Thorough Enlightenment

"Guen, over there."

Guen and Carl were flying side by side when they suddenly heard the faint sounds of fighting and shouting nearby. They could just make out a mass of sea beasts battling the soldiers.

"Let's go take a look."

Guen and Carl exchanged a glance and immediately understood what the other was thinking.

They were already well inland in East Sea Province. Unlike the coast, where sea beasts were strongest in the water, the sea beasts this far inland were much weaker. If they had the chance, Guen and Carl were still willing to help the soldiers and warriors.

The sea beast army stretched out in a dense mass. Everywhere they looked, the bodies of Ferocious Beasts were surging.

The word "surging" seemed apt because most of these Ferocious Beasts couldn't move across land on their own. Yet, relying on their vast numbers, those behind shoved and pressed against those in front. Apart from a few unlucky ones, most of the sea beasts slowly writhed forward over the bodies of the others, lubricated by their bodily fluids.

Under all that friction, the fluids had absorbed countless drops of blood and dust. They squeezed out nauseating foam of a strange color, accompanied by a huge stench of fish and decay.

Guen's scalp prickled, and he felt a faint urge to vomit. But then he saw the sea beast army forming one vortex after another, with soldiers still desperately holding out at their centers.

Guen was furious. All his discomfort seemed to disappear in an instant.

He became a streak of lightning, flying faster than sound. In a single second, he covered more than three thousand meters and reached the center of the sea beast horde.

"We're done for. We're done for." A middle-aged man let go of his longsword, his face pale and his eyes unfocused. He could barely stay on his feet.

Sea beasts surrounded them!

Apart from the patch of sky overhead, all he could see were these revolting sea beasts. They had fallen into this predicament because they'd been just a step too slow in retreating. The low, hoarse cries around him had already seeped into his soul, leaving him utterly terrified.

A balding, middle-aged man hurried over and grabbed his arm. "Lao Wu, don't give up!"

The middle-aged man gave a bitter smile. At that very moment, several crab-like sea beasts landed on Lao Wu. Their pincers instantly tore him into pieces. But as a High-level Warrior, Lao Wu didn't die right away. He only let out a heart-wrenching scream.

"Shhk, shhk, shhk!"

Two longswords flashed as two men rushed to the balding man's side, driving back as many of the surrounding sea beasts as they could. That single movement drew attacks from countless beasts. They swung their swords nearly ten times in an instant, but still couldn't block every blow. Both men's arms were left with bloody wounds.

"Big Brother, forget about him. He's given up."

"Big Brother, over here!"

The balding man came to his senses and hurriedly joined his two brothers in fighting off the sea beasts.

The beasts surged in as if they were endless. The balding man had no choice but to clear his mind of everything and fight with all his strength. In just a moment, he felt his strength nearly spent. His muscles ached, and he could no longer manage many of his sophisticated techniques. He attacked the sea beasts on instinct alone. Anyone still holding out here was at least an Apprentice Level 8 or Level 9 Warrior. Those of lower rank had long since been killed by the surrounding beasts.

The balding man's vision blurred. The sea beasts' shattered limbs and fluid mixed with blood splattered all over him, yet he still saw his second brother—the one who had helped save him just moments earlier—get bitten on the hand by an eel-like sea beast that suddenly leaped out.

"Second Brother!"

The balding man's eyes nearly split with rage. He went completely berserk. "Even if we die, we'll make these beasts pay!"

He charged toward the spot where the eel had landed, not even bothering to protect his back. He no longer wanted to defend himself—and he barely had the strength to do so anyway.

The balding man stamped his foot against the ground. Cracks immediately spread across the surface, swallowing shattered pieces of bodies and flesh.

"Ahhhhh!"

The balding man swung his sword again and again, cutting through who knew how many sea beasts before finally killing the eel. Bits of what looked like human fingers were still visible in its mouth. At last, the balding man managed a stiff, crooked grin.

Then he suddenly realized that after throwing himself into the fight so recklessly, he should have been torn apart by the other sea beasts. There were simply too many of them. Even if they were weaker than him, he should have met that same fate. Yet, apart from the wounds he'd suffered earlier, he was practically unharmed.

The balding man turned and saw his remaining brothers. Though their limbs were mangled and they could barely stand, their faces were flushed as they stared in one direction—a young man even younger than he was. With a single slash, the young man shattered a swath of sea beasts into pieces. One kick sent a beast flying hundreds of meters, smashing apart every sea beast in its path. When it reached the end of its flight, its body exploded, clearing an empty patch more than ten meters across.

"It's a Super Tier Warrior! We're saved!" The balding man grew excited, and he was also shaken by the Super Tier Warrior's terrifying destructive power. A Ninth-rank Warrior had fifty or sixty thousand jin of physical strength alone. A Super Tier Warrior was on another level entirely. But this was the first time the balding man had seen a Planetary-level Warrior unleash his full fighting strength.

He had seen Super Tier Warriors slaughter Ninth-rank Ferocious Beasts before, but compared to what he was witnessing now, that restrained, effortless slaughter was nothing like this wanton explosion of power.

The balding man felt something stir within him.

Guen launched into a killing spree. With Planetary-level strength and the Meteor Light Blade, his destructive power was such that no number of sea beasts could stand against him unless a Planetary-level sea beast appeared. Ordinary warriors could be surrounded and killed by the endless hordes, but Guen and Carl easily carved out open ground.

The sea beasts were shaken by the terrifying slaughter. They even resisted the beasts behind them as they tried to push forward, attempting to retreat. But Guen gave them no chance. Each flash of his blade split dozens, even hundreds, of sea beasts in two.

"That's it. Unleash it completely, again and again. This... this is Tanhuo!" In the midst of his rampage, Guen suddenly understood the true meaning of Flame Slash's third form. His eyes grew brighter, and every swing of his blade grew more powerful. "A single log burns hotter and more fiercely, and wind only feeds its flames. But Tanhuo is different. Wind makes it burn out quickly. The essence of this move is to release your power faster and in greater quantities."

Guen had finally found his direction.

His strength was like a bucket of water, while exerting force was like pouring the water out. Before he understood this move, he could only pour it through an opening the size of his thumb. Now he could pour it through an opening as wide as his palm, rapidly releasing the power within his body.

"And exerting force means engaging the whole body, making the power burst out more completely. If two people swing a sword with the same strength, but one only uses his arm while the other uses his whole body, moving with the blade, the second person's strike will be much more powerful!"

Guen fully understood it now, and gained a glimmer of insight into Flame Slash's fourth form, Cinder Fire.

The first form, Huoguang, was the light that came with a flame when it was ignited. It was like the way moving your body and hitting someone naturally caused damage. This was the most basic level.

The second form, Liaohuo, was about stirring the flames and pursuing speed. Compared to the first level, it involved a more advanced technique for exerting force. Because it had to be fast, the force had to be greater.

The third form, Tanhuo, was the most fundamental method of exerting force: moving the whole body so that its strength could truly be brought out.

The fourth form, Cinder Fire, was even more powerful than Tanhuo. Tanhuo could keep burning for a long time, but Cinder Fire had to burn out in an instant. Guen understood the idea, but carrying it out would be extremely difficult.

Learning how to unleash his entire body's strength in the shortest possible time would take a long period of insight.

On the other side, Carl was shocked. She had also carved out a patch of open ground, with many human soldiers following behind her, but her killing power was nowhere near Guen's. Every time Guen moved, he left a swath of casualties in his wake.

Carl blinked. "It seems the blade in Guen's hand has changed, too."

The Meteor Light Blade really had changed.

Guen grinned. His Force Multiplier had now stabilized at twenty-five times.

The Meteor Light Blade was a second-tier Force Weapon, with two levels of power it could unleash.

Any Planetary-level warrior could unleash the first level. But the second level had two requirements: Star-level Origin Power and a Force Multiplier of twenty-five. Guen had now met one of them. The Meteor Light Blade's second level still hadn't fully revealed itself, but it had already changed. It was sharper, and the power it unleashed was greater!

Now, even if Guen went back, he would no longer fear that Four-Claw Red Crab.