Chapter Eighty: The Ground Turtle Advances
Yeah, this chapter is over 5,000 words! I always feel that chapters of 3,000 words are too short and can't hold much content. As a result, my hand slipped and this chapter accidentally became over 5,000 words... Never mind, let's just post it together~ Haha~~
This is just the first update for today! There will be a second update tonight!
After Xia Ya destroyed his own tent, he moved away from the original residence and made up a random excuse. He moved to the edge of the campsite and pitched a new tent alone at the foot of a hill next to the campsite.
After the main army left, there were not many people in the garrison anymore. He was also a personal soldier, so others wouldn't bother with him either.
However, Sharlba and Kato were the only two who noticed Shaya's strangeness.
For three consecutive days, Xia Ya was nowhere to be seen. He only came back at night for dinner, but when he did, his face and body were clearly covered in injuries. Sometimes, his hair was disheveled, his face looked like it had been scratched by something, with bloodstains all over, and sometimes, he was covered in dust, looking like he had just crawled out of a pile of dirt.
Normally, this guy eats the most during meals, even more than Sharuba. However, these past few days, when Xia Ya eats, his hands shake so much he can't even hold a spoon, and while eating, he's gritting his teeth, as if enduring immense pain. When walking, his body twists and turns, as if all the bones in his body have come loose. One time, during a meal, Karto accidentally patted Xia Ya, and this guy immediately let out a miserable scream like a slaughtered pig, almost flipping the plate onto Karto's face.
Two companions and good friends were somewhat worried about this guy.
"Hey, didn't you sneak out to find a woman?" Looking at Xia Ya's face with scratch marks, Kato smiled with a sly and cunning expression.
"It looks like we're going to fight with those people! Damn it! Who dares to hit our Imperial Guard?! I'll go with you to find a place to settle this!" Shalba slammed his hand on the table.
Xia Ya's body trembled violently, tears swirling in her eyes, gritting her teeth: "No... I, I fell by myself..."
Damn it, this really hurts...
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Xia Ya was so frustrated that he couldn't speak, for the past three days, he had been learning this damn dragon knight battle technique from that mother dragon named Dora, and it was a real pain in the head!
Dora handed over to Shia the Dragon Knight battle techniques, which were not many, only three styles for the time being. Dora claimed that she herself could only do this much - of course, Shia suspected that this cunning mother dragon was hiding something.
In ancient times, the Dragon Knights themselves possessed powerful combat capabilities, and their aura had been trained to the highest level. However, as for Xia Ya, where did he learn any aura techniques? Dora knew a bit about human martial arts aura methods, but after teaching Xia Ya for half a day, he didn't even have a hint of aura perception. Then, Dora determined that Xia Ya simply didn't have the innate talent to practice aura - in other words, this dragon thought that Xia Ya had no possibility of becoming a warrior.
Such remarks made Xia Ya extremely unconvinced? (It wasn't until much later that Xia Ya found out she had been played by this cunning mother dragon.)
What a joke! I, the great master, don't have any talent for martial arts? On the Wildfire Plains and on the battlefield, there are at least eight or nine warriors who died at my hands! Aura? What's so special about aura? I've also killed several enemies who can wield aura!
At this time, a stubborn and unyielding spirit was stirred up from within. Isn't the will to fight a kind of strength?
This old man can't fight, can he do nothing else?
Very naturally, the first thing he thought of was the strongest power he currently possessed: Scarlet Killing Intent.
After the previous training, he had already grasped a little bit of the secret to unleashing his killing intent. To put it simply, when encountering strong enemies, he would generate an intense and powerful will to fight and kill, as well as exerting immense pressure from all sides. This mental stimulation would trigger the soul imprint within the pendant he wore.
Every time this happens, Xia Ya feels a chill run through her entire body - as if she had been thrown into an icy lake in the middle of winter. In an instant, her heart is filled with endless murderous intent, and a power that she can't quite explain surges forth. Xia Ya herself doesn't understand where this power comes from, but for now, there's no need to worry about it.
The only drawback is that in order to control his own consciousness and not let himself be completely driven mad by the crazy stimulation, he had to desperately suppress the madness of slaughter in his heart. As a result, although he was clear-headed, the crimson killing intent that emerged was much weaker than the two previous unintentional outbursts.
Xia Ya tried several times to control the scarlet killing intent within his range, and finally found that at this level, the attack distance that the scarlet killing intent could reach was only about three steps. Within three steps, the power of that unstoppable and almost defense-ignoring attack also weakened. When he wielded the fire fork, he could easily cut through hard wooden stakes silently.
But when encountering harder objects, such as metal shields and armor, it can still cut through, but the previous kind of penetration is much inferior, not like before, a fire fork swings by, no matter how many people are standing in front, they can all be cut off with one swing!
He tested it, and at the current level, he could easily cut through the shields of the third-tier army, but if it was a fourth-tier one, the fire pike would get stuck in the fourth layer of shields, exhausting its strength without being able to break through.
"At this level, it has basically reached the power of a mid-tier warrior using aura among you humans." - This is Dola's evaluation.
Well... let's just consider it a fight then.
However, Xia felt it clearly when she was sober. Every time she used the Scarlet Killing Intent, the longer she persisted, the more her strength would be depleted. It wasn't just her physical strength that was exhausted, but also her mental energy. She would sweat profusely, unable to move a single finger, and her spirit would start to feel fatigued, as if she hadn't slept for three days and nights, with her consciousness starting to blur.
It seems that Scarlet's killing intent consumes not only physical strength but also a person's mental energy.
It seems that in terms of cost-effectiveness, it's much worse than a mid-tier Dou Qi...
Xia Ya had a few points of resentment in his heart, recalling the crimson killing intent that burst out earlier, with its penetrating power that ignored all defenses, it was truly a bit of "kill whoever blocks my way", and that's what suited this great self's style.
But Dora's words made Xia Ya quiet.
"After you go berserk, your power becomes stronger, but when attacking, there is no self-awareness, almost indiscriminately attacking within a certain range! On the battlefield, there are always companions by your side, do you want to kill them together?"
"Alright!"
Xia Ya could only reluctantly agree.
The problem isn't that Scarlet's killing intent is weakening, the problem is... when I learned that Dragon Knight battle technique, it was a real headache!
Dragon Knight's combat technique is a mysterious method that suddenly releases the power sensed in the body! Every time he operates, his whole body's strength will surge up abruptly, this feeling of power is about ten times stronger than when the scarlet fighting spirit is running. When this intense swelling sensation comes, Xia Ya clearly feels that every muscle, every blood vessel, and even every nerve in his body has suddenly expanded several times! The bursting feeling makes him unable to stop his whole body from trembling, at this moment, even his heart suddenly stops beating!
At the same time, I fell into a state of auditory hallucination, as if everything around me had slowed down and distorted. The sound of the wind, the birdsong in the woods, the slogans being chanted at the military camp in the distance - every sound was stretched and distorted in my ears. Everything within my field of vision became distorted, and finally, it seemed as though space itself had warped, leaving only a single point in front of me.
A little bit!!
He raised his hand and stabbed the pitchfork at that point...
BOOM!!
His ears clearly heard a loud rumble, and the sound seemed to fall directly into his consciousness, shocking Xia Ya awake in an instant. All the hallucinations disappeared, and the power throughout his body suddenly reversed. The feeling of rapid expansion instantly poured out! This kind of crazy pouring made him feel as if all the blood in his body had flowed backwards in that instant! His heart rate wildly accelerated, so fast that he almost couldn't bear it...
Where the fire fork pierced, a red glow was seen, which turned into a thin red line, like a strand of hair, shooting straight out...
All the power instantly converged on a point at the tip of the fire fork, bursting out. The power was so strong and intense that it even made Xia Ya involuntarily rush forward. He didn't take the step himself, but was pulled out by this powerful force!
He took a few big strides, and with a loud crash, he slammed into the large tree in front of him. The red line reached the trunk of the tree, and the bark silently cracked open. The inside of the tree seemed to be shattered by the red line as well! The fragmented wood turned into thin threads that quickly burst apart, and those threads were pulled back by some force, shooting past Xia Ya's face, leaving behind marks like scratches that drew blood!
Taking a closer look, on the trunk of this large tree in front of me, there is a hole about the size of a thumb, which directly penetrates the trunk. And further back, several steps away, another large tree has also been penetrated...
Within a range of about thirty meters on a straight line, all objects that passed through were directly penetrated! Six large trees and two rocks the size of a table left a small hole the thickness of a thumb!!
Xia Yafei quickly ran over to check and saw such a result, he was shocked and couldn't say a word!!
Before the shock had even passed, our turtle suddenly let out a loud cry, rolled over on the ground, and shouted: "I'm going to die from the pain!!!!!!!!"
His entire body, from head to toe, suddenly burst forth with beads of blood from countless pores! In his line of sight, fine cracks appeared on the muscles of his arms, and the skin was directly torn apart, with fresh blood flowing down. His entire skeleton began to creak and crack - for an instant, Xia Ya's heart was filled with extreme fear, afraid that all his bones would shatter into pieces!
Such pain lasted for about half an hour, and he barely rolled up from the ground, but his whole body was in pain, and even a light touch felt like countless sharp needles were pricking! Even simple slow walking made the soles of his feet ache to the point where he could hardly stand.
After the first practice, he slowed down for two hours before barely recovering a bit of strength. His first reaction was to laugh loudly several times, and amidst the laughter, there were also painful cries of "ouch". But soon after, he felt some doubts in his heart.
"Hey Dora, I heard that high-level warriors among humans can condense their internal energy to shoot it out and harm people from a distance. It seems like they can't even do it over 30 meters away?"
"Hmph! The Dragon Knight's combat technique is far beyond what humans can currently achieve with their Qi! Although Qi can also be used to project power outside the body and harm others, the technique of condensing Qi is too simple, and most of the power is wasted during the process. In contrast, this Dragon Knight's combat technique can concentrate power into a tiny point, minimizing unnecessary energy loss to the greatest extent possible! Concentrating all power into the strongest single point!! And so, this move... is called... Dragon Pierce!"
Dragon Strike!!
Damn it! This move is really damn powerful!
But... but it's really fucking painful!!!!!
"Alas, actually, with your current strength, unleashing a Dragon Strike once would not exhaust your power, and the remaining power would be enough to use two or three more times. However... your body can't withstand such a huge backlash of power. In my judgment, if you dare to use it consecutively twice, I'm afraid your physical body will suffer severe injuries. If you use it three times, I fear that your physical body will directly collapse and die."
“…………”
Xia Ya lowered her head and thought for a moment. When she raised her head, her face was surprisingly not as mischievous as usual, but instead became extremely serious.
"So, the martial skills I currently possess are Scarlet Killing Intent and 'Dragon Strike'. However, both of these moves can only be used as a last resort to save my life. As for 'Dragon Strike', using it once will render me completely paralyzed for at least half an hour, and in general, I can only use it once. On the battlefield, if I use Dragon Strike, even if I manage to kill the enemy, I'll end up finished myself. And as for Scarlet Killing Intent, as long as I control my consciousness and don't go berserk, one usage of Scarlet Killing Intent can last around the time it takes to eat a meal... roughly half an hour at most. In other words, it can only be used in brief battles. My biggest problem now is... I still don't have any martial skills that I can use in normal situations."
Dora sneered coldly in response to Xia Ya's words: "Greedy humans, truly insatiable! With your current strength, plus the enhancement of my dragon blood on your physical body, and your own power and speed that surpass human standards, you're already basically equivalent to a regular low-ranking warrior. And with the display of crimson killing intent, combined with your axe technique 'Breaking Army', you can rival a mid-ranking warrior. Moreover, in group battles, your lethality is even higher. If you were to unleash 'Dragon Strike', your instantaneous lethality would be on par with that of a high-ranking warrior! Do you know or not, ordinary humans, from low-ranking warriors wanting to rise to high-ranking, even if they're exceptionally talented, can't reach it without 10-20 years of arduous training?! You've almost risen several ranks in just one day and still feel unsatisfied?!"
Xia Ya couldn't help but scratch his head and smile wryly. Thinking about it this way, he felt a lot more at peace with himself. He had suddenly gained power comparable to that of a high-ranking warrior, even if it was only for an instant. The increase in strength had to be paid for with hard work, and he had obtained his power so easily, which was already extremely rare.
Dora's words were somewhat sarcastic, but they made sense.
"Alright!" Xia Ya waved her hand, a resolute expression on her face: "Practice again!!"
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Xia Ya practiced for three days in a row, every day sneaking alone to the forest behind the mountain slope to repeatedly practice the Scarlet Killing Intent and "Dragon Stab". He was so exhausted that he fell asleep as soon as he returned to his tent each day, throwing himself onto the bed and sleeping soundly.
After getting out of bed, there were bloodstains all over the sheets...
This made Duoduo's heart as a follower have several evil thoughts.
"Barbarian... is there blood on the sheets? Could it be that this crude turtle also has those few days every month, just like women..."
Three days later, Xia Ya also left the military camp and wandered around the surrounding mountains and forests for half a day, collecting a large bundle of various herbs. Finally, she personally decocted a bucket of medicinal liquid and soaked her body in it.
This is the medicinal bath he has been soaking in since childhood, and the prescription was left by the old man. However, it is said that one or two of the most important medicines have been used up a few years ago, and those one or two medicines cannot be found in the mountains and forests of Wildfire Prairie. As for the remaining several medicines, although they can be found in the mountains and forests, the old man said that the effect was much worse after matching them.
Xia Ya has a robust physique beyond that of ordinary people, mainly because he was soaked in this smelly medicine every day since childhood. However, after growing up, he refused to take such medicinal baths. But these days, practicing Long Ci every day, his body is really too severely injured, and he can't help but pick the medicine back and soak it, as for the stench, he can't care about it anymore.
This time, Duoduo couldn't help but have a few strange thoughts while washing the sheets.
"Damn it! I've bled all over and now the sheets stink... Can't believe the owner, at their age, still can't kick the habit of wetting the bed?"
With a vigorous scrub of the bed sheet, the magician grumbled in his heart...
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This nearly self-torturing training lasted for six days, and on the seventh day, Xia Ya got up early to leave the camp and head to the back mountain. Just as he walked to the gate of the camp, he saw the soldiers on the lookout tower in front of the garrison suddenly blowing the warning horn anxiously!
Suddenly, a loud shout was heard, and the soldiers patrolling the camp rushed to the gate in an orderly manner! The 13th Legion was indeed well-trained, and in an instant, a left-behind officer with a team of soldiers rushed up, fully armed, and the main gate of the camp was closed immediately. A large number of soldiers then climbed onto the fence wall, drew their bows and arrows, and tensely faced outward.
Troops in groups also gathered at the gate amidst urgent warning signals, quickly forming lines under the shouts of their respective captains.
At this time, an officer on the watchtower looked into the distance and shouted loudly: "Look! It's our people!! Ah! Is, is... a defeated army!!"
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Strive for recommendation votes!!!!!
In addition, on January 1st, which is this Friday, the book will be officially launched! All brothers and sisters who like this book, are you ready for your monthly tickets? Hehe...
January's simultaneous release of new books has some strong competitors!
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