High Martial Arts Era

Chapter 161: The Best Destination for a Martial Artist

"An early death by one or two years?" Li Yuan felt a tremor in his heart. He had previously thought that Teacher Xu Bo was just injured and his strength was compromised. He had no idea it was this severe. It turned out his teacher had only one or two years left to live. Normally, source martial artists could easily live over 150 years.

Li Yuan knew that, given his teacher's character, reaching this point, he was unlikely to lie.

"Senior Xu Bo, shouldn't we at least try?" Gao Hao couldn't help but ask, "The medical aircraft can come very quickly."

Gao Hao was a martial arts genius from Jiang City. Though he had not been taught by Xu Bo, as a member of Starlight Martial Hall, he had heard of Xu Bo's exploits.

"No need."

"Deacon Gao Hao, the crisis at Nanhang Primary School has been resolved. Go on to your next mission, don't worry about me." Xu Bo shook his head firmly. "The quicker we clear out the Fish Spirit tide, the fewer the casualties."

"Alright, take care, senior." Gao Hao's eyes dimmed slightly. He saluted and jumped onto the flying aircraft, which quickly departed and disappeared into the night sky.

Time was pressing. As a source warrior, he was a crucial combat force that could make a significant difference.

"Teacher." Li Yuan looked at Xu Bo.

"How is your body?" Xu Bo asked, taking the initiative, "Are you hurt badly?"

"No." Li Yuan shook his head.

"Then gather the uninjured members of your and my team, form a new squad, and continue on to the next mission. Don't stay here." Xu Bo's face was pale but composed. "A squad led by you can still play a huge role."

"No." Li Yuan shook his head. "Teacher, I need to take you back."

"Follow orders."

Xu Bo's eyes suddenly became sharp. "You don't even listen to your teacher? What can you do staying here? Can you treat me?"

Li Yuan opened his mouth, his eyes slightly reddening, but he couldn't speak.

It felt like a giant stone was pressing down on his heart, with a deep sorrow spreading inside.

"Don't worry."

"I won't die for a while." Xu Bo's voice became gentle again. "You're a martial artist now, been in college for half a year, should've gone through several real combat assessments. Can't you distinguish priorities?"

"Right now, the most urgent thing is to resolve the Fish Spirit tide."

"This is a disaster Jiangbei Province hasn't seen in over a decade, and Jiang City hasn't seen in a century." Xu Bo looked at Li Yuan. "You have the ability now, so use it."

"Go!" Xu Bo said heavily, "Don't make me reprimand you again."

"Yes." Li Yuan gritted his teeth.

...

A few minutes later.

Sixteen surviving members from the two squads reformed into a new ten-member team.

Led by Li Yuan, they boarded an aircraft and, following the smart system's arrangement, continued to execute the next mission, quickly disappearing into the night sky.

The remaining six, either weaker or injured, stayed to continue participating in the school's rescue efforts.

"They're gone."

Xu Bo watched Li Yuan leading the team away, barely managing to stand up. He walked towards the partially collapsed teaching building, listening to the cries for help from under the rubble, his heart aching.

"Blame me."

"If I could have lured the Fish Spirit warrior away, the building wouldn't have collapsed during the battle." Xu Bo gritted his teeth, enduring the pain throughout his body, and started to help with the rescue efforts.

Death? From the day he knew he was incurable, he had been prepared.

...

In the dark, swampy area.

Numerous Fish Spirit warriors originally hiding there were now fleeing in panic.

Buzz~ Buzz~ Buzz~ High above, numerous combat drones were converging from all directions, frantically driving them out.

"Rat-a-tat!" Metal bullets streaked through the night sky, firing wildly, with Fish Spirit warriors falling and wailing everywhere.

Boom!

In the outskirts, the heavy drones, now without any reservations, used radar, thermal imaging, and other technologies to continuously drop bombs.

Deafening explosions! Thunderous roars!

Further away, large ground forces consisting of human soldiers around level 10 and combat robots wielding various thermal weapons were advancing, killing everything in their path.

In such frontal battles, even thousands of Fish Spirit warriors couldn't withstand the overwhelming mechanical army if they weren't at the second tier. Tens of thousands of Fish Spirit warriors would be annihilated.

...

About forty kilometers outside Jiang City center, in a street ruin.

"Kill!"

"Advance in three lines! Slaughter them." Li Yuan's voice was cold as he gave orders.

In such street ruins, they had to consider the many ordinary people still alive. Heavy weapons couldn't be used, which gave these first-tier warriors a chance to shine.

"Roar~"

A Fish Spirit warrior hidden in the ruins suddenly leaped out, a dazzling blade light cutting through the darkness.

Clang!

The spear swung, blocking the terrifying blade attack.

Boom! Li Yuan's figure, like lightning, dashed forward, directly colliding with the level 18 high-ranking Fish Spirit warrior, sending its massive body flying.

Splat~

A spear shadow pierced through the air, instantly impaling the warrior's large body, the scene freezing mid-air.

Blood flowed.

The spear moved too fast.

Splat~ Boom~ Li Yuan retracted his spear, the tip pointing downward, blood dripping along the shaft.

The level 18 Fish Spirit warrior's body hit the ground heavily, still trembling.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Two more spear thrusts, and the Fish Spirit warrior's head and four arms were severed, its body split apart.

No more sound.

Li Yuan always heeded his teacher's advice.

"[You have continuously killed tiered creatures, gaining spiritual nourishment. Your spiritual awakening degree has reached 25.2%.]" A notification from the Divine Palace flashed across Li Yuan's vision, making him pause.

"Killing six or seven first-tier Fish Spirit warriors had no reaction. I thought I couldn't increase my spiritual awakening degree unless I killed a second-tier one." Li Yuan thought, "Turns out, a single first-tier alien is not enough to increase it by 0.1%."

Li Yuan could imagine, as the spiritual awakening degree increased to 40%, 50%, it would require killing large numbers of aliens to gain a small increase.

"Then I'll kill them all."

"No matter how many aliens, I'll kill them all." Li Yuan's eyes were cold, filled with intense killing intent.

Breaking the Divine Palace shackles and increasing his spiritual awakening should have been a joyful event.

But now, Li Yuan couldn't find any joy in his heart.

At this moment, he only wanted to complete more missions and kill more Fish Spirit warriors.

...

For the entire Jiang City, this was an exceptionally long night.

A disaster not seen in a century.

In the past, though the Fish Spirit Astral Realm frequently launched attacks, they were usually small-scale. The only three large-scale attacks targeted the areas near the astral realm's entrances, like Shizhou and Yizhou.

Jiang City? It had never faced such a massive attack.

Therefore, the initial outbreak of the Fish Spirit tide caused shocking damage to Jiang City, with heavy casualties.

However.

The comprehensive city defense system, SkyNet, mechanical army, and numerous warriors made the city's war machine quickly respond.

With nearby counties and cities providing full support, by the time the morning sun rose again, the unprecedented 'Fish Spirit Tide' had been mostly cleared.

Except for a few Fish Spirit warriors who escaped into lakes, rivers, or underground caves, the vast majority of invading Fish Spirit warriors had been exterminated.

Human martial artists continued to chase and kill them with aircraft, and a large number of mechanical soldiers were also tracking and eliminating them.

...

"According to preliminary statistics."

"After a night of hard fighting, Jiang City has returned to peace, and the astral realm creatures' attack has been mostly cleared." The host on the Astral Realm channel spoke solemnly: "Preliminary statistics show that over 110,000 people have died in Jiang City, more than 120,000 injured, with economic losses exceeding... It is roughly estimated that over 60,000 tiered astral realm creatures have been killed... This is a painful lesson."

"This was a targeted attack exploiting the 'city defense system' loopholes."

"It has been reported to the Seven Star Alliance, which will re-evaluate and re-deploy city defense systems on a large scale."

...

December 18, 11:00 AM.

Li Yuan's team received no further mission assignments from the smart system.

"The war tasks have basically ended."

"Martial artist Li Yuan, your combat video, monitored and synchronized by the smart ring, will be uploaded... After the comprehensive end of the Jiang City defense war, there will be a unified award ceremony." Li Yuan received a notification.

"I got it too."

"There's a reminder for us to go home and rest, awaiting further orders." Instructor Xing and Fang Longhu spoke, looking at Li Yuan.

After a night of battle, their respect for Li Yuan had reached an unparalleled level.

"Alright."

"Let's go back." Li Yuan's eyes were bloodshot as he gave the order.

Whoosh!

The aircraft swiftly headed towards Starlight South Lake District.

Ordinary rescue tasks? Ordinary people across society had been mobilized quickly.

...

Starlight South Lake District was as peaceful as ever, seemingly unaffected by the fires of war.

Back at home, Li Yuan exchanged a few words with his family before heading to the underground martial arts room. He consumed a portion of high-source spiritual spring and then began silently practicing the "Great Sun Starry Sky Sutra" and "Heavenly Stars."

After the relentless battles and the injuries from fighting the second-tier alien, he was exhausted to the extreme. This session of cultivation lasted for over five hours.

It was only until 5 PM that Li Yuan slowly opened his eyes, his exhaustion completely dissipated. His internal injuries had mostly healed, and he even felt more energetic.

"Source power inherently has the effect of healing injuries," Li Yuan sighed internally. "With the visualization method, any non-fatal injury can be quickly recovered."

Li Yuan glanced at the Divine Palace panel:

Life Level: 15.9 (First Tier)

Punch Power: 17,345 kg

Speed: 59.2 m/s

Mental Power: 24.8

Willpower: 29

Spiritual Awakening Degree: 25.4% (Current Limit: 30%)

Star Meridian: 10th Level

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

From the Divine Palace panel data, apart from the spiritual awakening degree, other aspects showed very little change.

However, in reality, everything he had experienced during the bloody battle last night, from the desolate streets to the dead ordinary people, the cries of the elderly and weak in the collapsed building, and Teacher Xu Bo, had profoundly impacted Li Yuan's heart.

This was incomparable to ten practical combat assessments.

"A martial artist's duty."

"Kill enemies, protect the country." Li Yuan muttered to himself, gaining a deeper understanding of these four words.

This realization surpassed what hundreds of 'general history lessons' could teach.

...

At 6 PM, Li Yuan arrived at the ninth floor of the First Hospital in Guanshan District, heading straight to the advanced ward. After inquiring with Principal Tan and others, he confirmed that Xu Bo had been brought here. Being a source martial artist and having made many contributions, Xu Bo, despite his reluctance, was forcibly sent here.

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

"Li Yuan? You came?" Wan Qinghe noticed Li Yuan.

"You are Li Yuan?" The woman in black stared at Li Yuan with a kind look.

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

Through the Divine Palace's detection, Li Yuan confirmed that the woman in black was a 24th level source martial artist.

"She is your teacher Xu Bo's former teammate," Wan Qinghe said softly. "Li Yuan, we'll talk later. Go in first; your teacher... doesn't have much time left."

Li Yuan's heart trembled, his eyes reddening slightly.

He walked past the two source martial artists and entered the ward, where many people were present.

Everyone turned to look at Li Yuan.

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

"Li Yuan is here." Most of these people had ordinary strength, but there was a boy who bore a resemblance to Xu Bo.

Li Yuan immediately understood that these people were probably Xu Bo's family.

"Li Yuan." Xu Bo, lying on the hospital bed, was pale beyond belief.

Compared to the mighty figure who fought fiercely with a second-tier alien last night, he was like a different person.

"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 continuously waning.

"Teacher, is there really no cure for your illness? No heavenly treasures that can help?" Li Yuan asked with a trembling heart, still holding onto a glimmer of hope.

However, given Gao Hao's knowledge and judgment, the situation was likely as he said, near incurable. Throughout the night and until now, Li Yuan had asked many people, receiving either 'incurable' or 'impossible' responses.

"Don't think too much. Many of my friends, including flying martial artists, have tried to help me," Xu Bo said weakly from the bed. "Extending my life by a few years was already a miracle."

"I know what you're thinking, but things can't always go as we wish."

"Even Dongfang Ji couldn't do it."

"Last night, being able to fight alongside you, my student, to kill a second-tier alien, was already very fulfilling." Xu Bo looked at Li Yuan, his pale face lit up with a radiant smile. "At least it proves that Xu Bo, even in death, died gloriously! Died with honor!"

"This is the best destination for a warrior."

"You, too, proved that I was a decent warrior and a barely qualified teacher."

"I had hoped to see you win the global college martial arts competition, but it looks like I won't be able to wait for that."

Li Yuan's eyes were completely red, and he bit his lip, holding back his tears.

"Xu Ling, come over and meet your Senior Brother Li," Xu Bo suddenly called out in a low voice.