Fierce Battle! (Seeking Daily Readership)

"!!"

Guo Fenglin felt the spear strike true, yet Zhao An stood completely unharmed!

It was already too late—the long blade arced like a crescent moon, sweeping from left to right!

Hot blood sprayed as the massive head flew through the air.

Zhao An drew another breath, turned, and engaged the spear-wielding Guo Fenglin in combat.

Yet even grievously wounded, this man's strength far surpassed his own!

His spear technique bore the fierce momentum of battlefield slaughter, overbearing and unmatched!

The intensity of his Internal Breath nearly crushed Zhao An outright!

Zhao An roughly estimated that the other's Internal Breath exceeded five hundred strands, making a direct confrontation utterly impossible.

After just a few spear thrusts, he was already teetering on the brink of disaster.

Zhao An took a deep breath. The more critical the moment, the calmer he became.

With his current strength, this battle was unwinnable!

He seized an opportunity to quickly create distance.

Meanwhile, within the Soul Pool, three Soul Slaves were cultivating the blade art together.

Their enslavement period wasn't over yet—at least two more days until harvest.

But he couldn't wait.

With a flicker of intent, he grabbed the three Soul Slaves and refined them instantly!

Three Karma Fruits merged and were extracted, flooding him with vast blade art insights, year after year of accumulated experience pouring in like an infusion.

Zhao An's mind didn't grow muddled; instead, his eyes gleamed with sharp light, his entire being like an unsheathed peerless blade!

Like a mountain-striding fierce tiger!

His spirit, energy, and essence all transformed in that moment.

Guo Fenglin gripped his spear, eyes shifting, and without overthinking, thrust upward again.

The spear pierced through the air, its whistle biting cold, its momentum like a charge of iron cavalry—suffocating.

Zhao An suppressed the "hunger" wracking his body, knowing that rashly extracting Karma Fruits would rapidly drain him. Without medicinal broth or meat to replenish, he couldn't last long.

This battle couldn't be prolonged!

He charged forward, unleashing his long blade!

Clang!

Metal clashed as Guo Fenglin's Internal Breath erupted, coating the iron spear.

Yet Zhao An used his exquisite blade art to forcibly deflect the force, unharmed, flipping up and delivering another heavy chop straight at the face.

ROAR!

Blade intent manifested—a tiger's roar through the forest exploded in Guo Fenglin's ears, jolting his spirit.

He raised his spear to parry, using Internal Breath to resist, but still felt the immense weight of Zhao An's strike.

Though his Internal Breath was several times stronger, this blow nearly knocked him off balance, almost sending him to the ground!

Zhao An held his breath, pressing on with another slash, the cold gleam of the blade quickly stitching into a cascade aimed at his opponent.

"This brat was holding back just now!"

The blade art Zhao An displayed had now reached its peak—flawless, without a single gap!

A perfected, complete blade art was easily recognized by any expert!

Even Zhao An hadn't expected that the combined cultivation results of those three Soul Slaves would, at this critical moment, allow him to fully master the Fierce Tiger Blade Art!

"This kid can't be more than twenty, yet he's perfected a blade art! Did he start training in the womb?!"

Guo Fenglin found it absurd, but he had no time to dwell on it.

The situation shifted with every breath. His Internal Breath was powerful, yet his techniques were constantly dismantled by Zhao An's flawless blade art.

For a time, he couldn't do a thing to Zhao An.

The worst part was—he couldn't afford to drag this out either.

His wounds were worsening, blood loss excessive, and his stamina draining fast.

If this dragged on, he might well be worn down to death by this brat.

Sand and stones flew across the courtyard. Guo Fenglin seized an opening and struck fiercely with his spear.

"Overlord Spear!"

This thrust condensed most of his spirit, energy, and essence—capable of piercing heavy armor and shields! Of overturning chariots and warhorses!

The spear's momentum was vast, like a thousand troops sweeping through, with the might to shake mountains!

This one strike would surely claim the brat's life!

The imagined scene of a spear piercing through his body, pinning Zhao An to the ground, never came.

On Zhao An's body, that eerie shadow reappeared, blocking the spear for him.

At the same time, Zhao An's blade stabbed through Guo Fenglin's chest.

The wind and dust swirling in the courtyard settled in that moment.

"You brat... you're cursed..." Guo Fenglin spat blood, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at Zhao An, his voice hoarse.

Cursed indeed—the Soul Slave's death substitution gave Zhao An several extra lives to fight this man.

"I never thought I'd die..."

Before Guo Fenglin could finish, Zhao An twisted his blade, shredding his heart and silencing him for good.

Only when Guo Fenglin's soul was caught in Zhao An's hand did he realize Zhao An was far more cursed than he had imagined!

Zhao An didn't waste time on meaningless thoughts like winning unfairly. Right now, his whole body was ravenous, and he wanted nothing more than to devour the flesh and blood before him.

Fortunately, he still had his wits. Suppressing the urge, he pushed open the inner door.

Meng Wanyi had been peeking through the crack, tense with worry for Zhao An.

Suddenly, a thick, bloody wind rushed in, and Zhao An collided with her, his expression frantic.

"Do you have any blood-nourishing, qi-replenishing pills?" Zhao An asked immediately.

He couldn't wait for the Red Blood Root to be brewed into a decoction; only ready-made pills could fill the void in his body.

"I do, I have Earth Origin Pills." Meng Wanyi quickly grabbed her medicine box, took out a small bottle, and shoved it into Zhao An's hand.

The bottle held seven Earth Origin Pills, all of top quality.

Given the Female Physician's usual stingy, money-grubbing nature, she wouldn't have given away pills so easily.

After all, these seven top-grade Earth Origin Pills were worth over a hundred taels of silver!

But today, for some reason, she saw Zhao An's urgency at a glance, and his voice carried a hint of weakness and craving.

In daily life, the always composed Zhao An had never acted like this before.

"Is it enough? If not, I'll go back to the clinic and get more—there's plenty there!" Meng Wanyi asked.

"Enough!" Zhao An's eyes lit up. Without hesitation, he poured out two Earth Origin Pills, tossed them into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.

"Aiya, taking them like that—even a Martial Master couldn't handle it!" Meng Shao beside him gasped softly.

But moments later, Zhao An swallowed two more, leaving both female physicians stunned in place.

They had never seen anyone eat Earth Origin Pills like candy before.

After four Earth Origin Pills went down, the pure medicinal power of the top-grade pills churned within his body.

Zhao An's whole body felt like red-hot copper and iron, heat surging upward, sweat turning to steam that rose in waves.

Under the fierce medicinal force, his strength grew, and the Internal Breath in his meridians began cycling on its own, strand after strand of new Internal Breath emerging.

One strand, five strands, ten strands...

To Zhao An's surprise, this time he gained over sixty strands of new Internal Breath!

On one hand, this came from absorbing three Soul Slaves at once, totaling a full fifteen years of cultivation results.

But Soul Slaves were never efficient at cultivating Internal Breath. Based on past experience, normally this wave would yield around thirty to forty strands at most.

Gaining over sixty strands in one go was unprecedented.

"It's because of the Earth Origin Pills." Zhao An looked at the small bottle in his hand, making a deduction.

Earth Origin Pills were authentic martial cultivation pills, specifically designed for Internal Breath training.

They had a powerful effect on increasing Internal Breath.

The cheap Red Blood Root decoction he usually took had no such effect at all.

"When absorbing a Soul Slave's cultivation results, taking the more expensive Earth Origin Pills greatly boosts Internal Breath growth."

This discovery was an unexpected windfall.

After this battle, he deeply understood how vast the world was—the path of martial arts was filled with powerful people everywhere!

His current skills were far from impressive, and he urgently needed to accelerate his strength's growth!