Chapter 58 I Am a Martial Artist! Set Out!

After bidding farewell to Xia Xingqiu, Shi Yu embarked on his journey back to the Yali Martial Arts Center.

The moment he arrived, he logged into the Primordial Network.

On the holographic projection of his personal lobby home page, all the flashing messages suddenly vanished without a trace.

Immediately after, an urgent notification streaked across the screen like a shooting star, rapidly taking over the entire interface.

"A spatial anomaly in the Luoxiao Mountains?!"

"Phenomena such as spatial distortion and abnormal light flickers have occurred, accompanied by unknown energy radiation."

"A Level-4 Otherworld Gateway is about to open!"

Accompanying the text message was a satellite video clip.

On the light screen, the space surrounding the Luoxiao Mountains began to twist and deform, as if being violently pulled by an invisible force.

Amidst this, countless flashes of abnormal light streaked across, resembling a meteor shower in the night sky.

Beautiful, yet ominous.

Shi Yu’s gaze trembled slightly, and memories from many years ago rushed into his mind like a rising tide.

Twelve years ago, that catastrophic disaster in Xingcheng was caused by the opening of a Level-4 Otherworld Gateway.

Nearly three-quarters of the urban area was affected, countless lives perished in the disaster, and the losses were devastating.

This disaster spanned a total duration of eight years from beginning to end.

Finally, at Mount Yuelu, that otherworld gateway was sealed once and for all, allowing Xingcheng to be reborn.

He still remembered when he first opened his eyes back then.

What rushed into his view was an utterly tragic scene.

Blood flowed across the ground like rivers, severed limbs were scattered everywhere, and an aura of slaughter permeated every single inch of space.

His ears were filled with frantic, panicked cries and heartbreaking wails.

At that exact moment, a pair of warm and gentle hands softly lifted him up.

It was a young woman.

"Xiao Yu, don't be afraid, Aunt Lan is here." She called out softly in his ear.

Back then, he had no idea who she was; he only knew that at that moment, his body—which had been shivering slightly in the bitter wind—seemed to be enveloped by a warm current, gradually calming down.

Aunt Lan held him tightly, running desperately through the ruins.

Explosions echoed one after another, dust billowed, and smoke filled the air.

Their bodies were stained with blood and grime, as if a palette of paint had been overturned upon them.

At a certain moment.

As they rounded a street corner, a tall Dark-Faced clansman suddenly appeared right before them.

With a sinister grin, it raised a spiked heavy club and brought it crashing down with a howling roar.

As for the scene that followed.

Shi Yu still remembered it with absolute clarity, deeply branded into the depths of his soul.

At the very juncture of life and death!

A dark iron staff came out of nowhere, forcefully blocking the spiked club!

The staff stood unmoving, like the sturdiest pillar of reliance.

In Aunt Lan's arms, he struggled to lift his head and looked upward.

A tall figure stood blocking their path.

Towering like a majestic, unshakeable mountain.

His face could not be seen, only this broad back.

Shi Yu did not know his name, only hearing him leave behind a single sentence.

"Run! Go!"

Little Shi Yu back then, lying across Aunt Lan's shoulder, stared fixedly at that resolute back without blinking.

"Aunt Lan... who is that?"

"I don't know..."

"Aunt Lan only knows that he is a martial artist!"

"A martial artist protecting us!"

"A martial artist of Great Xia!"

...

Tianheng Xingcheng Branch, Xingxuan Martial Arts Base.

Hundreds of martial artists stood at attention in the plaza.

This was one of the hundreds of teams assembled by Tianheng across Nanhu Province and JX Province.

The troops are maintained for a thousand days, to be used in a single moment.

They were about to set off, heading to the frontline where the war was about to erupt, to defend their homeland alongside the soldiers of the Great Xia military.

"Everyone!"

Xia Yuan stood at the very front of the formation, his gaze profound and distant.

His voice resounded across the entire martial arts base, reaching every single corner.

"Today, we gather here not to engage in empty talk, but to protect the land beneath our feet."

"This place is our home!"

"And right now, those invaders from the other world, consumed by greed and evil, seek to strip away everything we hold dear!"

"This is a life-or-death struggle, a decisive war for the survival of our race!"

"Everyone!"

Xia Yuan shouted in a booming voice: "Tell me, who are we?"

Hundreds of martial artists roared in unison, their voices shaking the firmament.

"We are martial artists!!!"

"Our flesh and blood form the sturdiest defense line!"

"We—are the steel Great Wall guarding our home!"

The tall Xia Yuan raised the heavy, massive saber in his hand, pointing it toward the sky.

"Martial artists!"

"Today, we fight not only for ourselves, but for our families, for our descendants, and for the future of this land!"

"Tianheng, march out!!"

...

Ye Yixin stood inside the Xingxuan Gravity Tower, gazing out at this departing army of martial artists.

In the grand scheme of the entire war, amidst the collision of two worlds.

These few hundred martial artists were merely a drop in the ocean, utterly insignificant.

Yet, when several hundreds gathered, they became thousands, and further gathering made it tens of thousands.

Like tiny streams converging into rivers, great rivers, and finally an ocean.

In the end, a single spark can start a prairie fire.

She watched for a very long time.

Until the door of the gravity chamber behind her opened.

A delicate-featured young woman with clear eyes walked out, came to her side, and likewise gazed at the martial artists in the plaza.

Ye Yixin parted her lips slightly and said slowly, "Down there are 341 martial artists, varying in strength from the Foundation Establishment Realm to the Qi-Accessing Realm, and even the Transcendent Outer-Aura Realm."

"In this impending war between two worlds, they are like grains caught between two millstones, constantly being ground down."

"Do you think that when the war ends, regardless of victory or defeat, how many of them will be able to return?"

She turned to look at Xia Yu: "I'll ask you one more time, are you certain you want to walk this path?"

The young woman with cascading waterfall-like dark hair gazed out for a long time before speaking softly, "Mom, didn't you pull me aside a few days ago to have another talk with Dad?"

"That day, I think I made everything perfectly clear."

"And today, I am even more unwavering about the path I wish to take."

"I believe that one day, among the martial artists standing down there, you will see my figure!"

Xia Yu's tone was exceptionally resolute, a complete transformation from her younger self.

"Why on earth are you doing this?"

A trace of tremor laced Ye Yixin's voice, carrying an almost pleading undertone.

She, who had never begged anyone in her life, finally let her tears fall before her own daughter.

Like pearls, shattering all over the ground.

Her daughter had finally grown up, yet was also drifting further and further away from her.

"There is no why."

"I just want to walk my own path."

Xia Yu said softly, then turned and walked steadily down the corridor, leaving Ye Yixin with a resolute silhouette.

In a voice so quiet it was barely audible, she whispered, "I know he will walk this path, and I want to walk it with him."

...

Shi Yu reminisced about every bit of the past.

That martial artist who had saved him and Aunt Lan was like a towering mountain, deeply embedded in the depths of his soul for over a decade, never fading, never disappearing.

And finally, through the soul cabin, it had materialized into a visualization entity and burst forth!

He lowered his head in silence.

Looking at his own grown, powerful hands, which now held the exact same dark iron staff.

More than a decade had passed.

Now, he too had become a martial artist!

A martial artist's duty is to protect the country and safeguard the people, with enemies ahead and family behind!

Although his cultivation had not yet reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, his combat prowess had already been powerfully proven through the Primordial Network.

He now possessed the qualification to step onto the battlefield!

Shi Yu stood in the personal lobby for a long time, thinking deeply.

The torch of civilization is passed down, endless and unextinguished.

Finally, he solemnly reached out and clicked on a document displayed on the home page holographic screen.

He inscribed his ID name upon it.

[Shiyu, applying to join the battle!]