The Beast Tide had continued for two hours.
Lin Feng had been killing beasts outside the city for two hours.
His Combat Suit had long since been torn to shreds, and his skin was covered in beast blood, but he didn't have a single wound.
With the physique of a Martial Master at the third stage and his Lost Trace Step at the mastery level, the Rank-E and Rank-D Exotic Beasts couldn't even touch him.
The system announcements had rung so often that he was almost numb to them.
[Current Martial Path Points: 10800] [Steel of the Blade: 347/500]
He had single-handedly held back the Beast Tide's vanguard.
The guards in the middle section of the city wall hadn't lifted a finger from beginning to end.
They'd stood on the wall the whole time, watching the show, utterly enthralled.
But Lin Feng knew the real trouble hadn't arrived yet.
The core strength of a Rank-B Beast Tide was Rank-C Exotic Beasts.
They wouldn't charge at the front as cannon fodder. Instead, they hid behind the beast horde, waiting for the vanguard to wear down the defenders before launching a lethal attack.
Sure enough.
Just as the waves of Rank-E and Rank-D Exotic Beasts began to weaken, a muffled tremor came from the ground.
It wasn't the tremor of the beast horde running.
It was footsteps.
One step at a time, heavy and rhythmic.
The beast horde parted on its own, opening a path.
At the far end of the path emerged a massive Exotic Beast.
It looked like a lion blown up tenfold, its body covered in dark red stone armor and its mane flowing with molten lava. With every step, the ground beneath it burned black.
A prompt appeared on the System Panel.
[Rank-C Exotic Beast detected: Lava Lion King (Martial Ancestor level)]
A Martial Ancestor.
A whole major realm above a Martial Master.
The cheers from atop the city wall abruptly stopped.
"Rank C! It's a Rank-C Exotic Beast!"
"It's at the Martial Ancestor level! Who's going to stop it?"
Panic spread through the defenders like a plague.
Li Zhenguo's voice came through the communicator. "All Martial Master-level fighters, gather in the middle section!"
Captain Zhao and three Martial Masters leaped down from the city wall and quickly made their way toward Lin Feng.
"Kid, that thing's not something you can handle!" Captain Zhao roared.
Lin Feng glanced at him.
"Move aside."
"Huh?"
Lin Feng didn't explain.
First, he poured all his accumulated Martial Path Points into his cultivation.
"Realm, increase."
[Martial Path Points consumed ×3000] [Realm increased: Martial Master, third stage → Martial Master, fourth stage!] [Martial Path Points consumed ×4000] [Realm increased: Martial Master, fourth stage → Martial Master, fifth stage!] [Remaining Martial Path Points: 3800]
Two surges of heat churned through his body.
Beside him, Captain Zhao's pupils contracted.
Was this kid breaking through again?
In the middle of a battlefield?
And advancing two stages in a row?
Before he could recover, Lin Feng had already charged forward.
Lost Trace Step burst forth at full force.
Three afterimages traced strange paths through the beast horde, while his true form charged straight at the Lava Lion King.
The Lava Lion King sensed the threat. It opened its jaws and spewed a torrent of crimson lava breath.
The wave of heat rushed toward him, warping and distorting the air.
Lin Feng didn't dodge.
He charged straight into it.
Mountain Splitter rose above his head, and Mountain-Breaking Slash gathered power to its limit.
All his qi and blood poured into the blade. The Dark Gold Spirit Pattern flashed wildly, and a golden Gale Wind half a meter wide gathered around the blade's edge.
"Cleave!"
The Gale Wind slammed head-on into the lava breath.
The two forces exploded in midair, and the shockwave sent every Exotic Beast within ten meters tumbling away.
But the Gale Wind pierced through the breath.
Carrying the force of its momentum, it slashed into the Lava Lion King's head.
Crack!
Under the effect of its penetration, the thick stone armor shattered on impact.
A wound deep enough to expose bone opened on the Lion King's forehead and stretched all the way down to its nose.
The Lava Lion King let out a roar that shook the heavens. It slammed its forepaw into the ground, and the entire earth heaved upward.
The shockwave sent Lin Feng flying. He flipped twice in midair, then steadied himself with the tips of his toes when he landed.
"It didn't die from one slash?"
He looked down at Mountain Splitter.
Beast blood like molten lava clung to the blade, sizzling and steaming.
As expected of a Rank-C Exotic Beast. It really was terrifying.
But that wound was already deep.
"Again."
Lin Feng charged forward once more.
This time, he didn't attack from the front.
The three afterimages from Lost Trace Step scattered, closing in on the Lion King from three directions.
The Lava Lion King smashed the first afterimage with a swipe of its paw, then turned and snapped at the second.
But Lin Feng's true form had already circled behind it.
Mountain Splitter swept upward, cutting into the gap in the armor at the joint of the Lion King's hind leg.
At that moment, the penetration effect reached its peak.
The blade pierced not only the armor, but also the muscle and bone beneath it.
The entire hind leg was severed at the root.
The Lava Lion King dropped to one knee in pain. Its massive body lost its balance and crashed onto its side.
Lin Feng leaped onto the Lion King's neck.
He held Mountain Splitter in reverse.
"Die, damn you."
The blade plunged into the crown of the Lion King's head from above.
Deeper.
Deeper still.
Until the hilt disappeared into its flesh.
The Lava Lion King struggled for three seconds, then its limbs stiffened. It fell silent.
[Rank-C Exotic Beast slain: Lava Lion King (Martial Hero level)] [Martial Path Points gained ×500] [Steel of the Blade: 348/500] [First Rank-C Exotic Beast slain. Special drop triggered!] [Technique acquired: Heavenly Gale Body-Forging Art (Rank-S technique)] [Heavenly Gale Body-Forging Art: Tempers the body with the gale qi of heaven and earth. Once mastered, increases physical strength tenfold and allows the user to withstand a full-power attack from an opponent of the same level without injury. Whenever the user breaks through a realm, their bones, meridians, and internal organs are tempered automatically, greatly reducing the side effects of the breakthrough.] [Learn?]
"Learn."
A flood of information poured into his body.
Standing atop the Lion King's corpse, Lin Feng felt every bone in his body emit a faint, resonant hum.
On the city wall.
Thousands of eyes stared at him.
Silence.
A deathly silence.
Then someone shouted first.
"We won!!!"
Cheers crashed over them like a landslide, shaking the city wall.
Captain Zhao stood beneath the wall. He didn't even notice when the blade fell from his hand.
He and three Martial Masters had rushed over to help, but hadn't even swung their blades once.
The man had taken down a Rank-C Exotic Beast all by himself.
He opened his mouth and managed to choke out, "What kind of monster is he?"
A Martial Master beside him instinctively replied, "He's gotta be using cheats."
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