Chapter Twenty-Two
News of Chen Qing's awakening was like a bolt of lightning in the dead of night, instantly tearing through the oppressive atmosphere in the Vanguard Camp.
When he stepped out of the tent at dawn, completely unharmed, Old Niu and Sun Quezi, standing guard outside, could scarcely believe their eyes. Seven days ago, their squad leader had been barely clinging to life, his internal organs grievously wounded. Yet now, not only had his injuries fully healed, but his aura was deep as an abyss. Whenever his eyes opened and closed, a dark-red gleam flickered within them, making people afraid to meet his gaze.
"Squad... Squad Leader! You... you're all right?" Old Niu's voice trembled with wild joy and disbelief.
Chen Qing gave a slight nod. His gaze swept over the soldiers who had rushed over upon hearing the news. Seeing the concern and reverence in their eyes, he said calmly, "I'm fine. Make preparations. Remain ready at all times."
"Yes!" everyone answered thunderously, their morale soaring.
Captain Zhou Han arrived soon afterward. He examined Chen Qing closely, his eyes filled with shock and scrutiny.
He had personally checked Chen Qing's injuries before. They had unquestionably been fatal wounds; without one or two months of careful recuperation, recovery should have been impossible.
Yet now...
"Squad Leader Chen, you..." Zhou Han did not know how to begin.
"Thank you for your concern, Captain. I am no longer seriously injured." Chen Qing's tone was calm. "How is the Northern Mang main force moving?"
Zhou Han suppressed the stormy waves in his heart and said gravely, "Their main force has reached fifty li away and is setting up camp. By tomorrow at the latest, they will launch their full assault." He paused and looked at Chen Qing. "Can you... still fight?"
A cold curve touched Chen Qing's lips. "I was just lacking some Killing Intent to help me break through."
Zhou Han's eyelid twitched. After studying him deeply, he said, "Good! What do you need?"
"My unit will serve as the vanguard for the entire army." Chen Qing was concise and direct.
Zhou Han fell silent for a moment, then nodded heavily. "Granted! Your unit will be the arrowhead of the Vanguard Camp's first charge! I will order the archers, crossbowmen, and cavalry to cover you with all their strength!"
"Thank you, Captain!"
* * *
The clouds of war hung heavily over the Northern Frontier wasteland.
Fifty li away, Northern Mang's connected camps stretched like a black tide, endless as far as the eye could see. Azure Wolf banners snapped in the cold wind, while killing intent surged into the heavens.
On Great Yan's side of the defensive line, every soldier gripped his weapon tightly. As they looked at the suffocating formation in the distance, their faces turned pale. This was a decisive battle with a vast disparity in strength.
Chen Qing stood at the very front of the formation. Behind him were the fifty soldiers under his command; behind them stood the entire Vanguard Camp, and farther back, the main force waited in strict formation.
He had his eyes closed, seeming to rest his mind. But only he knew that he was mobilizing the Fierce Tiger Iron Body's Killing Intent, now thoroughly integrated within him, together with the newly awakened Black Tiger True Intent, attempting to breach the barrier preventing him from entering the Meridian Condensing Realm.
Ordinary martial artists breaking through to the Meridian Condensing Realm needed abundant qi and blood, supplemented by specific cultivation methods, to slowly open their meridians. This allowed inner force, or true qi, to circulate through the meridians in a complete cycle, endlessly renewing itself.
But his path was different.
He would use Killing Intent as his meridians! Guided by the Black Tiger True Intent, he would completely fuse the domineering Killing Intent refined by the Fierce Tiger Iron Body with his own qi and blood, forcibly smash open and widen his meridians, then transform them into "Saber Meridians" capable of containing and circulating this special energy!
No one had ever walked this path before. It was extraordinarily perilous; if he failed, having every meridian shattered would be the least of his worries. But he had the system, the Black Tiger True Intent, and an absolute will tempered between life and death!
Woooo—!
A low, desolate horn sounded from the Northern Mang camp, like Death's summons.
The black tide began to move! At first it was slow, then faster and faster, until it became a torrential flood sweeping across heaven and earth, surging toward Great Yan's defensive line! Ten thousand horses galloped, and the earth trembled!
"Archers! Prepare—" A Great Yan officer's hoarse roar trembled.
At the instant the two vast armies were about to collide!
Chen Qing abruptly opened his eyes!
Dark-red light shot out from his pupils as if it had substance!
The fierce, baleful aura he had kept restrained exploded. No longer did it spread chaotically as before; it seemed to come alive, transforming into countless streams of black-red energy that crashed madly through certain previously blocked paths within his body!
Rumble!
It was as though thunder had exploded inside him!
Pain! Pain far beyond that of Blood Refining!
It was as if countless streams of molten iron were raging through his meridians! Veins bulged across his skin like earthworms, taking on a bizarre black-red hue. His entire body looked like an evil ghost crawling out of hell!
"Roar—!"
He let out a roar he could no longer suppress, one filled with pain and brutality! It faintly drowned out even the thunder of ten thousand galloping horses on the battlefield!
[Using Killing Intent to force open the meridians, Black Tiger True Intent suppressing them, Fierce Tiger Iron Body proficiency +500!] [Warning! Meridian strain has reached its limit!] [...]
The system notifications became hurried and indistinct.
Just as he felt his body was about to be burst apart by that violent power!
Crack! Crack!
Something within his body seemed to be forcibly smashed open!
Several major meridians were suddenly opened beneath the impact of the domineering Killing Intent infused with Black Tiger True Intent!
Those violent black-red energies instantly found an outlet. Like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, they surged and circulated through these newly formed Saber Meridians, several times broader and tougher than those of ordinary martial artists! One cycle, two cycles... faster and faster!
The pain ebbed away like a receding tide, replaced by an unprecedented feeling of power and control!
He felt that his strength, speed, senses, even his control over the Killing Intent around him, had risen by an enormous step!
The energy within him surged without end. With every gesture, he seemed capable of stirring the aura of slaughter and death pervading the air around him!
The Meridian Condensing Realm! He had succeeded!
And this was no ordinary Meridian Condensing Realm. It was a Saber Meridian forged with Killing Intent as its foundation and Black Tiger True Intent as its soul!
[Breakthrough successful! Realm increased: Meridian Condensing Realm (Early Stage)!] [Fierce Tiger Iron Body and Black Tiger True Intent have deeply fused. Special state comprehended: Fierce Tiger Domain (Prototype)!] [Fierce Tiger Domain (Prototype): Within a certain range around the user, Killing Intent concentration increases. Can mildly affect enemies' minds and enhance the user's strength and recovery speed.]
Chen Qing suddenly raised his head and looked toward the Northern Mang flood, now nearly upon them. Not a trace of human emotion remained in his eyes—only the pure coldness and thirst for slaughter belonging to a hunter.
He moved.
There was no shout, no command.
He merely raised the ring-pommel saber in his hand and pointed it forward.
The next instant, his entire body became a black-red afterimage almost impossible to catch with the naked eye. He was no longer running; he seemed to fly close to the ground, charging alone at terrifying speed into the black torrent of the ten-thousand-strong army!
"Break their formation!"
A cold, low command rang out like Death's proclamation, carrying clearly into the ears of every charging Vanguard Camp soldier amid the deafening cries of battle.
Old Niu, Sun Quezi, and the others watched that figure rush into the enemy formation without hesitation, like a meteor plunging down. Their hot blood instantly swept away their fear!
"Break their formation!"
"Break their formation!"
"Kill—!"
The fifty men erupted like gunpowder set alight, unleashing earth-shaking roars as they followed that black-red figure and drove themselves like a wedge into the spearhead of Northern Mang's charging formation!
The great battle instantly entered its most brutal stage!
And Chen Qing was the most dazzling, and most terrifying, streak of dark red within that savage whirlpool!
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