Chapter 95: The

"One trillion military merit quota!"

Beside him, the Marquis Jingtao couldn't help exclaiming: "Lei Bao, it looks like you've got a long wait ahead to complete your military merit quota!"

"That's right!"

The Chimei clan's Nightmare couldn't help but marvel: "Even if you kept slaying high-rank military lords, you'd still need to kill a thousand of them!"

"I think it's not that bad!" Lu Qingshan smiled.

Upon hearing this, all members of the Xuan Kong squad blinked in surprise.

"Lei Bao, you've just arrived on the Outer Battlefield; you might not yet understand some things!"

The Tie Xue Hou, seated beside Captain Xuan Konghou, couldn't help speaking up: "Don't be fooled by our title as Marquis-level immortals—we're not much stronger than high-rank military lords. Our greatest advantage is merely our immortality and superior survival ability!"

"High-rank military lords, lacking immortality, invest heavily in survival—buying powerful battle armors, acquiring bizarre abilities, and even self-exploding parts of their divine bodies to escape mortal danger. Even our captain can't guarantee killing a single high-rank military lord!"

"When I first came to the Outer Battlefield, my quota was also one trillion! Yet after six hundred thousand years here, I've only slain four hundred high-rank military lords and over a thousand low-rank ones!"

"Have you never killed a Marquis-level immortal?" Lu Qingshan asked, puzzled.

At this, everyone around laughed.

The Marquis Jingtao chuckled and explained: "Lei Bao, Marquis-level immortals all possess immortality—they're not easy to kill!"

"You might think our squad once had three Marquis-level immortals, but even taking down just one demands a heavy cost—either vast quantities of rare potions that severely corrode Marquis-level divine energy, or our captain burning massive amounts of divine energy!"

"And once a Marquis-level immortal is cornered, he might instantly detonate all his divine energy—its power is cataclysmic! Let me put it this way: even a low-rank Marquis-level immortal's self-destruction can instantly kill a high-rank military lord and severely wound a low-rank Marquis-level immortal. So our squad rarely targets Marquis-level immortals!"

"Exactly!"

The Yanpolo man "Giant Elephant" glanced with lingering fear: "I remember eight thousand years ago, our squad ambushed a foreign clan team led by one Marquis-level immortal—just one Marquis, two high-rank military lords, and three low-rank ones. To us, it was no challenge!"

"Our captain held off the foreign Marquis while the rest of us swiftly eliminated the remaining military lords. The battle went smoothly—until the foreign Marquis, who'd been trying to flee, saw all his comrades dead. He stopped running and instead burned his divine energy to charge straight at us!"

"Remember, when a Marquis-level immortal burns his divine energy, his power surges hundreds or even thousands of times—our captain couldn't even hold him off! Forced to respond, our captain burned his own divine energy to kill him—but the moment the foreign Marquis saw this, realizing he couldn't win, he instantly detonated all his divine energy. Had our captain and the other Marquis-level immortals not all burned their divine energy to block it, we military lords would've perished!"

"Even so, resisting that Marquis-level immortal's explosion devastated our squad—we spent centuries recovering with countless treasures!"

"So that's how it is!" Lu Qingshan suddenly understood.

Though the experiences of the Xuan Kong squad differed sharply from Luo Feng's in the original novel, Lu Qingshan knew clearly: this was the norm on the Outer Battlefield.

After all, most who come here seek wealth above all else, beyond self-cultivation.

Like Luo Feng in the original novel, using rare treasures like Femo Toxin to kill Marquis-low or Marquis-high immortals? That's pure wastefulness!

Rare treasures like Femo Toxin are typically reserved by most immortals for the most critical moments.

Of course, Lu Qingshan didn't care whether he could complete the military quota assigned to him.

After all, his second body came to the Outer Battlefield precisely to hone himself through life-or-death combat—even if he perished in danger, he'd quickly regrow a second body and return.

With sufficient time, even the largest military merit quota could be accumulated!

Not to mention his strength would grow over time—this one-trillion quota was utterly trivial!

During the banquet, Lu Qingshan promptly submitted his application to join the Xuan Kong squad; after Captain Xuan Konghou approved it, he smoothly became a member.

Since the Xuan Kong squad had just returned to the base not long ago, everyone dispersed after the banquet ended.

In the following days, Lu Qingshan stayed within the base, occasionally accepting invitations to banquets from immortal spirits.

Undeniably, at the Marquis-level immortal rank, one was at least marginally considered a powerful being—even on the Outer Battlefield, teeming with powerhouses.

When Lu Qingshan was still a Realm Lord, he wished he could spend every military merit point on enhancing his strength—how could he ever attend banquets?

Meanwhile, other members of the Xuan Kong squad, when free, came to visit Lu Qingshan and taught him survival tips from the Outer Battlefield.

Though he'd previously learned about the Outer Battlefield through the Virtual Universe, his access level there was limited, and his knowledge paled beside the hard-won experience of veterans who'd fought here for millennia.

Listening to his teammates' accounts, he naturally grew more familiar with the Outer Battlefield's realities.

On the Outer Battlefield, warriors from countless cosmic clans wielded bizarre, unpredictable killing techniques—sometimes even encountering Realm Lords with Marquis-peak power. Yet such Realm Lord geniuses couldn't burn divine energy and posed little threat even to low-rank Marquis-level immortals…

There were Marquis-peak immortals who broke through into Cosmic Venerables during massive battles, and Marquis-limit immortals who, after acquiring a suitable heavy treasure, dominated the Outer Battlefield unchallenged…

In one sentence: anything is possible on the Outer Battlefield!

The Xuan Kong squad had roamed the Outer Battlefield for over a hundred thousand years, yet what they'd seen was merely a fraction of its entirety—even they'd never encountered a hostile foreign Marquis-level immortal. And that was certainly good news for them!

After all, if they truly met a hostile foreign Marquis-level immortal—even the weakest Marquis-low—the entire Xuan Kong squad would instantly be in mortal peril!

…

More than a month later, the Xuan Kong squad finally prepared to depart for the Outer Battlefield.

In a vast hall over thirty thousand kilometers in diameter, all eight members of the Xuan Kong squad gathered, fully armed and ready.

Inside the hall, starships lined up in orderly rows—some as large as a kilometer in diameter, others as small as a hundred meters.

Naturally, the number of cosmic warriors aboard varied: some ships carried ten thousand troops—these were military transport vessels—while most, like the Xuan Kong squad's, carried only a dozen elite warriors per ship.

"Departure!"

Captain Xuan Konghou, clad in black battle armor, radiated formidable aura. He gave a low command and immediately retrieved a triangular E-class starship from his personal world ring.

Whoosh!

The hatch opened.

Captain Xuan Konghou entered first, swiftly climbing aboard; the other squad members followed close behind. Only after the six-meter-tall Marquis Jingtao stepped inside did the hatch slowly seal shut.

Once Lu Qingshan and the others were aboard, the ship quickly joined the dense fleet ahead, slowly advancing in sequence until entering different passageways.

After boarding, Captain Xuan Konghou led the way and called out: "Let's head to the rest chamber!"

This remark was clearly meant for Lu Qingshan—the rest of the Xuan Kong squad were already thoroughly familiar with the routine.

Deputy Captain Tie Xue Hou smiled beside Lu Qingshan and explained: "Lei Bao, don't think this E-class ship is beneath our captain's status. On the Outer Battlefield, battles erupt at any moment—starships are among our fastest-consumed assets! Many poorer immortals simply buy bulk C-class starships."

"Our captain wouldn't ride a C-class ship, but he's ordered vast quantities of E-class ones. Only the rest chamber is built from F9-grade metal—capable of withstanding attacks from Marquis-level beings."

At this moment, Captain Xuan Konghou had already led them into the rest chamber, forged from F9-grade metal known as Guiyan Shimu.

The chamber, thirty meters in diameter and twenty meters high, was spacious enough that even the six-meter-tall Marquis Jingtao stood without feeling cramped.

After hearing Tie Xue Hou's words, Captain Xuan Konghou chuckled: "When I first arrived on the Outer Battlefield, I once traveled in an F-class starship. But even an ordinary immortal could cause minor damage to an F-class ship. When crises piled up, my gains barely covered repair costs—so later, I ordered large numbers of E-class ships."

"These spaceships were specially custom-made by me; one costs less than a hundred billion cosmic coins, so even if I lose one every few years, it's nothing to me!"

Lu Qingshan nodded.

A hundred billion cosmic coins would naturally be extremely precious within the territories of the human race — enough to buy who knows how many life planets — but here on the extraterritorial battlefield, where the strong were as common as clouds and opportunities were endless, it naturally seemed utterly insignificant.

Especially since Captain Xuan Konghou was a high-tier Marquis-level immortal; the spoils from casually slaying one or two ordinary immortals would be enough to buy countless cosmic spaceships.

A moment later, Captain Xuan Konghou continued, "Lei Bao, this is your first time on the extraterritorial battlefield — you should take a good look at what the entire garrison base looks like!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Captain Xuan Konghou ordered the ship's AI to activate the exterior simulation.

The giant elephant beside them could not help sighing, "This garrison base is the harbor for us wanderers on the extraterritorial battlefield. As long as we remain within its protection, even a Hei Fengwang-level invincible powerhouse would not dare approach!"

Beep!

The hull of the spaceship instantly vanished completely, and Lu Qingshan and the others felt as if they were truly immersed in the cosmic starry sky.

At this moment the spaceship was still waiting in the main hall; as time passed, one cosmic spaceship after another entered various channels one after another, and before long it was the turn of the Xuan Kong Squad's ship.

The spaceship flew along the channel for several hundred thousand kilometers, then quickly entered an arc-shaped passage.

Just a brief moment later…

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"…

Countless channels dropped massive gates in succession, and then the outermost gate of the entire garrison base swung open with a thunderous roar. Spaceships around them quickly activated their energy shields and flew off toward the distant starry sky.

"Activate the energy defense shield!"

Captain Xuan Konghou gave the order as well: "It's time we set off too!"

Whoosh!

The cosmic spaceship carrying Lu Qingshan and the others instantly shot toward the distant cosmic starry sky, and Lu Qingshan looked back through the exterior simulation to see the gigantic garrison base suspended in the vast starry sky.

War Base No. 026 stood hundreds of thousands of kilometers tall — far more massive than even a true star.

Outside this war base was wrapped a layer of colored energy shield, across which various powerful secret patterns flickered on and off unpredictably.

Massive cannon platforms, each with a diameter of several hundred kilometers, looked incomparably ferocious, as if every shot could reduce an entire stretch of starry sky to nothingness.

"This war base really does look immensely powerful!" Lu Qingshan could not help exclaiming.

Although this war base was much smaller compared to the Virtual Universe Company's universe-wide headquarters continent, in terms of sheer intimidation upon seeing it, this war base was clearly superior.

After all, compared to the Virtual Universe Company headquarters continent, which sat in the heartland of human territory with all its might fully restrained, this war base was built on the extraterritorial battlefield, where super powerhouses from billions of races across the universe gathered — its might naturally had to be displayed openly, to awe the countless races of the cosmos!

"This is the highest-grade AAA Spirit Base!"

Captain Xuan Konghou quickly added, "Every garrison base is the stronghold of the powerhouses on our human faction's side. Returning to the garrison base means absolute safety!"

"Look at those enormous cannon barrels, several hundred kilometers in diameter! When I first came here, I was fortunate enough to witness the might of these cannon platforms once. At the time, only a single cannon platform fired — yet just one shot utterly reduced a vast stretch of starry sky ahead into nothingness, and the four Hei Fengwang-level powerhouses who had been pursuing our human faction's strong were instantly completely dispersed within that terrifying might!"

"Captain, tell us more!"

After hearing Captain Xuan Konghou's extraordinary tale, the other members of the Xuan Kong Squad clearly grew greatly interested, and even Lu Qingshan was listening attentively.

Seeing this, Captain Xuan Konghou could only continue: "At that time I was only an initial-tier Marquis, and hadn't yet formed the Xuan Kong Squad. I happened to be riding a cosmic spaceship back when I saw several alien-race Hei Fengwang-level immortals pursuing a powerhouse from our human faction. A cannon platform inside the garrison base didn't even have time to charge up — it just fired one shot straight away, freezing the surrounding spacetime completely, and those four alien Hei Fengwang-level immortals were naturally reduced to ashes in an instant!"

"Later I heard other powerhouses mention that those four Hei Fengwang-level immortals were remnants of the natives of the Yan Ji Continent. They hadn't joined the extraterritorial battlefield through normal channels, so naturally they didn't understand the terror of the garrison base!"

"I also heard later that the powerhouse being chased had obtained the incomparably precious Altar Treasure, but after returning to the garrison base he never went back to the extraterritorial battlefield — he must have simply retired and left!"

"Altar Treasure?"

After hearing Captain Xuan Konghou's words, Shadow beside him could not help exclaiming, "The last time the Altar Treasure emerged on Yan Ji Continent, over twenty Hei Fengwang-level immortals fell!"

"Right!"

Nightmare could not help sighing as well, "I heard that time quite a few limit-level Hei Fengwang powerhouses rushed over from other dangerous zones specifically for it. Luckily we were quite far from those battlefields back then — otherwise we probably wouldn't even have qualified as cannon fodder!"

……

While the group chatted, the cosmic spaceship was steadily advancing forward.

Lu Qingshan looked through the exterior simulation at the void outside — from time to time, broken spaceship wreckage, Zerg corpses, meteorite fragments, and the like would appear…

These things simply drifted scattered through the endless void, yet not a single squad would stop their ship to investigate.

"Once we leave the garrison base's protection, any place could become a battlefield!"

Shadow poured Lu Qingshan a full cup of fruit wine with a bottle in hand, then asked with a smile, "Lei Bao, this is your first time entering the extraterritorial battlefield — are you feeling nervous?"

"Not really!"

Lu Qingshan raised his cup and drained it in one gulp, then said with a smile, "Actually, I think the ones who should be nervous are the aliens who run into us!"

"Hahaha!"

The bold voice of Marquis Xuan Kong came through: "Well said! Everyone, raise your glasses — here's to wishing our Xuan Kong Squad a bountiful return from this trip to the extraterritorial battlefield!"

"Bountiful return!"

All the members of the Xuan Kong Squad raised their cups and drained them in one gulp.

"Hahaha, with eight immortals gathered together now, in these low-tier combat zones it's unlikely anyone would dare provoke us!"

Captain Xuan Konghou said with a smile, "Yan Ji Continent is still far off. Once we reach the acceleration zone, we can accelerate to light speed and enter the dark universe. We should be able to reach Yan Ji Continent within ten days!"

The Cosmic Secret Realm was after all different from a normal cosmic starry sky; moreover, the Seventh Battlefield had countless powerhouses constantly fighting each other, so many regions were littered with all kinds of interstellar dust and corpse wreckage. To smoothly enter the dark universe, one had to head to specially cleared special zones, and only then could one rapidly accelerate to light speed for universe traversal.

In the Seventh Extraterritorial Battlefield, such specially cleared cosmic traversal points were indeed numerous — practically countless.

Lu Qingshan and the others rode the cosmic spaceship forward and soon arrived at one such cleared cosmic traversal point.

During this process, the members of the Xuan Kong Squad remained constantly vigilant, and even sensed some energy ripples transmitted from powerhouses clashing.

Only after the spaceship entered the dark universe did everyone relax slightly.

(End of this chapter)