Never mind the students with their limited martial arts knowledge—even many of the seasoned veterans who had served in the Martial Arts Administration Bureau for years had never seen such a bizarre, yet refined and efficient, method of killing.

A second-realm, slaying third-realm cultists as easily as slaughtering chickens. The third-realm cultists’ Qi Blood power and martial pressure were utterly useless. Judging from Yu Fei’s stance, it looked as if he didn’t know any formal Swordsmanship, yet every single one of his movements was ingenious to the extreme. Each strike was a guaranteed kill.

Yu Fei’s face was pale and his body was swaying, on the verge of collapse, but his eyes were bright, exuding an immense pressure.

He just held his sword and walked slowly, step by step, toward the last remaining enemy.

Ji Kai tightened and loosened his grip on the long saber in his hand, muttering to himself in a numb daze.

"How could this be?... This isn’t right... It’s impossible..."

"Spare me! The Bright God Sect has a Grandmaster... Please, spare me..."

"Don’t come any closer... I’ll kill you..."

Ji Kai raised his long saber and slowly backed away, his expression crazed.

"I’ll kill you... Don’t come over here... You’ll die..."

Yu Fei paid him no heed, continuing to advance with his sword, his face expressionless.

Ji Kai finally broke down. With a CLANG, the saber fell from his hand, and his knees went weak as he prepared to surrender and beg for his life.

"I surr—Ugh..."

Once Yu Fei was within striking distance, he forcibly mustered a sliver of his Qi Blood power and cut his opponent down with a single slash.

He ignored the man’s attempt to surrender. In a situation like this, all enemies had to die. There was no way he would spare an opponent’s life when he had the upper hand.

"Haaaah..."

Yu Fei staggered, his Qi Blood almost completely depleted. Maintaining the properties of his Illusory Sword Intent while continuously erupting with Ruyi Shen Jin had consumed an extreme amount of Qi Blood.

Unleashing five streams of Formless Sword Qi at the end had especially drained him dry.

’But there was no other way. If the enemies had grouped up, I probably wouldn’t have been a match for them. Even with [Super Speed Reaction] and [Dongyou], it would have been difficult to hold my own against them.’

That was a group of third-realm Martial Artists; Yu Fei’s only choice was to take a gamble.

After killing all the enemies, Yu Fei took a moment to catch his breath. He first freed the bound martial arts teachers and noticed that Principal Cao Le’an was among them.

"Yu Fei, thank you. If it weren’t for you, I daren’t imagine what would have happened."

Tears streamed down Cao Le’an’s face. As the principal of Second High, he himself was a second-realm Martial Artist, but he hadn’t cultivated in years and had lost his combat abilities. The cultists had targeted him only for his rich Qi Blood, intending to use him in a blood sacrifice.

Yu Fei waved his hand, interrupting the old principal. "Do you have any [Spring Dew]? My Qi Blood is severely depleted."

’He’d had a bottle last year at the city’s youth martial arts tournament; it was very effective at restoring Qi Blood.’

"I have some..."

"I do too..."

Several personnel from the security bureau broke free from their ropes and handed their bottles of Spring Dew to Yu Fei. He didn’t hesitate, taking a bottle and downing it immediately. His Qi Blood began to recover slowly, but it wasn’t enough.

"Young man, at your current level of strength, Spring Dew isn’t enough to fully restore your Qi Blood. Try this [Green Sprout]. It’s the upgraded version, made for second-realm Martial Artists."

Yu Fei accepted it with curiosity.

"Thank you for killing that traitor, Ji Kai, and avenging our team leader. You should rest for now. We’ll handle the rest, and we can discuss things together later."

"Alright... Please trouble yourselves with freeing my classmates..."

"Sigh... Of course. If it weren’t for you, Yu Fei, none of us would have escaped death. We might have even suffered humiliation before the end."

He nodded to the group, found a random corner, and downed the [Green Sprout]. He immediately felt a rich life force flowing through him, continuously converting into Qi Blood. In a short while, the color returned to his face.

When he opened his eyes again, Yu Fei saw Li Mengyao, Jiang Yifan, and the others gathered around him, looking at him with concern.

"Are... are you hurt...?"

"I’m fine, just exhausted. I’ve recovered now."

Li Mengyao’s watery eyes were red, a clear sign she had been crying.

Jiang Yifan was covered in bloodstains that he hadn’t had a chance to clean off yet.

"This time... thank you."

Yu Fei smiled faintly. "Don’t mention it. We’re all classmates, after all..."

He looked up and saw that nearly all the students from the elite class were gathered around him: Du Mingxuan, Hu Fang, Zhang Qingyu...

"Everyone, I’m sorry I was late. But fortunately, I got the job done..."

Du Mingxuan pushed to the front. "Fei, what do we do now? Is there anything we should be doing?"

"Yu Fei, what are your plans now?"

The few remaining martial arts teachers from the Martial Arts Administration Bureau and Second High were also looking at him with intense gazes.

Strength was the right to speak. He alone had suppressed and killed all the invading cultists at Second High. In the martial tradition, the strong were always revered.

Yu Fei placed a hand on his sword and rose to his feet. He thought for a moment before speaking.

"Everyone, the battle isn’t over. There’s still a group of cultists attacking First High. I’d like to ask all combat-capable personnel to come with me as reinforcements.

As for Second High, the immediate crisis is resolved. I’ll have to ask Principal Cao to handle the aftermath here.

The situation is urgent. Let’s set out immediately!"

"Alright..."

With the help of the [Green Sprout], Yu Fei had recovered seventy to eighty percent of his strength. Before leaving, he found Li Mengyao.

"Be careful. Protect yourself..."

"Okay. You be careful too..."

Through the curtain of rain, Yu Fei and eleven other combatants rushed toward First High. The battle was not yet over.

Cao Le’an gathered all the surviving teachers and assigned them various tasks. The top priority was to arrange for the students’ evacuation to prevent another enemy attack, but they couldn’t just run around blindly. They needed a detailed plan.

They also needed to collect the bodies of the fallen heroes and manage the cleanup.

Although the old principal lacked strength, he was very methodical in his work. Before long, the entire school was set in motion.

-----------------

"This kid... not bad!"

Watching on the [Profound Secret Mirror] as Yu Fei slaughtered every last cultist, Kong Sheng was overjoyed, praising him nonstop.

A Sword Cultivator needed to have an indomitable will to kill. He most admired Yu Fei’s decisiveness and confidence when facing the last two enemies. Even if he only had one breath left, he was determined to cut down his foes.

"Alright, alright, stop fidgeting. It’s just a bunch of kids fighting, and you’re getting all excited..."

Mr. Tang said impatiently, "A dignified Sword Dao Grandmaster, getting worked up over this? You’re acting like you’ve never seen anything before."

Kong Sheng sighed. "Mr. Tang, this kid has just entered the second realm and hasn’t even practiced an advanced Cultivation Technique. He just cut down seventeen third-realm enemies. How can such a feat not be exciting?"

Mr. Tang said contemptuously, "Are those third-realmers from the Illuminati even worthy of mention? They’re nothing but punching bags with inflated realms. Any second-realm student from a Martial Arts University could take care of one of them in a one-on-one fight."

"But you said ’from a Martial Arts University.’ The key is that this kid is only a high school senior."

Mr. Tang nodded. "That’s also true. But did you get a clear look at that red Sword Qi?"

At this, Kong Sheng’s expression turned serious.

"That should be the fundamental ability of the so-called Tribulation Sword Dao Foundation: Formless Sword Qi. It’s unknown how Mr. Lanren managed to master it, but I have met the disciples he trained before...

Before the Inner Qi Realm, their Formless Sword Qi was nowhere near as powerful as this boy’s. It lacked Sharpness and speed, serving only as a supportive tool in combat. Moreover, the Sword Qi wasn’t flexible and was difficult to control once unleashed...

The Formless Sword Qi truly shines after the fourth realm, when a Martial Artist’s Qi Blood has been converted into Inner Qi. At that point, a single sword strike is followed by innumerable streams of Sword Qi. An enemy of the same realm has no way to defend against it. If they can’t dodge, they die."

Speaking of this, Kong Sheng’s expression grew wistful. Mr. Lanren and his disciples had died in a sudden battle, and the Tribulation Sword had become a lost art for ten years. He never imagined that here in a forgotten corner of Yan Sea, someone had quietly nurtured a successor to the Tribulation Sword.

Kong Sheng said solemnly, "This boy’s Formless Sword Qi is bizarre. It’s too strong...

His control over it is absurd, more agile than the sword in his hand. And that insidious Sword Intent of his can actually conceal the Sword Qi. I can’t even imagine what would happen if this kid reaches the Inner Qi Realm and gets to the front lines..."

An image appeared in Kong Sheng’s mind: a large group of Primordial Demon Race Warriors falling silently like harvested wheat. They would break down in a frenzy, unable to find their enemy... ’Could a sight be any more beautiful?’

Mr. Tang was smiling smugly. Yu Fei’s power today was in no small part due to the half-kilo of twenty-year-old Enlightenment Tea he had sponsored.

When Yu Fei had used the Formless Sword Qi just now, the aura of the eighth-realm Grandmaster hidden in the shadows had fluctuated noticeably. This indicated that this person was likely very familiar with the way of the Tribulation Sword.

’Who could it be?’

Names flashed through Mr. Tang’s mind, only to be eliminated one by one.

’Unless...’