Joint Forces!

"Congratulations, Host. You have slain a Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm criminal and obtained 6,080 Merit Points."

Upon hearing the system notification, Shen Zhui frowned.

"This man clearly exceeded the limits of a Houtian Martial Artist, yet the system still only counted him as a Houtian Martial Artist?"

"That makes sense, too. I killed him when his strength had declined. If I had slain him at his peak, things would probably have been different."

"I hacked at him seventy-eight times without killing him, only finishing him off after his strength had fallen. I struggled this much against a pseudo-Xiantian Realm fellow. It seems I'll have to develop a second form of my saber technique before I can hope to slay a Xiantian."

Shen Zhui shook his head. Although the Unity of Heaven and Man realm was powerful, and the Slay Cang Form had been carefully refined, his movement technique had completely surpassed his opponent's. Even so, it had taken him this long to kill the enemy.

Clearly, if he wanted to deal with a true Xiantian Master, relying solely on his own strength still would not be enough.

"The gulf between Houtian and Xiantian truly isn't so easy to cross."

No longer dwelling on it, Shen Zhui turned to look toward Yan You.

"Yan You, how is it going?"

"I don't know. Just now, it seemed that a spell-formation barrier blocked the special token. Only moments ago did the magistrate's edict break through it. I don't know..."

Hmm? Yan You suddenly froze and turned to stare at Shen Zhui as if he were looking at a monster.

He had been focused on what was happening on the divine-statue side and had not noticed Shen Zhui's battle at all.

Now that he looked over, he immediately noticed something strange.

"You killed him?"

"He's already dead."

"How did you do it?" Yan You could not help asking. Just now, he had not sensed Shen Zhui borrowing divine power at all.

Had Shen Zhui really killed a pseudo-Xiantian Martial Artist using only his own strength?

"Now isn't the time to ask about that. We need to leave quickly." Shen Zhui glanced at the divine statue.

Sin Value judgment!

Buzz!

Shen Zhui's vision suddenly changed. In his eyes, the statue was no longer a dead object but had come alive.

He clearly saw a golden light continuously coursing through the statue's body, while a phantom struggled endlessly within it, as if suffering unimaginable agony!

Above the phantom's head, Shen Zhui saw a scarlet number!

"Four hundred thousand! That high?" Shen Zhui's heartbeat skipped.

"In the Houtian Realm, Merit Points range from a few dozen to a maximum of over nine thousand.

"In the Xiantian Realm, even Wu Gu, a High-stage Xiantian, only had a little over sixty thousand."

"As for the Spirit Bridge Realm, they probably don't exceed a hundred thousand."

"I wonder which realm this Yin God clone counts as? The Divine Ability Realm?"

Shen Zhui was somewhat excited, but clearly, destroying the statue was impossible for him.

Even if their positions had been reversed, with him breaking through the statue's barrier while Yan You dealt the killing blow, it probably still could not count as him personally killing it.

"What a pity." Shen Zhui felt somewhat regretful. "I wonder how much I'll get for assisting from the side."

If one did not personally kill the target but merely assisted, that still counted toward Merit Points. Of course, Shen Zhui did not know exactly how they were divided. He only knew that the greater one's contribution, the more one received.

"The token is coming out." In Shen Zhui's eyes, the phantom grew weaker and fainter under the token's assault.

The statue was no longer as smooth and rounded as before. It had become much grayer and duller.

At the moment the phantom completely vanished—

Rumble~

The entire temple began to tremble, and the statue suddenly exploded!

The azure token abruptly returned to Yan You's hand, though its radiance had dimmed considerably.

"Go!" Shen Zhui did not hesitate any longer and hurried out of the Branch Shrine together with Yan You.

At the same time, Daoist Xiangyang, who was flying toward the Branch Shrine he guarded, was urgently sending out orders.

"Chen Jin, Chen Jin, how is the situation? Remember, you must hold the shrine to the death. Otherwise, wait for death!"

"Wu San, Wu San, hold on! I'll be there soon!"

"You..."

His words abruptly stopped. Daoist Xiangyang suddenly sensed something and saw a flash of red light surge through his body before vanishing.

"This is bad!" Daoist Xiangyang's face turned deathly pale. "The Branch Shrine has been destroyed!"

"Useless! A bunch of useless fools!" He sped toward the front, his eyes bloodshot.

"I must kill those intruders. Otherwise, if the Family Head blames me, I'm afraid I'll be doomed!"

On the plaza before the shrine.

Just as Shen Zhui and the others destroyed the Branch Shrine's divine statue, Han Mao also sensed the change.

After the battle, he had already slain five people, leaving only two Peak Houtian fighters and three Ninth Stage Martial Artists.

But threads of red light kept emerging from the opponents one after another, boosting their strength by a whole level. Although it did not exaggerate their power to the point of rivaling the Xiantian Realm, Han Mao still could not take down the five men, who worked together with seamless coordination.

Seeing the divine power within his body gradually fade, Han Mao was about to borrow divine power again at the cost of his lifespan.

At that moment, a sudden change arose. The red light on the five men abruptly vanished.

Their strength boost disappeared in an instant, and they even froze briefly!

"Yan You and the others succeeded! Hahaha, what an opportunity!"

Seizing that sliver of opportunity, Han Mao charged at the two Peak Houtian fighters. His saber swept across, instantly killing both men.

"Cousin! The mission is complete!"

"Big Brother Han, I'm here to help!"

Then Shen Zhui and Yan You emerged. The three Ninth Stage Martial Artists were killed by the three of them working together in less than ten breaths.

"Good. We'll meet up with Zhao Hu and Zimo, then leave this place immediately." Han Mao felt the strength within his body recede like a tide and suddenly found himself unable to stand steadily.

Seeing this, Shen Zhui hurried forward and steadied Han Mao.

"Cousin, you're injured?" Yan You panicked.

"I'm fine. Withdraw!" Han Mao growled.

"Let's go." Shen Zhui and Yan You supported Han Mao on either side and quickly followed the stairs toward the surface.

On the surface, beside the artificial hill.

Zhao Hu and Rong Zimo were making a desperate stand at the entrance. More than a dozen corpses lay sprawled before them.

Fortunately, most of the people on the surface were not very strong. Earlier, the two of them had joined forces to kill the Ninth Stage fighter guarding the entrance. Now, although dealing with a mass of Seventh- and Eighth-Stage Houtian fighters was not easy, it was still relatively safe.

"Clang, clang, clang~"

With their backs against each other, Zhao Hu and Rong Zimo deflected the arrows shooting in from all around.

No one dared approach and throw away their lives anymore. They merely surrounded them from the outside and unleashed a volley of crossbow bolts.

"Luckily, these powerful bows and arrows have suffered damp damage during winter and don't have much power. They don't dare come closer." Zhao Hu laughed heartily.

"Brother Hu, I wonder how Big Brother Han and the others are doing below. If we wait any longer, that Xiantian Master may return." Rong Zimo was anxious.

"What's there to fear?" Zhao Hu said nonchalantly. "Both of us have tokens in hand and can borrow the temple's power. What is there to fear from a Xiantian Master?"

"Brother Hu, don't forget that there are three mission locations this time. In order, this is the weakest one. If we use divine power too early, we may have difficulty reporting back."

"At worst, I'll live a few fewer years!" Zhao Hu gritted his teeth. "I actually hope a Xiantian Master comes over, so I can have a good killing spree!"

"..." Rong Zimo was instantly rendered speechless.

Just as Zhao Hu and Shen Zhui's group were about to meet up, Daoist Xiangyang was also about to fly to the manor.

Suddenly, something trembled in Daoist Xiangyang's robes, and a blood-colored token flew out of his embrace on its own.

Before he could react, the phantom figure of a little man wearing a red Daoist Robe appeared on the token.

"Xiangyang."

"Family Head." Daoist Xiangyang's expression turned solemn. "Family Head, this junior was incompetent..."

"No need to say more." Li Mingtai stared at him coldly.

"I already know what happened. Hurry over and hold those five people back."

"I've already ordered Daoist Mu and Heifeng to come help you. You only need to hold them back for a moment. Once the three of you meet up, you'll be able to kill those five!"

"Daoist Mu and Heifeng are coming too? It seems the Family Head is truly furious." Daoist Xiangyang was startled and hurriedly nodded in agreement.

"Go. Cut off the heads of those people. I want to send someone to deliver them right to Wei Wenhe's face!"

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