novelnext Chapter 371: Standing Firm
Chapter 371: Standing Firm
Xu Wuyi couldn’t figure it out for now, but he wasn’t in a rush.
On the second day, the frequency of the beast horde’s attacks increased significantly.
From dawn to dusk, the squad repelled a total of six waves of Star Beasts. The largest of these was a mixed charge of over forty Iron-Claw Wolves and more than twenty Night-Howl Bats.
As the main fighting force, Xu Wuyi was responsible for over seventy percent of the kills.
His combat style grew increasingly concise.
The spear lanced out, found its mark, and was retracted.
There were no superfluous movements, no wasted Qi and Blood. Every strike was perfectly judged—lethal, yet without excessive consumption.
The dark gold Undying Flame moved in his hands as if it were his own limb. Sometimes it would condense into a long spear of Flame to pick off targets from a distance; sometimes it would cling to his spear tip to increase its piercing power; and sometimes it would form a firewall to block the charge of the beast horde.
What was once shocking for Zhou Heng and the others gradually became routine, until finally, they began to actively coordinate their efforts around him.
When Xu Wuyi engaged the horde head-on, Chen Wu and Wang Hai would guard his flanks. From the watchtower, Zhang Yuan prioritized eliminating ranged threats. Li Hongwei moved about, landing finishing blows and cleaning up any stragglers. Meanwhile, Zhou Heng oversaw the entire battlefield, ready to plug any gaps in the defensive line at a moment’s notice.
With Xu Wuyi as its core, the squad began to operate with increasing smoothness.
"This kid’s a monster," Chen Wu muttered during a break, gulping down an energy drink. "We’ve been fighting for so long, and his breathing hasn’t even become ragged."
"And have you noticed?" Wang Hai said gruffly, wiping blood off his power hammer. "Every one of his attacks is perfectly measured. I thought he was just trying to conserve energy at first, but then I realized he’s calculated the exact defensive limit of each Star Beast."
"Precise control," Zhou Heng added, his gaze drifting to Xu Wuyi, who was meditating in the distance. "Even many Innate Martial Artists might not have that level of control."
Night fell once again.
Xu Wuyi sat at the highest point of the mining area, his Spiritual Perception fully extended.
In his sea of consciousness, the Golden Crow remained still, but its eyes, made of Flame, seemed to have grown sharper, like a true guardian’s.
Two of the three days they had to hold out were now over.
His Spiritual Power consumption was actually quite high, but the Golden Crow Carrying the Earth Visualization Method was in constant operation, drawing nourishment from the imagery of the Earth and maintaining a delicate balance.
As for his physical body, the foundation forged by the Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace was now showing its superiority. His Qi and Blood were profound and enduring, and his recovery rate was far beyond that of his peers.
More importantly, there was Xu Wuyi’s mindset.
He wasn’t impatient, nor was he weary. He felt almost no emotional turmoil at all. He was like a true boulder; no matter how the wind blew or the rain fell, it would remain firm and unmoving.
In this state, he actually found the leisure to think.
He thought about ’defending,’ ’bearing,’ and ’the Earth’.
’What is defense?’
’It’s the defensive line, the barrier, the determination to not let the enemy advance a single step.’
’What is bearing?’
’It is to withstand attacks, to diffuse their impact, to channel external force into the Earth and let it dissipate into nothing.’
’And what is the Earth?’
’It is the foundation, the bedrock, the final destination for all things, from birth to demise.’
Xu Wuyi vaguely sensed some intrinsic connection between these concepts, but for now, he couldn’t quite grasp the thread that tied them all together.
He didn’t try to force it.
From his cultivation journey so far, he had come to understand one thing: some insights couldn’t be forced. They required time, experience, and the right conditions to fall into place naturally.
What he needed to do now was focus on the task at hand: defend the mining area and complete the mission.
As for that moment of insight, it would come when it was ready.
On the third day, the beast horde’s assault reached its zenith.
Starting from 4 a.m., the Star Beasts surged forward wave after wave like a tide.
Iron-Claw Wolves, Earth-walking Beasts, Night-Howl Bats, and even a few ’Heavy-Armor Rhinos’—creatures the size of trucks, completely covered in Bone Armor.
All six squad members were thrown into the fray. Even the three engineers were forced to take cover in their mech cockpits and provide supporting fire with the onboard weapons.
For the first time, Xu Wuyi used Golden Crow Sky Splitting.
Not the complete version, but a simplified Golden Crow Sky-Splitting Stab.
A thin, dark-gold line condensed at the tip of his spear and shot out like a bolt of lightning. It easily pierced the Heavy-Armor Rhino’s thick Bone Armor before detonating inside its body.
Three Heavy-Armor Rhinos collapsed mid-charge, their fall making the ground tremble.
The blow stunned the beast horde, and their assault eased for a moment.
The squad took the opportunity to adjust their formation and tend to the wounded.
Chen Wu’s left arm was fractured. Li Hongwei had a gash on her side so deep the bone was visible. Wang Hai’s internal organs were rattled, and he spat up a mouthful of blood.
Only Xu Wuyi and Zhou Heng were relatively unharmed.
"How much longer can we hold out?" Zhou Heng asked, wiping blood from his face as he gasped for breath.
Xu Wuyi extended his perception to the surroundings. "There are about eighty more Star Beasts gathering within a two-kilometer radius. They’ll launch the next wave in half an hour at most."
"What about the mining progress?" Zhou Heng asked through gritted teeth.
"We’re at the last ten percent!" an engineer yelled, his voice hoarse as he stuck his head out of a mech cockpit. "We need at least two more hours!"
"Two hours..." Zhou Heng’s gaze fell on Xu Wuyi.
"We can hold," Xu Wuyi said calmly.
His tone wasn’t passionate or defiant; it was as if he were stating a simple fact.
Zhou Heng froze for a second, then broke into a grin. "Alright. We hold."
The next two hours became Xu Wuyi’s solo performance.
He no longer held a fixed position at the center of the mining area, but instead went on the offensive.
His figure weaved through the beast horde, and every swing of his long spear claimed the life of at least one Star Beast.
The dark gold Flame sometimes swept out like a great dragon, sometimes fell like a fine drizzle, and sometimes condensed into a pouncing Golden Crow Illusion.
He was no longer aiming for one-hit kills, focusing instead on efficiency.
He left the lightly wounded Star Beasts for Zhou Heng to finish off and the distant threats for Zhang Yuan to pick off. His only job was to open a path and tear the enemy formation to shreds.
The rest of the squad also unleashed their full potential.
Chen Wu held his shield with one hand, grimly protecting the mining mechs. Li Hongwei bandaged her wound and threw herself back into the fray; her movements were sluggish, but her Saber Technique was even more vicious. Wang Hai swallowed a painkiller and swung his power hammer, crushing the skulls of one Star Beast after another.
In the midst of the slaughter, two hours felt like an eternity.
Just as the last Iron-Claw Wolf fell to Xu Wuyi’s spear, the roar of the mining mechs’ drills fell silent.
"Mining complete!" the engineer’s voice cracked with tears.
Zhou Heng plopped onto the ground, gasping for air.
Chen Wu simply collapsed onto his back. Li Hongwei slid down to sit against a pile of ore. Wang Hai, his power hammer hanging loosely in his grip, bent over and coughed.
Xu Wuyi withdrew his spear and stood tall. His gaze swept over the field of Star Beast corpses, then drifted to the horde, which was finally retreating in the distance.
The three-day defense was over.
In his sea of consciousness, the Golden Crow gently beat its wings, scattering a shower of golden light.
...
The journey back to the outpost was unusually quiet.
The squad members were exhausted. Even the three engineers had fallen into a deep sleep, slumped in their mech cockpits.
Only Xu Wuyi and Zhou Heng remained awake, keeping watch at the front and rear.
"This mission... it was all thanks to you," Zhou Heng said in a low voice, walking beside Xu Wuyi. "Without you, we might not have even survived the first day."
"Everyone fought hard," Xu Wuyi said.