The third level of the Flame Domain greatly boosted his flying speed.
In just over ten seconds, Teng Qingshan crossed dozens of kilometers and appeared above the third line of defense. He quietly watched the Beast Tide surging toward him in the distance.
"It's Sect Master Teng!"
"Thank goodness! We're saved!"
"With Sect Master Teng here, those monsters are as good as dead!"
At that moment,
Yangzhou City had aimed its satellites and several drones at Teng Qingshan in the sky, broadcasting the footage live on Yangzhou City Television.
The people at home or in shelters
all focused their attention on Teng Qingshan.
Watching the cool, handsome Teng Qingshan, shrouded in flames,
the people of Yangzhou City all felt their nerves settle.
Even with countless monsters roaring on the screens beside him, their huge frames and hideous appearances radiating menace,
as long as Teng Qingshan was there, and the countless soldiers were there,
they had nothing to fear!
"Qingshan..." On the third floor of the Xingyi Sect headquarters, Elder Teng stared blankly at his beloved grandson, who looked like a Flame War God. His face was filled with uncontainable pride.
Who could have imagined that the grandson once plagued by a terrible illness would now become the guardian of tens of millions of Yangzhou's people?
"It's the sect master!"
The ordinary disciples of the Xingyi Sect who hadn't gone to the battlefield watched Teng Qingshan on the screen, thrilled.
Hong, Lin Menglan, and the other disciples clearing out scattered monsters in the city also looked toward the outdoor television in the square.
That was their idol!
And the one they aspired to become.
"It's Qingshan..." Yang Guo, once Teng Qingshan's deskmate, murmured in a daze.
That handsome classmate of hers, who had excelled in school but always seemed to be in poor health, had become the guardian of Yangzhou City.
Whenever she thought about it, Yang Guo felt as if she were living in a dream.
But the footage of him repeatedly stopping those dangerous flying monsters over the city made Yang Guo, along with Teng Qingshan's former classmates and teachers, realize that it was real.
This was the very same Teng Qingshan who had once been by their side!
Now,
the student from Yi'an District No. 1 High School, who had resolutely dropped out a year ago,
had suddenly become the greatest hope of countless people struggling to survive.
Roar! Roar! Roar!
They were still several thousand meters away, but the monsters' roars had already reached them. Even the massive concrete wall was trembling slightly.
"Interesting."
Just as the Beast Tide was about to come within a thousand meters of the third line of defense,
Teng Qingshan moved!
Whoosh!
A streak of flame appeared a thousand meters away in an instant.
Then,
more than ten Bone Blades wreathed in crimson currents shot toward the dozen or so Beast General monsters.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
In an instant,
the heads of the dozen fastest-charging Beast General-level monsters flew into the air.
With a thought, Teng Qingshan used Telekinesis to lift the most valuable materials from the monsters and set them down among the troops, leaving them to process everything into weapons.
"What fast blades!"
"I only saw a flash of crimson, and those hideous monsters were dead!"
"Just as expected of Sect Master Teng, the pride of Yangzhou City!"
Teng Qingshan controlled the Bone Blades at such incredible speed that, with the Flame Domain's boost, even the drones and satellites couldn't capture them.
The Beast General-level monsters had no time to react before they were killed.
But it was clear that a stronger monster, hidden in the dark, was directing the horde.
"Yoo~"
A piercing beast cry rang out.
The Beast Soldier-level monsters, who had hesitated when their leaders were killed, heard the strange shriek and charged forward again, their eyes bloodshot as if they'd been injected with stimulants.
"So there's an even stronger monster. I wonder if it's reached Lord Level."
Teng Qingshan's eyes turned cold. The eighteen Bone Blades ahead of him streaked through the air like Flowing Light, instantly striking the Beast Soldiers charging at the front.
In an instant,
the monsters fell in swaths, like wheat beneath the scythe of Death.
But Teng Qingshan didn't kill every one of them. He deliberately let fewer than one in ten through—just a few hundred of the various Beast Soldier-level monsters.
He could slaughter the monsters without lifting a finger, but if he killed them all, the troops behind him would have no chance to hone their skills.
Every army, every strong fighter, was tempered in a crucible of steel and fire.
Besides, a few hundred Beast Soldier-level monsters, along with the even weaker and more numerous miscellaneous monsters, posed no threat to the troops behind him.
Equipped with every kind of unit and the finest weapons, the army could handle monsters below Beast General Level.
After taking care of the greatest threats, Teng Qingshan immediately flew toward the place where the shriek had come from.
At that moment,
dozens of kilometers behind the Beast Tide, a rat hidden among a pile of rubble narrowed its pale gold eyes.
The sight of Teng Qingshan sweeping through its underlings had frightened it!
And when it saw Teng Qingshan flying toward it at incredible speed atop a long spear, the three-meter-long Rat King, its body covered in pale gold fur, instantly burrowed underground and fled into the distance.
The Pale Gold Rat King had reached Primary-Level Lord and possessed intelligence on par with humans. The underlings it had driven this time were merely ones it had gathered at random around Yangzhou City. It wouldn't have cared if every one of them died.
Its true followers—the countless rat monsters—were in a mountain range hundreds of kilometers away.
To test the humans' strength, the clever Rat King had sent those cannon fodder to probe Yangzhou City's defenses.
It hadn't expected that test to nearly scare it out of its wits!
The Bone Blades that had turned into streaks of flame, and the human whose flying speed nearly matched its burrowing speed—both made the Rat King question its entire existence!
"Weren't humans supposed to be its prey? When did a powerhouse like this appear?"
As the Pale Gold Rat King frantically burrowed away, that question crossed its mind.
If it hadn't been so cautious and watched from afar, but had charged in with the Beast Tide, it would have been in serious trouble!
It had a feeling
that even though its fur was tough, and its teeth and claws were powerful,
it still wouldn't be a match for the human wrapped in fiery armor.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
Rats were natural burrowers, let alone a Rat King that had evolved to Primary-Level Lord.
In less than a second, the Pale Gold Rat King had burrowed more than three hundred meters underground. Only then did it head toward its lair.
"Yangzhou City is too dangerous! I'm never going there again, even if it kills me!"
As it fled, the Rat King swore to itself.
A few seconds later,
Teng Qingshan, standing atop the Samsara Spear, stopped over the rubble.
"It's cautious, at least. It sure made a quick getaway."
The monster's lingering aura here didn't match any kind Teng Qingshan had encountered before.
Yet the aura was extraordinarily powerful, far beyond what a high-level Beast General monster should possess.
"Could a Lord-level Monster have appeared this early?"
Before you continue