High-Level Martial Era

There was no sound.

Li Yuan always listened to Teacher Xu's advice.

"[You have consecutively killed Entry Rank creatures, obtained Spiritual Nature nourishment, Spiritual Awakening Level reached 25.2%]." A Divine Palace prompt flashed across Li Yuan's vision.

It made Li Yuan subconsciously stunned for a moment.

"I killed six or seven First Rank Fish Spirit Clan members before without any reaction; I thought I couldn't increase the Spiritual Awakening Level unless I killed Second Rank ones," Li Yuan muttered to himself, "Turns out, a single First Rank Alien Race is not enough to increase the percentage by 0.1%."

Li Yuan could imagine that as time went on, when his Spiritual Awakening Level reached 40%, 50%, to increase even a little bit of his Spiritual Nature, he would probably need to kill a large number of Alien Race members.

"Then let's kill," he said.

"No matter how many Alien Race members there are, kill them all," Li Yuan's eyes were cold, his heart surging with the desire to kill.

Originally, breaking through the Divine Palace's shackles to further increase the Spiritual Awakening Level should have been great news.

But right now, Li Yuan's heart couldn't feel any joy at all.

At this moment, all he wanted to do was to carry out more missions, kill more of the Fish Spirit Clan.

...

For the entire Jiang City, it was an unbearably long night.

It was a catastrophe that hadn't occurred in over a hundred years.

In the past, although the Fish Spirit Star Realm had launched several attacks, most were minor, and the only three significant ones targeted the Shi Zhou and Yizhou regions near the Star Realm entrance.

Jiang City? It had never suffered an attack of such a massive scale before.

Thus, at the initial outbreak of the Fish Spirit Tide, it caused incredible damage to the entire Jiang City, with heavy casualties and losses.

However,

the perfect city patrol defense system, Sky Net, Mechanical Legion, along with a large number of Martial Artists, made Jiang City's war machine erupt quickly.

Plus, the neighbouring counties, cities, and states were providing full support from the first moment.

When the morning sun shone on the earth once again,

this unprecedented scale of 'Fish Spirit Tide' had mostly been wiped out.

Apart from a few Fish Spirit Clan warriors who escaped into lakes, rivers, or fled along underground caves... the majority of the invading Fish Spirit Clan had been slaughtered.

However, Human Warriors continued to pursue and kill them in flying vehicles.

Countless Mechanical Warriors were also relentlessly tracking and attacking.

...

"According to preliminary statistics,"

"After a night of hard fighting, Jiang City has regained its peace, and the Star Realm Creatures attack has mostly been cleared," the host on the Star Realm channel said with a heavy voice, "Preliminary estimates show that the number of deaths in Jiang City exceeds 110,000, with more than 120,000 injured, and economic losses are huge...

A rough count shows that more than 60,000 Entry Rank Star Realm Creatures have been killed... This has been a painful lesson."

"This was a targeted attack exploiting the vulnerabilities in our country's 'City Defense System'."

"Reports have been submitted to the Seven Star Alliance, and adjustments and redeployments will be made to many city defense systems."

...

At 11 AM on December 18th,

Li Yuan's squad no longer received tasks assigned by the smart system.

"The war mission is basically over."

"Martial Artist Li Yuan, your combat video will be synchronized and uploaded with the monitoring smart bracelet... once the defense of Jiang City is completely concluded, a unified commendation will take place," Li Yuan received a reminder.

"I received it too,"

"There's a reminder to go home and rest first, and wait for further orders," Instructor Xing, Fang Longhu, and the others spoke one after another, all looking towards Li Yuan.

After this night of fighting,

their trust in Li Yuan had reached an immeasurable level.

"Alright."

"Return," Li Yuan, his eyes bloodshot, gave the command.

Whoosh!

The flying vehicle quickly flew towards the Starfire South Lake residential area.

Ordinary rescue tasks? They were swiftly mobilized across society.

...

The Starfire South Lake residential area, as tranquil as ever, seemed untouched by war's inferno.

Back home,

Li Yuan gave his family a few instructions,

then reentered the underground Martial Arts Room and ate a serving of High Origin Spirit Spring.

Next, he silently practiced the "Observing the Great Sun Starry Sky Scripture" "All Heavens' Stars."

Fighting nonstop in this battle and being injured by a Second Rank Alien Race had exhausted him to the limit.

He practiced continuously for over five hours,

until five in the afternoon.

Li Yuan then slowly opened his eyes, his body's fatigue completely dissipated.

His internal injuries were also mostly healed, and he felt even more energetic.

"Origin Power has a healing effect," Li Yuan muttered to himself, "coupled with the Visualization Method, as long as the injury is not fatal, one would recover quickly."

Li Yuan's peripheral vision unconsciously glanced at the Divine Palace panel.

——

[Life Level: 15.9 (First Rank)]

Fist Strength: 17,345 kilograms

Speed: 59.2 meters/second

Spiritual Power: 24.8

Willpower: 29

Spiritual Awakening Level: 25.4% (current limit 30%)

Star Meridian: Level 10

Skill Realm: Spear Technique (Fourth Level 99%), Movement Technique (Fourth Level 99%), Fist Technique (Fourth Level 99%)

...

Judging solely from the data on the Divine Palace panel, other than the Spiritual Awakening Level, the changes in other areas were minimal.

However, in reality...

The bloodshed experienced this night, everything that had happened, the streets like ruins, the ordinary people who died, the weak and old wailing in collapsing buildings, Teacher Xu... the impact on Li Yuan's soul was unprecedented.

This was something that ten Combat Assessments could not compare to.

"The duty of a Martial Artist."

"Kill the enemy, protect the country." Li Yuan whispered to himself, understanding these words on a deeper level than before.

This was something that hundreds of 'General History Classes' could never match.

...

At six o'clock in the afternoon.

Li Yuan arrived on the ninth floor of the first hospital in Guan Mountain District and headed straight for the VIP ward.

Li Yuan had inquired many people, including Principal Tan, and confirmed that Xu Bo had been brought here.

Being a Prime Warrior and having earned many merits... Xu Bo was reluctant, but still, he was forcibly taken here.

"Uncle Wan," Li Yuan saw Wan Qinghe and another unfamiliar woman in black standing at the door.

"Li Yuan? You're here?" Wan Qinghe saw Li Yuan.

"You are Li Yuan?" The woman in black stared at Li Yuan, her gaze quite friendly.

"Uncle Wan," Li Yuan nodded and looked at the woman in black, "Senior, who are you?"

Through inquiry via the Divine Palace, Li Yuan confirmed that the woman in black was a 24th-Level Prime Warrior.

"She used to be a teammate of your Teacher Xu," Hall Master Wan said softly, "Li Yuan, we'll talk later. You go in first; your teacher... doesn't have much time left."

Li Yuan's heart trembled, and his eyes slightly reddened.

Stepping past the two Prime Warriors, he entered the ward, where many people were also present.

They all turned to look at Li Yuan.

"It's Li Yuan, Teacher Xu's student."

"Li Yuan has come." The majority of these people had average strength. Among them was a young man who bore some resemblance to Xu Bo.

Li Yuan instantly understood; these people were probably Teacher Xu's family members.

"Li Yuan." On the hospital bed, Xu Bo's face was extremely pale.

Compared to the man last night who, even fighting a Second-Rank Alien Race, looked like a war god in all his tall and brawny glory.

It was a world of difference.

"Teacher..." Li Yuan's nose tingled, and he leaned over the bed.

Li Yuan could clearly sense that his teacher's life force was indeed dwindling constantly.

"Teacher, is there really no cure for your illness? Aren't there any Heavenly Materials Treasures that could work?" Li Yuan's heart trembled slightly, still holding a glimmer of hope.

However, Gao Hao was knowledgeable and powerful, and he had said it was almost unsolvable, which likely meant it was true.

Moreover, Li Yuan had inquired many people since last night.

The answers were either 'unsolvable.'

Or unachievable.

"Stop thinking about it. I have many friends, and even Flying Heaven Warriors have come to help me," Xu Bo said weakly from his bed, "It's a miracle I've been able to hold on for a few years."

"I know what you are thinking, but how can everything in this world go as one wishes?"

"Even Dongfang Ji couldn't do it."

"Last night, being able to join forces with you, my student, to kill a Second-Rank Alien Race, was satisfying enough." Xu Bo looked at Li Yuan, his pale face beaming with a radiant smile, "At least it proves that to the end, I, Xu Bo, have died a glorious and heroic death! That's the best outcome for a Martial Artist."

"You, too, have proved that I, Xu Bo, did well as a Martial Artist and passed as a teacher."

"I had hoped I could wait to see you win the championship at the Global Collegiate Martial Path Competition, but it looks like I won't be able to wait."

Li Yuan's eyes were completely red as he bit down on his teeth, trying hard to restrain tears from falling.

"Xu Ling, come here, meet your senior brother Li." Xu Bo suddenly said in a low voice, reprimanding.