[Slaughter Drill x1]
[Slaughter Drill x1]
[Slaughter Drill x1]
[...]
[Kill Count: 78]
HUFF... HUFF...
Jiang Qiu's chest rose and fell slowly. He stood with one foot on the back of a Red Armored Giant Lizard, his black shirt stained with blood. Sweat poured from his head, drenching him as he stood rooted to the spot. A string of blood droplets dripped from the tip of his spear.
As far as the eye could see, a tide of Iron Armor Lizards still swarmed from all directions. The endless stream of Demon Beasts surged like a rising tide, and against them, the hundred or so students were like small fish and shrimp tossed ashore by the waves.
The recent surge in morale was drowned out by the dwindling CLANG of impacts. A teacher hidden in a nearby high-rise would flash out to kill an Iron Armor Lizard that was about to make a meal of someone, and the fallen student would then disappear.
In the blink of an eye, three or four more students were gone from the field.
'The burst from [Powerful Penetration] certainly lets me kill Demon Beasts faster, but the Qi Blood consumption is just too high. My severely depleted strength can barely support these explosive attacks anymore.'
An aura of bloodlust drifted in a ten-step radius around Jiang Qiu. The surrounding Iron Armor Lizards watched him like hungry tigers, while in the distance, Red Armored Giant Lizards lay in wait.
'Glancing over at the other side of the square, I see Li Juefeng has slowed down a lot too. Still, his silver spear quivers and his Short Spears boom, and the pile of Demon Beasts at the street entrance has grown even higher.'
'At this rate, he's bound to get exhausted.'
'Meanwhile, my Ancient Martial Spear Technique is over 600 points of progress. Another wave of Demon Beasts should be enough for me to reach Mastery and comprehend my own Huajin.'
'My efficiency will skyrocket then!'
SHINK.
He spun and stabbed, killing a beast that had lunged at his back, then smoothly pulled a glass vial of swirling, scarlet liquid from his pants pocket.
With a CLICK, he flicked the cap open with his thumb. GULP. He tilted his head back and drank it all. It felt like lava rolling from his tongue down his throat, sinking into his acid-filled stomach. A searing heat instantly surged back up into his windpipe, and white vapor puffed from his nostrils.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
His heart trembled, raced, and went wild!
In an instant, the blood overflowing his heart burst its dams. It surged endlessly into his veins like nine mighty rivers, boiling like soup!
"So this is the stimulating effect of the Blood Boiling Liquid?" Jiang Qiu's eyes flew wide open, his hair standing on end. The veins on his arms bulged like steel rebar in concrete, and his fists felt unbearably hot. "I'm taking 'Best Performance,' no question!"
BOOM—
The stone bricks beneath his feet shattered, leaving a crater. The black-clad, spear-wielding figure shot forward like a death train plowing through lost travelers, stirring up a furious wind and sending blood flying high.
[Kill Count: 89]
[...]
[Kill Count: 122]
[...]
The edge of his longspear swept across the backs of the Iron Armor Lizards like a great executioner's blade cutting down cabbages. In a short time, Jiang Qiu had nearly doubled his kill count.
He traded an extreme burst of power for extreme efficiency. He was now only about ten Low Tier Demon Beasts away from a breakthrough in his Ancient Martial Spear Technique.
He still had strength to spare. It would be enough.
BZZZ...
In an instant, a barely perceptible ripple emanated from nearby, like a wave in water. It passed through the clamorous, bloodthirsty battlefield, plucking at the heartstrings like a zither.
SHLICK. Jiang Qiu yanked his spearhead out of a Red Armored Giant Lizard's skull. He suppressed his pounding heart and heavy breathing as he looked toward the center of the square.
A great tree stood there, over ten meters tall, with vines hanging down from its branches. Amidst the ruins of Qingmu Town, it was like a jade-green mushroom growing in a desert—strange and chilling. Few students or Demon Beasts took their fights near it.
BZZZ...
Once again, a strange ripple washed out from the void. It felt like a cool breeze on the face, scattering some of the bloodlust from his brow.
'A Secret Realm fluctuation?'
Jiang Qiu's gaze slowly hardened, but his heart still pounded uncontrollably.
'According to what I learned in General Studies, a Secret Realm is fixed; once it appears, it stays in that location, like a space hidden on the other side of the world.'
'But the fluctuations of a Secret Realm follow certain patterns. Some enter an active period every thirty to fifty years, others only every one or two. A Secret Realm in its active phase tends to attract large gatherings of Demon Beasts, cause Demonization in nearby creatures, and warp the environment.'
'In any case, when a Secret Realm produces spatial fluctuations like a fish blowing bubbles, it means it's about to "eat" people...'
"Holy shit, this is the center of the Secret Realm?!"
"Run! We have to fight our way out first! If we get sucked in along with all these Demon Beasts, even the teachers won't be able to save us!"
"This fucking Secret Realm is such a bitch! It could've activated anytime, but no, it just had to mess with us right when we're fighting the Demon Beasts! Dammit!"
"Wait... hold on, is that a Demon Plant?!"
At these words, Jiang Qiu whipped his head around. His gaze pierced through the shrubs and the great tree, landing on the ghostly image of a plant stalk emerging in mid-air. At its peak, delicate green leaves cradled three fruits like White Jade, dazzling and eye-catching.
'The Demon Plant Li Juefeng said had disappeared is inside the Secret Realm.'
'How did it get in there before?'
THUMP THUMP THUMP...
Heavy footsteps cut through his thoughts. Striding across the CLANGING, chaotic battlefield, the figure of a youth in Silver Armor leaped into view, charging straight for the center of the square!
While he was stunned, a chorus of discussion rose up around him: "Holy shit, Li Juefeng actually dares to charge in? When the Secret Realm sucks everything up, it's not just gonna be us, but thousands of Demon Beasts too!"
"You're worried about him? He hasn't even gotten a scratch this whole time!"
"How can we even compare? I'm done, I'm done fighting. I want to [Withdraw]. I feel like I've gotten enough training..."
The students who couldn't fight their way out of the Demon Beast battlefield all shouted the command, "[Withdraw]!" Their Recording Rings buzzed, but no teacher responded.
One of them, Li Si, lowered his wrist and glanced doubtfully at the high-rises in the distance. He could vaguely make out sesame-seed-sized figures—the supervising teachers who were supposed to be protecting them.
But right now, they were motionless. A gloomy gray cloud slid down the sky like mud, slowly swallowing the distant high-rises, the ruined houses, the tangled vines and shrubs...
WHOOSH— WHOOSH—
A biting, cold wind made their eyes sting. In the blink of an eye, they found themselves on a vast, barren plain. Red blades of grass twisted in the wind. Several thousand Demon Beasts were now mixed in with the hundred or so students who hadn't managed to withdraw in time.
'So this is what it's like inside the Secret Realm?!'
'Unless the Secret Realm spits us back out, we have to fight all these Demon Beasts to the death?!'
Li Si's eyes widened, his eyebrows shooting up.
SHRRRIIIP—
Before he could react, the claws of an Iron Armor Lizard dug into the flesh beneath his shoulder blade from behind. His body, stiff as a wooden post, swayed from the impact.
His falling spear hadn't even hit the ground when he instinctively grabbed the two claws on his shoulder. Just as the Iron Armor Lizard was about to bite his neck, he flung it away. "Fuck—"
He bent down, snatched up his spear, and glared murderously. "Son of a bitch! If we can't escape, then we'll just have to kill them all!"
CLANG! SMASH!—
The ringing clash of spearheads against carapaces, the crisp, continuous sound of sharp points slicing through soft bellies—amidst the vast, desolate Secret Realm, the pure collision of flesh and steel possessed a primitive and savage beauty.
Several thousand Iron Armor Lizards, and over twenty Red Armored Giant Lizards.
Fewer than a hundred blood-soaked, elite students. Their Armor was shattered, their spear shafts broken, their daggers snapped.
They were nothing more than a few red dates in a bowl of black congee. Only the single, straight, verdant stalk in the center stood out, its three White Jade Fruits hanging ten meters high amidst the leaves, a lone touch of life.
THUMP!
Beside the thick roots, Li Juefeng—the only one close to the Demon Plant—leaped up, like a silver meteor streaking up into the sky.
His silver spear was slung across his back. His left hand, clad in a leather glove, reached out through the turbulent air. In just ten paces through the air, he would have all three fruits in his grasp.
BOOM—
A second, later boom shattered the barren earth. Not far away, Jiang Qiu shot through the air in pursuit. Like a Black Hawk chasing a white gull, he instantly closed the distance to Li Juefeng, his own left hand reaching out...