I Pick Up Talents on the Interstellar Battlefield - Chapter 535 - 434: Asura and Rakshasa

Chapter 535: Chapter 434: Asura and Rakshasa

The wind and snow of Mingwang Planet seemed to have a special fondness for Soul-Cracking Ice Valley. The howling cold wind carried ice grains, beating against the hundred-meter-high giant ice walls around, making a dull sound.

As one of the first human settlements on Mingwang Planet, Soul-Cracking Ice Valley has developed over decades, shedding its initial wildness. The thick, profound ice city walls are interspersed with shooting points and monitoring devices, highlighting a mature defense system.

The scene inside the Pass is completely different from the crude setup of Ice Extreme Pass. It retains ice structures characteristic of Mingwang Planet, as well as many metal-framed modern houses. The outer walls are covered with cold-resistant alloy, and the windows are inlaid with antifreeze glass. From the exterior, it almost looks the same as the residences on other habitable planets.

In addition to the heavily guarded military base located in the west, the Pass is divided into well-organized residential areas. Shops line the main roads, forming three bustling commercial streets—selling cold-proof equipment, providing energy supplies, and peddling Mingwang Planet’s specialty ice crystal ornaments. Each shop hangs transparent screens to resist the wind and snow, and many pedestrians in cold-resistant suits shuttle among them.

The trading market beside the central square is even more bustling. Booths are filled with minerals and snow beast fur from the ice plains, and the sound of bargaining between buyers and sellers rises one after another.

Though it can’t be called prosperous, for this extremely cold place once considered “a forbidden zone for humans,” Soul-Cracking Ice Valley’s achievement of such scale is quite miraculous.

In a building made entirely of cold-resistant alloy at the military base in the western part of Soul-Cracking Ice Valley, a man turned off the holographic communication, his facial muscles twitching slightly with anger.

He was born extremely ugly, with a hideous bony ridge protruding from his forehead, deep wrinkles covering both cheeks, lips turned outward revealing two sharp canines, and muscles knotted like gnarled roots under his loose military uniform, exuding a fierce aura.

He was Inzaghi Luoho, the current Guardian Envoy of Soul-Cracking Ice Valley.

As a direct lineage member of the Luoho Clan, one of the Nine Great Holy Bloods, the purest Asura blood of the clan flowed in his veins.

This is a very peculiar bloodline: all male family members awaken with Asura blood, which, though making their appearance unbearably ugly, grants them strength far beyond ordinary people, with bodies as tough as steel and an innate inclination for killing and fighting. The more brutal the battle, the more it can stimulate the violent power in their bloodline.

Female family members awaken with Rakshasa blood, each of them breathtakingly beautiful, skilled in extreme speed and enchanting techniques that can captivate and ensnare souls, rendering enemies willing puppets.

“Useless!”

Inzaghi Luoho’s eyes surged with Evil Qi.

He chose Duan Guangtai to be dispatched to Ice Extreme Pass because of Duan Guangtai’s strength and background, thinking that Duan Guangtai could use his prior arrival advantage to overshadow the newly appointed Guardian Envoy, causing Lin Xuanqing’s further plan on Mingwang Planet to fail. However, the result slapped him hard in the face.

The grievance between the Luoho Clan and Lin Xuanqing has long been ongoing.

Since the struggle for the position of the ten marshals began, the conflict between the Luoho Clan and Lin Xuanqing has been completely intensified and has since become more severe.

Previously, Lu Yuan, the Guardian Envoy of Soul-Cracking Ice Valley, frequently suppressed the Luoho Clan’s mining operations and power layout within his jurisdiction, relying on Lin Xuanqing’s backing. If he hadn’t secretly set a trap to topple Lu Yuan and transfer him away from Soul-Cracking Ice Valley, the clan’s development on Mingwang Planet would have been even more restricted.

Initially, he thought that after Lu Yuan’s departure, Lin Xuanqing, considering the decades of operation in Soul-Cracking Ice Valley, would send another successor to continue the conflict with the Luoho Clan.

But who would have thought that Lin Xuanqing would suddenly change tactics and dispatch personnel to Ice Extreme Pass, seemingly wanting to start anew. This change disrupted all his plans.

Although Ice Extreme Pass is remote, it has a vast territory with unknown mineral veins and spiritual materials that cannot be underestimated. Even if the Luoho Clan temporarily has no chance to develop it, they cannot leave it to Lin Xuanqing.

Therefore, he paid a considerable price to have Duan Guangtai appointed as the administrative officer of Ice Extreme Pass, to compete with the Guardian Envoy named Qin Tian.

Originally, he had considerable confidence in Duan Guangtai, who was a Tier Six Spiritualist from the Golden Clan, with notable capability and skills.

But what was the outcome?

On the first day of the Guardian Envoy’s tenure at Ice Extreme Pass, the struggle had already been lost disastrously!

The four regimental commanders placed by Duan Guangtai were all dismissed, and Duan Guangtai himself was publicly hung on vines, with his dignity utterly crushed.

After this incident, Duan Guangtai completely lost his prestige in Ice Extreme Pass. As long as Qin Tian remains there, he’ll never be able to resurge.

“Qin Tian.”

Inzaghi Luoho took out Qin Tian’s profile and reviewed it again. From today’s events, it wasn’t hard to see that this Guardian Envoy named Qin Tian was a formidable figure, capable of crushing Duan Guangtai in strength with extremely tough methods.

If someone like him truly establishes a foothold in Ice Extreme Pass, with his capabilities, he could lead it to rapid development and even affect Soul-Cracking Ice Valley, a result the Luoho Clan would not want to see.

Thinking of this, a trace of scarlet flashed in Inzaghi Luoho’s eyes.

……

In the office of the Military Department headquarters building, the holographic projection screen was showing the image of Duan Guangtai hanging in mid-air.

Yang Zheng’s eyes carried a hint of undeniable surprise, and he murmured softly, “I did indeed underestimate him.”

Before this, Yang Zheng’s understanding of Qin Tian remained at the level of “a powerful lone warrior.”

A thorough review of Qin Tian’s records mostly contained achievements in lone operations: disrupting Evil God Sacrifices, self-rescue on Elf Star, infiltrating Star Thieves to rescue hostages, escorting Dongfang Mingyue…

Although Qin Tian had also temporarily served as acting leader of the Chijin Battlegroup in Demon Suppression Abyss, that was purely a battlefield environment, entirely different from Ice Extreme Pass’s “guard and govern” complex situation.

In Yang Zheng’s view, Qin Tian’s hard strength was unquestionable, but to guard a region, strength alone was far from sufficient. Balancing military and political relations, resolving subordinate conflicts, coping with external power infiltration, and planning outpost development all required delicate skills and mature scheming.

Especially if Ice Extreme Pass truly develops, the subsequent resource disputes, alien beast invasions, and external suppressions will only increase. He originally worried that Qin Tian would stumble over “people and intrigue,” even being ready to send reinforcements at any time.

But now it seems his worries were entirely unnecessary.

Qin Tian, upon taking office, dared to face Duan Guangtai’s provocation head-on. Not only did he punish the regiment leaders who disobeyed military orders with thunderous methods, but he also directly subdued the Tier Six Duan Guangtai, thoroughly controlling the military’s morale at Ice Extreme Pass.

This decisiveness and harshness, how did it resemble a “newcomer to authority”?

“Marshal Lin’s perception of people is indeed never wrong.”

Yang Zheng sighed with emotion and then pondered for a moment before making a phone call.

Since Qin Tian demonstrated sufficient tough measures, he might as well prepare a gift for the other party.