64: Dao Xin

The student who had fallen into a berserk state had completely lost his mind.

The battle saber in his hand surged with Qi and blood, but it was chaotic, instinctively hacking and slashing wildly at everything around him.

"Zhou Kai! Calm down!"

A classmate nearby tried to approach him but was forced back by a saber strike, the blade almost cutting his cheek.

"Get lost!" Zhou Kai roared, his consciousness blurred, his eyes filled only with an endless desire for slaughter.

This state was fatal on the battlefield. It not only harmed allies but also consumed a Martial Artist's life Origin at a terrifying speed. Once Qi and blood were exhausted, it meant the end of their life.

Several instructors noticed the situation and were about to rush over to forcibly subdue him.

But someone was faster than them.

Just as Zhou Kai was about to unleash his next strike, pushing himself completely into the abyss, a calm yet majestic voice, like a morning bell and evening drum, resounded directly in the depths of his mind.

"Anger is the source of power, but not power itself."

"Control it, master it, let it become the saber in your hand, and don't let yourself become its slave."

This voice, as if carrying a strange magic, instantly extinguished the raging flames in his heart.

It was Lin Qian.

He still stood at the highest point of the city wall, not even changing his posture. But a faint, almost imperceptible wisp of Mental Energy had crossed dozens of meters, accurately penetrating Zhou Kai's Sea of Consciousness, forcibly pulling him back from the brink of Qi Deviation.

Zhou Kai's body trembled violently, his bloodshot eyes gradually regaining a trace of clarity.

He saw the unseeing corpse of his comrade, A-Jie, the worried gazes of his classmates around him, and the ferocious mutated beasts surging from all directions.

Grief still surged in his heart, but that all-destroying madness was replaced by a deeper will.

"A-Jie..." He whispered his comrade's name.

Then, he slowly raised his head, looking at the mutated wolf that had just killed A-Jie and was now pouncing on another classmate.

He no longer roared.

He simply took a deep breath, slowly guiding the Qi and blood, which had been boiling with anger, into the battle saber in his hand according to the "Basic Qi and Blood Guiding Art" that Lin Qian had taught them.

The originally chaotic and violent Qi and blood, under his guidance, became condensed and sharp.

He took a step forward, his figure as fast as lightning.

The battle saber in his hand traced a simple yet incredibly precise trajectory.

"Die!"

Puff!

The saber light flashed, and the mutated wolf's movements ceased abruptly. Its body was cleanly split into two halves down the middle.

One strike, finished.

Zhou Kai stood with his saber sheathed, his chest rising and falling violently. He didn't look at his comrade's corpse again but turned to face the next mutated beast that charged at him.

His gaze had completely changed.

Sorrow had transformed into strength, and immaturity had matured into steadfastness.

Although this scene was not captured by the live broadcast camera, the surrounding students saw it clearly.

They looked at the old man in the distance, who was like a stabilizing anchor, and the awe in their eyes grew even stronger.

So, this was the "Dao Heart" that the Headmaster often spoke of.

The Martial Dao cultivates not only Qi and blood but also the human heart.

Lin Qian's gaze, like a king surveying his territory, slowly swept across the entire battlefield.

Every student's performance was clearly imprinted in his mind.

Zhai Tianwei was calm and efficient, a born battlefield commander. Zou Leshan was incredibly brave, an excellent vanguard for charging into battle. Lu Yuansi, on the other hand, was exceptionally steady, always able to deliver a fatal blow for his comrades at the most critical moment.

And many more were rapidly growing through the trials of life and death.

They were like unpolished jade, being honed by this cruel war, revealing their own brilliance.

Below the city wall, the instructors' battle was also nearing its end.

Those dozen or so arrogant siege giant apes, under the encirclement of more than ten high-rank Martial Artists, were ultimately outnumbered and fell one after another. Their massive bodies stained the moat at the foot of the city wall red.

Of course, the instructors also paid a price.

Two instructors were severely wounded by the giant apes' dying counterattacks and were urgently brought back to the city wall by their comrades, but fortunately, there was no danger to their lives.

With the annihilation of the siege giant apes, the first wave of the beast tide's offensive finally began to weaken.

The fearless mutated wolves, after suffering over thirty thousand casualties, also had gaps appearing in their subsequent forces.

The pressure on the city wall suddenly lightened.

Many soldiers and students couldn't help but lean against the battlements, gasping for air.

The brief victory brought a moment of respite.

However, everyone knew that this was just an appetizer.

Sure enough, before they could catch their breath, more violent ground tremors came from afar.

The heavy footsteps were like thousands of troops beating war drums simultaneously, making people's hearts pound.

In the air, a disgusting smell, a mixture offishy smell, decay, and earthiness, began to permeate.

The main force of the beast tide had arrived.

Lin Qian's gaze once again turned to the distance.

This time, his brows truly furrowed into a 'Sichuan' shape.

He saw a scene that even startled him.

The main force of the slowly approaching beast tide was not the chaotic and disorganized rabble he had imagined.

On the contrary, their formations were clear, and their discipline was as strict as an elite human army.

On the left flank were tens of thousands of giant wild boars, forming neat squares, like moving clusters of heavy tanks.

On the right flank were dense masses of various types of snake and lizard mutated beasts, silently lurking in the grass, their cold vertical pupils glinting with deadly light.

And in the center were the most numerous, various canine and feline carnivorous mutated beasts, which were the main force for the charge.

The most terrifying thing was that at the very rear of this army, a huge shadow was wriggling—countless venomous insect mutated beasts, the most troublesome scavengers on the battlefield.

This level of organization and discipline... Lin Qian's heart sank.

This was definitely not something ordinary mutated beasts could achieve.

Just then, the disciplined army parted in the middle, creating a passage.

A huge, chilling figure that made one's scalp tingle at a glance slowly rose from the end of the passage.

It was a monster difficult to describe in words.

It had a body over a hundred meters long, like a giant python, but it was covered in a layer of black, insect-like carapace.

And at the front of its body, there were actually three huge heads.

One was a snake's head, hissing as its tongue flickered.

One was a triangular head like a praying mantis, its huge compound eyes glinting with inorganic light.

And another was... a head that resembled a human face, only its features were twisted, filled with resentment and madness.

The moment this monster appeared, a colossal, suffocating pressure, like a tsunami, swept across the entire battlefield.

On the city wall, countless ordinary soldiers and Hunting Group members couldn't even stand steadily under this pressure, collapsing to the ground.

Even a Fourth-Rank Martial Artist like Zhuang Hanchi felt as if his heart was being clutched by an invisible hand, making breathing difficult and the circulation of his Qi and blood sluggish.

Fifth Rank!

Without a doubt, this was a true Fifth-rank Beast King!