High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

After thinking it over, Song Chen made a decision.

"I need to upgrade my superpower first. System, upgrade my lightning superpower."

[Do you confirm consuming 1000 kill points to upgrade your lightning ability to Rank B?]

"Sure."

A bolt of lightning flashed in the void and surged into Song Chen's body, instantly causing a tingling sensation throughout his body, as if his meridians were being squeezed full.

[Upgrade complete. Lightning ability has evolved into Grade B ability, Sky-Splitting Lightning.]

With a thought, a bolt of purple lightning shot from his palm, striking the wall and leaving a charred crater.

After the upgrade, the power of the lightning increased several times, the color changed from dark blue to purple, and the power and paralysis effect increased several times. It can even release multiple lightning bolts at the same time.

"Not bad, not bad."

Song Chen was very satisfied with the Sky-Splitting Thunder.

Then he tried imbuing the blade with the power of lightning, a technique he had developed through practical experience over the past few days. Combined with the Bloodbath Blade Technique, its power was astonishing.

Now, every strike he makes carries devastating lightning damage; at least his ability isn't primarily about control anymore.

He looked at his hands. In just over ten days, his strength had undergone a tremendous transformation. Now, if he were to encounter that second-tier black bear again, he wouldn't need seven strikes; one strike would suffice.

He stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the window, it was already dark. The sky was filled with psionic particles that illuminated the starry sky, creating a dreamlike scene. Even after looking at it for many years, he still felt that the starry sky was so beautiful.

Just as Song Chen was about to rest, he suddenly sensed an unusual aura. The aura descended from the sky, powerful, vast, and unfathomable.

Song Chen's pupils suddenly contracted, and he looked up at the sky.

In the night sky, a huge black shadow was slowly descending. It was a spaceship, a real spaceship, not one of those small hovercars he had seen, but a real, giant spaceship capable of flying through the sky.

The ship was over a hundred meters long, silver-white in color, and gleamed coldly in the moonlight. Intricate psionic patterns were engraved on the hull, and psionic energy could be seen flowing within them.

The spaceship hovered over Anning City, flying very low, almost touching the city walls, casting a huge shadow that swept across the city and covered several streets.

Song Chen stood by the window, head tilted back, motionless. This was the first time he had ever seen a spaceship. He had seen them countless times in movies in his previous life, but seeing them in person was a completely different experience.

It was too big and too powerful, especially the aura emanating from the spaceship. There was an aura there that was so powerful that it was suffocating. That aura spread down from the spaceship like an invisible mountain pressing down on everyone's heads.

Song Chen's Qi and Blood value of 9.6 was as insignificant as an ant in the face of that aura. He clenched his fists, his palms were sweaty.

Who is this? What level of skill is this?

The spaceship circled in the air, once, twice, three times, for a full two hours, before flying towards the ruins of Changqing City.

Song Chen walked out of the room and came to the open space of the camp. There were already many people standing there, looking up at the spaceship in the sky. There were martial artists, soldiers and staff. Everyone was so shocked by the huge existence that they were speechless.

"What's that?" someone asked in a low voice.

"The spaceship...it's a spaceship from the Great Xia Dynasty."

"Great Xia? From the capital?"

"Definitely. How could a small place like Anning have a spaceship of this level?"

"Can you feel it? The aura above..."

Everyone fell silent. The aura was too strong, so strong that no one could muster any thought of resistance.

Song Chen stood in the crowd, listening to the discussions around him.

An old martial artist suddenly spoke up: "I think that person came to resolve the crisis of the Beast King. He should have been sent by the higher-ups of the Great Xia Dynasty. The aura he exuded was that of a sixth-level Grandmaster, no doubt about it."

Upon hearing the term "Sixth-Rank Grandmaster," Song Chen's breath caught in his throat for a moment. A Grandmaster was someone who truly stood at the pinnacle of martial arts.

"Alright, stop looking and go rest. The Grandmaster is here, so everything should be fine."

A staff member shouted from the side.

The spaceship had already gone far away, and there was no point in staying any longer, so Song Chen went straight back.

……

The next day, Song Chen opened her eyes and sat up.

It was time to leave the city for another day. He stretched his body, feeling the surging energy within him, then pushed open the door and stepped out of the room.

The atmosphere in the camp was a bit strange. Usually at this time, there would be many martial artists warming up, checking their equipment, and chatting in twos and threes in the open space. But today, there were far fewer people, and the few who were there were gathered together, whispering to each other with complicated expressions on their faces.

Song Chen frowned, walked over, and patted a familiar martial artist on the shoulder: "Old Wang, what's wrong?"

Old Wang turned around, saw it was him, and his eyes lit up: "Little Song, you didn't know?"

"Know what?"

Old Wang lowered his voice, but couldn't hide the excitement in it: "Martial law has been lifted!"

Song Chen was stunned: "Release?"

Old Wang pointed towards the city wall: "Yes, it was just announced recently. Look over there, the psionic cannons are starting to cool down, and the number of patrollers has been reduced by half!"

Song Chen looked up and saw that the light from the muzzles of the psionic cannons on the distant city wall, which had been charging for more than ten days, was indeed much dimmer. The number of martial artists patrolling back and forth on the city wall had also decreased significantly.

"How could it be dispelled? Where is that beast king?"

Old Wang shrugged: "I don't know. I heard that Anning City has been searching for that peak fifth-tier beast king these days, but since the day it was discovered, it has not been found again. Yesterday, a grandmaster from the capital searched hundreds of kilometers around Anning City and Changqing City in his spaceship, but still couldn't find it."

"The conclusion is that the Beast King was just passing by and ran away after being discovered by humans. After all, it was in a critical period of breakthrough and didn't want any complications. Since it ran away, the martial law was naturally lifted."

Song Chen was silent for a few seconds. Ran away? That fifth-tier peak beast king that had caused panic in the entire Anning City for more than ten days, just ran away like that? He thought of Researcher Xie lying on the stretcher that day, the hideous wound on her chest, and the reconnaissance team members who died tragically. Just... ran away?

I have a feeling it's not that simple.

He asked again, still disbelieving, "Really?"

"Could an official announcement be false? Anyway, the Grandmaster has confirmed that there is no trace of the Beast King nearby. Everyone can finally breathe a sigh of relief and stop living in fear all the time."

Song Chen nodded and didn't say anything more.

He stood there, looking at the city wall in the distance.

The lifting of martial law means what? It means that the number of strange beasts outside the city may decrease, and it means that he can no longer hunt them as recklessly as he has these days.

But that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that martial law has been lifted, order has returned to normal in the city, and Zhao Wei can move around freely.

Thinking of this, he became extremely anxious.