CHAPTER 97: CHAPTER 95: BEAST TIDE

"It’s just a small matter," Lou Yi said nonchalantly.

"Haha, I knew you were loyal," Zhan Weida laughed, giving Lou Yi’s shoulder a hearty slap, "Plus, being confined wasn’t without its perks. I’ve mastered the breathing technique!"

"Not bad, the path of a martial artist is beckoning to you," Lou Yi was genuinely happy for his friend.

The breathing technique of the Extreme Fist Sect is considered top-tier in the martial arts world, but it’s notoriously difficult to learn.

However, once you get past the initial stage, the path to becoming a martial artist is pretty much smooth sailing.

Especially for someone like Zhan Weida, who laid a solid foundation since childhood.

"Hey, but it seems like quite a few interesting things happened while I was away for a few days."

Zhan Weida turned his head to look at one side of the Martial Arts Arena, where a man and a woman were sparring intensely.

The woman was pretty and tall, while the man had a buzz cut and a bear-like build; they were Jia Hong and the inner disciple Zhou Yang.

During the sparring, Zhou Yang was quite considerate towards Jia Hong, constantly feeding her moves, his expression affectionate, a stark contrast to his usual ruthless demeanor with others.

"Has Huang Longgang been dumped? Or cheated on?" Zhan Weida mocked with a playful smirk.

Just as he finished speaking, Huang Longgang stormed onto the scene, and Zhou Yang quickly withdrew without sparing him a glance.

Yet, Huang Longgang dared not hinder Zhou Yang, instead, he talked to Jia Hong with a grimace, soon erupting into loud yelling before angrily taking his leave.

"Tsk tsk, interesting indeed," Zhan Weida remarked sardonically, "If I were Jia Hong, I’d definitely choose Zhou Yang too. Breakthrough to the Minor Circulation at such a young age, his future is limitless.

And Huang Longgang, besides having a good father, has nothing else going for him. His martial skills and cultivation are lacking, and there’s a high chance he won’t even inherit the Huang Family."

"For the patriarchs of those major families, which of them isn’t at least at the Great Circulation level? Quite a few have even reached the Full Cycle."

After joining the Extreme Fist Sect, Lou Yi understood the tiers among martial artists, mainly divided by the number of Secret Blood attained, into four levels:

From one blood to two blood is a normal martial artist;

At the stage of the Three Qi Blood Small Cycle, Secret Blood in the body forms a threefold circulation within, gradually developing resilient fascial tissue beneath the skin, greatly enhancing resistance to blows.

At Five Blood Great Circulation, the Secret Blood establishes a Five Elements circulation within the body, skin becomes supple, bones significantly fortified, strength surges, endurance greatly enhanced, tearing apart fierce beasts and spirits becomes trivial.

Beyond five blood, the human body approaches saturation, making the growth of Secret Blood increasingly difficult.

Only those with extraordinary talent can continue to progress, with seven blood as the limit, also known as the Full Cycle.

Full Cycle martial artists, not only have skin, flesh, and bones different from ordinary people, but their internal organs are also perfect, each possessing terrifying destructive power, smashing stones and breaking gold as easily as eating or drinking.

Full Cycle martial artists have reached the limit of ordinary people.

Beyond that is a whole new realm, the Martial Masters.

But it’s said that even martial masters aren’t much stronger in pure physical capabilities than Full Cycle ones.

"How many Full Cycle do we have in our sect?" Lou Yi asked.

"Only the sect leader and the Great Elder, which is why we’ve always been suppressed by the Heavy Sword Sect," Zhan Weida said, a bit downcast, "The Heavy Sword Sect has five Full Cycle, and their sect leader is in the prime of life, rumored to be on the brink of breaking through to Martial Master."

"Once they advance to Martial Master, the Heavy Sword Sect could leap to become one of the top forces in the main city, standing alongside the Xu Family and the Fulin Escort Agency, and then it might be impossible for our sect to rise ever again..."

Currently, in the configuration of the main city of Tai City, the City Lord’s Mansion maintains a detached position, rarely intervening.

Among the remaining forces, the Xu Family takes the lead.

They have four famous sabers, including the legendary ’Soul Shattering Saber’ of Old Master Xu.

As long as he’s alive, the Xu Family is indisputably the number one family.

Aside from veterans like Old Master Xu, there’s the Chief of the Fulin Escort Agency, Lin, who wields the Silver Spear with unmatched skill.

An experienced Martial Master, he’s universally acknowledged as the second in martial cultivation prowess.

Other forces like the Su Family, Huang Family, Zhan Family, Extreme Fist Sect, and Heavy Sword Sect don’t have a publicly present Martial Master and are considered second-rate in the main city.

"Leaping over rooftops, walking on water without a trace, as the Secret Blood transforms into Vigorous Blood, their physique rivals even the fiercest beasts deep within the Forest of a Hundred Beasts; stone or brick buildings are as fragile as rice paper before them, easily shattered.

This is what Martial Masters are, individuals so powerful that even the City Lord’s Mansion must treat them with caution," Zhan Weida said with a look of longing, "If one day, I become a Martial Master, those in my family who look down on me through the cracks in the door will... never mind, no more dreaming, better focus on breaking through to martial artist first..."

"Dreams are necessary, what if they come true?" Lou Yi replied with a chuckle, "By the way, is there a realm beyond Martial Master?"

"That would be considered as sacred as ancestor’s path, only mentioned in ancient texts," Zhan Weida hesitated before answering, "If anyone could step into that realm, it could only be Wangjiang County’s greatest master, Meng Konghua."

"Meng Konghua is the master of the Meng Family Castle, it’s rumored he’s been at the Martial Master peak for many years, always seeking a breakthrough..."

"Is that so," Lou Yi nodded, secretly committing the name ’Meng Konghua’ to memory.

...

Hundred Beasts Mountain Range.

A giant creature, two zhang long and one zhang high, slowly emerged from the dense forest. With each step it took, the leaves on the ground trembled slightly.

Its whole body was a yellowish-brown color, resembling a water buffalo. However, besides the curved horns on either side, there was a third black horn growing on top of its skull, making it quite peculiar.

Additionally, its skin was covered with numerous uneven keratin layers, as if draped in a natural armor.

Particularly, its head, back, and outer limbs were heavily armored, immediately showcasing its formidable defense.

Its massive eyes were like two red rubies, glimmering with a hint of intelligence.

Suddenly.

’Whoosh whoosh whoosh!’

A large number of arrows rained down like a storm, covering the giant water buffalo’s body.

A continual ’pang pang’ sound could be heard.

Most arrows bounced off the buffalo’s hard skin, and the few that struck only sunk halfway, unable to cause any real harm.

"Moo!"

The buffalo bellowed in furious surprise, its eyes turning blood-red, charging rapidly towards the direction of the arrow attack, attempting to find the culprit causing it harm.

As it ran, the ground shook with ’thud thud’ sounds, causing a flurry of leaves to lift off the ground, accompanied by swirling dust.

During the buffalo’s frenzied, swinging march, its soft, furry underbelly was occasionally exposed.

’Swoosh!’

A far swifter arrow sound was heard.

The next moment, with an extremely cunning angle, it pierced the giant water buffalo’s vulnerable underbelly.

The entire arrow sank in, with even the feathers disappearing from view.

The giant water buffalo let out an earth-shaking cry, its body losing balance, crashing around wildly.

It knocked over a dozen or so trees in its frenzy, some of which couldn’t even be encircled by two people.

Finally, the giant water buffalo collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily like a roaring machine.

’Thump thump thump.’

Several figures emerged, looking at their prize with cheerful smiles.

"It’s always Old Shen, his archery is unrivaled in the world!"

"No no, Xia Xi deserves the most credit. If not for his potent knockout drug, no amount of my arrows would have been enough."

"Stop flattering each other. Quickly, let’s deal with this Cow Spirit before it recovers; otherwise, it’s going to be troublesome."

"Yes, yes, such a massive cow must yield a lot of fine meat. We’re counting on selling it for silver!"

Everyone approached the giant water buffalo, drawing their swords and preparing to stab at the soft fur below its neck.

The giant water buffalo opened its eyes wide, showing a beseeching, human-like expression, but the hunters’ faces were cold, with no sign of pausing.

’Boom boom boom!’

At this moment, a violent rumbling came from afar, growing louder and louder, as if a thousand horses were charging toward them.

The ground quaked, the trees swayed, even these hunters at the martial artist level stumbled slightly in astonishment.

"What’s that?"

One person scurried up a tree trunk in a few swift movements, reaching the top of a tree more than ten zhang high, peering in the direction of the sound, his face instantly covered with a look of horror.

Not far away, numerous massive creatures were rushing towards them at breakneck speed.

Cattle monsters twice the size of the yellow Cow Spirit they just captured, giant apes with metallic fur and walking upright, snakes as thick as big trees, covered in blood-red scales, with what seemed to be small feet protruding from their bellies...

"It looks like a beast tide!"

Hearing this, nobody paid any attention to the knocked-out Cow Spirit on the ground and immediately turned and fled.

"Run quickly!"

"Didn’t beast tides only occur once every ten years or so? Could it be that a new Beast King has been born?"

"This is a major event and must be reported to the Beast Hunting Bureau at the City Lord’s Mansion immediately!"

...