Daqin Zhentiansi

But he didn't let go.

He gritted his teeth, desperately trying to hold onto the faint glimmer of consciousness in the center of his mind.

His eyes widened as he silently repeated to himself, "I am Gu Dashi, I am Gu Dashi, I am a scout, I am not dead, I will not die..."

Countless scouts like him have died over the years.

He wanted to live.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, the impact grew more and more intense with each wave.

But Gu Dashi's will was like a nail.

Tiny and insignificant, yet it remained firmly rooted there, impossible to remove.

He joined the army at the age of fifteen, served as a scout for eight years, and was called a good-for-nothing for eight years.

His greatest skill in life is simply surviving.

The skill of survival is to hold on tight.

I don't know how much time passed.

The impact finally began to subside.

It wasn't because it gave up, but because it discovered that this human will, though pitifully weak, was like a stinky and hard rock.

It cannot be crushed, washed away, or ground up.

A faint demonic aura emanated from Gu Dashi.

"Om-"

One after another, magical runes appeared.

The contract is established!

"boom--"

Instantly, a surge of pure demonic energy flowed into Gu Dashi's meridians through the contract channel.

Gu Dashi's body suddenly arched, his eyes wide open.

That wasn't pain; it was the feeling of a violent power exploding inside my body—something I'd never experienced before!
When his internal energy met that demonic energy, it was like dry wood meeting a raging fire, burning wildly!

That madness, that explosive energy, made his blood boil.

This feeling was exactly like the feeling he had when he encountered a pack of wolves on his first mission and ran for his life!
That was an explosion of power beyond its own!
"boom--"

His cultivation level began to surge.

The barrier at the early stage of the Innate Realm was broken in response, followed by the middle and late stages of the Innate Realm!

All cultivation bottlenecks were broken through with unstoppable force!

The true energy in the dantian continuously condenses and compresses, beginning to transform towards a higher level!

Grandmaster Realm!
A faint rumbling sound came from within his body.

A faint Dao pattern slowly emerged in his dantian.

Although it was blurry and unclear, it was indeed the mark of the Grandmaster realm!

The power is still rising.

Vajra Master, Mid-stage Vajra Master, Peak Vajra Master.

Dragon Elephant Grandmaster!

Gu Dashi threw his head back and let out a hoarse roar. A visible shockwave exploded from his body, violently sending dust and gravel flying!
He knelt on the ground, panting heavily.

He looked down at his hands.

Those hands, which once struggled even to condense their true energy, now gleamed with a faint bronze luster—a sign of the Dragon Elephant Grandmaster's protective aura circulating on its own.

He tried to clench his fist.

The knuckles made a crisp "crackling" sound, and the air in the palm was squeezed and burst, producing a low popping sound.

He stood up, drew his long sword from his waist, and swung it at a testing stone standing in the training ground.

A silver-gray blade aura flew out from the blade and crashed into the testing stone!

The test stone, as thick as two people could hug, first showed a thin, line-like knife mark, then the entire stone suddenly split in two, the break as smooth as a mirror!
A collective gasp of astonishment rippled through the training ground.

The gray-maned wolf turned its head to look at him. The ferocity in its scarlet vertical pupils had faded considerably, replaced by an indescribable expression.

It's like an old rival finally acknowledging a new one.

Gu Dashi gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, looking down at the slowly flowing magic runes on the blade.

He suddenly understood.

He survived eight years in the scout camp; that's not what it means to be alive.

Only from this moment on can one truly be called alive.

Tuoba Shan walked over, glanced at him, a hint of surprise in his eyes, but his tone remained calm: "From Innate to Dragon Elephant, you've crossed one major realm plus four minor realms. Not bad."

Gu Dashi looked up at him, his Adam's apple bobbing, and asked in a hoarse voice, "What... is my strength now?"

"Early stage of Dragon Elephant Grandmaster." Tuoba Shan looked at him. "You've worked in the scout camp for eight years, and no one has ever given you a second glance."

"But starting tomorrow, you will no longer be in the scout battalion. You will be assigned to the vanguard team of the third left battalion, with the rank of sergeant."

Gu Dashi suddenly choked: "But I'm a scout, I don't know how to charge—"

“I didn’t used to,” Tuoba Shan interrupted him. “Now I do. A Grandmaster of the Dragon Elephant Sect has become a scout. What do you think those magical beasts that hunt scouts will think?”

The surrounding soldiers all turned their heads, their faces filled with envy.

To rise to prominence in one's lifetime—who wouldn't envy such an opportunity?

----------------

The wind was strong that night, making the flags on the drill ground flutter loudly.

Gu Dashi sat on the row of abandoned timber piles by the training ground, with the gray-maned wolf lying at his feet. Its thick tail occasionally swept the ground, stirring up a small patch of dust.

He reached up and touched his left shoulder.

There is a long scar there, left from a gray-maned wolf that ambushed me from behind during a mission two years ago.

If his comrades hadn't pulled him up, he would have died there long ago.

He glanced down at the gray-maned demon wolf at his feet.

The wolf was dozing with its eyes half-closed, making low growling sounds in its throat.

He reached out and tentatively touched the wolf's head.

The wolf opened one eye, glanced at him, then closed it again without biting him.

On the training ground, the soldiers who had contracted with magical beasts were still getting used to it.

Some people were still spinning in circles, muttering, "My strength is wrong, I need to readjust it."

Some people simply threw away their weapons and started boxing. The wind from their punches howled, and the air exploded with a buzzing sound when they punched.

There was also an old soldier riding on the back of a newly tamed ironback lizard, desperately trying to figure out how to make the lizard move forward instead of backward.

Gu Dashi looked at those who, like him, had been transformed overnight, and remained silent for a long time before whispering, "Eight years have passed. I'm finally no longer that scout who ran at the forefront and died without anyone collecting his body."

The gray-maned wolf at his feet seemed to understand him, and gently nudged his knee with its head.

At that moment, he suddenly felt that being a striker might be a good option.

……

The walls of Feihong City gleamed with a dark luster in the morning light.

Gu Dashi stood on the city wall, gripping his newly issued longsword, his palms sweating profusely.

The hemp rope wrapped around the knife handle was soaked with his sweat, making a small patch of it darker than the rest of the knife.

He only received the knife three days ago.

That evening, when Tuoba Shan called his name on the drill ground, he practically ran over.

This was the first time in his life that someone had called his name in public, and he was so nervous that he didn't know what to do with his hands and feet.

Tuoba Shan glanced at him and handed him a long, narrow wooden box.

Gu Dashi took it and opened it. Inside lay a standard-issue longsword, entirely black, with a fine silver-gray pattern running along its blade from the tip to the hilt, gleaming dimly in the twilight.

"What's this knife called?" he asked, dumbfounded.

Tuoba Shan didn't even turn his head: "It doesn't have a name. You give it one." (End of Chapter)