Lion's Radiance

Night.

Yuxian sat outside the tent, basking in the moonlight.

After midnight, dark clouds gradually covered the moon, and a thin mist rose from the ground.

Seeing that he could no longer bask in the moonlight, Yuxian put his phone in his pocket, turned himself upside down, and began doing handstand push-ups.

After joining the evil-slaying squad under the Qilin, he should no longer have been hunted by the vampires. In other words, he was safe. And as a vampire, his lifespan was endless. As long as he obediently basked in the sun, he really could live a lazy, carefree life.

The problem was, although his name read backward meant "salted fish," he himself was not someone who craved pleasure.

For the past two days, he had been thinking about how he should live the rest of his life, and what he should live for.

Because his father had died of illness, he was terrified of death. But precisely because he feared death, he loved life more than anyone.

Scene after scene from school surfaced in his mind: the classmates who had studied diligently, the ones who loved to play around, the shy and silent ones, the warm and cheerful ones. In the end, they had all become mutilated corpses. The terror lingering on their faces and the faint tear tracks visible through the bloodstains had all been branded into his heart.

After reading countless files, he seemed to see one brave soul after another silently protecting the ordinary lives of the people. He saw young lives after young lives fall into pools of blood.

Why had Jin Sheng trusted him without condition? Because predecessors had paid for the lesson with their lives and paved the way for him.

At last, he had his answer.

He wanted to become a light.

He wanted to drive away the fear in everyone's hearts.

He wanted to protect every smile on every face.

That required great strength, so he had to become stronger, stronger, stronger!

"...1005...1007...1010...1020..."

Yuxian supported his body on one finger as he rapidly did handstand push-ups.

At that moment, Jin Sheng returned from outside, carrying several rats larger than adult village dogs in his hands. He stopped and watched Yuxian.

When Yuxian switched hands to continue, he stepped forward and invited him, "Shall we go over there... and spar?"

As he spoke, he pointed behind him, toward the school athletic field.

"Does this count as in-team instruction?" Yuxian's eyes lit up as he asked with a smile.

Jin Sheng smiled. "You can think of it that way. Want to go?"

"Of course."

Yuxian immediately flipped down onto the ground and clapped his hands.

After handing the rat monsters to the soldiers for disposal, Jin Sheng entered the school with Yuxian.

The two spread apart on the athletic field. Jin Sheng said, "I'll keep my strength at insect rank. Come on."

"Then be careful, Captain." Yuxian immediately nodded.

Both his hands flicked at once, and countless silver threads shot rapidly toward Jin Sheng. Jin Sheng stood where he was, his fingers wrapped in golden light. As the silver threads approached, his fingers struck them with perfect timing, effortlessly blocking every thread in an instant.

"Are those finger movements necessary? They're too obvious." Jin Sheng looked curiously at the fingers Yuxian used to control the silver threads.

Yuxian controlled the silver threads with both hands, making them curve around as their tips rapidly stabbed toward Jin Sheng. At the same time, he answered, "They're easier to control this way. And silver threads fired from different parts of the body actually differ in flexibility. The ones from the fingertips are the most flexible, followed by the palms, then the wrists, forearms, elbows, and upper arms. Silver threads fired from other areas are harder to control."

Because the silver blood in his body was limited, he naturally had to concentrate it in the most flexible areas. That was also why having his right arm severed by Zhou Tai had greatly weakened him.

Flexible silver threads and inflexible silver threads had a tremendous difference in combat.

"That's purely because your proficiency isn't high enough. I've seen Marcus use the same ability. He controlled silver threads in endless variations, making them impossible to guard against. He could even cover his entire body and form silver armor. He's far stronger than you are now." Jin Sheng easily evaded the silver threads as he spoke.

Yuxian's eyes lit up. A vampire's physical defense really was not strong. If he could weave silver threads into armor, it would indeed provide decent protection.

Perhaps he could learn how to knit sweaters later. In theory, the two should be similar.

But the most important thing now was to force Jin Sheng to attack. So far, Jin Sheng had only defended, blocking all his attacks with a single finger.

Facing Jin Sheng,

the pressure was not as great as it had been against Zhou Tai, but he could clearly feel the enormous gap between their actual combat experience.

Yuxian kept trying to break through Jin Sheng's defense from different angles, but Jin Sheng seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. No matter which direction Yuxian attacked from, he blocked it with ease.

Realizing that continuing to attack would only waste his energy, Yuxian quickly withdrew all the silver threads.

After thinking for a moment, he immediately controlled the silver threads to wrap around his hands, forming a pair of crude silver gloves. Then he charged at Jin Sheng. Whether it was ranged attacks or close combat, he wanted to learn more from Jin Sheng.

"Not a bad idea." Jin Sheng smiled as he watched Yuxian rush toward him.

Then he grew serious. Faint golden light appeared in his palms. When faced with Yuxian's fist, he easily blocked it with his palm. The two exchanged blows across the athletic field, each clash ending with Jin Sheng tapping a finger against Yuxian's forehead.

"Have you learned any boxing?" Jin Sheng asked as they fought.

Yuxian answered honestly, "I learned some online, but it doesn't seem very useful."

"Fighting techniques online are meant for dealing with ordinary people. We possess extraordinary power, so many attacks on weak points don't affect us. That's why you have the illusion that they're useless. Your lifespan is long, so you should learn from every source. As for technique, it's just a matter of steady practice. It'll improve eventually," Jin Sheng said with a smile.

In truth, after exchanging blows, he had already keenly noticed that Yuxian was vastly different from ordinary vampires.

Ordinary vampires were truly weak during their first hundred years after becoming vampires. They were fine when bullying ordinary people, but compared to most superhumans, they were nothing but weaklings. That was the price of immortality.

But Yuxian?

Every punch he threw was absurdly powerful, as though he were being struck head-on by a charging rhinoceros.

Simply put, Yuxian's strength and speed had already reached the lower levels of ant rank. He did not resemble a newly turned vampire at all, but rather one of those old vampires who had lived for two or three hundred years.

"Alright, I have a rough understanding of your strength now. Be careful next." Jin Sheng smiled slightly after blocking Yuxian's jab.

Danger!

Every hair on Yuxian's body stood on end, and he immediately retreated at top speed.

But Jin Sheng seemed to have predicted his every move. The moment he retreated, Jin Sheng followed rapidly, and the distance between them never widened.

Then Jin Sheng launched a rapid barrage of punches. Yuxian could clearly see the fists, yet he could not block them at all.

Punch after punch.

Finally, Jin Sheng sent Yuxian flying into the air with an uppercut and said, "Tiger Form Fist Ultimate Art, Lion's Radiance!"

In midair, golden particles burst out from Yuxian's body and formed a massive golden lion. With one swipe of its paw, the lion slammed Yuxian toward the ground.

With a thunderous crash, Yuxian slammed heavily into the ground. Every bone in his body shattered, leaving him unable to move.