High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

Chapter 157 Encountering the Beast Tide Again

Cheng Xiao is a girl in her early twenties, a first-level martial artist, with a blood and qi value of about three or four points.

She was tidying up the shelves behind the counter when she heard the doorbell. She looked up, about to say "Welcome," but her mouth opened and no sound came out.

The clothes worn by the person standing at the door can no longer be called clothes.

The fabric was torn into strips, covered with layers of bloodstains—dark red, dark green, and ice blue—the blood of different beasts overlapping on the fabric to create a shocking pattern.

The stench of blood, mixed with the chilling scent of the high-altitude snow and ice, rushed in the moment the shop door opened.

But her gaze lingered on the tattered clothes for only a second before shifting to the knife on the man's back, which was at least Grade A.

"Hello, what do you need?"

Cheng Xiao could tell that the person in question was no ordinary person; he was extremely dedicated.

Song Chen glanced around and said, "Clothes, two sets, one to wear on the way, and one to wear home."

Cheng Xiao nodded quickly and came out from behind the counter.

As she got closer, she could more clearly sense the fluctuations of Song Chen's qi and blood, which were heavy, solid, and like a mountain.

"Please...please wait a moment, I'll get you a new set to change into."

She strode to the shelf, her fingers tracing across a row of combat uniforms, picking out a charcoal gray turtleneck long-sleeved shirt and a pair of matching tactical trousers, and then a pair of black psionic leather boots from the shoe rack.

"This is a set of martial arts uniforms that we made ourselves. The fabric is mixed with ice silkworm silk, which is breathable and cut-resistant, and can block attacks below the first level."

Song Chen took it and glanced at it. The material was so-so, but the cut was quite good.

He nodded and went into the fitting room.

Cheng Xiao stood outside and heard the sound of water coming from the fitting room. The store had prepared a cleansing liquid for customers, which was in a spray bottle and could be sprayed on the body to instantly cleanse the skin and hair.

The sound of water lasted for about two minutes, followed by the sound of fabric rubbing together.

The fitting room door opened.

Cheng Xiao was stunned for a moment.

The same person, completely different.

With sharp, clean features, he was a handsome young man.

If it weren't for the deep emotions in those eyes, people would believe he was the eldest son of some prestigious family.

Cheng Xiao was momentarily distracted.

Song Chen walked to the mirror and glanced at herself.

Then he took the Heavenly Blade from the fitting room and put it back on his back.

The S-rank battle sword paired with gray martial arts attire transformed his entire demeanor from "a down-on-his-luck lone martial artist" to "a low-key but dangerous individual."

"I'll take this set, and get another one in a darker color to wear on the way."

She snapped out of her daze and quickly picked out another dark gray set from the shelf.

Song Chen took it, and without even trying it on, had it wrapped up.

How much is it in total?

Cheng Xiao looked down and did some calculations.

"Two sets of martial arts uniforms, a pair of psionic leather boots, totaling... 86,000."

Song Chen's phone lit up, and he made the payment.

Cheng Xiao wrapped the clothes up and handed them to him. He took them and turned to walk towards the door.

Cheng Xiao hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Excuse me... which martial arts group do you belong to?"

Song Chen turned around and glanced at her.

"Never added them, still a student."

The doorbell rang, but the person had already gone out.

Cheng Xiao stood behind the counter, her mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time.

Song Chen had just stepped out when the city's alarm went off.

The air raid sirens in Qinghu Base City are on a specially designed frequency. The deep humming sound is emitted simultaneously from the psionic loudspeakers at the four corners of the city, penetrating buildings and people, and directly vibrating into the chest cavity.

He stopped in his tracks, and all the pedestrians on the street looked up.

Experienced martial artists had already started running towards the city wall, while ordinary citizens stood there bewildered, unable to tell whether this was a drill or a real beast tide.

A woman's voice came from the loudspeaker tower.

"Attention all citizens, a large-scale gathering of strange beasts has been discovered outside the south wall of Qinghu Base City, which has been confirmed as a level three beast tide."

"Repeating, Level 3 beast tide. All martial artists, report to the South City Wall immediately. Ordinary citizens, please enter the nearest underground shelter and do not stay on the streets."

Song Chen stood still and listened to the entire broadcast.

Can't help but laugh.

"Haha, I've finally waited for this."

After descending the plateau, his efficiency in gaining kill points plummeted. He had been waiting for the beast tide to break out, intending to have a good slaughter.

His voice was soft, but it was exceptionally clear in the panicked crowd.

At that moment, Cheng Xiao was standing at the store entrance, preparing to pull down the roller shutter to go to the shelter. She heard these words, turned around and saw Song Chen.

I heard the words, "Finally, the wait is over."

Her face flushed red instantly.

What does "finally, we've been waiting for this" mean?

She rushed up to Song Chen, her voice suddenly rising: "What are you so happy about? It's a level three beast tide! Do you know how many people will die if the city walls break? What are you so happy about?"

Song Chen glanced at her, ignored her, and reached his right hand behind his shoulder to grasp the hilt of the Tianjun Blade.

The sound of the blade being drawn from its sheath was crisp and short, like a suppressed thunderclap. With the wings of the gale fully unfurled, the person vanished from their spot in an instant.

His figure left a trail of afterimages on the street, heading straight towards the south city wall along the main road.

The speed was too fast; the person had already passed by before the wind pressure arrived.

Cheng Xiao's hair was whipped up by the wind. She subconsciously closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, the person was no longer visible on the street.

There were only two shallow footprints on the ground and lingering lightning-type psionic energy fluctuations in the air.

"this……"

She stood there, stunned, completely bewildered.

……

South city wall, command tower.

Shen Lan, the garrison commander of Qinghu Base, stood in front of the panoramic tactical screen, his hands resting on the edge of the table, his fingertips pressing ten shallow fingerprints into the metal surface.

She is thirty-six years old, a mid-level fifth-rank official, and the youngest town garrison commander in the history of Qinghu Base City.

Her waist-length black hair was tied into a bun with a silver hairpin, revealing a section of her slender neck. Her features were exquisite and cold, with a sharp edge left by years of wielding a knife.

The dark blue uniform of the garrison commander outlined his mature and capable figure.

But her face looked terrible at that moment.

On the tactical screen, in the wilderness five kilometers outside the south city wall, strange beasts were gathering. The number of red dots on the screen was increasing, with new red dots emerging from the depths of the wilderness every minute and merging into the surging beast tide.

"How many fourth-tier beasts have you confirmed?" she asked her adjutant.

"Twenty-seven have been confirmed, and the number is still increasing."

The adjutant, Sun Rui, was at the peak of the fourth rank, and a layer of fine sweat appeared on his forehead.

"The psionic radar shows that there is a fifth-order psionic energy source behind the beast tide. It is very strong, at least mid-fifth-order, and possibly even high-fifth-order."

Shen Lan's expression immediately turned ugly.

The defense forces of Qinghu Base City are theoretically sufficient to deal with a level 3 beast tide, but if there is really a level 5 upper-stage alien beast hiding behind the tide, then it's hard to say.

"Has the distress signal been sent out?"

"It's been sent out. The nearest support troops are 500 kilometers away and will arrive in as little as six hours."

"The guild leader of the Qinghu branch of the Martial Arts Guild has led a team out of the city to hunt in the wilderness and will not be back for three days."

Six hours.

A level 3 beast horde attacking the city walls could breach the city three times in six hours.

Shen Lan straightened up, his voice regaining the composure befitting a garrison commander: "Order the first line of defense to load high-explosive shells into the psionic artillery array and lock onto the core of the beast tide four kilometers away."

"The second line of defense: all third-tier warriors will be deployed to the city walls and guard sections of them."

"The third line of defense..."

Suddenly, she stopped talking.

A new dot of light appeared on the tactical screen.

It wasn't a strange beast; it was the energy fluctuations of a human.

On the psionic radar, the psionic energy fluctuations of humans and those of alien beasts are displayed in different colors.

The mythical beasts are red, and the humans are blue.

At this moment, a blue dot of light is rapidly approaching the south city wall from within the Qinghu base city.

The speed was ridiculously fast. The psionic radar refreshed once per second, and with each refresh, the blue dot moved nearly several hundred meters.