Gu Xichen blocked behind him with his right hand, shattering three blades as thin as cicada wings in his palm. With the dull thud of the impact, the immense kinetic energy attached to the blades caused Gu Xichen’s body to tremble slightly, his feet dragging furrows several meters long across the grass.

Wagley roared with laughter and covered dozens of meters in just a few strides.

Ingrid relentlessly jabbed at the back of Gu Xichen’s head, and a three-foot-long sharp arrow erupted from nowhere with a whistling shriek, stabbing directly at him.

Gu Xichen turned around in annoyance, tapped once with his right index finger, and the solid steel arrow split into two at his fingertip, the cut as smooth as glass, as if it had been sliced through tofu. Gu Xichen said angrily, "Lieutenant Blade, Ingrid, you are making trouble for yourself!" He tapped his toes lightly, and the cloud boots under his feet stirred up two faint wisps of flowing light, lifting Gu Xichen like smoke in the wind, shooting towards Ingrid at high speed. Gu Xichen swept his right hand five fingers from left to right fiercely, and five bone-chilling, pale arcs of Gang Jin shot through the air towards Ingrid.

Ingrid laughed excitedly. He moved back swiftly with a swaying motion, easily stepping left and right in a boxing stance. Simultaneously, disc-shaped, crescent-shaped, triangular, and polygonal blades constantly erupted around him. These blades shot towards Gu Xichen’s chest, some fast, some slow, some in straight lines, others in arcs. For a moment, the sky was filled with flashing cold light, the blades silently tearing through the air, colliding fiercely with the force of the Xue Po Shen Zhua (Snow Soul Divine Claw).

With dozens of muffled explosions, the blades Ingrid shot out shattered one after another, and Gu Xichen’s claw force was neutralized.

Gu Xichen let out a long laugh and praised, "Lieutenant Blade, your abilities and your title truly suit you perfectly!"

Before the words had fully left his mouth, Gu Xichen’s peripheral vision caught a flicker of shock on Siren’s face. Before Gu Xichen could react, a two-meter-long San Ting Da Kanda (Three Pavilion Great Cleaver) spewed out of the air behind him. The hilt of this great cleaver was as thick as a sea bowl, and the spine was half a foot thick. The blade shimmered with a dull, cold light, clearly indicating it was supremely sharp. The great cleaver, weighing at least four hundred pounds, whistled heavily as it cleaved towards Gu Xichen’s heart at a terrifying speed three times that of sound.

General Wagley’s eyes lit up, his handlebar mustache twitching high, clearly indicating his extreme excitement.

The cleaver struck viciously against Gu Xichen’s back, but the Taoist robe and cloak on Gu Xichen’s body suddenly billowed outward. A faint halo of light flickered momentarily, and layers of invisible, resilient force fields absorbed the immense impact force carried by the cleaver. The heavy cleaver failed to scratch even a single strand of hair on Gu Xichen’s back. Gu Xichen’s forward momentum actually increased by several points; he practically flashed in front of the stunned Ingrid and slammed a heavy punch into Ingrid’s lower abdomen.

Accompanied by a sound like a heavy hammer striking cured leather, Gu Xichen’s weighty fist sank a full three inches into Ingrid’s lower abdomen. Ingrid’s healthy, bronze-colored face instantly turned deathly pale, and a large patch on his briefs suddenly soaked through—Gu Xichen’s heavy punch had made him wet himself. The four young soldiers, who had been lying around lazily nearby, suddenly sat bolt upright, staring in horror at Ingrid, who was bent over and unable to straighten up.

“I hate bastards who attack from behind,” Gu Xichen retracted his fist and patted Ingrid’s pale face hard. “However, for General Wagley’s sake, I won’t kill you today.”

A faint glow flashed across the Ruyi Shou Tao (As-You-Will Gloves), and Gu Xichen clenched his fist tightly. He truly didn't want to harm anyone today, otherwise that punch could have pierced right through Ingrid.

“Siren, Aredia, let’s go!” Gu Xichen called out coolly. “Your Excellency the General seems to have misunderstood us a bit... but harmony brings wealth; the General will understand that principle.”

Siren shrugged his shoulders and blew a flying kiss toward the ashen-faced General Wagley. Aredia’s expression darkened, and he forcefully pulled Siren away. Faintly, Aredia could be heard muttering to himself, “Enough. I won’t say anything about you flirting with women, but if you dare flirt with men too, you’ll have hell to pay.”

Gu Xichen had reached the doorway when Ingrid, who had been bent over and silent, suddenly lifted his head. His pale face was now bloated purple, and he stared fixedly at Gu Xichen’s retreating back, screaming, “Damn you... you... you made me piss myself!” Ingrid spread his hands open like bird wings, sharp white light flickering on his fingers. A beam of white cold light shot out from between his eyebrows, and visible ripples stirred in the air around him. The flowers and grass nearby appeared to be shredded by countless spinning blades, large patches of flora turning into dust.

A torrent composed of countless blades erupted from the void in front of Ingrid. Amidst the sharp whistling sounds, this torrent saturated with the aura of death surged behind Gu Xichen.

Circular saw blades, triangular fragments, jagged wolf-tooth spikes, every kind of military dagger, every kind of bayonet, every kind of broadsword, every kind of long arrow and crossbow bolt, every kind of spear and halberd—every bladed cold weapon and projectile invented by Earthlings rushed out at the terrifying speed of five times the speed of sound. Tens of thousands of small sharp objects and hundreds of large blades spewed forth from in front of Ingrid every second, a raging tide of metal surging towards Gu Xichen.

Gu Xichen turned around. Facing the overwhelming tide of metal, he felt as if thousands of heavy machine guns were simultaneously firing upon him. Gu Xichen shielded his face with both hands, curling his body into a ball, allowing the lethal blades to hack, stab, and slice madly against him. A soft radiance enveloped Gu Xichen’s entire body. Blade after blade shattered upon impact, and broadswords snapped and broke against him. Amidst the piercing shrieks, visible rings of ripples tumbled around Gu Xichen.

“There’s something strange about that guy’s robe!” Siren, General Wagley, Ingrid, and the others all noticed this bizarre scene simultaneously.

Ingrid’s face grew darker and purpler. The white ripples swirling around his body became denser and brighter, and threads of sharp energy enveloped the entire flower garden. The speed of the various sharp weapons erupting from his front surged to ten times the speed of sound, and their numbers increased to an unimaginable degree.

Innumerable blades and axes swept past Gu Xichen. The metal portal behind him persisted for less than one-thousandth of a second in the destructive flood before being sliced into tiny fragments that scattered away. Streams of deadly cold light flashed wildly past, sparks flying off the thick mountain wall outside the door. A circular tunnel several meters in diameter appeared in the mountain, slowly extending deeper into the rock. Following the sharp cry from Ingrid’s mouth, in just thirty seconds, this tunnel burrowed nearly a hundred meters deep into the mountain.

Siren and Aredia’s eyes twitched simultaneously. Aredia murmured lowly, “If we have to fight him, we must take him out immediately, otherwise no amount of soldiers will be enough for him to slaughter alone.”

Siren looked confusedly at the passively defending Gu Xichen, frowning. “This isn’t like the Evil Dragon’s style. Just taking hits without fighting back? Did he turn into a good boy today?”

Swallowed by the metal torrent, Gu Xichen stood firmly in place. His heart rate surged to twelve hundred beats per minute. Since absorbing the three drops of Hanba (Drought Demon) essence blood, Gu Xichen’s Han Yuan Dao Tai (Primal Origin Tao Embryo) had strengthened significantly, as had his physical strength. Although Gu Xichen didn’t know exactly how much he had improved, a heart rate of twelve hundred beats per minute was almost the limit his body could withstand previously, yet now he was easily enduring the violent energy surging from his rapidly beating heart.

Explosive energy churned within his surrounding muscles and meridians, and a scorching torrent continuously reinforced Gu Xichen’s body.

Ingrid continuously spewed heavy battle-axes, Fang Tian Ji (Heavenly Halberds), and heavy weapons like great two-handed swords towards Gu Xichen. The massive force contained in these weapons, after being reduced by ninety percent by the Taoist robe, was entirely absorbed by Gu Xichen’s body. Each heavy impact made the surging heat within Gu Xichen more violent, and the greater the benefit his body received.

During his previous seclusion, Gu Xichen had only absorbed three drops of Hanba essence blood; it was Ingrid’s provocation that finally allowed Gu Xichen to begin properly digesting those three drops.

Creak, creak. Gu Xichen’s muscle fibers rapidly strengthened, the friction between individual fibers emitting a teeth-grinding, strange sound. Under the horrified gaze of the onlookers, Gu Xichen’s body slowly shrank by a circumference. His body’s organizational structure was greatly compressed and reinforced. Then, the potent energy within the Hanba essence blood continuously replenished the consumption of Gu Xichen’s body, slowly restoring his shrunken form to its original size.

Shrinking, being replenished by energy, and slowly recovering—after nine such cycles, Gu Xichen’s physique was strengthened to the absolute limit he could currently sustain.

Opening his mouth, Gu Xichen suddenly lifted his head and let out a great roar at the distorted face of Ingrid. A white blast of air sprayed from Gu Xichen’s mouth, and a Xuan Hua Da Fu (Mystic Flower Great Axe) cleaving towards his face exploded into countless iron dust particles with a peng sound. Fine dust particles scattered everywhere, and countless oncoming blades and saw wheels were blown to shreds by the iron fragments. Gu Xichen fiercely gritted his teeth, and with a clang, sparks burst forth between his upper and lower teeth—after this round of stimulation and reinforcement, Gu Xichen’s teeth were already thirty percent harder than ordinary alloy steel.

Siren saw the sparks erupting from Gu Xichen’s mouth clearly. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he muttered instinctively, “This guy... how did he suddenly become so monstrous?”

The hands Gu Xichen used to cover his face slowly opened, and two streams of white cold air left white traces in the air as his hands moved. Slowly and deliberately, he drew a Tai Chi symbol about a meter in diameter in front of him. The surging Zhen Qi (True Qi) from within Gu Xichen burst out of his body, and tens of thousands of sharp blades, saw wheels, and other objects around him simultaneously froze in mid-air.

××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

Today is March 26th... I won’t say much else... Recommendation votes... Let them rain down like hailstones...