Chapter 2: Zhang Yuan of the Qin is here; come and fight, you Yan dogs!

Zhang Yuan held his blade horizontally, panting slightly as he watched the axe-wielding soldier, who had been intimidated by his ferocity, pause in his tracks.

His eyes were bloodshot. Before him, an endless sea of flames seemed to emerge, and deep within his mind, a jade-colored screen appeared.

Chaos!

The main control platform of the starship, Chaos!

This was the pinnacle of Huaxia’s scientific research!

Every soldier of Huaxia on the starship relied on Chaos for training, command, and learning.

The Huaxia Chaos from his illusory memories had actually appeared in Zhang Yuan’s mind!

Those memories, that Huaxia—it was real!

A mass of boiling blood and grey-blue light surged into the screen.

It extracted the blood energy of slaughter and the memories of martial cultivation, feeding them back to him.

Relying on this method, Chaos had cultivated millions of soldiers for the starship!

Within the screen, blood-colored light churned. A bright red bead and a grey bead rolled out from the screen.

The two beads exploded within Zhang Yuan’s mind.

The blood-colored bead transformed into blood energy, pouring into his meridians, causing his blood to surge and his meridians to swell.

He widened his eyes and clenched his fists.

The explosion of that blood bead increased his physical strength by fifty jin!

As the blood bead burst, the grey bead transformed into a river of light, flashing through his mind.

In the light, a burly man in black armor continuously threw punches, brandished a blade, and thrust a spear.

Five years of hardship were condensed into a single moment of light.

This was the martial cultivation memory of a soldier who had served for five years!

The light faded, and all the blood-colored hues before Zhang Yuan dissipated as well.

He looked down at the long blade in his hand, his eyes filled with disbelief and joy.

He could feel that all the martial insights from the light had been poured into him, verifying themselves against the "Eight-Style Cloak Blade Technique" he had learned in the army, all becoming his own martial path!

The blade technique, which had previously been barely proficient, now felt as if it were carved into his bones; he couldn't forget it even if he closed his eyes!

This was the heaven-defying power of Chaos!

"Go to hell—"

The black-armored soldier ahead, who had stopped, let out a low shout and charged at Zhang Yuan, dragging his heavy axe.

Zhang Yuan gripped the hilt of his blade, the eight-style technique flowing through his mind, his blood boiling.

"Zhang Yuan of Qin is here! Come and fight, you Yan dogs!"

A loud shout echoed between the broken walls and ruined ruins.

"It’s Zhang Yuan!"

"Hurry and rescue him!"

Several shouts came from a nearby alley.

The Yan soldiers standing in the alley with short blades and round shields wore ugly expressions. They vaulted into the broken wall, one of them growling, "Finish this quickly!"

The Yan soldier with the heavy axe dragged his weapon along the ground, then swung it upward, aiming to smash into Zhang Yuan’s chest and abdomen.

A long-handled heavy weapon like this could shatter a ribcage with a single strike.

Forget being hit; one couldn't even attempt to parry it with a weapon.

If Zhang Yuan’s three-foot steel blade touched that axe, it would be knocked flying instantly.

If it were the old Zhang Yuan, he would have panicked and retreated.

But the current Zhang Yuan possessed the combat memories of a veteran and a blade technique refined to the extreme. Facing this upward swing, his perception was completely different.

He took a step back with his left foot, dragging his blade with his right hand. The long axe brushed past his chest armor, missing its mark.

Having missed, the axe-wielding soldier pressed his palms down and stepped forward, intending to bring the axe head down onto Zhang Yuan’s shoulder.

In this split second of changing moves, Zhang Yuan, who had been retreating, suddenly lunged forward.

He took a half-step forward, meeting the soldier’s advancing step, closing the eight-foot distance between them to four feet.

The descending heavy axe missed, the handle merely slamming into Zhang Yuan’s shoulder.

Zhang Yuan’s body shuddered. He braced his left shoulder against the handle, raised his right hand, and swung the blade upward from below, slicing past the soldier’s armpit.

Cloak Blade Technique: Step Forward and Sweep.

"Slash—"

The blade edge grazed the soldier’s armpit, passed through his unarmored tunic, severed his tendons and muscles, and emerged from his shoulder socket.

An entire arm was severed in one stroke!

Bright red, scalding blood sprayed out, splashing onto the face of the shield-bearing soldier.

The axe-wielding soldier screamed, dropped his axe, and stumbled back, clutching his shoulder.

Having succeeded with one strike, Zhang Yuan stood there in a daze.

That strike just now had been too smooth.

The sensation of the blade sweeping up, slicing into flesh, and passing through tendons and bones was so clear that he could feel the feedback of force in every finger.

At this moment, it felt as if the blade were his own arm, his own fingers.

"As easy as moving one's arm."

This scholarly phrase had been spoken by Young Master Tao, the only literate man in the camp.

To practice blade technique until the blade feels like an extension of one's fingers—"as easy as moving one's arm"—meant one had reached the Great Completion.

In other words, Zhang Yuan’s Cloak Blade Technique had reached the Great Completion!

"Pfft—"

An arrow pierced the back of the soldier fleeing with his severed arm, causing him to collapse to the ground.

At the mouth of the alley, the sound of armor clashing as soldiers ran toward them could be heard.

"Zhang Yuan!"

"Zhang Yuan!"

The urgent calls made the daze on Zhang Yuan’s face vanish, replaced by a smile.

Those were his comrades.

Comrades who entrusted their lives to one another.

"How can you say you have no clothes? I share my robes with you."

Where the war songs of Great Qin rise, comrades never fail one another in life or death.

To the Yan soldiers holding shields opposite him, Zhang Yuan’s smile was no less than that of a fierce demon.

From feigning death to killing one and wounding another, Zhang Yuan had displayed the martial prowess and ferocity of a Great Qin soldier.

Taking two steps back, the shield-bearing Yan soldier turned and ran.

Zhang Yuan blinked, looking up at the figures already rushing into the alley.

He dragged his blade, walked out from the broken wall into the alley, and looked at the severed-arm Yan soldier struggling on the ground.

His expression shifted, and Zhang Yuan raised his blade.

"Pfft—"

The long blade fell, blood splattering.

"Haha, you brat, you’re stealing the credit."

"Whoa, Zhang Yuan, you kid can claim two merits for this. Impressive."

Several figures who had run over surrounded Zhang Yuan, collected the weapons dropped by the Yan soldiers, stripped their armor, and ushered Zhang Yuan away quickly.

Only a moment later, dozens of black-armored Yan soldiers rushed into the alley, found nothing, and dragged the two Yan corpses away.

————————————————

In the empty stone house, weapons were scattered about.

More than a dozen soldiers sat in a circle.

Zhang Yuan sat with his shoulder bared, leaning against a low wall, lost in thought.

His comrades from the camp had brought him back; Zhang Yuan was only slightly exhausted, his shoulder bruised purple by the axe handle.

Everyone said he was lucky to have returned alive from such a situation.

But no one knew that Zhang Yuan’s state of mind had undergone a world-shaking change.

He didn't know if the experiences in his illusory dream were real, but Chaos was undeniably real.

The changes Chaos brought him were also clearly and tangibly felt.

Killing two men and the two blood beads had increased his strength by a hundred jin.

This had pushed his martial cultivation into the early stage of the Houtian Realm he had dreamed of.

Great Qin martial cultivation consisted of three realms and nine stages: Houtian, Xiantian, and Grandmaster, each step a new heaven.

Houtian martial artists temper their bodies, defining their realm by their physical strength.

Early, middle, and late stages correspond to five hundred, eight hundred, and fifteen hundred jin of physical strength.

The battlefield, where one walks between life and death, is the best place to temper oneself. Three months ago, Zhang Yuan was just a youth with basic martial training; after three months of bitter fighting, he had possessed four hundred jin of strength, just one step away from the Houtian Realm.

Today’s hundred-jin increase allowed him to condense his blood energy and become a Houtian martial artist.

A sixteen-year-old Houtian martial artist was considered a young hero in the entire Luyang Prefecture—something Zhang Yuan wouldn't have dared to imagine before.

It wasn't just the improvement in cultivation; Zhang Yuan’s greater change was in his martial insights.

A martial artist’s combat power is a combination of cultivation strength and martial technique.

Having cultivation without technique means one cannot display combat power.

Having technique without matching strength is just empty talk.

The infusion of martial memories from two veteran Yan soldiers allowed Zhang Yuan’s martial techniques to improve rapidly; his Cloak Blade Technique and Iron Armor Fist had reached the Great Completion, not far from the Perfection stage.

Martial technique cultivation is divided into three levels: Minor Completion, Great Completion, and Perfection.

To cultivate a set of blade techniques to the Perfection level usually requires at least ten years of hard work.

Zhang Yuan’s heart was burning, as if scorched by flames.

With Houtian cultivation and Great Completion techniques, could he survive this great war?

The most crucial point was that he possessed Chaos!

Closing his eyes slightly, Zhang Yuan, like the Huaxia soldiers, whispered softly: "Chaos."

"Hum—"

In his mind, the light screen vibrated, and lines of text appeared.

Zhang Yuan

Identity: Ninth-rank Soap-Clad Guard of Luyang Prefecture, Great Qin; Conscripted soldier of the Red Scale Army

Cultivation: Early Houtian Realm; 4 Blood Energy Beads required to upgrade to Middle Stage

Martial Cultivation: Cloak Blade Technique (Great Completion); 1 Insight Bead required to upgrade to Perfection; Iron Armor Fist (Great Completion); 1 Insight Bead required to upgrade

Battle Formation: Pale Wolf Formation (Proficient)

Chaos Space: Empty

Chaos Combat Support: Not Enabled

...

"Zhang Yuan, if you can survive, what do you want to do?"

The hoarse call brought Zhang Yuan slowly back to his senses, and the Chaos screen in his mind faded away.

(End of chapter)