Chapter 94: The Beast Tide Strikes—Inside the Circle and Beyond

This journey was unbearably long, a torment enough to drive a person to madness.

A torment enough to change a person's very nature.

Though several thousand years had only spanned two years in reality, for Jiang Qin every one of those thousands of years was lived through personally; he had endured the long ages and successfully returned to Lanxing.

Jiang Qin gathered his thoughts, his calm gaze falling on Su Lingwei's missing right arm.

"What happened to your arm?"

"And your strength…"

Su Lingwei shook her head, indicating she did not wish to discuss it here.

Jiang Qin could only look toward Chen Xiaohu and the others, his gaze sweeping over each of them in turn. "Let's find another place to talk. I need to understand the current situation on Lanxing."

"Mm!" Chen Xiaohu nodded heavily, his confidence greater than ever before.

The group was about to leave and head back to the base building.

Jiang Qin suddenly stopped in his tracks: "Almost forgot."

Under the astonished gazes of the others, he softly uttered: "Sword, come."

Just those two words, without stirring a single thread of Spirit Power.

The Ren Dao Sword, buried deep in the soil, sensed the call and burst forth from the earth, circled twice in the sky, then slowly floated before Jiang Qin.

Jiang Qin gripped the sword hilt and ran his gaze along the blade.

"You were forged by me. The name Ren Dao Sword is too vulgar. From now on, you will inherit her name—Cangling."

Cangling Sword.

In the past, Jiang Qin grew stronger only to destroy Fierce Beasts and the Gods' Sect, for Jiang Ma, for Huaguo.

But now there was one more thing he had to do: one day, sooner or later, he would wield this sword to slay the gods… and wage war against the heavens!

To demand justice for her.

…

Ten minutes later, the group had returned to the conference room.

But the atmosphere was far worse than before.

Jiang Qin very naturally walked to the head seat and sat down. Chen Xiaohu casually found a seat for himself, while looking at the only two women present—one of whom was also the standing vice base commander of Dongxing Jidi Shi.

"Sister Qiu, you know the domestic situation better than I do. Why don't you brief the boss on the current state of the country, starting from when the war fully broke out two years ago."

Vice Base Commander Qiu Jie thought for a moment, gathered her words, then began:

"A lot has happened. I'll just hit the key points."

"First, the edges of the world's barrier shattered. Our race's strongest experts joined forces to act, restricting the channels through which Fierce Beasts could invade Lanxing, but it's not stable. At first, only Fierce Beasts up to fifth-tier could enter the channels to invade Lanxing, but now the channels can already accommodate sixth-tier Fierce Beasts—equivalent to the Heaven Martial Realm—entering Lanxing."

"Fortunately, these powerful Fierce Beasts are held back outside the national borders, giving every country some buffer time."

"Our Huaguo urgently built the Changcheng to encircle the national border, mobilizing all high-tier Martial Artists across the country to resist high-tier Fierce Beasts. The area within the Changcheng is called 'Inside the Circle,' and the area beyond is 'Qu Wai.' Because all the nation's high-tier Martial Artists were pulled away to guard the Changcheng, the Inside the Circle has been in utter chaos these past years—it's even reached the point of cannibalism."

Having heard this.

Jiang Qin keenly caught the key point and spoke:

"Chaos? Since Fierce Beasts above fourth-tier are held back outside the Circle, even if the number of Fierce Beasts inside the Circle far exceeds that of human Martial Artists, with technological weapons, the personnel of the Military Department and Zhenling Bureau, and those martial arts families, defending the cities would be easy… The disaster has only broken out for two years, and some people already can't hold themselves back?"

Qiu Jie nodded helplessly and replied:

"The upper echelons were short-handed and forced to hand over city management rights—originally to protect the people. But those powerful Martial Artist families seized the cities on that basis, even allying with the Gods' Sect. And some people within the Zhenling Bureau were turned, contributing nothing while instead targeting and killing the righteous under their command."

The end result was that these martial arts families successfully occupied the base cities.

But they did not treat the people as people at all—plundering wealth and resources by any means, allowing their disciples to run rampant against the citizens within the city, treating lives as grass.

Among the hundred-plus base cities, Dongxing Jidi Shi was not wealthy; ordinary citizens could only fill their stomachs with potato and plain porridge.

But even so,

Their living conditions were already considered top-tier among the hundred-plus base cities.

One could see just how dire the situation inside Huaguo's Circle currently was.

Just as Jiang Qin was still gathering information, an urgent air-raid siren suddenly blared through the city.

The original air-raid siren now served only one purpose.

When it sounded, it meant a beast tide was approaching the city.

Chen Xiaohu's communicator rang.

The moment it connected, the urgent voice of the defending officer came through: "Base Commander, radar has detected a beast tide numbering over ten thousand heading straight for our Dongxing Jidi Shi. They're moving very fast—currently less than ten kilometers out. Requesting support!"

Hearing this, the expressions of everyone else in the conference room changed drastically.

That sentence revealed a great deal of information. On the surface, the ten-thousand-strong Fierce Beasts seemed to be the greatest danger, but the key lay in the fact that ten thousand Fierce Beasts were rushing toward Dongxing Jidi Shi at extreme speed.

Fierce Beasts were not a monolithic block; normally, even if ten thousand Fierce Beasts attacked a city, their advance would be very slow.

Unless… there were several dozen fourth-tier Fierce Beasts within the beast tide, controlling it.

In the past, Chen Xiaohu would have been overwhelmed with pressure long ago.

But at this moment, his face was utterly calm.

Jiang Qin pushed back his chair and stood up. "Coming at just the right time. This new body of mine needs some adapting too."

"Carry on with your usual arrangements."

Hearing this, everyone turned to look at Chen Xiaohu in unison.

Chen Xiaohu said calmly: "According to the arrangements left by Director Yue, the boss is now the supreme leader of the Zhenling Bureau within the Circle, with the authority to manage all military and political affairs of every city within the Circle."

The group exchanged glances, then saluted in unison.

"Yes, sir!"

They moved into action swiftly—those who needed to dispatch personnel did so, those who needed to allocate supplies did so. Time was short, so they had to prepare to resist this medium beast tide in the shortest time possible.

As the siren sounded repeatedly, the citizens on the streets panicked back to their homes, locking their doors and windows.

Base cities have been breached before; although the beast tides were eventually cleared, those who died never came back. So whenever the beasts attacked the city, the only thing they could do was hide in their homes.

Jiang Qin stepped lightly through the air, surveying everything within the city.

He unhurriedly walked toward the distant city wall.

Strangely, though he had only taken a single step, his figure had already arrived dozens of meters away.

If an Earth Martial Realm Martial Artist were here, they would see that Jiang Qin already possessed the embryonic form of a Domain; although his realm was still the peak of the Divine Image Realm, once his Domain and state of mind were perfected, he could break through on the spot.

On the city wall, soldiers held their posts one after another.

The old-model Spirit Power weapons in their hands, they gazed at the dark mass of the beast tide surging from afar. To say they felt no fear would be absolutely impossible, but courage was what held them here, granting them the bravery to fight.

This too is the inheritance of those who came before.