Just moments ago, Lu Yuan had been focused on refining the energy in Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme.
His six senses had shut down, leaving him unable to sense anything outside.
Now, his refinement was complete.
He had broken through the Fourth Shackle, and only then noticed that the city seemed different from before.
There were Mutant Beasts, and quite a few of them.
What was going on?
After only a brief moment of thought, Lu Yuan immediately understood.
He steadied the power within him and rose to his feet.
Then he leaped forward.
He landed on the roof of a tall building and headed onward, following the Mutant Beasts' presence.
Qingyang City might be small, but hundreds of thousands of people lived there.
Lu Yuan was at the city's western edge.
So...
Even at his current speed, it would still take him some time.
Along the way, however, he saw many collapsed buildings and houses. Much of the city's infrastructure had been destroyed.
He also saw countless civilians rushing toward the western part of the city, their faces panicked.
This only confirmed Lu Yuan's suspicion.
Mutant Beasts had attacked the city.
And it was very likely a Beast Tide.
"How did something like this happen in the time it took me to refine Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme?"
Lu Yuan furrowed his brow. Without giving it another thought, he continued rushing forward.
Not long after,
he spotted a gigantic blue Unicorn Giant Wolf standing in the distance. It looked very much like the one he had killed before.
Elsewhere,
Teacher Zhao Wuji, a teacher at Zhendan Academy, was still struggling to hold on.
He was indeed powerful. In terms of physique and combat strength, he far surpassed most others at the Seventh Order of the Initial Realm.
But the opponent before him was a Ninth Order Wolf King, already close to the Awakening Realm. With the naturally powerful physique of a Mutant Beast, even an Awakened at the same level couldn't withstand it.
Boom!
Another paw slammed down.
Even though Zhao Wuji had awakened a trace of his Ancestral Bloodline,
he could no longer hold on. He hurtled toward the ground at tremendous speed.
The city road, paved with concrete, was smashed into a massive crater.
The surrounding buildings also began to crack under the immense force, on the verge of collapse.
His body had reached its limit.
"Teacher Zhao!"
Zhu Qingyu and the others shouted and hurried over to help him up.
By now, Zhao Wuji was covered in blood, and the spear in his hand had bent nearly to the point of breaking.
If not for his powerful physique, his body might have been snapped in two during the fight.
"No. No..."
Zhao Wuji shook his head again and again. "The reinforcements still haven't arrived. I can't just fall here."
Hearing this, tears welled in everyone's eyes. They wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come.
Was there any point in holding on?
There was.
At least they could buy a little more time.
But what would the final outcome be?
Someone was going to die!
Roar!
Just then, the Blue Unicorn Giant Wolf King seemed to have had its fill of playing around.
It roared again, and the Mutant Beasts around it stirred restlessly.
At a single command,
the hundreds of Mutant Beasts would gather and charge into the city again.
And this time, it wouldn't be like before. Many people would certainly die.
"Not good."
Zhao Wuji sensed what was coming and tried to rise, but his injuries were too severe. His strength failed him, and he collapsed.
At that moment, he hated himself. Why couldn't he be a little stronger? Why couldn't he evolve one more time? With greater strength, he could have changed the situation.
"Teacher Zhao!" Qin Lan and the others cried out, their eyes full of anguish.
That Wolf King was simply too powerful.
If this continued, it really would kill him.
"Teacher Zhao, I'll fight alongside you."
Zhu Qingyu suddenly spoke, her gaze resolute. "I may be weak, but I can still do my part. I can at least hold them off for a minute."
At this crucial moment, she chose to step forward once more.
"Me too."
Qin Lan and the others voiced their resolve as well.
If they had still hesitated before,
seeing Teacher Zhao Wuji risk everything—
even his life—to protect the civilians had stirred them to the depths of their hearts.
What did it matter if they died? At least they had tried.
The other teachers who could still fight nodded firmly too, choosing to stand with them.
"Good. Good."
Zhao Wuji looked at his students. Seeing that none of them feared danger and all were willing to fight alongside him filled him with deep relief.
Mutant Beasts were attacking the city, and the situation was dire. Some people had to stand up and protect the ordinary civilians.
Forcing himself to stay upright, he slowly rose, gripped his spear, and looked at everyone.
"Then fight with us, and die with us!"
"Fight together, die together!"
Everyone answered.
Their faces were set with determination.
So what if that Wolf King was powerful?
So what if their efforts could only hold it back for one more minute?
Behind them were hundreds of thousands of lives—their fellow countrymen.
And so, at that moment,
the teachers stood with Zhao Wuji at their head.
The students stood with Zhu Qingyu at theirs, facing east—the vast Beast Tide and the mighty Wolf King.
Compared to the enemy, they were tiny, like grains of sand and ants.
Yet they stood firm.
Then they stirred the power within themselves.
I have to find a way to protect them later. At the very least, I have to get Qingyu out of here.
Zhao Wuji glanced at Zhu Qingyu behind him, thinking to himself.
He knew the academy's leadership valued Qingyu greatly.
They knew she possessed a special bloodline.
Once it was fully awakened, her potential would be terrifying, and she would walk a far greater path of evolution.
Humanity and Huaxia would face many more crises in the future. It would be a terrible waste for her to die here. He had to find a way to save her.
Even if it cost him his life.
With that thought,
he exhaled and slowly led the students forward.
But they didn't know
that at that very moment,
a pair of bright eyes watched them from the roof of a half-ruined building.
"People from Zhendan Academy? Sure enough, they're still the same as ever."
Lu Yuan stood atop the building, a faint glow in his eyes.
Though they were some distance away,
he could still see them clearly—and even hear what they were saying.
In his previous life, when the world underwent a cataclysmic change, Mutant Beasts and humanity had fought a great war.
There had been a group of people who charged to the front.
They had fought with their lives on the line.
In Huaxia,
there had always been people who stood up when great crises struck.
The authorities couldn't fully keep up with the changes of the new era.
But that didn't mean they did nothing.
They had established Zhendan Academy to recruit and train Awakened across the country.
Their purpose was to preserve as many ordinary lives as possible during the crises to come.
The academy had only been established recently. Its strength was still modest, nowhere near that of the Wuzhou Group or Chang Sheng Gene.
But Lu Yuan knew that as the situation changed,
Zhendan Academy's influence would continue to grow.
It would command ever greater power.
It would have countless Awakened.
That was how it would preserve this branch of humanity through the disasters to come, becoming one of the few countries still standing after the cataclysm.
Even though the academy had only been around for a few months, its teachers and students knew they weren't strong enough, yet still chose to do something.
"Zhendan Academy seems to have a few decent visualization arts and Breathing Methods, too. I should take a look sometime."
Lu Yuan murmured to himself. After all, his country was ancient, with a terrifyingly deep foundation.
The bloodlines of its ancestors, and divine artifacts left behind from distant ages—
all of it meant Huaxia was destined to adapt to the new era.
Besides,
he also knew that some old monsters would emerge in the future.
Before the cataclysm, they had accumulated deep reserves. After their bloodlines returned to their ancestral origins, they would be incredibly powerful.
There were also the ancient martial arts traditions. Their inheritors would transform in the new era, like that old Heavenly Master from Longhu Mountain and others like him.
Of course, now wasn't the time to think about any of that.
He had to deal with the crisis before him first.
Lu Yuan raised his head and looked toward the Blue Unicorn Giant Wolf King.
He had watched for long enough.
How could he not understand what had happened?
It must have been because he had killed that Red Giant Wolf, enraging the other one.
Then it had summoned the Beast Tide and sent it charging into the human city to slaughter people and vent its fury.
"I didn't expect one careless move to lead to all this. If it happens again, I might as well finish the job properly."
Lu Yuan rubbed his nose. He knew that even if he hadn't done anything back then, a Beast Tide would still have come. Still, he couldn't help feeling responsible. And if that was the case, how could he stand by without acting?
"Sky Shaking!"
He called softly.
An ancient bow etched with mysterious patterns appeared.
It looked extraordinary, with the sun and moon carved into either end, radiating faint beams of light.
Without hesitation, Lu Yuan took it in his hands and fixed his gaze on the Blue Giant Wolf King.
He didn't attack in person because he wanted to test the power of the Sky Shaking Bow.
That way, he would have a better idea of its limits when he used it in the future.
Of course,
even against a Wolf King close to the Awakening Realm, using the Sky Shaking Bow was still overkill.
I have to be careful not to use my full strength.
Lu Yuan reminded himself.
The bow was too powerful.
He might injure the people from Zhendan Academy.
He gripped the bow in his left hand, seized the string with his right, and pulled.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
In an instant.
The Heaven-Earth Force around them immediately converged, blooming into wisps of radiant light.
The light surged in layers, finally forming a Golden Arrow Feather.
The Sky Shaking Bow.
Draw it, and it could gather the Heaven-Earth Force to form an energy arrow.
The arrow's power depended on the user's realm. The stronger the user, the stronger the arrow.
And the instant the energy arrow took shape,
a powerful aura
spread from Lu Yuan, causing the precarious building beneath his feet to crack open once more.
"Perfect. Let's add a little Thunder Power too. That'll make it even better at piercing through—one strike, one kill."
Lu Yuan thought it over. He wasn't even using two-tenths of his strength for this shot, so adding more would make things just a tiny bit safer.
At once,
his mind stirred.
Jade Emperor Heavenly Thunder Righteous Law—go!
Rumble!
Another aura surged forth, but unlike before, this power carried destruction.
In terms of attack power and explosive force, the Thunder Force was simply unrivaled.
Now, Lu Yuan added a sliver of power from the Heavenly Thunder True Method
to the Sky Shaking Arrow.
Dull thunder rumbled across the sky.
Black clouds began to gather, and the world around them shifted.
Of course, Zhao Wuji, Zhu Qingyu, and the others below didn't notice.
Their attention was fixed entirely on the Blue Giant Wolf King; they were barely aware of anything else.
At that moment, everyone was prepared to die.
They advanced step by step.
"Roar!"
Across from them,
the Giant Wolf King saw this and let out a roar, as if mocking them.
In its eyes, these humans were no different from ants.
Yet they foolishly stood in its way, practically begging for death. Since that was the case, why not grant their wish?
The Giant Wolf King crouched slightly. Wisps of blue light emerged from its fur, then gathered at the single horn on its head.
Bzzzt—
The blue horn, sharp as a heavenly sword, blazed with dazzling light.
Anyone could see that an immensely powerful force was building within it.
"It's completely enraged. We're done for!"
Zhao Wuji's expression changed as alarm surged through him.
This was the Giant Wolf King's strongest attack. If it came down, no one here would escape the destruction it unleashed.
He wasn't the only one. Zhu Qingyu and the others also felt the heart-stopping power surging through that horn.
In an instant, the aura of death spread through everyone's heart.
Some went pale; others trembled slightly.
No one was unafraid of death.
It was only that some people's courage overcame that fear.
But when they truly faced it, the instinct to survive still frightened some of them.
Am I really
going to die?
That was what everyone present was thinking.
But they didn't retreat. They continued forward, unwavering.
"Roar!"
The Giant Wolf King felt provoked and roared again, preparing to attack.
Rumble!
But the next moment, a tremendous peal of thunder rang out.
Zhu Qingyu and the others didn't feel anything unusual.
But the Blue Unicorn Giant Wolf King suddenly shuddered from head to toe, its fur standing on end. Its very soul trembled, as if some being had locked onto it—a being capable of threatening its life.
In the blink of an eye,
it turned to look.
Then fear showed in its eyes.
What was going on?
Why wasn't the Giant Wolf King attacking?
Below, Zhu Qingyu and the others looked on, baffled.
Just moments ago, they had steeled themselves for death, ready to face its final strike.
Now their opponent had stopped moving.
Soon,
they noticed the fear in the Giant Wolf King's eyes.
What could
make even a Beast King on the verge of the Awakening Realm afraid?
They followed its gaze and saw, on the roof of an abandoned building behind them,
a young figure standing tall.
The figure held a bow.
An aura of violence, powerful to the extreme, surged from him.
Above his head, thunder roared, and dozens of bolts of lightning intertwined.
The lightning was so blinding that no one could keep their eyes open. They couldn't make out the figure's face, only tell that he was a man.
"This is... such powerful, terrifying energy."
Zhao Wuji's eyes widened in utter disbelief.
The aura radiating from that person was so terrifying, it surpassed anything he could comprehend.
Who was he?
Everyone wondered the same thing.
But no one answered.
Instead, after sensing that dreadful power, the Giant Wolf King began to tremble too, then turned and fled.
It wanted to go back, to return to the forest. That person was too terrifying; it stood no chance against him.
It would die!
"Trying to run? Too late."
On the rooftop, Lu Yuan held the Sky Shaking Bow and smiled.
Then he narrowed his eyes, drew the bowstring to its limit, and released his right hand.
Rumble!
A massive bolt of lightning descended from the sky, illuminating the heavens.
At the same time, the lightning arrow shot forward at an unimaginable speed, breaking the sound barrier.
In an instant, it appeared before the Giant Wolf King and pierced straight into the single horn it had been so proud of.
Boom!
Splurt!
Amid a tremendous crash,
Zhu Qingyu, Zhao Wuji, and the others saw
the Giant Wolf King—the beast they had been powerless against, the one that had filled them with despair—
its enormous head burst apart, becoming a rain of blood.
And its massive body
split apart in an instant, then was utterly obliterated by the mighty Thunder Force, vanishing without a trace.
The ruler of this region, the Unicorn Giant Wolf King,
was killed with a single arrow!
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