High-level martial arts: Contract cashback, invincible starting from the Zerg.

Half an hour later, in the conference room of the 79th Regiment headquarters.

The walls of the conference room are insulated, effectively blocking out the howling wind and snow and the biting cold from outside.

Dry, warm air slowly diffused from the vents, carrying a faint scent of pine smoke, filling every corner of the room, even the tin water cup on the corner of the table seemed to have a touch of warmth.

A long, heavy wooden table lay across the room, on which was spread a military deployment map of the entire western defense zone. The black defense lines intersected with the purple-blue Zerg territory, and the edges of the map were pressed down with polished copper weights.

There were three people inside the room.

Chen Feng, Li Yuanwei (commander of the Wushen detachment), and Chu Zijing (deputy regimental commander).

At the head of the table, Chen Feng was still dressed in a black outfit. Despite the warm and cozy room, there was no sign of heat. Only the dark mountain patterns on the back of his hands, visible beneath the skin, shimmered faintly under the lamplight.

Deputy Regiment Commander Li Yuanwei also noticed the dark mountain pattern on Chen Feng's hand, but for a moment he didn't know what it was.

"How has the 79th Regiment's combat training been going over these 15 days?" Chen Feng asked Chu Zijing.

Chu Zijing immediately sat up straight, his tone deep yet tinged with satisfaction: "Reporting to the regimental commander, after fifteen days of intensive training, the overall progress is greater than expected. All 2,100 new recruits have passed the basic physical fitness and weapons proficiency tests, their basic battle formations can now be fully deployed, and their marching pace is much more orderly. The veteran backbone soldiers who were previously dispersed and assigned to various squads have played a crucial role. Now, the 79th Regiment's sustained combat capability has increased by more than 40% compared to when they were first recruited."

Chen Feng smiled.

"Alright, I've read your training report, and it's indeed very good. However, for us new recruits from the south to develop stronger combat capabilities, we must better understand our enemy. Zijing, organize the soldiers in the regiment to watch the footage of the Purple-Blue Zerg, and require each squad to write down their understanding of the Purple-Blue Zerg's combat tactics and deployment."

"No problem, I'll arrange it right away," Chu Zijing replied.

Chen Feng nodded slightly, lightly tapping the 79th Regiment's defense zone on the deployment map without offering any comment. He then turned to Li Yuanwei on his right: "How about your side? How did the joint exercise between the Martial God Detachment and the 79th Regiment go?"

A smug smile appeared on Li Yuanwei's lips, his voice loud but tinged with a hint of bitterness: "Reporting to the regimental commander, we have organized two joint exercises in the past fifteen days. The individual combat capabilities and assault breakthroughs of the Martial God Squad are no problem, but their coordination with the field regiment... is still a bit unfamiliar."

Seeing his own men being trampled on, Chu Zijing's face turned cold. Without beating around the bush, he said directly, "The brothers in the regiment rarely cooperate with Martial God-level experts, because this level of cooperation is usually the configuration of division-level units. Moreover, in these two exercises, the Martial Gods' advance speed was too fast, directly exposing the flanks of the field regiment to the 'enemy'."

Li Yuanwei nodded in agreement: "That's why I said there's still a bit of distance between us."

Chen Feng glanced at the two men, his gaze calm yet carrying an immense weight.

"It's alright. If you're unfamiliar with each other, practice until you're familiar with each other. If you're awkward, practice until you're comfortable with each other. In three days, the 79th Regiment will enter the mission sequence. After one more joint exercise, we'll let the brothers rest for a bit and then enter standby mode."

"good!"

"Yes, ma'am."

......

After Chu Zijing left the conference room, the heavy solid wood door closed, and the conference room instantly fell into silence.

Only Chen Feng and Li Yuanwei remained inside.

Li Yuanwei remained seated, his gaze shifting several times, but always seemingly lingering on the back of Chen Feng's hand, his doubts swirling in his mind.

Chu Zijing was present earlier, and out of consideration for the hierarchy, he didn't ask too many questions. Now that no one was around, the strange feeling lingering in his heart grew even stronger.

He had been fighting alongside Chen Feng for some time and was very familiar with the young regimental commander's aura.

In the past, Chen Feng was calm and sharp, with a restrained yet extremely imposing presence. But today, he seems to be a little different.

Although he sat calmly and composedly, his aura was no longer simply that of a martial artist with a fierce and aggressive spirit, but rather had an added layer of vastness, weight, and profound depth.

Especially the faint, dark mountain-like patterns on the back of his hand, with their shimmering light, were definitely not formed by ordinary cultivation techniques.

What surprised him even more was that the warm air in the room seemed to be slowly circulating around Chen Feng, and the invisible aura made his blood and qi in his body subtly restrain themselves, giving rise to a sense of instinctive awe.

"Commander, I have something to ask, but I'm not sure if I should."

Chen Feng raised his eyes, a faint smile in them, as if he could see through his thoughts: "Say what you want to say."

Li Yuanwei then leaned forward slightly, his tone filled with genuine confusion: "I feel... your aura has been quite different lately. I noticed the unusual markings on the back of your hand earlier, and I wanted to ask about them."

Looking at Li Yuanwei's serious expression, which seemed to be completely puzzled.

Chen Feng's smile deepened as he slowly teased him, "What's wrong? You've been following me for so long, and you can't even see my improvement? Perhaps you've been too tired from training lately and your eyes are playing tricks on you?"

Li Yuanwei was immediately at a loss for words, laughing and crying at the same time: "Hey, Brother Feng, I know your skills have improved again just by saying that! How so?!"

Ordinary breakthroughs for Heavenly Rank Martial Gods primarily involve skill refinement and minor rank advancements; it's rare to see a major rank leap in such a short time. Such a feat is unprecedented in all the martial arts texts and realm records within the Great Xia Library.

Seeing his serious expression, Chen Feng stopped teasing him.

The faint, dark mountain-shaped patterns on the back of his hand suddenly lit up.

In an instant, a vast and majestic aura, as if the earth were rising and falling and a thousand mountains were settling, suddenly spread out and filled the entire conference room.

The warm air inside the room suddenly stagnated, the tin water cup on the corner of the table trembled slightly, and even the defensive lines on the defense map seemed to be shrouded by an invisible pressure.

That wasn't the fierce killing aura of a martial god, but rather the pressure of a higher dimension and a deeper foundation—calm, vast, all-encompassing, and capable of suppressing all things!

Looking at the astonished Li Yuanwei, Chen Feng slowly revealed the truth: "During these fifteen days of intensive training, I broke through the Heavenly Rank barrier and ascended to the Desolate Rank..."

The short sentence landed lightly, yet it resounded in Li Yuanwei's ears like a thunderclap.

Li Yuanwei was jolted, his pupils suddenly contracted, and he froze in his chair. The doubt and confusion on his face vanished, replaced by extreme shock and disbelief.

He stared at Chen Feng in disbelief, his eyes filled with astonishment and shock.

It was as if I had heard the most incredible thing in the world.

Desolate Rank!

That's a realm beyond the level of powerful beings in other planes! It's a threshold that countless martial arts experts in the Great Xia Dynasty struggle to reach even after a lifetime of effort, and it's a top-tier combat force that even the high-ranking officials of the Western Front are extremely scarce!

Looking across the vast territory of the Great Xia Kingdom, with hundreds of millions of people, there are only a little over a hundred Desolate Rank experts!

Although he knew that Chen Feng, as a Demon Slayer, possessed numerous combat techniques and had incredible strength, he never imagined that Chen Feng could break through the Martial God barrier from the mid-stage of the Heaven Rank and enter the Desolate Rank in such a short time!

Li Yuanwei sat there blankly for a long time before slowly coming back to his senses, his voice still trembling with barely concealed emotion.

"Commander... you actually reached the Desolate Rank?!"

Seeing his astonished expression, Chen Feng smiled faintly, suppressing the desolate-rank aura emanating from his body, and the stagnant air in the room returned to its gentle state: "I'm not lying to you, and my second combat talent is [Marquis's Seal]."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuanwei froze on the spot...