Astral Apostle
chapter-97

The lord’s guards thought to retreat when looking at Zhou Jing’s ferocious aura.

One of them had already died. Although the guards were angry, they also felt a chill in their hearts.

This was different from what they had expected. They only wanted to teach the hunter a lesson and vent their anger. They did not plan to risk their lives here.

Even though Maggi had been disfigured and angry, he was still a little shaken by Zhou Jing’s ruthlessness.

What kind of person is this!

Before they could finish their thoughts, Zhou Jing took the initiative to launch a fierce attack. His saber flashed, and he surrounded the five people who still possessed some measure of strength.

“Let’s take him down first!”

Maggi roared, his voice panicked in a way that he did not notice.

They could only try to handle Zhou Jing’s rapid attacks.

Many of the lord’s guards still wanted to attack Zhou Jing from both sides like before, but now that Zhou Jing had rushed out, they would have a hard time surrounding him again—not to mention that they had already lost two people.

Since he wasn’t being surrounded, Zhou Jing finally did not have to deal with the combined attacks from all directions. He could perform at full speed.

The two blades moved between them, suddenly becoming agile yet fatal.

The weapons clashed. From time to time, the light of the blades would shoot out from tricky angles. They were fast, causing them to break out in cold sweat. They could barely block it with their proficient combat skills, but some of the attacks still left wounds on their bodies.

However, they also knew how to get close to each other to support each other. As long as Zhou Jing attacked one person, the others would help to block him. Some would attack him to save their comrade, while others would use their numerical advantage to fight against him, who was alone.

“Back to back!”

Maggi snarled.

Everyone understood and immediately pressed their backs against each other, forming a circle with their weapons facing outwards.

Speed was not easy to deal with. Zhou Jing was only one person, after all. They formed a back-to-back formation and helped each other. Even if he was fast, it was akin to having a mouse trying to pull a turtle.

Unless he could kill a person quickly or directly break their formation, there was not much chance for him to maneuver around them.

With such a cowardly posture, everyone was showing their weakness, hoping that Zhou Jing would retreat… They don’t wanna fight against this reckless youth who wasn’t afraid of anything.

The unreasonable were afraid of the stupid, and the stupid were afraid of the reckless. Maggi and the others were already a little afraid of Zhou Jing.

Facing a few of them, Zhou Jing found a direction and slashed down with his two blades.

Clang!

The guard who was attacked raised his sword to block the two blades. The huge force on the blades made him want to retreat backward.

However, the other companions on his back provided him with support.

The lord’s guard took advantage of the support from his teammates to prop himself up, blocking Zhou Jing’s two blades in midair.

At the same time, the weapons of the two people beside him also stabbed out. One of them also helped to block the two blades, while the other stabbed at Zhou Jing’s chest.

Swish! Swish!

Both sides missed. Before the attack arrived, Zhou Jing had already retreated to avoid it.

He tried to attack a few more times while roaming around them, but the result was the same.

The Mutant Blood Guards did not hunt mutant beasts but trained hard every day. Their cooperation wasn’t the best, but they didn’t make too many mistakes. They understood the basics of fighting.

However, they lost the initiative in their ambush. There was nothing they could do to Zhou Jing, who had slipped away after escaping. They could not surround him or hit him.

For a moment, both sides could not do anything to each other and could only fight to a stalemate.

Sparks flew from the collision of weapons, but no one was injured.

Seeing Zhou Jing’s relentless attacks, one of the lord’s guards panicked and shouted,

“Stop it. There’s no need to make such a fuss!

“Why are you still fighting in this state? You’ve already rushed out of the encirclement and can escape at any time. Why aren’t you escaping?”

“Do you really want to fight us to the death here?! There’s no such deep hatred between us!

“Why didn’t you run away and find a place to digest the blood potion? Why did you have to fight us here?!”

Even if he did not care about this life, he would not have gone this far!

Zhou Jing turned a deaf ear to the shouts.

If these people weren’t losing, they would’ve tried to need him to dough today.

It was not easy for him to get a chance to fight. He wouldn’t stop just like that.

If he were hacked to death, he would admit that his skills were inferior to others. If he were to explain himself, he would not blame them for not stopping when the time was right because of some morality.

He wasn’t stupid, so he wouldn’t play around with martial arts.

They blocked Zhou Jing’s increasingly fierce attack again. They were angry and frustrated when they saw that Zhou Jing had no intention of stopping.

Damn it, this person really is crazy!

There was no way to escape like this. Even if they wanted to split up, they would only be chased down and killed one by one.

Since you don’t want to let us off, let’s fight!

After making up their minds, everyone could not help but rouse their fighting spirit.

As their gazes met, killing intents intertwined.

The sun gradually set in the west. The two sides had fought in this small forest through the entire evening.

The setting sun lent all of them a bloody glow on their bodies.

“Huff… Huff…”

The five lord’s guards, including Maggi, were panting. They were covered in scattered blade wounds.

Zhou Jing’s chest heaved violently, and his arms trembled slightly. The edge of his blade was already slightly curled.

Ross had already gotten up. He originally wanted to come up and help, but he was really weak in a head-on battle. After being slashed a few times, he was kicked to the side by Zhou Jing, preventing him from attempting a kamikaze move.

There was no need for that yet.

As for the lord’s guard, who had been knocked unconscious, he was killed by Zhou Jing.

In any case, Ross had already made a contribution.

The remaining five people huddled together tightly, not giving Zhou Jing a chance to defeat them one by one.

Fighting was not a math problem after all. Although the guards had been reduced in number, such a formation made it even harder for Zhou Jing to achieve any results.

However, the Mutant Blood Potion in Zhou Jing’s body was still taking effect, providing him with new strength. Meanwhile, the guards were constantly exhausting their stamina in the intense battle.

As time passed, the scales gradually tilted to one side.

“What exactly is going on with you?”

Maggi was panting, his face full of shock.

These guards had also experienced the strengthening of the mutant blood, and most of them were in extreme pain during the process. They originally thought that Zhou Jing’s strange actions of drinking the potion to strengthen himself in battle was a death wish.

In the fierce battle, everyone was waiting for Zhou Jing to make a mistake because of the intense pain.

To their surprise, even though there were signs of strengthening undergoing through Zhou Jing’s body, he didn’t seem to notice it at all. He continued slashing through the day and into the night.

Does this person not need to blink… Bah, can he even feel pain?!

(TL Note: A little confusing here, I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that you blink more when you are uncomfortable or in pain. So MC not blinking means he is not in pain.)

Or has his endurance reached an exaggerated level?!

Maggi and the others were flabbergasted.

The veins on Zhou Jing’s forehead throbbed. The pain of the blood enhancement was mixed with the feeling of strength and echoed in his body, making him want to vent it out.

The [Tenacity] talent suppressed the pain of the strengthening of the mutant blood. Instead, it made him feel energetic and fierce. His entire body was filled with endless energy as if he had taken a stimulant.

Boom!

At this moment, as if a qualitative change had occurred, the power in his body suddenly erupted like a volcano!

Zhou Jing jumped out, and his instantaneous speed increased.

The two blades swept up a violent wind as they smashed down.

Seeing this, one of the guards attempted to block it like before.

Bam!

The formation of the five people suddenly collapsed as they were all blown apart by the huge force, like a pile of pins hit by a bowling ball.

With a clang, the guard’s weapon was directly sliced off. A deep line of blood appeared from the top of his head to his chin, followed by blood gushing out as he fell to the ground.

Without any fancy techniques, his power broke through the combined defense from the five of them.

The other four staggered back as they stared aghast at the corpse of their companion.

He had completely assimilated the Mutant Blood Enhancement!

Zhou Jing’s eyes were bloodshot, and he did not pause his actions. Instead, he took the opportunity to chase after the nearest person and slashed again with his two blades.

Clang!

The sword that the guard used to block flew out of his hand.

The two blades crossed each other, and the guard’s head left its original spot.

The feudal lord’s guards, who could still exchange blows with him previously, were directly defeated. The difference in physical fitness instantly widened.

The remaining three were finally scared out of their wits. Without caring about anything else, they turned around and ran.

The result of breaking their formation was that Zhou Jing, whose speed had increased greatly, caught up.

Two more of the lord’s guards struggled in vain and were stabbed and pinned to the ground.

Only Maggi was left, and his weapon was sent flying by Zhou Jing.

Peng!

Zhou Jing kicked him down.

“Don’t… don’t…”

Maggi collapsed to the ground and hurriedly raised his hand to block in front of him, his face filled with fear.

Zhou Jing pointed the long saber that had almost turned into a sawtooth at his eyes. He did not immediately slash down, however.

“Tell me, how did the lord ask you to come over?”

Maggi’s teeth trembled. He hurriedly explained himself and exposed the short conversation between him and his lord.

Zhou Jing nodded, no longer interested in talking to Maggi. He raised his blade and pierced through Maggi’s head.

Pfft!

The blade was withdrawn.

Maggi collapsed, his face frozen in a rictus forever.

He still wanted to beg for mercy and defend himself, but he did not even have a chance.

The seven corpses lay on the ground, and there was no more movement in the area.

Zhou Jing closed his eyes slightly. As he reminisced about the blade lights and sword shadows that decorated the battlefield previously, he also enjoyed the moment of peace that seemed to have returned to the world.

How quiet…

He felt better.

Zhou Jing suddenly opened his eyes wide as he spat out a mouthful of blood. His body swayed, and he hurriedly steadied himself with the saber.

He looked at the corpses on the ground and pursed his lips.

Alright, the lord’s guards seemed to have been completely wiped out by him.

There was no way they could retain the same relationship as before… although he did not care about this.

Moreover, the fact that this group of people had stopped him meant that there was a problem. The information that Maggi had revealed basically proved that the lord had to take responsibility.

“Lutt probably gave me the reward to shut me up…”

Zhou Jing remained impassive.

Lutt… He would go find him sooner or later.

At this moment, he finally had the time to look at the interface. The messages had already flooded the screen.

_____________________

[+10% Synchronization Rate]

[Triggered achievement [First Kill – Mutant Blood Warrior (First Enhancement)]!]

[Obtained 500 Astral Points! [Aptitude Enhancement – Physical Fitness (Small)] x1, [Aptitude Enhancement – Resistance (Small)] x1]

[Transcendence System — [Mutant Blood Warrior], Rank increased]

[Mutant Blood Warrior: Second Enhancement (Wind Howl Tiger)]

[Effect: +14 Physical Fitness, +10 Resistance, +7 Perception]

[Current Attributes: Stamina 40 (+3) (Level 1 max), Resistance 31, Perception 18, Spirit 6, Energy 0]

[Second Enhancement Bonus: [Tenacious Physique], [Violent Gale], [Tiger Courage], [Low-level Wind Resistance]]

[Life Objective [Second Mutant Blood Enhancement], [Veteran Mutant Beast Hunter] has been completed.]

[You have obtained 70 Information State Particles.]

[Current Apostle Permanence Progress: 100/110]

“The clearance criteria hasn’t been met?!”

Zhou Jing’s eyes sharpened.

It seemed that his judgment back then was right. His life objective was only the most convenient way to obtain information state particles, but it might not necessarily be able to completely satisfy the requirements of clearing the level.

The rewards given by each life goal were different. The harder the life objective, the more Information State Particles would be given.

Then, sometimes, one could directly clear a difficult life objective and obtain enough Information State Particles to directly pass the level.

Sometimes, he would not be able to clear all his life objectives and would have to think of ways to create more Information State Particles.

This is going to be difficult…

As Zhou Jing was thinking, an intense pain suddenly swept through his entire body. This time, even his [Tenacity] talent could not suppress it.

Pfft!

He suddenly bent down and spat out a mouthful of black blood.

His nose felt a little wet. Reaching out to touch it, Zhou Jing realized that black blood was flowing out of his nose.

When he saw the scene, he suddenly understood.

His Mutant Blood Enhancement did not cause him to die suddenly, but it did not really succeed either.

His body could not take it anymore, and his genes collapsed…

How much more time do I have to live??

Zhou Jing’s emotions fluctuated, and his eyes narrowed.

“Hey…”

At this moment, Zhou Jing suddenly grinned.

He had never used other methods to obtain Information State Particles. Right now, before he died of implosion, he would use this chance to get more Information State Particles?

He had no clue how to go about doing this, but…

Since he wanted to cause a huge impact,

The only thing I can think of at the moment… try cutting down the lord?

“Ross!”

Zhou Jing suddenly shouted.

Ross covered the wound and silently moved closer.

“Find a place nearby and bury the money.”

As Zhou Jing spoke, he turned around and looked back at the city.

“There’s no time like the present. Let’s go talk to Lutt now.”