High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

A few hours later, Xu Wuyi returned to Yuntai City and took a car to Star Martial University.

The car passed through downtown Yuntai City. The streets were bustling with traffic, and pedestrians thronged the sidewalks.

Shop windows displayed the latest electronic gadgets, a large screen in the square played entertainment news, and children laughed and played in the park.

Everything was peaceful, so ordinary.

But Xu Wuyi knew this peace was bought with the blood of Martial Artists on the front lines.

And among those who had sacrificed themselves were elders he respected, comrades he had fought alongside, and countless strangers he had never met.

The car stopped at the entrance of Star Martial University.

Xu Wuyi got out, shouldered his bag, and walked through the school gates.

The familiar campus scene unfolded before his eyes.

Students walked in twos and threes along the tree-lined paths, discussing classes, exams, and their weekend plans. Shouts echoed from the Training Ground, where martial arts students were sparring.

Everything seemed the same as before.

But Xu Wuyi knew he was different now.

He had experienced life and death, slain his enemies with his own hands, witnessed the fall of a Grandmaster, and personally delivered a measure of justice for those who had died.

These experiences had made it even clearer which path he had to walk.

Returning to Villa No. 7 in the Hidden Dragon Garden, Xu Wuyi pushed open the door to the Cultivation Room.

Everything was just as he had left it.

The Earth Fire Marrow Lamp burned quietly, the light screen on the control panel was in standby mode, and the faint scent of Energy permeated the air.

He set down his bag, walked to the center of the Cultivation Room, and sat down cross-legged.

He closed his eyes, and his consciousness sank into his sea of consciousness.

The dark gold Heart Image stood majestically, its mountain body massive, with the Golden Crow perched upon it.

Xu Wuyi began to circulate the ”Golden Crow Carrying the Earth,” using Visualization to refine his Qi and Blood.

This time, he wasn’t in a hurry to break through his bottleneck. Instead, he reviewed his fundamentals, digesting the insights gained from battle one by one.

On the path of Martial Arts, sometimes slower is faster.

He needed to accumulate, to settle, to completely transform the tempering he had undergone through blood and fire into his own strength.

...

「Ten days after returning to Star Martial University.」

In the underground Cultivation Room of Villa No. 7 in the Hidden Dragon Garden, Xu Wuyi sat cross-legged in the center.

The steady light and heat of the Earth Fire Marrow Lamp cascaded down, enveloping him in a warm halo.

For ten days, he had not taken a single step out of the villa.

His three meals were delivered to the Cultivation Room door by the smart butler. Aside from necessary rest and food, he spent all his time immersed in cultivation.

His Visualization of the ”Golden Crow Carrying the Earth” had reached the Transformation Realm.

Within his sea of consciousness, the Dark Gold Mountain Body stood imposing and tall. Every line in the rock texture was clearly visible, as if it had truly been formed over eons.

Atop the mountain’s peak, the Golden Crow Illusion spread its wings. The Flame runes on its feathers flowed unceasingly, radiating a brilliant light and heat like the sun itself.

His Heart Image had completely stabilized, becoming even more solid than it was in the Celestial Wolf Four Star Realm.

His progress shouldn’t have been this fast, but forcefully inducing the Heart Image Manifestation back then, while risky, had also yielded immense benefits.

Xu Wuyi could feel that the threshold between Great Success in Heart Image and the Innate Realm was now as thin as a cicada’s wing.

But he was in no hurry to break through.

In the final battle, he had forced his Heart Image Manifestation and unleashed the Heaven-Burning Strike. Although it had repelled Wu Qige and the other two, it had also nearly caused his Heart Image to collapse.

That was a sign of an unstable foundation.

If his foundation had been more solid, his control over the Power of Heart Image more refined, perhaps he wouldn’t have needed to take such a risk.

So for these past ten days, Xu Wuyi had not pursued an increase in his Realm, but instead focused his entire Heart and Spirit on polishing his foundation.

He replayed every detail of the battle on Celestial Wolf Four in his mind.

’During the canyon ambush, how could I have mobilized the Power of Heart Image more efficiently? During the base raid, how could we have coordinated more effectively? When fighting Wu Qige, how could I have made my spear thrusts more precise?’

Every review brought new insights.

He integrated these insights into his daily cultivation, transforming them into a more refined control over his power.

At this moment, Xu Wuyi slowly opened his eyes.

He pulled up his personal terminal and opened the encrypted channel for internal Federation Military news.

This was a privilege Pan Yan had left for him, allowing him to view front-line battle reports that did not involve core secrets.

The light screen lit up, and lines of short messages scrolled past.

[March 17th. In the ”Broken Star Belt” region of the Seventh Star Realm Battlefield, our forces launched a third major counterattack, successfully recapturing Resource Point No. 17. Forty-three units of War General Level and above from the Celestial Wolf Civilization were killed, along with twenty-seven units of War General Level and above from the Feathered People Civilization.]

[March 19th. In the ”Ashen Plains” of the Eighth Star Realm Battlefield, a Celestial Wolf Civilization transport fleet was ambushed by our forces. The entire crew was annihilated, and approximately eight million tons of various resource ores were seized.]

[March 22nd. A Federation special operations team infiltrated ”Crimson Claw,” a vassal Star Realm of the Celestial Wolf Civilization, destroying three military bases and killing one of the garrisoned Divine Beings. This Divine Being was a member of the Celestial Wolf Civilization’s Wolf God Council, codenamed ”Blood Claw.” This marks the first time in nearly fifty years that a Celestial Wolf Deity has fallen behind enemy lines.]

[...]

Xu Wuyi’s gaze lingered on the last message for a long time.

A Divine Being had fallen.

The Divine Beings of the Celestial Wolf Civilization were equivalent to the Federation’s Grandmaster Level combatants.

Each one was a vital pillar of their civilization, a peak expert cultivated over hundreds of years with a vast amount of resources.

For such a being to be infiltrated and killed behind enemy lines by a Federation special operations team was unthinkable.

This wasn’t just a combat loss; it was a bloody act of vengeance against the Celestial Wolf Civilization.

Xu Wuyi could imagine how oppressive the atmosphere in the Wolf God Mountain’s council hall must be, and how furious those centuries-old Elder Werewolves must feel.

But anger was useless.

War was like this: you kill my people, I’ll destroy your gods. There was no right or wrong, only strong and weak.

The messages continued to scroll.

[March 25th. The Feathered People Civilization’s ”Wind-Whisper Outpost” in the Ninth Star Realm Battlefield was assaulted by our forces. The garrison was wiped out, and the resource depot was burned. The Feathered People Civilization’s council issued a statement condemning the Federation for ”violating the ethics of war” and announced a state of full military readiness.]

[March 27th. Wu Meng, Chief of the Celestial Wolf Civilization’s Wolf God Council, sent a request for temporary ceasefire negotiations to the Federation Military via an encrypted channel. The request was denied.]

A chill flashed in Xu Wuyi’s eyes as he read the updates.

It was, of course, too late for the Celestial Wolf Civilization to be asking for peace now.

The combined strength of these two Alien Races was no match for the Federation, whether in the number of Grandmaster Level experts, technological level, or organizational strength.

Previously, the Federation had focused its energy on developing resources in the Star Realm Battlefields and dealing with incursions from various Star Beasts.

Moreover, it wasn’t in the Federation’s culture to annihilate all its neighbors.

But no one had expected these two Alien Races, blinded by greed, to launch a sneak attack against the Federation.

He closed the light screen, stood up, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window of the Cultivation Room.

Outside was the garden scenery of the Hidden Dragon Garden. Spring sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground. A few birds hopped and chirped on the branches. Everything was tranquil and serene.

”It’s not enough,” Xu Wuyi murmured to himself.