This was a new rule set after the three major families ran into trouble three years ago: all disciples of the three families had to diligently practice, with relaxation and rest allowed only on the last three days of every month.
Although the women in the family were all very diligent in their cultivation, they were still women—who doesn't love to go shopping? Even Wang Yue, who was something of a martial arts fanatic, was no exception.
Therefore, it wasn't surprising at all that no one showed up at the martial arts training ground today.
Wang Yue didn't blame them for not informing him in advance; after all, everyone looked forward to a rest day, and no one would have thought he'd even forget about it.
As for why they didn't take Wang Yue out with them, that was entirely Wang Yue's own fault.
In fact, they used to enjoy going out with him, especially Wang Yaru, who loved to stick to him. If he remembered correctly, it was at the beginning of this year that Wang Yue, feeling he was a grown man and that constantly hanging out with a group of women was undignified, personally declared that he would no longer go out with them.
Because of this, Wang Yaru even cried, and then Wang Yue, in turn, was punished by Wang Yue (the older sister or relative, as this character is confusingly named the same as the main character's surname) for making Yaru cry.
Since then, he had been "free," able to go out alone on the rest day every month.
He thought it was great at the time, but looking back now, he realized how utterly foolish he'd been—he rejected the company of a group of beautiful women, young and old.
Even if they were all family and he couldn't entertain any romantic notions, he could at least have met some of their friends and confidantes through them.
After all, the Wang family rules weren't this strict three years ago, and they had plenty of friends from having time to go out every day. And a beauty's friends were usually also beauties; only the manipulative women, who weren't confident enough in their own looks but wanted attention, would deliberately seek out plain or ugly friends to serve as a foil. Of course, nothing in life is absolute; there were also combinations of beautiful and plain friends who were genuinely good to each other.
Wang Yue's reason for coming to the training ground every day was just to pass the time. Since today was a rest day, he naturally wasn't going to stay home like a fool—he also enjoyed going out, being a young man.
However, he didn't plan to go out for fun today; instead, he was going to check out the Lingyun Pavilion.
The Lingyun Pavilion is an incredibly powerful and mysterious commercial organization. It is said to have branches in almost every city within the entire human domain, and it seems to be supported by more than one Martial Arts Holy Land.
Everything sold there is related to martial artists: weapons, equipment, cultivation resources, and so on. They even sell cultivation methods and martial skills.
At the same time, this organization has strict requirements for customers. The most basic one is that anyone entering to buy must be a martial artist.
Moreover, even martial artists are strictly categorized based on the influence of their power. For instance, people from the Jinling Wang Family are considered Profound-rank customers. Other items are fine, but to buy cultivation methods or martial skills, the highest they can purchase is only Profound-rank.
This shows that current human society has formed an extremely rigid hierarchy. To ordinary people, martial artists are lofty and superior, but within the martial artist ranks, there are also different classes and grades. It is almost impossible to break out of one circle into a higher-end one.
Wang Yue's goal today was a martial skill.
While a martial skill isn't as important as a cultivation method, it relates to the practical deployment of a martial artist's strength. The higher the rank of the martial skill, the more efficiently it can use the True Qi within the body, unleashing greater power.
The Wang family's core martial skill, the Shattering Jade Palm, is only High-Grade Profound-rank. It's considered decent in the Jinling area, but for Wang Yue, it was far from enough.
Naturally, finding powerful cultivation methods and martial skills in the Lingyun Pavilion is nearly impossible. Such things are extremely scarce, and even if they had any, they would likely be allocated to branches in the top-tier cities. A first-tier city like Jinling probably doesn't qualify.
Otherwise, the three major Jinling families wouldn't have all treated a High-Grade Profound-rank martial skill as their clan treasure for so many years. Profound-rank customers are eligible to buy Peak-Grade Profound-rank methods and skills, but the reason the three families haven't acquired any is that High-Grade or Peak-Grade Profound-rank methods and skills have simply never appeared in the Jinling Lingyun Pavilion.
However, Wang Yue vaguely recalled that there was a martial skill in the Lingyun Pavilion that had no rank classification.
That martial skill had no name, didn't even restrict the weapon used, and consisted of only one extremely simple move. Yet, when it first appeared, it caused a massive sensation.
Its origin was great: it was obtained by a Land Immortal in the Transcendent Realm from a certain Martial Arts Holy Land within a secret, core area. But even that Land Immortal couldn't bring out its true power, so they released it to find someone destined to use it.
Virtually all major forces bought a copy back then for research, but without exception, none became the so-called "fated person."
However, people did notice a clue: among martial artists of the same cultivation realm, those who practiced higher-ranked cultivation methods unleashed slightly more power with this move.
From this, people concluded that the move's power should be related to the martial artist's realm and the purity of their True Qi. Higher cultivation naturally meant greater base power, and purer True Qi meant a greater power bonus; the two factors multiplied each other.
Yet, while cultivation methods are ranked, the real difference lies in the speed of cultivation and the upper limit. The purity of the True Qi produced, though varying slightly, isn't significantly different. Even True Qi cultivated with a Heaven-rank method is only a few tenths to perhaps double the purity compared to a Yellow-rank method—nowhere near a qualitative difference.
And even a Heaven-rank cultivator's use of that single move was only equivalent to a Mid-to-Low-Grade Profound-rank martial skill. Moreover, because it was just one simple move, its value couldn't even compare to a Yellow-rank martial skill.
But Wang Yue was different. After his first dual-cultivation session with Xue Yan, he felt his True Qi was at least several times purer than before. After subsequent sessions with Xue Yan and Chen Rong, the purity of his True Qi had nearly doubled again compared to after the first session.
If the martial skill was truly as everyone speculated, Wang Yue felt it was custom-made for him and the women he dual-cultivated with.
In fact, the Wang family had bought a copy back then, but Wang Yue's grandfather tossed it aside after trying it once. No one knew where it was now.
And after everyone stopped falling for the hype, the price of the martial skill in all Lingyun Pavilions kept dropping. It was now dirt cheap. Instead of rummaging through the house for it, it was better to just go and buy a new copy.
Arriving at the Wang family manor's parking lot, Wang Yue casually picked a small maglev car. Without even asking a maid to accompany him, he drove out of the manor alone.
This type of maglev car was a new product that emerged after the Reiki Resurgence—a perfect fusion of technology and cultivation. Its power core came from the core crystals of cultivated beast races. Through some mysterious arrays within the car body, it could generate anti-gravity, allowing the car to float about half a meter off the ground.
In terms of performance, this car was no better than ordinary oil or electric cars, and it was extremely expensive. The cost of replacing the beast core alone could fuel a regular gasoline car for several hundred years.
In short, it was a gimmick with far greater show-off value than practical utility; its sole purpose was to display status.
As the sole surviving male heir of the three major Jinling families, Wang Yue was absolutely the most well-known person in Jinling City. No matter how low-key he tried to be, it was impossible for the common "pretending to be weak" trope to occur in the Jinling area.
Since that was the case, he might as well be ostentatious. This could at least save him some time on the road—people seeing this car would surely make way for him automatically. This was the minimum respect ordinary people showed to martial artists.
Although Wang Yue wasn't a bad person, nor arrogant or overbearing, having grown up in a circle of privilege since birth, it was clearly impossible for him to stand up for the common masses before experiencing certain things.
The maglev car floated along the main streets of Jinling City. Wang Yue looked at the surrounding high-rise buildings and couldn't help but feel a sense of having returned from another world.
For the other Wang family members, the last time they were out was less than a month ago, but for Wang Yue, it had been too long—so long that he had somewhat forgotten the layout of Jinling City. Fortunately, the car had a navigator, so he could follow the directions straight to the Lingyun Pavilion without worrying about getting lost.
With pedestrians and traffic freely making way for him, Wang Yue quickly arrived at the street where the Lingyun Pavilion was located. He noticed that everyone on the street was standing along the sides of the road, their expressions filled with awe.
Wang Yue was curious when he heard a neat sound of footsteps from ahead. Immediately, a group of tall figures in military uniforms appeared in his sight.
Seeing these people, Wang Yue, despite being a member of the privileged class, quickly drove to the roadside and gave up the main road.
In the human fight against the Beast Race, martial artists were the spearhead, thermal weapons were the conventional means, but the true backbone was the Army.
The people in the army didn't practice the cultivation methods and martial skills of martial artists; instead, they practiced a special method found by humans in a unique secret realm when the Reiki Resurgence first occurred.
A single person practicing this method was only slightly stronger than an ordinary person; even at the highest level of mastery, they couldn't compare to a regular Body Tempering Realm First-layer martial artist.
However, the specialty of this method was its ability to connect individuals and allow them to form battle formations. The strength of all participants would be superimposed and the power greatly magnified by the formation.
One soldier couldn't beat an entry-level Body Tempering martial artist, but ten soldiers in a battle formation could hold their own against a Qi Refining Realm martial artist. A hundred-person formation was enough to contend with a Spirit Condensation Realm martial artist. A thousand-person formation could resist a Heaven Core Realm expert (Early to Mid-stage) without falling into a disadvantage. Once a ten-thousand-person grand formation was established, even a Truth Reversion Realm big shot would have to avoid it.
The most fundamental reliance for humanity to be able to stand against the powerful Beast Race and establish a stable human domain is the Great Wall of Steel formed by humanity's tens of millions of soldiers.
Therefore, even the proud martial artists show sincere respect when facing the military. Of course, the world is vast and full of all kinds of people, and there are certainly scoundrels and schemers among humans who enjoy the army's protection while secretly looking down on them.
This formation of several hundred people quickly passed, and the street returned to its usual order, with people resuming their activities.
Wang Yue secretly paid attention to this. Although there were troops stationed in major cities besides those defending the human domain's borders against the Beast Race, these garrison troops usually didn't mobilize. The sudden dispatch of several hundred people clearly indicated that something had happened.
However, Wang Yue felt it shouldn't be a major event. Even if it was, it shouldn't affect him, as he hadn't heard of anything happening during this period in his previous life. If he hadn't been on this street today on a whim, he probably wouldn't have known about the military's deployment in this life.
Quickly putting the matter out of his mind, Wang Yue drove to the building housing the Lingyun Pavilion. After presenting his ID, he drove the maglev car into the underground parking garage.
The Lingyun Pavilion, named "Pavilion," isn't particularly large. It occupies only one floor of a hundred-plus-story commercial building. After all, it only sells items for martial artists, and in any given city, martial artists are few compared to ordinary people.
After parking, Wang Yue went directly from the underground garage to the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. Since it's the "Soaring Cloud" (Lingyun) Pavilion, it is naturally located at the highest point—that's part of its prestige.
There's a rule in this building: once the top-floor button is pressed, the elevator won't stop at any intermediate floor, regardless of how many people are waiting. It goes directly to the top floor—a privilege of martial artists visible in every aspect. If a non-martial artist were to press the top floor button, the consequences would be severe.
With the help of this privilege, Wang Yue quickly arrived at the top floor.
There were quite a few people inside the Lingyun Pavilion—both martial artists and ordinary people. Although the Lingyun Pavilion wouldn't sell martial artist items to ordinary people, it would purchase them from ordinary people.
There are many people in the world, and even ordinary people, if lucky, can obtain items used by martial artists. These items are useless to them and could even cause trouble, so they are happy to exchange them for money at the Lingyun Pavilion.
"Oh, Young Master Wang, what wind blew you over today?" As soon as Wang Yue entered, an attendant greeted him with a smile.
Although the Lingyun Pavilion is extremely powerful, far surpassing first-tier powers like the three Jinling families, they never mistreat customers. Not just Wang Yue, but even an ordinary person would be greeted warmly, having fully embraced the essence of "the customer is God."
Wang Yue naturally didn't put on airs and spoke directly: "I want a copy of that martial skill."
Because the martial skill has no name, everyone refers to it as "that martial skill," a habit that formed over time.
"Which one?" Because it had been so long since anyone inquired about that martial skill, the attendant didn't immediately react.
However, attendants in a power like the Lingyun Pavilion are quick-witted. After a momentary pause, the attendant slapped his forehead and laughed: "Look at my memory! Young Master Wang must mean that martial skill, right? That's right, with Young Master Wang's natural talent, you might just be the fated person for that martial skill. I'll get it for you right away."
Wang Yue sneered internally: I'll believe you when I see it. You businessmen are bad to the bone. I bet you've said that to every person who came to buy this skill!
Soon, the attendant took a piece of paper from a sealed cabinet—an ordinary A4 sheet with printed text.
Wang Yue was speechless, thinking, Couldn't you at least use parchment paper and age it a bit to give it some dignity? Instead, he was presented with this thing, which felt instantly cheap and discouraged a purchase.
Then, he asked the price, and it was indeed ridiculously cheap: 100,000 credit points.
This could no longer be described as "cabbage price"; it was the price of discarded cabbage scraps! One must know that items for martial artists, especially cultivation methods and martial skills, are always sky-high, starting at hundreds of millions of credit points even for the lowest rank.
But then Wang Yue reconsidered. The item had already been sold in bulk long ago and had no proprietary value. Selling one copy was a bonus. Furthermore, while its power was decent—even the cultivator with the least pure True Qi could unleash power equivalent to a Peak-Grade Yellow-rank martial skill upon mastering it—it was still only a single move, and a very simple and crude downward chop. It was basically impossible to hit anyone except through a sneak attack.
Therefore, except for the smallest, lowest-tier families who only had Low-Grade Yellow-rank methods and skills, no one bothered to spend effort practicing it.
Wang Yue used his communicator to pay the credit points, took the A4 sheet, and looked at it.
The paper contained a diagram illustrating the movement of True Qi within the body, along with text annotations explaining how to exert force and guide the True Qi. This move was incredibly simple, but the method of force generation and True Qi circulation was quite unique. Without the annotations and diagram, most people wouldn't think of circulating it this way.
But that was all there was to it. Without trying it, Wang Yue couldn't know its power.
After just one glance, Wang Yue memorized the martial skill, casually folded the paper, and put it in his pocket.
The attendant immediately asked, "Does Young Master Wang need anything else, perhaps a weapon? This move requires a weapon to unleash its maximum power."
Wang Yue's family arsenal had plenty of weapons, but since the family's strongest martial skill was a palm technique, the arsenal mostly collected powerful thermal weapons and didn't have many good cold weapons.
Wang Yue thought for a moment: "Take me to see the long sabers."
There's a saying: "A month for the staff, a year for the saber, a decade for the sword, a lifetime to master the spear like a dragon." Since Wang Yue had never used a weapon before, he naturally wanted to choose an easy one to learn.
As for why he didn't choose the easiest, the staff? The reason was simple—it wasn't cool! Wielding a staff would make him look like a monkey!
While the saber wasn't as cool as the sword or as regal as the spear, it was at least domineering, so that was the choice.
"Alright, Young Master Wang, this way please." The attendant said happily. They received a commission when customers bought things. If Wang Yue only bought that martial skill, he wouldn't get much out of it, but weapons were different. Each one was expensive, and since this was the Young Master of the Wang family, he naturally wouldn't want the cheapest one.
Led by the attendant, Wang Yue quickly arrived at the weapons room. This room displayed only sabers: long sabers, short blades, and dual blades—everything you could imagine.
"Young Master Wang, how about this one? This is the work of Master Craftsman Ou from Tianhai City. Its sharpness is a given, and it can withstand the True Qi infusion of a Land Core Realm expert. It's only 50 million credit points now. What do you think, Young Master Wang?" the attendant said, picking up a sheathed long saber.
Although he wanted to charge Wang Yue a high price, he figured the young master was only trying out sabers on a whim, so he introduced a medium-quality long saber.
Wang Yue shook his head. Only able to withstand Land Core Realm True Qi infusion? Was that a joke? Wang Yue was already in the Land Core Realm, and at his rate of progress, he'd reach the Heaven Core Realm soon. Wouldn't he just destroy the weapon the moment he channeled his True Qi?
The attendant saw Wang Yue shaking his head and thought he found the saber too expensive and didn't want to buy it. Just as he was about to introduce a cheaper one, Wang Yue spoke: "Which is the best long saber you have here? Show me. Money is not an issue."
The attendant immediately rejoiced, quickly taking a long saber from a separate display rack and saying, "This saber is called 'Cold Moon'. It was found by our Lingyun Pavilion exploration team in a secret realm. After personal testing by a Mortal-Transcendence Realm mighty expert in our pavilion, this saber can withstand the full True Qi infusion of a Mortal-Transcendence Realm expert. It is a rare, top-quality treasure saber."
Wang Yue took the long saber and drew it slightly from its sheath. He instantly felt a cold gleam shoot out from the blade, and the temperature in the entire weapons room seemed to drop a few degrees.
"The name is a bit cliché, but it is indeed a treasure saber. How much?" Wang Yue nodded and asked.
As for the attendant saying it could withstand the full True Qi infusion of a Mortal-Transcendence Realm expert, Wang Yue only half-believed it. The nine levels of the Mortal-Transcendence Realm are each a world unto themselves. The difference between the first and ninth levels is astronomical. The attendant's vague statement likely meant the tester was only at the first or second level of the Mortal-Transcendence Realm, so saying it could withstand all Mortal-Transcendence Realm experts was clearly bragging.
However, Jinling was only a first-tier city, and having a Mortal-Transcendence Realm treasure saber was quite good. He couldn't demand perfection.
"Five hundred million credit points, or an equivalent item exchange." The attendant smiled broadly. Although he didn't think Wang Yue needed a saber of this quality—after all, the three Jinling families' foundations weren't deep, and Wang Yue would be lucky to break through to the Truth Reversion Realm in this lifetime—as a businessman, he wouldn't turn away a customer. If the young master wanted to buy it, he wouldn't refuse.
Wang Yue knew the Lingyun Pavilion always marked its prices clearly and didn't play games, so he didn't haggle and swiped 500 million credit points directly. The current situation in Jinling was that the high-end martial artist market was monopolized by the Lingyun Pavilion, while the ordinary person market was controlled by the three major families. As the only remaining male heir of the three families, Wang Yue was never short on money. 500 million was not a small amount for him, but it was acceptable.
Afterward, Wang Yue asked about a few other things. It was exactly as he expected: apart from "that martial skill," the Jinling Lingyun Pavilion had no other cultivation methods or martial skills for sale, not even Low-Grade Yellow-rank ones.
Wang Yue wasn't disappointed. He had anticipated this from the start. Unlike "that martial skill," common methods and skills were not sold in unlimited quantities. The Lingyun Pavilion was quite ethical in business, only selling each method or skill to one family. Thus, whenever new stock arrived, it was instantly snatched up by the various forces in Jinling.
Leaving the Lingyun Pavilion building, Wang Yue didn't return to the Wang family manor. Instead, he drove toward the outskirts of the city.
He planned to test the martial skill he had just acquired. If it was truly as he suspected, performing it at his Land Core Realm cultivation level would cause a significant commotion. If it alarmed his grandmother and mother, they would definitely discover the fact of his skyrocketing cultivation, and that would be hard to explain.
Fortunately, there was a patch of barren hills east of Jinling City. Since there were no minerals and no crops could be grown, it was usually deserted—a perfect place to test his moves.
Driving through large areas of farmland and some villages outside the city, Wang Yue quickly arrived at the barren hills about a hundred kilometers outside the city.
This trip revealed another advantage of the maglev car: he didn't need to find a specific road. Supported by the anti-gravity system, he could drive anywhere, and he didn't need to worry about crushing crops or flowers.
Continuing deeper for dozens of kilometers, and ensuring no one else was within a ten-mile radius, Wang Yue finally stopped the car, picked up the Cold Moon Treasure Saber, and prepared to test the move.
This martial skill was very simple. The key lay in the True Qi circulation and the method of force exertion. With Wang Yue's foundation, he completely mastered it in about half an hour of practice, with no hesitation in its execution.
Then he stood still, grasped the saber with both hands, raised it high, and brought it down with a fierce chop.
Chi~
The blade sliced through the air, causing a sharp gust of wind.
Wang Yue felt it and confirmed the rumors: after mastering this move, executing it in the most basic way could double the power of the True Qi unleashed, which was the maximum a Yellow-rank martial skill could achieve. (Martial Skill Bonus: Yellow-rank: 10% to 100%; Profound-rank: 100% to 300%; Earth-rank: 300% to 1000%; Heaven-rank: 1000% or more).
However, the true power of this move went beyond that. It required the True Qi to rotate within the meridians during circulation.
So, Wang Yue tried to make the True Qi rotate and advance simultaneously within the meridians, and he chopped again.
Chi~
The sound of the wind was sharper than before, and the power bonus reached two times, roughly equivalent to a Mid-Grade Profound-rank martial skill. This was the result of the True Qi rotating just once during circulation, likely the effect achieved by those who practiced Heaven-rank methods when testing the move, as rumored.
But Wang Yue felt he was nowhere near his limit.
So, he attempted another chop. This time, he controlled the True Qi to rotate twice within the meridians.
Whoosh~
The sound of air slicing turned into a genuine wind noise, and the power increase surprisingly reached four times!
Wang Yue's eyes lit up. He immediately chopped again.
Three rotations, eight times the power!
Now he finally understood why everyone said the purer the True Qi, the greater the power of this move. It was because the purer the True Qi in a martial artist's body, the easier it was to control, allowing the True Qi to complete more rotations while circulating through the meridians.
Taking a deep breath, Wang Yue decided to test his limit.
Grasping the saber with both hands, he raised it high. True Qi surged from his Dantian and instantly followed the circulation route of the move. In that instant, the True Qi completed four full rotations, and as the long saber cleaved down, the power bonus reached a staggering sixteen times!
This was already far beyond the lower limit of a Heaven-rank martial skill.
This move is indeed custom-made for me!
Wang Yue was ecstatic. He immediately raised the saber again. He had only used a small amount of True Qi for the test earlier, but this time, he was going all out!
"Hah!" Taking a deep breath, Wang Yue pushed off with his legs, leaped three zhang (about 10 meters) into the air, and chopped down heavily toward the open ground ahead.
With his Land Core Realm strength fully unleashed, the powerful True Qi instantly completed four rotations in his meridians, transferred to the long saber, and immediately erupted from the blade. The total process took less than half a second.
Boom!
The air and the ground ahead were instantly blasted apart by the exploding saber aura. A gully one meter deep and over twenty meters long was directly ripped open in the hard ground. Even the aftershocks of the move created a fierce wind, causing the nearby trees to sway violently, snapping off many branches.
Wang Yue stood frozen with the long saber in his hand, somewhat unable to believe that this disaster-like destructive power was caused by him.
But a moment later, a wave of ecstasy washed over him.
Too powerful!
This was not an effect that could be produced by someone in the Land Core Realm. He had personally witnessed his grandmother, a Heaven Core Realm Fourth-layer expert, unleash her full power, and the destructive force was only about equivalent to what he had just achieved.
Yet, he was only at the Land Core Realm First-layer.
However, thinking carefully, it wasn't too strange. Under his control, this move had amplified his power by sixteen times, and his True Qi intensity was far superior to his peers due to dual cultivation. With the two factors superimposed, it was understandable for a Land Core Realm First-layer cultivator to unleash power comparable to a Mid-stage Heaven Core Realm expert.
What truly delighted him was the move itself. He could only make the True Qi rotate four times within his meridians now. What would happen when his True Qi became purer and his control stronger?
Even if he only achieved one more rotation, the power would double again, reaching a thirty-two times amplification. This was likely beyond even the Peak-Grade Heaven-rank martial skills!
Furthermore, the speed of execution would increase with his cultivation. At his current Land Core Realm First-layer, he could already execute the move in under half a second. As his cultivation grew stronger, his execution speed would certainly increase further.
Thus, this simple, crude, one-move martial skill, which wasn't even a full "three-chop" set, might very well be practical in real combat.
In summary, this was a martial skill with no upper limit. Combined with Wang Yue's increasingly pure True Qi, it definitely had great potential.
The only drawback was the immense consumption of True Qi. That full-power chop drained nearly one-third of Wang Yue's True Qi. If he used it continuously, he could only manage three moves at most. But then again, any opponent who could withstand three such moves was surely beyond his ability to defeat, and he'd just have to run.
Overall, Wang Yue was extremely satisfied with this martial skill.
"This move is now my trump card. I can't keep calling it 'that martial skill.' I need to think of a cool, dominant name," Wang Yue mused, stroking his chin while looking at the twenty-to-thirty-meter stretch of devastated ground he had just created.
"Leaving aside its true power, the aftershock alone created a wind of at least Force 8. So, I'll call this move 'Eight-Force Gale'!" After some thought, Wang Yue suddenly grinned naughtily. He felt the name was perfectly fitting.
Eight-Force Gale (Bā Jí Dà Kuáng Fēng)!
Read forwards, it described the power of his move, specifically for dealing with enemies.
Read backward (as a pun on the characters), it described his capital (assets), specifically for dealing with women!
I really am a genius!
Wang Yue burst out laughing. He was about to sheathe the Cold Moon Saber but then thought better of it. He found a strap and tightly bound the scabbard to his back, with the hilt protruding over his right shoulder for easy drawing.
"From now on, I'm a Swordsman!" (He uses the term Daoke, literally Saber/Blade Guest/Master, which is equivalent to 'Swordsman' in the general martial arts trope.)
After a self-absorbed mumble, he turned and got back into the car, ready to head home.
He immediately realized that a "swordsman" and a car were incompatible; sitting in the seat with a large saber strapped to his back was very uncomfortable.
Maybe I should find a chance to capture an equine Exotic Beast?
Wang Yue pondered on a whim, suddenly feeling that this idea had great potential. Although the human race and the Beast Race were currently in opposition, nothing was absolute. Humans could still capture and tame Exotic Beasts to become pets or mounts.
It was said that when the Reiki Resurgence first happened, many loyal cats and dogs, upon gaining great power, not only didn't abandon their owners but became the backbone of humanity's fight against the Beast Race. It was even rumored that in a certain Martial Arts Holy Land, there was a Chinese Rural Dog that had survived since the Reiki Resurgence and was now a super-mighty expert at the Mortal-Transcendence Realm Ninth-layer. Of course, these were all just rumors.
Reluctantly unstrapping the Cold Moon Saber and placing it on the passenger seat, Wang Yue started the maglev car and left the barren hills, heading back toward Jinling City.
However, when he was about twenty miles from the city, he heard a roaring sound ahead. Then, Wang Yue saw a line of aircraft flying at a low altitude of about ten meters, soaring past him. The military markings on the aircraft were clearly visible.
"It seems something has indeed happened," Wang Yue confirmed his earlier suspicion, recalling the hundreds of soldiers he had seen on that street.
This sparked an idea in him. The military mobilization was usually to deal with the Beast Race. As a member of the human race, he felt it was necessary to contribute. Moreover, in his previous life, the three Jinling families were destroyed by a Beast Tide three years later, so he held an irreconcilable hatred for the Beast Race.
Wang Yue even wondered if this military mobilization had something to do with that strange Beast Tide three years in the future.
Therefore, whether for the sake of human justice or for his own selfish reasons, Wang Yue felt he needed to follow and see. If he didn't have the strength, even thinking this, he could only silently wish these respectable soldiers well. But now he had Land Core Realm cultivation, and his combat power was comparable to a peak Land Core Realm or even a Heaven Core Realm expert. He could actually help.
So, Wang Yue turned his car around and followed a distance behind the line of aircraft.
Fortunately, the Wang family was wealthy, and their maglev car was top-performance; otherwise, he truly wouldn't have been able to keep up with those aircraft.
Jinling City is located on the periphery of the human domain, but not the absolute border. A thousand kilometers to the east lies a Human Fortress. Beyond that is the territory of the Beast Race.
The destination of these military aircraft was clearly the Beast Race territory. After flying for more than an hour, they reached the fortress, but they didn't stop at all and continued heading east. The fortress side also didn't stop or question them, having clearly been notified in advance.
The sole mission of the Human Fortress is to resist the Beast Race. They strictly check all humans entering and exiting because some powerful Beast Races have evolved intelligence and can communicate like humans, and many scum among martial artists have become "human traitors" for benefits from the Beast Race.
Seeing the military aircraft leave the fortress, Wang Yue became a little worried. He had initially thought that the military was deployed because the Beast Race had breached the barrier, but he hadn't expected their target to be outside the barrier.
How was he supposed to follow them now?
"Stop for inspection!" Just as Wang Yue was worrying, a team of soldiers in military uniform stopped him.
"I'm with them," Wang Yue said, steeling himself, pointing at the aircraft that had already flown far ahead.