Chief Grade Challenge — Shockwaves in Every Direction

The three girls froze for a beat, then relief broke across their faces.

Amy had been sprinting toward their position from the moment she sent the distress call.

Lu Yuan glanced at the wounds on all three of them. His brow drew tight.

"These are pretty bad. What happened to your healing potions?"

Lin Xixi's expression was strained. "Used them all. We ran into some very strong opponents — the one leading them was the worst of all. Honestly, it's been pure luck that we've made it this far."

He reached into his pack and handed over several potent healing potions and a handful of strong Spirit Power potions.

Still reeling from shock, all three understood the urgency and drank without argument.

"Good. Let's move — I'll get you out. We need to be quick. There's apparently someone on the other side called Prince Yangqian who might be quite strong; I can't promise I'll be able to cover all of you."

That made all three eyes go wide.

They looked at each other, then at his expression, and nodded in unison.

Lu Yuan led them through the winding back alleys. Not a single Kaman in sight the entire way.

Out the other side of the dense steel tower district, he glanced behind him. The alley was still empty. No pursuit.

All three let out a quiet breath.

"Looks like they're really not coming after us," Lin Xixi said.

But her expression stayed guarded. "Don't celebrate yet. We haven't gone nearly far enough."

Alice and Zhu Yu sobered at once.

Beyond the maze of alleys, Yangqian stood watching the distance, his face cut from cold stone.

Yangnan and Shuilian — the only female member among the Four Cornerstones — had both gone silent.

The quiet stretched.

Yangnan stepped forward. "Your Highness. Allow Shuilian and me to go together."

Yangqian shook his head. "Neither of you is a match for that human."

Frustration flickered openly across Shuilian's face.

Yangnan tried again after a beat.

Yangqian cut him off, arms folded across his chest.

"Even I couldn't bring him down quickly. Our window inside the ruins is limited. Our primary objective is to claim as many Floating Cities as possible — there's no point burning that time on one person. With his strength, he'll push into the core zone eventually. We'll deal with him there. In the meantime, let him spend this stretch gathering treasure for us." A pause. "Let him go."

Shuilian and Yangnan exchanged a glance. Neither said anything more.

Yangqian's arms stayed folded. "Pull our people back. Those few little mice — call it their lucky day. We have other places to be."

"Yes, sir!"

The dark-haired girl's eyes were bright. "You got here that fast? Didn't anyone try to stop you?!"

"There were some. Just too weak to manage it."

"Did you run into Prince Yangqian?!" Her voice sharpened. "That man is a monster — terrifying power, definitely Chief Grade, maybe even Lord Grade!"

Lu Yuan shook his head. "Didn't cross paths with Yangqian. Did run into two of the Four Cornerstones, though."

"The Four Cornerstones couldn't stop you?!"

He smiled at the thought of those two encounters. "There were some. They were just too weak."

He turned the information over in his mind. He hadn't met Yangqian, but if Zhu Yu was right — Chief Grade or higher — that was a genuine problem. If Chief Grade: his own combat power was at that tier, and at full output he might edge it slightly. If Lord Grade: all his trump cards bought him survival, not cover for three other people at the same time.

For now, he was glad he wasn't alone.

He checked the Communication Crystal and moved toward Amy's position.

Just then, a voice rang out from ahead:

"Lei Feng! Lei Feng!! Xixi! Over here!"

Lu Yuan and the others looked up. Amy was running toward them at full speed, about a dozen adventure team members in tow.

Lin Xixi, Zhu Yu, and Alice lit up at once and rushed to meet her.

Amy reached the three of them and looked them over. "Are you alright?"

Lin Xixi nodded. "We're fine. Thanks to Mr. Lei."

"Mr. Lei, thank you for saving all three of us," Zhu Yu said.

Alice — now steady on her feet — glanced at Lu Yuan. "Thank you, Mr. Lei."

Lu Yuan smiled at Lin Xixi. "Don't mention it. You're Amy's people — I had to help."

The words landed harder than Lin Xixi expected. She'd been quietly wary of him the whole time, and here she was, owing him her life. The shame settled in her chest and didn't move.

Zhu Yu smiled. So did Alice.

Watching Amy stand there with hands on hips looking insufferably satisfied, all three felt a wave of secondhand embarrassment wash over them.

*My Lady is a touch too guileless,* Wang Lingling observed quietly from behind.

"Is everyone gathered?" Lu Yuan asked.

Amy's expression dimmed slightly. She shook her head. "A few didn't make it. Everyone still alive is already here."

Lu Yuan had already scooped up all the gene fluids scattered across the ground. He sized Amy up, thought for a moment, and put on a genuinely troubled expression.

"That question... is kind of hard to answer."

Amy went cold instantly. She glared at him with open fury.

"I'm joking," he said, laughing. "Don't be angry. You're obviously more attractive."

"Wow, you absolute jerk!"

She crossed her arms — and then immediately tilted her chin up with a deeply smug look. "This Lady already knew."

Lin Xixi and the others watched Amy's little performance and all felt a fresh wave of embarrassment on her behalf.

Lu Yuan turned to Amy. "What are your plans going forward?"

She thought for a moment. Her violet eyes were already glinting. "In the Aier Mechanical Ruins, the Floating City holds the most resources and treasure, right? Let's head for it. With the two of us together, we should manage fine."

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes. "The Floating City does have the most to offer. Let's go — between us, it should be no problem."

Amy lit up. "Yes! This Lady was thinking exactly the same thing!"

She grabbed his arm and broke into a trot toward the towers, short legs working at double pace.

Lin Xixi and the others scrambled to follow.

Half a day passed.

Three days since entering the Aier Mechanical Ruins.

The combination was devastating. Amy's Tianrao Purple Vine — now laced with lethal poison from her newly inscribed Emerald Scythe gene — coiled around opponents while Lu Yuan delivered the killing blow. Against Gene Warrior teams, one vine-wrap was a guaranteed catch. The haul of Spirit Power Gene Fluids kept building steadily, with a solid supply of Enhanced Spirit Power Gene Fluid as well.

Against the Mechanical Guardians, things were different. Built entirely of metal, they were fully immune to poison — every encounter was a matter of raw force. It didn't matter much. Between Lu Yuan's overwhelming offensive power and Amy's control, every team that crossed their path was swept clean. They had already fought side by side in the Mist Forest; the coordination between them was effortless.

It was now Day Four of the Aier Mechanical Ruins.

Lu Yuan glanced at the Floating City suspended in the air not far ahead.

Directly beneath it rose a thousand-meter skyscraper. Around it stood four five-hundred-meter towers. Further out still, twelve hundred-meter buildings — all interconnected, accessible by a single approach street. Sky elevators ran from the tower tops up to the Floating City, and several aircraft drifted in the upper air near the elevator terminals.

Even the hundred-meter buildings alone held resources on the order of Enhanced Spirit Power Gene Fluid — roughly five hundred thousand First-rank Spirit Crystals' worth each. Twelve of them. Then the five-hundred-meter towers on top of that, and finally the thousand-meter spire beneath the city itself.

*The haul here is going to be substantial.*

Lu Yuan stared at the skyline with quiet anticipation. Amy was just as eager beside him.

He and Amy brought the group into the Floating City perimeter and pushed down the approach street.

At the far end of the street stretched a plaza roughly two kilometers across.

Hundreds of Mechanical Guardians patrolled it in tight formation. Four Mechanical Warriors over three meters tall supervised their ranks — and even those three-meter units were already First-rank peak Boss Grade. At the main gate stood a single Mechanical Warrior over five meters tall, flanked by four giant mechanical hounds crouched low on either side, each standing more than two meters at the shoulder.

*Over five meters.*

Lu Yuan's gaze settled on the gate guardian. *That's Chief Grade territory.*

Even he felt the weight of it. Amy had gone quiet beside him — her vines were useless against metal constructs, and every pulse of Spirit Power radiating from that gate guardian made that fact feel very relevant.

This plaza had gone untouched since the ruins opened. There was clearly a reason for that.

*Alone,* he thought, *I could grind through them eventually. Defense, Natural Recovery, effectively unlimited Spirit Power — it would work. But it would take a very long time.*

With Amy, though — together they could take on even Lord Grade.

He ran through the scenarios. If Chief Grade: his own combat power was there; pushed to full output, he might edge it slightly. If Lord Grade: all his trump cards bought him survival, not cover for three other people alongside himself.

Lin Xixi's trio noticed the gravity in his expression and silently fell into step.

About ten kilometers from the tower cluster, at a plaza surrounding a hundred-meter building:

Six Elf warriors were crouched over Mechanical Guardian drops, sorting through the loot with easy smiles. Their leader was a handsome young Elf with golden hair. Beside him stood another Elf man with a striking family resemblance.

One of the younger members looked up with bright, curious eyes. "Beiman, should we go take a look?"

"Yeah, Beiman! We can't take on those Mechanical Guardians ourselves, but watching from a safe distance should be fine, right?"

Several other young Elves chimed in.

Then — in the same moment — several of the Elf warriors stiffened.

From the direction of the Floating City towers, a surge of energy was building, vast enough to coalesce into something close to a pale blue light source visible from where they stood. The Spirit Power waves rolled outward in rhythmic pulses.

The Elf man beside Beiman stared, shock etched across his face. "Someone actually made a move on the Floating City plaza?!"

Beiman's gaze shifted toward the distant glow. Then he nodded.

"We'll clear the tower treasures first," he said. "Then go watch."

"Yes!!"

Several Elf warriors broke into excited grins.

Within twenty kilometers of the Floating City, every team that had noticed the anomaly was already moving toward it.

Word spread like fire:

"Someone's attacking the Floating City plaza?! That place has eight Boss Grade Mechanical Warriors, over eight hundred Mechanical Elite Guardians, and one terrifying Mechanical Chief — who in the world would dare?!"

"Right? The squad we saw yesterday had six Boss Grade warriors among them, and they couldn't survive the first volley!"

"And the Mechanical Chief alone — you'd need forty or fifty high-level Boss Grade fighters working together just to bring that thing down! Has a Chief Grade genius warrior actually shown up?!"

Every team still alive in these ruins had survived this long precisely because they were strong. Every one of them wanted to see this with their own eyes.

Amy watched the gate guardian, violet eyes glimmering with barely-contained eagerness.

Even Lu Yuan felt the pressure.

He stepped forward.

The instant he crossed the threshold, every Mechanical Guardian in the plaza froze mid-patrol. Hundreds of mechanical heads swiveled in unison.

**"Bleep — bleep — life-form detected. Confirmed hostile. Initiating cleansing protocol."**

Hundreds of mechanical eyes shifted from blue to red.

Every Elite Mechanical Guardian and all four three-meter Mechanical Warriors raised their weapons simultaneously. Thousands of energy bolts erupted at once — a curtain of fire so dense the air seemed to darken, Spirit Power surging outward in waves like a tide flooding in every direction. The sheer volume of incoming fire would have made the skin crawl.

Even the shots from the Boss Grade Mechanical Warriors carried an energy that made Lu Yuan's brow twitch.

An attack like this would have spelled despair for even a First-rank Chief Grade warrior.

Lu Yuan's grin split wide.

His heavy sword materialized in his grip. Crimson light churned in slow spirals around his body.

"Same as always," he said. "I take the front. Stay behind me."

He stepped in.

When it was over, the plaza was carpeted with wreckage.

Mechanical Guardians lay heaped across the stones. The three-meter Mechanical Warriors had been reduced to scrap iron, toppled where they had stood.

Six Elf warriors several kilometers away were still collecting their loot, faces lit with wide smiles — no longer debating whether to go watch, only waiting until they'd finished what they started.

Within twenty kilometers, every surviving team had converged or was still converging, drawn by the pale blue glow and what it had meant.

All of them asking the same question.

*Who had done this?*

*Who had walked into that plaza and challenged a Mechanical Chief alongside eight Boss Grade Warriors and nearly a thousand elite Mechanical Guardians — and left it looking like that?*