At the Fifth Defense Line command post, a commander stared at the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King on the screen, terror spreading across his face.
"A Sixth-grade Beast King—and one that controls both wind and lightning."
"Not even the Rising General can stop it anywhere along the Fifth Defense Line!"
"Fifth Defense Line command post requesting reinforcements!"
Sweat poured down his pale face.
Then he spotted Jiang Li. "Oh no!"
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Li Chaofan drove his spear through the skull of a Seventh Grade Tiger Shark.
A terrifying bolt of lightning struck nearby, and he whipped his head around.
The Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King had gathered lightning around itself. It turned into a streak of light and hurtled toward Jiang Li.
Jiang Li reacted instantly, yet he only barely dodged it.
Before he could steady himself, a second bolt came for him.
Jiang Li's eyes narrowed. He swung the Black Horizontal Saber straight into the lightning.
Bang!
The impact felt like a heavy hammer smashing into him. Worse, lightning surged through the Black Horizontal Saber and spread across his body, leaving his limbs faintly numb.
"Jiang Li, fall back! That's a Sixth-grade Beast King. You can't beat it!"
Li Chaofan was frantic. Even as a Sixth-grade Martial Arts Master, he could only avoid fighting a Beast King that wielded both wind and lightning. What chance did Jiang Li have?
But Jiang Li merely smiled at the warning and flashed Li Chaofan an OK sign.
Whoosh!
Jiang Li circulated his technique, instantly dispelling the arcs of lightning around him.
Gripping the Black Horizontal Saber, he launched himself forward.
"Have you lost your mind?!"
Li Chaofan roared and tried to help, but several Seventh Grade Mutant Beasts blocked his path.
The Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King was thoroughly enraged. Lightning filled its cold, bloodthirsty eyes, and countless bolts flickered across its body.
The next moment, bolt after bolt formed around it and shot toward the approaching Jiang Li.
Terrifying lightning swallowed Jiang Li whole. Li Chaofan swept several Seventh Grade Mutant Beasts back with his spear, then saw it and nearly went mad with grief.
Without Jiang Li, how many soldiers and martial artists would have died to Mutant Beasts on the Fifth Frontline these past few days?
He had even reported Jiang Li to his superiors, hoping to recruit him for the Donghai Battlefield.
And now such a genius was about to die on his Fifth Defense Line. It broke his heart, but it was also a loss for all of Great Xia.
"Kill!"
Overcome with grief and rage, Li Chaofan roared and thrust his spear through the Seventh Grade Mutant Beast before him.
Then a calm voice rang out.
"So this is the Elemental Power of a Sixth Grade Mutant Beast? Impressive."
The lightning faded, revealing an imposing figure standing on the battlefield.
The Headless Martial Soul stood proudly before Jiang Li, having blocked every bolt.
Jiang Li stood unharmed. The Martial Soul enveloped his body, forming armor-like protection around him.
Boom!
Jiang Li vanished in an instant, leaving two clear footprints where he had stood.
He shot upward like a raging dragon ascending to the heavens.
The Black Horizontal Saber in his hand flashed like lightning.
Rumble!
The Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King swam through the air, opened its saw-toothed jaws, and let out a low roar.
Terrifying lightning gathered around it once more, bolt after bolt blasting toward Jiang Li.
The moment the Black Horizontal Saber met them, it sliced through every bolt.
The thin wings on the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King's body snapped outward. Sensing danger, it flew higher at tremendous speed.
It knew full well that humans could not move through the air unless they were Fourth Grade Great Grandmasters. High above the ground, it would be perfectly safe.
Jiang Li immediately saw through its plan. He had reached the peak of his ascent and begun to fall.
He looked up at the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King, over a hundred meters above him and seemingly beyond anyone's reach. A faint smile touched his lips.
"Fire Spirit Breathing Technique, fourth level!"
A Great Sun Silhouette slowly appeared behind Jiang Li.
At that moment, his Blood Qi Value climbed to its peak.
Boom!
Amid the Beast Tide, Jiang Li shot skyward like a cannonball.
He covered the hundred-meter distance in just three seconds.
Triple Thunderous Charge Saber!
His blade tore through the lightning as if it were nothing.
Only after Jiang Li rose above the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King did he begin to fall, its corpse plummeting beside him.
When he landed, the Mutant Beasts recoiled. A violent gust sent dust and gravel sweeping in every direction.
Protected by his Martial Soul, Jiang Li landed on one knee, saber in hand, then slowly stood.
"The Sixth-grade Beast King is dead!"
His shout rolled across the entire battlefield like thunder.
Every soldier who heard him felt their blood surge.
"The Sixth-grade Beast King is dead!"
"Hahaha! Kill them! Kill every last one of these beasts!"
"Did a Rising General come to reinforce us? We're going to win!"
Strike the leader, and the rest would falter. News that a commander had fallen could rouse any battlefield.
At Jiang Li's words, the morale of every human soldier and martial artist soared.
The Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King's death also threw the Mutant Beasts into disarray, greatly easing the pressure on the defenders of the Fifth Defense Line.
Li Chaofan and the people at the command post stared at the dead Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King as though they had witnessed an impossible miracle.
Eighteen years old, and he had killed a Sixth-grade Beast King?!
If they had not been in the middle of a battle, their faith in their own martial paths might have crumbled.
Jiang Li plunged back into the fighting. Beast blood flew wherever he went, and he reaped Mutant Beast lives like a god of death.
The battle raged for seven full hours. Even Jiang Li felt his strength failing.
He had lost count of how many Mutant Beasts he had killed. He only knew he had to conserve his strength. Though his killing slowed many times over, he could keep fighting.
There were too many Mutant Beasts, constantly pouring through from the Fourth Defense Line. Human endurance had its limits. If he exhausted himself amid the Beast Tide, he would be helpless prey.
Suddenly, a clear horn blast sounded. A mass of martial artists charged into the battlefield from behind the Fifth Defense Line.
All wore black armor. Nearly a thousand Eighth-grade Martial Artists, three hundred Seventh Grade martial artists, and dozens of Sixth Grade martial artists joined the fight.
"The Rong Family! It's the Rong Family's Black Armored Army!"
"The Rong Family's reinforcements are here! We're saved!"
"That's the Rong Family's elite force. We finally held out until help arrived."
After seven hours of fierce fighting, corpses and smoke covered the battlefield.
The Mutant Beasts' numbers had fallen sharply. With the Black Armored Army's arrival, the battle ended within two hours.
Jiang Li returned to his room and washed the blood from his body. Several chips had appeared along the edge of the Black Horizontal Saber lying beside him.
"So this is a battlefield?"
With a thought, he summoned the Yellow Book.
It held more than two hundred lines of kill records.
Jiang Li looked past them to the bottom of the final page.
[Cultivatable Lifespan]: 7199
Jiang Li had expected a number like that, yet seeing it brought him little joy.
All he could picture were the bodies on the battlefield.
"So this is what a battlefield against Mutant Beasts is like?"
Under the hot water, Jiang Li's gaze was sharp, almost frightening.
Only now did he truly feel that people could live beneath the same sky yet inhabit entirely different worlds.
How fortunate he and his classmates had been back in Beihe City.
After changing clothes, Jiang Li stood before the mirror and looked at the person he had become in a single day. He barely recognized himself.
"I'm still not strong enough. This was only the Fifth Defense Line. How terrifying must the fighting be at the First Defense Line?"
"To change the course of a battle, I need to be a Fifth-grade Grandmaster at the very least."
"To end this age of Mutant Beasts, I'll have to stand at the pinnacle of humanity's martial arts."
Jiang Li looked at himself in the mirror and spoke aloud, setting the path he would follow.
"First, become a Fifth-grade Grandmaster. Then set my sights on becoming a First-grade Martial Emperor!"
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