Chapter 44

In this era, material science has advanced, so even a hollow metal pole has very good strength and toughness.

Most importantly, this Fish Spirit’s physical fitness was only level 10.2, just initiated; although its body, bones, and muscles were tough, they had not yet reached the point of ignoring ordinary weapons.

"Hoo!"

"Thump~" "Thump~" Li Yuan’s first two strikes were lightning-fast, both just single-handed strikes following the momentum.

Two consecutive heavy strikes, precise and incomparable, smashed the Fish Spirit’s head until it caved in, blood spraying.

It lay completely flat on the ground, though its slender body was still twitching.

Li Yuan did not stop; he knew well the importance of delivering a finishing blow.

The third strike was already gripped tightly with both hands; this was the posture most suitable for exerting force with a heavy pole.

The force exertion for spears and poles is common in many places.

"Hoo!" Li Yuan’s body strength erupted instantly, calm and unhurried, directly executing "Rock-Solid Settling the Universe," the pole head like a spear tip, hacking down in anger.

"Puchi~ Thump!!!"

A terrifying force of over a thousand kilograms erupted suddenly, smashing precisely onto the position where the last strike had landed... it burst open completely like a watermelon.

A large amount of blood splattered, scales scattered, and quite a bit of blood even splashed onto Li Yuan’s body.

The Fish Spirit’s body no longer had any movement.

"Hoo!"

"Hoo!" Li Yuan gripped the long pole in his hand, still not daring to relax, staring at the Fish Spirit before him: "This time, it should be dead."

This was Li Yuan’s first life-and-death battle.

But he had had thousands of life-and-death struggles in the virtual network and many practical training sessions with Fang Longhu.

Especially the painful tempering of enduring the "Great Sun Starry Sky Scripture" day after day.

Li Yuan’s inner heart was already incomparably tough.

Spear technique, movement technique, and the fighting instinct when facing life and death had already unknowingly merged into Li Yuan’s bones.

"I, Li Yuan, can also kill an Astral creature one-on-one?" Li Yuan took a deep breath, the long metal pole in his hand gripping tighter involuntarily.

In his heart, there was a vague, inexplicable emotion.

It was as if he had experienced a major life event, and his soul had been baptized once.

Sometimes, certain transformations in life are often sudden, and no one can predict them.

What one can do is to prepare early.

And clearly, through many years of Martial Dao cultivation, Li Yuan had actually prepared himself for life-and-death combat from within his heart and body; he had also handed in an answer sheet that satisfied himself.

No cowardice! No fear!

Only courage, decisiveness, and caution.

He took five steps back.

Li Yuan still faced the direction of the Fish Spirit’s corpse, while his peripheral vision scanned the surroundings, vigilant for any other Astral creatures suddenly flashing out.

"Young man, are you a martial artist?" The noodle shop owner in the distance, holding a kitchen knife, looked at Li Yuan in utter shock.

He never expected that this teenager he often met in the morning would be so powerful.

Two exchanges.

The powerful and swift Astral creature had been beaten down by him, and it looked like it had completely lost its breath.

Subconsciously, the noodle shop owner felt the teenager was a martial artist.

In his understanding, in cold weapon combat, only martial artists could win against Astral creatures.

"No." Li Yuan replied.

"Then you?" The noodle shop owner swallowed, just about to say something.

Suddenly.

"Rustle~" Two small figures suddenly darted out from the previous alley. Li Yuan’s pupils shrank slightly, and only then did he relax slightly.

They were two small combat robots, less than half a meter tall, shaped like large spiders, very compact, and equipped with gun barrels.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The two combat robots scanned the surroundings, then pointed their gun barrels downward, gathered beside the Fish Spirit’s corpse, and simultaneously emitted beams of red light, seemingly performing a scan.

Li Yuan retreated further and relaxed completely.

He could see that the gunshot wound on the Fish Spirit was most likely left by the combat robots during their pursuit.

In the entire Jiangcheng city, there were tens of thousands of such combat robots, large and small.

Except for some extremely powerful Astral creatures, the vast majority of Astral creatures could be wiped out by combat robots in coordination with combat drones.

"Should I leave now?" A thought just arose in Li Yuan’s heart.

The next moment.

"Boom!" "Boom!" A roar suddenly came from high in the sky. Li Yuan looked up instantly, and two aircraft shaped like assault boats appeared in his vision.

In the current city, the tallest buildings did not exceed 12 stories, so aircraft flying at an altitude of dozens of meters were extremely safe.

"Single-person aircraft?" Li Yuan held his breath.

Before the aircraft could land.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two figures wearing black combat suits had already jumped directly from the aircraft.

Like two phantoms, their speed was terrifyingly fast, but when they landed on the ground, they were extremely agile, not even causing the ground to crack.

Extremely effortless.

Then they walked straight toward this side.

"Jumping down directly from at least thirty meters?" Li Yuan held his breath, watching the two people walking over.

With Li Yuan’s current strength, he could jump down from five meters at most, and he would still have to roll to dissipate the force to ensure he wouldn't get injured.

The two martial artists only revealed their eyes, with the rest of their bodies completely wrapped in black combat suits.

The invisible aura they emitted, however, made Li Yuan feel a wave of heart-palpitation, and he subconsciously activated his Divine Palace to investigate.

[Target person, life level exceeds sensing limit (current life level sensing limit is 17.8)]

Both people exceeded Li Yuan’s sensing limit, which also made his spirit increasingly exhausted.

"We were chasing that second-stage leader and missed this little guy; he actually died?" The combat suit on the head of one of the figures retracted, revealing a large, bald head.

It was a bald, burly man with a face that looked like it had been carved by a knife and axe.

The other relatively thin figure’s combat suit retracted, revealing a face; it was actually a woman with brown curly hair, looking about thirty years old, full of exotic charm.

"Foreign martial artist?" Li Yuan muttered to himself.

"Little friend, I am a genuine Xia citizen." The brown curly-haired woman said with fluent Mandarin, smiling: "My family has been naturalized since my great-grandfather’s generation."

Li Yuan was stunned; high-level martial artists really had good hearing.

"Kid, the combat robot told me that you killed this Astral creature? Are you a student at a Martial Dao university?" The bald, burly man walked up to Li Yuan, asking while opening his smart ring watch: "Let me check the surrounding surveillance."

"I killed it." Li Yuan said directly: "Third year of high school, from Guanshan No. 1 High School."

The bald, burly man didn't respond, looking at the light screen projection to check the surveillance.

The brown curly-haired woman also looked over.

Less than ten seconds.

"Hmm?"

"What? This pole technique? No, it looks like spear technique!"

"It is spear technique." Both powerful martial artists showed expressions of surprise, unable to help but look at Li Yuan.

They had originally thought that the Fish Spirit was heavily injured and dying, which was why Li Yuan had picked up the scraps.

After watching the surveillance, they discovered... the Fish Spirit was indeed injured, but it had still maintained most of its strength.

And Li Yuan, in one exchange, had used a metal pole to pierce and burst the Fish Spirit’s eyes.

Then he had even more fiercely smashed the opponent’s head.

This strength and ferocity.

Made the bald, burly man and the brown curly-haired woman feel astonished.

A third-year high school student? Since when were high school students so powerful?

"What is your name?" The bald, burly man looked at Li Yuan.

"Li Yuan." Li Yuan said.

"Li Yuan? Are you willing to sign with our Starry Sky Martial Hall?" The bald, burly man showed a smile he considered kind: "I am 'Lu Huai', the Hall Master of the Guanshan Branch of the Starry Sky Martial Hall."

Li Yuan was stunned.

This bald, burly man was a Hall Master; was his status equivalent to Hall Master Wan?

He should be a Source Martial Artist.

"Greetings, Hall Master Lu." Li Yuan shook his head and said: "I have already signed with the Starfire Martial Hall in advance."

After thinking for a moment, Li Yuan added: "A B-level contract."

"Starfire Martial Hall? B-level contract?" The bald, burly man was stunned: "How come I haven't heard of this?"

"B-level contract? Li Yuan, from No. 1 High School?" The brown curly-haired woman’s eyes lit up, and she winked at the bald, burly man and smiled: "Old Lu, I remember now."

"Last month, Xing Zixuan mentioned it to me once, saying that Hall Master Wan had signed a high school student with a B-level contract."

"I heard it was poached from your Starry Sky Martial Hall; it must be him."

"I originally wanted to ask Hall Master Wan at the year-end meeting." The brown curly-haired woman smiled at Li Yuan, her eyes quite doting: "No need to ask today; with this courage to take the initiative to save people and remain calm in the face of danger, plus this nearly fourth-stage spear technique, a B-level contract is enough."

Li Yuan became even more confused as he listened.

But he vaguely heard that the brown curly-haired woman before him seemed very familiar with Hall Master Wan.

"Poached from my Starry Sky Martial Hall? How come I don't know?" The bald, burly man 'Lu Huai' frowned slightly.

He subconsciously looked at Li Yuan.

"Don't look at Li Yuan, don't scare our little guy from the Martial Hall." The brown curly-haired woman glared at the bald, burly man: "If you want to know, go ask the people in your Martial Hall yourself."

"Fine, I won't ask him." The bald, burly man shook his head helplessly.

"Li Yuan."

"Come, let's take a photo and sign." The brown curly-haired woman smiled at Li Yuan while opening her smart ring watch: "Don't worry, I will report your killing of the Astral creature very soon, and then notify your school, striving to get you an honorary title and a reward."

"Sorry for the trouble, Senior." Li Yuan was still a bit dizzy, letting the other party direct him.

He quickly took a photo with the Astral creature’s corpse.

And signed on the light screen of the brown curly-haired woman’s ring watch.

"Don't call me Senior, my surname is Zuo." The brown curly-haired woman looked at Li Yuan: "Deputy Hall Master of the Guanshan Branch of the Starfire Martial Hall, responsible for combat readiness, patrols, and hunting down Astral creatures."

"Hall Master Zuo?" Li Yuan was slightly startled.

He had heard other martial artists from the Starfire Martial Hall talk about her, but he hadn't taken it to heart before and hadn't checked her information.

"Know me?" The brown curly-haired woman smiled at Li Yuan: "This should be your first time killing an Astral creature, do you want to go home and rest for a day?"

For the first time killing an Astral creature, especially killing a humanoid race, many people would be very nervous and might even develop psychological barriers.

"No need to ask for leave."

"Hall Master Zuo, I’ll still go to school." Li Yuan said seriously: "I still have to go to school today."

"Go to school?" Hall Master Zuo was stunned, then smiled: "I’ll send you there."