Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Nightfall. Darkness had fallen without warning.
No one else came to disturb Fang Ping. Fang Ping did not bother to go out to enquire about the situation. There was no need for a Rank-3 like him to worry about these things.
At night, Fang Ping started spending Wealth to hone his upper limb bone marrow.
Following the honing of his bone marrow, the injuries on Fang Ping’s left arm started recovering progressively.
Rank-8 powerhouses were called the Indestructible Vajra. Not only did they have a robust defense, but their recovery speed was also rapid.
This had a lot to do with the bone marrow as well.
When the bone marrow was completely honed, the body’s blood formation, recovery, and feedback ability would rise sharply.
His left arm that had sustained major injuries was recovering rapidly to the point that the recovery could be seen with the naked eye.
As for his injured internal organs, Fang Ping had swallowed a Resurrection Pill given by someone earlier, yet he was still not fully recovered. This was an attack made by a Rank-6 powerhouse. There was no way that healing would be that simple.
If it was not for Fang Ping’s effort to constantly replenish his Vitality and mend his internal organs, he would have long succumbed to his injuries even before Tang Feng could come to his rescue.
In order to recover his combat strength as soon as possible, Fang Ping consumed another Resurrection Pill, trying to ignore the anguish he felt from doing it.
His internal injuries were recovering in good time as well.
...
The moment the sky began to glow brightly, Fang Ping’s injuries had recovered almost entirely. Other than finding it hard to exert force in his left arm, the other injuries had for the most part mended.
Flashing a glance at the new stats, Fang Ping was utterly satisfied.
After breaking through the 1000cal limit, his Vitality had ballooned yet again.
The increase in his Vitality’s upper limit had also suggested the power amplification in Fang Ping’s outburst moves. At the same time, it also suggested the constant strengthening of his physique.
Wealth: 40.5 million
Vitality: 1008cal (1209cal+)
Mentality: 520Hz (541Hz+)
Bones honed: 126 bones (100%), 51 bones (90%+), 29 bones (30%+)
“Vitality has hit more than 1200cal now. It’s unfortunate that Manic Explosion is still stuck at four consecutive slashes.”
Fang Ping felt a pang of regret. In the last few days, he had employed Manic Explosion a few times. From start to finish, he had dished out thousands of slashes.
However, there was still a slight delay when performing five consecutive slashes as the slashes could not be employed consecutively.
Once Fang Ping could employ five consecutive slashes, his combat strength would magnify.
Right now, he was solely relying on his own Vitality to destroy the enemy. He might not even be a match for Qin Fengqing.
It came as no surprise that Qin Fengqing’s Combat Techniques were slightly more advanced than his.
“If I hack with a single move, the strongest outburst I can achieve will only be about 200cal Vitality. As for the consecutive slashes, I can achieve nearly 350cal outburst in four consecutive slashes.”
Fang Ping was capable of killing Rank-4 martial artists because of his unrelenting, consecutive slashes that provided no opportunity for his opponent to react.
Rather than saying that he had slashed the enemy to death, it was more like he had dragged the enemy to a slow death.
Whereas the slashes from Qin Fengqing and the others were the real ultimate move outburst that could kill the enemy in one fatal move.
Fang Ping was still slightly lacking in this area.
“When I can employ seven consecutive slashes, I may be able to hit 800cal Vitality by superimposing them one over the other. When the time comes, that will be qualified as the authentic ultimate move that can kill in one slash!”
Fang Ping mumbled. He was referring to same-rank peers—Upper-stage or Peak Rank-3.
Even the slightly weaker Rank-4s without solid defense cultivation methods or powerful big moves to fight with Fang Ping would also suffer the fate of getting killed in one slash.
Despite that, seven consecutive slashes... Fang Ping thought he might as well save his breath.
“I can’t even employ five consecutive slashes. I’ve wasted a valuable Combat Technique...”
Fang Ping was disappointed with himself and felt slightly helpless.
Currently, he excelled at performing frequent outbursts instead of a single outburst. It was really unfortunate as this suggested that he would spend more Vitality and waste more time every time he killed an enemy.
“Only by killing people will the Combat Techniques improve by leaps and bounds. The reason why Qin Fengqing and the rest can cultivate Combat Techniques up to the level of ultimate move—maybe even beyond that—probably had something to do with their frequent visits to the Catacombs.
“For the great battle this time, I need to cultivate my Combat Techniques up to the level of five consecutive slashes, at least. When the time comes, at least the power released from the outbursts will be equivalent to other people’s ultimate move outburst of more than 400cal.”
“Other than that, I need to cultivate single moves as well. After all, there will be an intermittent period between consecutive moves. This may still be manageable when facing a weak opponent, but powerhouses will break the attack combo straight away...”
There were pros and cons to Manic Explosion.
The pros were that it could superimpose outbursts and accumulate lethality.
The cons were really obvious too. When faced with someone who had rapid eye-hand coordination, that person could avoid or break up his consecutive slashes move before Fang Ping could string them together. When that happened, Fang Ping would be placed at an extremely disadvantageous position.
“I should cultivate one more single move outburst Combat Technique. Manic Explosion emphasized on consecutive slashes instead of seeking the power of a single move outburst.”
Fang Ping made up his mind after sorting through his weaknesses.
Among same-rank peers, he was not considered invincible... Vitality aside.
Fang Ping might not even be a match for the top ten in the Rank-3 ranking list today if he did not count on Wealth to replenish his Vitality rapidly when he fought.
“I lack a little bit of everything when it comes to combat experience, method, or movements.
“The Catacombs is the best place to steel myself.
“Provided that I don’t die here.”
“When I leave the Catacombs this time, I will make my way up to Peak Rank-3. Not only will I be able to employ five consecutive slashes, but I can also squeeze my way into the top three of the Rank-3 ranking list based on my true combat strength.
After weighing his options, Fang Ping got out of bed and strode out of the infirmary.
He had just stepped out of the door when Fu Changding was seen hurrying toward his direction. When he saw Fang Ping, he said immediately, “The university is having a meeting and has something to announce.”
“Alright.”
Fang Ping strode toward the big meeting room with him.
...
Meeting room.
At this moment, it was not just Fang Ping and the students from his batch who were there. There were others present.
Surprisingly, Fang Ping spotted a familiar face—Qin Fengqing!
“Why are you here!”
Qin Fengqing casually waved a changdao as he replied lazily, “Nonsense. Of course I’d be here when a great battle is breaking out. Little Student Fang, I am about to achieve Rank-4. I am certain it will happen on this trip.
“I heard that you are an Upper-stage Rank-3 now and have defeated a Rank-5. Should we have a go sometime?”
Fang Ping let out a humph and accepted the challenge. “Let’s try it then. Do you think I’m afraid of you?”
Last time, this as*hole had been strolling around the New Student Dormitory Area wielding a saber, looking very much like he was about to hack Fang Ping to death. Fang Ping had made a note of this, and other similar grudges long ago.
Not to mention, Qin Fengqing still owed him money. Was it 3 million or something like that?
“Xie Lei didn’t come?”
“Him?”
Qin Fengqing curled his lips and answered, “He’s not here. I heard that the kid is assisting the university with student enrollment. He has too much time on his hands. With so much free time, it is only right for him to come to the Catacombs.
“It’s better like that anyway. Now that he’s not here, we can kill a few more Catacombs kids!”
Qin Fengqing sounded very laid back, as if he could kill just about any Catacombs martial artists.
Fang Ping paid him no attention and scanned his surroundings. Many people from the university had turned up. At this moment, there was an increase of about ten to twenty people in Rank-3.
Adding on to the Rank-3 martial artists before them, there were nearly 40 people now.
As the senior year students had graduated, the number of MCMAU Rank-3 students was about 60 people only.
In the blink of an eye, two-thirds of them were here!
Fang Ping felt pressured at the sight. It seemed like the situation did not look too hopeful. Otherwise, MCMAU would not have the heart to send so many Rank-3 martial artists into the Catacombs.
Other than the students, the number of instructors had surged too.
Fang Ping spotted Luo Yichuan, Xu Jianzhou, and many other instructors he was familiar with...
There were at least 200 people in the entire meeting room.
As the crowd was whispering about, Tang Feng, Lu Fengrou, and a few others marched toward them.
As usual, Tang Feng went straight to the point. “Vice-chancellor Wu and the dean have other missions to do. Coming up, we have our own mission as well.
“All Rank-2 martial artists will go up the city wall to assist the Military Department in defending Hope City.
“Rank-3 martial artists below the Upper-stage will assist with defense as well...”
“Instructor!”
Someone was unsatisfied. Yu Xianghua raised his voice and said, “Instructor, I don’t want to take part in defense!”
Tang Feng darted him a look and questioned coldly, “Do you want to offer your head? Do you think that you are an Upper-stage Rank-3? That you can stop the attack of an Upper-stage Rank-3?”
Tang Feng ignored him and continued, “Upper-stage and Peak Rank-3 martial artists are equipped with a certain amount of night vision ability at night. You can only see up to a certain extent, of course. Today, however, middle-ranked martial artists are assigned a mission...”
The moment these words left his lips, Fang Ping seemed to have figured something out.
Right on point, Tang Feng continued, “The Military Department is saying that we must not resign to our fate and watch both cities join forces without doing anything.
“Once both cities’ armies have reached the city wall, they will most probably breach through as Hope City is too compact and the martial artists’ destruction force too powerful.
“Therefore, we must take the initiative and disrupt their deployment.
“East Sunflower City is still 120 li distance away from us, so we’ll take the opportunity to initiate the attack on Sky Gate City’s forces. Offense is the best defense.
“Sky gate City’s military troops will be handled by the Military Department. Despite that, huge amounts of casual martial artists from Sky Gate City are also coming together.
“The mission assigned to you by the Military Department is this: launch a surprise attack on the makeshift camps set up by the casual martial artists in one place.
“Our scout has explored and discovered a team of nearly 300 martial artists in a small assembly point that has just been set up 25 kilometers northwest of Hope City.
“There are middle and low-ranked ones too. MCMAU’s mission is to make a clean sweep of this stronghold and weaken Sky Gate City’s strength.
“It is almost impossible for Rank-1 and 2 martial artists to see anything clearly when night falls, so this is not a concern.
“Among them, we need to kill any martial artists with ranks higher than Upper-stage Rank-3.
“This time, MCMAU’s Rank-4 and 5 instructors will move out together with the Upper-stage and Peak Rank-3 students to destroy the other party’s positions!”
It was clear that Rank-6 instructors were assigned a different mission.
As Tang Feng spoke, he looked at the crowd and asked, “Any doubts?”
Fang Ping was about to ask a question when Qin Fengqing said, “How difficult can it be to perform a clean sweep at the ordinary folk’s stronghold. Honestly, among the Catacombs martial artists, only those martial artists in the military are slightly stronger. There are not many powerhouses among the commoners.”
Tang Feng frowned slightly and reminded them, “Don’t let your guards down. The other party has plenty of Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artists and higher. But, we’ll draw their Rank-6 martial artists away. Anyway, I hope everyone can return in one piece!
“The situation has taken a turn for the worse. Two cities joint forces, powerhouses holding each other up, and we’re even at a disadvantageous position. We have nothing to worry about if Rank-1 or 2 martial artists attack our city. However, when the number of martial artists at ranks higher than Upper-stage Rank-3 has increased, Hope City will not be able to stop the enemy.”
Even though Hope City’s walls were enormous, high, and constructed with a steel perimeter, hopping over the city wall was not too difficult for an Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artist.
The Military Department’s military troops could withstand their military troops. Yet, in every great battle, powerhouses were needed to hold up the other party’s powerhouses.
Fang Ping waited for him to finish his sentence before asking, “What if the other party’s Rank-6 are still there?”
“We’ll try our best to hold all of them up... the ones who remain will face the Rank-5 instructors. This is not your concern. Your main targets are Rank-3 martial artists, including those under Rank-3.”
Actually, human martial artists were not weak.
This was not to say that the Catacombs martial artists were weaker than humans. The deciding factor was the lack of Combat Techniques among the Catacombs martial artists, especially among the casual martial artists. Even their weapon quality was ordinary. Judging from the goods Fang Ping had acquired, most of the Rank-4 martial artists were using D-class weapons.
Whereas human martial artists who had achieved Rank-4 would usually prepare C-class alloy weapons for themselves.
Human Grandmasters did not feel the need to monopolize something as trivial as Combat Techniques; they were free for all to learn. In the Catacombs, however, ranks were set strictly whereby not all Combat Techniques could be learned freely.
This had also widened the gap between the abilities of the Catacombs military martial artists and casual martial artists.
No one else expressed any more doubts. Actually, most of them had experienced this before. This was not the first time they did something like this at Upper-stage Rank-3.
Nonetheless, it was Fang Ping’s first time.
When Tang Feng was done speaking, Fang Ping asked Qin Fengqing in a whisper, “When the time comes, this will be a mixed battle?”
Qin Fengqing said carelessly, “If you can defeat them, kill them. Lead them to the instructors if you can’t. Obviously you can’t blindly lead them to the instructors when you know that the instructors themselves have their hands full. Don’t go if that’s the case. If the instructors die as a result, then we will have doomed ourselves as well.
“In short, the mission assigned to us is not really complicated.
“The reason we are not assigned to make a clean sweep at the other party’s military camp... is most probably because of you. It’s because you’re a newbie, that’s why.”
Fang Ping’s face turned dark and he snapped irritatedly, “You can go ahead and attack the military camp then.”
“Do you think I am crazy? Do I have a death wish?”
Fang Ping did not provoke him further. ‘Why were you acting so high and mighty then?’
After giving it some thought, Fang Ping said, “We should just send Grandmasters there and wipe them all out with a slap...”
Qin Fengqing rolled his eyes. “Get real. Actually, there is an unspoken rule between the Grandmasters and the other party. When a great battle breaks out, soldiers will fight against soldiers and generals against generals. Unless there’s a great disparity in manpower, if you exterminate the other party’s low-ranked martial artists with powerhouses, won’t their high-ranked do the same to our people too?
“Actually... our Grandmasters had done it in the past...”
Qin Fengqing whispered, “They had massacred one of the enemy’s military troops. The Grandmaster at that time figured that they were not on earth anyway, so what’s done was done. In those days, humans hadn’t built a city at that Catacombs entrance anyway... so, they figured that they could let the Grandmasters in to do some killing and get away with it.
“As a result... the Catacombs was in turmoil. More than ten Rank-9 powerhouses almost broke through the passageway. After that, plenty of Grandmasters joined in. They fought against the other party in a great battle that broke out in the passageway and had almost blown it up. All of them perished together.
“I think it’s just about right. Both parties are slightly cautious in taking actions for fear of the repercussions. We are worried that they will break into our world, while they are apprehensive about our Grandmasters killing their civilians without restraint.
“Unless one party has an absolute upper hand, powerhouses that conduct large-scale massacres against low-ranked martial artists will most certainly expect retaliation.
Fang Ping asked curiously, “Why don’t the Catacombs powerhouses show themselves when there are so many of them?”
Qin Fengqing shrugged and said, “Don’t ask me. I don’t know. Though someone concluded that it is probably because all the Catacombs entrances are not merged together, therefore it will be equally difficult for powerhouses to go through. A certain limit exists.
“Therefore, they are waiting. Waiting for all the entrances to merge. When they have gathered enough forces, they will wipe out earth’s humankind in one fell swoop.
“I don’t know whether this is true or not.
“As for us, even though the assumption has been made, we can only wait passively. There’s no other way. Perhaps each Catacombs entrance is unable to communicate needs and provide mutual support on a larger scale, though certain top-level powerhouses can probably do it.
“When you have killed far too many over here, the ones over there will get wind of it and pressure us by breaking through the entrances...
“Whatever it is, we are waiting right now. We’re waiting for more Grandmasters, waiting for more information to be disclosed.
“The other party is waiting as well. Waiting for all the entrances to open up and the obstacles to be removed. The wars that we have been waging now are all local operations. A full-scale great battle has not broken out yet.”
Fang Ping sighed and asked no more.
Upon seeing his reaction, Qin Fengqing whispered, “Come with me tonight. We can achieve something big together. It’s boring to fight Rank-3 because there’s not much to loot.
“We should take on Rank-4 or 5s. Killing one of them is equivalent to killing several Rank-3 martial artists.
“Employ a big move when you’re up and achieve twenty to thirty outbursts. Even a Rank-4 needs to figure out a way to block them. I’ll gather my energy and finish him off in one blow!”
Fang Ping scoffed. “Do you really think that my Vitality consumption springs out of nowhere? I need pills and resources as well.”
“A fifty-fifty split. How’s that?”
“Get lost!”
“Forty-sixty. I can’t go any lower than that. It’s not like I’m not contributing at all...”
Fang Ping thought for a while before saying, “I think we should kill a few more Rank-3. This is better than killing Rank-4. Middle-ranked martial artists are so difficult to kill. Even if I can achieve an outburst, what about you? You’ll probably deplete all your Vitality in one attack. Can you still continue?”
“Idiot!” Qin Fengqing snapped. “Killing a Rank-4 is equivalent to killing 10 Rank-3. You don’t know that?”
“That many?”
“Nonsense. Their energy hearts alone are worth a handsome sum. A Rank-4’s heart can be exchanged for 300 credits!”
“That much?”
Fang Ping was truly unaware of this. After hearing what he said, he asked with anguish all of a sudden, “What about Rank-5?”
“It depends on the ranks. It will be 1000 credits for Peak.”
Fang Ping cursed instantly. How many goodies had that golden lion in the forest eaten from him!
Though, very quickly, Fang Ping seemed to have remembered something. He had acquired a Rank-4 heart earlier, but why was there not much increase in his Wealth?
“Is it because this stuff is not really valuable, or is it because... it was retrieved from a human’s body, so the system does not count it in?”
Fang Ping was slightly confused. He could only experiment next time.
Perhaps it is because the price of a heart was impossible to estimate?
“Exchanging it for credits should be able to do it.”
Right now, Fang Ping was still confused as to how the system calculated, so he could stash the thought away for another time.
As for Qin Fengqing’s suggestion, he would consider it. Apart from that, this fellow was still a Peak Rank-3 right now, how slow could he get?