In an all-out effort, sparing no expense, Xu Bo launched into full force.
Together with Li Yuan, they finally inflicted a fatal injury on the Second Rank Fish Spirit Clan warrior.
“Boom~” “Clang.”
Two huge combat sabers fell to the ground as the Fish Spirit Clan warrior staggered backward, hands desperately clutching at its throat trying to stem the flow of blood.
But to no avail.
Its eyes, fixed upon the two powerful human Martial Artists before it, were filled with unwillingness.
It was born in the Fish Spirit Star Realm, and after experiencing many tortures following its birth from its mother fish, it fought and slaughtered its brethren, eventually struggling to reach the Entry Rank.
In the Fish Spirit Clan, only by reaching Entry Rank can one survive.
Only by reaching Entry Rank can one be called ‘warrior’, or else if one couldn’t reach it within ten years of birth, they would become fodder for their own kind.
Yet Entry Rank was just the beginning.
The wars within the Star Realm honed its abilities time and again, gradually improving its strength until it became a High Level Warrior, one step away from becoming a Second Rank powerhouse.
Finally! It was chosen, sent to the human world to wage war—a mission with a slim chance of survival, but they had no choice and could only hope to win the war in the end.
After entering the human world and making its way through underground caverns, it slowly approached the ‘Core City’ of the human world. Under the pressure of death, it broke through its life constraints, achieving a Unity of body and mind and directly breaking through to become a Second Rank powerhouse.
Second Rank, for a Fish Spirit Clan warrior, is extremely difficult.
The commander was overjoyed upon learning this and immediately decided to use it as the core of a ‘Killing Formation’, prepared to ambush a team of human warriors.
Once they succeeded.
The second time, they ran into two elite human teams.
“Ahh~” The Second Rank Fish Spirit Clan warrior let out the last sound of its life and then its massive body collapsed backward, falling silent forever.
No mental control.
Immediately, copious amounts of blood started flowing from its numerous wounds.
Death.
…”[You have slain a Second Rank life form, breaking the Divine Palace’s constraints; your Spiritual Awakening limit is increased to 30%.]”
“[You have slain a Second Rank life form, acquiring Spiritual Nature nourishment; your Spiritual Awakening Level reached 25.1%.]” Two Divine Palace notifications flashed across Li Yuan’s field of vision in quick succession.
It startled him.
Breaking the Divine Palace’s constraints? To break through the 25% limit of Spiritual Awakening, it turns out one must slay a Second Rank being.
Divine Palace constraints? Is it referring to the 25% Spiritual Guidance constraints?
In an instant, Li Yuan thought.
Initially, the Divine Palace panel did not show Spiritual Awakening, only indicating that he harbored a high-order Spiritual Nature within him.
It was before the January examination that, after he killed a First Rank Fish Spirit Clan warrior, the Spiritual Awakening appeared on the Divine Palace panel.
“Could it be that the Spiritual Awakening limits of 0%, 25%, and even the subsequent 50%, are all ‘Divine Palace constraints’, similar to the major breakthroughs of life levels like First Rank, Second Rank? Does one need to slay higher-rank Alien Race creatures to break them?” Many thoughts flashed through Li Yuan’s mind.
“And the increase of the Spiritual Awakening limit from 10% to 20%, from 20% to 25%, is that like the transition from Level 13 to Level 14 without any fundamental difference, where you can keep raising the limit as long as your spiritual power keeps increasing?” Li Yuan mused covertly.
Without any other precedents to follow.
Li Yuan could only explore and summarize experiences on his own… but if he continued with this reasoning.
“In the future, to break the 50% limit of my Spiritual Awakening, will I need to slay a Third Rank Alien Race creature?” Li Yuan murmured to himself.
A Third Rank Alien Race, that would be comparable to a Flying Heaven Warrior.
Are they that easy to kill?
…The thoughts may seem slow, but in a mere few seconds, Li Yuan’s sharp mind had considered multiple possibilities.
As he pondered, Li Yuan intended to approach the corpse of the Second Rank Fish Spirit Clan warrior.
“Stop, don’t get close,” Xu Bo said deeply, still standing in his original spot.
“Teacher.” Li Yuan looked at Xu Bo.
“It looks dead, and by the Fish Spirit Clan’s anatomy, it should be dead.” Xu Bo’s battle garment slowly retracted from his skin, revealing his slightly pale face: “But remember, never be careless. Be cautious that the enemy might be feigning death, waiting for you to come close before suddenly striking back.”
“Unless you cut off its head, crush its heart, and completely tear apart its limbs, you must always keep a vigilant heart,” Xu Bo said: “In your future adventures in the Star Realm, always be so.”
Li Yuan was stunned for a moment, then obediently nodded: “Thank you for the reminder, Teacher.”
He himself had the Divine Palace panel that could inquire whether this Fish Spirit Clan warrior was dead or alive.
But what his teacher said wasn’t wrong.
Walking the line between life and death, one cannot afford a single bit of negligence, this was the experience paid for with the blood of countless Martial Artist predecessors.
“Go take care of the other Fish Spirit Clan warriors,” Xu Bo said deeply: “I’ll keep watch over this one.”
“The Prime Warrior should be arriving shortly.”
“Yes.”
Whoosh!
Li Yuan could tell that his teacher was not in great condition. With a swift movement, he darted towards the terrified, fleeing Fish Spirit Clan warriors.
…
“Ahh~”
“Roar!” In fact, when that Second Rank Fish Spirit Clan warrior was trying to flee for its life, the other Fish Spirit Clan warriors who were still alive were already panicked and attempting to escape.
If their powerful ‘Second Rank leader’ was no match, what chance did they have?
However, Instructor Xing and Fang Longhu, with their two squads of more than a dozen warriors, have been fiercely blocking these Fish Spirit Clan warriors, delaying their steps.
Therefore, when Li Yuan arrived, with a swoosh of his long spear, one after another, Fish Spirit Clan warriors began to fall to the ground.
Suddenly.
In the dark night sky, a flying craft rapidly approached.
Bang!
A figure ejected from the flying craft and plummeted from the sky; Li Yuan could not help but look up to see a blurry human figure, shrouded in a faint earthy yellow glow, as fast as lightning, whooshing through the tens of meters of the air.
It crashed down directly on top of several Fish Spirit Clan warriors who were attempting to escape.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
With several consecutive lightning-fast collisions, the bodies of the four Fish Spirit Clan warriors exploded violently, sending blood and limbs flying in all directions.
The assault was brutally aggressive.
Li Yuan watched intently.
The Prime Warrior who launched the surprise attack burst forth with a speed that easily surpassed a hundred meters per second in an instant.
Moreover, the weapon he used was a pair of hammers!
The two large hammers were covered with numerous spikes, making them look incredibly ferocious.
“Boom~” “Bang~” “Bang~”
One after another, the Fish Spirit Clan warriors fell to the ground, swept away in the blink of an eye.
“Pfft~”
Li Yuan also killed the last Fish Spirit Clan member, and with that, the crisis at Nanhuang Elementary School was resolved.
The playground quieted down as many Martial Artists gathered, each of them gasping for breath.
The recent intense battles had greatly drained everyone’s physical strength.
“Phew!”
The Prime Warrior moved and in a flash appeared in front of Li Yuan, his Origin Power Battle Suit retracting to reveal his true face.
Only then did Li Yuan see clearly that the other party was about as tall as himself, with an equally young face, but with a particularly resolute look in his eyes.
“Senior.” Li Yuan bowed slightly.
His own strength in terms of attack could only be said to be on par with a High Level Warrior above level 19.5, capable of posing a certain threat to Prime Warriors.
But to compare to a real Prime Warrior? He was still falling far short.
Any Entry Rank Prime Warrior could easily defeat him.
“No need to call me senior,” the young Prime Warrior holding the War Hammer said with a smile, “I know you, Li Yuan. Just call me by my name ‘Gao Hao’.”
“Gao Hao?” A trace of confusion flickered through Li Yuan’s eyes.
He had not heard of him before.
“Officer Gao Hao,” Instructor Xing ran over from not far away, bowing slightly, “Thank you. I am a Martial Path Instructor from the Guanshan branch hall.”
“Instructor Xing, I know you too,” Gao Hao said with a smile, “Last time we had a meal together, Lord Wan brought you along.”
“Hmm.” Instructor Xing nodded continuously, then introduced, “Li Yuan, Officer Gao Hao is also a member of our Starfire Martial Hall, a student of Starfire University, an A-level signee. He’s now a senior and has become a Prime Warrior.”
Li Yuan instantly understood the other’s identity.
A Martial Path genius just like himself.
A student of Starfire University? As long as one normally cultivates to their senior years, ninety-nine percent would be Prime Warriors.
And according to the rules of Starfire Martial Hall, Prime Warriors, if not holding a position, are all called ‘officers.’
Flying Heaven Warriors, among the Martial Artist community, are all referred to as ‘masters.’
“Officer Gao Hao,” Li Yuan immediately corrected himself.
“Haha, I’ve seen your fighting in the freshmen battle of the ten schools. Now in terms of skill alone, you’re probably not inferior to me,” Gao Hao laughed, “And in terms of strength… you’ve just started your freshman year and you’re already approaching the strength of a Prime Warrior. Tsk tsk, truly terrifying.”
“If you don’t become a Flying Heaven in the future, I would find it abnormal,” Gao Hao laughed again, full of praise for Li Yuan.
Meanwhile, Fang Longhu and over a dozen other human Martial Artists gathered around, their gazes towards Li Yuan had changed.
During the recent chaotic battle,
they all realized how powerful Li Yuan was, far surpassing these veteran soldiers.
…
After a brief exchange, Gao Hao understood the situation.
Instructor Xing and Fang Longhu had already taken the other human Martial Artists to rescue the injured students.
Li Yuan and Gao Hao then approached the corpse of the Second Rank Fish Spirit Clan member.
Xu Bo had been silently guarding it this whole time.
He did not come over during the exchange of everyone else.
“Officer Xu Bo, impressive,” Gao Hao strode forward with a smile, “To be able to kill a Second Rank member of the Alien Race, truly a blade that hasn’t dulled…”
Clearly, he knew of Xu Bo.
Suddenly,
“Teacher,” a cry of alarm rang out.
Li Yuan leaped to Xu Bo’s side in an instant, supporting him with one hand, his face full of shock and concern, “Teacher? What’s wrong with you?”
At this moment Xu Bo’s complexion was extremely pale, devoid of any color, his face distorted with pain, large drops of sweat breaking out on his forehead, yet he was still standing erect.
It seemed as though he was enduring immense pain.
“Officer Xu Bo, what’s happened to you?” Gao Hao appeared quite shocked as he looked at Li Yuan.
After a moment,
Xu Bo’s face showed a few less traces of pain, forcing a smile, “Don’t worry.”
“I won’t die in a day or two.”
“It’s just that I forcefully ran my Star Meridian for too long, and my body can’t take it, after all, it’s been several years since I’ve truly operated Origin Power,” Xu Bo explained soberly, “Poison has invaded not only my nerves in my body but has also seeped into every part of my Star Meridian.
I didn’t feel it during my desperate outburst earlier, but now that the battle is over, I can’t bear it anymore.”
“Toxins permeating every part of your Star Meridian?” Li Yuan’s expression changed slightly.
What kind of toxin was this?
Previously, he only knew his teacher had old injuries, never imagining it was poisoning.
“A toxin that’s seeped into the Star Meridian? Penglai Blood Spirit Poison?” Gao Hao said in shock, “Officer Xu Bo, I’ll call for a medical flyer right away.”
Gao Hao obviously thought of the cause.
Penglai Blood Spirit Poison? Li Yuan had never heard of it.
“It’s a very special toxin from the Penglai Star Realm, a poison that is nearly incurable,” Gao Hao quickly explained.
Li Yuan was taken aback, nearly incurable?
“Officer Gao Hao, there’s no need to call for a medical flyer, I’m beyond saving,”
“Now is a crucial time, let’s not waste medical resources,” Xu Bo shook his head indifferently, declining Gao Hao’s kind offer.
“I’ve been prepared to face this day.”
“It’s just come a year or two earlier than I expected.”