High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

The transport craft began to descend.

Through the porthole, the silhouette of Xingjing appeared below the clouds.

The Federation’s capital was ablaze with lights against the night sky. Towering clusters of buildings rose like a steel forest, and the sky-lanes flowed with dazzling colors as countless aircraft traversed them in orderly streams, like fireflies.

Compared to the desolate X-24 Star Domain and the bizarre N-33 Star Domain, this was the civilized world.

Xu Wuyi took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

’The mission is complete.’

The feint had drawn out four sub-kings, and they had killed three of them. He Yayin’s squad had successfully captured the living mother-nest core. The Feathered People’s experimental base had been crippled.

The results were spectacular.

The transport craft landed at a designated berth in the Third Military Spaceport. When the cabin door opened, Xu Wuyi saw people already waiting outside.

In addition to the familiar medical team, Feng Zhuohua and Lin Shuo were there.

”Stay lying down. Don’t move.” Feng Zhuohua raised a hand to stop Xu Wuyi as he tried to get up. ”Stretcher.”

Two medics entered the cabin with a folding stretcher and carefully transferred Xu Wuyi onto it. Their movements were professional and gentle, not disturbing his wounds.

”What about Captain He and her team?” Xu Wuyi asked.

”They arrived ten minutes before you and have already been sent to the research institute,” Lin Shuo said, walking alongside the stretcher. ”The mother-nest core needs to be sealed and preserved immediately. Academician Zhou is handling it personally. He Yayin’s squad all sustained minor injuries and are undergoing full checkups.”

Xu Wuyi nodded and said no more.

The stretcher was loaded onto a medical hover-vehicle. The doors closed, and it sped off toward the exclusive military medical center in the inner city.

En route, Feng Zhuohua pulled up a tactical tablet, which displayed the last images transmitted from the N-33 Star Domain.

There were battle scars on the Crystal Plain, the three sub-king corpses, and the damaged area on the west side of the base where it had been breached.

The medical hover-vehicle entered the medical center’s underground tunnel and stopped before a private elevator. The stretcher was pushed inside, and the elevator ascended to the special care ward on the seventh floor.

The room was spacious and fully equipped, looking more like a suite in a luxury hotel than a hospital room.

Through the floor-to-ceiling window, he could see the Xingjing nightscape. In the distance, the monument in the central plaza stood solemn under the lights.

The medics transferred Xu Wuyi to the hospital bed and connected him to a vital signs monitor. Several thin, soft tubes extended from the device, automatically located his veins, and began administering Nutrient Liquid and restorative Potions.

”Get some rest for now,” Feng Zhuohua said. ”You can write the detailed mission report tomorrow. Once Academician Zhou finishes his preliminary analysis, I’ll sync the results with you.”

”Okay.”

The two of them left the room, closing the door softly behind them.

Xu Wuyi lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Now that it was quiet, the full weight of his exhaustion washed over him. The continuous high-intensity battles, the overexertion of his Power of Heart Image, and the pain from his injuries all surged forth the moment he relaxed.

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

The vast, dark-gold marsh within it now appeared somewhat dim. Its surface was placid, its breathing slow and heavy.

The Golden Crow Illusion floated at the marsh’s center. Its Flame was weak, and the light on its feathers was faint, as if it had exhausted all its strength.

Forcibly merging two completely different Rules, even in their nascent form, had placed an immense burden on the structure of his Heart Image.

’Fortunately, his foundation was solid.’

Xu Wuyi began to circulate his Power of Heart Image, guiding the great marsh to ”breathe” again. With each contraction and expansion, the rhythmic fluctuation of weight gradually returned.

The Golden Crow Illusion swayed gently with the rhythm, its Flame growing brighter little by little.

The recovery process was slow but steady.

Time passed quietly.

Outside, the night sky gave way to dawn, and the morning light filtered into the room through a gap in the curtains.

The data on the monitor steadily climbed. His Power of Heart Image recovery rate increased from 22% to 35%, and his body’s self-healing speed was also accelerating.

The wound on his left shoulder had scabbed over, and new skin was beginning to grow over the carbonized tissue on his burned right leg.

At eight in the morning, the door to his room was pushed open gently.

He Yayin walked in.

She had changed out of her Battle Armor and was wearing a deep blue military dress uniform. Her short hair was neatly combed, and though her face showed no signs of fatigue, her eyes were faintly bloodshot.

”I heard you were awake.” She sat in the chair beside his bed. ”How are you feeling?”

”Alright,” Xu Wuyi said, pushing himself up to lean against the headboard. ”Did everything go smoothly on your end?”

”Very smoothly.” He Yayin brought up her tactical tablet, which displayed images from the research institute.

”The mother-nest core is perfectly preserved, with its activity maintained at 87%. We have twelve samples of second-generation modified bodies, three of which are relatively intact with undamaged control cores. Academician Zhou said this is enough to keep them busy for at least three months.”

She paused, then looked at Xu Wuyi. ”More importantly, we discovered the Feathered People’s subsequent experimental plans in the base’s database.”

Xu Wuyi’s gaze sharpened. ”What plans?”

”Mass production on an industrial scale,” He Yayin said, pulling up another file. ”The Feathered People plan to establish twelve production bases for the modified bodies within a year. Their goal is to create a legion of biological weapons possessing the strength of Innate Middle Tier and basic tactical intelligence.”

”They have already secretly selected sites in four Star Domains, and N-33 was just one of them. If we hadn’t destroyed it in time, the first batch of mass-produced modified bodies would have been deployed to the battlefield in six months at most.”

Xu Wuyi was silent for a moment. ”What’s the Federation’s response plan?”

”The general command has already convened an emergency meeting,” He Yayin said. ”On one hand, we’re accelerating our own biotech research. On the other, we’re preparing preemptive strikes on the known sites. But that will require more intelligence, and the Feathered People will certainly tighten their security.”

He Yayin looked at him and said suddenly, ”Your final strike merged Flame and Gravity.”

”Yes.”

”It was incredibly powerful, but the backlash was also significant.” As a Martial Artist who also cultivated a water-element Heart Image, she could sense the turbulence in Xu Wuyi’s Power of Heart Image.

Xu Wuyi didn’t deny it.

In that situation, facing a deathblow from a peak sub-king, it was either go all out or die. And in moments between life and death, people often unleash potential that exceeds their limits.

”But it’s the right direction,” He Yayin’s tone shifted. ”I saw the combat logs. The Energy Level fluctuations from that strike of yours already touched the threshold of a Grandmaster. If you can refine and stabilize it, it will be the key to your breakthrough.”

She took a silver metal box from her bag and placed it on the bedside table.

”What’s this?”

”Academician Zhou asked me to give this to you.” He Yayin opened the box. Inside were three pale-gold Potions in transparent crystal vials, the liquid glowing faintly.

”’Heart Phase Stabilizer,’ the institute’s latest creation. It can help repair structural damage to a Heart Image. A single dose is worth thirty million Federation Coins, and it’s not available on the open market.”

Xu Wuyi picked one up, looking at the liquid inside the crystal vial.

He could feel the special Energy contained within the Potion. It was gentle and pure, truly beneficial to his Heart Image.

”How do I use it?”

”Intravenous injection. One a day for three consecutive days,” He Yayin said. ”Combined with rest, it should allow you to make a full recovery within a week, and perhaps even advance further.”