Unlike the Grandmaster beside him, who only knew how to hide.

"We’re out of time! 005, 007, with me! We’ll bring up the rear and cover the main force’s retreat!"

After speaking, Zhao Rui leaped right out of the vehicle!

Then, in a few quick bounds, he vaulted onto the rearmost armored vehicle in the convoy.

The cannons of both vehicles swiveled to face the rear, their machine gunners already in position.

"Hey, wait! I..."

Seeing this, Liu Huaijin hesitated for a long moment before finally shutting the door and cowering in his seat.

"They’re here!"

Atop the rear armored vehicle, Zhao Rui’s gaze sharpened as he instantly spotted the pursuing enemy.

’They’re so fast!’

There were over forty of them, their figures as swift as galloping deer. They dodged and weaved, rapidly closing in on the convoy.

This was the first time Zhao Rui had seen the enemy.

From a distance, it was indeed difficult to distinguish this group from Central Plains people.

They were all dressed in Central Asian-style clothing, evidently adapting to local customs rather than wearing their original attire.

With the appearance of this group, the cannons on the armored vehicles finally roared to life.

BOOM! BOOM! A few thunderous explosions erupted.

The enemy formation instantly scattered, and seconds later, explosions tore up the ground where they had just been.

But these people were incredibly nimble, making it impossible for the long-range artillery to land a direct hit.

It could only serve to indirectly slow their advance.

RAT-A-TAT-TAT!

As the cannons roared, the machine guns also opened fire. Two tongues of flame unleashed a torrent of countless bullets, sweeping toward the enemy.

Seeing that neither the artillery shells nor the machine gun bullets could hit their targets, the soldiers inside the armored vehicles grew tense, their rate of fire becoming more and more frantic.

Zhao Rui intently observed the enemy’s every move.

These people were not in the Grandmaster Realm, but their Spiritual Sense seemed to far surpass that of Blue Star people.

They could always anticipate the attacks, moving just in time to evade both bullets and artillery shells.

’No wonder!’

Zhao Rui instantly understood. These people were all High-tier Martial Artists, so naturally, they possessed a Martial Artist’s keen reflexes.

To them, the reaction time of an ordinary soldier with a firearm was as slow as a snail’s pace.

’The disparity in individual combat strength is truly immense.’

"Director Zhao, fire support from military command will arrive in ten minutes!"

Qiu Tong’s voice crackled in his earpiece. A cold glint appeared in Zhao Rui’s eyes as he raised his machine gun and opened fire, sending a stream of bullets toward the enemy.

After getting the hang of it for some time, Zhao Rui was already quite proficient with firearms.

As he strafed the enemy, an inexplicable feeling washed over him.

A thought struck Zhao Rui. ’It seems this Spiritual Qi Revival isn’t just beneficial for the enemy... it’s even more so for me.’

Zhao Rui’s eyebrow twitched. The Acupoints all over his body opened, and he began to frantically absorb the dense True Qi from the surrounding air.

He then channeled his True Qi to envelop the entire machine gun, covering both its frame and the bullets within.

Then he leaped off the armored vehicle, machine gun in hand, and charged forward to meet the enemy.

"Director Zhao!"

The men in the armored vehicle were aghast, never expecting Zhao Rui to actually charge the enemy.

"Hurry up and get out of here! No delays! Don’t distract me."

Zhao Rui’s voice transmitted to them.

The men in the armored vehicle couldn’t tell if the voice they’d heard was a shout or a transmission, but regardless, they understood Zhao Rui’s command.

They knew full well how powerful a Grandmaster Realm Martial Artist was, so they immediately floored the accelerator and sped off to catch up with the main force.

On the barren, gravelly plain, Zhao Rui stood tall, holding the light machine gun now brimming with True Qi. Facing the rapidly approaching Gui Xu people, he gently squeezed the trigger.

The machine gun instantly fired like a rifle, letting out a series of single shots.

As the bullets left the barrel, a strange pulling sensation instantly tugged at Zhao Rui’s Divine Soul.

’Is it because of the speed?’

’No, that can’t be right.’

’Although the bullets were fast, their speed wasn’t beyond the scope of what a Martial Artist—especially one in the Grandmaster Realm—could control.’

His Dipper Step, flashing at top speed, was much faster than this.

’Is it the materials?’

Zhao Rui had no time to dwell on it. As he fired, the distance between him and the enemy shrank with every passing moment.

Seeing Zhao Rui approach alone, the group of Gui Xu people couldn’t help but show a hint of contempt.

They were even more dismissive when they saw him firing a machine gun.

Just as they prepared to rely on their Spiritual Sense to dodge ahead of time, they were horrified to find that the bullets were already streaking straight toward them.

"Damn it, he’s a Martial Artist!"

Several of them scrambled to dodge, but how could their speed possibly match machine gun bullets enhanced by True Qi?

PFFT! PFFT!

Several of them collapsed to the ground.

"Bastard, these bullets can penetrate our True Qi! Everyone, be extremely careful."

The leader flew into a rage, roaring at the others.

’What is all that gibberish?’

Since he couldn’t understand a word of their shouting, Zhao Rui simply raised his machine gun and treated them to several dozen more rounds.

This time, having learned their lesson, they didn’t dare to take the hits head-on, instead using their Body Techniques to dodge at high speed.

A few of the Grandmaster Realm experts among them had already charged forward.

Zhao Rui couldn’t help but shake his head. ’Imbuing the machine gun with True Qi can penetrate the enemy’s defenses to some extent, but its effect is limited.’

’After all, the enemy won’t just stand still and let you shoot them.’

’Faster bullets might be surprisingly effective, but then, even he probably wouldn’t be able to infuse them with True Qi.’

’It was a problem that required more research.’

Zhao Rui’s eyes narrowed. He dropped the machine gun, and his figure blurred as he shot forward to meet them.

He wanted to test the strength of a Returning Ruins Grandmaster.

According to prior military intelligence, these Grandmasters were more powerful than human True Essence Realm Grandmasters, equivalent to the level of the Three Realms of True Essence.

As a great expert of the Divine Soul Realm, Zhao Rui naturally had no fear of a few Returning Ruins Grandmasters.

But the enemy was numerous, and there was no telling if more were following behind.

"Let me take him!"

The enemy clearly didn’t think much of Zhao Rui, sending just one man to engage him in battle.

The others continued the chase.

"In your dreams!"

How could Zhao Rui let them have their way? With a flicker of his body, he enveloped all of the Martial Artists within the reach of his techniques.

"What audacity!"

The leader was furious. He couldn’t believe a lone Central Plains Martial Artist would dare to be so contemptuous of them.

At once, several Grandmasters attacked Zhao Rui in unison.

The two sides exchanged dozens of blows in an instant, their battle kicking up clouds of dust and sand that filled the air.

As soon as they clashed, Zhao Rui could feel the immense destructive power in his opponents’ True Qi. To his surprise, two of the Grandmasters wielded Fire True Qi and Poisonous True Qi, respectively.

’No wonder the army’s regular Martial Artists are no match for them! This group’s True Qi is all Attribute True Qi.’

Zhao Rui thought, his understanding dawning.

Just then, the system’s notification suddenly rang out.

"Replicable Martial Art detected: Blazing Rock Palm. Do you wish to replicate?"

"Great Asura Demon Skill detected. Do you wish to replicate?"

"Five Poison Divine Palm detected. Do you wish to replicate?"

...

’It’s working!’

Zhao Rui’s eyes grew brighter.

’So I can copy the Martial Arts of the Gui Xu people too.’

’It was just as I’d expected.’

Besides his confidence in his own strength, the main reason Zhao Rui was willing to risk staying behind was to see if Guixu Martial Arts could be recognized by his system.

’Since the Demon Sect’s Martial Arts from Gui Xu can be replicated, then it stands to reason that I should be able to replicate the Martial Arts of all Gui Xu people.’

’If that’s the case, then don’t blame me for not holding back!’

With no outsiders around, Zhao Rui’s eyes narrowed. He channeled Cold Ice True Qi with his left hand and the Fiery Heart-Pushing Palm with his right. In an instant, two bizarre streams of True Qi erupted from his body.

BANG! BANG! With a few strikes, Zhao Rui used the Cold Ice Palm to lock down the poison-wielding Martial Artist, while simultaneously using the Flame Palm to counter the other’s Fire Attribute True Qi.

He had driven back both Martial Artists in a single instant.

"Damn it, he’s a Central Plains expert! All of you, attack together!"

The Gui Xu people finally realized that this man hadn’t stayed behind to throw his life away.

They immediately unleashed their most powerful techniques, all aimed at Zhao Rui.

Zhao Rui gave it 120 percent of his focus, fully unleashing the Charming Maiden Formless Celestial Demon Great Method "left behind" by the Phantom Envoy. His body instantly split into four identical images, each one attacking the surrounding enemies.

"Is that...? A fiend from the Demon Sect?"

The Gui Xu leader cried out, a mixture of shock and fury in his voice, "You actually betrayed us!"

Unfortunately for him, Zhao Rui couldn’t understand a word he was saying.

His attacks didn’t falter in the slightest, as he struck out at the four of them.

The exchange, though seemingly complex, took place in the span of a single breath.

In just one or two short minutes, they had already exchanged hundreds of blows.

With such a high frequency of exchanges, the replication progress bar naturally filled up quickly.

He estimated that he would only need to fight for half an hour to replicate half of these Martial Arts.

Just as Zhao Rui was goading his opponents into attacking faster, a series of sharp whistles tore through the sky, heading right for them.

Zhao Rui, who had been reveling in the joy of replicating Martial Arts, instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

He no longer cared about fighting these men.

He executed a few feints, then simultaneously activated his Dipper Step to retreat at top speed.

His figure flickered as if teleporting, fleeing eastward like a man possessed.

As he ran for his life toward the east, the objects in the sky finally revealed their true form.

The saturation-strike missiles had arrived!