific uses Xun Xiuyuan didn't know, only that the Space Blade (Talisman) among them was a talisman capable of harming Transcendent beings.

Yes, this time, another Space Blade (Talisman) was drawn.

host: Xun Xiuyuan

Age: 16

Realm: Ninth-grade Immaculate Realm (196,140,000 / 1,000,000,000)

Mental Power: 6500+

Martial Arts: Berserk Blade Technique (Perfected), Mystic Steps (Perfected), Explosive Ignition Art (this skill cannot be upgraded), Heaven Piercing Slash (this skill cannot be upgraded), Copper Wall Iron Barrier (Perfected), Blood Escape (this skill cannot be upgraded), Breath Concealment Technique (Perfected), Soul Pierce (this skill cannot be upgraded), Blood God Body (First Layer), Sword Qi Traverse (Perfected).

Equipment: Dingguang, qianyuan battle armor, wuse, hundred battle blade, illusory armor, wind cloud boots, void piercing needle, soul stabilizing pearl.

Draws remaining: 0

Looking at the mental power value on the panel, Xun Xiuyuan was secretly pleased, thinking that if such sieges happened two or three more times, he could advance to the Transcendent Realm.

A message came from his wristband again: "The exotic beast siege has ended, you may return to the Special Operations Team camp."

Seeing the message, Xun Xiuyuan did not return to Fortress 100 again. Now with the flying device, he could reach anywhere very quickly, as each fortress was only a few tens of kilometers apart.

He activated the automatic navigation, input his vital energy, and headed towards the Special Operations Team's camp.

Mu Tuo remained silent, as did Mu Jin, both standing in the center of the hall.

At the head sat a Shadow Demon whose face was obscured, as if constantly shrouded in black mist.

He was the supreme leader of the Shadow Demon Clan in the abyss, Mu Ying, referred to as the Emperor by the Shadow Demon race.

"Mu Kun has great potential and has now been captured by the human race; he must be exchanged. Slow down the attack on Qianlong City. I will go to Old Ancestor Xie to discuss the exchange of Mu Kun."

Mu Ying spoke calmly, his expression composed.

"Emperor, what about the Lingtian Relic?" Mu Tuo asked cautiously.

"We must exert our full strength to contend for the Lingtian Relic. As you know, my advancement to the Shattering Void Realm was successful because of the gains from the Lingtian Relic. We cannot abandon that place. I will arrange for more Immaculate Realm peak descendants to come from the surface."

Mu Ying said without hesitation.

"Your arrangements for these two sieges were good. Although the casualties were heavy, they significantly weakened the human race's power. The resources on the surface can no longer support too many Shadow Demons, so I plan to arrange for another five million Shadow Demons below the Immaculate Realm to enter the abyss."

"Is the situation on the surface already this bad?" Mu Jin exclaimed in shock.

"Yes, the Ghost Clan's devouring ability is too restrictive for exotic beasts. Only those with strong mental power or powerful fire-element cultivators can restrain them. However, our realm belongs to the spatial rule realm."

Mu Ying briefly explained.

Mu Tuo and Mu Jin said nothing more.

Mu Ying finished speaking, rose to leave, and again instructed Mu Tuo and his wife not to launch any more siege battles for the near future.

In the short time Xun Xiuyuan was on his way, the official account of the Qianlong Legion posted again.

Titled: Colonel Xun Xiuyuan slays over ten thousand exotic beasts, military merits exceed twenty million, specially promoted to Major General.

Every soldier in the entire Qianlong City could see it, and it was pinned at the top.

The replies below were tens of thousands per minute.

"Xun Xiuyuan, Major General? Wasn't he just promoted to Colonel a few days ago?"

"What's so strange? A few days ago, his military merits were only over three million, and now they're twenty-five million. What kind of concept is that? I probably couldn't kill that many exotic beasts in my entire life, right?"

"No need to doubt, you definitely can't kill that many, because Xun Xiuyuan slaughtered a large number of Transcendent and Immaculate Shadow Demons. Remember! It's a large number, like wholesale. One slash, one less opponent, truly fierce."

"Did the guy upstairs participate? Is Xun Xiuyuan really that fierce? Didn't they say Xun Xiuyuan just advanced to Immaculate and isn't even seventeen yet?"

"Is this true? It couldn't be a hero promoted by the officials, could it? Can one person really be that powerful?"

"Kid upstairs, I'm from Fortress 88. I originally thought Xun Xiuyuan was relying on the Xie Family. Only after Xun Xiuyuan came to our fortress for support did I feel that it was the Xie Family who was relying on Xun Xiuyuan."

"Upstairs, don't you care about your future? Aren't you afraid of being targeted? How dare you speak of the Xie Family like that."

"He's not afraid of anything, he's a member of the Xie Family himself. And who among us doesn't know the Xie Family? They couldn't care less about these messy rumors."

"That's true, the Xie Family only recognizes military merits, not people. They are one of the fairest among the ten great families."

"Is my Lu Family not good enough? That's really nonsense, 'one of the fairest'? It should be 'one of the two fairest families (Xie Family and Lu Family)'. Finally, one more thing, Xun Xiuyuan is mighty."

Xun Xiuyuan quickly arrived at the Special Operations Team's camp. Xie Qinglong was already there with a group of team leaders and squad leaders to welcome him outside the camp, and of course, many Special Operations Team members were below.

Xie Qinglong shouted loudly:

"A warm welcome to Special Operations Team Deputy Commander Xun Xiuyuan on his return!"

After he shouted, everyone cheered like a roaring tsunami!

"A warm welcome to Special Operations Team Deputy Commander Xun Xiuyuan on his return!"

Xun Xiuyuan looked at the enthusiastic crowd welcoming him and chuckled.

He knew his military achievements spoke for themselves, and that couldn't be faked.

After everyone welcomed Xun Xiuyuan into the Special Operations Team camp, Xie Qinglong pulled him aside alone.

"Nan Qiao sent back a message. I didn't inform you because of the exotic beast siege; please don't blame me!"

Xun Xiuyuan understood Xie Qinglong's actions. As the commander of the Special Operations Team, he naturally had to prioritize dealing with the exotic beast siege.

"What message did Nan Qiao send back?"

Xun Xiuyuan asked with a smile, thinking it was about Bai Xiaoou.

"The message is very simple, only five words," Xie Qinglong said seriously.

"Yuncheng Pass has changed."