Four seconds for a hundred meters—averaged out, that came to twenty-five meters a second. And that wasn't even Huang Tian's full burst; it was the standard for early first rank. He still didn't know how this world divided its stages, but a simple split into early, middle, and late first rank was no problem.
He was now at mid first rank. A single punch carried several tons of force, and at full speed a hundred meters took no more than a blink. Still, he suspected that this planet's "spiritual-energy revival" was being manipulated from behind the scenes, and judging by the state of the world now, whoever was doing it likely meant no good.
In that case, he could hardly go all out—holding something back was only natural. Hiding a single minor stage, together with his various methods, would be enough to turn the situation around at the critical moment—
"Holy shit!"
Staring at Huang Tian, who held a bloodied fire axe, the crowd guarding the main gate of Experimental High School finally snapped out of their daze. Their expressions shifted, shaken to the core, and some even pulled out their phones to film.
"Super—Superman?!"
"Did he just, like, whoosh, fly out from behind the school gate?"
"This is insane—we're about ninety or a hundred meters from those mutant dogs, right? He threw his axe and actually killed one of them dead-on, and he himself flew there in just four or five seconds."
"Isn't that Huang Tian from Class 1, Senior Year 3? Has he mutated too? When did this happen? Don't tell me you all secretly evolved and just left me behind, huh?"
"Damn, that's so cool—"
Just as everyone was crying out in shock, a gust of bloody wind swept toward Huang Tian!
It was the remaining four evil hounds, which had almost simultaneously left the ground and, roaring, launched themselves at him. Their muscles bulged, their fangs gleamed white and sharp, and their saliva splattered through the air.
Calmly, Huang Tian stepped forward. Facing the fastest of them, he suddenly twisted sideways to dodge its sharp claws, and the blade of his fire axe swept up from below, driving in through the lower jaw and bursting out through the top of its skull!
*Squelch—*
Flesh and blood flew everywhere, bursting together with brain matter into a hauntingly beautiful flower in midair.
Having killed one hound, Huang Tian spun swiftly, and the axe in his right hand swung broad and chopped down with the sweep of his steps!
The back of the axe smashed in half of another hound's head, and the blade's downward chop split open a third's neck—hot blood gushed and pumped, sending the head flying skyward!
The last evil hound, terrified beyond measure, twisted its body in midair and forced itself to halt its charge, dropping to the ground. Its ears flattened against the back of its head, and a whimper rose in its throat.
It shrank back one step, then another, its tail hanging low and tucked between its legs.
Seeing this, Huang Tian carried his axe forward two steps, then kicked off hard with his right foot!
*Boom!*
Like a shell fired from a cannon, his figure blurred into an afterimage, the axe in his hand blazing with the golden radiance of the sun as he struck down at the hound with incredible speed!
*Whine—*
The evil hound wanted to flee, but there was no time. It could only strain to twist its body, and in doing so it happened to expose its waist—the blade of the fire axe instantly chopped into its lower back!
*Crack—*
With the sound of its spine snapping, the hound's body folded in two at once, and scalding blood sprayed wildly into the air!
*Whine, whine—*
The evil hound's eyes were full of terror. Its hindquarters were nearly severed from the front, yet it still struggled to crawl forward, inch by inch, leaving a trail of blood on the ground.
But after crawling less than half a meter, its pupils dimmed to gray, its head sank to the ground, and at last it stopped breathing.
*Drip, drip—*
Blood trickled from the tip of the axe. The family of three Huang Tian had saved were all dumbstruck. The man slapped his own face, wearing the relief of one who had survived a calamity, and bowed to Huang Tian again and again, words tumbling out incoherently. "Thank you, thank you—"
His child piped up too: "Thank you, big brother—"
Huang Tian turned and said calmly, "Get inside the school first."
The man froze, then his expression suddenly changed—he had seen, at the corner at the end of the street, a huge Tibetan mastiff come into view.
Its shoulder height was nearly one and a half meters, its body over four meters long. Its head was held high, thick snorts rumbling from its throat, scraps of flesh still clinging between its fangs, its whole shaggy mane stained with blood—its menace was overwhelming!
"An early first-rank mutant fierce beast," Huang Tian understood at once.
"You—you'd better run with us!" The man trembled all over, scooping up his child and pulling his wife along as he shouted anxiously to Huang Tian.
The crowd at the school gate also went pale with shock. Luo Xiong, the director of academic affairs, and Fang Hao, homeroom teacher of Class 1, Senior Year 3, shouted, "Huang Tian, pull back! Pull back!"
Meanwhile, patrol officer captain Liu Yang yelled urgently, "Lao Gao! Lao Gao! Set up the rifle and take aim!"
"Got it!" The patrol officer named Lao Gao had long since readied a sniper rifle, and now immediately took aim, his breathing deep and slow.
The distant Tibetan mastiff seemed to sense something, and its eyes—big as copper bells—turned his way. The ferocity in its gaze made Lao Gao's heart lurch, and he forced himself to steady his mind, resting his finger on the trigger and holding his breath.
*Bang!*
In an instant, the gun fired, the bullet leaving the chamber!
The Tibetan mastiff couldn't dodge the bullet, but its reflexes were extremely fast. The moment Lao Gao squeezed the trigger, it kicked off with its hind legs and leaped to the left.
Even so, a burst of blood mist erupted from the side of its right chest. Its massive body shuddered in midair, and as it landed it staggered, rolling behind a stone bollard—but knowing the bollard couldn't hide its body, it let out a low growl and quickly bolted toward the corner at the end of the street.
"Damn, this thing's reflexes are fast!" Seeing that one shot hadn't killed the Tibetan mastiff, Liu Yang hammered his right fist into his left palm in great disappointment.
Lao Gao said nothing, still aiming, wanting to fire a second shot and finish the mastiff. Otherwise, if he let a beast this ferocious—more vicious than a male lion—run free through the city, there was no telling how many people it would kill.
But the mastiff was too fast; in midair it was almost a blur, and even as he tried to calm himself as much as he could, he couldn't get a clear aim. Sweat beaded at his temples.
*Boom, boom!!*
Just as he was growing anxious, Huang Tian suddenly stomped hard on the ground. The concrete beneath his feet shattered instantly, gravel flying everywhere, and his body shot out with a roar, like a cannonball covering dozens of meters in the blink of an eye!
The fleeing Tibetan mastiff heard the wind rushing in fast behind it. It had just whipped its huge head around when a dark shadow came down over it from above!
The fire axe in Huang Tian's right hand rose high, its blade reflecting a golden blaze, and with immense force he chopped down fiercely at that head!
The Tibetan mastiff reacted with incredible speed, whirling around and flinging up a forepaw. Its sharp claws collided with the axe blade in midair.
*Clang!*
With a loud crash, a string of sparks actually flew from between the two, as if blades of steel were clashing.
The mastiff's forepaw was jolted downward, and Huang Tian flipped the axe, spinning it in his hand, then slashed diagonally down with even greater speed.
*Slash—*
The axe blade instantly cut into the mastiff's belly. Its body shuddered, and the intense pain turned its eyes bloodshot. Growling deep in its throat, its huge maw suddenly gaped wide, and two rows of stark-white fangs lunged to bite down on Huang Tian's head, a foul stench washing over him!
"You damn brute!"
Huang Tian laughed, released the axe from his right hand, and both hands shot out like lightning, grabbing hold of the mastiff's lunging fangs!
*Bang!*
No matter how hard the mastiff pressed down, fangs clenched shut, Huang Tian's arms held firm as bedrock, bracing against it head-on.
Then his arms rapidly swelled; even though his shirt was loose, the bulging muscles stretched it taut. He gripped the fangs tightly in both hands and drew a deep breath.
"Die!!"
With a sudden surge of force in both arms, he wrenched the mastiff's fangs apart to either side!
*Rip—*
In the mastiff's eyes, filled with utter terror, its massive body was actually ripped clean in two!
Head, neck, chest, belly—scalding blood mixed with organs gushed out with a splash!
The wildly spurting blood, cast in the warm sunlight, took on a striking beauty all its own.
Huang Tian stood where he was, both halves of the corpse gripped in his hands, a warm rain of blood drenching him. A few droplets splattered onto his face and rolled down his cheeks.
He let go, and the two halves of the corpse toppled to either side, slamming into the ground with a dull thud that kicked up a bit of dust.
The air fell dead silent for a moment.
Whether it was the man who had run only a few steps, or Liu Yang and the others, all of them staring at the blood-soaked Huang Tian were left with blank minds.
That had been a mutant fierce beast over four meters long, nearly as tall as a person, and it had actually been torn in two alive!
And the one who did it was just an utterly ordinary high school student—the contrast was so great it left everyone gaping!
Huang Tian turned and called out loudly to the crowd at the school gate, "A few of you come over and help haul these mutant fierce beasts' corpses back."
Whether or not the flesh of these mutant fierce beasts was edible, or beneficial to eat, their corpses were worth quite a lot—for instance, the claws and fangs of the mutant Tibetan mastiff could all be put to use.
"Ah, right! Right!" Luo Xiong was stunned for a moment, then nodded hurriedly, then turned to the security guards nearby. The guards all took a step back in unison, and his face instantly darkened. "The fierce beasts are all dead—what are you afraid of?"
The guards opened their mouths to speak, then hesitated. It wasn't the fierce beasts they feared, but that "man of blood"—
Luo Xiong quickly caught on. "I'll take the lead!"
Liu Yang also spoke up. "I'll join in too."
Only then did the guards step forward again. "All right."
As the school's main gate slowly opened, an even louder cheer and clamor erupted among the teachers and students.
"Is this even the Huang Tian I remember?"
"Boss, let me ride your coattails!"
"He's too badass! I'd call him the toughest guy in Experimental High School—no, make that the toughest man in all of Shangyuan City!"
"Shangyuan City? The whole country! You couldn't find a man this tough in the entire Great Yan Federation!"
"Speaking of which, did Huang Tian cultivate, or did he mutate? Is the age of human evolution about to begin?"
"For sure, for sure—if wild beasts can mutate, why can't humans change? People are animals too, after all!"
"Holy shit, now I'm all fired up too. I wanna cleave fierce beasts with a blade, tear Tibetan mastiffs apart with my bare hands, and one day capture dragons and subdue tigers, my name resounding across the world—heh heh heh~"
"Heh, my ass—you're drooling—"
When Luo Xiong and Liu Yang led several guards out of the school gate, dragging and hauling the corpses of the evil hounds and the Tibetan mastiff back into the school, Huang Tian stood before the teachers and students, lightly brushed the blood from his sleeve, and, noticing that many in the crowd were holding up phones to film, said with a smile, "I'd planned to go change my clothes, but time is pressing, so let me finish what I need to do first."
Done? What else hadn't been done?
As everyone wondered in surprise, Huang Tian cleared his throat and said slowly, "I imagine you're all wondering how I came to have this kind of power—whether I've mutated like the wild beasts. Actually, you could call it mutation, or you could call it evolution.
Ever since I was young, my mind has been unusually sharp. Just yesterday, I faintly sensed a kind of mysterious energy nourishing my body. On a whim, I tried to guide more of this energy into myself, and then I found myself growing stronger rapidly—I've named this energy 'spiritual energy.' Of course, you can call it whatever you like.
Based on my own process of absorbing spiritual energy, I've worked out a [Spiritual Energy Guidance Technique]. By rights, if you learn this technique, you'll be able to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and evolve your bodies just as I have—"
The moment he finished speaking, everyone erupted!
Liu Yang in particular was tremendously excited!
As a patrol officer, he knew all too well how dire the current situation was: countless mutant fierce beasts ravaged the world, ordinary people's lives hung by a thread, the army was frequently ambushed when deployed and many units had been wiped out, and stability within the cities could only rely on patrol officers who were more poorly armed and not all that numerous.
But patrol officers were only mortal flesh, and even armed with modern firearms, when facing some agile fierce beasts they could be wounded or even killed with a single careless moment.
And as for the ten-plus-meter-tall rampaging apes or the giant eagles with wingspans of dozens of meters seen in some videos, whether their modern weapons would even be of any use was anyone's guess.
Though Liu Yang and his colleagues did everything they could to protect the citizens, in their hearts they were pessimistic, even despairing, with no idea how to face the world after the Great Change.
But now, Huang Tian had actually created a "Spiritual Energy Guidance Technique" that could enable humans to evolve—
Liu Yang was beside himself, his voice trembling. "Huang Tian, is it—is it really true?"
Huang Tian nodded with a smile. "Of course it's true. We're all human; our bodies are built largely the same way. If I can evolve through this technique, then so can you."
Hearing this, Liu Yang could scarcely contain his excitement. He whirled around to Lao Gao beside him, raised his fist and gave him a playful thump, laughing heartily. "Lao Gao, did you hear that? Evolution! Humans can evolve too!"
Overjoyed as he was, Lao Gao hurriedly backed off. "I heard, I heard—quit punching!"
Liu Yang laughed a few more times before he managed, with some effort, to rein himself in, then said to Huang Tian, somewhat sheepishly, "Huang Tian, please go on."
The others quieted down as well.
Huang Tian reminded them, "You can all turn on your phones and record this, then upload it to the various platforms. That way, other people around the world can see it sooner."
Everyone immediately caught on and hurriedly took out their phones to film. Only then did Huang Tian continue: "First, find a quiet place, sit down calmly, and relax your mind. Once you've cleared away most of your stray thoughts, try to imagine that the environment around you is filled with a warm energy, like water and light—this is spiritual energy.
Then, breathe slowly and deeply, and imagine that all the pores of your body have opened up, drawing this energy into your body like a sponge soaking up water.
Remember, this process may take a very long time before you draw the first wisp of energy into your body. Once it enters you, you'll be able to clearly feel a warm current flowing through you—
Finally, you construct a simple spiritual energy circulation within your body, and learn how to wield spiritual energy, so as to bring it forth through your hands, feet, and weapons—"
After explaining the technique in detail, Huang Tian finally stopped, and said with a smile, "That's roughly it."
Liu Yang was overjoyed. "Let's upload it now, before the network suddenly cuts out and causes trouble."
At these words, everyone immediately uploaded the videos to the major platforms—Kuaiyin, Doubo, Feixin video—and beyond that, they also mass-sent them to relatives and friends.
In just a little over ten minutes, the videos went viral! The reason they went viral wasn't that anyone had succeeded in absorbing spiritual energy through the technique, but that countless people had seen the first half of the videos—the entire process of Huang Tian tearing the Tibetan mastiff apart alive!
So shocking, so gripping!
And after nearly an hour had passed, the Great Yan Federation's authorities suddenly posted a new announcement online, simultaneously pinned across every platform, with the [Spiritual Energy Guidance Technique] video embedded in it: "The world has undergone a great change, and fierce beasts run rampant. This is the beginning of humanity's self-rescue, and the beginning of evolution as well!"
Chapter 256