In this era, advances in materials science meant that even a hollow metal staff possessed excellent strength and toughness.
Most importantly, this Fish Spirit Race warrior's physical attributes were only level 10.2, just newly Entry Rank. Its bones and muscles were tough, but not yet to the point of ignoring ordinary weapons.
"Bang!" "Bang!" Li Yuan's first two strikes came down like lightning, both following through with one-handed swings.
Two consecutive heavy blows, incomparably precise, smashed the Fish Spirit Race warrior's skull inward, sending blood spraying.
It fell flat onto the ground, though its long body still twitched.
Li Yuan did not stop. He knew full well the importance of finishing the job.
For the third strike, he gripped the staff with both hands, the posture best suited for unleashing the power of a heavy staff.
Many aspects of exerting force with a spear and a staff were shared.
Li Yuan's strength erupted in an instant. Calm and unhurried, he directly unleashed Rock Settles the Universe. The tip of his staff became like a spearhead as it cleaved down in fury.
"Splat—Bang!!!"
A terrifying force of over a thousand kilograms burst forth, striking precisely where the previous blow had landed... and bursting it apart completely like a watermelon.
Blood splashed everywhere, scales scattering across the ground. Quite a bit of blood even spattered onto Li Yuan's body.
The Fish Spirit Race warrior's body no longer moved at all.
Li Yuan gripped his long staff tightly, still not daring to relax. He stared at the Fish Spirit Race warrior before him. "This time, it should be dead, right?"
This was Li Yuan's first life-or-death battle.
Yet he had fought thousands of life-and-death battles in the Virtual Network and undergone many practical sparring sessions with Fang Longhu.
Especially after enduring the painful tempering of the Great Sun Starry Sky Sutra day after day.
Li Yuan's heart had long since become incomparably resilient.
His spear technique, footwork, and combat instincts when facing life and death had already seeped into Li Yuan's bones without him even noticing.
I, Li Yuan, can kill a Star Realm Creature one-on-one too? Li Yuan drew a deep breath, his grip on the metal staff unconsciously tightening.
A strange emotion faintly stirred within him.
It was as though he had gone through a major event in life, and his soul had undergone a cleansing.
At times, certain transformations in life came suddenly, beyond anyone's expectations.
All one could do was prepare early.
And clearly, through years of martial arts training, Li Yuan had in truth already prepared himself, in both heart and body, for life-and-death combat. He had also handed in an answer sheet that satisfied even himself.
No cowardice! No fear!
There was only courage, decisiveness, and caution.
He stepped back five paces.
Li Yuan still faced the Fish Spirit Race corpse head-on, while his peripheral vision swept the surroundings, wary that another Star Realm Creature might suddenly emerge.
"Young man, are you a martial artist?" The owner of the noodle shop stood in the distance, a kitchen knife in hand, staring at Li Yuan in utter shock.
He had never imagined that the youth he often saw in the mornings could be so formidable.
In just two exchanges.
That powerful and swift Star Realm Creature had been beaten flat, and it looked as though it had completely stopped breathing.
Instinctively, the noodle shop owner assumed the youth was a martial artist.
In his understanding, only martial artists could defeat Star Realm Creatures in cold-weapon combat.
"No," Li Yuan replied.
"Then you..." The noodle shop owner swallowed, just about to say something.
Suddenly.
Two small figures shot out from the alleyway from before with a rustling sound. Li Yuan's pupils contracted at first, then he gradually relaxed.
They were two small Combat Robots, less than half a meter tall. Shaped like large spiders, they were compact and fitted with gun barrels.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The two Combat Robots scanned the surroundings, then lowered their gun barrels and gathered beside the Fish Spirit Race corpse. At the same time, they fired beams of red light, seemingly conducting a scan.
Li Yuan retreated even farther and finally relaxed completely.
He could tell that the gunshot wounds on the Fish Spirit Race warrior had most likely been left behind when the Combat Robots pursued it.
Throughout Jiang City, there were tens of thousands of Combat Robots like these, large and small.
Other than certain exceptionally powerful Star Realm Creatures, most could be exterminated through the coordination of Combat Robots and Combat Drones.
Should I leave now? The thought had only just arisen in Li Yuan's mind.
The next moment.
"Boom! Boom!" A thunderous roar suddenly came from high above. Li Yuan immediately looked up and saw two aircraft shaped like speedboats.
In cities today, the tallest buildings did not exceed twelve stories, so aircraft flying dozens of meters aboveground were extremely safe.
"Single-Person Aircraft?" Li Yuan held his breath.
Before the aircraft could land.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two figures clad in black combat suits had already leaped straight down from the aircraft.
Like two phantoms, they were terrifyingly fast. Yet when they landed, they were incredibly nimble, not even cracking the ground.
They did so with utter ease.
Then they walked directly toward them.
"At least thirty meters... they jumped straight down?" Li Yuan held his breath as he watched the two approach.
With Li Yuan's current strength, he could at most jump down from five meters, and even then, he would have to roll to dissipate the force if he wanted to avoid injury.
The two martial artists revealed only their eyes, every other part of their bodies completely covered by black combat suits.
Yet the intangible aura they gave off made Li Yuan's heart palpitate. He instinctively activated Divine Palace Investigation.
[Target's life level exceeds detection limit (current life-level detection limit: level 17.8)]
Both of them exceeded Li Yuan's detection limit, making his mind grow increasingly fatigued.
"We were pursuing that Second Order leader and let this little fellow slip through our fingers. It actually died?" The combat suit around one figure's head retracted, revealing a large bald head.
He was a bald, burly man, his features carved as if by knife and axe.
The other, relatively slender figure's combat suit retracted as well, revealing the face of a woman with curly brown hair. She looked around thirty, brimming with exotic charm.
A foreign martial artist? Li Yuan muttered inwardly.
"Little friend, I'm a genuine Xia Country citizen." The curly-haired woman spoke fluent Mandarin and smiled. "My family became naturalized in my great-grandfather's generation."
Li Yuan was speechless. High-level martial artists really did have sharp hearing.
"Kid, the Combat Robots told me that you killed this Star Realm Creature? Are you a Martial Arts University student?" The bald man approached Li Yuan. As he questioned him, he activated his Smart Ring Watch. "Let me pull up the nearby surveillance footage."
"I killed it," Li Yuan said directly. "I'm a senior at Guanshan No. 1 High School."
The bald man did not respond. He looked at the projected light screen and began reviewing the surveillance footage.
The curly-haired woman looked over as well.
Less than ten seconds later.
"Hm?"
"What? This staff technique? No, it looks like spear technique!"
"It is spear technique." The two powerful martial artists both revealed looks of surprise and could not help turning to look at Li Yuan.
They had originally assumed that the Fish Spirit Race warrior had been severely wounded and near death, allowing Li Yuan to pick up an easy kill.
Only after watching the footage did they realize... the Fish Spirit Race warrior had indeed been injured, but it had still retained most of its strength.
And Li Yuan, in a single exchange, had used a metal pipe to pierce both of the creature's eyes.
Afterward, he had smashed its head apart with even greater ferocity.
That level of strength and fierceness.
Left both the bald man and the curly-haired woman astonished.
A high school senior? Since when had high school students become this formidable?
"What's your name?" The bald man looked at Li Yuan.
"Li Yuan," Li Yuan said.
"Li Yuan? Would you be willing to sign with our Starry Sky Martial Hall?" The bald man revealed what he believed was a friendly smile. "I'm Lu Huai, Hall Master of the Starry Sky Martial Hall Guanshan Branch."
Li Yuan froze.
This bald man was a Hall Master? Did that mean his status was comparable to Hall Master Wan's?
He should be a Source Martialist.
"Greetings, Hall Master Lu." Li Yuan shook his head. "I've already signed early with the Starfire Martial Hall."
After thinking for a moment, Li Yuan added, "A B-level Contract."
"Starfire Martial Hall? A B-level signing?" The bald man was stunned. "How come I haven't heard about it?"
"B-level Contract? Li Yuan, from Guanshan No. 1 High School?" The curly-haired woman's eyes lit up. She winked at the bald man and smiled. "Old Lu, I remember now."
"Last month, Xing Zixuan mentioned it to me. He said Hall Master Wan had signed a high school student to a B-level Contract."
"I heard he was poached from your Starry Sky Martial Hall. It should be him."
"I was originally going to ask Hall Master Wan about it at the year-end meeting." The curly-haired woman smiled at Li Yuan, her gaze rather fond. "But there's no need to ask after seeing this today. With the courage to take the initiative and save someone, the composure to remain fearless in danger, and spear technique approaching Fourth Stage, a B-level Contract is more than deserved."
Li Yuan grew increasingly confused.
But he vaguely gathered that the curly-haired woman before him seemed to be very familiar with Hall Master Wan.
"Poached from our Starry Sky Martial Hall? How did I not know?" The bald man, Lu Huai, frowned slightly.
He instinctively looked toward Li Yuan.
"Don't look at Li Yuan. Don't scare our Martial Hall's little one." The curly-haired woman shot the bald man a glare. "If you want to know, go ask your own Martial Hall people."
"Fine, I won't ask him." The bald man shook his head helplessly.
"Li Yuan."
"Come, take a photo and sign here." The curly-haired woman smiled at Li Yuan as she activated her Smart Ring Watch. "Don't worry. I'll report your killing of the Star Realm Creature shortly, then notify your school. I'll try to get you an honorary title and a reward as well."
"Thank you for the trouble, Senior." Li Yuan was still somewhat dazed and simply let her direct him.
He quickly took a photograph with the Star Realm Creature's corpse.
Then he signed his name on the light-screen projection from the curly-haired woman's Smart Ring Watch.
"Don't call me Senior. My surname is Zuo." The curly-haired woman looked at Li Yuan. "I'm the deputy hall master of the Starfire Martial Hall Guanshan Branch, responsible for combat readiness patrols and the pursuit of Star Realm Creatures."
"Hall Master Zuo?" Li Yuan was slightly startled.
He had heard other Starfire Martial Hall martial artists mention her before, but he had not paid much attention at the time and had never looked into her information.
"You know me?" Hall Master Zuo smiled at Li Yuan. "This should be your first time killing a Star Realm Creature. Do you want to go home and rest for a day?"
For many people, their first time killing a Star Realm Creature—especially a humanoid species—could leave them extremely nervous, even causing psychological obstacles.
"No need to take leave."
"Hall Master Zuo, I should still go to school." Li Yuan said seriously, "I still have classes today."
"School?" Hall Master Zuo froze, then smiled. "I'll take you there."
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