Capture the Leader, Slay the General on the Battlefield

At the Fifth Defense Line Command Headquarters, a commander stared at the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King on the screen, terror written across his face.

"A sixth-grade Beast King—and one that commands both wind and lightning elements."

"The entire Fifth Defense Line can't stop it. Not even the General Star can!"

"Fifth Defense Line Command Headquarters requesting reinforcements!"

Cold sweat drenched his forehead, and his face had gone pale.

Then suddenly, he spotted Jiang Li. "Oh no!"

At the same time, on the battlefield, Li Chaofan drove the spear in his hand through the head of a seventh-grade Tiger Shark.

Not far away, a terrifying bolt of lightning crashed down, making him immediately turn toward it.

The Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King had gathered thunder around itself, transforming into a streak of lightning as it smashed toward Jiang Li.

Jiang Li reacted with astonishing speed, yet even so, he only barely dodged it.

Before his body could even come to a stop, the second streak of lightning was already upon him.

Jiang Li's eyes sharpened, and the Black Horizontal Saber in his hand slashed fiercely at the lightning.

Bang!

From that strike, Jiang Li felt as though he had been struck by a colossal hammer. Worse still, lightning power spread from the Black Horizontal Saber through his entire body, leaving him faintly numb.

"Jiang Li, retreat! That's a sixth-grade Beast King—you're no match for it!"

Li Chaofan was frantic. Even as a Sixth-grade Martial Arts Master, he could only avoid fighting a Beast King that controlled both wind and lightning Elemental Power. Let alone Jiang Li.

In response to Li Chaofan's warning, Jiang Li merely smiled and made an OK gesture in his direction.

Whoosh!

Jiang Li circulated his cultivation technique, and the arcs of lightning around him were instantly swept away.

Gripping the Black Horizontal Saber, he suddenly shot forward.

"Are you insane?!"

Li Chaofan roared, wanting to help Jiang Li, but several seventh-grade alien beasts blocked his path.

The Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King was thoroughly enraged as well. Its cold, bloodthirsty eyes were now flooded with lightning, and countless bolts crackled across its body.

The next moment, streak after streak of lightning condensed from its body and blasted toward the charging Jiang Li.

The terrifying lightning completely swallowed Jiang Li's figure. Li Chaofan swept several seventh-grade alien beasts back with a single spear strike, and when he saw this scene, his eyes nearly split open in rage.

If not for Jiang Li during this time, how many soldiers and martial artists on the Fifth Frontline would have died beneath the claws of alien beasts?

He had even submitted a report to his superiors, intending to recruit Jiang Li into the Donghai Battlefield.

But now, such a genius was about to die within his Fifth Defense Line. This was not merely heartbreaking for him—it was a loss for all of Great Xia.

"Kill!"

Overwhelmed by grief and fury, Li Chaofan let out a roar. The spear in his hand surged forward, piercing straight through a seventh-grade alien beast before him.

But at that moment, a calm voice rang out.

"So this is the Elemental Power of a sixth-grade alien beast? It truly is extraordinary!"

As the lightning dispersed, a towering figure stood on the battlefield.

The Headless Martial Soul stood proudly before Jiang Li, blocking and dispersing every bolt of lightning.

Jiang Li stood on the battlefield completely unscathed. The Martial Soul had actually enveloped his body, forming armor-like protection around him.

Boom!

With a thunderous explosion, Jiang Li's figure vanished instantly, leaving behind two distinct footprints where he had stood.

His body shot upward like a berserk dragon, soaring into the sky.

The Black Horizontal Saber in his hand flashed like lightning.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King swam through the air, opening its blood-red maw full of serrated teeth and letting out a low roar.

Terrifying lightning power condensed around its body once more, continuously bombarding Jiang Li.

The instant the Black Horizontal Saber collided with those bolts of lightning, every single one was severed.

The thin wings around the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King trembled violently. As though it had sensed danger, it shot toward the high sky at incredible speed.

It knew perfectly well that aside from Fourth Grade Great Grandmasters, humans could not fly through the air. Once it reached the skies, it would be absolutely safe.

Jiang Li immediately saw through the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King's intention. His own ascent had reached its peak, and he then began falling toward the ground.

Looking at the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King more than a hundred meters above, seemingly standing in an invincible position, the corners of his mouth curled into a faint smile.

"Fire Spirit Breathing Technique, Fourth Layer!"

Behind Jiang Li, a Great Sun Silhouette slowly emerged.

At that moment, his Blood Qi Value climbed to its peak.

Boom!

Amid the Beast Tide, Jiang Li shot skyward like a cannonball at breathtaking speed.

He reached a height of a hundred meters in just three seconds.

Triple Thunderous Charge Saber!

Where the blade passed, it cleaved through lightning with the force of dead branches before a gale.

Only after Jiang Li's figure rose above the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King did his body fall together with the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King's corpse.

When he landed, the exotic beasts all recoiled. A wild gale swept dust and shattered stones in every direction.

Under the protection of his Martial Soul, Jiang Li knelt on one knee, saber in hand, and slowly rose.

"The sixth-grade Beast King is dead!"

His furious roar was like a peal of thunder, ringing across the entire battlefield.

Every soldier who heard Jiang Li's voice felt their blood boil.

"The sixth-grade Beast King is dead!"

"Hahaha, kill! Slaughter these beasts!"

"Could it be that a rising general has come to reinforce us? This battle is surely ours!"

To capture bandits, first capture their king; to behead generals on the battlefield—on any battlefield, such news was enough to set hearts ablaze.

The moment Jiang Li spoke, the morale of all human soldiers and martial artists surged.

At the same time, the Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King's death threw the exotic beasts into disarray, greatly easing the pressure on the soldiers and martial artists at the Fifth Defense Line.

Li Chaofan and the people in the command center stared at the dead Wind-Winged Thunder Eel King as though they were witnessing an unbelievable miracle.

Eighteen years old, and he had slain a sixth-grade Beast King!?

If they had not been on the battlefield at that moment, their martial hearts might have crumbled.

Jiang Li charged back into the battlefield. Wherever he passed, beast blood flew, and like a grim reaper, he constantly harvested the lives of exotic beasts.

The battle lasted a full seven hours. Even Jiang Li began to feel his strength failing.

He no longer remembered how many exotic beasts he had killed. He only knew to keep conserving his strength. Though his speed of slaughtering exotic beasts had slowed severalfold, he could keep fighting without end.

There were simply too many exotic beasts, constantly pouring out from the Fourth Defense Line. Yet human stamina was limited. If his strength ran dry in the Beast Tide, he could only become fish on the chopping block.

Suddenly, a resounding horn blared. Behind the Fifth Defense Line, a large number of martial artists charged into the battlefield.

These martial artists were all clad in black armor. Nearly a thousand Eighth-grade Martial Artists, three hundred Seventh Grade martial artists, and several dozen sixth-grade martial artists joined the battle at once.

"The Rong Family—the Rong Family's Black Armored Army!"

"The Rong Family's reinforcements are here! We're saved!"

"These are the Rong Family's elites. We finally held on until the reinforcements arrived."

After seven hours of bitter fighting, the entire battlefield was already covered in corpses and smoke.

The number of exotic beasts had also been greatly reduced. With the Black Armored Army joining the fray, the battle was completely over within two hours.

Jiang Li also returned from the battlefield to his room and washed the blood from his body. Even the blade of the Black Horizontal Saber beside him had chipped in several places.

"So this is the battlefield?"

With a thought, the Yellow Book appeared.

More than two hundred lines of kill results filled its pages.

Following those kill results, Jiang Li's gaze fell upon the bottom of the final page.

[Cultivatable Lifespan]: 7199

Even though Jiang Li had expected it, when he saw that number for his lifespan, he felt little joy.

His mind was filled with the corpses on the battlefield.

"So this is the exotic beast battlefield?"

Under the hot water, Jiang Li's eyes were sharp enough to be frightening.

Only now did he truly realize that beneath the same sky, some people lived in entirely different worlds.

How fortunate his former self in Beihe City—and all those classmates—had been.

After changing clothes, Jiang Li stood before the mirror, looking at the version of himself that seemed like a completely different person after only one day.

"I'm still not strong enough. This is only the Fifth Defense Line—how terrifying must the fighting within the First Defense Line be?"

"To influence the course of a battle, one must at least be a Fifth-grade Grandmaster."

"If I want to end this age of exotic beasts, then I must stand above all of humanity's martial path."

Jiang Li looked at his reflection and muttered to himself, setting the path for his future.

"First become a Fifth-grade Grandmaster, then set my blade toward a First-grade Martial Emperor!"