Chaotic Times and Disasters: I Hunt Down Martial Arts Masters and Become a God

...

Fu Qing was once again put on the defensive and was cleaved away by a single blow.

He opened the system panel and unhesitatingly chose to use the million plunder points he had originally intended to use for breaking through to a higher realm to participate in the lottery.

A blinding golden light burst forth from the system panel, and a royal blue entry appeared:

[Blue Overlord: Permanently increases HP recovery by 100%].

A cool, warm current surged from my dantian to my limbs and bones. The bleeding from the incision on my left shoulder stopped, and the numbness in my right leg was rapidly subsiding.

Fu Qing grinned, spat out a mouthful of blood, gripped his cold iron sword, and met the barbarian bull general's nine-ringed broadsword again.

From this moment on, the battle turned into a pure war of attrition.

The Savage Gu has extremely strong explosive power, but it has a fatal weakness—it puts a great burden on the host's body.

Every time he unleashed his full power, he was draining the Bull General's life force. His Gu Qi was continuously diminishing, and the extent of his muscle swelling was slowly decreasing.

Meanwhile, Fu Qing's recovery speed far exceeded the wild bull general's expectations. He was still getting new wounds, but the old wounds were already scabbing over. His blood and energy were replenished as soon as they were consumed.

The more the bull fought, the more alarmed he became—this Yasukuni man was like a tireless fighting machine; no matter how much force or how ruthless his moves, the opponent could always get back up after a short rest.

Unfortunately, he was unable to resolve the battle quickly, and dragging it out would be extremely disadvantageous for him.

The bloody battle raged for nearly an hour from beginning to end. Dozens of footprints of varying depths were trampled into the muddy ground in front of the battle lines, and countless blade marks were left on the blades of the nine-ringed broadsword and the cold iron sword.

In the end, the bull finally couldn't hold on any longer—his Gu energy was completely exhausted, his muscles suddenly atrophied, and he was like a withered tree that had been drained of moisture, kneeling on one knee and panting heavily.

The nine-ringed broadsword slipped from his hand and stuck into the mud. He looked up at Fu Qing, his eyes showing no fear, only a resigned calm.

Fu Qing walked up to him and slashed down with his sword.

Killing the vanguard general of Yue (a master of both Qi cultivation and Gu martial arts at the triple level) added a long list of loot points...

The entire battlefield remained silent for several breaths.

Fu Qing lifted the head, "The enemy general is dead! Kill!"

"The barbarian general is dead!"

Someone in the Vietnamese army shouted first, and then the troops scattered in droves.

An Sheng, after defeating an enemy general at the seventh level of the Meridian Opening Realm with a single spear thrust, grinned and roared in their direction.

"General Fu, may you be victorious!"

The soldiers of the vanguard battalion seemed to be ignited by this shout, and their cheers exploded, the roar of five thousand people shaking even the flagpoles on the city wall.

Fu Qing sheathed his sword and glanced at the enemy soldiers who were fleeing into the city.

"Withdraw the troops and prepare for tomorrow's siege."

An Sheng carried a silver spear.

"Shouldn't we take advantage of the situation and rush in?"

Fu Qing looked at the Gu array runes still circulating on the city wall.

"The enemy has only lost some men, but the Gu formation is still intact. Rushing in rashly will result in heavy casualties. Let the brothers rest for the night, and launch a general attack first thing tomorrow morning. I have already sent Suwen to study how to break the formation."

Not far away, Old Zhou, who was overseeing the battle, stared wide-eyed, his face filled with shock. "My God! Is this even human?! He outlasted someone two minor realms higher than him! This guy is invincible!"

...

That evening, the vanguard battalion set up their cooking stations and rested.

Fu Qing was sitting in the central command tent, reading military reports, when suddenly the tent flap was lifted a crack from the outside. Su Wen walked in carrying a bowl of hot porridge and a small dish of pickled vegetables, and sat down opposite him.

"medicine?"

Fu Qing took out a porcelain bottle from his pocket, poured out a pill, threw it into his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it. Su Wen watched him finish eating, picked up his bowl, and lowered his head to drink the porridge. The two remained silent for a while.

"You fought that barbarian general for an hour today. Under normal circumstances, you should have lost. It shouldn't have taken this long. Your health recovery speed is at least twice as fast as before. Did you use some trump card again?"

Suwen suddenly spoke, her eyes still fixed on the porridge in the bowl.

I guess so.

"Next time, don't try to hold out for so long on the battlefield. The explosive power of the Savage Gu is deadly. When it is fully activated, you should create distance and buy time instead of confronting it head-on."

She remained expressionless, but her fingers tightened around the chopsticks. "I spent half an hour stitching up that cut on your left shoulder. It almost broke the bone."

"understood."

Fu Qing picked up a piece of pickled vegetable with her chopsticks, chewed it, and said, "These pickled vegetables aren't as salty today. Did you tell the cook?"

Suwen paused for a moment while holding the bowl: "I didn't go there specifically to say this, it was just on the way."

Fu Qing smiled but didn't expose her. The two continued eating, while the campfire outside the tent crackled.

After finishing his meal, Fu Qing stretched out his arm, and Su Wen took out a bottle, punctured his vein, and collected his blood.

"I will use your blood to make medicinal powder. When they launch their attack tomorrow, I will only need to sprinkle it in the air to break the Gu worms. Although I don't know what kind of Gu they are using, your blood can counteract the vast majority of Gu."

Fu Qing nodded and quietly looked at her profile.

...

Deep within the city of Woye lies a temple that has been transformed into a Gu pool.

Shi Gulie, a Gu master from the Yue Kingdom, was sitting cross-legged by the pool. He was wearing the black robe of a disciple of the high priest of the Yue Kingdom, so black it looked as if he had been pulled out of ink.

The pool was filled with the corpses of hundreds of city dwellers. Each corpse had its seven orifices crawling with tiny worms. These worms burrowed in and out of the corpses' eye sockets, nostrils, and mouths, and the dense, wriggling sound echoed in the empty temple hall.

Shi Gulie received a death order this time—to use Woye City to hold off the Jingguo army for at least several days, buying time for the Gu cultivators in the rear to redeploy their defenses in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

He seized thousands of people in the city overnight, pushed them into the Gu pool, and forcibly planted the Heart-Eating Gu and the Mighty Gu in them.

An old man knelt on the ground, clinging to his legs and begging him to spare his young granddaughter. Shi Gulie, annoyed that the old man was blocking his way, smashed the old man's skull with a single palm strike. Impatiently, he gave an order to the Gu cultivator beside him.

"Drive all these useless people out to hold off the Jing Army, and hold them off for as long as possible."

Outside the temple, in the darkness of night, the city of Woye was filled with the sound of weeping, as Yue soldiers were going from house to house, smashing doors and dragging people away.

...

The next morning, Yasukuni deployed airships and artillery, preparing for a strong attack on the city.

Fu Qing's vanguard battalion lined up in front of the city gate, their large banners bearing the character "Wind" fluttering in the wind.

Before his departure, the emperor asked him what banner he wanted to fly. After thinking for a while, he finally chose the character "wind".

An Sheng stood at the front, carrying a silver spear, while Liu Wentong and Zhao Laotie each led their troops to guard the flanks.

Just as Fu Qing was about to order the attack on the city, the city gates suddenly opened by themselves, surprising everyone.

What emerged from the city gates were not Yue soldiers, but hundreds and thousands of civilians dressed in tattered clothes—men, women, and children, with vacant eyes, stiff limbs, and steps so uniform they seemed unreal.

An Sheng gripped the gun barrel and exclaimed in a hoarse voice.

"What the hell is this thing?!"

Suwen's expression was solemn.

"This person's mind has been controlled by the Equalization Gu, turning them into a war machine!"

"Those afflicted by this Gu will overdraw their life force, greatly enhancing their physical strength in a short period of time, and their cultivation can reach the Meridian Opening Realm. However, this Gu will cause great damage to the mind and spirit. Once the effects wear off, those afflicted by the Gu will either die or become mentally impaired. Very few people can remain conscious and survive."

Fu Qing's heart sank, and he narrowed his eyes slightly.

Seeing that they were ordinary civilians, the soldiers dared not go all out.

An Sheng couldn't help but look at Fu Qing.

"Should we ask Marshal Zhang Wukai?"

As the distorted faces of the civilians approached his vanguard battalion step by step, Fu Qing gave a deep order.

"Show no mercy, fight with all your might. The lives of our brothers are lives too, I will take responsibility for killing civilians. Afterwards, use the head of the Yue Kingdom's Gu Master as a sacrifice to the city—this is the only thing I can do for them."

An Sheng froze for a moment, then gritted his teeth, turned around, and roared, "Vanguard Battalion! Kill!"

The vanguard battalion's blades slashed at the distorted faces of the civilians. With each soldier felled, a silent heaviness filled their faces, yet not one of them showed any mercy.

Fu Qing's cold iron blade cleaved through the group of people at the forefront who had been poisoned by Gu, the blade stained with the blood of the common people.

He gritted his teeth and continued hacking forward, suppressing all the anger and helplessness welling up from the bottom of his heart under the blade.