Bang bang bang...

Before dawn broke, the rhythmic sound of heavy knocks echoed through the mountains and wilderness.

Over three thousand rested troops quickly assembled at the call of Shi Chun and set off once again.

Many grumbled behind his back, griping that it wasn't even daylight yet, and they were traveling at night as if rushing to be reborn.

These were just complaints, though. The unease and tension of imminent combat had vanished from the day before. Everyone had seen through the Master's intentions; he only targeted the weak and pitiful, and disliked chewing on tough bones, preferring to prey on the weak.

They had no choice but to consider themselves unlucky, being dragged around once more.

By the time they neared their destination, the sky had lightened.

Only after surrounding their targets did they realize that today was not like yesterday; they were facing a troop of nearly two hundred.

This troop had also rested overnight, preparing to set out at dawn.

According to information provided by Xiang Laner, once this troop set out, the undercover agents would have little autonomy and might find it difficult to escape en route.

Thus, Shi Chun led his troops to depart in the night and arrive by dawn, ambushing the enemy before they could depart.

This time, the besieged troop didn't cry out that they had no Insect Extreme Crystal.

As Shi Chun gave the command to attack, the central second road's troops smashed in first. The enemy desperately resisted, and the encircling troops finally got a proper chance to join the fray.

Inside the royal training grounds, countless eyes were fixed on the mirror image depicting the chaotic battle.

Xuan State Domain Master Chi Rang frowned from the best viewing spot; he had requested the mirror image of Shi Chun's battle.

Yesterday, due to affairs in the capital, all the domain masters had been absent, but all had heard about Shi Chun leading a large force from Xuan State, so today Chi Rang arrived at first light, naming Shi Chun specifically, wanting to see what the fuss was about.

What unfolded before everyone was indeed lively, fulfilling his desire to witness Shi Chun leading thousands to besiege their targets.

Life Continent Domain Master Wei Mo, who often accompanied him, also frowned, nearly tearing at the corners of his mouth without understanding what was happening.

On a neighboring mountaintop, by the time Miao Dingyi and his family arrived early, they had heard of Shi Chun commanding thousands from Xuan State in battle and wanted to see what was going on.

Today, Miao Dingyi intended to spend money to request a view of Shi Chun.

Now, he no longer feared others associating his daughter with Shi Chun. He hadn't agreed to his daughter and Gong Shaoci's affair, nor had he refused, but it was already out in the open.

However, it wasn't his turn to spend money, as someone who could watch for free spoke up, and those who wanted to watch could just join in.

Confusion spread across Young Master Nan's face.

The image of thousands encircling their target numbed the hands and feet of Elder Ke and Yin Huixin, not out of insensitivity but a physical tingling. Both wondered what sins they had committed in their past lives to be incessantly exposed to this scene, unable to escape it.

Every time night fell in the capital, they felt a sense of dread.

Even Elder Huixin, a woman, had cursed Shi Chun's ancestors countless times in her heart.

As Shengzhou people mixed up with Xuan State troops, they truly didn't know how to explain themselves to Wei Mo, especially since Elder Ke had been previously warned by Wei Mo. This left them wondering if there was any way out for Wukang Mountain.

If that guy could cling to Xuan State's coattails, they might have to seek temporary refuge in Xuan State if Wukang Mountain had nowhere else to go, especially since that guy had also killed the Su Yuan Sect disciples.

Of course, they had no desire to leave Sheng Province; without it, the Wukang Mountain sect would lose its reason for existence.

In cultivation terms, it meant that Wukang Mountain depended on the spiritual vein that sustained it.

Yesterday, the several sects that Shi Chun had led his troops to annihilate had collectively sought out the two elders. They didn't come to accuse them but to inquire, wanting to know what Wukang Mountain's intentions were.

They had no clue of the intentions themselves and could only vehemently denounce Shi Chun's reckless misdeeds as unrelated to them.

Now Wukang Mountain had gained infamous renown within the Cultivation World of Shengshen Continent, with people often pointing fingers whenever they came and went.

Among the besieged, there was a disciple from one of the sects who fought fiercely. In the mirror image, he stood out like a conspicuous wave, quickly slaying over a dozen Xuan State troops. But due to the overwhelming numbers of attackers from all sides, he was soon overwhelmed and flustered.

There were advantages to being outnumbered, and when cultivations were not significantly different, once engulfed by the sea of enemies, close quarters combat made it difficult for some spells to be executed.

Seeing this, Shi Chun swiftly drew his sword and charged forward, and with a few slashes, he pressured the few into an even tighter corner. A slight mistake led to their downfall under the chaotic blades and swords.

With these tough adversaries dead, the battle quickly ended.

Domain Master Chi Rang, sitting in the prime viewing stand, beckoned the official in charge to come over and asked, "Is it confirmed?"

The official bowed and replied, "It's more or less confirmed, it's all Xuan State troops."

The domain master had just arrived and had instructed him to help identify whether the troops led by Shi Chun were really from the Xuan State sects.

"Heh, it's really bizarre. Whose side is this fellow on?" Chi Rang slanted his body and muttered against the armrest.

The slaying of Su Yuan Sect disciples in front had infuriated him, and now he was leading the Xuan State forces to fiercely fight for the Insect Extreme Crystals. He wouldn't have believed if someone told him that so many from different sects would betray Xuan State, even if it killed him.

After the skirmish ended, there were still many who had drawn their weapons but never got the chance to cross swords.

As the battlefield was being cleared, someone lifted a black cloth bag and shouted, "Insect Extreme Crystal, found it."

Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang were not surprised. They had expected this all along, and they had found it first but had kept quiet, just waiting for others to find it.

What surprised both of them was that after a short while, another person holding a black cloth bag yelled, "Insect Extreme Crystal, there's more here."

Soon, the counting was finished, and the person who found it later announced loudly, "Sixty-eight crystals."

At the first discovery site, a group of people counted for a long time, even letting out a burst of exclamation before someone excitedly shouted, "One thousand and eighty-eight crystals."

Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang looked at each other and smiled, realizing that Xiang Laner was quite capable of organizing things, knowing to make the number odd.

"How much? Did I hear that right?"

"No mistake, it's one thousand and eighty-eight crystals."

Master Mai squeezed through the crowd to get to the black cloth bag, and personally took it to weigh and verify the contents.

After that, Chu Jingtang led the Bilan Sect disciples to count and receive the crystals officially. The confirmed results truly caused a stir among the thousands present.

The Bilan Sect disciples, led by Chu Jingtang, remained remarkably calm this time.

In this battle, more than twenty people had died, with another twenty or so grievously injured.

Shi Chun showed no sympathy for the casualties. That wasn't his concern, nor did he allow anyone to linger; once the injured were taken care of by their fellow disciples, upon the report of a scout, he led his forces out again.

Non-stop along the way, when they reached their destination, it was another round of encirclement and ambush, trapping another two to three hundred people.

In a fierce battle, tens of their own died or were injured, but the spoils were gratifying, another thousand-plus Insect Extreme Crystals.

Successive gains over a thousand moved the thousands present.

This time, Shi Chun, considering everyone's hard work, led his forces away from the battlefield and found a place to rest.

During this period, Shi Chun went to Chu Jingtang to take the two batches of Insect Extreme Crystals just stored, not knowing where he had gotten another pile of black cloth bags filled with stones to pad the numbers.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to patrol around, Shi Chun secretly met with Xiang Laner and handed over the crystals to her.

As soon as Xiang Laner sent word that she was ready, the rest period ended immediately. Shi Chun raised his arm and shouted, gathering the troops and leading them in another charge.

On the way, Chu Jingtang and his fellow disciples kept a vigilant guard over the black cloth bags they carried, growing alert whenever anyone approached.

The encircled battlefield was in Chaotic Stone Canyon; taking advantage of the enemy's fewer numbers, Shi Chun gave the order, and the Xuan State forces charged yelling.

However, they encountered the toughest fight since the formation of this half of the Xuan State forces. Stones and soil flew around the canyon, shadows flicked up and down, and the killing shouts shook the sky.

With a superior number of fighters against desperate opponents, both sides clashed and bloodlust soared.

Standing above the canyon, Shi Chun felt that familiar sensation again—a rising aura from the canyon, triggering the automatic activation of his Bath Demon Skill. Every pore gladly absorbed the mysterious substance.

He knew what that mysterious substance was—it was killing intent!

This wasn't his first experience with it. During group battles in the Land of Exile, he had realized that his body enjoyed absorbing killing intent, which made his flesh increasingly powerful.

He had previously known that he could absorb killing intent, but he didn't understand what it was like. After feeling the killing intent this time, he used his superpower to see with his right eye.

In Chaotic Stone Canyon, many of the fighting bodies emitted rising dark red mist. The appearance of the dark red mist seemed to make the fighters even more ferocious, with even those afraid of dying becoming aggressive upon contact.

Shi Chun understood at a glance that this so-called killing intent might be some form of blood aura emitted by the human body. In the intense scene of blood fervor, the dark red mist rose out of the canyon. As his Bath Demon Skill operated, it surged toward his body in great waves.

He realized that he was actually absorbing the blood aura emitted by people in some form.

Without using his eyes, his body could also feel that the level of absorption this time was incomparable to previous experiences in the Land of Exile.

Because the skirmishes in the Land of Exile were never as massive as this, peaking at a few hundred people, and also because of the large difference in cultivation levels. A larger cultivation gap meant a larger gap in blood energy.

Most of the time, only during personal fights or small clashes could he absorb a bit of it.

His body was telling him now that this absorption felt superb, bringing an unmatched sense of pleasure to both body and mind.

The previous encirclement battles had never produced this kind of intense killing atmosphere.

He couldn't see his own changes, but many scars on his cheeks that had healed quite a bit were now fading away at a visible rate. After a gust from the fighting blew away some wrinkled skin flakes, the scars on his face had all disappeared, healing as if they had never been there, leaving only a white mark of different skin color.

Suddenly, he looked up into the sky and saw in the illusory vision of his right eye a fiery red strange bird with a wingspan more than ten feet long, trailing a lengthy tail-feather, resembling the legendary phoenix. Its crimson feathers were like blazing flames, its eyes twinkling with red light.

The strange bird shuttled back and forth above the canyon, even weaving through the battling crowd. With each pass, it opened its sharp beak to suck away a vast amount of killing intent, yet no one on the ground could sense the presence of this odd bird.

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