With a single command, they charged into battle—not as a joke but risking their lives. Typically, it depended on who was giving the orders, as the executors wouldn't heed just anyone's command.

Previously, could a disciple from Youxia Mountain command everyone? Even if he was Mulan Qingqing's fiancé, everyone would hesitate and weigh the situation.

But now, a few thousand people were fighting against just about thirty, nearly a hundred against one, and those thirty looked quite timid, their words almost tantamount to begging for mercy.

There was no need to cause unpleasantness with Mulan Qingqing's fiancé.

Thus, the leaders from both sides subsequently gave a signal, "Kill!"

Over seven hundred people instantly leaped over the crowd's heads and descended on the encircled group. It felt less like they wanted to kill them than to crush them with sheer numbers.

Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang also jumped in, their gazes immediately seeking the man in black clothes and a headscarf mentioned in Xiang Laner's message. They noticed the bundle he had dropped, but neither reacted, simply watching.

The commotion of the fight erupted suddenly, and it also ended quickly. A few who desperately tried to break through couldn't get past the enclosure—there were too many people surrounding them, too many leaping to intercept them. Soon, they were swatted down like flies.

"Ours, ours..." someone screamed out bizarrely.

With so many people around, it was impossible to remember everyone's faces, and the varied attire only added to the confusion during the skirmish.

Anyway, after a brief and intense clash, many stood still, looking at one another. Some patted their side swords; they hadn't even drawn their weapons.

Then, people shook their heads and laughed at each other, feeling that the fiancé was somewhat foolish.

Was it really necessary to have everyone rush over such a long distance to fight a few men, hardly enough to fill the gaps between one's teeth?

In front of the training ground's mirror, a group watched this unbelievable brawl. Some on scene saw their sect members overwhelmed by the crowd, reacting with shock and anger.

Young Master Nan scratched his head, still not understanding what it all meant.

The fight ended too quickly, so much so that the mirrored image hadn't even finished before the conflict was over.

Amidst the chaotic crowd, Shi Chun cast a spell and shouted loudly, "Everyone look around, see if there are any Insect Extreme Crystals."

Thus, the group began to search the bodies of the fallen, pocketing anything useful they found. Wu Jinliang was somewhat excited, but Shi Chun grabbed his sleeve and glared at him, signaling him not to fight over it.

Wu Jinliang had no choice but to stop, his attention returning to the bundle dropped by the man in black.

Master Mai bent over a few times, checked the name tags on the hands of the deceased, muttered "All from Jiao State," and then did not interfere further.

The bundle on the ground was not ignored and was soon picked up. Someone rummaged through it quickly, the black cloth bag naturally attracting attention. The person felt and pinched it through the cloth, then opened it to check, nearly allowing a swarm of Insect Extreme Crystals to escape.

After hurriedly covering the opening, he shouted, "Insect Extreme Crystals, lots of them!"

People nearby immediately gathered to look. Master Mai, hearing this, also squeezed over, while Wu Jinliang and Shi Chun did not hurry over, continuing to watch from the side.

Soon, there was a burst of exclamations, "One hundred and three, there are one hundred and three."

Someone cursed, "We were almost fooled by that damn guy; next time we must check thoroughly."

"Master, Master, we've found something, a great find; we got one hundred and three Insect Extreme Crystals."

Master Mai grabbed the black cloth bag containing the Insect Extreme Crystals, squeezed out of the crowd, and walked over to Shi Chun, trying to hand it over for him to see.

Quite thrilled, getting over a hundred at once was not few. How many were there now in Xuan State?

Shi Chun didn't take it, seemingly uninterested, reluctant to bother. He shouted, "Brother Chu, come collect this."

"Hey, coming, coming." Chu Jingtang, accompanied by his fellow sect disciples, squeezed over.

So far, Shi Chun had entrusted half of the Insect Extreme Crystals allocated from Mulan Qingqing's share to the people of Bilan Sect, demonstrating his trust in them.

Chu Jingtang's group, without saying that they would die for their benefactor, still felt somewhat gratified, glad they had joined this venture.

Shi Chun motioned with his chin towards the black bag in Master Mai's hand, "We have gains, take it over. Take out the Insect Extreme Crystals you're keeping too and let everyone count them. It's everyone's hard work; it will reassure everyone."

Although Chu Jingtang felt it might be redundant, he had long perceived Shi Chun as a devilishly clever person, thinking there must be a deeper reason for his actions. Secretly planning to ask him later, he thus had his fellow disciples take down the bags of Insect Extreme Crystals they carried and handed them over for everyone to count.

Master Mai and others hesitated, "There's no need, we are all from the same side."

Shi Chun firmly said, "It doesn't belong to any one person; it's everyone's hard work. Let's count them again in front of everyone to make everyone feel secure."

Alright, since they were idle anyway, the group had no choice but to go through the trouble again, gathering to re-count all the Insect Extreme Crystals.

As the counting reached halfway, a group of people hurriedly approached from afar—it was reinforcements called by the signal sent before the trapped victims were surrounded.

Yet, they stopped advancing before getting too close, crouching behind a hill to spy, daring not come closer. They had only brought around a hundred people for the rescue, while the opposing side's forces were too numerous to count, obviously overwhelmingly many at a glance.

As for who the opposing forces were, it was too far to see clearly.

On a distant hilltop, there was also a person looking out—it was Xiang Laner. Shi Chun had lent her a Wind Scale to use for errands, and she couldn't resist coming here to observe. Watching the process made her teeth ache; thousands had run a long way to tackle just thirty-some people, which was quite absurd.

After the Insect Extreme Crystals were counted, Master Mai reported to Shi Chun, "Master, it's still the same count as yesterday, one thousand eight hundred thirty-seven."

Shi Chun signaled that Chu Jingtang should keep it, and Master Mai did just that.

After Chu Jingtang got it, he announced to everyone, "Just added 103, now the total is 1940."

Some chuckled, others were indifferent, a few extra couldn't decide anything, everyone was unconcerned.

But Shi Chun was worried about them, "We don't have any casualties, right?"

"Shouldn't have, right?"

"I got a little hurt, hit by one of our own."

"Me too, got slashed by one of our own, it was him."

"Ouch, sorry, really didn't mean to, it was all too chaotic, I got dizzy, couldn't see clearly."

It turned out that during the normal fight, only two people had minor injuries, both inflicted by their own people.

The issue of not being able to recognize each other was easily resolved by Shi Chun on the spot, who found a piece of stone that could be used as chalk, asked Chu Jingtang to come over as a model, drew an X on his chest and another on his back, and smeared crushed stone powder on his forehead, making him instantly stand out.

Many thought this method of differentiation was too crude and careless, but Shi Chun thought it was fine as long as it was effective.

He didn't bother explaining too much to everyone, stepped aside, contacted Xiang Laner with the mother-son charm, then shouted to everyone, "Scouts have reported a new target, strive for Xuan State to win, gather up, let's go!"

"Ah?"

"It's happening again?"

Before anyone could clarify, Shi Chun had already led Wu Jinliang and others flying away.

The scene instantly became chaotic, hurriedly picking up some stones that could be used as chalk, since they were going to do it anyway, might as well use the crude method to prevent friendly fire, and find a finer method later.

Why is Master running so fast, not caring at all about his subordinates, it felt like he was trying to shake them off?

Some didn't even bother picking up chalk stones, deciding to catch up first, worried that Mulan Qingqing's fiancé might take this chance to ditch them, if they couldn't keep up, they might even be accused wrongly.

It was said that the guy had disappeared for no reason before, and Mulan Qingqing couldn't contact him, his excuse for not replying to the mother-son charm messages was that he lost it.

Such a lame excuse, what couldn't that deadbeat do?

They absolutely couldn't let that troublemaker find a good excuse to ditch them, they had to keep up.

So, a group of people running on the road turned into a troop with an X on their chest, another on their backs, and a smear of powder on their forehead, and some were even helping each other draw X's on their backs while running.

This crude method was a first-time experience for folks from all sects.

When the group arrived near the target, they were all transformed into a gang marked with X's and forehead powder.

At first, they weren't used to it, it really didn't fit their aesthetic, but after seeing each other for a while, they got accustomed to the disgust.

Human inertia also told themselves at this time, since looking pretty in this damned place won't earn appreciation, why fuss over it.

The color that had faded was touched up consciously with stones.

Some tried to make the X on their body look nicer.

Then it was back to the usual road, after identifying the target location, Shi Chun didn't forget to emphasize the battlefield discipline loudly once again, "Which direction did the target run from, that team must hand over three sect members to die, pick who in your team should die. If encircling is not timely, kill the leaders first. Middle Second Road, follow me!"

Someone wanted to discuss it with him, but Shi Chun ignored them completely, shouted his piece and ran ahead again.

The rest had no choice but to follow the practiced method, encircling the target, feeling more skilled the second time around.

After confirming the target situation, boy, everyone felt relieved, the number of people surrounded seemed to be more than a dozen more than last time.

The surrounded group was also nervous, if it wasn't for seeing the enemy's different clothes and the overwhelming numbers, they almost thought they encountered a sect practicing witchcraft; the nonsense with X marks and powdered foreheads really felt off, not like normal people's behavior.

Their leader shouted, "Guys, we don't have any Insect Extreme Crystals!"

There's an unwritten rule in the martial world, if the opponent doesn't have what you want, there's no need to fight and kill.

However, those marked with X's had heard something similar before, not only did no one believe it, but it also made some raise their eyebrows, feeling alerted.

"Middle Second Road, kill!"

Following Shi Chun's loud command, Middle Second Road hesitated not, and certainly wasn't worth hesitating, all jumped back into the encirclement to fight.

The fight ended swiftly again, followed by clearing the battlefield.

This time proved the benefit of the X marks, this round, no one was injured by mistake, although a few encountered some tough fighters, suffered minor injuries, but since this side had more people, they instantly mobbed and beat the tough ones to death, not letting a single one escape.

"Come quick, Insect Extreme Crystals, there are Insect Extreme Crystals, and not a few!"

"Damn, none of them were honest, good thing we were vigilant."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.