Fighting

"Feng Qingmo, kill the 100 Reckless Bulls surrounding you within 20 minutes. 90 are Advanced Beast Soldier level, and 10 are Elementary Beast General level. If you die, you fail. If you fail to kill them all within 20 minutes, you also fail. As this is your first time entering the Trial Tower, you have 1 minute to prepare."

The electronic voice resonated across the grassland like a thunderclap.

"Why is it only 1 minute? Isn't it supposed to be 5?" Feng Qingmo muttered, hurrying to familiarize himself with his body's force exertion. Most importantly, he needed to adjust to his newly restored vision. He had grown accustomed to observing his surroundings with spiritual force, and now that it was gone, he had to adapt to his excellent physical eyesight; while the effect was similar, the process required getting used to.

The minute passed quickly. In the distance, over a hundred Reckless Bulls appeared. The ninety Advanced Beast Soldier-level bulls, led by the ten Elementary Beast General-level ones, trampled the grass and charged toward Feng Qingmo with a thunderous roar.

"Moo~~"

The momentum of the stampede made Feng Qingmo's scalp tingle, as this was his first time facing a beast herd. The horns on the bulls' heads glowed with a faint red hue, looking exceptionally sharp and stained with a blood-like luster.

"Come on!" After the initial shock, a surge of hot blood rose in Feng Qingmo's heart. He charged forward proactively. Each bull was over three meters long, but Feng Qingmo stood only about 1.8 meters tall, meaning only three or four bulls could attack him at any given time.

"Whoosh!" The sound of a sword whistling through the air rang out. He unleashed his Micro-level footwork to its limit, constantly shifting his position while thrusting his long sword. Every strike pierced through a bull's eye or ear, claiming another life.

His current physical stats were 10,000kg of force and a speed of 150 meters per second. This speed and power surpassed the Advanced Beast Soldier-level bulls, so, guided by his Micro-level footwork, he quickly harvested the soldier-level bulls while using their bodies to block the attacks of the Elementary Beast General-level ones.

His combat experience had been lacking, and although his footwork had reached the Micro level, it had been self-taught. Facing the siege of a hundred bulls, his movements still had flaws. Several times he was nearly grazed by horns, making for a precarious situation, but since he was mostly dealing with Advanced Beast Soldiers, he managed to hold his ground.

A few minutes later, his footwork gradually became fluid. As the number of bulls decreased, his Micro-level footwork grew more refined, and his dodging became much more composed.

His specialized-level swordsmanship also began to shed many useless, flashy moves under the pressure of the siege, becoming more concise and efficient.

Seven minutes later, as the last Elementary Beast General-level bull fell, the first stage was finally cleared.

He had just let out a sigh of relief when the corpses on the ground vanished instantly, and the electronic voice echoed from the sky again.

"Stage A successfully cleared. Stage B will begin shortly."

"Kill the 100 Elementary Beast General-level Reckless Bulls surrounding you within 30 minutes. If you die, you fail. If you fail to kill them all within 30 minutes, you also fail."

No sooner had the voice finished than 100 Reckless Bulls appeared a few hundred meters away. This time, every single one was an Elementary Beast General-level.

Taking a deep breath, Feng Qingmo took the initiative to meet them again, his feet moving in a rhythm of varying speed.

This strange, shifting pace caused the leading bulls to hesitate; the human figure before them would be in front of their horns one moment, only to force them to turn their heads the next.

The hundred-meter distance vanished in an instant. With a flash of movement, Feng Qingmo cut between two bulls, his body's force erupting in a burst. Sword light flashed, then flashed again!

The bulls at the front collapsed instantly, their bodies sliding forward due to momentum. Feng Qingmo shifted his feet, dodged the corpses, and charged into the herd.

Although he lacked the aid of spiritual force, his previous encounter with the herd had left his mind incredibly focused. As he moved, dodging the charging horns, he swung his sword continuously, harvesting lives with the most concise and efficient techniques.

"Not good!" Feng Qingmo's expression changed. After dodging a charging bull, the beast's tail whipped around as it overshot him, cutting off his escape route.

At that moment, two more bulls were charging at him head-on, and another was swinging its head to gore him from the left.

"Do or die!" He extended his left hand, pressing his palm against the bull's head coming from the left. With an explosion of hidden force, he pushed the bull backward and used the momentum to dodge to the right.

While dodging right, he turned his body, presenting his back to the incoming tail.

His left hand's hidden force had just been spent, but in a split second, he mobilized another burst of hidden force, coating the area of his back that would make contact with the tail.

With a soft "chi" sound, the tail struck his back but was deflected. His sword flashed, and the two bulls in front collapsed.

"It worked!" He felt a surge of joy. He had been struggling to integrate force-exertion techniques into his body's defense, and under this life-or-death pressure, he had finally succeeded.

With this successful defense, he gradually coated the areas needing protection with hidden force, allowing him to face the surrounding herd with greater composure.

As the sword light flickered again and again, the bulls fell one by one, their numbers dwindling.

Ten minutes later, as the last Intermediate Beast General-level bull fell, the electronic voice returned. All the corpses and even the blood on the ground vanished instantly.

"Stage B successfully cleared. Stage C will begin shortly."

"Kill the 200 Reckless Bulls surrounding you within 50 minutes. 190 are Elementary Beast General-level, and 10 are Intermediate Beast General-level. If you die, you fail. If you fail to kill them all within 50 minutes, you also fail."

"Looking at it this way, Stage C of every level must be the hardest..." Feng Qingmo speculated as he watched the 200 bulls appear hundreds of meters away.

Don't let the mere doubling of numbers fool you; the presence of 10 Intermediate Beast Generals meant a world of difference in quality compared to Stage B.

Feng Qingmo's force-exertion multiplier was only 1.8x. His virtual body's base strength was 10,000kg, meaning he could only burst to 18,000kg—barely comparable to a newly promoted Intermediate War General (the minimum physical strength for an Intermediate War General is 16,000kg).

Intermediate Beast General-level monsters generally possessed strength greater than humans, let alone bulls, which were famous for their raw power.

Over a hundred smaller bulls, led by ten giant bulls with entirely fire-red horns, charged toward Feng Qingmo.

Feng Qingmo tried his old trick, charging forward to disrupt the herd's formation, but this time it was ineffective.

The Intermediate Beast General-level bulls in the center were momentarily shaken, but the bulls on the flanks accelerated and surrounded him simultaneously.

With no other choice, Feng Qingmo retreated rapidly, but his speed could not match the bulls' charge, and he was quickly overtaken.

The inner circle consisted of ten Intermediate Beast General bulls, and the outer circle of 190 Elementary Beast General bulls surrounded him. After killing seven Intermediate Beast Generals and dozens of Elementary Beast Generals, he was struck in the back by a bull, knocked to the ground, and subsequently trampled to death by the herd.