Ever since the battle at Weeping Ghost Mine, Lin Feng's days in the Demon Suppression Division had suddenly become exceptionally peaceful.
This peace was not the desolation of being ignored. It was more like the peace of a wildlife park, where every herbivore tacitly kept away from Lion and Tiger Mountain—a peace filled with awe and the instinct to survive.
At the training grounds of the Iron Token Courtyard, those old hands who had once loved gathering together, passing judgment on newcomers and boasting about their own former glory, had all changed their ways.
Their favorite activity now was huddling in corners and whispering in low voices.
"Hey, did you hear? 'That man' went out again!"
"Which man? Oh, oh, oh! You mean... Brother Lin?"
"Obviously! Other than him, who else in the Iron Token Courtyard dares call himself 'that man'? I just went to the Mission Hall and saw him take three missions!"
"Three?! Heavens! Didn't he just turn in three missions the day before yesterday? One of them was even the two-star 'Purge Evil Ghost Slope.' He went alone?"
"Wasn't that so? They said that when he went, ghostfire filled Evil Ghost Slope. When he came back, not even a blade of grass was left on the slope—it was cleaner than a dog's tongue! He didn't leave a single ghost hair for the brothers who went to verify it afterward!"
"Gasp... terrifying indeed! Truly terrifying!"
Everyone drew in a sharp breath, feeling as though the temperature in the courtyard had dropped several degrees.
Meanwhile, the culprit behind it all, Lin Feng himself, was happily standing before the black crystal wall in the Mission Hall, casually selecting his next "experience gift package" as if he were picking cabbages at a market.
To him, the current Demon Suppression Division was practically heaven.
There was an endless supply of clearly priced "monsters" for him to "hunt," and afterward he even received wages and rewards. It was simply the best job under heaven.
"Hmm... Purge the rat demons in the west city's refugee slums. Two-star mission, reward: 500 Merit Points. Not bad—quick and simple, suitable as an appetizer."
"Capture the flower-plucking bandit Jade Faced Flying Fox. Two-star mission, reward: 800 Merit Points. That name alone tells me he's some pretty boy. Cutting him down should not take much effort."
"Investigate the disturbance deep within Misty Marsh. Three-star mission, reward: 1,200 Merit Points. This one is good. The marsh must have plenty of venomous insects and savage beasts. Maybe I'll even run into one or two Third Order Demonic Beasts that don't know their place?"
Lin Feng tapped repeatedly with his finger and instantly selected three missions of varying difficulty.
The deacon in charge of registration felt his eyelids twitch wildly. His gaze at Lin Feng was filled with complicated emotions.
Once upon a time, the missions in the Mission Hall had been bitter chores everyone avoided like the plague.
Especially the one- and two-star missions. They offered few Merit Points but endless trouble, all effort for little reward, and had remained hanging there for years without anyone caring.
But ever since Lin Feng had arrived, the atmosphere of the Mission Hall had changed completely.
This lord simply was not picky!
Whether it was trivial one-star work or a three-star mission with nine deaths and one life, as long as there was something to kill, he accepted it all without exception!
And his efficiency was frighteningly high.
Other people took ten days or half a month to finish one mission. Lin Feng took no more than two days.
More often than not, he accepted a mission and left that day, then by the morning after next at the latest, he would be back with a demon's head or a bandit's skull in hand, calmly turning in the mission.
Over time, a legend about Lin Feng spread throughout the entire Demon Suppression Division.
They no longer called him that newcomer, nor did they call him a ruthless man.
Instead, they gave him an even more fitting and vivid nickname.
Merit Point Harvester.
Some busybodies had even calculated that, in the mere half month since Lin Feng had joined the Demon Suppression Division, he had cleared nearly two-thirds of the missions on the Mission Hall's stone wall by himself!
This efficiency was simply more terrifying than a swarm of locusts passing through!
Of course, along with the title Merit Point Harvester, there was another nickname that circulated even more widely in private and made people's hearts tremble even more.
Yama.
King Yama Lin!
Because everyone, including the Demon Slayer Envoys who went to verify the mission sites, had discovered one horrifying common point.
Every case that passed through Lin Feng's hands, whether human or demon, devil or ghost, had only one ending.
That was death.
And they died neatly and completely, without a single survivor left behind.
Once, a two-star mission had involved purging a group of vicious bandits who had occupied a mountain and declared themselves kings.
Those bandits had committed countless evils, but among them were also family members, the elderly, and the weak.
What happened in the end?
When Lin Feng returned to turn in the mission, he brought back the bandit chief's head and received the Merit Points.
But when the team sent to inspect the battlefield arrived the next day, they found the entire mountain stronghold—from the bandit chief to the cooks, from men to women, even the few dogs raised in the stronghold—lying neatly on the ground, cold through and through.
Once this matter came out, the entire Demon Suppression Division looked at him askance.
Some said that he killed decisively and was a natural-born Demon Slayer Envoy.
Others said that he was ruthless and bloodthirsty, and that he would sooner or later fall into the demonic path.
But no matter how the outside world discussed him, Lin Feng continued to go his own way.
Every day, he was either doing missions or on the road to do missions, deaf to all matters beyond his window and focused solely on farming Crit Points.
His little follower, Huang Fugui, meanwhile, lived an exceedingly comfortable life.
Every time Lin Feng went on a mission, he rewarded nearly all the Demon Cores from the demons he killed to Huang Fugui as snacks.
At first, Huang Fugui had been as delighted as if it were New Year's. He could hug a First Order Demon Core and gnaw on it for half a day, then lick his paws with endless relish after finishing it.
Later on, this fellow's palate became spoiled.
It could not even be bothered to spare Demon Cores below First Order a proper glance. It insisted on second-order ones before they could barely go down its throat.
Even while eating, it was picky and choosy, complaining that this one was too tough while that one lacked pure demon qi.
Even so, piled high with an ocean of Demon Cores, Huang Fugui's strength shot upward like a rocket.
In barely half a month, it had surged from the little demon that had only just advanced to the second order all the way to the peak of the second order. It was only one opportunity away from breaking through to the third order.
If those demons outside who had cultivated bitterly for centuries learned of such cultivation speed, they would probably be so envious that they would kill themselves on the spot.
Yet in Huang Fugui's eyes, compared with its master's speed, this was slower than a snail crawling.
It had only been one month.
It had personally watched Lin Feng's cultivation.
Rise all the way from the ninth level of the Meridian Opening Realm to the third level of the True Qi Realm...
Then the fifth level of the True Qi Realm...
The seventh level of the True Qi Realm...
"Master, isn't your cultivation speed a little too unfair?"
Huang Fugui burped as it spoke, its eyes full of worship as it sighed from the bottom of its heart.
"Forget me, Huang Fugui—even my ancestor has never seen someone whose cultivation is as easy as drinking water! If you keep going like this, who under heaven could possibly withstand even one exchange with you?"
"There are mountains beyond mountains, and people beyond people. There are nine realms of martial cultivation, and I am only at the third. Only when I can one-shot an Immortal on Land with a single slash will I have a little sense of security."
Huang Fugui: "..."
Lin Feng glanced at his status panel.
[Host: Lin Feng] [Realm: Seventh Level True Qi Realm] [Cultivation Art: Blazing Heaven Sun Art (Mastery)] [Martial Skill: Nine Tribulations Thunder Slash (Perfection)] [Movement Technique: Phantom Flowing Light Steps (Mastery)] [Crit Multiplier: 85x] [Crit Points: 2500]
A month of crazily "grinding missions" had greatly improved all of his attributes.
Especially the Nine Tribulations Thunder Slash. Empowered by an enormous amount of Crit Points, it had already reached the realm of Perfection.
Now, with this blade technique and its eighty-fivefold crit alone, aside from Silver Token Managers—
He could one-shot anyone in the entire Demon Suppression Division of Nan Yan Commandery.
"Unfortunately, I've nearly cleared all the missions lately. The remaining ones are all search-type missions, so my efficiency in earning Crit Points has slowed."
Lin Feng frowned slightly, calculating whether he should go somewhere farther away and take on some higher-level missions.
Just then—
"Brother Lin! This is bad! Something happened!"
It was Zhao Tie, one of Chu Mengxi's trusted subordinates.
Zhao Tie's face was filled with panic.
"Captain Chu... she was captured after making a mistake while carrying out a three-star mission. Her life and death are unknown!"
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