Chapter 794: Probing Conflict

The seventh day of the rift's appearance.

In the early morning, thin fog shrouded the outskirts of Observation Point No. 7.

Chen Dynasty Border Defense Third Outpost.

The sentinel stood on the watchtower, staring toward the light curtain.

Since the reconnaissance team brought back intelligence, all forward outposts have entered first-level alert.

The dim area on the light curtain has now expanded to five zhang wide.

The pulsation has become more chaotic.

"There's a situation!"

The sentinel suddenly barked a low warning.

Only saw the center of the dim area on the light curtain ripple again.

The scarlet light fluctuated violently.

A narrow rift slowly tore open.

But this time, the rift did not remain stable.

It repeatedly sawed between expansion and contraction, with the edge energy turbulence raging violently like a storm.

"Record!" the outpost chief rushed onto the watchtower.

The recorder was aimed at the rift.

The data rolled wildly.

"The energy turbulence intensity is three times that of last time!"

"The structure is extremely unstable!"

"The estimated duration……cannot be predicted!"

The outpost chief's face grew solemn.

Such an unstable rift, by rights, cannot be traversed.

But just then.

From within the rift, three black shadows suddenly darted out.

Those shadows moved at extreme speed.

As they passed through the energy turbulence, their surfaces burst with a dark green light, fiercely resisting the turbulence's tearing.

They landed.

They rolled.

They rose to their feet.

Three figures appeared in Chen Dynasty territory.

"Enemy attack!" the outpost chief roared.

The alarm instantly blared.

Inside the outpost, twenty border defense troops quickly took combat positions.

The potential energy crossbow was drawn.

Shields activated.

Those three figures had already steadied their stance.

They were Qing State's dark energy reconnaissance soldiers.

Their outward form was basically humanoid, but their entire bodies were covered in a grayish-purple biological exoskeleton.

Their heads lacked facial features, only a large dark green crystal was embedded in the center of the face.

Their limbs were slender, with fingertips ending in sharp bone blades.

Behind them, a thick pipe connected to a backpack-sized dark energy supply unit.

"Three units."

"No heavy weapons carried."

"Action pattern……rapid reconnaissance type."

The outpost chief quickly made a judgment.

"Surround them!"

"Try to capture them alive if possible!"

The border defense troops dispersed their formation.

The three dark energy reconnaissance soldiers simultaneously turned their heads.

The facial crystals flickered.

They seemed to be conducting a rapid scan.

Then they moved.

There was no communication.

There was no hesitation.

The three scouts split into three directions and surged forward.

Their speed was so great it left afterimages.

"Fire!"

The potential energy crossbow bolts fired in unison.

The bolts struck the soldiers' surfaces, erupting in blue-white potential energy sparks.

The exoskeleton showed cracks.

But the scouts did not stop.

They bore the attack head-on and charged straight at the nearest border defense soldiers.

Bone blades sliced down.

Soldiers raised their shields to block.

Bone blades collided with the Momentum Energy shields, producing a piercing screech.

Dark green and blue-white light fiercely clashed.

"Immense power!" the soldier gritted his teeth and held on.

Two more scouts had already cut into the formation.

Bone blades flew through the air.

One border defense soldier failed to dodge in time, his arm sliced open to reveal a deep wound down to the bone.

The wound did not bleed.

But it quickly turned purplish-black and began to corrode and spread.

"Yuneng Pollution!" the medic cried out.

"Remove it immediately!"

The wounded soldier was dragged to the rear.

The battle continued.

The squad leader stepped forward personally to engage a scout.

He wielded a specially made Momentum Energy blade.

The blade was engraved with conductive patterns.

When swung, a blue-white Momentum Energy blade aura extended three feet.

The scout's bone blade met it.

Collision.

The clash of Dark Energy and Momentum Energy erupted between the blades.

The squad leader felt a tremendous recoil force.

But he gritted his teeth, held firm, turned the blade, and sliced toward the scout's shoulder.

The exoskeleton shattered.

Purplish-black mucus spattered.

The scout's movement stalled.

But the crystals on its face flashed even faster.

It seemed to be performing some kind of calculation.

Then it did something no one expected.

It suddenly abandoned defense, bore the squad leader's second blow head-on, and lunged at the nearest recorder.

The bone blade pierced the recorder's core.

Momentum Energy equipment burst into a shower of sparks.

Data was corrupted.

"It's destroying the intelligence equipment!" the squad leader roared.

The other two scouts made the same choice.

They ignored their own damage and frenziedly attacked all recording and communication devices.

"Stop them!"

The border defense troops went all out to encircle and annihilate them.

Momentum Energy crossbow bolts, blades, and shield strikes.

The exoskeletons of the three scouts gradually shattered.

The mucus kept flowing.

But they did not retreat.

The last scout, even as three blades pierced his chest, still reached out and crushed the storage core of the final battlefield recorder.

Then the three scouts stopped simultaneously.

The facial crystals flickered rapidly.

Dark green light reached its peak.

"Fall back!" the squad leader realized something.

But it was already too late.

The Dark Energy supply units of the three scouts overloaded simultaneously.

A violent Dark Energy explosion.

A purplish-black shockwave spread.

The border defense troops were blown away.

The Momentum Energy shields barely managed to block most of the damage, but everyone felt a strong wave of nausea and dizziness.

That was the mental shock of Yuneng Pollution.

The explosion subsided.

The three scouts had already turned into fragments scattered across the ground.

But their mission seemed to have been completed.

All recording equipment was destroyed.

Battlefield data is severely lacking.

The sentry chief struggled to rise.

He looked at the ground littered with debris.

He then looked toward the light curtain.

That rift was slowly closing.

In the final moment before it closed completely.

The sentry chief seemed to see more ghostly green light flickering on the other side of the rift.

Those were more scouts.

Or… a much larger force?

"Report immediately to Looking North City." The sentry chief's voice was hoarse.

"The Qing state reconnaissance unit has successfully crossed the rift and launched a probing attack."

"We destroyed three units, but all battlefield recording equipment was destroyed."

"The enemy possesses high tactical intelligence, with the primary target being information blockade."

The signaler struggled to get up and activated the backup communicator.

The message was sent back to Looking North City.

Inside the Commander tower.

Chen Wen looked at the brief battle report sent back from the front.

"Three reconnaissance units."

"Crossed the unstable rift."

"Actively destroyed the recording equipment."

"Suicide attack."

He looked toward Zhang Cheng.

"What do you think?"

Zhang Cheng's face was solemn.

"This doesn't look like ordinary reconnaissance."

"It's more like a carefully designed test."

"Testing the feasibility of crossing the rift."

"Testing our border defense's reaction speed."

"Testing the actual effectiveness of potential energy weapons."

"And… testing how to maximally block information transmission."

Lin Chong stood to the side, fists clenched.

"They succeeded."

"We lost all on‑site data."

"We only know we destroyed three units, but we know nothing about their equipment details, combat patterns, or ghost energy intensity…"

"No."

Chen Wen shook his head.

"We have learned the most important point."

Everyone looked at him.

"They can come over."

Chen Wen said.

"Moreover, they know how to come over."

He walked to the light‑curtain map.

The data for Point Seven was still fluctuating.

"An unstable rift, violent energy turbulence."

"Normal life cannot possibly cross it."

"But a ghost‑energy‑modified body can."

"Because they themselves are carriers of ghost energy."

"To them, the turbulence is not an obstacle but cover."

Gongsun Sheng hurried in.

"My lord, the preliminary analysis of the battlefield remnants is out."

"The fragments of the scouts' exoskeletons contain a high concentration of strange‑iron."

"But they have been deeply contaminated by ghost energy, altering their nature."

"Strange‑iron?" Zhao Lao'nian frowned.

"Where did the Tatars get so much strange‑iron?"

"There are minor ore veins within Ming territory." Zhu Yuanzhang's voice came from the doorway.

He brought Xu Da and Liu Ji into the Commander tower.

"Before my dynasty fell, we had discovered three strange‑iron deposits."

"But shortly after mining began, they were occupied by the Qing state."

Chen Wen turned around.

"Lord Zhu means, the Qing state has obtained those ore veins?"

"Not just that." Zhu Yuanzhang walked to the map.

"According to Xu Da and Liu Ji's recollections, as well as the data we brought."

"In the occupied territories, the Qing state established a special kind of 'refinery'."

"They will throw prisoners, civilians… even their own wounded into the furnace."

"Using Yin energy to incinerate flesh and blood, they extract a kind of 'life essence'."

"That essence can catalyze the proliferation of exotic iron ore."

The hall fell into a deathly silence.

"Using life… to catalyze the ore?" Lin Chong's voice trembled.

"Yes." Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned ashen.

"So we later discovered that the Qing's exotic iron equipment kept increasing."

"Too many to be normal."

"Now thinking about it, this is the reason."

Chen Wen closed his eyes.

After a moment, he opened them.

"So, the Qing state lacks no exotic iron."

"It lacks no Yin energy."

"Now, even the ability to traverse the rifts is available."

He looked toward the crowd.

"The probing is over."

"Next comes the real conflict."

"Pass the order."

All forward outposts, withdraw ten li, establish a second line of defense.

Around Point Seven, lay potential energy mines and early-warning sigils.

The Heavenly Craft Institute will produce potential energy shield generators at full capacity, prioritizing equipping the forward troops.

Research team, I want you to come up with a specific countermeasure plan against Yin energy scouts within three days.

Especially their information blockade tactics must be broken.

"Yes!"

The orders were swiftly conveyed.

After everyone left, Chen Wen stood alone before the map.

He gazed at Point Seven.

Although that rift had closed.

But he knew.

Soon, more rifts will open.

More enemies will come.

The probing ended.

War, has only just begun.

Outside the window, the sky gradually darkened.

The lights of North‑Looking City lit up one after another.

But tonight, many people couldn't fall asleep.

On the other side of the light curtain.

Central Capital, the control tower.

Huang Taiji gazed at the returned data fragments.

Although the three scouts self‑destructed, they transmitted back less than three breaths of usable footage.

But that was enough.

The equipment of the Chen dynasty's border defense army.

Formation.

Reaction speed.

The actual power of potential energy weapons.

All data were quickly analyzed in the Yin energy network.

Potential energy shield strength assessed as level three.

Weapon penetration assessed as level four.

Average reaction time: 2.7 breaths.

Tactical proficiency: excellent.

Huang Taiji's compound eyes flickered.

Stronger than expected.

But… not strong enough.

He turned around.

"Order."

Toward Point Seven, dispatch five additional reconnaissance squads.

Carrying "corrosive shells".

Mission: Continue harassment, gather more combat data.

Meanwhile, test the stable passage threshold of the rift.

Yes!

The order was given.

In the nether energy network, more reconnaissance units were activated.

They crawled out of their nests.

They formed ranks in the nether-green light.

Then, they ran toward the light curtain.

The night grew darker.

On both sides of the light curtain.

Both worlds were preparing for the next conflict.

And that scarlet barrier spanning the continent.

It was becoming increasingly fragile.

Like a taut bowstring.

It could snap at any moment.