The purple thunder blade light streaked across the sky, split the earth, and completely divided the blood-red world.
The livestream image abruptly brightened from its original gloomy, oppressive, dim scarlet hue.
The sun hung low at dusk, and the waning moon had just risen.
Against this beautiful backdrop, the imposing figure standing in the sky drew nearly everyone's gaze.
She wore a Black Garment with Purple Patterns and black boots, an ancient-style outfit perfectly suited to the new era.
With a nine-head-tall figure, she appeared exceptionally tall, her long legs straight as spears.
Her dark purple high ponytail swayed in the fierce wind, while her sharp violet eyes had already locked onto the Thousand-Headed Blood Leech Queen's massive form.
"Buzz!"
The instant she felt herself being targeted, the Thousand-Headed Blood Leech Queen raised her mouthparts and unleashed a mental-polluting sonic attack.
At the same time, the Thunder Blade rang out on its own, booming with deep thunder that disrupted the piercing, corruptive sound waves.
Purple lightning lit up in her eyes, as though tangible rays of light shot into the void, causing the Thousand-Headed Blood Leech Queen's countless tentacles and human faces to burst into blood mist.
"Sever!"
A cold, commanding word left her lips. Purple lightning filled the sky, heavenly thunder exploded, and a strange phenomenon arose on its own.
The long blade slashed down through the air, yet the entire world seemed to remain frozen.
It was clearly visible, yet the strike was unimaginably fast. It transformed into a bolt of Heaven's Punishment Divine Thunder, descending from above as Sky-Splitting Purple Light, dazzling beyond compare as heaven and earth changed color.
It cleaved the Thousand-Headed Blood Leech Queen's enormous body in two, from the thousand-faced mouthparts above to the Blood Leech Blood Sea below.
Endless purple lightning flickered and leaped within the wound, continuously erasing the life of this Overlord-Level mythic creature.
Sensing death, the Thousand-Headed Blood Leech Queen let out a shrill howl. As if crazed in her final moments and determined to drag her opponent down with her, she self-destructed.
"Boom!"
The explosion, which left behind a massive crater, resounded throughout the entire city.
At the same time, countless Servant-Level, Ferocious Soldier-Level, and War General-Level mythic creatures scattered like heavenly maidens strewing flowers, crashing into the station, the wilderness, and even parts of the eastern outskirts of the city.
However, with the Overlord-Level mythic creature that far surpassed Outer Scenery Martial Artists dead, the rest no longer mattered.
The Prevention Bureau and the stationed military soon entered the scene and began systematically eliminating them.
The relevant departments and partner companies responsible for recovering bodies and clearing the area also arrived promptly to handle the aftermath.
It appeared that a Level 2 Alert crisis had been resolved.
The market intuition Li Xijun had honed through years of losing money still made him feel that something was off, though he could not identify the problem.
Zhang Haifeng, standing beside him, could not help but sigh.
"Xijun, if that Outer Scenery Martial Artist from earlier comes to our school as an instructor, you must seize the opportunity!"
"Hm?" Li Xijun was somewhat puzzled.
"To possess such combat power at the Exterior Scenery stage and practice Thunder Blade Art, she is probably from the Clear Spring Dawn Palace founded by the Wind Sage, one of the 'Imperial Capital Two Heavens,' and likely graduated near the top of her class."
"I remember that you practiced blade fundamentals before. You will probably use a blade as your weapon in the future. If you can receive even a little guidance from her, it will benefit your College Entrance Exam and even your future comprehension of Outer Scenery Killing Moves beyond measure."
At this point, rare envy appeared on Zhang Haifeng's usually stern face. He looked upward with a complicated expression and said, "You're still a high school student, so you can't understand what kind of support a good Martial Arts University can give you, or just how brilliant and dazzling its geniuses are."
As the two spoke, Zhang Haifeng was uncharacteristically about to tell him about the university geniuses he had seen in his youth.
Then cries of alarm from the livestream made them both turn toward the screen.
Bocheng High-Speed Rail East Station
While the post-battle hero Su Nianying and the other Outer Scenery instructors who had arrived were speaking with local leaders and the principals of various high schools, receiving warm greetings and exchanges.
In a corner opposite the high-speed rail station, a man wearing a White Work Uniform and a gas mask that covered his face could not stop swallowing as he stared at a portion of a Tombstone Meat Mountain's body.
Like someone who had gone hungry for an unknown number of days, faced with flesh so rich in blood energy.
He could not resist breaking the cult's rules. He secretly removed the glove from his right hand, revealing his palm, where a gaping mouth full of sharp teeth appeared. It viciously bit into the flesh, continuously devouring the blood energy and life within.
The pleasure of his vital energy and strength rapidly rising made his heart surge with excitement.
Until, in the next instant, he suddenly discovered that he was floating in the air. Spiritual Power between heaven and earth transformed into an invisible giant hand, gripping him tightly and hauling him directly before the middle school principals, the director of the Prevention Bureau, and the others.
When he slammed onto the ground, his upper clothes tore apart, revealing an abstract pattern on the skin over his stomach. Yet upon closer inspection, it resembled a Crimson Kunpeng.
"Just as I thought. It couldn't have been such a coincidence that an alert incident happened the moment I arrived."
Su Nianying spoke coldly, one hand resting on the long blade at her waist.
"It should be the Blood God Cult. They wanted to use the unrest of the Mythic Rift and the arrival of us Outer Scenery Martial Artists to provoke a battle."
"No matter what casualties either side suffers, these hyenas that devour the blood energy and life from corpses always get to profit."
"Bocheng should conduct a thorough investigation and crack down on its cult organizations."
Su Nianying's blunt words made the official Outer Scenery Martial Artists present look rather grim.
That was because behind a cult like the Blood God Cult stood an exceedingly dangerous mythic creature.
The Crimson Kunpeng, the one that was certain to appear in middle school history lessons on New Calendar history.
This Emperor-level being was one of the Human Federation's greatest threats.
When creatures from the Mythical World cultivated to the pinnacle, they also possessed human intelligence.
And this Emperor-level creature's intelligence was especially astonishing.
It dwelled in a unique Mythical World where creatures could grow stronger by devouring one another.
When it had first come to Blue Star through a Mythic Rift, it had intended to raise humans in captivity and devour them as an endless supply of blood-energy food to grow stronger.
However, it was ultimately severely wounded by the joint efforts of two Martial Saints and fled back to its own world.
To take revenge on the Human Federation, it combined the martial arts of the humans it had killed with the devouring nature of its world, creating an evil cultivation technique that allowed one to rapidly increase Martial Cultivation by devouring living creatures' flesh.
It had once caused civil unrest, slaughter, and the destruction of several nations in the Central Asia Region. Even Great Yan had been affected. At one point, Blood God Cult organizations had devoured humans as blood food.
It was a cult organization Great Yan cracked down on severely.
Unexpectedly, it had appeared in Bocheng this time, even trying to scavenge some gains.
Soon after, the livestream was abruptly cut off.
Bocheng's news broadcast returned to the television studio, where the female host began improvising official remarks.
Looking at the cut-off image on the screen, Zhang Haifeng turned it off and frowned.
"Since something like this happened today, to be safe, stay in my office for now. I'll go home to sleep."
"Then I'll trouble you, Teacher."
Li Xijun accepted without hesitation.
What had just happened proved that a cult organization really had been behind this incident.
Combined with the earlier explosion, even though he had the trump card of fleeing to another world, staying at Zhang Haifeng's place was undoubtedly the best choice for the sake of caution.
Before you continue