Hatred

The blood-red Sword Qi surged forward without hindrance. Before everyone's horrified eyes, it cleaved straight through the Iron-Head Dog Demon leader's diamond-hard skull and continued toward Wang Yunqi.

At the sight, everyone in the area stood frozen like wooden chickens, unconsciously swallowing hard.

How... how could this Sword Qi possibly be this powerful?!

Even an expert at the eighth level of the Martial Disciple Realm absolutely shouldn't have been able to break the Dog Demon leader's defense, right?

Wang Yunqi's pupils suddenly contracted as well!

The sheer terror of this Sword Qi was absurdly exaggerated!

A powerful Dog Demon leader had simply been killed just like that?

But as Wang Yunqi was thinking this, a streak of sword light shot toward him at breakneck speed, and a head flew into the sky.

After killing Wang Yunqi, the Sword Qi flew through the air for nearly another hundred meters before slowly dissipating.

When the Dog Demons in the city saw their leader fall, they all let out mournful howls. Their eyes turned crimson as they stared at Xiao Chen, filled with hatred.

Yet they seemed deeply wary of Xiao Chen's strength. They only bared their fangs where they stood, not daring to step forward and surround him.

Xiao Chen glanced at the endless pack of Dog Demons densely gathered all around him, a trace of gravity flashing through his eyes.

Although most of these Dog Demons were only at the seventh level of the Demon Disciple Realm, and he could kill one with a casual flick of his hand in a one-on-one fight—or slaughter them freely even one against ten—there were several thousand of them here.

If so many Dog Demons attacked together, no matter how formidable he was, he would be worn to death alive.

Of course, he could easily escape, but behind him stood hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.

If he retreated, after today, Bear Martial City would never again see the lights of ten thousand homes.

For a moment, Xiao Chen hesitated, not knowing what choice to make.

Ding! The system has issued the mission One Man Against a Thousand. The host must help Bear Martial City resist the demon calamity and kill three hundred Iron-Head Dog Demons. Upon completing the mission, the host will receive the reward God-Rank Sword Art: Primordial True Demon.

Ancient True Devil: The host's strength will receive a terrifying increase for a quarter of an hour, allowing the host to unleash combat power far beyond normal. However, after a quarter of an hour, the enhancement will vanish, and the host will enter a weakened state for two hours!

At that moment, the system's voice suddenly rang out. A golden virtual panel appeared before Xiao Chen, displaying the mission details.

Xiao Chen took one look and was instantly stunned.

No blind box this time?

This reward was quite good—it was a sword art he had been drooling over.

And it was even a God-Rank Sword Art. Sword arts were incomparably precious; even a Yellow Rank one was already difficult to come by. He had never expected the system to hand him a God-Rank one outright.

This was simply an unexpected delight!

The blind box stage was a test for the host. If the host made the wrong choice, the system would shut down permanently. Now that the host has passed the preliminary assessment, the next stage has begun.

Xiao Chen's eye twitched.

So the earlier part had fucking been testing him?

Good thing he had picked the right answer. Otherwise, wouldn't he be completely screwed now?

"System, what will happen if I don't accept the mission, or fail to complete it?"

This is classified information and cannot be disclosed. The host need only follow his heart and choose.

Xiao Chen immediately became vigilant upon hearing that.

This system was a real scheming bastard.

It had secretly tested him before without even informing him.

If he failed this mission, who knew what punishment measures it might have in store for him again!

Still, enduring the attacks of several thousand Iron-Head Dog Demons while killing three hundred of them was truly difficult. He had no confidence at all!

But when he turned and looked at Liu Sanji and the old soldiers lying on the ground, barely clinging to life, Xiao Chen's gaze gradually hardened.

Fuck it.

At worst, wasn't it just death?

Even that old bastard Liu Sanji wasn't afraid!

Why the hell should he be?

"System, I accept this mission."

Ding! Mission accepted successfully. Please complete it as soon as possible!

After accepting the mission, Xiao Chen looked at the Dog Demon pack around him, drew a deep breath, and his eyes suddenly sharpened. Sword in hand, he was about to begin killing.

"Stop!"

At that moment, a sharp shout suddenly rang out from not far away.

Xiao Chen froze, then turned to look. A stern-looking middle-aged man was striding over aggressively with several young martial artists.

A frightening martial aura swirled around the middle-aged man. Even from far away, Xiao Chen could feel immense pressure.

Xiao Chen narrowed his eyes.

This man was actually in the Martial Master Realm!

The young martial artists beside him also had divine light contained within their eyes, their auras imposing. They were clearly all experts of the eighth level of the Martial Disciple Realm!

Xiao Chen's face turned cold, anger flashing in his eyes.

These martial artists of Bear Martial City clearly possessed astonishing strength, enough to resist the Demon Race, yet when the Demon Race slaughtered the city, they had chosen to hide.

They were utterly shameless!

And what chilled the heart even more was that these people were all glaring furiously at Xiao Chen, as though it had been Xiao Chen—not the Demon Race—who had breached the city and killed its people.

"Young brother, these people are from the Bear Martial City Demon Suppression Office. The middle-aged man leading them is Zhao Tiangang, the chief of the Bear Martial Demon Suppression Office. He is a terrifyingly powerful Martial Master."

"The Demon Suppression soldiers beside him are no weaklings either. If they were willing to act, the Demon Race would at least be wary of them. They might even abandon the massacre out of fear of casualties. Unfortunately, these people are selfish scoundrels who do not care whether commoners live or die."

"Young brother, be careful. Your intervention has broken the unspoken rules between them and the Demon Race. They may come looking for trouble with you!"

The Garrison Commander cast Zhao Tiangang and the others a disgusted look, walked to Xiao Chen's side, and spoke in a low voice.

Zhao Tiangang and the others approached Xiao Chen with dark expressions, staring at him indifferently. "Who are you? Who told you to come to my Bear Martial City and meddle in affairs that are none of your business?"

Xiao Chen's gaze turned icy.

Zhao Tiangang then looked at Liu Sanji and the others lying on the ground. "Men, kill these old things who provoked the Demon Race and offer them as an apology to the Demon Race!"

"Zhao Tiangang, do you think killing a few pieces of trash will settle what happened today?"

At that moment, a young man from the Demon God Hall stepped forward through gritted teeth. "The Demon Race lords are very angry. Aside from this sword cultivator and every civilian in the city, your Bear Martial City must also hand over thirty martial artists to compensate the Demon Race for its losses."

Zhao Tiangang's expression changed drastically. "Thirty martial artists? Isn't... isn't that too many? And eating every civilian in the city goes against the rules as well!"

Bear Martial City had only a little over seventy martial artists in total. Thirty was nearly half of them.

And the Demon Race's demand to kill all the civilians was something he had not expected either. During previous city massacres, they would at least leave behind one-tenth of the population for reproduction.

This was also an unspoken rule between the Demon Race and certain great figures of the Human Race. It was like gathering medicinal herbs—leaving the roots and stems behind so they could be harvested again in the future.

But now, the Demon Race actually intended to eat every civilian in the city. They were draining the pond to catch every fish.

Hearing this, some civilians hiding in the shadows and watching the battle looked at Xiao Chen with a little more hatred in their eyes.

Originally, they had had a one-in-ten chance of surviving, but now it was all over!

It was all because of the ghost-faced youth before them.

If not for him meddling in matters that were none of his business!

They would still have had a sliver of hope. Now it was all over!

Of course, even more civilians remained deeply grateful to Xiao Chen.

After all, in this world, there were heartless, beastly villains, but there were also good people who understood right from wrong.

"Too many? The Demon Race lost a leader, and our Bear Martial Demon God Hall lost a hall master. How is asking you for only thirty martial artists and the civilians of this entire city too much?"

"If you want to blame someone, blame that sword cultivator for meddling in affairs that were none of his business!"

The young man from the Demon God Hall spoke viciously.