In the lead was a tall, slender Feathered Person. The edges of his dark gray wings shimmered with a cold, metallic light. His eyes were long and narrow, his pupils a rare dark purple.
The insignia on his shoulder pauldrons was identical to Jialou's, but with an added blood-red stripe—Sarun, deputy captain of the 7th Blood Wing Guard.
"The Energy residue... is clean." Sarun slowly descended, his feet touching the ground that had been compressed by Xu Wuyi's "Gravity Singularity."
The surface here was bizarrely concave. The rock strata had collapsed inward in a pattern of concentric circles, and the central area was as smooth as a mirror, as if it had been smashed by an invisible giant hammer.
A Feathered soldier squatted down and touched the ground. Dark purple Energy seeped from his fingertips into the rock.
A few seconds later, he looked up, his expression grim. "Lord Sarun, the hive core... has been completely annihilated. This wasn't a conventional destruction. It was some kind of... spatial compression. The residual gravitational anomaly has reached the King Level threshold."
Sarun's pupils contracted slightly.
'King Level threshold?'
They knew, of course, who the Federation had sent. The three Vice-Kings had already transmitted video data back to base after their encounter.
'That Xu Wuyi... the intel says he's only twenty-one, in the Innate Realm. Even if his combat power approaches that of a Quasi-Grandmaster, there's no way he could touch King Level power.'
'Unless... he had another breakthrough after the Clearwater Star Realm.'
"Check for other traces," Sarun's voice was ice-cold.
The other two Feathered People quickly fanned out, scanning the surroundings with dark red Crystal Stone Magical Artifacts in their hands.
Soon, they discovered residual Energy imprints at the entrance to the western hive.
"There was a fight here. The modified bodies were all destroyed, and their control cores were pierced with precision." The Feathered soldier brought up a video clip recorded by the artifact.
In the blurry afterimages, dark gold droplets, like the Grim Reaper's needles, pierced through the skulls of one modified body after another.
"This method of attack... I've never seen it before. It's not Flame, nor is it simple Gravity suppression. It's an ultimate form of 'point-based' penetration."
Sarun walked to the cave entrance and bent down to pick up a fragment of a shattered Bone Blade.
The dark purple runes on the blade's edge had already dimmed, but the residual Energy structure was still identifiable.
"This is... a variant of the 'Heart-Corroding Rune,' personally implanted by Captain Jialou." His voice grew even colder.
"It's specifically designed to target Martial Artists with weak Spiritual Defenses, capable of triggering a backlash from their inner demons. But from what's left, the rune was destroyed before it could even activate."
This meant Xu Wuyi's attack was not only fast but terrifyingly precise. He could identify the modified bodies' weaknesses in an instant and kill them with a single strike.
"There's this, too." Another Feathered Person handed over a palm-sized, dark-gold crystal. It was a special substance formed when the hive core was compressed and fused with the rock strata.
"We found it in the central area. Its internal structure... is completely altered. The density is one hundred and seventy times that of normal rock."
Sarun took the crystal. Its bizarre, dark-gold luster was reflected in his dark purple pupils.
He was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly smashed the crystal violently onto the ground.
CRACK!
The crystal shattered, but each fragment was still heavy, sinking an inch into the ground.
"Xu Wuyi..." Sarun squeezed the name out from between his teeth. "He must die."
If a Genius like him were allowed to continue growing, the Federation would have another true Grandmaster in ten years at most—and a Grandmaster whose bizarre combat style would be difficult to counter.
At that point, the balance between both sides on the Star Realm Battlefield would be completely shattered.
"Lord Sarun, what do we do now...?" a Feathered soldier asked tentatively.
"Withdraw." Sarun turned, his wings spreading. "Take all the data from here—including the gravitational anomaly parameters, combat footage, and crystal samples—back with you. I will report to Lord Helos personally."
He looked up in the direction the transport ship had disappeared, his dark purple pupils filled with chilling killing intent.
"Notify all Blood Wing Guard units operating near the Federation Control Zone. Effective immediately, the hunt for Xu Wuyi is now the highest priority mission. If necessary... 'Blood Sacrifice' is authorized."
The two Feathered soldiers trembled but still lowered their heads in assent. "Yes, sir."
Three grayish-white figures shot into the sky, quickly disappearing over the horizon of the crimson sky.
Below, the land distorted by Gravity lay like a hideous wound, silently telling the tale of the brief but fatal confrontation that had just occurred.
...
「Xingjing Third Military Spaceport.」
The transport ship landed slowly at a dedicated berth. When the hatch opened, Xu Wuyi saw that a group of people was already waiting outside.
Besides the familiar military reception personnel, there were three researchers in white lab coats. The one in the lead was an old man with graying hair and thick glasses—Academician Zhou Mingyuan.
"Martial Artist Xu, you've worked hard." Feng Zhuohua was there in person. He glanced at the equipment cases behind Xu Wuyi. "Did you bring everything back?"
"It's all here." Xu Wuyi gestured for his team members to carry down the sealed cases. "Seven sets of remains of the modified bodies from the western hive, three samples of the compressed crystal from the eastern hive, and the environmental data logs from the battlefield."
Academician Zhou Mingyuan already couldn't wait and stepped forward. He carefully opened one of the sealed cases, revealing the remains of a humanoid modified body inside.
Dark purple runes were faintly visible on the damaged control core. Even though they were no longer active, they still emitted a disquieting Energy Fluctuation.
"A perfect fusion of biology and runes..." Zhou Mingyuan murmured to himself, his fingers hovering over the modified body's Bone Blade.
"The bone strength is close to that of a titanium alloy, but it only weighs a third as much. The muscle fibers have been enhanced by energy meridians, giving it an Explosive Power at least double that of a Martial Artist of the same level. And this control core..."
He pushed up his glasses, his expression grave. "This isn't a simple command receiver; it's embedded with a basic combat consciousness. The Feathered Priest Corps' technology in soul-splitting and consciousness implantation is already ahead of ours."
Feng Zhuohua's brow furrowed. "Can we replicate it?"
"Not in the short term." Zhou Mingyuan shook his head. "This involves the core forbidden knowledge of the Feathered People Civilization, especially the application of blood-sacrifice runes and soul fragments. We don't even have a complete theoretical foundation for it."
He looked at Xu Wuyi. "Martial Artist Xu, you fought these modified bodies on site. What was your impression?"
"Individually, their strength is equivalent to the Initial Stage of the Innate Realm, but they lack a true Martial Artist's consciousness. Their combat patterns are fixed and easy to predict," Xu Wuyi answered truthfully.
"Moreover, they aren't augmented by Spirit or the Power of Heart Image. Possessing only Innate Level strength and speed without those things isn't actually that useful. Any Martial Artist above level 35 could handle them."
"However, their coordination is very precise. When twelve of them attack at once, they can form a simple combined-attack formation. If their numbers were doubled and coordinated by a more advanced command unit, the threat would increase exponentially."
Zhou Mingyuan quickly took notes on a tactical tablet. "'Scaled-up numbers, networked command... This is the standard development path for biological weapons. The Feathered People have clearly done this kind of experiment before.'"
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