I Am a Rune Engraver, Carrying a Knife Makes Perfect Sense-Chapter 45 - Five Minutes

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In human cultivation, each major realm has its unique characteristics.

The Awakening Realm is the stage of awakening one’s innate attributes. It is when cultivators begin engraving runes and practicing techniques. As the runes are gradually perfected and techniques mastered, the cultivator’s realm naturally progresses.

The key to this process lies in mental strength.

Engraving runes requires mental fortitude to endure the strain. Cultivating techniques requires harmony between mental strength and the ghostly energy absorbed into the body. Through this process, a cultivator discovers their own path.

This is the Awakening Realm.

After Awakening, breaking through to the next realm requires confronting one’s heart—seeking its true purpose. Why did they choose the path of cultivation? Is it a heart of protection, resilience, or something else entirely?

This stage is often the most confusing for cultivators. They must repeatedly question their heart and make a choice. Some achieve sudden enlightenment and ascend to Flame Mastery , while others remain stuck in Core Solidification (Gu Xin) for decades.

This realm has little to do with runes. Beyond a slight increase in strength, it is entirely about one’s state of mind.

Core Solidification  is about solidifying one’s heart and mindset.

And at this moment, Xu Shen seemed to understand what it meant to solidify his heart.

Forget protection. Forget becoming stronger. He discarded it all.

Right now, all he wanted was to kill.

—

Feeling his heart pounding wildly, Xu Shen allowed an overwhelming killing intent to surge through his body. It was so intense that even his heart seemed to pulse with murderous energy.

His bloodshot eyes held a cold indifference deep within them. His entire body trembled slightly under the stimulation of this violent intent.

“My heart… is a killing heart,” Xu Shen murmured, dragging his long black blade along the ground as he stepped forward.

—

BOOM!

A surge of blood energy erupted around him as his Weapon Rune activated. The rune began to extend automatically, spreading from his arm to his shoulder, neck, and even his throat—leaving behind faint, blood-red marks.

Blood seeped from his pores, and faint golden traces appeared within the lines of his rune.

Xu Shen moved.

—

A golden streak of light trailed behind him as he dragged his black blade across the ground, carving through the snow and revealing the dark earth beneath. The thunderous sound of his advance was like rolling storms or crashing waves.

SLASH!

With a single flash of black light, five or six first- and second-tier corpse apes were cleanly bisected.

Xu Shen charged into the horde like a tiger among sheep. His black blade swung wide and fast, transforming him into a golden reaper harvesting lives at an insane pace.

—

STAB!

A claw pierced through Xu Shen’s abdomen, but he only grinned more ferociously. The murderous intent pouring from his heart drove him into a strange state of frenzy—madness mixed with cold calculation.

Without even turning around, he swung a backhanded punch that obliterated the head of a second-tier peak corpse ape attempting to ambush him.

Whenever any corpse apes tried to bypass him and head toward the living area, Xu Shen immediately redirected himself toward them. His heightened mental awareness allowed him to detect even the slightest sound or movement.

The two third-tier peak corpse apes had already been killed by Xu Wei. If Xu Shen couldn’t hold the line now, he would be wasting everything the old man had sacrificed.

—

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Xu Shen became a golden blur, darting across the battlefield and cutting down any corpse apes that tried to advance. He didn’t dive deep into their ranks but instead moved laterally, ensuring none could slip past him.

“Five more minutes…” Xu Shen muttered under his breath, keeping track of time as he fought.

Despite his overwhelming battle fervor and surging killing intent, he maintained enough clarity to avoid overextending himself. His goal was simple: hold them off until reinforcements arrived.

The living area was still five miles away, but the sheer number of corpse apes made it impossible for him to stop them all. His relentless slaughter could only slow their advance.

—

With a reverse swing of his blade, Xu Shen unleashed a massive arc of energy that cleaved through over a dozen corpse apes in one strike. But for every dozen he killed, dozens more surged forward from behind.

They came from all directions—left, right, even behind him. The swarm was endless.

Xu Shen’s black blade swung faster and faster as he fought like a man possessed. His blood-red eyes grew darker with each passing moment, while wounds began accumulating on his body.

SLASH!

A sharp pain tore through his back as a claw raked away a chunk of flesh. Even with his Awakening Extreme Realm physique and rapid regeneration, he couldn’t keep up with the relentless attacks. His healing couldn’t match the rate at which new injuries appeared.

—

ROAR!

The corpse apes howled as if realizing that while Xu Shen was incredibly dangerous, he wasn’t invincible. Their numbers gave them confidence—if they swarmed him all at once, they could overwhelm him.

Seeing this change in their behavior, Xu Shen didn’t hesitate. He stopped engaging them head-on and began moving erratically across the battlefield, striking wherever they gathered in large numbers.

Fortunately, these creatures were too dim-witted to realize he was stalling for time. Their focus remained on trying to kill him rather than advancing toward the living area.

Meanwhile, Xu Shen’s Battle Art began taking effect, gradually healing his injuries as he avoided direct confrontations. Each wound that closed left him feeling slightly stronger than before.

—

“Target the second-tier peaks first,” Xu Shen decided as his gaze locked onto one of the stronger corpse apes responsible for most of his injuries so far.

First-tier corpse apes posed no real threat—they couldn’t even pierce his skin. But second-tier peaks were another story entirely.

ROAR!

“Shut up!” Xu Shen growled as he bisected a second-tier peak corpse ape with a single swing before retreating immediately to target another.

—

“I can’t use Forbidden Mode right now…” Xu Shen thought as he continued fighting. Despite being caught up in the frenzy of battle, he hadn’t lost all reason. His blood-red eyes flickered with traces of rationality amidst the chaos.

The advanced state of Battle Art, which he called “Forbidden Mode,” had saved him before but came with severe consequences. Activating it would push his body beyond its limits for only a few seconds before leaving him incapacitated.

Given the sheer number of enemies and the absence of reinforcements, using it now would be suicidal. If he collapsed after using it and help still hadn’t arrived… everything would be over.

—

Instead, Xu Shen focused on maintaining his current pace. Blood continued to spray across the battlefield—though whether it was his or the apes’, he couldn’t tell anymore. Their black ichor coated everything around him like a foul-smelling rain.

By now, the once-white snowfield had turned pitch black with blood and gore. Severed limbs and mangled corpses littered the ground as far as the eye could see.

Xu Shen himself was drenched in black ichor from head to toe. He looked like a demon risen from hell—a vision so terrifying that even the mindless corpse apes began showing faint signs of fear in their otherwise empty eyes.

—

HUMMM…

A strange ripple emanated from the distant mountains, washing over the battlefield like an invisible wave.

The faint fear in the corpse apes’ eyes vanished instantly, replaced by an even more ferocious bloodlust than before. They locked onto Xu Shen with renewed determination, ignoring everything else as they charged toward him en masse.

“You want me dead?” Xu Shen muttered as he felt an inexplicable killing intent directed solely at him—an overwhelming malice that seemed to originate from some unseen presence in the void above.

“Fine,” he said with a manic grin. “Come at me then—I’m tired of running anyway.”

—

Planting himself firmly in place, Xu Shen raised his black blade high and began swinging wildly at anything that approached. His left fist lashed out whenever his blade wasn’t enough, reducing attackers to bloody pulp mid-air.

His aura grew stronger with each passing moment despite his mounting exhaustion.

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Four minutes…

Three minutes…

By now, Xu Shen was surrounded by piles of corpses. His vision blurred as fatigue set in—both physical and mental—but he refused to stop fighting.

The golden figure and illusory mountain within his mind had begun dimming significantly. No matter how monstrous his talent or strength was, he was still only at mid-Core Solidification Realm. There were limits to how much blood energy and mental power he could expend before reaching his breaking point.

—

Two minutes remained. Xu Shen’s breathing grew labored as sharp pains stabbed through his head. The side effects of embracing his “killing heart” were becoming apparent—his chest throbbed painfully as if it might burst under the pressure of its own murderous intent.

Yet despite everything, Xu Shen kept swinging his blade without pause.

—

One minute left…

Xu Shen’s hands trembled violently as exhaustion overtook him completely. He muttered under his breath: “Still no reinforcements?”

He prepared himself mentally to activate Forbidden Mode—one final gamble to hold out for as long as possible before collapsing entirely.

Just as he was about to unleash it, a series of piercing sounds echoed from above—the unmistakable noise of something cutting through the air at high speed!

—

The corpse apes paused momentarily and looked skyward as green aircraft appeared on the horizon, growing larger with each passing second.

Taking advantage of their distraction, Xu Shen swung his blade one last time to clear a path behind him before stumbling backward toward safety.

—

ROAR!

The corpse apes howled furiously at the approaching aircraft but could do nothing as dark figures began leaping from them—figures clad in black uniforms who descended upon the battlefield like vengeful spirits.

“Kill them all!!” someone shouted as these reinforcements landed amidst the horde and unleashed devastating attacks powered by ghostly energy and glowing runes.

—

Xu Shen dropped to one knee, using his blade to prop himself up as he gasped for air. His blood-red eyes were hazy with exhaustion when a large hand suddenly rested on his shoulder.

“Die!!” Xu Shen roared hoarsely as he instinctively swung his blade at whoever had touched him—but it was blocked mid-swing by another weapon.

Looking up through blurry vision, Xu Shen saw Wang Bing’s scarred face staring back at him.

“Uncle Wang…” Xu Shen murmured weakly.

Wang Bing shook his head slowly and gently pressed down on Xu Shen’s blade until it lowered completely. Despite the suppressed rage and cold killing intent in Wang Bing’s eyes, his voice was soft and reassuring:

“It’s over now.”

“You’re safe… it’s over.”