This Is the Truth of Survival

At night, starlight streamed through the square windows into the Martial Arts Hall.

A video was projected onto the Martial Arts Hall's pale walls. In it, a figure fought a dragon-type monster in the mountains and forests. Wherever the man and monster clashed, even the wind alone made the surrounding Lord-level monsters keep their distance.

At the end, the powerhouse thrust his spear into the dragon-type monster's head. The rapidly swirling air instantly blew its head apart, killing it on the spot.

The video's narration echoed through the Martial Arts Hall. This was one of the clips included on the disc that came with the Fierce Wind manual.

"That's an S-class monster, the Blood-Eyed Dragon King. With a body that enormous, it can still move faster than the speed of sound! And those blood-red eyes have a special mental attack." Ji Yun watched the video over and over, deeply shaken.

Since Chen Qingzhi was the only person in the world who had cultivated Fierce Wind to a profound level, nobody else had access to the level of Conception of Wind. So every video on the disc showed Chen Qingzhi fighting or training.

The Blood-Eyed Dragon King ranked among the S-class monsters, and it was an exceptionally powerful one. It ranked fourth among dragon-type monsters, which were extremely rare and powerful to begin with.

The ranks were divided as follows--

H-class, G-class, and F-class were all Beast Soldier Rank.

E-class, D-class, and C-class were all Beast General Rank: low, mid, and high.

B-class, A-class, and S-class were Lord Rank!

As a high-level Lord at the peak of its strength, the Blood-Eyed Dragon King was not only incredibly strong, but its scales were also exceptionally tough—not even large-caliber shells could pierce them! Despite its massive size, it could move faster than the speed of sound. It also had a mental attack that could make human Martial Artists lose some of their awareness in an instant. It was extraordinarily powerful even among Lord-level monsters...

"Is the video done? Don't come looking for me unless you need something." Chen Qingzhi's calm voice came from the speaker beside the Martial Arts Hall. Then came a soft sigh. "There's another level beyond artistic conception. What is it?"

"Click."

The video ended, and the projection on the wall returned to the main menu, which displayed a long list of videos.

But Chen Qingzhi's last words had left Ji Yun deeply shocked. There was another level beyond artistic conception! What level could that be? Artistic conception was already so profound—what lay beyond it?

"War God Chen Qingzhi said there's another level beyond artistic conception. What could it be? He's already an Invincible War God! Could it be something only someone Beyond War God can attain?" Ji Yun shook his head, then immediately rejected the idea. "No, that can't be right. The disc also has footage of War God Chen Qingzhi sparring with beings Beyond War God. Though there are only a few exchanges, Chen Qingzhi actually seems to have the edge in terms of mastery!"

"Could it be something only Hong has reached?"

Ji Yun didn't know the answer, but the question planted a seed in his mind.

One day, a month later, Ji Yun was at home, diligently practicing his spear techniques, when his father, Ji Shan, told him to go to the Martial Arts Association. Only after arriving did Ji Yun learn what had happened!

A War God had fallen that day!

It was destined to be a sorrowful day across the nation. Many Martial Artists out in the field lost their lives. One War God-level Martial Artist had even been surrounded by endless waves of rats, trapped in a vast sea of them.

That's right—a rat tide.

Jiangnan Base City in the south had suffered a level-three rat tide. Unlike ordinary beast tides, which consisted of various kinds of animals and whose movements could be monitored, rat tides erupted almost without warning, leaving people no time to react.

The War God, Lu Gang, had been surrounded by countless rat-type monsters.

The rat tide contained not only Beast Soldier Rank rats, but also Beast General Rank ones. Its leaders were extremely intelligent, and once they chose a target, they would stop at nothing to kill it! It was said that as the human War God struggled, dozens of tall buildings collapsed. The dead rats likely numbered over a million.

Unfortunately, a million dead rats meant nothing to a tide numbering in the hundreds of millions.

And so the War God was surrounded by hundreds of millions of monsters and fell.

Ji Yun was stunned. He had thought War Gods were practically invincible, that no one could kill one except for some high-level monsters. But the rat tide had done it.

"A level-three rat tide killed so many people."

"What about the legendary level-one rat tide?"

The war between monsters and humans was a war between two civilizations, between two species! Once it began, countless beast tides made up of all kinds of land-dwelling monsters would surge forward, along with all kinds of flying monsters: some relying on speed, some possessing immense strength, some burrowing underground, some poisonous, some flying, some attacking with sound waves...

In the past, Ji Yun had thought that monsters and humans simply hunted each other. Even though he had witnessed many human Martial Artists die, he had also heard his father talk about how many monsters he'd killed. Because he lived in a peaceful environment, he had never understood the price humanity had paid to create it!

No textbook could tell the whole story of that price! Just as no account could fully recount Huaxia's fourteen years of resistance before the Great Nirvana!

This was the most terrifying kind of war! If humanity did not keep advancing, it would likely face extinction.

"Monsters are humanity's true mortal enemy. The oceans belong to the monsters now, while on land, humanity has only a slight advantage. In the air, the monsters hold the upper hand! Humanity has been forced to defend itself and counterattack from within one Base City after another!" Ji Yun finally understood the truth of humanity's resistance against the monsters. But that truth had been bought with the blood of a War God.

That evening, Ji Yun returned home and opened the Martial Arts Hall window. Then he leaped up onto the roof.

Ji Yun sat cross-legged on the roof, letting the wind blow around him.

Gust after gust buffeted Ji Yun, making him sway as if he might fall. The wind sometimes howled fiercely past him, sometimes swirled around him, as if trying to uproot him and carry him into the clouds.

"Wind. This is wind."

Ji Yun's eyes grew brighter and brighter. Caught up in the wind's force, he actually let go of his control over his body and allowed the wind to whirl around him.

The wind danced wildly, growing stronger and stronger. Then rain began to fall from the sky. The rain tangled with the wind, and the storm drenched Ji Yun.

"The wind's wild dance, its biting force—this is the Conception of Wind." Ji Yun laughed freely. He stretched out his hand, and Wind Lifter, which had been lying on the floor, rose straight up from inside the house, passed through the window, and landed in his grasp.

Ji Yun swung his spear, thrusting and turning, and each movement sent the wind swirling around him. Even the movement technique Wind Motion, which he had struggled to master for so long, was gradually beginning to make sense.

"Yes, it should be like this."

"Exert force like the wind—twisting, fierce, swift, and explosive in an instant."

Ji Yun murmured to himself as he swung his spear faster and faster. At last, he suddenly came to a standstill, then thrust his spear forward. The wind blowing toward him was torn open by his thrust, then scattered like the gale itself.

Before the gust he had created could die away, a windless zone appeared before Ji Yun!

"Break!" Ji Yun's sharp voice rang out.

His arm muscles rippled, and the third level, which had only recently begun to loosen, finally broke through. He thrust his spear again, and the thirty-twofold force granted by Fierce Wind erupted. The gale that had started blowing toward him again after the blade of wind dissipated was pushed back by Ji Yun, and the wind around him came under his control. From a distance, it looked as if one man were standing against nature's might.

As soon as he finished, Ji Yun seemed to lose all strength. Carried by the wind, he fell through the window.

Ji Yun remotely closed the window and lay quietly on the floor of the Martial Arts Hall, with what felt like a raging gale still surging around him.

Once his emotions had settled, Ji Yun struggled to sit cross-legged and began practicing the Guide Technique, absorbing Genetic Origin Energy.

But this time, the speed of absorption was almost frightening.

Ji Yun's body seemed like a vortex, greedily sweeping up Cosmic Energy. The hunger brought on by breaking through to the third level was continually sated. But as soon as it was, more cells needed to absorb energy.

A whirlwind circled Ji Yun, and the weapon rack had shifted out of place. If the villa hadn't been built from exceptionally sturdy materials, even the roof might have been torn off.

By now, it was broad daylight. Ji Shan had come upstairs to check once, but when he saw Ji Yun cultivating with his eyes closed, he quietly withdrew.

But he hadn't escaped the notice of Ji Yun, who had already gained some understanding of the wind. Within a certain radius, Ji Yun could sense even the slightest movement of air.

After his cultivation, Ji Yun opened his eyes. "So, does this count as the Conception of the Gale?" Though he had only just understood this conception, and still didn't know how to use it, gaining it was like laying a foundation on which he could build whatever he wished.

"I feel like my physical strength has reached the threshold of a Mid-Level War General." Ji Yun clenched his fist and swung it. "Just a few more days, and I'll make the breakthrough completely."

The next day, Kyoto Base City also held a memorial service for the fallen War God, Lu Gang. It wasn't especially grand, though. After paying his respects, Ji Yun went home and watched the broadcast from Jiangnan Base City.

"Beep!"

A jet-black, disc-shaped fighter aircraft flew straight in from the distance. The troops stationed around the Hall of Heroes Funeral Home didn't stop it. The War God-level powerhouses who had gone in earlier to pay their respects, the mayor of Jiangnan Base City, and high-ranking officials from the political and military sectors all came out to welcome it.

The broadcast fell silent.

The disc-shaped fighter landed slowly, and its hatch opened.

A lean man with a hooked nose stepped down the aircraft's stairs, dressed all in black. His expression was grim, and his eyes glistened with tears. He stood there, and the area within dozens of meters seemed to sink into darkness. He seemed like a god ruling over that darkened space.

"Councilor Zhu," one of the people there to welcome him said.

"Councilor?" Ji Yun was startled. Someone called a Councilor was probably Beyond War God.

The television station then introduced the powerhouse known as Councilor Zhu.

Councilor Zhu let out a soft sigh and said nothing. He nodded to the War God-level powerhouses, the mayor of Jiangnan Base City, the senior officials from Kyoto, and the army generals who had come to greet him, then headed straight for the funeral home.

Mournful music echoed throughout the Hall of Heroes Funeral Home. Government officials, army generals, War God-level Martial Artists, and others came one after another to pay their respects. The national television station carefully filmed it all, and its reporter described the scene on camera. Before long, once the Martial Artists had finished paying their respects, the broadcast ended.

"This is the consequence of a war between species."

Ji Yun sat in front of the television in silence, deep in thought.

It was entirely possible for the monsters to wipe humanity off the face of the earth.

"And I'm nowhere near strong enough. At the very least, I need to become Beyond War God to protect my family—and humanity!"