If I let you practice martial arts, you'll compress your vital energy ten thousand times?

Ruins No. 043, outside the Seventh Safety Zone.

The setting sun, like blood, dyed the desolate city ruins a shocking dark red.

The air was thick with the pungent smell of rust mixed with the stench of rotting flesh. The surrounding dilapidated high-rise buildings stood like tombstones, silently recounting the devastation of the great catastrophe three hundred years ago.

"Lin Yuan! What are you dawdling for? Get over there and go bleed out the abandoned building to lure out the monsters!"

A sharp, sarcastic shout abruptly shattered the deathly silence of the ruins.

The girl who spoke was named Liu Manman, the recognized beauty of the key class at Gaowu No.1 Middle School.

She was wearing an expensive, custom-made, tight-fitting combat suit that perfectly accentuated her beautiful figure. But her pretty face was filled with undisguised disgust and contempt.

Liu Manman covered her mouth and nose tightly, staring at the thin boy in front of her as if he were a pile of nauseating garbage.

"You've really had the worst luck in the world. In this martial arts exam simulation, they actually forced a piece of trash like you into our elite team."

"Three whole years! Even a pig, if it ate the low-level Qi and Blood Powder issued by the school every day, should have made a breakthrough in three years!"

"But what about you? You're forever stuck at the lowest level, the first stage of the Qi and Blood Realm!"

Liu Manman's voice grew increasingly shrill, echoing through the empty, ruined streets, as if afraid the other assessment teams around her wouldn't hear it.

She pointed her gloved finger at Lin Yuan.

"Open your dog eyes and look at your arrogant squad leader! He's already at the peak of the ninth level of the Qi and Blood Realm! His blood and qi are like a furnace, and he's only half a step away from stepping into the 'Bone Forging Realm' and forging an indestructible body of steel!"

"Once our class monitor gets into a top martial arts university, he'll be able to reach the 'Qi Gathering Realm,' where he can unleash his inner energy and kill from a hundred paces away!"

"There's even a chance to open up the dantian in the human body, becoming a legendary 'Mysterious Sea Realm' expert, a guardian of a region!"

As Liu Manman spoke, her eyes, which had been filled with flattery and worship when she looked at Zhang Kuang beside her, turned to Lin Yuan with extreme malice.

"And trash like you doesn't even deserve to be cannon fodder in the wilderness! You're only fit to slit your wrists and bleed here, to be our bait!"

Qi and Blood Realm, Bone Forging Realm, Qi Gathering Realm, Profound Sea Realm!

The Qi and Blood Realm is divided into nine levels, while the subsequent Bone Forging Realm, Qi Gathering Realm, and Profound Sea Realm are further subdivided into early, middle, late, and peak levels.

Standing next to Liu Manman was Zhang Kuang, a master at the ninth level of the Qi and Blood Realm, with a burly physique like a humanoid bear.

He toyed with the alloy battle sword in his hand, which gleamed with a chilling light, without even glancing at Lin Yuan.

Zhang Kuang raised his chin high and coldly issued the order.

"Stop talking nonsense. We need to collect ten Tier 1 Beast Cores before nightfall, or it will affect my final score."

"Lin Yuan, do as Manman says. Cut your wrists and stand at that intersection ahead."

"Remember, never run away when you encounter a monster. Use your worthless life to buy me a few more seconds and give me a chance to kill it with one blow."

"If you die, the Zhang family will give your sick sister a sum of money as compensation. You're guaranteed to make a profit in this deal."

His arrogant words revealed a sense of entitlement and cold-bloodedness.

In this martial arts era rife with strange beasts and rigid class distinctions, the weak are merely stepping stones and expendable resources for the strong.

Lin Yuan stood quietly ten meters away.

He was wearing an old school uniform that was faded from washing and even had holes in the elbows.

Faced with Liu Manman's vicious sarcasm and Zhang Kuang's arrogant orders that treated human life as worthless, his handsome face remained completely expressionless.

There was no anger.

There was no humiliation.

There was only a profound, unsettling calm, as if watching two noisy ants.

Lin Yuan lowered his head slightly and glanced at his pale hand, which had no veins bulging.

All the most advanced blood and qi detectors in the school scanned his body and came to the same conclusion: his blood and qi were depleted, and he had no potential for martial arts.

He's a true weakling at the first level of the Qi and Blood Realm.

But only Lin Yuan himself knew what kind of terrifying monster, defying all common sense, was hidden inside this seemingly thin and frail body.

Extreme compression system.

Since awakening this rigid system with no intelligence three years ago, he has been cultivating frantically day and night. All the low-level Qi and Blood Powder he bought by working hard to earn money was mercilessly devoured by the system.

Then, perform massive compression at the physical level.

once.

One hundred times.

10,000 times.

A terrifying 100,000 compressions!

Lin Yuan's internal energy and blood had long since transcended the common understanding of human martial artists as being in a misty or liquid state.

His vital energy was as heavy as lead and mercury, like liquid white dwarf matter, and when it flowed through his meridians, it would even emit a dull thunderous sound.

A single drop of his blood, falling to the ground, could pierce through three layers of bulletproof steel plates.

One of his finger bones had a density exceeding that of the highest-grade S-class alloy armor on the market.

Lin Yuan had no idea what realm he was at.

Because the so-called "realm" has become a joke in the face of his pure physical mass, which has been compressed 100,000 times.

But just how strong is he?

Lin Yuan himself was unsure.

In the past three years, he has never used his full strength even once. He has a strong intuition that if he were to throw a punch without holding back, the terrifying recoil would shatter the buildings within dozens of meters of him and himself.

He usually only dared to carefully conceal all his aura, for fear that if he leaked even the slightest bit of power, he would attract the attention of the military high command and be taken to a top-secret laboratory for dissection and research.

He was too poor; the extreme compression was a bottomless pit that could never be filled.

Today's practical assessment was just an excellent opportunity for him to "scavenger in the wilderness" and make money.

Lin Yuan did not refute, but silently drew the rusty iron dagger from his waist and turned to walk towards the abandoned building.

He has just taken the first step.

boom--!!

Without warning, the earth beneath their feet let out a muffled, mournful cry and began to tremble violently!

On the right, a reinforced concrete load-bearing wall half a meter thick seemed to have been hit head-on by a missile and exploded with a bang!

Amidst billowing smoke and flying steel bars and rubble, a massive black shadow, as large as a heavy truck, carrying a suffocatingly strong stench of blood, crashed heavily into the center of the street.

It was a terrifying behemoth, entirely black, with hair standing on end like steel needles.

Its eyes gleamed with a savage, bloodthirsty red light, its long limbs were covered with barbs, and its gaping maw, split to the roots of its ears, held half of a human thigh dressed in another school uniform.

Sizzle—!

The behemoth let out a soul-piercing roar.

The surrounding air seemed to be instantly sucked out, forming a small pressure vortex.

Zhang Kuang's once arrogant and domineering face turned deathly pale the moment he saw the full size of the giant beast, devoid of any color.

The alloy battle knife he gripped tightly trembled uncontrollably, making a clanging sound.

"A...a third-tier demonic beast?!"

"This is a Shadow Leopard, equivalent to a human 'Qi Gathering Realm' expert!"

"This is insane! Absolutely insane! How could such a terrifying monster appear in the outer buffer zone?!"

Zhang Kuang's voice cracked with terror, emitting a desperate scream like a pig being slaughtered.

His pride and joy at the ninth level of the Qi and Blood Realm was nothing compared to this genuine third-tier Shadow Leopard; it was like a cub facing a Tyrannosaurus Rex!

He didn't even have the courage to swing his sword, let alone fight.

run!

Run!

Zhang Kuang's mind was left with only this one survival instinct.

He turned around abruptly, and without hesitation, stretched out his hands and shoved Liu Manman, who was still in a daze beside him, towards the Shadow Leopard, attempting to use her delicate body to block the beast's view for even a second.

"Ah—! You arrogant beast!"

Caught off guard, Liu Manman was thrown back heavily, her knees and elbows instantly bleeding profusely.

She collapsed to the ground in despair, her face pale, her pupils reflecting the enormous creature that had descended like the Grim Reaper. She had no strength left to even crawl or roll.

However, the Shadow Leopard completely ignored Liu Manman's screams on the ground.

Its scarlet eyes were fixed on the thin, frail boy not far away.

The apex predator's instincts were screaming an alarm: the prey's body seemed to contain some incredible, almost tangible, immense energy!

Eat it!

Roar!

The muscles in the shadow leopard's hind legs instantly expanded and burst, creating two deep pits with a diameter of over one meter on the hard asphalt road.

Its enormous body transformed into a black lightning bolt that tore through the air, opening its gaping maw capable of swallowing an entire person, and lunged straight at Lin Yuan's head!

A foul-smelling gust of wind instantly ruffled the stray hairs on Lin Yuan's forehead.

Lin Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints.

Tier 3 monster!

It is as fast as lightning and as powerful as a horrifying sight!

This was the first time in three years that he had faced such a terrifying threat!

They are absolute mortal enemies! One wrong move and you'll be torn to shreds!

Lin Yuan's nerves were stretched to their limit at this moment.

He didn't know if his body could withstand a full-force attack from a third-tier demonic beast. To survive, he decided to stop holding back and use his strongest trump card!

Lin Yuan took a deep breath, his legs firmly planted on the ground, and his will, like a heavy hammer, slammed into the invisible gate within his body that locked away ten thousand times his vital energy.

Open it!

however.

Just as Lin Yuan had taken that last breath...

The gates of qi and blood in the body have only cracked slightly, with a tiny gap that is imperceptible to the naked eye.

A trace.

Only a tiny, insignificant trace of vital energy emanated from Lin Yuan's body.

Om-! !

At the very moment that vital energy left the body, a sudden change occurred.

The gravity within a radius of 100 meters seemed to collapse instantly and increase hundreds of times!

The air emitted a piercing, unbearable wail, visibly distorting and warping wildly.

The shadow leopard, which was originally in a state of ferocity and savagery, was pouncing on its prey.

Its scarlet eyes froze instantly the instant it touched that slight fluctuation of blood energy.

Instead, there is an unprecedented, extreme fear originating from the deepest part of the biological genes!

What did it see?

Behind that frail boy, it seemed as if a collapsing star was slowly opening its eyes of destruction!

Click! Click! Click!

The Shadow Panther's massive body was still suspended in mid-air, but its steel-like bones began to break and shatter wildly at that moment.

It couldn't even let out a desperate scream; its eyeballs bulged violently from the extreme pressure, and its blood vessels burst one by one.

At this moment, Lin Yuan's straight punch, which he believed he had to "go all out," was only halfway up...