One Slash Shattered a D-Rank Beast!

Lin Feng crouched behind a rock, his finger resting on the System Panel.

The battlefield ahead had descended into utter chaos.

Once all six legs of the Mutated Earth-Splitting Beetle had emerged from underground, it had taken up more than half the rocky platform.

Its twelve-meter body sprawled there, and every time it moved, the ground shook like an earthquake.

Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei, both Martial Artist Rank 6, had fought for nearly three minutes—one holding it head-on, the other striking from the side. Its shell was covered in white marks, but not a single spot had bled.

Old Zhao held the right flank, his long blade showering sparks with every strike. But its edge had already curled, and each blow did less damage than the last.

Old Ma dragged his injured right leg, forcing himself to hold the left flank.

The other two Martial Artists at Rank 5 and the one at Rank 6 were scattered around the perimeter, intercepting the smaller beetles still pouring out of the hole.

Lin Feng was about to move.

Suddenly, the Mutated Beetle's tail shot high into the air.

"Watch out!" Han Qingshan roared.

Too late.

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

One of the Rank 5 Martial Artists couldn't dodge in time and took a direct splash across half his body.

"AAAAAAAH!!!"

His scream was heart-rending.

The acid hit his body, dissolving his Combat Suit in an instant, then his skin and muscle. His flesh visibly caved in.

He rolled on the ground, frantically scraping at the liquid on his body, but the more he scraped, the more it spread. The fingers on his hands were eaten away until white bone showed through.

In less than five seconds,

half his body had melted into a bloody, mangled mess.

He was still alive. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came from his throat. The acid had burned through his windpipe.

The other Rank 5 Martial Artist was splashed on his right arm. The acid burned straight through his armor and all the flesh on the arm beneath it.

He screamed and stumbled backward, crashing into the rock wall. He bit down hard on his lip, refusing to let himself pass out.

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

But the tail was even harder than its main shell. His blade struck it, and the recoil sent Old Zhao flying backward.

The beetle seized the opportunity to swipe at him.

Old Zhao raised his blade to block.

It wasn't enough.

Three dark golden claws slammed into his chest, smashing him—and his blade—into the rock wall.

Old Zhao was embedded in the stone. A mouthful of bloody froth burst from his lips. At least four or five ribs were broken, and his internal organs had shifted.

He struggled to pull himself free, managed to move twice, then spat out another mouthful of blood and went limp.

In less than thirty seconds, one dead and two gravely injured.

Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei's faces had grown grim.

"Should we retreat?" Shen Yunfei's voice had lost all its earlier composure.

"Where to?" Han Qingshan gritted out.

The beetle blocked the very center of the junction. Behind it was the hole it had crawled out of, the side passage to the left had collapsed, and its body had squeezed the main passage to the right down to a gap barely wide enough for one person.

Who would dare squeeze through that gap?

They'd be halfway through when it slapped them into meat paste.

A dead end.

"We'll buy as much time as we can," Han Qingshan said through gritted teeth. "I refuse to believe this beast can keep going forever."

Shen Yunfei said nothing, tightening his grip on the blade with its curled edge.

The two of them charged again.

This time, Han Qingshan changed his approach. He stopped striking the shell and instead tried to slip beneath the beetle's belly.

That was where its shell was thinnest.

He slid beneath it, landing on his back, and stabbed at the beetle's belly armor.

The tip of his blade went in about three centimeters.

Then it got stuck.

The beetle's belly contracted violently, and all six legs pressed down at once.

Han Qingshan hurriedly rolled away. Less than half a second later, the weight of all six legs crushed the spot where he'd been into powder.

"The belly armor's hard, too." Han Qingshan scrambled to his feet. The back of his clothes was ground to shreds, and a broad smear of blood covered the exposed skin.

On the other side, Shen Yunfei tried to attack the beetle's compound eyes.

Its six compound eyes were the most obvious soft tissue on its body.

He leapt from the broken stump of a stone pillar and thrust his blade at the largest eye.

The instant his blade tip touched the surface, the beetle whipped its head aside.

Shen Yunfei's blade only pierced the eye's outer membrane, barely touching the tissue beneath, before the beetle flung him away.

He adjusted himself in midair, but when he landed, the wound on his left arm reopened. His bandages were soaked with blood, which dripped steadily onto the ground.

"Damn it, I can't even pierce its compound eye."

Shen Yunfei dropped to one knee, breathing heavily.

Watching everything from behind, Lin Feng's finger hovered over the System Panel for two seconds.

He couldn't wait any longer.

If he did, Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei would die here, too.

"Add everything to my realm."

[Consumed Martial Path Points ×200]

[Realm increased: Martial Artist Rank 2 --> Martial Artist Rank 3]

The first wave of heat exploded from his dantian and flooded through his meridians into his limbs.

His bones creaked as his muscles rapidly swelled and tightened, as if his entire body had been compressed.

Before the heat could fade, Lin Feng poured the remaining points into his realm.

[Consumed Martial Path Points ×300]

[Realm increased: Martial Artist Rank 3 --> Martial Artist Rank 4!]

This time, the surge was even more violent.

Lin Feng's blood and energy roared through his body. A visible wave of white air burst from his skin, scattering the rubble around his feet.

Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei both turned to look.

The change in his aura was too obvious.

Martial Artist Rank 4.

Just a moment ago, he'd been Rank 2. In the blink of an eye, he'd leapt up two ranks to Rank 4.

Han Qingshan opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Shen Yunfei's pupils contracted, disbelief written across his face.

Lin Feng didn't give them time to react.

He rose to his feet and drew Mountain Splitter.

Dark golden Spirit Patterns surged wildly along the blade, and the Martial Artist Rank 4 energy in his blood awakened some of the power of this A-Rank weapon.

The blade hummed, and the entire Rift trembled faintly with it.

Mountain-Breaking Slash.

Lin Feng gripped the blade with both hands and raised it high above his head.

All the energy in his blood gathered at the blade's edge. The air around it warped under the pressure, and a pale golden arc of Gale Wind began to form along the blade.

The beetle sensed the danger. All six compound eyes turned toward Lin Feng, and its mouthparts opened as another mass of acid began to gather.

"Die, you bastard!"

The blade fell.

The arc of Gale Wind tore along the ground, gouging a three-foot-deep trench through the rocky platform as it passed.

The Gale Wind slammed into the Mutated Beetle's front shell.

Crack!

The dark golden shell that Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei had failed to break after hundreds of strikes split down the middle beneath that single blow, leaving a half-meter-long crack.

The fissure ran from the shell's surface deep inside, and dark green fluid gushed out.

The beetle let out a piercing shriek and staggered backward two steps.

But Lin Feng was already rushing forward.

He leapt off the beetle's front leg, holding Mountain Splitter in reverse, and drove it with all his might into the crack.

Most of the blade sank inside.

Lin Feng clamped both hands around the hilt and twisted downward.

Its internal organs were churned into pulp. Dark green fluid mixed with bloody froth sprayed across his face.

The beetle thrashed wildly, its six legs flailing. The entire platform shook.

Lin Feng pulled out his blade, leapt onto the beetle's back, found the widest gap between its plates, and struck again.

This blow pierced straight through the beetle's spine.

Its thrashing abruptly stopped, and all six legs went rigid.

Boom.

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

It didn't move again.

[Killed D-Rank Exotic Beast: Earth-Splitting Beetle]

[Obtained Martial Path Points ×200]

[Steel of the Blade: 102/500]

[First D-Rank Exotic Beast kill. Special drop triggered!]

[Obtained Martial Technique: Lost Trace Step (S-Rank Martial Technique)]

[Lost Trace Step: Move as the mind wills, your form as elusive as a ghost. At full mastery, you can leave up to three afterimages while moving. Each lasts 0.5 seconds and has a tangible presence, disrupting your opponent's judgment. Movement speed increased by 300%.]

[Learn?]

"Learn."

A flood of information poured into his mind.

The steps that began the footwork, the rhythm of shifting his center of gravity, the techniques for changing direction—all were etched into his body's memory in an instant.

[Phantom Step (1/2000), learned]

Lin Feng stood atop the beetle's corpse, covered in dark green fluid, the blade of Mountain Splitter still dripping with slime in his hand.

Everyone left alive on the platform stood frozen.

Han Qingshan leaned on his blade, both legs trembling.

Shen Yunfei knelt on one knee. Looking up at Lin Feng standing on the beetle's back, he swallowed but couldn't say a word.

A full ten seconds passed in silence.

Then Han Qingshan spoke, his voice hoarse.

"You just broke through?"

"Yeah."

"Two ranks?"

"Yeah."

Han Qingshan lowered his head, looked at the blade in his hand with three chips in it, then looked at Mountain Splitter in Lin Feng's hand, its dark golden Spirit Patterns flowing across the blade.

After a long pause, he managed to get out one sentence.

"I fought that thing for three minutes, and you killed it with one slash."

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

"Get the Magic Core out quickly. Don't wait for those little bugs to come pouring out again."

Lin Feng leapt down from the beetle's back and used Mountain Splitter to pry open its shell.

The D-Rank Magic Core was a whole circle larger than an E-Rank one. It was dark gold and heavy in his hand.

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

"This is yours." Han Qingshan came over, glanced at the Magic Core, and waved his hand. "I didn't do much. I wouldn't feel right taking it."

Shen Yunfei shook his head as well.

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

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

Then he went over to Old Zhao.

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

Lin Feng pulled him free and put an Energy Recovery Pill in his mouth.

The Rank 6 Martial Artist who'd lost an arm was alive, too. Sun Liang was supporting him in a corner. His face was as white as paper.

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

Nine people had entered. Seven were still alive, and apart from Lin Feng, every one of them had taken some kind of injury.

"Can you walk?" Han Qingshan asked, surveying the wounded.

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

Sun Liang had a bite wound through his lower leg. He limped, but he could still move.

"Let's go."

The seven of them retreated up the main passage. Lin Feng and Han Qingshan each supported one of the wounded as they led the way.

The small Exotic Beasts along the way had already been scared off by the commotion.

The entire passage was quiet, with only the sound of footsteps and the muffled groans of the wounded enduring their pain.

After walking for nearly forty minutes, the light at the Rift's entrance finally appeared.

Han Qingshan let out a long breath.

The seven of them crawled out of the Rift. The sunlight outside was so bright that everyone squinted.

Figures were moving in the distance, in the direction of the Base Camp.

They could make them out clearly only when they got closer.

Chen Lie stood at the Base Camp entrance with more than a dozen people. It was hard to tell whether the look on his face was worry or anger.

"You bastards finally made it out!"

Chen Lie charged over, swinging his remaining arm through the air.

"You were in there for twelve hours! Communications were down for eight! I was about to send in a second group to look for you!"

Han Qingshan laid Old Zhao on a stretcher, then turned around.

"There's a D-Rank Mutated Earth-Splitting Beetle inside the Rift. It mutated."

Chen Lie's expression changed.

"D-Rank? Where is it?"

"Two people didn't make it back."

Chen Lie closed his eyes for a moment and said nothing more.

The wounded were carried away on stretchers.

Lin Feng followed the group toward the Base Camp.

Halfway there, Chen Lie caught up and stopped him.

"Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao wants to see you."

"Now?"

"Now."

Still smeared with the beetle's bodily fluids and with the blood on his face unwashed, Lin Feng followed Chen Lie to Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao's tent.

He pushed the door open and went inside.

Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao sat behind the desk. Han Qingshan and Shen Yunfei were already there.

Their reports had probably already been submitted.

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

"Han Qingshan says you took down that D-Rank Mutated Earth-Splitting Beetle by yourself."

Lin Feng nodded.

"Shen Yunfei says the same."

Lin Feng nodded again.

There was no way to hide something like this. Better to admit it openly than to be evasive.

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

"Take a look."

Lin Feng lifted the lid.

Inside was a bronze badge. The insignia of the Northern Frontier Defense Line was engraved on the front, and three characters on the back.

Sergeant Major.

"Effective immediately, your post is being changed from ordinary guard to Sergeant Major." Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao stood up. "Your monthly salary will be ten thousand, with additional combat merit allowances."

"At the same time, you'll no longer take part in the Base Camp's regular duty rotations."

Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao walked over to the map of the Northern Territory on the wall and traced a circle with his finger.

"There are three types of Rifts around the Northern Territory. The first are military-controlled Rifts, which regular troops are responsible for clearing and defending. The second are contracted Rifts. The military sells private Martial Artist organizations or the Martial Arts Association the rights to use them. They organize their own teams to enter and pay fees regularly. The third are wild Rifts. No one manages them. Anyone can enter, but if they die, no one will care."

"As a Sergeant Major, you have the right to form your own squad and choose to enter military-controlled Rifts on missions. You'll turn over forty percent of your earnings, and the rest is yours."

He turned around.

"You can also pay to enter contracted Rifts belonging to private organizations or the Martial Arts Association. You'll cover the fees yourself."

Lin Feng turned the badge over in his hand.

"How are the fees for contracted Rifts determined?"

"By rank. It costs around five to ten thousand to enter an F-Class Rift. E-Rank costs twenty to fifty thousand. D-Rank starts at a hundred thousand." Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao tapped two spots on the map. "Within a hundred kilometers of the Northern Territory, there are twenty-eight contracted Rifts, fifty-seven military-controlled Rifts, and thirteen wild Rifts that no one manages."

"The Exotic Beasts inside the Rifts recover periodically, roughly once every seven to ten days. So, for their owners, these Rifts are like money trees that keep on bearing fruit."

Lin Feng tucked the badge into his pocket.

"Can I enter military-controlled Rifts whenever I want?"

"Anytime. But you'll need to file a report each time and bring your squad roster."

"Understood."

Lin Feng turned to leave.

Deputy Battalion Commander Zhao called after him.

"One more thing."

He rummaged through a drawer, took out a sheet of paper, and handed it over.

"You've been transferred to another camp. Taking down a D-Rank Exotic Beast by yourself means you'd be wasting your potential if you stayed here."

Lin Feng took it and gave it a quick glance.

It was a transfer order to the Sixth Defense Line, with his name on it.

Lin Feng.

"Pack your things. You leave tomorrow."

Lin Feng folded the paper and slipped 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.

The moment Wang Tie saw him come out, he sprang to his feet.

"How'd it go? Did you get chewed out?"

Lin Feng tossed him the badge from his pocket.

Wang Tie caught it and stared, his eyes wide as saucers.

"Sergeant Major?! You got promoted?"

Li Ming leaned over for a look, his mouth forming an O.

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

Lin Feng walked between them and headed toward the barracks.

"Old Wang, did you break through?"

Wang Tie grinned and puffed out his chest.

"First-stage Martial Artist. I just crossed the threshold this morning."

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

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

"???"

Wang Tie was baffled by Lin Feng's words.

Getting promoted was obviously a good thing, so why did Lin Feng sound a little sad?

Lin Feng saw the confusion on his face and paused.

"I'm leaving tomorrow."