Mid-Stage Inner Strength Realm

The moment the sun rose, the Di People's war drums began to thunder.

There was no chance to catch their breath, no pause—not even time to gather the dead among the defenders.

The siege resumed on the second day.

Li Jinshui stood atop the city wall, watching the Di soldiers surge toward them like a rising tide. He tightened his grip on his blade.

After a night's rest, his wounds still hurt, but the Evergreen Art was slowly circulating inside him. A warm current washed over his organs, sinews, bones, and flesh again and again.

His wounds were healing several times faster than usual. The deep gash along his left ribs, which had exposed the bone, had already begun to scab over.

That was the Evergreen Art.

It not only gave him abundant, unceasing inner strength, but also nourished his body and sped his recovery.

Li Jinshui took a deep breath and brought up the panel:

[Points: 376]

Enough.

A rain of arrows came first.

This time, Li Jinshui didn't raise his shield.

He simply stood there, watching the arrows fall from the sky.

"Squad Leader!" a new recruit beside him cried out.

Li Jinshui didn't move.

The arrows struck him with a clatter, then bounced off and scattered across the ground.

Rock Body.

A faint blue-gray sheen appeared on his skin. The arrows struck it without leaving so much as a white mark.

Li Jinshui glanced down and smiled.

Attacks from the Body Forging Realm were already useless against him.

"Kill!!!"

The Di soldiers surged onto the wall.

The first to charge up was at the ninth layer of Body Forging. He swung his curved saber down at Li Jinshui's head.

Li Jinshui neither dodged nor flinched. He took the blow head-on.

"Clang!"

The blade struck his shoulder, leaving only a faint white mark.

The Di soldier's eyes widened in disbelief.

In the instant he hesitated, Li Jinshui's blade was already upon him.

White Tiger Blade Technique: Tiger Pounce!

One slash split the Di soldier in two, from shoulder to hip.

[Killed Northern Di centurion (ninth layer of Body Forging), points +9]

The second, the third, the fourth...

Li Jinshui was like a machine that never tired, holding his ground on that stretch of wall without taking a single step back.

Rock Body let him disregard any attack from the Body Forging Realm. Blades left only white marks, and arrows bounced away. When Di soldiers at the Inner Strength Realm occasionally charged up, he could still hold them off with the White Tiger Blade Technique and Inch Step.

More importantly, the Evergreen Art kept his inner strength flowing without end.

Other people grew tired after fighting for half an hour. He was still killing after an hour. They were spent after an hour, while he was still going strong after two.

The more he killed, the faster the Evergreen Art circulated; the faster it circulated, the faster he recovered.

A perpetual-motion machine.

This was what a true perpetual-motion machine looked like.

[+1]

[+1]

[+9, killed Northern Di centurion]

[+2...]

His points surged wildly.

Li Jinshui kept adding points as he fought.

He started with Marching Step.

He couldn't use it just yet, but sooner or later it would come in handy.

[Spent 50 points, Marching Step mastered]

[Marching Step: Unmastered → Beginner (0/40)]

His legs grew warm, and a strange new sensation came over him. It was a marching technique for long-distance pursuits; he could cover a hundred miles in a day without tiring.

Next, he added points to Rock Body.

Survival mattered most on the battlefield.

[Spent 100 points, Rock Body proficiency +100]

[Rock Body: Beginner (0/150) → Minor Achievement (0/200)]

Boom—

The heavy force within him suddenly grew denser, flowing through his veins like molten lead.

The blue-gray sheen on his skin deepened, now glinting faintly like metal.

Minor Achievement.

Now he could withstand several full-force blows even from an early-stage Inner Strength cultivator, let alone anyone in the Body Forging Realm.

Li Jinshui tightened his grip on his blade and kept killing.

[+1]

[+1]

[+3...]

The Di soldiers finally withdrew in a wave at noon.

Li Jinshui leaned on his blade, breathing heavily.

Not from exhaustion, but excitement.

He glanced at his panel:

[Points: 412]

He had another four hundred points.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he raised Rock Body to Major Achievement, the Evergreen Art to Minor Achievement, and the White Tiger Blade Technique, Iron Thread Fist, and Inch Step all to Minor or even Major Achievement.

By then—

He was still thinking when he suddenly heard a deafening boom.

"Boom—!!!"

The entire city wall shook.

Li Jinshui whipped around and saw smoke and dust billowing three hundred paces to the west.

A battering ram.

The Di People had smashed through that section of the wall with a battering ram.

"The wall's breached!!!"

Someone shouted, their voice thick with fear.

Li Jinshui's pupils contracted sharply.

Through the smoke, Di soldiers poured through the breach like a tide. The defenders fought desperately, but the opening widened, and more and more Di soldiers streamed inside.

That stretch of wall had fallen.

"Li Jinshui!"

Zhou Kui's voice came from a distance, hoarse beyond recognition. "Take your men and plug the breach!"

Li Jinshui didn't hesitate.

"Squad Jia, follow me!"

He charged off, driving Tiger Walk to its limit. He was as fast as a gust of wind.

As he neared the breach, he saw a scene straight out of hell—

The gap in the wall was about three zhang wide, with shattered stones scattered all around. At least a hundred Di soldiers had already broken through and were fighting the defenders. More poured through the opening without end.

At the front was a Di Centurion at the mid-stage of the Inner Strength Realm. His enormous axe had already cut down seven or eight Zhou soldiers.

Li Jinshui didn't slow down.

He charged straight at the Di Centurion.

White Tiger Blade Technique: Tiger Roar!

His blade came down, its force roaring like a tiger and striking terror into every heart!

The Di Centurion started and raised his axe to block.

"Clang!"

Sparks flew. The Di Centurion took a step back, and so did Li Jinshui.

An even match?

No.

Li Jinshui's lips curled into a smile.

He had only used seventy percent of his strength.

Again!

White Tiger Blade Technique: Tiger Pounce!

His next slash came down even harder than the last.

The Di Centurion staggered back another step.

White Tiger Blade Technique: Tiger Sweep!

The third slash swept across. At last, the Di Centurion couldn't stop it. The blade tore open his abdomen, and his entrails spilled out.

"You—"

His eyes widened in disbelief.

Li Jinshui didn't give him a chance to speak.

Inch Step!

He took one step and appeared right in front of him.

Iron Thread Fist!

His fist smashed into the man's chest.

"Crack!"

The sound of breaking ribs rang out. Blood sprayed from the Di Centurion's mouth, and he crashed to the ground.

[Killed Northern Di Centurion (mid-stage Inner Strength Realm), points +20]

The Di soldiers around them froze.

Li Jinshui didn't.

He turned and threw himself at them.

Kill!

Kill!

Kill!

He had no idea how long he fought before finally driving back the Di soldiers at the breach.

But a fresh wave charged in.

Li Jinshui stood in the middle of the breach, drenched in blood, like a god of slaughter.

Behind him, more and more Zhou soldiers arrived to reinforce him.

Before him, the Di soldiers kept attacking in a frenzy.

"Hold on!" Zhou Kui shouted from behind. "Reinforcements will be here soon!"

Li Jinshui said nothing. He just kept swinging his blade.

One slash, one kill.

Two slashes, two kills.

The more he used the White Tiger Blade Technique, the more practiced and ferocious his movements became.

Inch Step let him dart about within a square inch, evading one deadly attack after another.

Iron Thread Fist let him kill with a single blow in close combat.

Rock Body let him withstand attacks from the Inner Strength Realm.

The Evergreen Art meant he would never run out of strength.

He was a killing machine that never stopped.

He fought from noon until dusk, and from dusk until nightfall.

The breach remained, but the Di soldiers never managed to break through.

After night fell, the Di soldiers finally retreated.

Li Jinshui leaned on his blade in the middle of the breach, breathing heavily.

He was covered in blood—his own and the enemy's. He couldn't tell them apart anymore.

He had gained more than a dozen new wounds. The worst was a slash from his left shoulder to his right waist. If not for Rock Body reaching Minor Achievement, it would have cleaved him in two.

But he stood there, ramrod straight.

Zhou Kui came over and stared at him in silence for a long while.

Then he said, "The breach held. Was that your doing?"

Li Jinshui nodded.

Zhou Kui looked at him, his gaze tangled with complicated emotions.

"How many have you killed?"

Li Jinshui thought for a moment, then shook his head.

He'd lost count.

Zhou Kui didn't ask again.

He just patted Li Jinshui on the shoulder, then turned and left.

Li Jinshui stood beside the breach, looking out at Di Camp in the night.

In the distance, flames still danced.

Tomorrow, they would come again.

And the day after, too.

Until the city fell, or they retreated.

He brought up the panel:

[Name: Li Jinshui]

[Realm: Inner Strength Realm (mid-stage)]

[Arts: Evergreen Art (minor mastery 12/500), Rock Body (minor mastery 0/200), White Tiger Blade Technique (beginner 45/80), Iron Thread Fist (beginner 38/60), Inch Step (beginner 29/50), Marching Step (beginner 0/40), Iron Shirt (perfection), Wolf Killing Seven Forms (perfection), Tiger Walk (perfection)]

[Points: 428]

He had just spent a large number of points on the Evergreen Art to keep up his sustained exertion.

Now he was in the mid-stage of the Inner Strength Realm!!

The night wind blew past, carrying the heavy stench of blood.

Li Jinshui took a deep breath, turned, and headed back into the city.

Behind him, the breach was still there.

But he knew this was only the beginning.

The real battle still lay ahead.