'I can't go back. I can't retreat either.' Zhen Lun despaired as he looks back and forth.

General Jade Beetles started to attack him without letting him sort his minds. Zhen Lun didn't dare to be careless. He decided to went all out. He activated Shadow Clone and Mana Sword.

'I should practice Earth Mastery next time.' If he can create a giant wall right now, he could at least prevent them from advancing. At this moment he can only create a stone as big as his head and it actually takes him a total of five minutes to create a rock that is as big as his head.

With superior speed and strength, Zhen Lun slaughtered them like a grim reaper. Each slash by him will badly injure a single general Jade Beetle.

His clone is also keeping up with him. Despite being a clone, four attacks of his manage to kill one and every forty seconds, both of them can activate Fire Palm which will one hit the Jade Beetle.

'Hm? there are some of them that hiding in the back?' Zhen Lun spotted something behind them.

Looking at the current situation, His clone is clearly having a hard time. Unlike how he experiences at the entrance of the nest. The current Jade Beetles was actually smarter. The others joined and help the injured ones. As the injured one retreated, they healed themselves by an unknown species of Jade Beetle. It is a new type of Jade Beetle that he never saw before. It specializes in healing wounds.

'This is bad. With my current stamina, I'll probably be able to hold for another five minutes.' He didn't expect they knew tactics.

Zhen Lun tried to create the pathways to the back. Leaving his clone struggling at the back. He is going to eliminate the healer as they pose a threat to him if it was left alone.

'They're not giving me a chance huh?' Zhen Lun frowned. As he advances the healer also retreats a few steps back not letting him close up their distance at all.

'What should I do?' At this rate, he will exhaust himself first before he reaches the healer.

I need to ignore their attack so that I can pick up the paces.

With his calm mind, Zhen Lun calmly thought of an idea. He manipulates his mana to cover condensed mana around him to protect himself.

He successfully created a barrier but the mana it consumes per second was too much for him to handle. He can only hold it for five seconds.

'I'm going to risk it!' Zhen Lun rushed toward the healer, without caring for the incoming attacks.

With the barrier he created protecting him, he is able to catch up with the healer without any problem.

"Die!"

Zhen Lun easily killed the healer, they're suprisingly fragile. He sliced them in half like a tofu with his sword.

There are only ten healers left, Zhen Lun dashed to them with a speed of lightning. He managed to kill all of the healers in time but due to His Mana has reached 'Zero' His mana sword along with his shield has gone away.

Right now he was forced to use his fist to fight.

'Looks like depending solely on Mana Sword is not a good idea.' Zhen Lun regretted that he did not prepare a backup weapon.

His mana will regen as time passes but he barely can hold it anymore.

His clone's duration has run out. Right now there's only him and about forty General Jade Beetles left.

'This is bad!' He finally encountered a life and death situation himself. It was the same feeling like the time he met Elder Ye for the first time.

[Hidden effect triggered]

'Remember to calm your mind. Do not act rashly, observe your opponent movements. If you can't attack, you retreat. If you cannot retreat, try your best to stay alive. No matter what, calm your mind and think rationally!' He suddenly recalled Wu Shi advice.

'Right, I should preserve my strength.' He suddenly recalled the advice he received from Wu Shi.

'Even when you're not here you saved my life.' He clenched his fist as he stared at his enemies.

'Observe your enemy...'

'The one at the back will just shoot liquid. There's no need to dodge them. They deal minimal damage to me. I only need to dodge the one that is in front of me, as they pose more threat than the one on the back.'

'Meanwhile, I'll wait for my mana to regen with my mana sword ready I'll be able to finish this battle quickly.'

The only thing he wondered was will he survive until his mana reached a sufficient point.

Zhen Lun has sorted out the plan and proceeds to carry out the plan. He only focused on dodging the frontline attacker and didn't dodge the liquid that was spat by the back liner.

The liquid that hit Zhen Lun scalded his skin, causing smoke to rise as it touches him. He can only helplessly endure the pain.

Maximizing his sharpened senses, He has somehow grasped the enemy's attack pattern which allows him to dodge their attack effortlessly. It was a hidden effect of Mind Tranquilizing again.

'Time to counter-attack.' His mana is finally enough for him to condense a sword.

After enduring the pain while gritting his teeth. Waiting the hour-like minutes to passes, Zhen Lun Mana is now sufficient and he is now back to action.

Zhen Lun stopped dodging and activated his Mana Sword, casting Fire palm to obliterate one of them and dashed to another one to deal another finishing blow.

After an unknown period of time, Without letting another injury added to his body, He killed all of the forty General Jade Beetles singlehandedly.

He didn't expect that they suddenly became smarter. They didn't attack randomly and rashly charged or wait for their teammates to die helplessly.

Due to this, he suffered quite more injuries than what he expected.

He recalled the time that he was only Organ Refining Realm. He was glad that he didn't enter the nest back then.

Puff*

'My stamina is a problem now. I should find a way to train my body when I get back.' Zhen Lun has too many things to regret after this. He is too careless.

'With General Janxi strength I hope they are fine. Sadly, I can only pray.' He cannot help the raid anymore as he is badly injured.

He wanted to lie on the ground to rest but he didn't dare to rest at enemy's territory. Staying here any longer will endanger his life.

Zhen Lun quickly finds his way out and take a rest outside for a while before he returns to Peerless Sky Sect.

After resting for a few minutes he heard some footsteps from the direction of the nest.

Expecting General Janxi to return, It was suprisingly Commander Xu that followed General Janxi.

'He came out on his own? Where's the General?' Judging from the commander's expression something bad must happened.

Commander Xu ran out from the nest with a terrified expression. His body didn't have any injuries at all but he was stripped naked from his armor.

"Monster!" Commander Xu screamed traumatically as he fell down on his knees.

Looking at the Commander Xu Zhen Lun approached him. "What happened?"

"She was a monster! a Monster! Hahaha" Commander Xu laughed hysterically as he explained.

"She? The queen? Where is the General? Isn't he with you?"

"General? Hahaha! The queen touches him and he was killed! Hahaha"

'A mere touch to kill someone at Transcendent Mortal realm?' Zhen Lun frowned.

Commander Xu suddenly stopped laughing. He was holding his stomach and gas came out from his mouth.

Zhen Lun sensed something is wrong and immediately left Commander Xu side.

Commander Xu's stomach got bigger and bigger soon it exploded from the inside and was turned into a pool of blood.

Looking at the guts that spilled on the floor. Zhen Lun puked, his mind is not stable. The current scene is too much for him to handle.

'So, no one came back alive except me?' Zhen Lun was horrified but at the same time, he was relieved that he has survived.

"I should report go back and report this."

---

Inside the nest. A silhouette with sparkling Jade skin sat on the throne gazing the one below her with a dignified expression.

"Tch, I let one of them survived."

"Well, He's only an ant. It should be fine."

"I am surprised that he managed to kill my army himself."

"He should at least warned others about me. With more people coming, I'll be able to get stronger." The woman laughed devilishly.

"Your Majesty is wise." Jade-Skinned General Janxi knelt on the floor along with many other guards that stood on the side.

---

On the way back, his injuries attracted a lot of attention. They were quite severe, as he walks he will leave a trail of blood behind him.

Suddenly, his vision became blurry and his consciousness is slowly fading.

'How useless am I?' Zhen Lun fainted on the ground. He has tried his best but his consciousness fade before he could report the matter to the higher-ups

'Hm? That latter, Why is he injured that badly?' An Elder that recognized Zhen Lun. He quickly feeds him a pill and sent him back to the Core Disciple's Apartment.

...

An unknown period of time passed and Zhen Lun was finally awoken. When he opened his eyes, the first thing that he sees was the familiar ceilings.

'This is my room?' Zhen Lun tried came out from his bed but his body aches as he wanted to.

"Master!" Xiao Xue heard some sound coming from the bedroom. She immediately panicked and directly rushed to the bedroom to see Zhen Lun.

"Xiao Xue, How long did I faint?" Zhen Lun asked as he rubs his forehead.

Xiao Xue didn't answer the question, She hugged Zhen Lun tightly and cried. "Stupid Master!"

"How did you injured yourself so badly? Did you know how worried I am?" Xiao Xue cried.

"It's my fault, I'm sorry." Zhen Lun apologized as he realized that he made her worried.

Zhen Lun gently petted her head and remain silences as he watched Xiao Xue cries.

"I'm fine now. I'm your master how could I die easily?" Zhen Lun thought for a while and decided to act tough. He didn't know what to say to comfort her.

"Next time bring me with you! I'm already at Fourth Stage of Transcendent Mortal Realm. Elder Yu said that I'm stronger than you already!"

For the next few minutes, Zhen Lun stayed silent for the whole time.

'T-Transcendent Mortal Realm?? The fourth Stage????' Zhen Lun was dumbstruck. He can't believe what it. He thought that his advancement was quite fast already. but his status as Master was shattered.

'...I'm useless.' Zhen Lun minds go blank as he kept repeating the same sentence over and over.

"Master? What's wrong?" Xiao Xue shook him intensely as she held Zhen Lun on her hand. She unknowingly shook Zhen Lun's body with her full strength.

Zhen Lun who pretended to faint formerly, really fainted on the lifelessly.

"Stopped it, your killing him." Elder Yu came to the rescue and stopped Xiao Xue. "You will strangle him to death if you don't stop."

'Wait...'

'She didn't hold any intention to kill the brat so her action was allowed. Why did I stop her? If he was dead I can escape!'

'Why did I stop her!' Elder Ye regretted deeply as It was too late already. If he told Xiao Xue to keep strangling. She definitely will not do it.

'I should train her more. so that she can accidentally kill him.' As Elder Yu thought about that, He receives a soul attack and fainted. The system sensed his hostile intention and he received punishments for it.

'Ugh.. it hurts, I shouldn't do that.' Elder Yu cried.

---

...

'While I've been sleeping, I've advanced to Spiritual Refining Realm. Judging from that I must have fainted for a whole day.'

Zhen Lun opened his character menu.

Above-Average Mortal (Level 12)

HP: 1240/1240 MP: 1920/1920

STR: 103 VIT: 65 Qi: 63

AGI: 78 LUK: 18

INT: 103 MAG: 20

Skill:

Martial Artists: Fire Palm Lvl 4, Shadow Clone Lvl 2, Water Sword Technique Lvl 3, Cultivation Technique Lvl 8 (30%), Body Strengthening Realm Lvl Max, Qi Gathering Realm Lvl Max, Spirit Condensing Realm Lvl Max, Bone Tempering Realm Lvl Max, Meridian Tempering Realm Lvl Max, Organ Refining Realm Lvl Max. Mind Tranquilizing Realm Lvl Max, Spiritual Refining Realm Lvl 2

Classless: Physical Abilities Lvl 10, High Willpower Lvl 3, Mana Manipulation Lvl 4, Mana Weapon Lvl 6, Fire Mastery Lvl 1, Earth Mastery Lvl 1, Water Mastery Lvl 1, Wind Mastery Lvl 1, Mana Shield Lvl 1

The battle was too intense, he didn't dare avert his attention to other things. Many Menus appeared during the fight but he ignored them.

'I wonder how much gold I've gathered?'

Zhen Lun opened his inventory menu. He found over 5000 golds in his inventory. If only he could use them in real life.

Sigh*

Zhen Lun suddenly remembered the Shop Menu that he has yet unlocked. 'This System sure is cunning.'

It seems that I have to use the next Skill Points, unlocking the Shop Menu.

'I should go to the hall and report the news to Elder Lin.'