vstars Chapter 378: Terrible News
Chapter 378: Terrible News
On the afternoon of February 10th, in the underground Cultivation Room of Villa 7, Hidden Dragon Garden.
Xu Wuyi had just completed a round of Visualization for the *Golden Crow Carrying the Earth*. Within his sea of Spirit, a dark golden mountain range solidified, and a Golden Crow Illusion rested on its peak. Everything was steadily improving.
Just then, the personal terminal placed in the corner of the Cultivation Room suddenly began to vibrate frantically.
It wasn’t the usual notification chime, but a continuous, urgent, almost ceaseless buzzing, as if something extremely urgent was happening.
Xu Wuyi frowned slightly and emerged from his meditative state.
He got up, walked to the console, and activated the light screen.
The first thing that popped up was a push notification marked "Federation Emergency News," its headline written in a glaring red font:
[BREAKING! Major Attack on the Star Realm Battlefield Front Lines!]
Xu Wuyi’s heart leaped, and he quickly swiped to see the details.
The news report was brief, even vague, but the heavy, grim tone between the lines made Xu Wuyi’s breath catch.
"In our latest report, the Federation’s frontline outpost in the ’Broken Star Belt’ region of the Seventh Star Realm Battlefield was hit by a joint surprise attack from the Celestial Wolf Civilization and the Feathered People Civilization at 3:17 a.m. Federation Standard Time today."
"The scale of the attack is the largest in nearly a decade. The enemy deployed multiple High Tier combatants, and the battle was exceptionally brutal. Specific casualty figures are still being tallied, and the Federation Military has entered its highest state of alert..."
"According to a military source who wishes to remain anonymous, several Innate Martial Artists were killed in the attack, and a Grandmaster Level expert has also fallen."
The last few words struck Xu Wuyi’s chest like a Heavy Hammer.
’A Grandmaster... fallen?’
In his understanding, Grandmasters were figures who stood at the apex of the Federation’s Martial Arts, beings capable of guarding entire regions and protecting their civilization.
’How could such a powerful expert fall on the battlefield?’
Xu Wuyi felt a sense of surreal disbelief, but it was immediately followed by an icy chill that shot up his spine.
’Teacher Han!’
His teacher, Han Mo, had been severely injured on the Star Realm Battlefield before. The pain of his severed arm was still a fresh memory!
Almost instinctively, Xu Wuyi brought up the communication interface, found Han Mo’s contact code, and initiated a call.
BEEP... BEEP...
The ringing went on and on.
Ten seconds, twenty, thirty...
The call never connected.
Just as Xu Wuyi was about to hang up and redial, a cold system voice announced:
[The party you are trying to reach is currently outside the Federation’s planar coverage. A connection cannot be established.]
’Outside the Federation’s planar coverage?’
’The Star Realm Battlefield!’
Xu Wuyi’s heart sank to the pit of his stomach. He forced himself to remain calm and dialed again, but the result was the same.
Teacher Han was indeed not at the university, not in Xingjing, not even in any of the Star Realms controlled by the Federation.
He had gone to the Star Realm Battlefield—the very battlefield where a Grandmaster had just fallen!
’Or could it be... was he part of that squad? One of the Innate Martial Artists?’
Xu Wuyi took a deep breath and quickly brought up another contact.
Zhao Qingwei.
This time, the call connected quickly.
A virtual image of Zhao Qingwei was projected onto the light screen. Her face was paler than he had ever seen it, and her eyes held an unconcealable weight.
She wasn’t even wearing her usual training clothes, but simple casual wear, and her hair was a bit of a mess.
"Xu Wuyi." Zhao Qingwei’s voice was a little hoarse. "You saw the news, too?"
"Just now," Xu Wuyi asked directly, "Qingwei, do you know the specifics? Teacher Han, is he..."
Zhao Qingwei fell silent for two seconds.
To Xu Wuyi, those two seconds felt exceptionally long.
"Teacher Han only left for the Star Realm Battlefield today. He’s not on the list," Zhao Qingwei said slowly, each word seeming to take all her strength. "But... Grandmaster Yue Lianshan is confirmed to have fallen."
Although he had braced himself, hearing the news with his own ears still made his mind go blank, and he froze on the spot.
’Teacher Han is safe... he only left for the battlefield today. The one who fell was Grandmaster Yue Lianshan...’
’The Grandmaster who gave me the Volcanic Wood Carving, the man who was like a monument of Martial Arts in my heart... he just fell on the Star Realm Battlefield like that?’
"It wasn’t just Grandmaster Yue." Zhao Qingwei’s voice continued, tinged with a suppressed tremor. "For this surprise attack, the Celestial Wolf Civilization and the Feathered People Civilization deployed at least ten experts of the same level and set a trap..."
"On the Federation’s side, a total of three Grandmasters were killed in action, and fifteen Innate Martial Artists were sacrificed. The entire ’Broken Star’ special operations brigade... was wiped out."
’Three Grandmasters! Fifteen Innate Martial Artists! An entire elite special operations brigade!’
Xu Wuyi felt his throat go dry as an indescribable sorrow churned in his chest.
This was the greatest loss the Federation had suffered in nearly twenty years!
"The Federation’s high command has already sealed the detailed casualty list," Zhao Qingwei said in a low voice.
"My father was just summoned to an emergency meeting at the military headquarters. He only told me this much before he left... He said the losses are too great, and they’re afraid of causing a panic, so they won’t even release the names of all the fallen Grandmasters."
"But Grandmaster Yue... they can’t hide that. He’s one of the pillars of Star Martial University. Too many people know him."
Xu Wuyi closed his eyes.
The image of the dark red Volcanic Wood Carving surfaced in his mind. He recalled what Teacher Han had said when he handed him the wooden box: "After my master came out of seclusion, I mentioned to him that you were attempting the Nine Transitions of Heart Fire."
Grandmaster Yue had never even met him, yet just because of a single sentence from Teacher Han, he had bestowed such a precious gift upon him.
It was a debt of gratitude he had not yet had a chance to repay.
"Teacher Han..." Xu Wuyi opened his eyes and looked at Zhao Qingwei.
"Teacher Han has probably already rushed to the front lines," Zhao Qingwei said. "He is Grandmaster Yue’s disciple; he has to go, both out of duty and sentiment. Besides... I heard they haven’t been able to recover Grandmaster Yue’s body."
Xu Wuyi’s fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.
’A Grandmaster dies in battle, and his body falls into enemy hands?’
To any Martial Artist, this was an unbearable disgrace!
"What’s the Federation’s response now?" Xu Wuyi forced himself to calm down.
"Total mobilization." Zhao Qingwei uttered two words. "All Star Realm Battlefields have entered a level-one state of readiness. Non-military Martial Artists below the Innate realm are forbidden from entering the main battlefields. Even for ordinary, smaller Star Realms, you’re now required to be at least at the Martial Artist Level to apply for entry."
"Also, the military has already begun to conscript combatants at the Innate level and above from the various universities and Noble Families to organize a counterattack... but I don’t know the specific plan."
Xu Wuyi fell silent.
His current strength, after achieving Great Success in his Heart Image, was indeed far beyond that of an ordinary Martial Artist. He could even hold his own against some new Innate Martial Artists.
But in a war between civilizations of this scale, he was still just a minor figure.
’Even Grandmasters can fall. What can a mere Martial Artist like me, who hasn’t even crossed the threshold into the Innate realm, possibly do?’