Chapter 524

"A thousand years ago, the Western Continent was filled with small nations and feudal lords fighting in chaos."

"By the time our Great Lan Dynasty unified the Central Plains, three great empires had risen in the Western Continent, annexing various nations and dominating the West, forming a tripartite balance of power."

"These three great empires were the Deni Kingdom, the Meijia Kingdom, and the Seifuren Kingdom."

"The wars between the three nations lasted for over a hundred years, during which time they split, and new kingdoms rose, eventually forming the situation of seven nations partitioning the land."

"Although the Deni Kingdom, the Meijia Kingdom, and the Seifuren Kingdom no longer have their original peak power, their strength remains the strongest among the seven nations, so they are called the three great powers."

"One hundred and thirty-nine years ago, an ocean-going fleet sent by the Deni royal family discovered the Eastern Continent, opening up trade between the two continents. It was also from this time that the nations of the Western Continent began to covet the vast and resource-rich Eastern Continent..."

In the secret room, Li Fei stood in front of a bookshelf, reading a book in his hand.

This book recorded the historical trajectory of the Western Continent; he was not interested in the tripartite balance of power or the chaotic wars of the seven nations.

What really concerned him was their industrial revolution!

Unlike the prosperous martial arts and sorcery of the Eastern Continent, the Western Continent determines nobility by bloodline; noble bloodlines are born with extraordinary power, thus stably occupying the ruling class.

If the common people at the bottom don't have the bloodline, they can only stay at the bottom for the rest of their lives, with no hope of ever getting ahead.

Even though the two continents began to trade, the Western Continent obtained many martial arts and sorcery cultivation methods from the East.

But for one thing, the Western Continent has almost no exotic beasts; to have implants, one would have to turn extraordinary beings with noble bloodlines directly into implants, which is absolutely taboo, so martial arts and sorcery do not flourish.

Another point is that the ruling class of the Western Continent does not allow the bottom layer to control a large amount of power that can autonomously make them stronger.

Under these circumstances, the common people at the bottom cannot study how to practice martial arts to become stronger and can only invest their energy in other aspects.

Since extraordinary power cannot be mastered, then master the power of science!

Thus, gunpowder weapons began to rise among various resistance organizations among the people and, after continuous improvement, became increasingly powerful.

When the first rifled gun appeared, the nobles of the Western Continent had to start paying attention to this kind of gunpowder weapon.

As the seven nations successively joined in the research, development, and manufacturing of gunpowder weapons, the power of technology began to show in the Western Continent, followed by the industrial revolution!

The seven Western nations completed their first industrial revolution about seventy years ago, entering the steam age.

They completed their second industrial revolution over forty years ago, entering the electrical age.

Heavy machine guns, bombers, mortars, warships... these epoch-making weapons were created!

It is said that once one holds a sharp blade, a murderous heart arises.

With these powerful weapons, the ambitions of the seven Western nations gradually expanded.

If they hadn't discovered the Eastern Continent, the seven nations would probably have been fighting fiercely among themselves already.

But didn't they have an external target for conquest?

And the interests of the Eastern Continent were enough for the seven nations to divide.

Thus, the seven nations chose to join forces and act in unison against the outside world!

Li Fei put down the book in his hand and began to look for intelligence related to various technologies on the bookshelf.

He is now very concerned about one point—

Twenty-two years have passed; to what extent has the technological level of the Western Continent developed now?

Have they entered the third industrial revolution?

If they have already begun to use atomic energy and have built atomic bombs, then even peak experts are in danger!

If the Western Continent only has technological power, then even if they possess the technological level in Li Fei's memories from his previous life, it is nothing to fear.

Sending any expert to lurk there could easily complete a decapitation strike!

A single "Fear Spell" could make fully armed soldiers throw away their helmets and armor.

But the problem is that the Western Continent also possesses extraordinary power, and it is not weak; it is just a cut below in terms of top-level combat power.

Under these circumstances, if the Western Continent's technological power has also had an epoch-making improvement, that would be very terrifying!

"August, 36th year of Hongguang: The Meijia Kingdom's military department secretly tested a batch of new-style firearms. Our side failed to obtain detailed intelligence, only knowing that the final test results were not good and they were not put into mass production."

"June, 37th year of Hongguang: The Meijia Kingdom's new-style firearm research and development was successful. It is a rifle that has been officially put into production. Its firearm can automatically load ammunition, and its rate of fire is far higher than all existing rifles!"

"November, 38th year of Hongguang: The Deni Kingdom secretly developed a new-style armored vehicle, suspected of mounting a cannon on the armored vehicle."

"March, 39th year of Hongguang: The Deni Kingdom began mass production of the new-style armored vehicle, named 'MT-01'. Below are the blueprints copied by our secret agents..."

"May, 39th year of Hongguang: The Seifuren Kingdom developed a new-style artillery piece. Its range and power are better than the largest caliber mortars currently available. Below are the data for the new-style artillery piece estimated by our side..."

The Military Council's most concerned point about the Western Continent is their various gunpowder weapons, so these are also the intelligence they focus on gathering.

And looking at the intelligence gathered by secret agents who risked their lives and paid a huge price, Li Fei's heart gradually sank.

The Meijia Kingdom's new-style rifle—isn't that a semi-automatic rifle or an automatic rifle?

The Great Lan Dynasty currently still uses bolt-action rifles, where one must pull the bolt to load after firing a shot; the gap with automatic weapons goes without saying.

As for the Deni Kingdom's MT-01 armored vehicle, Li Fei smiled as soon as he saw the familiar tracked structure—isn't this a tank?

In his previous life, this thing was the king of land warfare during World War II!

And the new-style artillery developed by the Seifuren Kingdom, with a longer range and a heavier structure, should have developed from short-to-medium-range mortars to medium-to-long-range howitzers.

Separated by one or two kilometers, it might still be possible for cavalry to charge the enemy's artillery position.

But if there is artillery bombardment from more than ten kilometers away, only a team of all martial artists or the Imperial Guard could contend with it.

Li Fei carefully searched for a lot of intelligence and finally saw an inconspicuous record in one piece of intelligence:

"March, 44th year of Hongguang: The Bowen Hall of the Zijing Principality developed a large piece of equipment that can speed up calculation."

Computer!

The first time Li Fei saw this piece of intelligence, his face changed.

He wanted to find more intelligence about this large piece of equipment, but after searching through all the relevant records, there was no more.

It was just this one sentence.

Apparently, for the Military Council's secret agents lurking in the Western Continent, various new-style weapons were their primary target for investigation; for this kind of equipment that only speeds up calculation, the secret agents didn't take it to heart and just recorded it as a matter of routine.

"From the 44th year of Hongguang to now, five years have passed; computer technology may have already been applied in multiple fields. I fear it won't be long before the Western Continent can fully enter the third industrial revolution!"

Li Fei felt a bit heavy-hearted.

Compared with the Western Continent, although the Great Lan Dynasty has undergone the Mingxin Reform and introduced a large amount of Western technology, and has the ability to manufacture firearms and artillery itself, its level is far behind.

It is not that the people of the Eastern Continent are not smart enough, but the different environment and ideology have led the Eastern Continent to still lean more toward the development of personal martial power.

Whether it is a large family or a small household, as long as there is an opportunity, they certainly want their children to become martial artists and sorcerers, rather than running off to learn some scientific technology.

Under these circumstances, even with the Mingxin Reform and the imperial court advocating "learning the skills of the barbarians to control the barbarians," it is still difficult to change the overall situation.

If the Eastern Continent wants to surpass the Western Continent in the field of scientific technology, there is no hope within a hundred years.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the Great Lan Dynasty at least had a Mingxin Reform; even if the technical level is lagging, it has at least transformed from cold weapons to hot weapons.

Otherwise, if they were still using the swords, spears, and iron cavalry of decades ago against the semi-automatic rifles, howitzers, and tanks of the current Western Continent,

then the ordinary soldiers would really have no use at all!

Li Fei put down the intelligence in his hand and began to browse the information on extraordinary beings in the Western Continent:

Of the seven Western nations, before that great war, only the three great powers possessed multiple Prince-level experts, while the other four nations only had one Prince-level expert, which was the king of that nation.

In total, the seven nations had 11 Prince-level experts!

Back then, the three great powers each sent one Prince, plus extraordinary beings at the levels of Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron, to launch an eastern expedition together.

Later, two of the three Princes were killed by Wen Ren Zheng, and one escaped back heavily injured.

Over the next twenty-two years, the Great Lan Dynasty introduced a large amount of advanced technology from the Western Continent and purchased many weapons, enhancing its national strength.

The Western Continent also obtained a large amount of martial arts and sorcery cultivation methods from the Great Lan Dynasty to strengthen its own power.

Although none of the seven nations promoted cultivation methods on a large scale, their nobles could practice.

The advantage of the bloodline itself, combined with suitable cultivation methods, can not only make their cultivation progress faster but also accelerate the speed of their bloodline awakening, and even increase the probability of their bloodline evolution!

The Deni Kingdom royal family member named Tuso that Li Fei met before had a martial arts cultivation base at the peak of the Dao Foundation stage; combined with bloodline power, it was hard to find a few people below the level of Martial Arts Grandmaster who could defeat him.

This is the benefit brought by the combination of the Eastern Continent's martial arts and the Western Continent's bloodline power.

In that battle back then, the Western Continent lost two Prince-level experts and a large number of extraordinary beings.

And after twenty-two years of development, by constantly acquiring and learning the Eastern Continent's martial arts and sorcery, the number of extraordinary beings in the seven Western nations is even greater than it was back then!

There are now as many as 13 Prince-level experts, an increase of 4!

It is a pity that they succeed because of bloodlines and fail because of bloodlines.

Bloodlines gave the extraordinary beings of the Western Continent powerful talents, but also limited their upper limits.

Some people are born destined to become Duke-level experts, while others, no matter how hard they try, can only be a Baron.

Even with the Eastern Continent's cultivation methods, it only increased the probability of bloodline evolution to a certain extent and could not change the overall data.

Below the Prince level is the Duke level, equivalent to the Grandmasters of the Eastern Continent.

According to statistics, the seven Western nations have a total of only 56 Duke-level experts.

And within the Great Lan Dynasty, the total number of Grandmasters from the imperial court and the Jianghu is about this number.

Not to mention the top-level True Persons.

Outside the Great Lan Dynasty, the Prairie Wang Ting, the fourteen Northern Barbarian tribes, and the two great Desert Nations all have Grandmasters and top-level True Persons.

Therefore, the number of experts at this level in the Eastern Continent is far greater than in the Western Continent.

This is the limitation brought by bloodlines; many things are fixed, and there is not much room for variables.

"It's a pity that the Western Continent is a joint effort of seven nations, while the Great Lan Dynasty is fighting against the crowd alone."

Li Fei thought with some regret.

The Western Continent does not have a hegemon capable of suppressing all nations; instead, it allows the seven nations to act in unison against the outside world.

Even if they are not that united, at least their interests are consistent.

And here in the Eastern Continent, the Great Lan Dynasty has dominated for over five hundred years and has also been suppressing the other nations for over five hundred years.

Whether it is the Prairie Wang Ting or the two great Desert Nations, their thoughts are consistent with the seven Western nations: they all want to divide up the Great Lan Dynasty!

In the secret room, Li Fei browsed intelligence all night.

He certainly couldn't finish reading twenty-two years of intelligence in one night; he just picked some key content to read.

The next morning, he left the Military Council and returned to the headquarters of the Supervisory Cabinet.

"Marquis, this is the information Head Lou had someone organize for you."

A clerk delivered a heavy black iron box to Li Fei.

This black iron box was sealed with sorcery and had to be unlocked with the golden seal and life tablet of a Supervisory Cabinet official, plus the corresponding sorcery.

If forced open, it would trigger the internal sorcery, causing all the information inside to be burned to ashes.

This is the standard way for the Supervisory Cabinet to store classified documents.

Li Fei's personal authorization was sufficient, and he also mastered the unlocking sorcery, so he didn't need anyone else's help; he opened the iron box himself and took out the information inside.

The information held by the Supervisory Cabinet was all related to spies; after reading it, Li Fei felt a bit shocked!

Back when he was in Datong Prefecture, there was a special lecturer inside the Wuan University who was colluding with Western spies.

And how many Wuan Universities had Western spies infiltrated?

All thirteen universities in the country and twenty-three provinces had been infiltrated!

It is no wonder that at the great court meeting that day, the cabinet official of the Supervisory Cabinet said that the Western delegation didn't need to come to test our strength at all.

They might know the Great Lan Dynasty more deeply than many people of the Great Lan Dynasty themselves!

On this day, Li Fei stayed at the headquarters of the Supervisory Cabinet until evening before returning to the Marquis mansion.

After returning to the Marquis mansion, he did not choose to rest, nor did he go to the secret room to practice, but went to the study.

He is a practitioner of both law and martial arts; although his martial arts realm has reached the Shenyan Realm, his Flying Sword Body is still at the Earth level. He must wait for the Flying Sword Body to reach the Heaven level and balance with his martial arts realm before he can make the next breakthrough.

For the Flying Sword Body to break through from the Earth level to the Heaven level, it needs to incorporate sixth-grade sorcery-type implants.

Li Fei is not short of resources, but he is still deliberating on which sixth-grade implants to incorporate, how to match and combine them, and how to practice.

After all, no one has ever walked this path before; he can only grope for it himself.

This is not something that can yield results in a short time.

From last night to today, he has read so much information about the Western Continent.

The more he understands the situation in the Western Continent, the heavier Li Fei's mood becomes, and the greater the pressure on him!

Previously, Shi Caiming told him—when the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up.

But now, looking at the entire Great Lan Dynasty, only Wen Ren Zheng remains as a peak expert.

If the four Imperial Guard armies are not counted, Li Fei feels that he might be the second-best expert in the Great Lan Dynasty now!

There are no more tall people above him to hold it up; he is that tall person, and now he must help the Great Lan Dynasty hold it up!

This kind of pressure is indescribable.

This makes Li Fei even more eager to improve his strength.

Breaking through the realm in a short time is impossible, so he thought of using other ways:

After sitting down, he took out a secret manual—"Daqian."

That's right, it is exactly "Daqian," one of the twelve creation sword arts of the Gouchen Sword Sect!

After the Gouchen Sword Sect was destroyed, its four hundred years of savings fell into the hands of others.

Among the most valuable things, besides various cultivation resources, were the cultivation secret manuals.

Twelve sword arts that can reach the Creation Realm are treasures for any swordsman!

After breaking through to become a Grandmaster, Li Fei can quickly cultivate all the Dao strength he has mastered to the Xuanjing level.

But the Dao strength of the Creation Realm is not so easy.

It requires inheritance, talent, and bitter cultivation.

If one already has a martial art pushed to the Creation Realm level in hand, practicing it will yield twice the result with half the effort.

That is why the twelve creation sword arts of the Gouchen Sword Sect are particularly precious.

Although Li Fei took the initiative to give up the distribution rights back then, neither Xiao Ruihang nor Huo Hansi dared to let him suffer a loss.

Besides being allocated a large amount of resources, the four hundred years of inheritance of the Gouchen Sword Sect were all copied and handed to him!

Li Fei himself has a Flying Sword Body, and the small world he formed is the 【Hunyuan Sword Realm】, but he has never practiced a profound sword technique until now.

This is undoubtedly a waste of heaven's gifts!

It just so happens that he has the four hundred years of inheritance of the Gouchen Sword Sect in hand, so he intends to start practicing swordsmanship now.

This is also the way to increase combat power most quickly in a short time.

With the Flying Sword Body, the 【Sword Sacrifice】 divine ability, and the 【Hunyuan Sword Realm】, Li Fei can be said to be uniquely gifted in practicing swordsmanship.

Even if he had never practiced sword techniques before, his realm is there, and he has such good basic conditions, so his progress in practicing swordsmanship is advancing by leaps and bounds!

In just one night, Li Fei cleared up all the content of the "Daqian" sword art from "Entering the Dao" to "Xuanjing" of Dao strength.

Then he didn't rest either, went directly to the martial arts arena in the mansion, unfolded the 【Hunyuan Sword Realm】 to cover the entire martial arts arena, and then began to practice the sword art...

Two days later, inside the 【Hunyuan Sword Realm】:

The sun and moon wheels shone together at the dome, the red sun poured down like molten gold, and the silver moon flowed like ice soul.

Where heaven and earth intersected, the bronze altar stood towering like a divine sword inserted upside down, and golden sword Qi flowed between the complex patterns.

Around the altar, ten thousand mountains surrounded it like a pilgrimage, and a thousand rivers surged like silver dragons heading to the sea!

Li Fei stood with his hands behind his back in the center of the altar, his sword intent awe-inspiring; with every breath, he resonated with the ten thousand sword Qi within the sword realm.

He raised his right arm, his right hand gripping the void.

In an instant, the ten thousand mountains trembled violently, the craggy mountains peeled off inch by inch into golden sand waterfalls, the hanging rivers rolled back into golden light belts, and billions of golden rays surged toward Li Fei's palm!

The sound of swords pierced the nine heavens, and a three-foot green blade formed in his hand.

Li Fei delivered a sword forward lightly, as if it carried the weight of heaven and earth, carrying ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains.

Boom!!!

The sword momentum was heavier than moving mountains and filling the sea; where the sword light passed, the void bloomed with spiderweb-like cracks, and the entire sword realm shook with it.

After one sword, the long sword in Li Fei's hand completely dissipated.

This sword just now was exactly "Daqian"; in just two days, he had practiced it to the Xuanjing level!

However, it would not be so easy to break through to the Creation level next.

As Li Fei's mind moved, those high mountains and rivers that had just dissipated reappeared.

Lava erupted from the cracks in the earth, and divine trees condensed from red flames rose from the ground, each fire leaf being a jumping flame.

Vermilion fire birds swept across the tree canopy with their wings, their tail feathers dragging ten thousand zhang of flowing clouds.

Sanskrit chants pierced the flames, and golden Buddha light fell from the sky...

These layers of imagery were all manifestations of the Dao strength Li Fei had practiced within the 【Hunyuan Sword Realm】.

After reaching the Shenyan Realm, multiple divine abilities fused with each other, which could derive new changes.

This is the change derived from Li Fei's Shenyan Realm—【Wanxiang】!

Everything he has practiced, seen, and felt of Dao strength can be transformed into Dao rhyme, presenting imagery within the martial arts domain.

The two words "Hunyuan" originally have the meaning of encompassing everything; therefore, the more imagery within the sword realm, the more real this small world is, and the greater its power!

The reason Li Fei chose "Daqian" as his first sword art to practice is that this sword art is most compatible with 【Wanxiang】, and it has the largest number of images, which can maximize the power of the sword realm.

Palace.

The new Emperor Qin Ziheng was processing memorials in the imperial study.

After he ascended the throne, in terms of diligence, he was no less than the late Emperor.

As for the level of handling government affairs, he had been the Crown Prince for over twenty years after all, and had begun to participate in court politics and win over ministers long ago.

In the end, with the First Prince and the Third Prince as whetstones, Qin Ziheng's level could not be low no matter what.

"Your Majesty, the Marquis of Jing'an has a memorial to present."

Outside the study, Feng Cheng suddenly said while holding a memorial.

Qin Ziheng looked up: "Bring it here."

"Yes."

Feng Cheng personally handed over the memorial.

Qin Ziheng took the memorial and looked at it, thought for a moment, and said:

"Tell the Marquis of Jing'an that I approve his application."

"Yes."

August 27th, 49th year of Hongguang.

Li Fei drove a flying boat alone and left Lanling City.

His application to the new Emperor had only one sentence—

"I intend to ask for swordsmanship in the Jianghu and hone my martial arts before the Western delegation arrives."

The derived divine ability change 【Wanxiang】 is not just about the Dao strength he has practiced forming imagery within the martial arts domain.

Fighting with other experts, seeing more of other people's Dao strength, and having insights can also form imagery.

That is why Li Fei intends to ask for swordsmanship in the Jianghu!

For one thing, he can hone his martial arts and strengthen himself.

For another, he is now the head of the Lan Xun Cabinet and has the responsibility of recovering the Jianghu for the imperial court.

Before breaking through the realm, he found it very difficult to win against a Grandmaster.

Although he defeated the Lidao Realm Grandmaster Benefactor Bai Chen on the Bai Feng Plain, it was largely due to luck; if it hadn't been for just countering the other party's ultimate move, he would likely not have been able to beat another Lidao Realm Grandmaster.

Now that he has broken through the realm, his combat power has greatly improved.

Li Fei feels that if he encounters the Lidao Realm Benefactor Bai Chen again, he won't win too hard!

And Benefactor Bai Chen, who mastered five divine abilities + five creation sword arts, was definitely not weak among Lidao Realm Grandmasters even if he had just broken through.

So Li Fei also really wants to know, now that he is—

Below the peak, who can be his match?

Requesting monthly tickets.

(End of chapter)