After Yu Lie was sent flying, he took a tumble on the ground before negating the force from the charge.

When he got up, he saw the astonishing scene.

It left him taken aback. He had personally witnessed just how strong the beetle was. Since it had mutated tissue and tons of weight, once it started running, he could do nothing to stop it.

Yet with a simple swing, Lao Hu had cut the beetle in two. This strength was simply...

Then, he got excited.

Lao Hu was from the National Ad Hoc Special Operations Committee. Chen Bitong gave Yu Lie a lot of pressure, but if someone like this existed in the committee, they might have a chance at winning against Chen Bitong.

Yu Lie composed himself. Lao Hu hadn’t exposed him the moment he arrived. Either he didn’t know that Yu Lie was on his side, or he had other plans, so he should keep his identity a secret.

Nervousness appeared on Fang Zhixin’s face. He had been with Chen Bitong the longest, so he had the greatest knowledge of the world among Chen Bitong’s students, which was why he recognized this attack. “Isn’t that... the Severance Force? No, that’s not all...”

The Severance Force was one of the more difficult refined forces that could be learned in the army. No regular martial artist would be able to bring out such effects, though. Lao Hu’s attack should have been a combination of mental energy and physical strength to display such great destructive power.

The man stood at the same level as Chen Bitong.

Lao Hu ignored the cut beetle and kept his eyes on Chen Bitong.

Both Yu Lie and Fang Zhixin were astonished by his strength, but Lao Hu was more wary of how Chen Bitong had quietly avoided the beetle’s charge.

He was sure that Chen Bitong hadn’t moved at all.

It was likely that he had used his mental energy to form a connection with the rift and entered it at the moment he was attacked. That was how he avoided the beetle’s charge.

Perfecting one’s mental energy wasn’t the only requirement to be able to do this. Chen Bitong would have needed some unique techniques and talent as well.

But he had never seen Chen Bitong use such methods before.

Did he master them over the past five years, or was it...

No matter the reason, Lao Hu needed to reevaluate his strength.

“Chen Bitong, aside from me, all of your former comrades have died or been crippled. You’re the only one known as a hero.

“Should your fame belong to you alone? I can’t accept this. After today, you won’t be a hero anymore.”

“I’ve never thought of myself as a hero,” Chen Bitong refuted flatly.

Lao Hu scoffed, and a threatening glint appeared in his eyes. “This is what I hate the most about you. Even though you’ve gotten such a huge benefit from it, you pretend like you don’t care about it.

“But let’s end our conversation here.”

He slowly brought his arm up and lowered his center of gravity, like he was about to attack. At the same time, he started giving off a threatening, invisible wave of pressure.

Yu Lie and Fang Zhixin became nervous. Even though they stood further away, they could sense the pressure, and they felt as if they were suffocating.

As for Chen Bitong, they couldn’t sense anything from him. Even though he stood right before them, it was as if he didn’t exist.

When the two men were about to attack, lightning flashed in the rift. Something was moving behind it again. Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie exchanged a glance before going back to their positions.

Multiple black figures appeared within the rift, and as they grew larger, a group of cavalrymen dashed out with a loud rumble.

The leaders were three Third Limit royally appointed warriors with spears held forward. They formed a row and were five meters apart from each other. The dragon-nose horses ran in such uniformity that if anyone looked from the side, they would find that the horses’ chests formed a straight line. There was even a Refined Force Connecting Cord tying the horses together.

Yu Lie and Fang Zhixin’s expressions changed. Setting aside the aggressive momentum, the trio’s unified breathing and merged refined force courtesy of the Refined Force Connecting Cord made it clear that they couldn’t be fought head-on. Yu Lie and Fang Zhixin quickly shifted to the side to avoid them.

After the warriors rode past Yu Lie and Fang Zhixin, another row charged over. These cavalrymen were below the Second Limit.

There was another row behind them. This was the royal family’s One-Nine Horizontal Formation. The first row was made up of royally appointed warriors serving as vanguards, while the rest were regular cavalrymen. The remaining rows could range from one to nine; there was no fixed number. After one formation rushed past, another would come forward. This would keep repeating, and on battlefields during the old era, the enemy formation would collapse no matter how sturdy it was.

After avoiding the vanguard, Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie saw openings in the next row of cavalrymen. Before the rest of them could get out, they rushed over to try to stop them.

But they soon realized that things weren’t as simple as they thought they would be. The leftmost and rightmost cavalrymen removed the Refined Force Connecting Cord and rode to the sides. After bypassing Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie, they came back to attack them from the back.

If another group of strong cavalrymen came out of the rift, they could form a pincer attack, and Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie would die.

Hence, they were forced to give up on their plan and retreat from the kill zone.

The leader didn’t stop riding. He brought the rest of the cavalrymen forward and trained his spear at the seemingly inconspicuous Chen Bitong’s back. When he rushed over, he charged right through him, as if he had just gone through an illusion.

Lao Hu’s eyes were trained solely on Chen Bitong. When he saw the royally appointed warrior riding over, he snapped impatiently, “Get lost!”

With a hand, he struck at the spear tip. A wave of refined force charged over and sent the royally appointed warrior and his horse flying.

Then, with a lunge, he rushed at Chen Bitong. All the cavalrymen he encountered in his path exploded. A huge trench was also left behind on the ground. With blood and guts trailing behind him, he thrust a finger at Chen Bitong’s face.

***

At this point, Unit Two had already arrived outside the fighting zone, and they were standing on a tall billboard observing the fight.

One of them was a man in his forties. He had a full beard, a grim, cold face, a dark blue tie, and an ironed, dark gray uniform of the Department of Administrative Affairs. He was Nie Guanshan.

Next to him was a man of around thirty-six years old. He had short hair, thick lips, thin eyes with a scornful look in them, a cigarette in his mouth, and a military uniform. But his hat was slanted, and he didn’t wear his uniform properly. He was Yang Shen of the World Ring Defense System.

Based on the World Ring Defense System’s assessment, these two were at the same level as Chen Bitong, but Chen Bitong’s reputation and prestige were far greater than theirs.

After they arrived, they didn’t join the fight in a hurry. Instead, they stayed a long distance away to observe. After they saw how Chen Bitong avoided the beetle’s charge, they came to the same conclusion as Lao Hu.

“This wasn’t in the briefing. If Chen Bitong can do this, with his experience, he won’t lose in a one-to-one fight as long as he stays in front of a gap,” Yang Shen said with narrowed eyes.

“Even if we work together, we’d be hard pressed to be a threat to him.”

Nie Guanshan agreed with that. If Chen Bitong had this technique and a gap was around, he could rely on it to avoid their attacks. Even if they carpet bombed this region, it wouldn’t threaten Chen Bitong’s life.

Nie Guanshan stared at Lao Hu, who had challenged Chen Bitong. “If he were to join us, we should be able to take Chen Bitong down.”

Yang Shen denied it outright. “No way. The National Ad Hoc Special Operations Committee members won’t ever work with us. I’d be thanking my lucky stars if he didn’t get in our way.

“Anyway, I still think that our previous strategy is feasible. The situation might have changed, but if someone could hold Chen Bitong back, we would be able to kill him. We just need to apply for another helper from the higher ups.”

“We won’t be able to find such a person in an instant,” Nie Guanshan said.

“That’s none of our concern. We can ask the World Ring Defense System to think of something. If they can’t find someone like that, we can refuse to fight. We don’t need to enter a battle we have no guarantee of winning,” Yang Shen said nonchalantly around the cigarette.

“Since that’s what you think, let’s apply for help,” Nie Guanshan agreed with a nod.

***

Liang Guanghai soon received an application from Unit Two, along with the reason. At the same time, he figured out the underlying message from their words.

If he couldn’t find a suitable helper, they weren’t going to fight.

Liang Guanghai frowned. Since the two were a part of the plan set by the higher-ups, they had a certain degree of autonomy and right to make suggestions. Thus, they could reject missions they believed had no chance of success.

The best plan right now was to send another unit over.

He had Unit One, which wasn’t much weaker, but he couldn’t just gather all units with that sort of fighting ability in one place. It was a waste, and it would make the overall situation even harder to control.

Not only were they about to face the sixth and seventh wave of propagation, but he also had to consider the possibility of even more dangerous situations appearing later.

Since Unit One was out of the question, who else could he use for the task?

After thinking about it for a long time, he said to his assistant, “Contact Captain Chen for me.”

***

Chen Chuan was standing in front of the gap with his saber in hand. With Awakening Clarity, he used his mental energy to absorb the quintessence from the other world while keeping vigil of the area.

In the beginning, some people came over, but the number dwindled. They likely realized that it wouldn’t be easy to bypass Chen Chuan. They could have also learned that the propagated offspring had been destroyed, so the gap lost most of its value. The hired mercenary groups could leave after that.

The martial artists longing to get close to the Gate to Heaven also left after realizing that the defenses were incredibly tight. There were other gaps in Central City, so there was no need for them to insist on claiming this one. They could go to other places in search of opportunities.

Yet despite no people challenging Chen Chuan, all sorts of creatures came out from the other side. Among them were those that could create loads of trouble for humans. There were tons of animal carcasses lying beside Chen Chuan’s feet at this point.

Just then, his Realm Pass flashed. When he was about to connect to the call, he saw light flickering in the gap, as if a huge creature was about to come out.