Blackwind Pass

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[Recharge amount: 1600000]

[Blood-Qi Value gained: +86000]

[Current Blood-Qi Value: 178628]

[Blood-Qi Value threshold breakthrough detected]

[Realm breakthrough: First-Rank Martial King → Second-Rank Martial King!]

Boom!

A torrent of Blood Qi even more vast and majestic than when he had broken through to the Martial King Realm exploded within Li Zhengyang's body.

If advancing from Martial Sect to Martial King was a qualitative transformation from gas to liquid,

then advancing from First-Rank Martial King to Second-Rank Martial King was a quantitative transformation, like a stream flowing into a river.

The vortex of liquid True Essence in his dantian abruptly expanded by a full circle. It spun faster, its color shifting from blood-red toward a deeper, more profound dark red.

Every drop of True Essence contained several times more energy than before.

His bones, meridians, and muscles were further reinforced under the wash of this newfound power.

Indestructible Golden Body activated automatically. The faint golden sheen over his body flashed briefly before becoming more solid and restrained.

Second-Rank Martial King!

Li Zhengyang slowly opened his eyes. A glint flashed through them, and even the air in the room gave off faint popping sounds.

He clenched his fist, feeling the surging, roaring power inside him.

Now, he was completely confident he could venture into the so-called Blackwind Pass.

Early the next morning.

Without alerting anyone, Li Zhengyang left Fortress No. 7 alone.

He did not apply for an aircraft. Martial King Realm experts already possessed the ability to fly through the air for short periods.

Though the consumption was enormous, it was far faster than running across the ground.

He kicked off the city wall, shooting out like a cannonball. A faint afterimage streaked through the air as he sped toward the boundless northern wilderness.

On the city wall, Zhao Meng and Wang Hu, who were out on patrol, stared dumbfoundedly at the figure swiftly vanishing into the horizon.

"J-Just now... was that the deputy battalion commander?" Wang Hu stammered.

"Obviously!" Zhao Meng smacked the back of his head. "Who else but him could do that?"

"Flying through the air... isn't that something only Martial Kings can do?"

Zhao Meng fell silent. He drew in a sharp breath, his eyes filled with fervor and admiration.

"Our First Battalion is about to produce a true dragon!"

A distance of 120 kilometers was not particularly far for a Second-Rank Martial King.

Li Zhengyang raced all the way there and reached the outskirts of Blackwind Pass in less than an hour.

Before he even got close, he sensed something strange.

The wind here was black.

That was not an exaggeration.

Streams of black air, visible to the naked eye, whirled and howled across the wilderness. Wherever they passed, even the rocks on the ground were corroded into pitted ruins.

The air was permeated with the scent of chaotic energy.

"A nascent storm..."

Li Zhengyang stopped, his expression grave.

This black wind contained violent power. Even a Martial Sect expert caught in it would be torn to pieces in an instant.

He circulated Indestructible Golden Body, wrapping himself in a layer of faint golden Body-Protecting Astral Energy, then carefully stepped into the area ravaged by the black wind.

Screech! Screech! Screech!

The black wind scraped against his Body-Protecting Astral Energy with piercing friction. Ripples spread across the surface of the Astral Qi.

The deeper he went, the denser the black wind became, and the greater its power grew.

After walking roughly five kilometers, the sight ahead made Li Zhengyang's pupils contract sharply.

A thousand meters ahead, suspended in midair, was a huge, irregular rift.

The rift stretched for a hundred meters. Purple-black lightning flickered along its edges, like a scar in the sky.

The inside of the rift was pitch-black and bottomless, as though it connected to another unknown world.

Massive black storms poured forth from this rift.

A Spatial Rift!

And one that had already taken shape and was continuously expanding!

He had to bring this intelligence back!

Just as Li Zhengyang was about to take out his communicator and record this astonishing sight, he suddenly felt an intense sense of being watched.

He abruptly looked up toward the area beneath the rift.

The ground shrouded by black wind was densely packed with Demonic Beasts.

These Demonic Beasts came in all forms: humanoid rats, giant winged serpents, and elemental creatures made entirely of black stone.

The weakest among them were all Fifth-Rank Martial Artists.

At the very front of the beast horde stood two figures radiating terrifying auras.

On the left was a gigantic demon ape over ten meters tall, its entire body covered in bone spikes. Its aura was violent and savage—it was unmistakably a Sixth-Rank Peak Bone-Spike Demon Ape.

On the right was an elegant Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Its nine tails swayed slowly behind it, each one burning with ghostly blue flames. It too was at the Sixth-Rank Peak.

The next second.

The Sixth-Rank Peak Bone-Spike Demon Ape let out a roar and violently stomped the ground.

Boom!

The ground split apart. Its massive body became a black meteor as it shot toward Li Zhengyang, throwing a punch that made even space tremble.