Wielding only his saber, he single-handedly fought off seventy or eighty fifth-level warriors, leaving the entire group felled with only a dozen wounds of varying depths upon himself; under normal circumstances, even a dozen seventh-level warriors would struggle to defeat such a large contingent of fifth-level fighters.

Drinking another portion of his Battle Qi recovery potion, Qian Jin felt the fighting spirit within his acupoints surge forth like spring water, washing away a good deal of the fatigue clinging to his body.

“Next time I find time, I’ll discuss it with Uncle Black and see if I can learn alchemy in the apothecary,” Qian Jin stretched his newly invigorated body. “This is truly incredible.”

“Gua gua gu…” A shrill beastly cry echoed from the quiet woods. A behemoth thrashed wildly through the undergrowth, suddenly followed by a series of sharp cracking sounds—the snap of bones—ending its rampage.

Qian Jin, carrying the Jidu Zhanmadao, stepped over the one-armed ape whose tibia he had just severed with the back of his blade, having now spent three days within the Western Mountains.

During the day, he attended classes at the academy, or else worked at the blacksmith’s shop, or visited Fabredis’s home for a decent meal.

At night, he would enter the Endless World to continue his search for the Red Wolf.

Qian Jin pulled out the map Black had given him and scrutinized it closely, his admiration for the old blacksmith growing immense. Judging purely by the travel time marked on the map, the round trip should take less than a day, but walking it in reality revealed countless features that had been left unmarked.

There were seven settlements belonging to those downtrodden blade-wielders alone, and among them, two of the leaders were actual seventh-level warriors; during that one encounter, Qian Jin had nearly been killed on the spot.

Besides the blade-wielders’ strongholds, wolf packs numbering in the hundreds occupied strategically advantageous, difficult-to-assault terrain, consistently pushing Qian Jin to his limits until he was drenched in sweat.

In these short three days, Qian Jin had fought his way through, his arms growing numb from exertion. He had swung the Zhanmadao with full force thousands of times nearly every day; the path he carved through the mountains was one literally paved with blood and bones. Even during the all-day training sessions held monthly at the Oakland Magic and Warrior Academy, he had never felt this exhausted.

In these three days, Qian Jin had successfully converted a great deal of theoretical knowledge from his books into practical application. His studies in stealth, in particular, had seen significant opportunities for use; that recent move—sneaking up behind the one-armed ape and using the flat of his blade to shatter its tibia without alerting it—was a perfect example of successful application.

In the Western Mountains, wild beasts possessed incredibly keen senses of smell, and even a slight scent of blood could draw large numbers of them. Breaking a beast’s tibia with the back of the blade was the optimal combat strategy Qian Jin had developed during these past few days.

He was now very close to the Red Wolves’ territory, and Qian Jin had to proceed with the utmost caution, ensuring that the clothes he had washed clean in the forest lake did not once again acquire any bloody scent that might betray him to the wolves prematurely.

Through sheer slaughter, a faint aura of killing intent began to emanate from Qian Jin. Ordinary wild foxes and wolves, just poking their heads out of the undergrowth to attack him, would be met with a sharp, murderous glare that instantly terrified them into soaking themselves and bolting back into the bushes, not daring to reappear.

Passing through the brush, Qian Jin crouched low above a massive boulder, cautiously peeking over the edge toward a spot not far below. Gathered there were about thirty wolves, all sporting fiery red fur—the Red Wolves Black had described.

These Red Wolves were not particularly large; an adult stood barely a meter tall. They lay quietly in various positions, their eyes lazily closed.

Among the pack, one Red Wolf was noticeably larger, its body stretching almost three meters in length. It possessed four ears that constantly rotated, scanning the surroundings as if performing reconnaissance.

Beside it lay several human-shaped skeletons, along with broken blades and swords. Nearly every shattered weapon had not been cleanly split in two, but rather reduced to four or five pieces of scrap iron of varying sizes, clearly the result of claws tearing through metal.

Flame Wolf Beast! Qian Jin’s heart instantly tensed. No! This wasn't a fully evolved Flame Wolf Beast, but a Red Wolf that had not yet completed its full advancement—it currently existed somewhere between a Magical Beast and a wild animal.

Qian Jin regulated his breathing, forcibly suppressing his excitedly beating heart. Although three days of constant combat training had brought him to the preliminary stage of a ninth-level warrior, he still stood no chance against a fully advanced Magical Beast.

Qian Jin gazed at the Red Wolf leader from a distance, already regretting not having brought a set of bow and arrows when he left the old blacksmith Black. Although he wasn't a master marksman, he had scored perfectly in the warrior archery course.

“An excellent archer warrior can sometimes, by himself alone, decide the outcome of an entire war.”

Recalling Teacher Rodriguez’s words again, Qian Jin found himself once more admiring this instructor who possessed only the strength of a fifth-level warrior. While his fighting spirit strength wasn't formidable, his interpretations of warriors and warfare were nothing like what one would expect from a beginner academy teacher.

If Rodriguez’s fighting spirit strength were a little greater, Qian Jin was certain he would have become a renowned teacher at a prestigious academy; alas, constrained by his warrior rank, he had to settle for teaching at the Oakland Magic and Warrior Academy.

“The lead wolf is the general, and the pack is the army. If I could kill the alpha wolf with a single arrow, the war would naturally end,” Qian Jin slowly clenched the Jidu Zhanmadao in his hand. “When I return this time, I won’t just forge a Zhanmadao battle weapon for myself; I must also personally craft a powerful bow! And I need to read more books on archery!”

This short three-day journey to locate the ore had given Qian Jin a new understanding of what it meant to become a truly great warrior. It wasn't simply about being able to fight well, or being able to take on ten men single-handedly.

“Uncle Black, was he really sending me to mine ore? Or was he trying to show me that becoming a great warrior is far from simple?”

Qian Jin looked up at the sun in the sky; it was already nearing sunset, the time for dinner. He absolutely could not afford to delay any longer here. At night, the wolf pack was even more energetic and vigilant than during the day, making a sneak attack much more difficult.

Carrying the Jidu Zhanmadao, Qian Jin crouched low and slowly crept toward the rock formation above the alpha wolf, moving cautiously without making the slightest sound. He slowly reached a position directly above the alpha, quietly observing the leader below.

This was not the moment to strike. Although the alpha wolf was lying down as if dozing, its four ears constantly swiveling indicated that it maintained a state of high alertness.

:Climbing the charts tonight, oh oh... No, not the new book charts this time... I ask everyone to please offer their support when the time comes. Updates will follow, and I offer my deepest thanks, Gāolóu.

Also, abusing my privilege to promote a friend of the reader Jingsu Zhicheng. He wrote a book review over two thousand characters long. Honestly, Gāolóu is a writer of prose, so I know what a monumental undertaking two thousand characters is, especially coming from Jingsu Zhicheng, who doesn't professionally focus on word-crafting. Regardless of whether you agree with his review, clicking to support it or disagreeing with it, it is still a form of recognition for his effort. I have pinned that review to the top; everyone can look for it.