Cleaving D-Class with One Blade!

Lin Feng crouched behind the rock, his fingers pressed against the system panel.

The battlefield ahead had completely fallen into chaos.

Once the Mutated Earth-Splitting Beetle had all six legs fully emerged from underground, it took up over half the rock platform.

Its twelve-meter-long body lay sprawled there, and every movement it made sent tremors through the ground like an earthquake.

Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei, both Martial Artist Perfection, held the front—one tanking head-on, the other slicing from the flank. After nearly three minutes of fighting, the carapace was covered in white scratches, but not a single drop of blood had been drawn.

Old Zhao held the right flank, his long blade sending sparks flying with every strike, but the edge was already chipped, and each hit was less effective than the last.

Old Ma dragged his injured right leg, gritting his teeth as he held the left flank.

Two other Martial Artist Fifth Stage and one Martial Artist Sixth Stage circled the perimeter, intercepting the smaller beetles still crawling out of the hole.

Lin Feng was about to move.

The beetle's tail suddenly lifted high.

"Watch out!" Han Qingshan roared.

Too late.

A glob of dark yellow acid sprayed from the beetle's tail, fanning out across nearly ten meters.

That Martial Artist Fifth Stage soldier couldn't dodge in time. The acid splashed straight across half his body.

"AAAAHHHH!!!"

The scream was gut-wrenching.

The moment the acid hit, his combat suit dissolved instantly, followed by his skin, then his muscle—visibly caving in.

He rolled on the ground, frantically scraping at the liquid on his body, but the more he scraped, the more spread. His fingers corroded down to white bone.

Less than five seconds.

Half his body melted into a bloody, pulpy mess.

He wasn't dead yet. His mouth still opened and closed, but no sound came out—his throat had already been burned through by the acid.

The other Martial Artist Fifth Stage got splashed on his right arm. The acid burned straight through his armor and the flesh of his entire arm.

He screamed and stumbled backward, crashing into the rock wall, biting his lip so hard he nearly passed out.

"Damn it!" Old Zhao cursed, swinging his blade upward in an attempt to sever the beetle's tail.

But that tail was even harder than the main carapace. The blade bounced off, sending Old Zhao flying back.

The beetle seized the moment and swiped a claw at him.

Old Zhao raised his blade to block.

It didn't hold.

Three dark-golden claw fingers slammed into his chest, smashing him and his blade into the rock wall.

Old Zhao was embedded in the stone, spitting out a mouthful of blood foam. At least four or five ribs were broken, and his internal organs had shifted.

He struggled to pull himself out, moved twice, coughed up more blood, and went limp.

In less than thirty seconds: one dead, two critically injured.

Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei's faces had turned grim beyond measure.

"Fall back or not?" Shen Yunfei's voice had lost its earlier composure.

"Fall back where?" Han Qingshan gritted his teeth.

The beetle was blocking the center of the rendezvous point. Behind it was the hole it had crawled out of. The left side passage had collapsed. The right main passage was squeezed down to a half-meter-wide gap by the beetle's body.

And that gap—who would dare squeeze through it?

Get halfway through, and it'd crush them into meat paste with one claw.

A dead end.

"Drag it out as long as we can," Han Qingshan said through clenched teeth. "I don't believe this beast can keep this up forever."

Shen Yunfei said nothing, gripping his chipped blade tighter.

The two charged again.

This time, Han Qingshan changed his approach. Instead of hacking at the carapace, he aimed for the underside of the beetle's belly.

That was where the carapace was thinnest.

He slid in, face-up, and drove his blade straight into the beetle's abdominal armor.

The tip sank in about three centimeters.

Then it stuck.

The beetle's abdomen suddenly contracted, and all six legs pressed down at once.

Han Qingshan barely rolled out in time. Less than half a second later, that spot was ground to dust under the weight of six legs.

"The belly armor is tough enough." Han Qingshan picked himself up off the ground, the back of his clothes completely shredded, revealing a large patch of bloody scrapes on his skin.

Shen Yunfei was on the other side, trying to attack the beetle's compound eyes.

Those six compound eyes were the most obvious soft tissue on the entire beetle.

He leaped off a broken stone pillar, thrusting his blade toward the largest compound eye.

The instant the tip touched the surface of the compound eye, the beetle's head jerked violently.

Shen Yunfei's blade only pierced the outer membrane of the compound eye, not reaching the deeper layers, before he was flung away entirely.

He adjusted his posture midair, but when he landed, the wound on his left arm burst open, the bandages soaked through with blood, dripping steadily.

"Damn it, can't even pierce the compound eyes."

Shen Yunfei knelt on one knee, his breathing heavy.

Lin Feng watched all of this from behind, his finger pausing over the system panel for two seconds.

He couldn't wait any longer.

If he waited any more, Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei would end up dead here too.

"Realm, full invest."

[Consumed Martial Path Points ×200]

[Realm Ascension: Martial Artist Second Stage → Martial Artist Third Stage]

The first surge of heat exploded from his dantian, flooding through his meridians into his limbs.

Bones creaked and cracked, muscles rapidly expanded then tightened, his entire body felt as if it had been compressed once over.

Before that surge of heat could dissipate, Lin Feng immediately dumped the remaining points in.

[Consumed Martial Path Points ×300]

[Realm Ascension: Martial Artist Third Stage → Martial Artist Fourth Stage!]

This time, it hit harder.

Lin Feng's blood and qi roiled violently, a visible white shockwave blasted outward from his body surface, sending the gravel at his feet flying in a ring.

Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei both turned their heads to look.

The change in that aura was too obvious.

Martial Artist Fourth Stage.

The man who had been at Second Stage just a moment ago had jumped two levels to Fourth Stage in the blink of an eye.

Han Qingshan opened his mouth but nothing came out.

Shen Yunfei's pupils contracted, his face full of disbelief.

Lin Feng gave them no time to react.

He stood up, drawing Mountain Splitter from its sheath.

Dark-gold spirit patterns surged wildly across the blade's surface, part of the A-grade weapon's power activated by the blood and qi of the Fourth Stage Martial Artist.

The blade hummed, the entire fissure trembling faintly in response.

Mountain-Breaking Slash.

Lin Feng gripped the blade with both hands, raising it high above his head.

All the blood and qi in his body converged onto the edge at that moment, the air around the blade distorted by the pressure, a pale-gold arc of wind blade beginning to condense at the cutting edge.

The beetle sensed the danger, all six compound eyes turning toward Lin Feng at once, its mouthparts opening as another glob of acid began to gather.

"Die for me!"

The blade fell.

That arc of wind blade tore across the ground, carving a three-foot-deep trench through the rock platform wherever it passed.

The wind blade slammed into the front carapace of the mutated beetle.

Crack!

The dark-gold shell that Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei had failed to break after hundreds of strikes split open from the very center, a half-meter-long gash appearing.

The crack extended from the shell's surface deep inside, and dark-green bodily fluids gushed out from within.

The beetle let out a piercing shriek, its entire body stumbling back two steps.

But Lin Feng was already charging forward.

He leaped off the beetle's front leg, Mountain Splitter held in reverse, aiming directly at that gash, and drove it in with full force.

The blade sank in more than halfway.

Lin Feng gripped the hilt with both hands and twisted it downward.

The internal organs inside were shredded into pieces, dark-green fluid mixed with blood foam spraying all over his face.

The beetle thrashed wildly, its six legs flailing chaotically, the entire platform shaking.

Lin Feng drew his blade, leaped onto the beetle's back, found the widest gap in its shell, and struck again.

This blow pierced straight through the beetle's spine.

The beetle's struggles abruptly ceased, all six legs freezing stiff.

Boom.

The twelve-meter behemoth crashed to the ground, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

It didn't move again.

[Killed D-rank Mutant Beast: Earth-Splitting Beetle]

[Obtained Martial Path Points ×200]

[Steel of the Blade: 102/500]

[First D-rank Mutant Beast kill, triggered special drop!]

[Obtained Martial Skill: Lost Trace Step (S-rank Martial Skill)]

[Lost Trace Step: Body moves with intent, form like a ghost. Cultivated to perfection, can produce up to three afterimages while moving, each lasting 0.5 seconds, possessing physical tactile sensation, capable of disrupting opponent's judgment. Movement speed increased by 300%.]

[Learn?]

"Learn."

A flood of information poured into his mind.

The way to lift the foot, the rhythm of weight transfer, the techniques for changing direction—all of it was etched into his muscle memory in an instant.

[Phantom Step (1/2000), learned]

Lin Feng stood atop the beetle's corpse, covered in dark green bodily fluids, Mountain Splitter still dripping juice in his hand.

On the platform, everyone still alive stood frozen in place.

Han Qingshan leaned on his blade, his legs trembling.

Shen Yunfei knelt on one knee, looking up at Lin Feng standing on the beetle's back. His Adam's apple bobbed, but no words came out.

Silence stretched for a full ten seconds.

Han Qingshan spoke first, his voice hoarse and rough.

"You just broke through?"

"Mm."

"Two stages?"

"Mm."

Han Qingshan lowered his head, looked at his own blade with three chipped edges, then at the dark gold spirit-patterned Mountain Splitter in Lin Feng's hand.

After a long moment, he forced out a sentence.

"I fought for three minutes. You took one swing."

Shen Yunfei coughed twice beside him, blood bubbles forming at the corner of his mouth.

"Dig out the core quickly. Don't wait for those little bugs to crawl out again."

Lin Feng jumped off the beetle's back and used Mountain Splitter to cut open the shell.

The D-rank core was a full size larger than an E-rank one, dark gold, heavy in the hand.

He estimated the core was worth at least two hundred thousand on the market.

"This is yours." Han Qingshan walked over, glanced at the core, and waved his hand. "I didn't put in much effort. I'd feel bad taking it."

Shen Yunfei shook his head too.

"I couldn't even pierce its shell. No right to a share."

Lin Feng looked at the two of them, didn't refuse, and tucked it into his bag.

Then he walked over to Old Zhao.

Old Zhao was still embedded in the rock wall, unconscious, but still breathing.

Lin Feng pulled him out and stuffed an Energy Recovery Pill into his mouth.

The Martial Artist at the sixth rank with the broken arm was also still alive, propped up in a corner by Sun Liang, his face as white as paper.

The one whose body had been half-melted by acid was already gone.

Nine had come in. Seven were alive. Aside from Lin Feng, all of them were wounded to some degree.

"Can you walk?" Han Qingshan swept his gaze over the injured.

Old Ma dragged his mangled leg upright, gritted his teeth, and nodded.

Sun Liang's calf had been bitten through; he limped, but he could move.

"Let's go."

The seven of them retreated up the main tunnel. Lin Feng and Han Qingshan each supported one of the wounded, taking point.

The smaller mutant beasts along the path had long been scared off by the earlier commotion.

The entire passage was silent, with only the sound of footsteps and the stifled groans of the wounded enduring pain.

After walking for nearly forty minutes, the light from the crack's entrance finally appeared.

Han Qingshan let out a long breath.

The seven of them crawled out of the crack, and the sunlight outside forced everyone to squint.

In the distance, toward the camp, figures were moving.

Only when they got closer could they see clearly.

Chen Lie stood at the camp entrance with over a dozen people, his expression unreadable—whether anxiety or anger.

"You bastards finally came out!"

Chen Lie strode over, his lone arm swinging through the air.

"Twelve hours inside! Eight hours of lost communication! I was about to form a second team to go in and find you!"

Han Qingshan set Old Zhao down on a stretcher and turned around.

"There's a D-class mutant inside the crack—an Earth-Splitting Beetle, a mutation."

Chen Lie's face changed.

"D-class? What about the people?"

"Two didn't come back."

Chen Lie closed his eyes briefly and said nothing more.

The stretcher carried the wounded away.

Lin Feng followed the group toward the camp.

Halfway there, Chen Lie caught up and blocked him.

"Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao wants to see you."

"Now?"

"Now."

Lin Feng was still covered in beetle fluids, with bloodstains on his face not even washed off, as he followed Chen Lie to Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao's tent.

He pushed the door open.

Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao sat behind a desk, with Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei already there.

Their reports had probably been submitted already.

Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao held a document in his hand and looked up at Lin Feng.

"Han Qingshan says you took down the D-class Mutated Earth-Splitting Beetle alone."

Lin Feng nodded.

"Shen Yunfei says the same."

Lin Feng nodded again.

There was no hiding something like this; rather than being evasive, it was better to admit it openly.

Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao closed the document and pushed a wooden box across the table.

"Open it and take a look."

Lin Feng lifted the lid.

Inside was a bronze badge, with the Northern Frontier Defense Line emblem engraved on the front and three characters on the back.

Sergeant Major.

"Effective immediately, your status is adjusted from regular guard to Sergeant Major." Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao stood up. "Monthly salary of ten thousand, plus combat merit bonuses."

"Also, you will no longer participate in daily camp duty rotations."

Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao walked to the map of the Northern Frontier on the wall and drew a circle on it with his finger.

"The cracks around the Northern Frontier are divided into three types. The first type is military-direct cracks, handled by regular troops for clearing and defense. The second type is contracted cracks, where the military sells usage rights to private martial artist organizations or the Martial Arts Association; they organize their own personnel to enter and pay fees regularly. The third type is wild cracks, unmanaged—anyone can enter, but if they die, no one cares."

"As a Sergeant Major, you have the right to form your own squad, choose to enter military-direct cracks for missions, and hand over forty percent of the proceeds proportionally, with the rest going to you."

He turned around.

"You can also pay to enter contracted cracks from private organizations and the Martial Arts Association, covering the costs yourself."

Lin Feng flipped the badge in his hand.

"How are the prices for contracted cracks calculated?"

"Depends on the level. An F-class crack costs about five to ten thousand per entry. E-class, twenty to fifty thousand. D-class starts at a hundred thousand." Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao tapped two spots on the map. "Within a hundred kilometers of the Northern Frontier, there are twenty-eight contracted cracks, fifty-seven military-direct cracks, and thirteen unmanaged wild cracks."

"The mutant beasts inside the cracks regenerate periodically, roughly every seven to ten days. So for the owners, these cracks are like long-term money trees."

Lin Feng tucked the badge into his pocket.

"The military directly administers the rift—I can enter anytime?"

"Anytime. But you need to report each time and bring your squad roster."

"Understood."

Lin Feng turned to leave.

Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao called him back.

"One more thing."

He pulled a sheet of paper from his drawer and handed it over.

"You've been transferred to another military camp. Solo-killing a D-class aberrant beast—staying here is a bit of a waste of your talent."

Lin Feng took it and glanced over it.

A transfer order to the Sixth Defense Line, with his name written on it.

Lin Feng.

"Pack your things. Report tomorrow."

Lin Feng folded the paper and tucked it into his pocket.

"Got it."

He pushed open the door and walked out.

Outside the tent, Wang Tie and Li Ming were squatting by the roadside waiting for him.

As soon as Wang Tie saw him come out, he shot to his feet.

"How was it? Get chewed out?"

Lin Feng tossed the badge from his pocket to him.

Wang Tie caught it, took a look, and his eyes went wide.

"Sergeant Major?! You got promoted, kid?"

Li Ming leaned in for a peek, his mouth forming an O.

"Brother Lin, you've only been here a few days, and you already..."

Lin Feng walked past the two of them, heading toward the barracks.

"Old Wang, did you break through?"

Wang Tie grinned, puffing out his chest.

"Martial Artist, First Stage. Passed the threshold just this morning."

"Good." Lin Feng didn't look back.

"Breaking through to Martial Artist is enough. That means you've got a foothold in the Seventh Defense Line."

"???"

Hearing Lin Feng's words, Wang Tie was a bit baffled.

Getting promoted was clearly a good thing, so why did his words carry a hint of melancholy?

Lin Feng noticed his confusion and paused mid-step.

"I'm leaving tomorrow."