High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

”We’re in trouble.” Li Shuang tightened her grip on her longsword, her voice low. ”The Red Armor Species’ defense is extremely tough. It’s hard for my sword to break through their back armor.”

Almost simultaneously, a call for help came through the communicator: ”Zone B1 requests support! Two Red Armor Commanders have appeared! Martial Artist Chen is injured!”

”Zone C2 requests support! Three Red Armor Commanders have broken through the defensive line! People are trapped!”

Every defensive line was in critical danger.

Li Shuang charged into the swarm of beasts, flashes of her sword blooming amidst the horde, but the sea of eerie green eyes seemed endless.

Just as she cut down another Blade-toothed Beast, five exceptionally large figures lunged out from the shadows of the cliff face ahead of her!

Their target wasn’t Li Shuang, but the three pale-faced rookie Martial Artists in the middle of the line—the spot where the Qi and Blood was ”freshest” and the defenses were weakest.

”Watch out!” Zhao Tie cried, his eyes wide with fury, but he was too far away to help.

Li Shuang was tangled up with three ordinary Blade-toothed Beasts. She shifted her Sword Momentum, about to force her way through to rescue them—

But a figure moved faster than her!

Xu Wuyi moved.

No shout, no gathering power. He simply vanished from the rock where he stood.

The next instant, he cut in between the five dark red figures and the three rookies like a phantom.

The Meteor Iron Long Spear drew a low, dark arc through the air, lashing out with absolute precision against the side of the neck of the first Red Armor Commander to pounce.

THUD!

The dull thud of the impact was jarring.

The Red Armor Commander’s pounce was brutally interrupted. Its head whipped to the side, and it let out a pained, furious howl.

Its scarlet compound eyes locked onto the human who had suddenly appeared before it.

Xu Wuyi didn’t give it time to react.

The instant the strike landed, he used the force to spin, changing his spear’s motion from a sweep to a thrust. Dark Gold Flame erupted from the spear tip, coalescing into a single, razor-sharp point of cold light.

”Shocking God!”

An invisible spike on the spiritual level erupted at the same time as the simple, unadorned thrust.

The Red Armor Commander’s body stiffened, its instinctive defensive move a half-beat too slow.

PFFT!

The spear tip precisely pierced its savage mouthparts and exited through the upper back of its head!

The dark gold Undying Flame poured madly down the spear’s shaft, instantly incinerating its central nervous system from the inside.

This enormous Star Beast Commander didn’t even have time to let out a full scream before it crashed to the ground, its body swiftly consumed by the Dark Gold Flame as it fell.

An instant kill!

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Only after the first Commander was dead did the other four Red Armor Commanders land from their pounce, half-surrounding Xu Wuyi.

Xu Wuyi pulled his spear free, turned, and swept his cold gaze over the four remaining Star Beasts.

He could feel the terrified gazes of his teammates and a momentary freeze from Li Shuang’s direction.

But he had no time to worry about that now.

The four Red Armor Commanders moved at once, lunging from different directions and sealing off all escape routes.

They clearly possessed a basic level of hunting intelligence.

Xu Wuyi didn’t dodge.

The *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* technique activated at full power. His Qi and Blood roared like a boiling furnace as *Melting Furnace Boiling Blood* silently engaged.

A scorching, violent aura spread out from him, faintly distorting the air.

He executed the *Instant Shadow Step*, his figure suddenly blurring. By a hair’s breadth, he slipped through the gap between two Commanders’ claws and stabbed back with a reverse-grip thrust!

SCHRRRIP!

The spear blade, wreathed in Dark Gold Flame, viciously tore open the junction between the second Commander’s neck and its thick chest plate.

The flame burrowed into the wound like a living thing. The Commander let out an agonized roar, its movements becoming contorted.

The third Commander’s bladed claws were already at Xu Wuyi’s back.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Xu Wuyi ducked and spun with an uncanny movement. With no time to retrieve his spear, he clenched his left fist and threw a simple, straight punch!

BAM!

A Dark Gold Flame flashed over his fist and vanished.

His fist smashed squarely into the center of the third Commander’s chest plate.

The hard, dark-red carapace groaned and cracked under the immense pressure. The Commander was sent staggering back by the tremendous force, a sickening, muffled sound from within its torso betraying ruptured organs.

Using the recoil from the punch, Xu Wuyi moved again. His Meteor Iron Long Spear, like an angry dragon returning to its nest, shot forward with a piercing shriek, aimed at the second Commander’s eye socket.

SQUELCH!

It pierced through to the brain.

Almost simultaneously, without even looking, he kicked out with his right foot like a bolt of lightning, precisely striking the jaw of the fourth Commander, which was attempting a sneak attack on his lower body.

A burst of immense force mixed with Scorching Qi Force snapped the Commander’s head back, exposing its vulnerable throat.

Xu Wuyi’s right wrist, still gripping the spear, flicked. He smoothly pulled the spear out from the second Commander and swung it in a semi-circle, brutally smashing the metal butt of the shaft into the exposed throat!

CRACK!

The sound of the throat bones shattering was clearly audible.

The fourth Commander’s roar was cut short. Its massive body crashed to the ground, twitching as it suffocated.

By this time, the third Commander, which had been knocked back by the punch, and the fifth Commander, which had lagged behind in the initial encirclement, had just regained their footing. A trace of instinctual fear was already visible in their crimson compound eyes.

Xu Wuyi gave them no chance to breathe or escape.

The Qi and Blood in his body gathered like the final moments before a volcanic eruption. In his sea of consciousness, the ”Mountain” Intention provided Soul Suppressing, the ”Burn” Intention ignited, and the aura of ”Pierce” coalesced at his spear tip.

He and his spear seemed to become one. The Dark Gold Flame no longer just coiled around it, but fused completely with the spear’s shaft, causing the Meteor Iron Long Spear to radiate a devastating aura.

He took a step, and the ground cracked beneath his feet.

Two spear phantoms stabbed out, almost simultaneously.

Fast! Precise! Vicious!

One pierced the wound on the third Commander’s chest and abdomen, the flame detonating completely within its body.

The other, as if predicting the future, struck at the exact spot on the fifth Commander’s pouncing trajectory where its throat was bound to be.

PFFT! PFFT!

Two soft sounds, accompanied by the Dark Gold Flame bursting out from within their bodies.

Five Red Armor Commanders. From the moment Xu Wuyi attacked to the moment they were all dead, less than twenty seconds had passed.

The scene fell deathly silent.

There was only the soft crackling of the Dark Gold Flame burning on the Star Beast corpses and the faint sounds of fighting from the other battle zones.

Zhao Tie and the other team members stared, jaws agape, at the young figure standing with his spear amidst the five corpses, as if they were looking at a monster.

Li Shuang finished off a Blade-toothed Beast that had been tangling with her and turned to look, her cool eyes filled with utter shock.

’Even if I could take down those five Commanders,’ she thought, ’I could never have done it so cleanly and efficiently. And I definitely couldn’t have pulled off such a high-speed slaughter in the blink of an eye while protecting the rookies. This is definitely the strength of a Senior Level Martial Artist! Isn’t this kid a new promotion? How can he be this strong!’

Xu Wuyi flicked the last dark gold ember from his spear tip. His breathing was slightly ragged, and sweat beaded on his temples.

Killing five Commanders in such a rapid burst had taken a significant toll on him.

He didn’t pause, his gaze quickly sweeping over the now-stabilized defensive line before meeting Li Shuang’s.

Xu Wuyi looked at Li Shuang. ”Sister Li, I’m leaving this place to you. I’m going to Zone B1.”

Li Shuang was taken aback. ”By yourself?”

”I’m faster alone,” Xu Wuyi said concisely. ”My Spear Technique is better suited for armor penetration.”

Before Li Shuang could reply, he had already leaped away. His figure streaked through the night, leaving behind an afterimage as he pushed his *Instant Shadow Step* to its limit and sped toward Zone B1.