"It hurts so much!"
His spiritual force awakening had not ended. It felt as though tens of millions of steel needles were stabbing into his entire body over and over. Anyone else's brain would have triggered its self-protection mechanism at the very onset of such agonizing pain, knocking them unconscious.
But Li Xin possessed the Eternal Divine Brain, which would never shut down because of his physical pain. No matter how much he suffered, he would not lose consciousness. He could only grit his teeth and endure it.
Even under this inhuman agony, Li Xin managed to stand through sheer force of will.
He wanted to do something to distract himself from the unbearable pain.
But after gripping the sword's hilt with all his strength, he found he could not even pull the Blood Shadow Battle Sword out of the ground!
The pain was so unbearable that he wished he could simply pass out. He had no idea how long this inhuman torment lasted. Gradually, his whole body grew almost numb.
"It's over. It's finally over!"
At some point, the pain that had stabbed relentlessly into his body and soul like countless steel needles vanished in an instant.
At the same time, a cool stream of energy flowed from his mind into every part of his soul and body, healing the countless wounds they had suffered.
Li Xin felt as though he were basking in heaven's warmest sunlight. It was the most exquisite comfort he had ever experienced.
"From hell to heaven in an instant!"
Once he recovered his senses, he could not help marveling. Bathed in that warmth, he almost felt as though the pain had never been real.
"Is this spiritual force?"
Li Xin extended his mental perception and discovered that his spiritual force was like an invisible hand.
With a thought, the battle sword embedded in the ground floated into the air. Following his will, it began practicing basic sword techniques on its own.
With another thought, all the nearby rocks floated up as well, then hurtled in the same direction like cannonballs.
"Awooo!!!"
Just then, a distant pack of Black-Scaled Wolves charged toward Li Xin at full speed, led by a Black-Scaled Wolf King.
The Black-Scaled Wolf King was an Intermediate War General Level monster. After detecting the strong scent of blood in the area, it had followed the trail.
Li Xin was not far from the pool of blood, so the wolf king had naturally tracked the scent to him.
There were seventy-six Black-Scaled Wolves in the pack. Apart from the Black-Scaled Wolf King, all of them were only Beast Soldier Level.
"Perfect timing!"
Li Xin's eyes lit up at the sight of the pack. He had just been thinking of finding some monsters to test his spiritual force, and these Black-Scaled Wolves had delivered themselves right to his doorstep.
"Kill!!"
Before the Black-Scaled Wolves could reach him, Li Xin sent the shield he carried hurtling at the leading wolves with all his strength.
It was as though those Black-Scaled Wolves had been struck by a heavy truck traveling at three hundred kilometers per hour. Their scales shattered, their bodies twisted grotesquely, and blood sprayed through the sky, staining the air red.
"They can't take a single hit!"
With a thought, Li Xin controlled two battle swords and two shields. Wherever he looked, the swords and shields shot out at tremendous speed to strike.
These Beast Soldier Level Black-Scaled Wolves were utterly helpless against Li Xin now that he had awakened his spiritual force.
In less than a few seconds, Li Xin slaughtered more than half the pack.
"Awooo!!!"
The Black-Scaled Wolf King knew no fear. It bared its teeth and roared, gathered strength in its limbs, then surged forward in an explosive burst and pounced.
"Die!"
A cold glint flashed in Li Xin's eyes. The Black-Scaled Wolf King seemed as slow as a turtle to him. His two battle swords swept through the air like a pair of scissors, severing its neck just as it leaped.
Its body continued flying forward under its own momentum, blood spraying from its neck, but its head had already fallen to the ground.
"Not bad, not bad. Killing monsters with spiritual force is much faster than cutting them down one at a time with a sword!"
After killing every Black-Scaled Wolf and draining all their energy, he immediately left.
Only after finding a quiet, secluded spot nearby did he settle down to carefully explore his newly awakened power.
First, his strength had soared. At the very least, he felt that his physique had reached the Intermediate War General Level.
His senses had also become far sharper. With his spiritual force probing in every direction without a single blind spot, catching him by surprise would be almost impossible.
"It's hard to say exactly how strong my spiritual force is, but normally, spiritual force is two levels above genetic origin energy. That would put it on par with a Beginner War God!"
Within Li Xin's sea of consciousness was a solid piece of black metal, a sign that his spiritual force had condensed.
This also meant that his spiritual force potential had not yet been exhausted. As his genetic origin energy improved, the solid mass would release spiritual force, raising it to two minor levels above his physical strength.
"I'll rest here tonight and test just how strong I am tomorrow."
The awakening had left him exhausted in both body and mind today. He really did not want to keep hunting monsters.
But while Li Xin did not want to hunt, others wanted to hunt him.
"We found a vehicle. It should belong to the target. He probably isn't far away."
"There are footprints to the east. Come on, let's keep tracking him."
Five men stood around Li Xin's off-road vehicle. Four were Elementary Warlords, while the fifth was at the Intermediate War General Level.
"Tsk, tsk. Who would've thought the Liu Family would pay so much to hire our Black Bull Squad just to kill a guy who's been a martial artist for less than a month?"
"Well, that's how it is. The Liu Family and the Li Family are enemies, and this kid's talent is terrifying. Once he matures, the Liu Family won't have any easy days left. He might even wipe them out."
"More importantly, I heard the Extreme Martial Hall recruited him. Even the hall master showed up, but for some reason, he didn't go to their headquarters. That gave the Liu Family their chance."
"Heh, only our Black Bull Mercenary Squad has the guts for this. No one else would dare take a job like this."
Although the five men chatted and laughed, they did not slow down at all. Following the clues left on the ground, they soon found Li Xin's location.
I never thought the Liu Family would hire people to kill me!
What the five mercenaries did not know was that Li Xin had already detected them as they approached. Their every move lay within the reach of his spiritual force.
The Liu Family had considered the possibility that the Li Family might send someone to protect Li Xin in secret. That was why they had paid a hefty price to hire five War General Level mercenaries to kill him.
Had the Liu Family not known for certain that Li Xin's father, Li Houzhong, was not with him, they would probably have hired even stronger mercenaries.
"Wait. Don't you think it's too quiet here?"
The mercenary captain, Yi Baixuan, suddenly raised a hand to signal everyone to stop, then immediately went on alert.
"Captain, now that you mention it, I noticed it too. We can't hear a single monster roar or insect chirp around here!"
The other four mercenaries were no rookies either. They immediately realized something was wrong.
"Are you looking for me?"
Li Xin stopped hiding and stepped out openly.
"Captain, it really is him!"
After Li Xin stepped out, one of the mercenaries studied him, then took out a photograph to compare before confirming his identity.
Before you continue