Chapter 5 Beast Tide

[Year 3: Dripping Water Pierces Stone]

[You reached a tacit agreement with Taji Settlement for trade.]

[You moved into the cellar in the back mountain. Su Ming would regularly place roasted beast meat and filtered water at the entrance every day, never disturbing you.]

[With no more worries, you once again entered a frantic Cultivate mode.]

[Although there was no 'Dragon Blood Body Tempering Paste,' and your Cultivate speed slowed, you had plenty of time and plenty of perseverance.]

[You swung your saber five thousand times a day and Cultivated your footwork for six hours.]

[Regardless of heat or cold, wind or rain.]

[Occasionally, nearby wanderers would try to raid the settlement. You only needed to secretly shoot a few pebbles, or silently kill a few leading villains in the dead of night, and the crisis would resolve itself.]

[You became the legendary 'Guardian God' in Taji Settlement, but no one had seen your true face, except for the little girl who delivered food every day.]

[This year, you refined the Qi and Blood in your body until it was as solid as granite.]

[Year 5: Accumulation for a Breakthrough]

[Time is the best sculptor.]

[Five years of arduous Cultivate completely erased your scholarly air, replacing it with a restrained, abyss-like composure.]

[Your hair grew to your waist, and your beard covered your face, but your eyes gleamed terrifyingly.]

[Late that night, inside the cellar.]

[You sat cross-legged, the Qi and Blood in your body, after five years of compression, was as viscous as mercury.]

['Break!']

[You let out a low roar in your heart.]

[Boom!]

[It was as if a thunderclap exploded within your body. Your Qi and Blood scoured your bones, emitting a clang of metal.]

[A faint jade-colored luster appeared on the surface of your skin—that was the mark of a pure Physical Body and a high stage of Qi and Blood!]

[Qi and Blood Seventh Stage!]

[You stood up and casually punched the wall.]

[The hard rock shattered like tofu, leaving a three-inch deep fist print.]

['Now, with the strength of the Qi and Blood Seventh Stage combined with a nearly Major Achievement Basic Saber Technique,']

['I can probably even fight against an ordinary Eighth Stage of Qi and Blood Martial Artist!']

Li Ang, in reality, watched this scene, his fingertips trembling slightly with excitement.

It's done!

High stage of Qi and Blood!

Five years of planning, five years of endurance, finally exchanged for this moment of complete transformation!

[Year 6: Saber Out, No Regrets]

[Stillness breeds movement.]

[This year, you found that no matter how you circulated the 'Broadcasting Body Tempering Art,' the Qi and Blood, viscous as mercury, always circulated slowly and could not achieve perfect unity.]

[You realized that isolated Cultivate ultimately has its limits.]

[Your body had adapted to monotonous grinding; what it needed now was the stimulation of blood and fire.]

[On a stormy night, you carried your slightly chipped Fine Steel Battle Saber and walked out of the cellar.]

[The nights in the Chaos Zone were a feast of slaughter. And you were no longer content with passive defense.]

[You set your sights on a 'Gale Sickle Weasel' lurking deep within the ruins. It was a second-order mutated beast known for its speed; its Wind Blades could easily cut through steel. Although second-order mutated beasts corresponded to mid-stage Qi and Blood Martial Artists, even Eighth Stage of Qi and Blood Martial Artists were unwilling to easily provoke such extremely fast mutated beasts.]

[In your first encounter with it, you were utterly defeated.]

[You couldn't keep up with its speed. A deep, bone-visible wound was cut across your chest by a Wind Blade, and blood stained your protective suit.]

[But your 'Hardworking and Enduring' talent allowed you to ignore the intense pain. You were like a madman without pain, clinging to it relentlessly. It tired, but you were not; it was injured and wanted to retreat, but you became even more excited.]

[Finally, at the cost of a fractured left arm, you predicted its landing spot and chopped off its head with a single saber strike.]

[After recovering from your injuries, you set out again.]

[From Gale Sickle Weasels to Iron-Armored Rhinos, and then to Bloodthirsty Demonic Spiders... you treated yourself as a piece of hundred-forged fine steel and the countless mutated beasts of the Chaos Zone as hammers, frantically forging yourself in this massive furnace.]

[Every saber swing was a matter of life and death; every dodge was an instinctive evolution.]

[Finally, in the winter of the sixth year.]

[A heavy snow covered the Chaos Zone.]

[Facing three second-order mutated beasts, 'Snowfield Direwolves,' that were attacking you, you stood in the snow, your mind clear and empty.]

[The battle saber in your hand seemed to disappear, transforming into an extension of your arm, becoming part of the wind and snow.]

[Swish!]

[The saber light flashed, but the snowflakes remained undisturbed.]

[Three ferocious wolf heads soared into the sky, and warm beast blood splattered on the pristine white snow, blooming like red plum blossoms.]

[Basic Saber Technique, Major Achievement!]

[No longer constrained by Moves, there were no Moves in your hand, every saber strike was a killing Move.]

...

[Year 7: Nightmare of the Chaos Zone]

[The Major Achievement of your saber technique nourished your Physical Body.]

[Your Qi and Blood Bottleneck finally loosened, and your total Qi and Blood surged again, naturally stepping into the Qi and Blood Seventh Stage Peak!]

[This Realm, perhaps only considered elite in the Federation-controlled Territories teeming with experts, made you an undisputed powerhouse in this chaotic borderland of the Chaos Zone.]

[That summer, the notorious bandit organization 'Black Vulture Gang' set their sights on Taji Settlement.]

[They heard there was clean water and women here.]

[They gathered over thirty desperadoes and drove modified war vehicles, aggressively charging.]

[Clan Chief Su Ha despaired, planning to abandon their home and flee with his clansmen.]

[But you stepped forward.]

[It was a moonless night.]

[You activated your 'Passerby A' talent, infiltrating the Black Vulture Gang's camp like a ghost.]

[That night, there were no gunshots in the Black Vulture Gang's camp, only occasional flashes of cold light and suppressed whimpers.]

[When the first ray of sunlight fell the next morning, Su Ha was shocked to find the Black Vulture Gang's camp utterly silent. Thirty-four bandits, including their infamous leader at the Qi and Blood Seventh Stage Peak, were all killed with a single saber strike to the throat, dying in their sleep.]

[After this battle, an area of fifty li around Taji Settlement became a forbidden zone for bandits.]

[Everyone knew that an unseen Guardian God lurked here. You became the nightmare of the Chaos Zone's edge.]

...

[Year 9: The Shackles of Talent]

[Time flew by. Su Ming had grown from a little girl into a graceful young woman. She still insisted on bringing you food every day, and a certain indescribable emotion had appeared in her eyes when she looked towards the cellar.]

[But you had no mind for other matters, because you encountered a true wall—talent.]

[As early as two years ago, you had already Cultivated to the limit of Qi and Blood Seventh Stage.]

[The Qi and Blood in your body was as abundant as the sea, but no matter what, you couldn't achieve 'perfect unity, flowing through the entire body.']

[This last half-step was like an insurmountable chasm.]

[Based on your extremely high theoretical knowledge, you deduced: your Meridians were too narrow, and their Innate toughness was insufficient.]

[Your Aptitude was simply too poor.]

[Even after the baptism of the Dragon Blood Potion, that mediocrity etched into your genes still bound you like chains.]

[To Breakthrough to the Eighth Stage of Qi and Blood, you needed external help.]

[There must be a top-grade Spirit Medicine containing vast Qi and Blood to forcefully flush your Meridians.]

[But in the barren border of the Chaos Zone, this was nothing short of a fool's dream.]

[In these two years, you frantically searched everywhere, even venturing deep into the heart of the Chaos Zone, killing many mutated beasts guarding Spirit Medicine, but with meager gains.]

[Every attempt to Breakthrough to the eighth stage was like hitting a rock with an egg.]

[You didn't care about the intense pain, but the powerlessness of seeing no hope no matter how hard you tried, made you feel deeply weary for the first time.]

['Hardworking and Enduring' allowed you to try endlessly, but it couldn't change your upper limit.]

[In these three years, you made no progress.]

...

[Year 10: Swan Song]

[This year, you are twenty-eight years old.]

[Years of slaughter and arduous Cultivate made you look much older than your actual age.]

[You are still trapped at the Qi and Blood Seventh Stage Peak, your Aura as deep as an abyss.]

[You know that without a miracle, this is the end of your life's journey.]

[However, no miracle came, but disaster struck first.]

[New Martial Era, Year 135, late autumn.]

[The sky deep within the Chaos Zone suddenly turned blood red.]

[The earth began to tremble violently, and countless birds, terrified, crashed to their deaths against the rock walls.]

[A suffocating stench of blood swept in from the horizon.]

[Beast Tide!]

[And it was a large-scale Beast Tide, unseen in the Chaos Zone for decades!]

['Big Brother! Run!']

[Su Ming cried out as she rushed to the cellar entrance, her face filled with terror. 'Grandpa says this time is different, it's a real Beast Tide! Even the lord-level monsters from the inner circle are out! We have to evacuate immediately!']

[You walked out of the cellar and looked up into the distance.]

[In the sky-high dust, you saw giant beasts, mountain-sized, sweeping in with tens of thousands of mutated beast armies, engulfing everything like a black tsunami.]

[Flee?]

[With the 'Passerby A' talent, if you abandoned Taji Settlement, abandoned Su Ming, and burrowed into the sewers or deep mountains alone, you might have a slight chance of survival.]

[But...]

[You looked back at the trembling settlement behind you, at Su Ming's eyes, filled with despair and hope.]

[More importantly, you looked at your hands, which held the saber.]

['Ten years of arduous Cultivate, trapped at the Bottleneck.']

['If I don't experience true life-and-death terror, I'll be stuck at the seventh stage for the rest of my life.']

[Rather than live ignobly, it's better to burn yourself in this catastrophe! See if there's still a chance for extreme sublimation.]

['Su Ming, take your grandpa and clansmen and evacuate through the tunnel.']

[Your voice was hoarse, but it carried a metallic firmness.]

['What about you?' Su Ming cried, asking.]

[You didn't look back, but slowly drew the battle saber that had accompanied you for six years.]

[Although the blade was mottled, the edge was still gleaming, reflecting your eyes, which burned with flames.]

['I'll buy you time.']

['Also... I want to see if my saber is fast enough.']

[You walked against the flow of people, towards the overwhelming black Beast Tide, step by step.]

[At this moment, you were no longer Passerby A.]

[You are Martial Artist Li Ang.]

[Boom!]

[Qi and Blood fully erupted! The Aura of Qi and Blood Seventh Stage shot up into the sky like an erupting volcano at the very front of the Beast Tide!]

['Kill!!!']