Yu Lian, of course, didn't sneak up; he jumped up openly. He was an uninitiated sensitive, and though he knew the principles of the profound and powerful spiritual energy techniques from his previous life, he naturally couldn't unleash them. But at least he knew that if he slammed a spiritual energy impact into the ground, he could propel his body upwards.

So, with his broken and weak body, and a stomach full of seemingly wailing nanomachines, he jumped onto the back of the Gravel Dragon, raised his warhammer, and brought it down hard, smashing it onto the monster's crown.

The Gravel Dragon's body once again twitched and trembled uncontrollably, its wings seemingly quivering, and it could no longer continue to ascend. Sergeant Baka, on the ground, saw it clearly and let out a particularly bestial, yet not quite human, roar. He pounced forward like a hunting giant Bearmen, once again pulling tight on the Gravel Dragon's trailing tentacles.

The veins on his forehead bulged, his arms, waist, and abdomen tensed, as if his torso had expanded a full size. Then he roared, “Bearmen Baka!” and actually managed to pull the beast back down to the ground.

…Well, this scene was indeed magical, but it could still be counted within the “innate divine strength” category of the Bearmen. Thankfully, he didn't smash the mighty Gravel Dragon to the ground and then swing it around like a sack; otherwise, Yu Lian would truly suspect this guy was a hidden awakened.

Sergeant Youyou charged over, howling, and struck the Gravel Dragon's belly with a hammer, but unfortunately, it didn't break through its defenses. On the other hand, Lieutenant Mondeson, whose body was already aflame, grunted as he propped himself up, gathering his remaining strength, and viciously plunged his chainsword into the beast's wound, twisting it forcefully.

The Gravel Dragon's tail lashed out, knocking the Lieutenant and the big black guy away, but it couldn't stop Yu Lian, who was standing on its head, from smashing his power hammer onto its skull once more.

The massive dragon body finally couldn't hold on and collapsed. Yu Lian also couldn't maintain his Balance and slid off its head, his entire body, including his back, hitting the ground with a loud thud, instantly feeling as if all his bones had come apart.

However, even so, it still wasn't dead. The Gravel Dragon supported itself with its front limbs, which were covered in tattered wing membranes, and raised its head, opening its bloody maw at Yu Lian, who was right by its feet, preparing to bite. One had to be thankful that although this creature was called a “Dragon,” it ultimately had no neck, otherwise, it would have snapped someone up in one crunch.

At this moment, it seemed no one could come to Yu Lian's rescue, except for Sergeant Major Xi Lika, who had just jumped down from the sentry tower after exhausting its ammunition.

Yes, the ammunition was depleted again, and the loader had been blasted to the wall by the Gravel Dragon's recent bomb-breath, clinging on for dear life.

However, it seemed the future god-tier sniper, Ina, was possessed by a soul from a later era. She managed to achieve the effect of precise burst fire with a hand-cranked machine gun. Coupled with the heavy firepower on the city wall and the machine guns of the two armored vehicles at the city gate, they actually shot down all the worm dragons, achieving brilliant results.

Perhaps the “Dragon Slaying Battle” at the supply station was too eye-catching, as everyone failed to notice the situation outside the city.

Ina was preparing to go down herself to reload, so she could continue to provide fire support from the front. After all, the enemies in the air had been shot down, but the ground battle on the front lines was far from over.

However, as soon as she jumped down from the tower, she saw Yu Lian sliding off the dragon's head. The Sergeant Major had almost no hesitation. She grabbed the rifle that was always hanging at her waist and fired a burst of bullets.

It must be admitted that Ina probably had her shooting talent maxed out in the womb. Even without time to assume a proper shooting stance, she instinctively slammed almost all the bullets into the Gravel Dragon's head. One shot even hit its eye.

The severely wounded monster could no longer activate its field shield, allowing the bullets to pierce its eye. The vision before it turned black, and it could no longer clearly see the enemy in front of it, so it naturally bit at empty air. Before it could feel disappointed, a piercing pain shot through its abdomen. This was Yu Lian, who had reacted and rolled under its newly propped-up ribs, grabbing the hilt of the sword that was already embedded in the creature's torso, pulling it out sharply, and then thrusting it back in with all his might.

The Gravel Dragon stiffened and twisted, its mouth agape as if its nerves had been pinched. It let out a dry cough, but no bloody foam emerged, only one last energy beam. In its final moments, as life drained away, it still managed one last attack, spitting an energy explosive bomb at the heat source on the city wall.

That heat source was precisely the muzzle of Ina's rifle.

“Boom!” Flames and an arc of electricity once again erupted from the steel city wall. The iron plates, like fragile plastic, were instantly torn into a twisted gap. Although Ina had already leaped down from the gap a step earlier, she was still swept onto her back by the residual shockwave.

She felt as if she had been hit head-on by a speeding tank, her internal organs churning. If she hadn't been wearing her power armor, that blow just now would have taken her life.

The Sergeant Major landed on the ground in a rather undignified spread-eagle position, covered in dust, dizzy, and disoriented. It took her several seconds to regain normal breathing. She was frantically helped up by the surrounding soldiers and realized she had been thrown outside the city wall, landing by the trench.

Through the bonfire and smoke near the city gate, she saw Yu Lian slowly crawling out from under the collapsed body of the giant beast. Just as she let out a sigh of relief, she was frantically pulled into the trench by a nearby soldier.

After she had just taken her stand in the trench and looked forward, the Sergeant Major could no longer relax. She suddenly discovered that the enemy had already charged to this point.

Yes, after the series of chaos caused by the appearance of that Gravel Dragon, the monsters attacking from the ground had finally broken through the blockade of fire. Their hideous insect-like and beast-like forms were perfectly clear; their carapaces, muscles, and claw blades seemed to have no wasted parts, existing purely for slaughter, making one's hair stand on end.

Many soldiers who were encountering them for the first time had already let out uncontrolled screams.

Shooting at monsters and engaging in melee combat with monsters were two entirely different concepts; most ordinary soldiers couldn't do the latter.

Ina gritted her teeth, enduring the pain, and decided to fight to the death. Thus, she naturally didn't see that when Yu Lian crawled out from under the giant beast's belly, he clutched a crystal in his hand.

That was the Gravel Dragon's Dragon Crystal, the energy core of a “Phantom Beast,” a materialized form of spiritual energy. It sounded very valuable and could totally be used as a primary ingredient for magical potions, at least selling for a thousand or eight hundred pounds, right?

And indeed, it was.

Of course, due to the different worldviews, the advancement of supernatural powers here doesn't rely on taking drugs and acting, but on the very classic, very old-fashioned, and very metaphysical “comprehension,” “awakening,” and “cultivation” trinity.

Yu Lian had already passed the comprehension stage; he could now freely use basic spiritual energy techniques. What remained to be considered was the necessary stage of awakening. Only through this step could all sensitives open the depths of their souls, that spiritual Universe known only as the “Star Ring.”

Thus, one could achieve resonance with the omnipresent yet formless universe spirit, forming a celestial connection between the inner and outer “Universes.” Only then could one formally step through the door of the spiritual energy user, achieving the extraordinary path of flying, escaping, and wandering the Star Ring.

As for the methods of awakening, they were actually diverse. Some awakened from being beaten half to death but refusing to die from the pain, some from being thrown off a cliff and scared into it, some from being poisoned and having a breakthrough, some from great joy and sorrow, some from cultivating step-by-step according to secret texts, some from being empowered by masters, and some from being electrocuted… In short, there was nothing you couldn't imagine or achieve.

There are trillions of intelligent beings in the known Universe. Even if the ratio of “one sensitive in a million people” is true, this is still a considerable number. With such a large population, the methods of awakening are naturally bizarre and varied.

The Gravel Dragon's Dragon Crystal could perfectly serve as the main material to “electrocute” someone awake.

Specifically, a sensitive with some spiritual energy perception could use their subtle ability to Explore the crystal, find the Balance between the inner and outer energy sources within it, and then inject all of them into their body.

You will feel your spirit overflowing with fullness, your cognition expanding with distortion, and your soul being reshaped into nothingness. You must persist, persist until the clouds part and the flowers bloom under the bright moon. When your soul is torn and reconstructed by a power beyond your body's capacity, you will see the Universe and open another realm of life…

Of course, it's more likely to directly open another segment of life.

“Awakening through ‘electric shock’ is a crooked path; good children must never learn it!”

Throughout the Universe, any somewhat legitimate spiritual energy cultivation group would admonish their apprentices this way.

Yu Lian, of course, didn't plan to do that either. It wasn't that he thought he would explode; in his previous life, he had seen all sorts of situations. If he couldn't endure this small pain, it would be a laughingstock among his peers.

However, there were plenty of stable and normal awakening methods in this world, so why endure such suffering? He wasn't a masochist.

Moreover, the Gravel Dragon's Dragon Crystal could be refined into a good extraordinary treasure, and if all else failed, it could still be sold for money.

More importantly, based on his birthday, the corresponding primordial star today was “Eternity” or “Balance.” If the ritual was performed successfully, his astrolabe would most likely be a pure white nebula, commonly known as a “Monk.”

This type of Star Ring progression then had two branches: “Energy Harmonizer” and “Infiltrator.” The former leaned towards spiritual cultivation, while the latter excelled at operating from behind the scenes. However, purely in terms of combat, they developed comprehensively from strength to agility to Wisdom to red to blue. They cultivated both martial arts, physique, and spiritual energy techniques, but were not particularly proficient in any of them.

Pure white, wasn't that just a good canvas for painting?

In his previous life, Yu Lian had never heard of any great masters emerging from the “Monk” path, and it was said that its two branch paths completely lost their Heritage after the Seven Rings, nor did any protagonist-haloed individual complete them.

To put it bluntly, it had no future.

Yu Lian was a “Free Knight” in his previous life, a Seven Rings master of the “Wander” Star Ring, having ascended step by step from a “Traveler.” Although he was forced to become an idealist fool again in this life, since he had embarked on this path, how could he not go and see the scenery beyond the Eighth Ring?

…Of course, according to some not-so-well-founded mystical theories he obtained in his previous life, the names of the Star Rings were not, as the public believed, some conventional customary names, but represented some deeper metaphysical concepts.

Since they were called “Balance” and “Eternity,” they sounded quite grand.

Many spiritual energy masters Yu Lian had communicated with in his previous life believed: if the subsequent paths of “Balance” and “Eternity” could be completed, they might represent the Balance between science and mysticism, the Balance between the material world and the Void Realm; or perhaps the eternal life between life and soul, the permanent inheritance of truth and law, and so on…

It was precisely because it sounded grand that it didn't sound very reliable!

Yu Lian was only one step away from the peak and was too aware of the difficulty of going one step further. If it weren't for seeking to advance to the world beyond the Eighth Ring, would he have challenged the secret behind the Star Dragon King to court death?

…Of course, this had nothing to do with his being too popular and unable to find other avenues! Really!

Even with a complete path, advancement was so difficult, let alone an incomplete one.

Don't think that just because you've transmigrated and been reborn, you're necessarily the protagonist. His experience in the previous life had very realistically told him that this halo was actually metaphysics, and if it wasn't there, it simply wasn't there. With a ready path to follow, why challenge hellish difficulty?

Doesn't “Asura” sound very protagonist-like? Doesn't “Driving” also sound very glorious and righteous?

So, this time, I'll be a “Star Realm Sword Master” who pierces the nine heavens with a single sword, or a “Sky Mentor” who ignites stars and creates black holes by hand! Coincidentally, I have some clues for breaking through the peak on these two paths…

In summary, the Dragon Crystal could be kept for now and used when the star position shifted.

As Yu Lian pondered this, he crawled out from under the Gravel Dragon's corpse. Then, his first glance fell upon the scene outside the city gate: the Dreadtalon Zerglings had already charged up the gentle slope, their sharp hook-claws slashing down like blades. The soldiers in the trench scurried about, terrified and bewildered. The only one who hadn't fled, Sergeant Major Xi Lika, stood firm on the trench wall, like an unyielding statue. With one hand, she held her gun and shattered the head of a Dreadtalon Zergling, while with the other, she swung her sword to block the giant pincers of another. Blood and sparks splattered onto her dust-covered face, yet it was as if they had struck a mountain.

But at this moment, a Zergling had already leaped to Ina's side, extending its hook-blade and aiming for her neck. The Sergeant Major, however, was completely unaware, or perhaps even if she had noticed, she wouldn't have had time to do anything.

“To hell with you, universe spirit!” Yu Lian crushed the Dragon Crystal.