Chapter 1

The cultivator was just a step away from Chu Ge.

Chu Ge could clearly see the faint blue arcs of electricity surrounding him, the runes glowing on the flying sword, the cold and cruel expression on his face, and even the overwhelming fear emanating from the cultivation world.

Being so close, a mere thought from the cultivator could send a sword beam slicing through the air, instantly killing Chu Ge.

Chu Ge didn't dare to run, scream, or even tremble. He could only silently secrete saliva to dissolve the powerful sedative under his tongue, reducing his breathing, heartbeat, and body temperature to their limits. Lying in the mud and blood of the crater, his mouth twisted and eyes askew, he remained motionless, like a lifelike corpse.

There was no way around it; cultivators had noses more sensitive than dogs. Any slight change in breathing or heartbeat would be detected.

The cultivator's divine sense stirred in the air, causing severe electronic interference. The communication channel was crossed, and the miniature communicator implanted in his ear played one bad news after another:

"The second, fourth, and seventh tank companies on the eastern front have been annihilated. All second-line units in the eastern defense zone, be on alert, the cultivators are about to break through!"

"Damn it, the enemy has gathered over twenty Golden Core experts, launching a fierce attack on the train station. We need reinforcements, repeat, twenty Golden Core experts, we need reinforcements, reinforcements!"

"This is the Second Department Store. We have exhausted all our ammunition and genetic drugs. We... can't hold on. No, we don't need support, but there are over five experts at the Core Formation stage inside and outside the building. Request artillery coverage on the Second Department Store, tear these bastards to pieces!"

"Long live Earth!"

"Long live Earth!"

Such roars echoed in the communication channel, often followed by a series of deafening explosions.

Chu Ge's nose felt a bit sour, but he didn't dare to even sniff.

The cultivator was still patrolling nearby. The burning high-rise buildings around him, like broken tombstones, constantly reminded Chu Ge of the danger of the cultivators and the cruelty of the war.

Chu Ge continued to stare with lifeless eyes, his pale tongue hanging down, feigning a state of being dead for three days and three nights.

His mind, however, was rapidly calculating, with a series of battlefield data cascading like a golden waterfall before his eyes.

From the color of the electric arcs surrounding the cultivator, his cultivation was at least at the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment realm.

This meant incredibly fast neural reaction speed, impenetrable shields, and physical strength, making it extremely difficult to eliminate him with the standard-issue automatic rifle unless the cultivator stood still for five minutes while Chu Ge shot him.

Apart from the outdated automatic rifle, Chu Ge had only a dozen genetic enhancement drugs, two smoke grenades, and three remote-controlled suicide drones left.

However, about twenty meters away, there was a "Grizzly" heavy infantry fighting vehicle lying on the ground.

Although the cultivator had split the twenty-ton behemoth in half with a single sword strike, the turret miraculously remained intact, and the triple-barreled Vulcan cannon on the left side of the turret should still be operational.

Chu Ge knew that the "Grizzly" heavy infantry vehicle had been significantly enhanced in this version, equipped with an automatic loading system and an auxiliary locking function to help the shooter automatically aim at the target with the highest concentration of spiritual energy within the attack range. The most advanced alloy armor-piercing rounds could also effectively damage cultivators.

Would the triple-barreled Vulcan cannon and the suicide drones have a chance to take down a cultivator at the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment realm?

It seemed the success rate was over 5%.

That was enough.

The only problem was how to cross the twenty meters to the "Grizzly" heavy infantry vehicle under the cultivator's watchful eye.

Chu Ge could only wait, hoping for a miracle to happen.

If no miracle diverted the cultivator's attention, he was willing to continue feigning death until the end of time, until the battle was over.

"Better to live a miserable life than to die a glorious death" was Chu Ge's secret to survival after countless battles.

But this time, it seemed the heavens heard his prayers, and a miracle soon occurred.

A low and dense sound of propellers came from the sky, and the armed helicopters of the Fourth Air Cavalry Regiment finally arrived.

The heavily armed low-altitude hunters tore through the dark clouds above the battlefield, their fierce firepower like burning whips, forming a dense web of fire that rained down on the cultivators.

Many cultivators, who had been using their superhuman jumping ability to perform 360-degree maneuvers in the city ruins, dominating from above with their sword light, were now turned into live targets for the armed helicopters. They were entangled by the flames and fell like scorched flies.

In the end, they were all made of flesh and blood, and their magic power would eventually be exhausted. As their spiritual energy shields gradually dimmed, no amount of incantations could change their fate. Dozens of cultivators were instantly turned into mush, their bodies scattering like confetti, and blood raining down like a waterfall.

Cheers and shouts of victory echoed in the communication channel.

The cultivator near Chu Ge, who seemed to be a minor leader at the Foundation Establishment stage, also raised his head, his eyes fixed, a look of apprehension on his face.

Just as Chu Ge was about to leap up, a sharp metallic twisting sound and a violent explosion came from the sky.

The once mighty and invincible armed helicopters scattered like startled bees, but they could not escape their fiery fate one by one.

In the center of the dozen fireballs, a white-haired old man with an ancient and dignified appearance, dressed in elaborate ancient clothing, stood in the air, surrounded by nine flying swords of various sizes. The smallest was only as long as a finger, crystal clear like black jade, while the largest, a broadsword, was as wide as a door, engraved with countless runes, each emitting a blood-red glow of slaughter.

The old man's hands formed seals, and streams of spiritual flames shot from his fingertips, wrapping around the nine flying swords, turning them into beams of destruction.

Each time the beams flashed, an armed helicopter turned into a fireball.

The massive broadsword, after splitting an armed helicopter in half, continued its momentum, its sword beam becoming even more frenzied, and it cleanly sliced through a nearby skyscraper as if it were bamboo.

"It's... the 528-meter-tall Financial Tower!"

Every pore on Chu Ge's body felt like it was about to burst.

The Financial Tower was the city's tallest building, a landmark, a giant standing tall and proud, and a source of pride for all its citizens.

Now, it had been cleaved in two by a single sword strike.

The nightmare-like scene was hard to imagine if not seen with one's own eyes.

"An Inner Core!"

Someone in the communication channel shouted frantically, "It's an Inner Core monster!"

"Once an Inner Core appears, who can stand against it?" To wipe out dozens of armed helicopters with a wave of his hand and split a 500-meter-tall skyscraper with a single sword strike, who else could do it but a terrifying Inner Core monster?

The appearance of the Inner Core expert caused chaos on the battlefield, with cries of despair and screams filling the communication channel.

Chu Ge's eyes, however, grew brighter.

He realized that everyone had overlooked an extremely important factor.

If his guess was correct...

Chu Ge's pores and muscles slowly contracted, his body from spine to toes tensing like a coiled spring, ready to explode.

Sure enough, as the Financial Tower was cleaved by the Inner Core expert, and tens of thousands of tons of reinforced concrete rained down, raising a cloud of dust, a series of explosions ten times more intense than before echoed through the dust. A series of blinding fireballs merged into a rising small sun.

At the center of the "sun," the brightest and hottest point, was the Inner Core expert.

Only then did Chu Ge hear the whistling sound of projectiles.

The smoke tore apart, revealing seven or eight straight traces, like invisible spears, piercing the Inner Core expert's body, dantian, and soul.

"This is it!"

Chu Ge shouted excitedly in his mind, "Not only ground and air forces participated in this battle, but also the 'Fubo' missile destroyer anchored at the estuary! The 'Longque-3' type vertical launch ship-to-air missiles equipped on the Fubo can easily reach 3.92 Mach, capable of intercepting supersonic fighters, let alone an Inner Core monster!

"Perhaps, if an Inner Core expert reached the speed limit, constantly maneuvered in the air, and reduced his thermal and spiritual energy fluctuations to a negligible level, it would be difficult for the 'Longque-3' to lock onto him.

"But this Inner Core monster, to attack the armed helicopter group, suspended in the air motionless, constantly releasing dazzling electric arcs and sword beams, could definitely be captured by radar from dozens of kilometers away, making him a shining live target.

"Although he realized the problem and cleaved the Financial Tower to raise a cloud of smoke to cover himself, it was too late.

"No, it might have been a trap from the beginning, with the armed helicopter group as bait, sacrificing themselves to kill the Inner Core monster!"

Was it worth it to trade dozens of armed helicopters and seven or eight million-dollar ship-to-air missiles for an Inner Core monster?

That wasn't a question for Chu Ge to consider.

He knew only that the moment of counterattack had arrived.

Boom!

The upper half of the Financial Tower, cleaved by the Inner Core expert, finally crashed down, causing the earth to shake, sand to fly, and the sky to darken.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator that Chu Ge had been targeting was first shocked by the attack on the Inner Core and then disoriented by the cloud of smoke, significantly reducing the pressure on Chu Ge.

Sss! Sss! Sss!

Chu Ge injected all the genetic drugs into his body at once, feeling every cell in his body explode, a scorching force like magma surging from his bone marrow.

He threw two smoke grenades in the direction of the cultivator, followed by two suicide drones, and leaped out of the crater, dashing toward the "Grizzly" heavy infantry fighting vehicle with all his might.

When he was feigning death, he looked like a stinky salted fish.

Now, running, he was like a mad dog that had smelled meat.

The smoke grenades and suicide drones worked perfectly together, the smoke and fire causing the cultivator to roar in frustration, but Chu Ge paid no attention, sprinting at a speed that surpassed past Olympic sprint champions.

Suddenly, Chu Ge's left ankle made a sharp "crack" sound, clearly breaking.

At the cost of a broken left ankle, he was kicked in the buttocks, rolling to the right without warning.

This roll perfectly avoided the flying sword shot from the smoke by the cultivator, which deeply embedded itself in the ground, its sword beam covering a five-meter radius, creating dozens of smoking holes in the ground, similar to the effect of an anti-personnel grenade.

If not for Chu Ge's quick reflexes, he would have been riddled with holes.

With a broken ankle, the pain was excruciating, but Chu Ge's speed only increased. He kicked off with his right leg, leaped forward, and rolled onto the "Grizzly" heavy infantry fighting vehicle.

Click! Click! Click!

A series of fluid operations brought the metal beast to life. The triple-barreled Vulcan cannon, like a venomous snake awakening from hibernation, bared its sharp fangs at the cultivator.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The three thick, black barrels rotated at high speed, spewing out armor-piercing rounds made of special alloy, three wild fire lines enveloping the cultivator.

Even with the genetic drugs exceeding the safe limit, Chu Ge could not withstand the intense bombardment of the Vulcan cannon. Blood beads seeped from his nails to his arms, and his chest felt like it was being torn apart and burned.

The physical pain, however, made his spirit even more excited, feeling as if he and the steel giant had merged, every cell in his body wanting to sing along with the roar of the Vulcan cannon.

Unfortunately, the exhilarating barrage did not last long. A sudden empty whirring sound came from the turret, and the fire lines stopped.

It turned out that the automatic loading system of the "Grizzly" heavy infantry fighting vehicle, which had been split in two, had been destroyed long ago.

Chu Ge gritted his teeth, trying to manually load the second ammunition belt.

The cultivator, however, would not give him such an opportunity. Another flying sword shot from the smoke, piercing Chu Ge's chest and pinning him to the side of the vehicle.

The cultivator leaped from the smoke to the vehicle in half a step, his feet crushing the vehicle's remains with a creaking sound, his beast-like eyes fixed on Chu Ge.

He didn't look good. After being raked by Chu Ge's wild gunfire, he no longer had the high and mighty, dignified appearance. Even with his spiritual energy shield, the armor-piercing rounds had left him ragged, his face swollen and bruised, his eyes barely visible.

Despite the excruciating pain, seeing the cultivator's miserable state, Chu Ge couldn't help but laugh.

The cultivator grew even angrier, his fingers clenching and unclenching, the flying sword pulling out of Chu Ge's chest, spraying a mist of blood, and aiming at his forehead.

Chu Ge, while spitting blood, struggled to move his buttocks, revealing what he had been shielding with his body.

It was the last suicide drone, behind which was the entire ammunition supply of the heavy infantry fighting vehicle.

The cultivator's face instantly changed.

"Better to live a miserable life than to die a glorious death, but if I must die, I want it to be exciting and spectacular."

Chu Ge always believed this.

"Welcome to Earth, bastard."

Chu Ge smiled and activated the drone's self-destruct system.

As the fire rose to the sky, he seemed to see the arrogant Inner Core monster falling from the burning sky.