At the Fifth Defense Line, in the thick of the battlefield.
Soldiers dug trenches and traps and laid mines.
Martial artists fought Mutant Beasts nearby. The A-Class Beast Tide had already begun.
Mutant Beasts were breaking through the Fourth Defense Line and entering the Fifth Defense Line.
"Old Zhang, it's almost done for!"
A three-man squad was surrounding an Eighth-grade Sea Demon Lizard.
With the three working together seamlessly, the Sea Demon Lizard was about to fall.
Slash!
Old Zhang seized an opening, leaped above the Sea Demon Lizard, and brought his blade down hard.
He was panting. An Eighth-grade Mutant Beast had more than tough defenses; its flesh was extraordinarily dense.
If he held back on this strike, his blade would get stuck, leaving him in danger.
But just then, everything around them went quiet.
A chill ran through all three men. They whipped their heads around.
Somehow, two Mutant Beasts had appeared among the city ruins, one in front of them and one behind.
They had steel-like scales, tiger stripes, beastly claws, and the bodies of fish.
"Tiger Sharks!"
One of the Eighth-grade Martial Artists spoke in a trembling voice. Tiger Sharks were Seventh Grade at the very least.
Against two Seventh-grade Tiger Sharks, the three of them were as good as dead.
"Run! Find a way out!"
Old Zhang's face went deathly pale. He was gripped by despair.
But the two Seventh-grade Tiger Sharks had already leaped into the air.
Seventh-grade Mutant Beasts were too fast. In the blink of an eye, they were above the men on either side.
Their serrated fangs and blade-like claws looked capable of tearing all three men to pieces in an instant.
In that moment, the three were so consumed by despair that they forgot to fight back.
Slash! Slash!
Then they heard what sounded like the air being torn apart.
The two Seventh-grade Tiger Sharks were cleaved in half, spraying blood across the ruins.
At the same time, a straight-backed young man in black combat gear landed not far away.
The wind stirred the loose hair across his forehead. In his right hand, he held a saber that he slid back into its sheath.
"What a coincidence!"
Jiang Li turned toward them. His refined face was calm, his dark eyes hiding a deadly edge.
The three men had barely recovered their senses when they saw Jiang Li. They stood as if struck by lightning.
"Jiang Li, Class 3, Grade 3, Seventeenth High School, Beihe City."
"Remember that name. Soon, everyone will know it."
Back then, they had taken those words for a joke. Who could have imagined that everyone at the Fifth Defense Line would now know Jiang Li's name?
With one saber in hand, he had ranged tirelessly across the battlefield, slaughtering Mutant Beasts.
Rumor had it that in just three days, more than a hundred Mutant Beasts had died by his hand.
That included quite a few Seventh-grade beasts.
Now that they had seen him kill two Seventh-grade Tiger Sharks with a single strike, they knew it was no rumor.
"What a coincidence, kid... no, Officer Jiang."
One of the men gave an awkward laugh. He hadn't taken Jiang Li seriously on the bus either.
Old Zhang was even more embarrassed, but before he could speak, a deafening beast roar came from the distance.
Jiang Li turned toward the depths of the ruins. "I'm off!"
He moved lightly, became a black blur, and vanished into the ruins in an instant.
"Who'd have thought that green kid would turn out so terrifying? Good thing he didn't hold what happened back then against us," one man said with a wry smile.
"He's still in his final year of high school. He hasn't even taken the martial arts entrance exam. Looks like Great Xia has another monster on its hands." Old Zhang's expression was complicated. His instincts back then had been right.
Deep in the ruins, a massive Tiger Shark growled.
The remains of an Eighth-grade Martial Artist hung from its jaws. In a few bites, it crushed flesh and bone alike.
Suddenly, the Tiger Shark seemed to sense something and sprang to its feet.
A figure stood on a collapsed stairway, watching it quietly.
"A Sixth-grade Mutant Beast?"
Jiang Li sensed the unusual power within the beast, and his eyes brightened.
The Sixth-grade Tiger Shark let out a piercing cry. Its scales rattled.
Its bloodthirsty eyes fixed on Jiang Li as though he were its next meal.
Whoosh!
The Sixth-grade Tiger Shark lunged. It was so fast that it reached Jiang Li in the blink of an eye.
It swung its claws, tearing through the air with ease.
Jiang Li stood firm. With a metallic ring, the Black Horizontal Saber came into his hand.
He struck with the Swift Wind Thunderous Charge Saber!
His blade met the Tiger Shark's claws in a burst of sparks and a shriek of grinding metal.
The force of the collision made Jiang Li's arm tremble.
For the first time since entering the Donghai Battlefield, Jiang Li felt the pressure of a fight.
"As expected of a Sixth-grade Mutant Beast!"
A faint smile appeared on Jiang Li's face. Then he activated the Heaven-Stealing Divine Art.
In an instant, Blood Qi surged from all six of his Heavenly Apertures. He could clearly feel six currents of strength pouring into his arm.
He slashed, sending the Sixth-grade Tiger Shark flying. It crashed to the ground in the distance.
"Perfect. I'll make fish-head soup with you tonight!"
Boundless strength surged through Jiang Li. Every step he took left a distinct footprint in the ground.
Meanwhile, atop the remains of a high-rise five hundred meters away.
Several figures slowly appeared. Their leader looked twenty-eight or twenty-nine. A sword hung at his waist, and beneath him stood a Mutant Beast covered in ink-black scales, shaped like a qilin.
"Commander, he drove back a Sixth-grade Tiger Shark at such a young age. That's incredible."
A man beside him hefted a large axe and grinned. "Should we recruit him?"
They had come after hearing the beast's roar, only to find someone already fighting the Sixth-grade Tiger Shark.
The young man in white watched Jiang Li calmly. "He is talented. His strength is only Seventh Grade, but it rivals that of a Sixth-grade Martial Arts Master."
"Still, killing a Sixth-grade Tiger Shark won't be easy."
Jiang Li had drawn his saber and was battling the beast.
The Sixth-grade Tiger Shark's reactions were astonishing, far beyond those of a Seventh-grade Tiger Shark.
But Jiang Li only grew fiercer as the fight went on. Since reaching Seventh Grade, he had not encountered a Mutant Beast that forced him to use all his strength.
This Sixth-grade Tiger Shark was just the whetstone he needed.
As he grew more adept at wielding the power within him, he steadily overwhelmed the Tiger Shark until it could no longer fight back.
"That's enough. Time to end this!"
Jiang Li smiled faintly. In the next instant, a Great Sun Silhouette appeared behind him.
He moved through the ruins like a fleeting vision, his Black Horizontal Saber crashing down like thunder.
Slash!
The strike severed the Tiger Shark's sharp claws, then took off its head.
After landing, Jiang Li smiled faintly.
"I didn't even use my innate ability. It seems an ordinary Sixth-grade opponent is no match for me anymore."
"If I open all twelve Heavenly Apertures of the Heaven-Stealing Divine Art, I might be able to challenge a Fifth-grade Grandmaster!"
Jiang Li's eyes gleamed. At eighteen, he could rival a Grandmaster. To any martial artist in this world, that was an almost unimaginable feat.
Suddenly, his expression changed. He turned sharply, Killing Intent flashing in his eyes.
"A Mutant Beast? No!"
Jiang Li looked up and saw the young man and his companions descending steadily from above.
A man in white riding a qilin—controlling a Mutant Beast?
Jiang Li stared. The sight had caught him off guard.
Could it have something to do with an innate ability?
As Jiang Li considered it, the group drew near.
"What's your name?" the young man asked from atop the qilin, looking down at Jiang Li.
Jiang Li looked back at him, the hairs on his body rising. He could sense that the young man's Blood Qi Value was unfathomable.
The young man was clearly far stronger than him.
When Jiang Li did not answer, the young man did not seem to mind. He flicked a business card toward him.
Jiang Li caught it and read the name printed on it.
"Qingyuan Mercenary Group, Commander Yang Xiansheng?" Jiang Li said evenly.
"If you want to join a mercenary group, contact me."
With that, the young man turned his qilin and rode away.
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