Chapter Forty: Human Martial Techniques

Countless writhing insects churned through the water, coming into view of everyone on the walls. Watching those freely swimming creatures, every person atop the ramparts felt a chill crawling down their spines. Unlike the insects on land, which they had at least seen before and could somewhat stomach, these aquatic bugs were far more revolting.

The heavy rain drenched the bluestone city wall. The first wave of insects drew close and, to everyone’s horror, began to cling directly to the slick stone, slowly inching upward. Though their pace was much slower than when in the water, the sheer number of them made the sight terrifying.

Ma Yi leaned out the window, his sharp eyes catching the rings of teeth inside each insect's mouthparts. These things looked nothing like the lifeforms of Earth—they were utterly alien, straight out of a science fiction epic.

Everyone lay prone along the wall, bodies jutting over the battlements, knuckles white as they gripped their weapons in tense anticipation. They watched the insects creep ever upward, crowding the base of the wall, swarming, all ready to climb at any moment.

“Kill!” The first shout rang out, no one knew who started it. The clang of blades hacking insects and the thud of blows against the wall broke the tense silence. That rallying cry ignited the whole rampart, a deafening tumult of shouts and the clash of steel, sending shivers through every soul. Ma Yi left the watchtower and joined Captain Gu at the wall, throwing himself into the defense.

A sudden scream—Ma Yi whirled to see a massive bloodsucking worm latched onto an evolver’s neck. In a blur, Ma Yi was there, his hand closing around the worm’s head and crushing it, sending insect gore spraying.

“Thank you, sir,” the evolver gasped, wincing as he tore the dead worm off his neck, gratitude plain in his eyes.

“Keep fighting!” Ma Yi nodded, his figure darting along the wall, saving one city guard or evolver after another from mortal peril. With their safety assured, the defenders’ morale soared. No one feared death now, for Ma Yi always appeared at the most critical moment to save them.

Li Li watched, astonished, as Ma Yi flashed from one side of the wall to the other, rescuing people with such speed that he seemed to carve a clear path through the rain, a corridor the water could not fill in time.

Heaving an evolver—whose body had been infested with more than a dozen bugs—over the wall, Ma Yi sighed. Humanity was still too weak. Forget the virus—now even a handful of tiny insects could claim a life. Without true power, this world, once ruled by humans, had become fiercely hostile to them.

The slain insects’ bodies barely hit the water before being swarmed and devoured by their own kind, driven by nothing but the urge to kill and consume, to grow and evolve—no trace of kinship among them.

The city wall, though not yet breached, had paid a terrible price. Just among Ma Yi’s group, over two hundred evolvers had died in half an hour, their corpses tossed down to slow the insects’ attack.

Elsewhere, the situation was less dire. Most of the insects were concentrated on Ma Yi’s sector; the other three sides of the city only faced spillover. Their casualties, even without someone like Ma Yi to save them, amounted to barely a hundred, including the lightly wounded.

“Help!” Screams echoed from below. Ma Yi knew the worst had happened. Looking back, he saw an ordinary person collapsed on a rooftop, tiny bugs crawling in and out of every orifice, gnawing on flesh. Blood flowing from the body only attracted more insects from the water. In the blink of an eye, nothing remained but a clean skeleton. Bloodsuckers and leeches, their bellies swollen like engorged mosquitoes, swarmed through cracks in doors where only the smallest could squeeze inside.

“All to the wall!” Ma Yi’s voice thundered through the inner city, so powerful that it made Li Li’s ears ring. His shout echoed above the Changfeng Base for a long while, ensuring every person within the walls heard him loud and clear.

The three commanders atop the other sections of wall turned, shocked by the boom, then glanced gravely toward Ma Yi’s direction, all marveling that his voice could carry so far—audible even miles away.

“Understood,” Captain Gu said, nodding after hearing Ma Yi’s suggestion. He ran toward the ordinary citizens already scrambling atop the wall.

“Do you want to live or die?” Captain Gu barked, his tone both threatening and tempting. “If you’d rather die, I can oblige you right now. But if you want to live, take the place of those fighting for your sake and let them rest. If they all die, none of you will escape alive. But perform well in this battle, and we’ll promote you to city guard, with the same benefits as an evolver.”

Though many were unwilling to fight, it was clear that the evolvers’ line was starting to falter—casualties mounting fast, and at this rate, everyone would die eventually. Quite a few decided to fight for their lives. Once the first ordinary person picked up a weapon and joined the fray, the rest followed quickly, and the city’s defenses were immediately reinforced.

At last, some evolvers could rest. Their arms, numb from constant hacking, ached terribly the moment they paused, as if ants were burrowing through their muscles.

“Don’t stop moving!” Ma Yi’s voice rang out, standing atop the battlements. He was barely tall enough to see over the parapet, unable to fight from behind it. “Stretch a bit—stopping suddenly after such exertion can injure your muscles. Everyone will rotate, so don’t worry—hang in there, and those resting now will soon relieve you.”

Captain Gu handed his custom-made blade to Ma Yi, who had come to relieve him. With Ma Yi’s arrival, three nearby city guards could rest. Small though he was, his speed was unmatched.

Seeing Ma Yi join the battle, the evolvers fought all the harder.

“How is it here?” The highest administrator of Changfeng Base, Elder Xu, arrived with over three hundred evolvers in tow.

“Reporting, sir—we’ve lost many brothers, but we’re holding on,” Gu Feng answered, standing up quickly as Elder Xu approached.

“Good, as long as you’re holding. The fight’s lighter on our side, so I brought reinforcements.” With the arrival of three hundred more evolvers, the defense stabilized at once, and exhausted fighters could finally rest.

“Old Lu is here too,” Elder Xu said, seeing another group joining from a distant section of wall.

“Commander,” Gu, just sitting down, scrambled back to his feet. He had barely begun to rest—perhaps it wasn’t worth it, who knew which leader would show up next.

“Sit and rest. I’ll join Ma Yi and relieve a few more men,” Old Lu said, eyeing the city guards near Ma Yi—his own soldiers, each loss a bitter blow.

“Let’s do this together,” Elder Xu said, drawing his longsword and nodding to Old Lu.

The two highest-ranking commanders, both fourth-level evolvers, replaced six or seven men, holding more than ten meters of the wall between them.

Ma Yi watched the two men wield their weapons, each swing sending slashes of air, half a meter long, that cleared straight paths through the insects on the wall—a technique that looked like magic. So this was the difference between fourth and third level evolvers?

“What is that move?” Ma Yi asked, curious.

“Air Slash. You don’t know it?” Old Lu was surprised. For fourth-level evolvers, it was a simple technique.

“I lost my memory, remember? I’ve forgotten a lot,” Ma Yi replied, making an excuse—he couldn’t admit ignorance, that would be too embarrassing.

“It’s quite simple,” Old Lu explained, demonstrating. “A rapid flick of the wrist, using body or weapon to compress air, briefly creating a vacuum.” With a twist of his wrist, the weapon produced a faint stream of air, and with a swing, a crescent-shaped vacuum trailed behind.

“Amazing,” Ma Yi exclaimed inwardly. He copied Old Lu’s movements with Captain Gu’s blade, feeling as if a new door had opened in his mind. He’d always thought of fighting as close-quarters combat, but now, with all these new techniques, his perspective was changing.

“Just practice more. I trained for several days to learn it myself,” Elder Xu said, but stopped mid-sentence when he saw Ma Yi master the move after only a few tries. Though still rough, the compressed air was clearly forming on his blade. Elder Xu could only comfort himself: Ma Yi must have known before and simply forgotten—his muscle memory had been jogged.

“Not so hard,” Ma Yi said, and after a few more tries, sent out a slash thinner than those of Old Lu or Elder Xu, but twice as long, cutting straight through the water and bisecting a mass of insects.

“Interesting,” Ma Yi stood atop the wall, sending slender slashes from his blade in all directions, each one radiating from his feet, until even his feet joined the action, launching slashes as well.

Normally, a fourth-level evolver couldn’t use their body alone to unleash an air slash—not for lack of skill, but lack of physical strength. It was said only those above level five could do so.