The glint of blades flickered incessantly under the gloomy sky, each clash erupting in a shower of blinding sparks.
Shouts of battle and agonized screams intertwined, so loud they made one's eardrums ache.
The black-clothed men were agile and their movements decisive, darting through the fray like black specters, the weapons in their hands glinting with a cold, sharp light.
Although the supervisors were numerous, the protective advantage of the Iron Armor worn by the black-clothed men gradually put them at a disadvantage. From time to time, a supervisor would fall injured, letting out a groan of pain.
Xu Yunfan moved cautiously through the chaos, his steps as light as a wildcat's. He scanned his surroundings with a wary gaze, terrified of being carelessly swept into this maelstrom of slaughter.
His heart was in his throat and fine beads of sweat dotted his forehead. In this environment of cold-weapon combat where death could come at any moment, only by being doubly cautious could he find a sliver of hope for survival.
Tumbling and crawling all the way to the edge of the battlefield, Xu Yunfan spotted Zhou Feng not far off. Zhou Feng was following closely behind a fair-skinned, tall man, his expression tense as he shadowed his every step, not daring to stray even slightly.
He quickly averted his gaze. But in that brief pause, a Supervisor noticed him and rushed over.
He remembered this Supervisor; it was the same guy from the mines who had tossed the flatbread to him like garbage.
Carrying Li Haomiao on his back was, after all, rather conspicuous and drew attention.
Li Haomiao felt Xu Yunfan's heart begin to pound violently and his Blood Qi surge. He said in a low voice, "That Supervisor has only just begun his Martial Arts training. In cultivation, it's first courage, second strength, and third Kung Fu. If you don't even have courage, then even if you possess a world-shaking Divine Skill, the moment you face the slightest obstacle, your mental state will shatter, and you'll never advance further on the Martial Dao."
"Be brave and advance, forge straight ahead! Maintain your momentum! This is a battlefield! Retreat means death. Fight your way out!"
Xu Yunfan forcibly suppressed his churning emotions. He silently recited the Supreme Kindness Heart Spell. Although he hadn't yet reached the entry level of the Linn Character Technique, it still helped him calm down quickly.
He hesitated no longer. With one fast step leading to another, his feet seemed to generate wind as he charged straight at the Supervisor. As he channeled the Flying Leg technique to its fullest, his body kicked up a fierce gust.
Seeing this, the Supervisor's face instantly twisted into a savage grin, his fleshy jowls contorting like a vicious demon's.
He violently swung his long saber. The blade flashed with a cold light, carving a frigid arc through the air as it chopped down toward Xu Yunfan's head with a great WHOOSH.
Xu Yunfan's entire body tensed, every muscle like a fully drawn longbow, poised to release.
Just in the nick of time, as the long saber whistled through the air, about to cleave him in two.
He suddenly emitted force from the soles of his feet. An invisible power seemed to pull between his feet and the ground. Then, with a swift twist of his ankle and a rotation of his waist and hips, he dodged to the side.
The movement was light and fluid, as smooth as flowing water, as if he had practiced it a thousand times. He had effortlessly dodged the deadly strike.
Xu Yunfan wondered to himself, 'Did the Supervisor get too slow with his saber, or did my reaction speed get faster?'
'My reactions are faster!'
The thought flashed through his mind. Xu Yunfan's gaze was like a torch. He met the Supervisor's wide, astonished eyes, the savage look still lingering on his face. The Supervisor's strike had missed, and just as he was about to pull back his long saber...
He let out a furious roar and swung his arm.
The crude Iron Pickaxe in his hand was now like a peerless Heavy Hammer. It howled as it tore through the heavy air, letting out a sharp WHOOOSH.
The Iron Pickaxe carried an unstoppable momentum, striking like a bolt of lightning.
The Supervisor was terrified. He frantically raised a hand to block, but it was too late.
The tip of the pickaxe was like an arrowhead, carving an arc through the air from back to front, its momentum unstoppable.
With a dull THUNK, it pierced the Supervisor's neck.
Fresh blood gushed out, spraying through the air.
Xu Yunfan followed the momentum, yanking and pulling. The Supervisor's neck was instantly reduced to a bloody mess. Before a cry of agony could escape his lips, he crashed to the ground, lifeless.
In an instant, the acrid, pungent stench of blood filled the air.
Li Haomiao clicked his tongue in amazement.
"So ruthless!"
'So, my strength has already reached this level.'
'A Supervisor who I used to be too scared to even look at couldn't even last a single exchange against me now.'
In that moment, all the pent-up frustration Xu Yunfan had accumulated since he transmigrated was fully released. A feeling of utter exhilaration churned in his chest.
With various hormones surging through his body, his Blood Qi roiled, and he quickly adjusted his Essence, Qi, and Spirit to their current peak state.
He gave the crude Iron Pickaxe in his hand a deft twirl. Without hesitation, Xu Yunfan scanned his surroundings. A few Supervisors in the distance saw what happened and paused, hesitating for a moment. They exchanged glances, but ultimately still charged over to attack.
That one strike from Xu Yunfan's pickaxe was enough to show that he wasn't just a beginner in the Martial Dao; it was very likely he had already reached Minor Achievement in External Cultivation in one of his martial arts.
If they fought him one-on-one, they would be no match for him.
Xu Yunfan, of course, wasn't going to let these Supervisors surround him. After clearing away the Supervisor blocking his path, he pushed his Flying Leg technique to its absolute limit.
Seeing a Supervisor charging at him from the side, his gaze turned cold. He raised his Iron Pickaxe. As the muscles in his arm bulged and veins throbbed, he sank into his stance, lowering his waist and hips.
Using his body as the bow and his arm as the string, the Iron Pickaxe in his hand fell like a Heavy Hammer. Its force was both swift and heavy, splitting the air with a WHOOSH.
The Supervisor's expression was one of sheer terror. He truly hadn't expected Xu Yunfan to strike so fast and so fiercely. He had only just raised his weapon halfway when the tip of the pickaxe buried itself in his head, killing him instantly.
'It would be nice to have a hammer.'
Xu Yunfan sighed. Wielding the pickaxe just didn't feel quite right. The Copper Body Skill was a Hammer Technique, and was likely a prerequisite for some kind of hammer-based martial art.
He scanned the battlefield, but to his surprise, not a single person was using a hammer-type weapon.
Midway through his run, Xu Yunfan's gaze shifted. He saw Yang Gan not far away, wielding an Iron Whip that moved like a serpent. For a time, he managed to keep four or five black-clothed men at bay. A single lash of the whip sent dirt and stones flying.
A moment of carelessness saw one of the black-clothed men struck by the whip and sent to the ground, his wound a mangled mess of flesh and blood, deep enough to see bone.
Seeing this, Xu Yunfan immediately changed direction. This man had achieved Great Mastery of Skin Cultivation and specialized in Horizontal Training. Moreover, he bore no small amount of ill will toward him. If Xu Yunfan ran into him, his chances of survival would be slim.
Xu Yunfan kept his eyes fixed on Fang Mushan, who was racing ahead. Seeing the other man pick up his pace, he had no choice but to speed up as well.
Fortunately, he had the Flying Leg Kung Fu. Although the name sounded rather cheap, it was exceptionally good for long-distance sprints. With every stride, the core muscle groups in his legs contracted, and it felt as if a force was rising from the soles of his feet, launching him forward like a spring.
Before long, after the two of them had run one after the other to the base of a mountain ridge, far from the battlefield, a Supervisor leaped out in front. He raised the long whip in his hand toward Fang Mushan and flicked his wrist.
The long whip cut through the air like a venomous snake, letting out a WHOOSH as it flew toward Fang Mushan.
Fang Mushan's expression didn't change. He raised a hand and caught the whip firmly.
As Xu Yunfan watched, the muscles in Fang Mushan's arm bulged slightly. He pulled back, and the Supervisor was yanked with the force of a raging bear, possessing a Thousand Jin Power. The Supervisor's entire body was twisted and dragged off-balance, stumbling uncontrollably toward Fang Mushan.