Chapter 344: Post-War Devastation, Soaring into the Sky

The crackling sound of the smoldering embers grew quiet, and smoke drifting from who knows where drilled straight into people's faces.

The noisy city wall became incomparably peaceful, with only the intermittent groans of the wounded ringing out.

Looking out past the city battlements, the rebel army that had surged forward like a tide was also retreating like a tide, scattered and fragmented, no longer a cohesive force.

Like waves crashing against a reef, the majority of the seawater was smashed to pieces, vanishing into the mist in the air, with the remainder returning to the sea surface.

This siege attempt was declared a failure! The bodies of martial artists spread inside and outside the city walls were countless; flesh, blood, bones, and shattered viscera had become incomparably cheap, covering the ground everywhere.

The martial artists on the defending side pushed the corpses one by one off the city wall, dropping them onto the flat ground outside to pile up into small hills.

As for the corpses of significant figures like Blood-Qi Warriors, they were hung from the city wall to be displayed to the public, also serving as a show of force to the enemy.

Zuo Shier's eyes were filled with admiration as he gazed at the back sitting cross-legged on the city wall.

The other Blood-Qi Warriors and Force-Power martial artists also looked at their Commander, Zhou You, with gazes of reverence as if looking at a god.

Freshly slaughtered fat sheep and sturdy cattle, roasted golden-brown over the fire, were delivered like a flowing stream onto Zhou You's food tray.

Zhou You tore into the meat chunks with large bites, swallowing them into his belly before he could even chew, to treat his hunger.

After advancing to Martial Master, the title of Hungry Tiger was well-deserved; the Blood-Qi in his body was in a state of severe deficiency at all times and urgently needed replenishment.

Secret Medicine, food, anything would do; he urgently needed nutrients to convert into Blood-Qi.

After the great battle concluded, he couldn't wait to have large amounts of food brought over to nourish himself. In the eyes of Zuo Shier and the others, the Commander eating meat and drinking heavily before the battle line fit the prestige of someone who had beaten two Martial Masters to death single-handedly.

In reality, only he himself knew his own state.

Zhou You swallowed mouthfuls of food, but his mind was rapidly thinking; relying on eating to maintain Blood-Qi was unrealistic. The limit of three fixed meals a day existed, and even if increased to 10 meals or more, it still couldn't keep up with the consumption at the Martial Master level.

He had used the concept of the "Hungry Tiger" to break through, and his demand for Blood-Qi far exceeded that of other Martial Masters.

"Secret Medicine, only Secret Medicine of a higher grade can sustain my needs."

The Secret Medicine Zhou You took during his Blood-Qi period would barely satisfy his current needs if eaten like a meal.

But once he continued to practice his fist techniques and improve, the Blood-Qi deficit would increase, and this level of Secret Medicine would be far from enough.

Mountain Monarch Life-Changing Pill, Earth Scale Pill, Baohe Pill, and so on—none could satisfy his needs and were relegated to the list of those being phased out.

Although he wasn't in a hurry at the moment, he definitely wouldn't be able to bypass this hurdle in the future and must find Secret Medicine with a higher Blood-Qi conversion rate.

After eating for the better part of the day, with dozens of cow and sheep hides peeled off around him, Zhou You finally felt a slight sense of satiety.

Zuo Shier stepped forward to report the losses of this battle. Because Zhou You had stood at the front and personally killed two Martial Masters, the losses of his subordinates were far less tragic than those on other sections of the city wall.

Even so, two Blood-Qi Warriors had died, one of whom was Qian Shimeng.

"Qian Shimeng held a death wish and perished together with two spies; he wouldn't allow us to intervene until the very end."

Zuo Shier's tone was somewhat low; after all, they were comrades who had fought side-by-side, and having spent a long time together, there were some feelings, yet he had just died like that.

Dead!

Zhou You was somewhat surprised and waved his hand. He had originally wanted to give him a chance, but now it was unnecessary.

Although Qian Shimeng certainly had many shortcomings, his performance at the final moment of his life was extremely fierce, which could be considered as doing him justice.

He roughly guessed the intention behind Qian Shimeng's action; it was for the sake of his family members residing in the Zhou residence.

"Senior Brother Zuo, Qian Shimeng died in battle for me; no matter what, his family should be supported by us." Zuo Shier cupped his hands, "The Commander is magnanimous; if he knows this in the afterlife, he will surely be deeply grateful."

The other Blood-Qi Warrior was very unlucky, dying in the aftermath of the clash between Zhou You and the two Martial Masters; by the time his companions discovered him, he had already breathed his last.

The defense of Gongliang City had come to an end, but skirmishes and battles in localized areas were still occurring.

Burning houses, blood-soaked ground, corpses lying in disarray...

The reserve forces of Gongliang City were being dispatched one after another to kill the stragglers who had broken into the city and clear away hidden dangers.

Standing on the city wall and looking behind him, the areas divided by the crisscrossing streets saw the collision of blood and fire becoming increasingly intense.

Even in the direction of the Inner City, several faint pillars of smoke rose.

Zhou You guessed that this battle was a probe by both sides; neither the two great clans of Gongliang City nor the black hand behind the rebels had used their trump cards or true strength.

The defending side consisted of civilian martial artists recruited by the War Order, and the direct forces of the two great clans had not participated.

On the attacking side, Kunpengzi of the Golden Immortal Dao had not been seen, and the participating martial artists rarely included powerful figures.

Both sides knew clearly that the real great battle had not yet arrived, and it was not yet time to reveal their trump cards.

Even so, both the attacking and defending sides fought desperately, and many outstanding figures emerged.

For instance, although the attacking rebel army suffered a crushing defeat and lost many troops and generals, failing to shake the tight city defense of Gongliang City.

However, a sturdy Martial Master in the rebel army who had just passed thirty years of age performed brilliantly; he single-handedly killed the master of the Horizontal Fist Martial Hall, once broke through that section of the city wall, and retreated unscathed only when the order to withdraw was given.

The master of the Horizontal Fist Martial Hall was also one of the famous veterans of the martial arts circle, yet he was beaten to death by an unknown person.

As a well-known fist style, Horizontal Fist was thus severely damaged and destined to fall into the ranks of third-rate.

Against this background, the city walls defended by other martial hall masters were as solid as a golden fortress; Wang Jianxiong, Mao Laoliu, and Wang Panshi all killed attacking Martial Masters, winning almost effortlessly.

By comparison, it was evident how powerful that rebel Martial Master was; at just over thirty, he was a young man worthy of the name among Martial Masters, yet he could defeat a long-renowned martial hall master.

Among the Blood-Qi Warriors below the level of Martial Master, many also shone brilliantly, such as fighting a hundred enemies alone and killing their way through the enemy formation.

However, all these brilliant deeds were overshadowed by the top headline.

Winged Tiger Zhou You broke through to Martial Master in the heat of battle, and after upgrading, killed two Primary Martial Master enemies, achieving a total victory.

This piece of news contained too much information! Fact one: Zhou You broke through during the fight; at the time, he was at the peak of Blood-Qi, and both enemies were Primary Martial Masters.

Fact two: After he broke through to Martial Master, he did not rest or transition, but immediately returned to the battlefield to face strong enemies.

Fact three: The two enemies, as Primary Martial Masters, could not even escape and died at Zhou You's hands.

Winged Tiger Zhou You became a legend in one battle, officially stepping into the top tier of the Gongliang City martial arts circle, becoming one of the few with a say, and was already infinitely close to the status and power of Wang Laohu.

It had only been a short year or so since he was expelled from the Jianxiong Martial Hall.

This speed of growth was more rapid and savage than wild grass, making people realize, before they knew it, that the little tiger had become a tiger that could beat the old tiger.

Even more terrifying was that Zhou You was not yet 20 years old, and his future prospects were immeasurable.

Some even imagined in private: if the person Wang Laohu had sent into Dayin Mountain had not been Lu Jianqing, but Zhou You, what would it have been like?

With Zhou You's momentum of soaring straight into the sky, he would at the very least be a Tiger General on Dayin Mountain, and he even had the hope of pushing for the rank of Panther General.

(End of this chapter)