Chapter 139

The Peace and Stability Army's defense line had become as thin as a cicada's wing.

Every soldier was drawing on the last of their life's strength.

Wielding bladed swords, thrusting with broken spears, using shields, using bodies, even using teeth.

Desperately resisting an onslaught that seemed endless.

Corpses piled up ahead of the line almost formed a low wall.

Blood soaked the ground, making footing muddy and slippery.

Chen Wen's breathing was like a broken bellows, each inhale reeking of heavy blood.

Even his sixteen-times-enhanced stamina was nearing exhaustion under this intensity, his arms heavy as iron.

Yet he remained rooted like a boulder at the formation's eye, blocking, slashing, roaring, commanding.

His consciousness even grew somewhat blurred from extreme fatigue.

Only that belief in 'protection,' like a candle in the wind, remained unextinguished.

Just then.

An extremely sharp, icy chill, thick with killing intent, stabbed at his perception like a poison needle!

Not ordinary Khitan cavalry! It's the Iron Crow Army!

Chen Wen jerked his head up, following that chill with his gaze.

He saw, at the edge of the chaotic battlefield, a small group of about twenty black-clad figures appear silently like ghosts.

They did not join the frontal assault but relied on uncanny movement and speed far beyond human limits.

They were precisely and ruthlessly cutting through scattered resistance.

Their target was unmistakably—Chai Rong, still entangled with ordinary Khitan cavalry!

Their movements were efficient and mechanical, their eyes numb and cold, as if executing a preset program.

The leader, their aura especially overbearing, far surpassed any Iron Crow Army minor commander encountered before.

In their hand they held a narrow, straight blade that flashed with the distinctive pale-blue chill of Nether Energy Crystal Ore.

Wherever they passed, Zhou army soldiers trying to block them fell like weeds!

"Target confirmed, execute highest-priority cleanup."

A voice icy and devoid of any humanity faintly came through.

They intended to strike when the overall situation was still undecided and the Zhou army's attention was firmly locked on the front battlefield.

To deliver the final, and most lethal, blow to Chai Rong!

They sought to forcibly drag 'history' back onto what they called the 'right track'!

"My lord——!"

Chen Wen's eyes nearly burst as he let out a heart-rending roar!

He wanted to charge forward, but wave after wave of Khitan cavalry surged ahead of him.

His comrades beside him needed him to support this crumbling line!

The immense feeling of helplessness and anxiety burned his viscera like molten magma!

"Protect Chai Rong! Guard the sole hope in this chaotic age!"

"Uphold order!"

"Shatter this damned script that treats human lives as weeds!"

"Lead these brothers who trust and follow him to survive, to see peace!"

The three strongest beliefs, under ultimate pressure,

were like three streams compressed to their limits, crashing together with a roar.

Merging into a surging, roaring torrent capable of bursting any dam!

"Give me—break!!!"

A shout from the depths of his soul, not through his throat but exploding in his sea of consciousness!

"Crack——"

"A clear sound, like shattering glass, echoed clearly in the depths of his soul!"

"That layer had blocked him for far too long, immensely tough."

The already crack-riddled membrane, under this ultimate impact forged from belief, duty, anger, and the will to protect,

finally—shattered completely!

Boom!!!

Chen Wen felt only that his entire sea of consciousness—no, the whole heaven and earth—were shaken by it!

A vast, boundless pure power far beyond his imagination.

Like a sleeping volcano suddenly erupting, or a dried riverbed receiving a heavenly river's backflow.

Instantly filling every corner of his body, washing over every inch of his meridians.

Washing away all fatigue, injury, and weakness!

His stamina, which had been near exhaustion, recovered at astonishing speed and surged wildly!

His senses, already heightened sixteenfold, were now sufficiently sharp.

But now!

The world in his 'eyes' became clearer and slower!

He could see the fine patterns on the blades of the distant Iron Crow Army soldiers.

He could hear the initial tremor of a bowstring's vibration, sense the flow trajectory of every wisp of killing intent in the air!

A sense of mastery over his own power, his surroundings, and even the unseen 'rules' arose spontaneously!

He instinctively "looked" toward the System Interface in his sea of consciousness:

【Personal Ability Multiplier: Lv. 5(32x)！！！】

【Growth Progress Bar: 100%】（Radiant light flowing, steady as a mountain）

【Fortune Momentum Vortex: Boiling! Cheering!】

【As if subjects welcoming a king, its scale expanded again, its hue turned into a deeper dark gold, and as it spun it drew in the surrounding invisible aura!】

Thirty-two times!

It is not a simple doubling of strength, but an initial leap in the level of life.

It is a deeper understanding and mastery of the rule of "efficiency"!

In the real world, all of this happens in an instant.

To outsiders.

Originally, his aura was somewhat listless; Chen Wen, his body drenched in blood.

Suddenly, a terrifying aura impossible to describe burst from his body!

It seemed as if invisible qi waves surged around him, pushing away the dust and blood beneath his feet in a ring.

His body, originally slightly bent from fatigue, suddenly straightened to attention.

Like a divine sword drawn from its sheath, its sharpness fully revealed, making one dare not look directly!

"A military envoy?!"

Shi Dun, the nearest to him, felt this awe-inspiring aura and looked over in shock.

Chen Wen had no time to explain, and he didn't even glance at the astonished gazes of those beside him in robes.

His gaze, like two icy bolts of lightning, instantly crossed the chaotic battlefield.

He locked onto the Iron Crow Army squad about to approach Chai Rong, especially the leader wielding a dark-blue straight blade!

"Ability Granting—Extensive, fourfold!"

A ripple of invisible energy, vaster and more condensed than before.

Centered on him, it suddenly spread out, instantly enveloping the area with him at its core.

Its radius far exceeded the entire remnant formation of the Jing'an Army!

This time, it is no longer the previous limit of "Extensive 2x" at Lv. 4.

But rather, with his personal ability breakthrough, it rose naturally to—"Extensive 4x Ability Granting"!

"Roar——!"

All the Jing'an Army soldiers enveloped, whether Shi Dun on the verge of exhaustion,

or the trembling-armed Wang Ru, or those ordinary soldiers covered in wounds, barely able to stand.

At this moment, they all felt a mighty, unstoppable warm surge surge into their bodies!

Fatigue swept away completely!

The expended strength instantly recovered and surged!

The intense pain from the wounds became blurred, and the senses became extraordinarily sharp.

The weapons in their hands felt as light as nothing, and their understanding of combat and tacit cooperation with comrades.

Rose to a realm they had never imagined!

This was a feeling akin to being reborn!

The originally tottering, on the verge of collapse defensive line, under this sudden infusion of mighty power,

instantly solidified and reinforced, even... erupting in reverse with a terrifying ferocious aura!

"This… this is…"

Zhang Cheng felt the surging power within him, incredulously staring at his own hands.

Shi Dun let out a roar of extreme excitement, feeling that the strength he had expended was not only fully restored.

And even surpassed his peak!

He swung his iron mace wildly, directly smashing the charging Khitan cavalryman and his horse into a pulp!

"Divine ability of the military envoy!"

No one knew who first let out an excited howl.

"Kill! Kill all these barbarian dogs!"

From desperation to survival, power surged!

The surviving Jing'an Army, at this moment, turned into a pack of true primordial beasts!

And Chen Wen, supported by this newly born, vast thirty-twofold power, stomped the ground!

Boom!

The ground beneath his feet cracked open, and his whole person seemed to break free from gravity.

Turning into an afterimage too swift for the naked eye, accompanied by a piercing scream as it tore the air.

He shot straight toward the Iron Crow Army squad threatening Chai Rong!

Speed reached the extreme!

The balance of victory and defeat in the Battle of Gaoping.

At this moment, due to one person's breakthrough, a fundamental reversal is about to occur!