CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER 36 HIS IDENTITY IS NOT SIMPLE

EDITOR: ENDLESSFANTASY TRANSLATION

Wang Lan wasn’t sure if Ren Xingwu and the others had heard him, and he knew his own credibility was too low.

You, a mere Starlight... no, a rookie who just broke through to the Star Shine Stage, claiming you can take care of them? Do you take the elite squad of the Martial Arts Corps for a joke? Yet, it seemed that just as Wang Lan spoke, Ren Xingwu and his team’s offensive suddenly intensified.

"Demon Bastards... Grandpa is taking you home—"

"Old Wolf, don’t be reckless—"

"BOOM—"

Old Wolf suddenly transformed into a streak of light and charged into the midst of the Biochemical Demon Soldiers. His limbs and body were instantly severed by them.

But then, his Star palace unfolded, the Starlight within extinguished, and a powerful explosion erupted, engulfing the seven or eight surrounding Biochemical Demon Soldiers. Life as splendid as summer flowers, death as brilliant as shooting stars. The fleeting glory of that moment, that Fanghua, deeply shook Wang Lan’s heart.

Wang Lan possessed awareness and willpower. He believed he could even face the enemy’s forces calmly, ready to die a heroic death. But he was still profoundly moved by the unwavering resolve of the soldiers before him. Even in death, they chose the most impactful way to perish, unleashing a relentless will to fight until their very last breath.

Suddenly, a poem echoed in Wang Lan’s mind:

"What meaning is there in this crippled form I leave behind? Let my broken body become a bridge, to lead the enemy to the netherworld’s distant shore.

Alive, I fight. Dead, I fight on."

"Old Wolf—you bastards! I’ll fight you all!"

"Xiao Gang! Calm down!"

"Phoenix Form... Activate!"

A cold voice, like a judgment from Hell, resounded.

The moment the cooldown finished, Wang Lan activated the Phoenix Form without hesitation. He had already invested three hundred skill points into it.

Three hundred skill points, active for thirty seconds!

A Phoenix Tail Flower insignia appeared between Wang Lan’s eyebrows. This time, the Phoenix Form seemed different from before. The instant the insignia manifested, blood-red patterns bloomed across Wang Lan’s body. A swirling mist of vivid red enveloped him—like blood, like fire, like a dream, like an illusion.

In an instant, Wang Lan materialized before Ren Xingwu. His palm shattered the Mantis Blade of the Biochemical Demon Soldier confronting Ren Xingwu, followed by a lightning-fast punch that made the creature’s head explode.

Wang Lan seemed to teleport, appearing beside each warrior to resolve their immediate crisis, then transforming into a blur of afterimages as he charged the surging Biochemical Demon Soldiers.

The Biochemical Demon Soldiers were formidable, each possessing strength equivalent to the mid-Star Cloud Stage. But before Wang Lan in his Phoenix Form, none could withstand a single punch.

In less than ten seconds, only a handful of Biochemical Demon Soldiers remained in the cave.

Ren Xingwu and the others, however, remained frozen in their defensive stances, their eyes fixated on the scene unfolding before them. Even with the resilient hearts of soldiers, men tempered by the crucible of war and fire, accustomed to remaining stoic even if mountains crumbled before them, their minds were utterly blank.

Moments ago, a Biochemical Demon Soldier’s Mantis Blade had been less than five centimeters from his vital points. In that instant, Ren Xingwu had been prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice. But then, a figure wreathed in red mist flashed past, and then... the Biochemical Demon Soldier simply ceased to exist.

"PFFT~"

A long, continuous farting sound broke the oppressive silence.

The soldiers, who had been frozen solid, suddenly snapped back to reality, instinctively tensing up and shrinking back.

"Captain? What happened?"

"I’d damn well like to know too! That person... it looked like... Brother Wang Lan?"

"A moment ago, I thought I heard something about ’thirty seconds’... Did anyone else catch that?"

"It was Brother Wang Lan! He told us to hold on for thirty seconds..."

"It really was him? But... how is that possible? Wasn’t he just at the Starlight Stage? Is *this* the Starlight Stage? Could our understanding have been wrong all along? Maybe the Starlight Stage isn’t the starting point for a Star Martial Warrior? Have we been reading our cultivation progression charts upside down?"

"Whether we’ve got it backward or not, I don’t know... but... wasn’t Brother Wang Lan supposed to be a healer?"

"What are you all standing around for? Brother Wang Lan has already charged out! Hurry and provide support!" Ren Xingwu suddenly snapped to his senses, his voice cracking like a whip as he became the first to dash towards the cave entrance.

Exiting the cave, Ren Xingwu and the others collectively gasped, drawing in sharp breaths of cold air. Outside, dozens of Biochemical Demon Soldiers lay strewn across the ground, every single one dead, their heads exploded. They had fallen in a chaotic array of postures.

Ren Xingwu had witnessed such a scene once before.

Years ago, he’d been deployed to support a small Middle Eastern nation ravaged by Exotic Beasts. A terrifying secret realm had suddenly opened, unleashing countless humanoid Exotic Beasts that swarmed the country. In a single night, they had slaughtered one hundred thousand people. The United Nations had passed an emergency resolution, requesting peacekeeping support from the Five Permanent Countries. Ren Xingwu, a lieutenant at the time, had been leading a squad.

After a night of fierce fighting, he and his unit were trapped in an abandoned factory, overrun by an endless tide of Exotic Beasts. Their only option was to hide in the factory’s underground warehouse and await rescue.

A day later, a knock came at the basement door. After confirming the countersign, Ren Xingwu led his teammates out. The sight that greeted them was a field of humanoid Exotic Beast corpses, scattered in disarray, much like the scene before him now.

Only later, after reviewing surveillance footage, did they learn that the powerful, unnamed Star Martial Warrior who had saved them had annihilated thousands of Exotic Beasts in the warehouse area in a mere instant. The creatures had been slaughtered en masse before they even registered the presence of an enemy, which explained the chaotic scattering of their bodies.

And now, it seemed hundreds of Biochemical Demon Soldiers outside the cave had met a similar fate, wiped out before they even had a chance to detect an enemy.

"Brother Wang Lan!" Xiao Gang suddenly cried out. At the far end of the field of corpses, Wang Lan lay on the ground in a contorted posture, his condition unknown. Xiao Gang sprinted to his side like the wind.

"Brother Wang Lan, you can’t die! Brother Wang Lan!"

"Don’t... don’t shake me... Stop... I’m... falling apart..." Wang Lan glared resentfully at Xiao Gang, whose concerned shaking was, in fact, nearly finishing him off.

Right now, Wang Lan seriously wanted to retract his earlier assessment of these Soldiers. Adorable? My ass! I hate you all...

"Little Brother, how are you?" Ren Xingwu approached, his expression grave as he asked.

"He’s completely drained!" an older warrior declared after squatting to examine Wang Lan. "No serious injuries, though."

"Xiao Gang, carry Wang Lan. We’re heading back to report."

This time, Xiao Gang was exceptionally careful. As he carried Wang Lan and sprinted, Wang Lan felt no jolts.

But... it was still unbearable. I really want to die! My head is spinning, my body feels hollowed out. My organs, my entire being... none of it feels like it belongs to me anymore. This Phoenix Form! I have no idea what kind of twisted mind created it... I, Wang Lan, swear I’d rather be beaten to death, even torn apart by five horses, than ever use it again! It’s just too agonizing...

"I say, Little Brother," Xiao Gang said while running, "next time you collapse, could you try for a slightly more... conventional posture? The way you were twisted up back there, at first glance, it really looked like you’d kicked the bucket."

"There won’t *be* a next time... I guarantee it!" Wang Lan mumbled.

"What Star Martial Skill was that anyway? How can it be so powerful? It has to be an S-rank Star Martial Skill, right? Maybe even higher! Could it be a super S-rank forbidden art?"

"I don’t want to talk about it... Let me just... get some sleep..."

Drifting into a daze, Wang Lan peacefully closed his eyes.

Ren Xingwu arrived at Wu Changfeng’s office, his expression grave. "Commander," he reported, "the situation is serious!"

"I can see that. Your squad lost three members, and everyone else is injured," Wu Changfeng replied, his face grim as he sat behind his desk.

"That young woman brought the data logs from their experiment earlier. Fu and I examined it. We’ve never encountered this type of Biochemical Demon Soldier before. Previous generations were, at best, high-tier Starlight Stage. We’d never even seen Star Shine Stage Demon Soldiers. But this time... these fifth-generation Biochemical Demon Soldiers... I’m afraid even Star Cloud Stage cultivators might not be enough to suppress them!"

Ren Xingwu continued, "It’s not just that Star Cloud Stage might not be enough to suppress them; it’s a certainty. While scouting the Demon Clan base, we were ambushed by Demon Soldiers—over a hundred Biochemical Demon Soldiers! They surrounded our squad, intending to annihilate us. If it weren’t for Brother Wang Lan, we would have undoubtedly perished."

"Wang Lan?" Wu Changfeng queried. "The young man your team carried back? Isn’t he merely at the Starlight Stage? What happened? Does he possess some extraordinary support abilities?"

"He personally killed seventy or eighty of those Demon Soldiers. Commander Wu," Ren Xingwu said, lowering his voice, "are you familiar with a Star Martial Skill that, upon activation, places an insignia on the user’s brow... like a... like a Phoenix Tail Flower? A red mist, like fire, envelops the body. Their speed becomes like lightning, their strength capable of shattering mountains. In an instant, they can kill dozens of Star Cloud Stage warriors like myself..."

Ren Xingwu dared not continue. At that moment, he felt as if Wu Changfeng was about to devour him whole. Those intense, bull-like eyes were fixed on him, their gaze so piercing it seemed to touch his very soul.

"Phoe... nix... Form?" Wu Changfeng enunciated each syllable slowly, his sharp eyes boring into Ren Xingwu’s as he asked in a low, deliberate tone.

"I... I don’t know its name, Commander Wu. What Star Martial Skill is it? Have you encountered it before?"

Wu Changfeng slowly shook his head. "I haven’t seen it myself, but I’ve heard of it. You know I graduated from Modu City Star Martial Academy. There’s a legend there.

"Ten years ago, Eld Di, one of the five great elders of Jade Country, was transferred from Yanhua Star Martial Academy to become the dean of Modu City Star Martial Academy. To the outside world, it might have seemed like a routine administrative transfer, but for Modu City Star Martial Academy, it was profoundly significant.

"What is the foundational teaching of Modu City Star Martial Academy? The Dragon Transformation Decision. For two hundred years, countless powerful Star Martial Skills have been derived from it, forming the very bedrock of our academy. But for us students, the Dragon Transformation Decision also had another name: the Dragon Emperor Form! You can probably guess the significance I’m implying about this Phoenix Form now, can’t you?"

Ren Xingwu’s eyes widened. "Are you saying... this Phoenix Form is akin to the Dragon Emperor Form? Powerful enough to be the cornerstone of an entire top-tier Star Martial Academy?"

"Precisely." Wu Changfeng nodded. "Eld Di’s arrival as dean was celebrated throughout Modu City Star Martial Academy. It meant he could potentially establish another such foundational pillar for us.

"The Phoenix Form is an S-rank forbidden Star Martial Skill of Jade Country, a powerful technique passed down from ancient times, with origins tracing back to the mythological era. However, the prerequisites for learning this Star Martial Skill are incredibly stringent. In all of Jade Country, fewer than ten individuals have ever cultivated it, and as far as I know, only one person has ever truly mastered it."