At the Fifth Defense Line's command center, the mess hall cooks were working flat out.
With more Mutant Beasts appearing lately, more martial artists had come to help. Every day, the cooks had to prepare vast quantities of Mutant Beast meat to feed fighters of every rank.
Just then, someone approached carrying the enormous carcass of a Mutant Beast.
"Sorry for the trouble, but could you make soup with this?"
A cook looked up impatiently. "We only prepare Seventh Grade Mutant Beasts separately. You—"
Before he could finish, an enormous shadow dropped in front of him.
When he saw the carcass clearly, his eyes widened and his pupils contracted.
"A Sixth Grade Tiger Shark!?"
His startled cry drew every eye in the mess hall.
"A Sixth Grade Mutant Beast? My god! Someone besides the Rising General can kill a Sixth Grade Mutant Beast at the Fifth Defense Line?"
"It's Jiang Li! That Jiang Li!"
"That's Jiang Li? The eighteen-year-old prodigy!?"
They stared at Jiang Li, their faces full of shock and disbelief.
Some of these martial artists had arrived later and hadn't believed the rumors about Jiang Li. But now the carcass of a Sixth Grade Mutant Beast lay right before them. They had no choice but to believe.
"I'll prepare it for you right away!"
The cook snapped to attention with a military salute, then ordered the others to put down what they were working on and start preparing the Sixth Grade Mutant Beast.
Jiang Li sat down in a quiet corner of the mess hall and took out his phone. His points had updated.
3,277 military merit points. That was the total the Military Department had calculated for him as of the previous day.
Some came from killing Mutant Beasts; the rest came from the value of the carcasses recovered.
On the Donghai Battlefield, there was no need to carry away a carcass unless it was particularly valuable.
The Military Department had dedicated recovery teams and awarded merit according to the value of what they collected.
All a martial artist on the Donghai Battlefield had to do was fight and kill. There was no need to worry about receiving credit.
3,277 points was a substantial sum, enough to exchange for a set of Seventh Grade A-Class battle armor.
In Great Xia, that armor would cost at least ten million.
But Jiang Li wasn't satisfied. Seventh Grade battle armor made little difference to him. It was less useful than Martial Soul Protection.
He checked his Lifespan again. It had risen to 2,832 years. That single Sixth Grade Mutant Beast had added a full 76 years.
Beasts really do have more Lifespan. Still, I can't necessarily kill a Sixth Grade beast with ease.
As Jiang Li thought this, he took out his phone and asked Yun Fei who Yang Xiansheng was.
It was the first time he had felt such unmistakable pressure. Even the heightened perception he gained from cultivating the Heaven-Stealing Divine Art couldn't gauge the man's strength.
A Fifth-grade Grandmaster!?
By the time Jiang Li had finished an entire pot of pale-gold fish soup, Yun Fei finally replied.
"Yang Xiansheng of the Qingyuan Mercenary Group? You actually met him!"
Yun Fei sent a shocked emoji, then quickly followed up with another message.
"Yang Xiansheng, thirty-seven. A Peak Fifth-grade Grandmaster and commander of the Qingyuan Mercenary Group. He has three thousand martial artists and eight formidable generals under him. The group ranks among Great Xia's top ten mercenary groups."
"Also, Yang Xiansheng has an S-Class talent ability, though no one knows what it is. His cultivation method and martial arts are S-Class at minimum."
"He once killed a Fourth Grade Beast King, making his name known throughout Great Xia. He holds first place on Great Xia's Divine Martial Grandmaster Ranking."
The string of accomplishments left even Jiang Li impressed.
No wonder Yang Xiansheng had seemed extraordinary.
"He wanted me to join his mercenary group, but I turned him down," Jiang Li replied.
After a while, Yun Fei responded. "You made the right choice. Yang Xiansheng is powerful, but he has some conflict with the Martial Emperor Hall. Joining him would only hurt your prospects."
"The Martial Emperor Hall? The Longevity Martial Emperor's organization?" Jiang Li's heart jolted.
The Longevity Martial Emperor was Great Xia's only current First-grade Martial Emperor and, by every measure, the strongest martial artist in Huaxia.
"Yes. I don't know the details, but it's best not to get too involved with Yang Xiansheng. The people of the Martial Emperor Hall are never easy to deal with," Yun Fei replied. "If that's all, I'm going to take a shower."
"Thanks, Senior Yun!"
Jiang Li put away his phone and felt the meal steadily digesting within him.
"Sixth Grade Mutant Beast meat is filling enough. I'd need a lot of lower-grade meat to satisfy my hunger. Looks like I should bring back more carcasses of Seventh Grade or higher."
Muttering to himself, Jiang Li took his Black Horizontal Saber and returned to his quarters.
He had killed nearly all the high-grade Mutant Beasts along the Fifth Frontline. It was time to rest for a few days.
After so long on the battlefield, he found himself missing his days with the Golden Foot Celestial Phenomenon.
He took a shower, stretched luxuriously, and fell asleep in his room.
But as Jiang Li drifted between sleep and wakefulness, a shrill alarm jolted him awake.
He frowned and rubbed his bleary eyes. "The Beast Tide is here? Already? They won't even let me get a good night's sleep."
Jiang Li opened his eyes. A fierce glint flashed in them.
He changed back into his battle clothes, grabbed the Black Horizontal Saber, and went out.
Everyone in the command center, including the mess hall's support troops, had already rushed outside.
Jiang Li took his time. By the time he emerged from the command center, cannon fire and thunder were already rumbling in the distance.
In the distance, countless Mutant Beasts surged toward the Fifth Defense Line like a vast tide.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Artillery and explosions erupted one after another. The whole earth shook as if an earthquake had struck.
The Mutant Beasts charged without fear of death. Soon, those behind were trampling the corpses of those ahead as they rushed forward.
Li Chaofan stood at the very front, his cold gaze fixed on the Beast Tide.
He seemed to be searching it for Mutant Beasts of Seventh Grade or higher.
Soon the beasts were less than five hundred meters from the Fifth Defense Line. The regular soldiers had their guns and artillery ready, while the martial artists had drawn their weapons.
"Let the beasts' roar give the signal, and thunder and fire be our banner!"
"Better our bones lie buried on this battlefield than we retreat a single step and fail those who died before us!"
"What is a mere Beast Tide? Today, I, Li Chaofan, will show these animals that though we are flesh and blood, we can still stand as our nation's gate!"
With a roar, Li Chaofan charged first. A Sixth-grade Martial Arts Master, he drove into the surging Beast Tide like the spearhead of an assault.
"Kill!"
Behind him, the martial artists and soldiers felt their blood boil. One word gave voice to all the courage in their hearts.
Thousands of martial artists collided with the Beast Tide.
Blades struck claws. Guns fired into fanged maws. In an instant, the battlefield became a meat grinder.
Jiang Li stared at the scene, shaken as never before.
Black Horizontal Saber in hand, he shot into the Beast Tide like a meteor.
This was war. The struggle between humans and Mutant Beasts was nothing like his hunts before.
Blood, roars, claws, and an endless stench of slaughter washed over him like a suffocating tide.
Jiang Li swung the Black Horizontal Saber again and again, killing every beast in his path with a single stroke.
But before long, he realized he had plunged deep into the Beast Tide. Mutant Beasts surrounded him on every side.
They closed in on him. Jiang Li showed no fear. Instead, he laughed.
As he breathed, a white current seemed to flow through him.
In the next instant, the Black Horizontal Saber flashed. Jiang Li surged forward like a bolt of lightning.
A whole row of Mutant Beasts fell before him like cut grass.
Ahead, Eighth Grade Mutant Beasts gathered in packs, and Seventh Grade beasts kept appearing among them.
Suddenly, an earth-shaking beast roar reached Jiang Li's ears. He looked up.
A Mutant Beast coiled in the air, its body like a serpent's and thin wings sprouting from its sides. It watched him with cold eyes.
"A Sixth Grade Beast King—the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel!"
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