Golden Spear Squad

Inside the Limitless Martial Arts School building in the main urban area, heavy impacts rang out from the Warrior Training Hall from time to time, accompanied by electronic synthesized beeps that shattered the floor's quiet.

"13658KG"

"14070KG"

"14006KG"

Before the Punch Force Tester, a figure attacked with both fists, his punches raining down on the machine's Punch Target.

The tester, capable of measuring punch force up to the High-level General level, periodically sounded its electronic synthesized voice, announcing the tester's punch-force data.

"Ha! These past dozen days of practicing the Guidance arts alongside the Supreme Body Refining Art have improved my strength so much!"

"My physical fitness alone is already very close to the Intermediate Wargod level threshold of 16000KG. Next, I'll test the power boost from the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade."

Xia Zhi, who had been punching rapidly, suddenly paused. After drawing back his right arm to gather strength, he struck again.

The immense force made the muscles in his entire right arm bulge. Just before his fist connected with the Punch Target, his bones and sinews trembled, releasing three additional bursts of force that slammed into the tester together with his original strength.

"Bang..."

With a deafening boom, the Punch Force Tester, which weighed several tons, shuddered under the tremendous impact and let out a creaking groan.

"38649KG"

The electronic synthesized voice sounded.

Seeing the power of that punch, Xia Zhi nodded in satisfaction.

The second volume of the Supreme Body Refining Art, the Bone Refining Chapter, had reached major completion, and he had already begun cultivating the final Blood Refining chapter.

The improvement in his physical fitness finally allowed Xia Zhi to withstand the power of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade's third layer of Hidden Strength.

As an ultimate blade manual created by Thunder God, the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade included a complete set of blade techniques, Guidance arts, and movement techniques.

Its core technique allowed a warrior who mastered it to unleash double the power with only seventy percent of their strength. The first layer produced one additional burst of Hidden Strength, the second layer produced two, and the third layer produced three.

After successfully cultivating the third layer, Xia Zhi could add three bursts of Hidden Strength to his attacks. Combining four forces, each amounting to seventy percent of his own strength, he could unleash 2.8 times his original power.

Once warriors reached the Wargod level, the gap in combat power between different ranks became multiplicative.

Exceeding the numerical threshold for a given rank only meant that one could display combat power at that rank.

However, to have one's warrior rank officially determined, one still needed the corpses of two monsters of the same rank as proof before advancing. The numerical classifications merely provided a scientific reference.

Beginner General level: 8000 kilograms of punch force, 100 meters per second;

Intermediate Wargod level: 16000 kilograms of punch force, 150 meters per second;

High-level General level: 32000 kilograms of punch force, 200 meters per second;

At the War God level, it would be an entirely different realm.

Simple figures were already difficult to use as a standard. After all, War God-level powerhouses could throw punches weighing hundreds of thousands of kilograms, and different force techniques could create enormous differences in strength.

Xia Zhi's physical strength was already close to the Intermediate Wargod level, yet through the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade's Hidden Strength technique, his punch force had surpassed the High-level General level's minimum requirement.

That was the power of an ultimate manual—it allowed one to fight beyond one's rank and cross levels in battle!

"Unfortunately, I only have the first three layers of the manual. I've already formed some conjectures about the fourth and fifth layers."

"I'll wait until I've earned enough money to buy the later sections. Then I can verify them against my own deductions."

"My body is still too weak. No matter what, I can't trigger the fourth burst of Hidden Strength."

Thinking of his cultivation of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade, Xia Zhi felt rather helpless. Other cultivators found it difficult to comprehend the force-generation techniques within the manual and had to practice constantly.

But Xia Zhi was unable to use them because his physical strength was insufficient to support them.

Even Thunder God, the creator, could never have anticipated such a situation. When he created this ultimate manual, his own strength had long since surpassed the Transcendent War God level.

Most other cultivators only began cultivating the second layer after reaching the War God level. A case like Xia Zhi's was truly rare.

Xia Zhi then tested his speed. His final result was 143 meters per second, but after using the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade's Hidden Strength technique together with the Flowing Light movement technique, his speed shot up to an astonishing 398 meters per second, already surpassing the speed of sound at 340 meters per second.

The burden on his body was simply too great for him to sustain it for long. It could only be used as an explosive burst in battle.

"Haha, I can now break the sound barrier with my speed alone. If I suddenly unleash it in battle, speed plus strength will multiply my power!"

His soaring strength filled Xia Zhi with increasing confidence. He was also looking forward to meeting the Golden Spear Squad and entering the Wilderness Zone to hunt monsters for the first time.

In the lounge on the second floor of the Limitless Martial Arts School headquarters, Xia Zhi, having finished his tests and gained a complete grasp of his current strength, sat waiting for the other members of the Golden Spear Squad to arrive.

The lounge floor was polished to a mirror-like shine.

The seemingly simple decorations around it were anything but ordinary.

After all, this was the headquarters of the Limitless Martial Arts School for the entire base city. Even this temporary resting area had attendants moving through it, each wearing a warm, welcoming smile.

As the agreed meeting time drew near, Xia Zhi began observing the warriors constantly passing by.

At that moment, a male and female warrior walked toward Xia Zhi.

Both wore full combat gear. The man carried two golden short spears on his back, while the woman had only a large-caliber Desert Eagle pistol tucked into the holster on her belt, with no other weapons.

When Xia Zhi saw the man, he stood and greeted him, "Captain."

The newcomer was Qin Feng, captain of the Golden Spear Squad.

Only thirty years old and standing 1.85 meters tall, he had already reached the High-level General level. He was a renowned and formidable warrior throughout the base city.

His weapons were two short spears. With those two golden spears, he had earned the nickname Golden Spear General, and the squad's name was derived from that very nickname.

"You came early, Xia Zhi."

Seeing Xia Zhi already waiting there, Qin Feng greeted him with a smile. Then he said to the female warrior beside him, "This is Xia Zhi, the one Supervisor introduced."

Afterward, he introduced the woman to Xia Zhi. "She's also a warrior in our squad. Her name is Liu Yan."

Upon hearing Qin Feng introduce her, the female warrior gave Xia Zhi a bright, open smile. "I'm older than you, so just call me Sister Yan."

Xia Zhi replied, "Hello, Sister Yan. I'm Xia Zhi."

Seeing that the two had exchanged initial greetings, Qin Feng immediately said, "All right, you've met each other. Let's set off."

He then said to Xia Zhi, "There's one more person in our squad. He already went ahead to the military district supply station outside the city to prepare supplies. I'll introduce you once we get there. Let's go."

On the way out of the city, Liu Yan warmly explained to the somewhat puzzled Xia Zhi that their original plan had been disrupted because the squad had accepted a new commission.

Originally, after everyone got acquainted, the squad planned to take Xia Zhi into the Wilderness Zone for some trial combat. Once he had adapted to the atmosphere there, they would begin hunting monsters. Now, however, the squad had no choice but to change its plans and complete this commission first.

"But this mission isn't too dangerous, and the pay is pretty good. It's quite a nice assignment."

Liu Yan spoke with a smile, her eyes curving into crescents as she did. It was clear that she was quite satisfied with this mission.

Hearing her, Captain Qin Feng, who was walking ahead, replied with a laugh, "Haha, we're benefiting from your connections too, Yanzi."

Listening to their conversation, Xia Zhi could not help growing more curious about the mission they were about to undertake.

The three fell silent afterward and headed together to the station, preparing to take a fully enclosed Armed Train to the supply station in the Wilderness Zone outside the city.

I wonder what kind of mission it is. With my current strength, if I unleash my Mind Controller abilities at full power, I'm confident I can put up a fight even against a War God-level powerhouse. Whatever challenge comes, bring it on!

Sitting in his seat aboard the fully enclosed Armed Train, Xia Zhi thought to himself.