Chương 50: War God — Chapter 50 - White Bone Forest, Weeping Blood Pool, Progress Skyrockets

"You killed approximately two hundred blood bees this time. Twenty merit points have been recorded to your magnetic crystal card." On the train, a staff member in military uniform handed Wang Xian a semi-transparent card.

"Twenty merit points before even reaching the ruins..." The veteran pointed at Wang Xian, indignant.

"You brat, you're definitely not a newbie! Little Feng, spill it — are you some family's young master?"

"If I were a young master, wouldn't my family at least hire a few Second Realm martial artists?" Wang Xian said.

"Fair point."

"Sorry, guess a First Realm Martial Artist like me really is a burden..."

"What a shame little brother Feng didn't even get stung a few times..." The veteran and the others bantered and complained. But they all found themselves thinking back to that scene. Honestly, a bit shocking. Especially for the other two squads. They felt deeply deceived. The black-clad captain felt the profound malice of society's martial artists. Damn it! Don't casually call someone a newbie when they can effortlessly pull off something even four college students might not manage! That's just bullying!

One man killed 200 blood bees. The final slash was an outright instant kill. He recognized it: Flowing Water Blade Technique at Perfection, already nearing Pinnacle Mastery. That one move, Storm and Darkness, even sophomores and juniors training in Flowing Water Blade Technique might not reach that level!

"This kid's pretty impressive..." The slipper-wearing captain rubbed his stubbled chin.

"Xiao Rong only killed fifty-something. Just a quarter of his."

"Four Xiao Rongs equals one of him."

"Captain, please don't use your elementary-school math to measure me as a martial artist." Xiao Rong stroked her magnetic crystal card, which now held five extra merit points. For a newbie, earning five merit points before even entering the ruins or unmanaged zones was already quite remarkable. According to military regulations, killing a single exotic beast with double-digit life force earned 5 to 10 merit points.

Those 50 blood bees were roughly equivalent to exotic beasts with 10 or more life force inside the ruins. Achieving that already qualified one to serve as damage output in an F-rank ruin. A newbie absolutely couldn't pull that off. But... There was someone even more impressive. So those five merit points suddenly seemed a bit... lacking.

"Third-stage blade technique, martial learning at Perfection..." Xiao Rong's eyes held deep thought.

"He really is a bit better than me."

"Lucky."

"Lucky how?" the slipper captain asked.

"Lucky our school doesn't have a student this formidable yet." Xiao Rong smiled confidently.

"There is one, but still a bit behind. Young martial artists who can join clubs really are something."

"When you're out, don't casually mention the school..."

"Oh, forgot..." The group chatted about this and that. After roughly 10 hours, the first stop arrived: Shadow Wolf Cavern. Only one squad got off the train. That's right, the squad with the cold, arrogant young master.

"So no other squad really did go to Shadow Wolf Cavern with them." In the three train cars, the squad captains all curled their lips. Not long after passing Shadow Wolf Cavern, the surrounding terrain began to turn desolate. Another 10 hours passed. Midway they encountered another exotic beast attack. This time the attacking beasts were stronger, already approaching E-rank. So the train deployed soldiers along with the two squads from the second car, most of them Second Realm martial artists.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. After this incident, the train journey was relatively smooth. Until the 24th hour aboard. Skeletal Blade Tomb arrived. Skeletal Blade Tomb, an F-rank small-scale ruin. Inside, it possessed three major terrain types. White Bone Forest, a stone forest formed from countless exotic beast corpses and martial artists' skeletal remains piled together.

These remains, infected by exotic beasts, could freely assemble, forming a unique type of exotic beast: Weapon-Corpse Beasts. Most Weapon-Corpse Beasts had life force above 15 points. Advanced Weapon-Corpse Beasts could reach 50 points. Weeping Blood Pool, a blood-colored lake a hundred meters in diameter, its bottom burying blade puppets infected by baleful sha. The lake's surface floated phosphorous fire that had burned unextinguished for years.

The phosphorous fire was highly corrosive to any equipment below combat gear grade. When blade puppets surfaced, they became coated in this phosphorous fire, their life force reaching over 60 points. The last: Broken Blade Cliff. A sheer cliff face at the innermost part of Skeletal Blade Tomb. On the cliff lived a troublesome exotic beast that fed on metal: Iron-Eating Worms. The Iron-Eating Worms dwelled year-round on Broken Blade Cliff, devouring the weapons embedded in the cliff face.

But they were also easy to deal with. As long as you didn't brandish your weapon, they couldn't sense it and wouldn't easily attack. Due to this trait, Broken Blade Cliff, which should have been the most troublesome area, instead became a relatively safe zone. It was also a spot many influencer martial artists chose to visit for photos. Because here lay the unique vista of Skeletal Blade Tomb: the Sea of Blades, Mountain of Swords.

"We plan to go to White Bone Forest..." Long Yuan said.

"We'll go to Weeping Blood Pool to challenge the blade puppets," the slipper captain said.

"Hey, we'll go to Broken Blade Cliff, take in the scenery first, and deal with any exotic beasts if we run into one or two," the black-clad captain said. The three squads went their separate ways. Skeletal Blade Tomb had several entrances. Depending on the desired location, one could use a closer entrance, saving quite a bit of time. After entering the ruin, gravity began to shift. A characteristic of ruins: variable gravity, bizarre environments.

Of course, F-rank ruins didn't change much, just gravity shifts within a range of 4 to 5 times normal.

'Skeletal Blade Tomb. Here we are.' Wang Xian walked in the second position, watching Long Yuan up ahead. If there were no deviations in the timeline, then this Long Yuan before him should, during this very ruin expedition, open a special secret door and obtain that blade, the Blood-Drinking Frenzy Blade. And then begin slaughtering on a grand scale, becoming the future "Western Shu Blade Demon."

But the key point: how did he open that "secret door" that so many martial artists in these ruins had failed to discover? A ruin's secret door was essentially a hidden spatial rift. It was often linked to the ruin's historical origins and rules, and the method of opening it was often extremely bizarre. And once opened, whether the outcome was good or bad, all was unknown. Still, he didn't know much about Long Yuan. His background seemed simple. According to what the club said: Orphan. Dropped out of school.

Self-taught. All the classic elements. Later, for unknown reasons, joined the Heavenly Blade Club. That simple. The simpler it was, the more it naturally wasn't simple.

"Wang Feng, you must be training 'Butcher's Beast Dissection,' right?" Long Yuan suddenly asked. Wang Xian paused, then nodded. Natural to figure that out. The other party was also a contracted martial artist of the club and also possessed this secret technique. So naturally he understood the training method. The other squad members had also realized it.

"In that case..." Long Yuan smiled faintly.

"When we reach White Bone Forest, leave most of those Weapon-Corpse Beasts for you to kill. We'll handle the aftermath. You're a newbie... more practice is good." Wang Xian narrowed his eyes and said modestly:"How could I accept that? Making all of you do support work for me..."

"Little Feng, you're too polite." The veteran said.

"If you don't mind the fatigue, we're the ones who should be embarrassed."

"Once we've killed enough Weapon-Corpse Beasts, we'll head to Weeping Blood Pool to take on the blade puppets," Long Yuan said.

"Butcher's Beast Dissection fuses the crystal faster when killing different exotic beasts. It's just that blade puppets are a bit harder."

"Don't worry, you've got us sisters backing you up." Ponytail and Buzzcut were full of confidence. Wang Xian responded with an "Oh" and agreed. Before long, the group stepped into White Bone Forest. The moment they entered, the grating sound of bone joints scraping came from all directions. Wang Xian nodded to the others and charged out first. Weapon-Corpse Beasts were exotic beast frames with no rotting flesh, nothing but skeletal structures.

But at the same time, they possessed very clearly defined structural bones. And because so many exotic beasts had died, these structural bones had absorbed cosmic energy and thin baleful sha over the years, slowly becoming indestructible, thus forming Weapon-Corpse Beasts. Not particularly strong. It was just that Weapon-Corpse Beasts had weapons. Their weakness was being relatively slow. The moment Wang Xian entered, it was like a wolf among sheep.

Although the killing speed was certainly far slower than with the blood bees, relying on his exquisite blade technique and superb movement skills, he moved like a roaming dragon through these bone mountains and skeletal remains, killing back and forth.

"Blade technique skill has already broken through to the third stage..."

"The third-stage blade technique skill's enhancement to martial learning is also very obvious..."

"Barring accidents, Flowing Water Blade Technique should soon reach Pinnacle Mastery... just need a suitable opponent to test it..."

"As for these Weapon-Corpse Beasts, since they're skeletal frames approximating the bone structures of various exotic beasts, training Butcher's Beast Dissection on them progresses very quickly... killing one is worth killing 10 blood bees."

"Long Yuan really knows his stuff..."

"This isn't his first time here..." Wang Xian felt his Butcher's Beast Dissection progress skyrocketing. If he could clear out all the Weapon-Corpse Beasts in this White Bone Forest, it should raise the progress by about 10 percent.

"And, as proper ruin exotic beasts, combined with the Weapon-Corpse Beasts' unique nature, killing and dismantling them actually releases wisps of baleful sha..."

"The more I kill, the more likely my second divine meridian can be fully cultivated..."

"It's just that..." The Eight Extraordinary Meridians numbered a full eight. So far, he had only cultivated one divine meridian. Seven remained. Far too few. Wang Xian fought while contemplating. Meanwhile, the other squad members watching felt their bodies trembling slightly. Because in their line of sight, Wang Xian, short blade in hand, charging into dozens of Weapon-Corpse Beasts, was like a roaming dragon playing with shrimp. As if born for battle.

Not a single Weapon-Corpse Beast could touch even the hem of his clothes. The short blade in his hand seemed to possess a soul. The blade light slicing through the void became a painter's brush, depicting this stunning tableau. Most importantly, Wang Xian did not execute any dazzling martial techniques. That's right, what he used was nothing more than basic-tier blade technique. And he was genuinely performing "Butcher's Beast Dissection."

Wherever the blade light passed, every Weapon-Corpse Beast became nothing but a pile of pure white bones. ➤ Next: Wait — We Told You to Hold It Off for Thirty Seconds, Not to Kill It in Thirt...