Chapter 524: Asking About the Sword

"A thousand years ago, the Western Continent was filled with small nations, with 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, dominating the Western Continent, and presenting a situation of three kingdoms standing together."

"These three great empires were the Deni Kingdom, the Mega Kingdom, and the Severen Kingdom."

"The wars between the three kingdoms lasted for more than a hundred years. During this period, after splitting, new kingdoms rose, and finally, a situation of seven nations partitioning the land was formed."

"The Deni Kingdom, the Mega Kingdom, and the Severen Kingdom, although these three nations did not return to their original prosperous state, their strength was still the three strongest among the seven nations, so they were called the three great powers."

"One hundred and thirty-nine years ago, an ocean-going fleet sent by the Deni Kingdom's royal family discovered the Eastern Continent, and from then on, trade between the two continents of East and West began. It was also from this time that the nations of the Western Continent developed a covetous heart toward 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 three kingdoms standing together or the seven nations fighting in chaos.

What really concerned him was the other side's industrial revolution!

Unlike the Eastern Continent where martial arts and sorcery were prosperous, the Western Continent determined nobility and lowliness by bloodline. Noble bloodlines were born with extraordinary power, so they stably occupied the ruling class.

If the common people at the bottom had poor bloodlines, they could only stay at the bottom for the rest of their lives, with no hope of ever getting ahead.

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

But for one thing, the Western Continent had almost no exotic beasts. If they wanted to have implants, unless they directly turned extraordinary beings with noble bloodlines into implants, and this was absolutely a taboo, so martial arts and sorcery did not flourish.

Another point was that the ruling class of the Western Continent did not allow the bottom layer to control power that could make them stronger on their own.

Under such circumstances, the common people at the bottom had no way to study how to practice martial arts to become stronger and could only invest their energy in other aspects.

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

Thus, gunpowder weapons began to rise among various resistance organizations among the people, and after constant improvement, they became more and more 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 the research and development and manufacturing of gunpowder weapons, the power of technology began to show in the Western Continent, and what followed was the industrial revolution!

The seven Western nations completed the first industrial revolution about seventy years ago and entered the steam age.

They completed the second industrial revolution more than forty years ago and entered the electrical age.

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

It is said that holding a sharp blade, the heart to kill arises on its own.

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

If the Eastern Continent had not been discovered, the seven nations would have already been fighting fiercely.

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

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

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 search for intelligence related to various technologies on the bookshelf.

He was very concerned about one point now—

Twenty-two years had passed; to what step had the technological level of the Western Continent developed now?

Had it entered the third industrial revolution?

If they had already started using atomic energy and created atomic bombs, then even top-tier powerhouses would be in danger!

If the Western Continent only had technological power, then even if the other side possessed the technological level in Li Fei's previous life's memories, it would not be something to fear.

Sending a powerhouse to lurk over there at will could easily complete a beheading!

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

But the problem was that the Western Continent also possessed extraordinary power, and it was not weak; it was just a cut weaker in the highest-level combat power.

Under such circumstances, if the technological power of the West had also had an epoch-making improvement, then it would be very terrifying!

"In March of the 36th year of Emperor Hongguang, the military department of the Mega Kingdom secretly tested a batch of new-style firearms. Our side failed to obtain detailed intelligence, only knowing that the final test result was not good and it was not put into mass production."

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

"In November of the 38th year of Emperor Hongguang, the Deni Kingdom secretly developed a new-style armored vehicle, suspected of putting cannons on the armored vehicle."

"In March of the 39th year of Emperor Hongguang, the Deni Kingdom began mass production of the new-style armored vehicle, named 'MT-01'. The following is the blueprint copied by our secret agents..."

"In May of the 39th year of Emperor Hongguang, the Severen Kingdom developed a new-style artillery. The range and power are better than the existing largest-caliber mortars. The following is the new-style artillery data estimated by our side..."

The point the Military Council was most concerned about regarding the Western Continent was their various gunpowder weapons, so the intelligence they focused on inquiring about was also these.

And looking at the intelligence that the secret agents had paid a huge price for, risking their lives nine times out of ten, Li Fei's heart gradually sank.

The Mega Kingdom's new-style rifle—wasn't that a semi-automatic rifle and an automatic rifle?

Now the Great Lan Dynasty was still using bolt-action rifles, where one had to pull the bolt to reload after firing one shot. The gap with automatic weapons went without saying.

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

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

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

Separated by one or two kilometers, it was still possible for cavalry to charge the other side's artillery position.

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

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

"In March of the 44th year of Emperor Hongguang, the Bowen Hall of the Purple Thorn 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 he searched through all the relevant records and there was no more.

It was just this one sentence.

Obviously, for the Military Council's secret agents lurking in the Western Continent, various new-style weapons were their first target for inquiry. For this kind of equipment that only sped up calculation, the secret agents did not take it to heart and just recorded it as a matter of routine.

"From the 44th year of Emperor 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's mood was somewhat heavy.

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

It was not that the people of the Eastern Continent were not smart enough, but the different environment and ideology led to the Eastern Continent still tending more toward the development of individual martial power.

Whether it was a big family or a small family, as long as there was an opportunity, they certainly all wanted their children to become martial artists, to become sorcerers, rather than running to learn some scientific technology.

Under such circumstances, even with the Mingxin Reform and the imperial court advocating "learning the barbarian's skills to control the barbarians," it was still difficult to change the overall situation.

If the Eastern Continent wanted to surpass the Western Continent in the field of science and technology, there was no hope to be seen within a hundred years.

The only thing worth rejoicing about was that the Great Lan Dynasty at least had a Mingxin Reform. Even if the technical level was backward, it 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 Western Continent today.

Then the ordinary soldiers would really have no effect at all!

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

The seven Western nations, before that great war, only the three great powers possessed multiple Prince-level powerhouses, and the other four nations only had one Prince-level, which was the king of that nation.

Added together, the seven nations had a total of 11 Prince-level powerhouses!

Back then, the three great powers each sent one Prince, plus extraordinary beings of various levels such as Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons, to go on an Eastern expedition together.

Later, two of the three Princes were beaten to death by Wen Ren Zheng, and one escaped back with heavy injuries.

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

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

Although the seven nations did not promote cultivation methods on a large scale, their nobles could practice.

The advantage of the bloodline itself, coupled with suitable cultivation methods, could 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 member of the Deni Kingdom royal family named Tuso whom Li Fei met before had a martial arts cultivation base at the peak of the Dao Foundation Establishment stage. Coupled with bloodline power, below the Martial Arts Grandmaster, it was difficult to find a few people who could surpass the other side.

This was 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 powerhouses and a large number of extraordinary beings.

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

Now there were as many as 13 Prince-level powerhouses, an increase of 4!

It was just a pity that they succeeded because of bloodlines and failed because of bloodlines.

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

Some people were destined to become Duke-level powerhouses from birth, while others could only be a Baron no matter how hard they tried.

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 large data.

Below the Prince level was the Duke level, equivalent to the Grandmaster of the Eastern Continent.

According to statistics, the total number of Duke-level powerhouses in the seven Western nations was only 56.

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

Not to mention the top-tier True Persons.

Outside the Great Lan Dynasty, the Prairie Royal Court, the fourteen tribes of the Northern Barbarians, and the two great desert nations all had Grandmasters and top-tier True Persons.

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

This was the limitation brought by bloodlines; many things were fixed, and there were no great variables to speak of.

"It's a pity that the Western Continent is seven nations joining forces, while the Eastern Continent is the Great Lan Dynasty fighting against the crowd alone."

Li Fei thought with some regret.

The Western Continent did not have a hegemon capable of suppressing various nations, but instead allowed the seven nations to act in unison against the outside world.

Even if they were not so united, at least their interests were consistent.

And here in the Eastern Continent, the Great Lan Dynasty had dominated for more than five hundred years and had also suppressed other nations for more than five hundred years.

Whether it was the Prairie Royal Court or the two great desert nations, their thoughts were consistent with the seven Western nations—they all wanted to partition the Great Lan Dynasty!

In the secret room, Li Fei browsed intelligence for a whole night.

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

Early the next morning, he left the Military Council and returned to the headquarters of the Supervisory Pavilion.

"Marquis, this is the information that Pavilion Head Lou had people organize for you."

A clerk sent 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 the Supervisory Pavilion official, coupled with the corresponding sorcery.

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

This was the standard way for the Supervisory Pavilion to store confidential documents.

Li Fei's personal permission was sufficient, and he also mastered the sorcery to unlock it, so he did not need to ask others for help; he opened the iron box himself and took out the information inside.

The Supervisory Pavilion held all information related to spies. After Li Fei finished reading it, he felt somewhat shocked!

Back when he was in Datong Prefecture, there was a special-grade lecturer inside the Wu'an University who was in collusion with spies from the West.

And how could the spies of the West have only infiltrated one Wu'an University?

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

It was no wonder that at the great court meeting that day, that cabinet official of the Supervisory Pavilion would say that the Western delegation did not need to come to test the reality at all.

The other side's understanding of the Great Lan Dynasty might be deeper than many people of the Great Lan Dynasty themselves!

On this day, Li Fei stayed at the headquarters of the Supervisory Pavilion 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 martial arts, but went to the study.

He was a combination of law and martial arts. Although his martial arts realm had reached the Shenyan stage, his Flying Sword Body was still at the Earth level. He had to wait for the Flying Sword Body to reach the Heaven level and balance with his martial arts realm before he could proceed to the next breakthrough.

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

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

After all, this path had never been walked by anyone, and he could only grope for it himself.

This was not something that could have results in a short time.

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

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

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

But now, looking at the entire Great Lan Dynasty, only Wen Ren Zheng remained as a top-tier powerhouse.

If the four Imperial Guard Armies were not counted, Li Fei felt that he might be the second strongest in the Great Lan Dynasty now!

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

This kind of pressure was indescribable...

This made Li Fei even more urgently want to improve his strength.

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

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

That's right, it was 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 accumulation fell into the hands of others.

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

Twelve sword arts that could reach the Creation stage were treasures to any swordsman!

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

But the Dao strength of the Creation stage was not so easy.

It required inheritance, talent, and bitter cultivation.

If one already had a martial art deduced to the Creation stage level in hand, practicing it would be half the effort with twice the result.

Therefore, the twelve creation sword arts of the Gouchen Sword Sect appeared particularly precious.

Back then, although Li Fei took the initiative to give up the distribution rights, neither Xiao Ruihang nor Huo 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 had a Flying Sword Body, and the small world he formed was the 【Hunyuan Sword Realm】, but he had not practiced a set of profound sword arts until now.

This was undoubtedly a waste of heaven's gifts!

It just so happened that the four hundred years of inheritance of the Gouchen Sword Sect were in hand, so he now intended to start practicing the sword.

This was also the way to enhance combat power the most in a short time.

With the Flying Sword Body, the 【Sword Sacrifice】 divine ability, and the 【Hunyuan Sword Realm】, Li Fei could be said to be uniquely endowed in practicing the sword.

Even if he had never practiced sword arts before, after all, his realm was there, and with such good basic conditions, his progress in practicing the sword was a thousand miles a day!

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

Then he did not rest, 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.

At the intersection of heaven and earth, the bronze altar was as majestic as 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 rushing to the sea!

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

He raised his right arm and gripped the air with his right hand.

In an instant, the ten thousand mountains trembled violently, the rugged mountain bodies peeled off inch by inch into a gilded sand waterfall, the suspended river rolled backward into a golden light belt, and billions of golden rays rushed toward Li Fei's palm!

The sound of the sword 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 accordingly.

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 Emperor Xuanjing level!

However, wanting to break through to the Creation level next was not so easy.

As Li Fei's heart moved, those high mountains and rivers that had just dissipated appeared again.

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

Vermilion firebirds flew past the treetops, their tail feathers dragging ten thousand zhang of flowing clouds.

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

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

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

This was the change derived from Li Fei's Shenyan stage—【Wanxiang】!

Everything he practiced, saw, and felt could be turned into Dao rhyme, presenting imagery within the martial arts domain.

The two words "Hunyuan" inherently had the meaning of encompassing everything, so the more imagery within the sword realm, the more real this small world was, and the greater the power!

The reason Li Fei chose "Daqian" as the first sword art he practiced was because this sword art was most compatible with 【Wanxiang】, and it had the largest number of imagery, which could maximize the power of the sword realm.

Palace.

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

After he ascended the throne, in terms of diligence, he was even better than the late Emperor.

As for the level of handling government affairs, he had been the Crown Prince for more than twenty years after all, and had started participating in court politics and winning over ministers very early.

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

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

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

Qin Qin Ziheng looked up: "Bring it here."

"Yes."

Feng Cheng personally handed over the memorial.

Qin Qin Ziheng took the memorial and looked at it, thought slightly, and spoke:

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

"Yes."

August 27th, 49th year of Emperor Hongguang.

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

The application he gave to the new Emperor had only one sentence—

"Your subject intends to ask about the sword in the Jianghu and hone my martial arts before the Western delegation arrives."

The derived divine ability change 【Wanxiang】 did not mean that only the Dao strength he practiced could form imagery within the martial arts domain.

Fighting with other powerhouses and having insights after seeing other people's Dao strength could also form imagery.

That was why Li Fei intended to ask about the sword in the Jianghu!

For one, he could hone his martial arts and enhance himself.

For another, he was now the head of the Lanxun Pavilion and inherently had the responsibility of helping the imperial court subdue the Jianghu.

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

Although he defeated the Lidao-stage Grandmaster Bai Chen on the Baifeng Plain, it was largely due to luck. If it weren't for just countering the other side's ultimate move, he probably would not have been able to win against another Lidao-stage Grandmaster.

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

Li Fei felt that if he were to encounter the Dao-Establishing Realm Bai Chen again, winning would not be too difficult for him!

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

So Li Fei also wanted to know, now that he was—

Below the top-tier, who could be his match?

Seeking monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 525 =====