Xu Ziming didn't equip the new entry right away. Instead, he equipped [Filtering Charge], which the E-Grade Blood Qi Potion had provided.
He had already taken seven E-Grade Blood Qi Potions. He only needed to take three more to permanently solidify this entry.
Only then did he look at the conditions for unlocking a new Equipment Slot. This time, the requirements had become more difficult.
[Equipment Slots Unlocked: 3]
[New Equipment Slot Unlock Conditions: Permanently solidify three green-grade or higher entries, reach a Life Energy Level of 5.0, and complete the first Life Evolution]
"Looks like I'll have to reach the Martial Artist Realm before I can unlock another Equipment Slot."
He quickly stowed everything around him in his wristband. It was already five in the afternoon, but he didn't head outside right away.
Instead, he circulated the Basic Body Forging Method, quickly suppressing all the restless blood qi in his body.
After all, including just now, he'd already embarrassed himself twice. If it happened again, he'd never be able to come back here to train.
Once he'd quelled all the agitation in his body, Xu Ziming pushed open the door and went out.
Fortunately, there wasn't any strange stench this time. It was just that the young waitress took one look at him and immediately ran off, as though she'd seen a pervert.
It was all prejudice. The world's prejudice had wounded me too deeply.
As he stepped out onto the street, he saw that a light rain had begun to fall. The willow fluff blanketing the sky was soaked by the rain and fell to the ground in limp clumps.
That was how the willow fluff disappeared in Suzhe Province every year.
"Beep-beep-beep! Alert: Signs of a foreign life-form have been detected in Pengcheng's urban district. Citizens, quickly seek shelter in the nearest protective facility!"
In the peaceful drizzle, the piercing alarm shattered the silence. Flashing red lights made people's eyes ache.
The streets erupted into chaos. One by one, pedestrians rushed toward the Martial Arts Training Base, the place with the most and strongest Martial Artists in the district.
When a battle broke out, it would instantly become a protective facility.
"Damn it, Mom and my little sister are still at home. I have to go check on them."
Xu Ziming's expression changed, and he sprinted toward home.
Meanwhile, at the Nebula Martial Hall.
"Master Fang, foreign life-forms have appeared. The strongest has reached the second Life Evolution. We need your support immediately!"
The voice of the Pengcheng police echoed through his room. Sun Wenbin sounded extremely anxious.
Half a month ago, they had learned that a squad of foreign life-forms had crossed a Spatial Wormhole and arrived in Suzhe Province amid the turbulence of space-time.
Who could have guessed that after drifting around for half a month, they would end up in Pengcheng?
If they weren't wiped out in time, the destruction they caused would be unimaginable.
After the second Life Evolution, nearly all conventional weapons were ineffective. Without nuclear weapons, there was practically no way to harm them.
If these creatures rampaged through the city, they could probably tear through all of Pengcheng in less than an hour.
"Give me their location."
"The area around the Pengcheng Martial Arts Training Base. The leading monster hasn't shown itself yet, but the smaller ones have already broken through."
"The Pengcheng Martial Arts Training Base..." Fang Xingyun murmured. The young fellow who had suddenly appeared on the Battle Net leaderboard last night flashed through his mind.
He hadn't responded to Fang Xingyun's invitation even after a whole night. "Tsk, damn foreign life-forms. What a nuisance."
With that, Fang Xingyun vanished into thin air, leaving behind only a sonic boom in the air.
At the same time, every Martial Artist in Pengcheng who had registered their information with the Central Martial Arts Hall received an alert about the invasion on their wristbands.
Martial Artists from nearly the entire city rushed toward the same place: the Pengcheng Martial Arts Training Base beside Xu Ziming's home.
Half an hour had passed since the alarm sounded. The sun gradually disappeared behind the rain, and the air grew damp and heavy.
"A-Ming, be careful. The foreign life-forms are near your home. The casualties have already exceeded a hundred. Get to the Pengcheng Martial Arts Training Base, it's safe there!"
Ma Mingyu's message came through Xu Ziming's wristband.
Xu Ziming quickly dismissed the message. What was Ma Mingyu thinking? His mother and little sister were still unaccounted for. How could he run?
If he ran now, even if he really became the strongest person in the world someday, he'd never forgive himself!
His Iron Cloth Shirt had reached the Iron Skin stage, his Basic Body Forging Method and Basic Sword Method were both at the minor mastery level, and on top of that, he had the Qilin Body, which could double his strength.
He'd been taught since childhood that if he encountered a foreign life-form that had undergone one or more Life Evolutions, he should flee if he wasn't a Martial Artist himself.
But he was still confident he could take a chance. At the very least, he wouldn't be killed in a single blow.
In his memory, Pengcheng had only suffered three foreign invasions in the past eighteen years. Most of them had involved only a few minor foreign life-forms that had undergone one Life Evolution.
This time would surely be no different.
From where he stood, drones seemed to be patrolling the sky already. A helicopter was also visible in the distance, no more than a black speck, but clearly heading this way.
At last, he was almost home. His apartment building was right in front of him. Xu Ziming had contacted his family as soon as the alarm sounded.
They were still hiding at home and hadn't gone out.
There was no choice. Their home was twenty minutes from the Pengcheng Martial Arts Training Base.
As ordinary people with no martial arts training, if they encountered a foreign life-form during those twenty minutes, they'd be as good as dead.
Their only sliver of hope was to hold out until Xu Ziming arrived to take them away.
Without thinking, Xu Ziming glanced toward the alley beside him.
A blurry figure was moving through the alley, racing along a path that led straight toward him.
"Hm?"
In an instant, his Martial Artist's sixth sense surged within him. A feeling of impending death welled up in his heart.
But he couldn't immediately stop his body, which was still running and carried forward by its momentum.
Quick—draw your sword!
"Bang!" The clash of metal rang out. A spark flashed from Jinghong, and the tremendous force sent Xu Ziming flying dozens of meters.
He finally hit the ground and tumbled again and again.
A humanoid creature nearly three meters tall appeared where Xu Ziming had just been. Its skin was a fiery purple-red, two devil-like horns sprouted from its head, and a tail made entirely of flame dragged behind it.
It looked just like a demon that had crawled out of hell.
Its limbs were proportioned differently from a normal human's, giving it a bizarre appearance. Just looking at it made an inexplicable chill rise from the depths of one's heart.
"Flame Spirit Clan?" Xu Ziming had already gotten to his feet. With his excellent grades in cultural studies, he recognized the creature before him.
There were countless kinds of foreign life-forms. Fewer than one in ten were humanoid; the rest were giant beasts of the starry sky, insectoids, and all manner of bizarre, disgusting creatures.
And yet these humanoid foreign life-forms, despite making up fewer than one in ten, were among the strongest of all.
The Flame Spirit Clan before him was one of them!