"Yeah," Fang Yu nodded. A flicker of nervous tension crossed his mind, only to be instantly replaced by a surge of excitement.
After years of walking the path of martial arts, he was finally about to fight a dire beast of the Primordial Star in real combat.
Hum—
The aircraft descended swiftly. When it was still five or six meters above the ground, Fang Yu gave a light push with both legs and leaped directly from the craft, landing on the terrain as nimbly as an agile cat.
With Fang Yu's physical constitution, dropping from five or six meters was nothing; he would not be injured even jumping from a platform over ten meters high. What was more, he was wearing a full set of intermediate gear, and equipment like his combat boots and combat suit significantly absorbed impact.
"A flame cat." Fang Yu looked toward the beast in the distance.
Though called a cat, it looked far more like a leopard. Its shoulder height reached his waist, and its fur was a mottled blend of black and fiery red, with the distinct contours of muscle visible beneath the hide. It crouched atop a boulder twenty meters away, the tip of its tail flicking gently as it watched Fang Yu with vigilant eyes.
Most striking of all was its pair of eyes—vertical pupils of eerie green set against the dark fur, floating like two ghostly flames that sent a faint chill down one's spine.
Whoosh!
Gusts of wind swept in from the other side of the boulder, carrying the stench of blood and rotting flesh.
"If you won't move, I will." Fang Yu shot forward like a gust of wind.
The flame cat instinctively drew back.
Yet, even as it retreated, Fang Yu closed in far more aggressively. The twenty-meter distance vanished in the blink of an eye, cornering the flame cat into a desperate spot. It let out a low, hissing snarl, and seeing that intimidation was useless, it acted.
Whoosh!
The flame cat kicked off with its hind legs and lunged in a ferocious counterattack.
Renowned for its speed, its explosive burst was like a bolt of crimson lightning. Fang Yu only had time to glimpse its forepaws spreading wide, webs of flesh connecting the five digits, the razor-sharp tips gleaming with a cold glint as they slashed toward his throat with lightning speed.
It was startlingly fast.
Fang Yu made no attempt to dodge back.
Instinct forged through tens of thousands of training drills and battle technique refined to the level of Entering the Minute drove him to take just a single step forward.
That step was very short, barely half a meter, placing him right inside the trajectory of the cat's pounce. His combat saber swept upward from below, its tip instantly aligning with the beast's throat.
The flame cat's eyes went wide.
Its sharp claws were fully extended, yet they fell short of Fang Yu; its fangs gaped open, yet they could not bite him. Suspended in midair during its leap, it had no way to change direction.
Slash!
The sharp tip drove into its lower jaw. Fang Yu channeled all his physical strength into an eruption of Dark Force, the blade completely slicing through the tough hide and piercing out through the back of its skull.
Thud!
Carried by momentum, the flame cat's body flew forward several more meters before hitting the ground. Fang Yu brought his saber down horizontally as a torrent of blood ran along the blade and dripped onto the earth.
Not far off, the flame cat was still convulsing, its limbs paddling uselessly as blood pooled beneath it. Those eerie green eyes were still fixed on him, its pupils only gradually dilating.
"Phew!" Fang Yu took a deep breath and looked down at his hand.
He had gripped the saber very tightly.
Seeing the flame cat—so alive just a moment before—perish in an instant stirred a ripple of emotion within him, even though he had rehearsed this countless times in his mind. Truly fighting a dire beast to the death was an entirely different matter.
"No wonder they say ten years of striking posts isn't worth a single real fight," Fang Yu thought to himself. "Actual combat is the only true test of a martial artist."
A martial artist's real strength was not determined purely by examination scores. To remain completely calm under the pressure of life and death, before a vicious dire beast, and bring one's full strength into play without a flaw—that was what made a mature martial artist.
Whoosh!
Xia Yao landed on the ground and looked at Fang Yu. "Fang Yu, how does your first kill feel?"
"Given my strength, I didn't need to give it that much clearance just now. Shifting ten centimeters would have been enough to burst in and cut through in an instant," Fang Yu said, analyzing the brief engagement. "I should have ended the fight more cleanly to conserve stamina.
"For this fight, I'd only give myself a passing grade," he added.
His words stopped the praise on Xia Yao's lips dead in its tracks.
"You little freak," Xia Yao muttered under her breath.
In her eyes, Fang Yu's performance had been nearly flawless. To end a battle so decisively on one's very first kill was exceptionally rare. Even if Fang Yu's strength and technique far surpassed his opponent's, many martial artists faltered during their first real fight to the death. That, after all, was the entire purpose of live-combat training.
"All right," Xia Yao said. "Wait a moment."
She drew a short blade strapped to her leg and, with swift, practiced motions, skinned the flame cat as cleanly and intact as possible before stowing the pelt into a bag she carried.
"How much is that pelt worth?" Fang Yu asked curiously.
"A few hundred Star Coins, maybe," Xia Yao replied casually.
"That low?" Fang Yu was taken aback.
"Dire beasts below Level 20 aren't worth anything at all," Xia Yao said, shaking her head. "To be more precise, beasts under Level 40 don't fetch much. Even high-tier dire beasts in the Level 30s... their carcasses are lucky to fetch forty to fifty thousand Star Coins.
"After all, if the Blue Moon Alliance wanted to, sending out Earth Martial Artists could slaughter countless numbers of them in no time.
"What's really valuable are the demons at Level 40 and above... Dire beasts at Level 40 and above have genuinely cultivated star force, just like our human Earth Martial Artists. Their flesh, pelts, and everything else undergo an all-around evolution, making them extremely tough. They're also scarce in number, so killing one naturally commands a high price," Xia Yao explained. "However, those demons have intelligence nearing that of humans, making them very difficult to slay."
Fang Yu grew thoughtful.
For human martial artists, going from Level 10 to Level 39 involved no qualitative leap, merely incremental boosts in physical fitness... Becoming an Earth Martial Artist was the true fundamental transformation.
The dire beasts of the Primordial Star were the same.
Level 40 was the threshold.
"When it comes to slaying dire beasts, the most important thing for us is still earning civilization points," Xia Yao said. "The more we kill, the more civilization points will convert into corresponding Primordial Points.
"Accumulating civilization points will also gradually raise your coefficient score. Amass enough of them, and you can raise your Civilization Warrior rank, earn promotions, and gain privileges.
"On the other hand, in the Wilderness Zone, the areas around more powerful dire beasts often nurture Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
"Those treasures are what truly fetch the big money," Xia Yao continued. "Sometimes, a single rare medicinal herb, fruit, or mineral might be worth several million or even tens of millions of Star Coins.
"Every year on the Primordial Star, there are rumors of some martial artist squad striking it rich and finding a Heavenly Material or Earthly Treasure worth hundreds of millions, or even more ridiculous sums," Xia Yao said with a sigh of wonder.
Fang Yu could not help but nod.
There were plenty of such rumors every year, much like the lottery stories back in Xia Country. It was hard to tell truth from fiction, yet they continued to lure countless martial artists into the Wilderness Zone, dreaming of striking it rich overnight.
"Let's go find the next target,"
"You need to become a Tier-1 Civilization Warrior as quickly as possible within two days," Xia Yao said. "Otherwise, when the twentieth arrives, you won't be allowed to leave the Safe Zone."
"Understood."
...
Three hours later, out on the desolate plains.
Another large giant-toothed hound collapsed in a pool of blood.
"Fang Yu, fighting nonstop like this, aren't you tired? Aren't you scared at all?" Xia Yao could not help staring at Fang Yu, her initial astonishment having turned entirely into admiration.
"Not tired," Fang Yu replied, shaking his head. "In three hours, I've killed fewer than twenty dire beasts and only just became a Tier-1 Civilization Warrior. It's much slower than I imagined.
"Xia Yao, let's keep going and find the next target.
"I'm only ranked third among the freshmen right now. I have to push for first place."
Chapter 43