Chapter 57 was too intense; he was completely crushed.
On the distant lakeshore, everyone watched in stunned silence.
Humans could actually be strong to such an extent.
Wang Qiang's mouth hung wide open.
It turned out the gap between him and Commander Zhang was actually this massive!
High in the sky, Pang Panshi's gaze was even more vacant: "Brother Fan... you hammered the King-level of Qiandao Lake... to pulp alive... too fierce, you're a total beast!"
Above Qiandao Lake, the thick scent of blood condensed into a physical presence.
Without the leadership of that King-level Sea-Covering Flood Dragon, the remaining ferocious beasts were leaderless, completely reduced to lambs for the slaughter.
The blood and qi within Zhang Fan's body roared as four dragons, solid as reality, manifested behind him and charged into the scattering beast tide!
This turned into a complete massacre.
Wherever the Cinder Dragons passed, all kinds of ferocious beasts were turned to charcoal under the Cinder Flames!
As the dragon bodies swept through, they left behind vast empty spaces!
However, the number of ferocious beasts was simply too great.
Zhang Fan activated his secret technique, controlling the four Cinder Dragons to charge and kill in all directions, but his own blood and qi were also being rapidly consumed.
After only fifteen minutes, Zhang Fan felt a wave of exhaustion.
"There are too many of them..." Zhang Fan frowned slightly. Killing high-level ferocious beasts wasn't difficult for him, but a large-scale purge like this was a massive test of endurance.
Even if it were three thousand pigs stretching out their necks to be slaughtered, one's arms would still get tired.
"Fire support! Clear the area! Relieve the pressure on the Minister!" Pang Panshi immediately roared into his walkie-talkie from the helicopter.
The army soldiers, who had been standing by, immediately began frantically pouring ammunition into the densest areas of the beast tide in the lake!
Artillery roared, and energy beams wove into a net, tearing apart swaths of low-level ferocious beasts.
Wang Qiang personally led a team of elites into the water, beginning a massacre of their own.
With their support, the pressure on Zhang Fan was greatly reduced.
He no longer pursued the most efficient killing; instead, his figure flickered as he went to touch the carcasses of the ferocious beasts.
[Touched a Lord-level Ferocious Beast carcass, obtained attribute points +200...]
[Touched a Soldier-level Ferocious Beast carcass, obtained attribute points +8...]
[...]
The notification sounds in his mind rang out densely.
By the later stages, the high-end combat power of the beast tide had been mostly cleared out by Zhang Fan and the Cinder Dragons; the remainder were mostly fleeing on instinct.
Zhang Fan's focus shifted entirely to "looting corpses."
When the last alligator-turtle-like ferocious beast attempting to dive into deep water had its shell shattered by Wang Qiang's heavy sniper cannon, the entire Qiandao Lake battlefield suddenly fell silent.
Everyone was in a bit of a daze, looking at the scene of countless severed limbs floating before them and the lake water dyed a faint red. For a moment, they couldn't believe this was truly the human forbidden zone of many years, Qiandao Lake!
"We... solved the Qiandao Lake beast tide?" many soldiers panted heavily.
One King-level, thirty Lord-level, and over three thousand ferocious beasts of various ranks... this terrifying force, capable of easily wiping out a large base city, had actually been flattened by them!
Everyone's eyes involuntarily turned toward the figure of the man in the center of the battlefield.
Wang Qiang looked at Zhang Fan, the words of Commander Zhu Chi echoing in his mind.
"One top-tier combatant is worth ten of you, Wang Qiang."
At this moment, he had a much deeper understanding of those words.
More like ten?
Even a hundred Wang Qiangs wouldn't have dared to come to Qiandao Lake today.
Only with a truly powerful top-tier combatant like Zhang Fan, capable of dealing with that peak-form King-level, would people like them dare to come along for the scraps.
"Clear the battlefield, tally the losses. Pang Panshi, take a team and follow me to the Island of a Thousand Isles." Zhang Fan's voice broke the silence.
"Yes! Minister!"
Everyone responded in a thunderous roar, their gazes toward Zhang Fan filled with fanatical worship.
Soon, several speedboats headed toward the largest island in the center of the lake.
On the island, dilapidated buildings were faintly visible. When Zhang Fan and the others stepped onto the island, dense crowds of people emerged from their hiding places.
Men, women, old and young—roughly ten thousand people—all were emaciated and dressed in rags, but their eyes burned with the flames of excitement and anticipation.
They had been besieged here for too long, living in fear every day amidst the roars of ferocious beasts.
They had seen that earth-shattering battle on the lake from afar; they saw the Cinder Dragons crossing the sky, and even more, they saw the ferocious beasts scatter!
"We won! It's the human army! They've fought their way here!"
"We're saved! We're finally saved!"
"We can finally leave this island!"
Ten thousand pairs of eyes focused simultaneously on Zhang Fan.
They had seen from a distance that it was this young man who, alone, charged into the beast tide and fought that most powerful beast.
"Our benefactor!"
"Thank you for saving us!"
The crowd knelt like a tide, the sounds of kowtowing and tearful thanks rising one after another.
Some children were held down by adults to kowtow ignorantly; they might not fully understand what this meant, but they knew it was the person before them who ensured they no longer had to live day and night in fear of the monsters' roars.
Zhang Fan looked at the mass of people kneeling before him, his heart slightly touched, but his face remained calm.
"Everyone, stand up. The crisis is over. After a brief rest, the Alliance will arrange ships to take you off the island."
...
Huahai City, Martial Artists Alliance Headquarters.
Zhu Chi stared intently at the battle reports and recorded footage sent back. His face was first filled with disbelief, which then turned into immense surprise and excitement.
"He actually did it! Qiandao Lake... a major threat that has persisted for years!"
When he saw the thrilling duel between Zhang Fan and the Sea-Covering Flood Dragon on the recorder, he couldn't help but slap the table in praise.
"This strength... his progress is too fast! Compared to when he was at the Catacombs Manor last time, he seems much stronger again! Why does it feel like Zhang Fan's strength is constantly improving? Is this a legendary genius?"
...
Qinggang City, Alliance Top-floor Villa.
Zhang Fan returned to his quiet room and sank his consciousness into his mind.
On the light-blue panel, the numbers were dazzling.
[Available Attribute Points: 11,432]
With the battle at Qiandao Lake, including the over one thousand points remaining from before, his attribute points had broken the five-figure mark for the first time!
This was an unprecedentedly large sum of points!
Besides that, he was also fiddling with a fist-sized, azure crystal that seemed to have waves flowing inside it.
A King-level Core, the essence of the Sea-Covering Flood Dragon. The vast energy contained within could be channeled into the base void-piercing cannon to serve as energy fuel.
"Let's start allocating points."
"First, a comprehensive upgrade to Limit Break Stage 3!"
His intent locked onto "Collapsing Martial Hammer Technique (Perfection)".
[Can be deduced and advanced to 'Infinite Collapsing Martial Hammer'. Requires 780 attribute points. Advance?]
"Advance!"
780 attribute points evaporated instantly.
His insights into the hammer technique underwent a qualitative change. The intent of collapse became deeper, carrying a characteristic of piercing through space and being omnipresent!
[Collapsing Martial Hammer Technique] advanced to [Infinite Collapsing Martial Hammer (Entry)]!
Immediately after, [Extreme Wind-Thunder Step (Entry)] consumed 390 points to reach Perfection, then another 780 points to advance to [Shenxiao Shocking Thunder Step (Entry)]!
Transforming into shocking thunder, his speed and explosive power soared once again!