Clear Enlightenment

"Guen, over there."

Guen and Cal were flying side by side in the air when they suddenly heard the sounds of battle and shouting not far away. Faintly, they could make out a swarm of sea beasts clashing with soldiers.

"Let's go, take a look."

Guen and Cal exchanged a glance and understood each other's thoughts.

This was already deep within Eastsea Province, far from the coast. Sea beasts were strongest in water; those that had made it this far inland were much weaker. Given the chance, Guen and Cal were still willing to help those soldiers and warriors.

The sea beast army was dense and countless, filling their field of vision with writhing bodies.

The reason he used the word "writhing" was that most of these ferocious beasts couldn't move properly on land. Yet, relying on sheer numbers, the beasts in the back pushed and shoved those in front. Aside from a few unlucky ones, most of the beasts crawled forward slowly over the surfaces of others, aided by bodily fluids.

Under such friction, those fluids had absorbed who knew how much blood and dust, squeezing out foams of sickening, strange colors. Along with it came a stench—a foul, rotting odor that was overwhelming.

Guen's scalp tingled, and he felt a wave of nausea. But then he saw the sea beast army forming into whirlpools, and at the center of those whirlpools were soldiers still holding on with all their might!

Guen grew furious. All his discomfort seemed to vanish in an instant.

He turned into a bolt of lightning, surpassing the speed of sound. In one second, he flew over three thousand meters and arrived in the middle of the sea beast horde in an instant.

"No hope, no hope." A middle-aged man let go of the longsword in his hand, his face pale, his eyes unfocused, barely able to stand.

Sea beasts were everywhere!

Apart from the patch of sky above, everything around them was these nauseating creatures. They had been just a step too slow in retreating and had fallen into this predicament. The low, hoarse screeching around him had seeped into his soul, making him tremble completely.

A slightly balding middle-aged man hurried over and pulled at him: "Lao Wu, don't give up!"

The middle-aged man gave a bitter smile. In that instant, several crab-like sea beasts landed on Lao Wu. Their pincers instantly tore him apart piece by piece. But as a High-level Warrior, Lao Wu didn't die immediately—he just let out a heart-rending scream.

"Shhh, shhh, shhh."

Two longswords danced as two men came to the balding man's side, driving back the surrounding sea beasts as best they could. Just that one move cost them countless attacks from the beasts. They swung their swords nearly ten times in an instant, but still couldn't block everything. Bloody wounds were left on both their arms.

"Big Brother, forget about this guy. He's already given up."

"Big Brother, this way!"

The balding man snapped back to his senses and hurriedly joined his two brothers in fending off the sea beasts.

The beasts surged forward endlessly. The balding man could only cast aside all thoughts and fight with everything he had. But in just a few moments, he felt his strength nearly spent. His muscles ached, and he could no longer execute many of his finer techniques. He was just attacking the beasts on instinct. Those who had lasted this long were at the very least Apprentice Level 8 or Ninth-rank Warriors. Any lower-ranked warriors had long been surrounded and killed.

The balding man's vision blurred. He was splattered with the broken limbs of sea beasts and their blood-mixed fluids. Yet he still saw that among the two who had come to save him earlier, his Second Brother had been suddenly pounced on by an eel-like sea beast, which bit off his hand in one gulp.

"Second Brother!"

The balding man's eyes nearly split at the corners. He went completely berserk: "Even if I die, I'll make these bastards know our strength!"

He charged toward where the eel had landed, not even caring about his back anymore. He no longer wanted to defend—he didn't have much strength left to defend anyway.

His foot stomped the ground, and cracks instantly spread across the earth, swallowing the shattered flesh and blood.

"Aaaaaaah!"

Swing after swing, the balding man cut through countless sea beast shells. Finally, one sword strike killed that eel beast. In its mouth, there were still fragments that could barely be recognized as human fingers. The balding man finally grinned, his face stiff.

Suddenly, he realized something. He had thrown himself into the fight without regard for his own safety—he should have been torn apart by other sea beasts by now. There were too many, and even if their ranks were lower, he should have met that fate. But aside from the injuries he'd already taken, he was practically unharmed.

The balding man turned to look and found that his remaining brothers, even those with broken limbs who could barely stand, were all staring flushed-faced in one direction—at a young man even younger than himself. With a single swing of his blade, a whole patch of sea beasts shattered into pieces. With one kick, a beast's body flew hundreds of meters, smashing through every beast in its path until, at the end, the beast's body exploded violently, clearing a dozen meters of open ground.

"A Super Tier Warrior! We're saved!" The balding man grew excited, also awed by the terrifying destructive power of a Super Tier Warrior. A Ninth-rank Warrior's physical strength alone was five to six hundred thousand jin. A Super Tier Warrior was even more unimaginable. But this was the first time the balding man had seen a Planetary Level warrior fully unleash their combat power.

He had seen Super Tier Warriors slaughter Tier 9 Ferocious Beasts before, but compared to this scene, that kind of restrained, efficient harvesting was on a completely different level from this unrestrained explosion of power.

The balding man felt something stir within him.

Guen was on a killing spree. With Planetary Level power combined with the Meteor Light Blade, the destruction was absolute. As long as there were no Planetary Level sea beasts, no matter how many came, they weren't enough to kill. Ordinary warriors would be surrounded and killed by the endless horde, but Guen and Cal easily carved out a clearing.

Even the sea beasts were shaken by this terrifying slaughter. Some even resisted the push from behind and tried to retreat. But Guen gave them no chance. Every time his blade flashed, dozens or hundreds of sea beasts were cut in two.

"Yes, that's it. Full release, continuous release. This, this is Cinder Fire!" In the midst of his frenzied killing, Guen suddenly had an epiphany. The true meaning of the third form of Flame Slash became clearer and clearer in his mind, and the power of each swing grew greater. "A single stick's flame burns hot and fierce, and wind only feeds it. But Cinder Fire is different—blown by wind, it burns out quickly. The essence of this move is to vent power faster and in greater quantity."

Guen had finally found his direction.

His own power was like a bucket, and exerting force was like pouring water out. Before understanding the Cinder Fire form, Guen could only pour through a thumb-sized opening. After understanding it, it became a palm-sized opening, and the power within his body was released rapidly.

"And exertion—it's the whole body moving together, making the power burst out more thoroughly. With the same strength, one person swings a sword with just his arm, while another uses his whole body, moving with the blade. The power is greater!"

Guen fully understood now, and at the same time, he gained a faint insight into the fourth form of Flame Slash: Ember Fire.

The first form, Huoguang, was like the light that comes with a flame being lit. It was the most basic layer—just like how moving your body naturally causes damage when you hit someone.

The second form, Liaohuo, was about stirring the flame, pursuing speed. Compared to the first, the technique of exertion was a step higher. Because speed was needed, the power was greater.

The third form, Cinder Fire, was the most essential method of exertion—moving the whole body to truly bring out its strength.

And the fourth form, Ember Fire, was a move fiercer than Cinder Fire. Cinder Fire could still burn for a long time, but Ember Fire was meant to burn out in an instant. Though Guen understood this, actually doing it was extremely difficult.

How to unleash all of one's power in the shortest possible time required a long period of comprehension to achieve.

On the other side, Cal was stunned. Like Guen, she had carved out a clearing, with many human soldiers following behind her. But in terms of killing power, she was far inferior to Guen. Every time Guen moved, he caused massive casualties.

Cal blinked: "It seems the blade in Guen's hand is different too."

The Meteor Light Blade was different.

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

The Meteor Light Blade was a Second-order Force Weapon, capable of unleashing two levels of power.

The first level could be brought out by any Planetary Level Fighter. But the second level had two requirements: Star Level force, and a twenty-five times Force Multiplier. Guen had now met one of them. The Meteor Light Blade's second level had yet to fully reveal itself, but it was already unlike before—sharper, and the force it channeled was far greater!

Even if he went back now, he would no longer fear that Four-Claw Red Crab.