The Donghai Battlefield was known as the Meat Grinder of the Linhai Battlefield.
When Jiang Li reached the front lines of the Donghai Battlefield, he could see ruins stretching ahead even from a distance.
He had learned a little about the place before coming.
The Donghai Battlefield was divided into five frontlines. The mutant beasts on the First Frontline were the most terrifying, and Beast Tides struck there often. No one outside the Military Department was allowed to go there.
The farther back a frontline was, the weaker its mutant beasts. Even on the second frontline, though, Grandmaster-level mutant beasts appeared regularly.
The second through fifth frontlines, meanwhile, welcomed Great Xia's martial artists to hunt mutant beasts.
But online advice warned against choosing the Donghai Battlefield for training or hunting.
The death rate was simply too high. Half the martial artists who entered the battlefield never came out.
When Jiang Li stepped off the bus, ruins surrounded him. A four-story building stood before him.
The words "Donghai Camp" were printed above its gate, marking the entrance to the Donghai Battlefield.
Jiang Li went inside, presented his ID for inspection, and entered the camp.
Despite the camp's size, only a dozen or so people stood at the counter for those heading to the frontlines.
The staff at the registration counter were enthusiastic. They gave him a cup of warm vitality soup and maps of the second through fifth defense lines.
The maps clearly marked where each kind of mutant beast was most common and what grade of martial artist each area suited.
They also carried a special warning: this was a battlefield, not a hunting ground. Some powerful mutant beasts would not stay in any fixed area.
That was one of the greatest dangers on the battlefield!
Even Jiang Li felt immense psychological pressure at the thought of encountering one.
But before his absolute strength, that pressure crumbled and vanished in an instant.
Black Horizontal Saber in hand, Jiang Li boarded the bus bound for the Fifth Frontline.
"So young? You're still in school, aren't you?"
A middle-aged man traveling with him looked at Jiang Li and shook his head. "Take my advice and go back. You've got your whole life ahead of you. It'd be a shame to die here."
"You don't see many martial arts university students on the Donghai Battlefield. Didn't your teacher tell you only fools come here?" another man said with a sneer. "Kid, you'd better forget about this place."
Jiang Li heard him and glanced up.
At that single glance, the man's expression changed. He grabbed the greatsword on his back and stared hard at Jiang Li.
"Beihe City. Seventeenth High School. Class 3, Grade 3. Jiang Li."
Jiang Li spoke calmly. "Remember that name. Before long, you'll be hearing it everywhere."
Everyone on the bus froze at his words.
They looked at Jiang Li, then burst out laughing.
What he had said only made them think he was adorably naive.
"Kid, you'll understand once you're on the battlefield. Just hope you don't wet yourself!" one man said.
"All right, Jiang Li. I'll remember you!"
"You're only in your final year of high school? Your parents must be heartless to let you come here. Have you even reached the Ninth Grade?"
The group teased him. A little laughter before entering the battlefield eased the tension.
"What's wrong, Old Zhang?" the man who had spoken first asked with a frown.
He was looking at Old Zhang, who still had his eyes fixed on Jiang Li.
Old Zhang took a deep breath and said quietly, "That kid may be more than he seems."
The instant Jiang Li had looked at him, Old Zhang had felt as though he faced not an inexperienced boy, but a Beast King rampaging across the battlefield.
When the bus reached the assembly point, someone invited Jiang Li along. "Jiang Li, want to come with us? It's easier to deal with mutant beasts in a group."
The offer was sincere. He worried that Jiang Li's youthful fearlessness would get him killed here.
"No need!"
Jiang Li refused and set off alone toward the Fifth Frontline, saber in hand.
Watching him go, the others shook their heads and sighed. They believed he was unlikely to return.
"Let's go!"
At the shout, they split into their own groups and headed for the battlefield.
On the Fifth Frontline, a Purple Armored Giant Crab loomed ahead. It stood as tall as a person.
Among sea beasts, giant crabs were especially troublesome mutant beasts. Their strength, armor, and pincers were a martial artist's nightmare.
Yet a flash of saber light swept past, and the astonishingly tough Ninth Grade crab split in two.
Jiang Li appeared behind it, Black Horizontal Saber in hand.
[Mutant beast slain. Gained 6 Lifespan.]
"That crab had a pitifully short lifespan. At least there are plenty of them!"
Jiang Li had no time to take its Beast Core. Eight more Purple Armored Giant Crabs were already charging toward him.
He did not even circulate a technique. Holding Black Horizontal Saber, he took one step forward.
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Li killed all eight.
Only then did he follow the information he had read, cut the Beast Cores from their bellies, and put them in the storage pouch at his waist.
Then he pressed deeper into the Fifth Frontline.
Ninth Grade mutant beasts were no match for him now.
Every Ninth Grade mutant beast in his path on the Fifth Frontline fell to a single slash.
Even Eighth Grade mutant beasts went down within moments to his Swift Wind Thunderous Charge Saber.
In just one day, Jiang Li killed more than thirty Ninth Grade mutant beasts and four or five Eighth Grade ones.
Ahead, Ninth Grade mutant beasts were growing scarce, while Eighth Grade ones were becoming more common.
Jiang Li spotted an Eighth Grade Red Scaled Demon Shrimp in the distance and smiled faintly.
"I'm getting hungry. You'll do for dinner."
With that, he carried his saber toward the Eighth Grade Red Scaled Demon Shrimp.
In the Fifth Frontline's command room, a middle-aged man wearing the insignia of a Rising General stared at a screen. Dense clusters of red dots were surging toward the Fifth Frontline.
"What the hell is Li Yang doing on the fourth frontline?! A pack of over a hundred Eighth Grade mutant beasts, plus a Sixth Grade Beast King—and he let them through to the Fifth Frontline!"
"Sound the emergency alarm! Order every soldier on the Fifth Defense Line to stop the beasts!"
"And get every Eighth-grade Martial Artist into the fight, now!"
With that, the man spun around, snatched up the spear beside him, and charged out of the command room.
At the same time, Jiang Li was on the battlefield, wolfing down shrimp meat, when a shrill, piercing sound reached him from afar.
"That sounds like the emergency alarm."
Jiang Li swallowed the shrimp in his mouth and looked toward the source of the alarm.
"Perfect timing!"
He immediately sprinted into the distance like a hunting leopard.
Before long, he reached a place where artillery fire raged.
Soldiers crouched in trenches, hurling grenades and firing heavy machine guns in a relentless barrage.
Smoke blanketed the battlefield.
Sea-lizard-like mutant beasts fell under the bombardment, but more charged through the explosions and poured into the trenches.
The soldiers seized their weapons and fought back. Roars, the wet sounds of bloodshed, and screams rose on every side.
One soldier faced an oncoming Eighth Grade Sea Demon Lizard with the resolve of a man ready to die.
He kept firing until his magazine ran dry. Then he snatched up a spear, high-explosive grenade strapped to his waist, and charged the Sea Demon Lizard just a few steps away.
"Kill!"
That roar was meant to be the last sound the man ever made.
But in the next instant, a sharp flash of saber light swept past and severed the Sea Demon Lizard's head.
Spear in hand, the soldier stared blankly at the figure holding the saber.
An Eighth Grade mutant beast had been killed with a single slash?
When he made out Jiang Li's youthful face, it seemed even more unbelievable.
Jiang Li was already moving again.
A huge pack of Sea Demon Lizards was charging toward him, with three two-meter-tall Seventh Grade Fire Sea Demon Lizards among them.
"Good. Now I don't have to go looking everywhere for mutant beasts."
"No wonder they sounded the emergency alarm!"
A light unlike anything in the other soldiers' eyes blazed in Jiang Li's. Alone, he charged straight into the pack of mutant beasts.
At that moment, a cry seemed to rise from the depths of his heart.
Go completely wild!
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