The true purpose?

One of Wu Haoqian's arms and half of his body had been shattered. For an ordinary person, such injuries would have been fatal.

However, Wu Haoqian was a martial artist of the True Qi Realm, and moreover, an Evil Warrior who had mastered a strange power, giving him a vitality far beyond that of ordinary people.

Furthermore, Wu Haoqian was the wielder of the Blood Refining Bottle. Currently, a large amount of blood mist was continuously emerging from the bottle and integrating into his body.

Under the nourishment of the Blood Refining Bottle's blood energy, Wu Haoqian's injuries were constantly recovering, though the speed of his recovery was very slow.

"Damn it, why is the recovery so slow?"

Wu Haoqian was shocked and enraged. Normally, his injuries would have long since healed completely, but for some reason, his recovery this time was exceptionally slow.

Upon careful examination, he discovered a chilling force within his body that was constantly eroding him!

Is this... poison?

Wu Haoqian was startled and immediately circulated his True Qi, attempting to expel the poison from his body.

However, the poison from Li Yuan's perfected Poison Dragon Palm was not something that could be easily removed.

Even during the Inner Force Realm, Li Yuan's Poison Dragon Palm was already quite potent. After entering the True Qi Realm, the power of the technique underwent a qualitative change, making the Poison Dragon Palm's poison even more terrifying!

After a hundred breaths, Wu Haoqian's forehead was beaded with sweat. He found that he was almost unable to expel the poison from his body!

Li Yuan had shattered half of his body with a single palm strike. The poison within that palm had already infiltrated the depths of his body, and the quality of the poison was extremely high. Wu Haoqian circulated his True Qi to cleanse the poison within him, but it was like a tide crashing against a reef.

It didn't budge an inch!

Wu Haoqian's face turned ashen. He could only use his True Qi to barely suppress the poison within him, preventing it from fully erupting.

He hurried on his way, covering dozens of miles before stopping in front of a hidden cave. He removed the camouflage at the entrance and slipped inside.

This cave was a hiding place for several Evil Warriors, where they would conceal themselves when daytime arrived.

Wu Haoqian found a spot to sit and fully circulated his cultivation technique to recover from his injuries. With the supply from the Blood Refining Bottle, it took him half an hour to heal his injuries, and even his completely lost arm grew back.

Under the modification of his strange power, Wu Haoqian's body could no longer be considered human; he was no different from a monster.

Although his limb injuries had healed, the toxins within his body could never be removed. He still needed to constantly expend a large amount of True Qi to suppress the poison, effectively sealing off more than half of the True Qi in his body!

His strength had greatly diminished!

Not only that, but out of the six Blood Robe Evil Ghosts that "that person" had given him, five had died here. Even two of the accompanying Evil Warriors had perished.

Their losses were too great, making it impossible to continue their assault on Meishan County.

"What should I do?"

"How can I explain this to 'that person'?"

Wu Haoqian felt uneasy. He had failed to meet "that person's" expectations. After some hesitation, he took out a yellow talisman from his bosom.

The yellow talisman ignited, transforming into a blood-colored halo. Within the halo, a blood-colored eye could be faintly seen.

"Speak."

A deep voice emanated from within.

Wu Haoqian felt a chilling gaze fall upon him. This gaze carried immense pressure, causing Wu Haoqian to collapse onto the ground.

This voice belonged to the person behind Wu Haoqian, an Illusionist from the Blood Shadow Hall.

"My lord, something has happened on my end."

Wu Haoqian recounted the situation on his side like pouring beans from a bamboo tube, especially detailing the circumstances concerning Li Yuan. He also informed the Illusionist about his own injuries and poisoning, and his inability to remove it, resulting in a significant weakening of his strength.

After he finished speaking, there was a long silence from the other side, and Wu Haoqian's heart began to race.

"Martial Dao True Intent..."

"Never mind, just stay put over there."

"If you can't take Meishan County, then just continue to cause some disturbances over there."

Never mind? Just cause disturbances?!

Wu Haoqian was stunned. He never expected that after he had botched the mission, "that person" would be so lenient!

After all, "that person" was notoriously ruthless. Previously, an Evil Warrior had messed up "that person's" plans, and his fate was extremely tragic, even making Wu Haoqian, who was accustomed to bloodshed, tremble.

Regardless of what "that person" was truly thinking, he quickly prostrated himself on the ground: "Thank you, my lord."

As the communication talisman burned to ashes, "that person" said no more. The blood-colored spiritual light gradually faded, and the air returned to silence.

Wu Haoqian wiped the sweat from his forehead and slowly stood up. Recalling the words the Illusionist had just spoken, a hint of doubt arose in his heart.

"That person" had not punished him, as if completely unconcerned about whether they could capture Meishan County...

He had only told them to continue causing some disturbances over there...

It seemed as if they were deliberately meant to attract attention?!

Could it be that 'that person's' true objective... is not Meishan County?

Are we just drawing fire here, acting as a diversion for 'that person's' true move?!

Wu Haoqian's thoughts raced, and he felt as if he was on the verge of uncovering a crucial secret.

But in the end, he was just an Evil Warrior, a tool that could be discarded at any time. No matter how much he speculated, he couldn't guess the true purpose of that person.

After thinking fruitlessly, Wu Haoqian decided to stop dwelling on it and instead considered what to do next...

Since the battle to pursue the Evil Warriors that night, the situation in Meishan had actually become much more stable. There were no Evil Creatures attacking the city for several consecutive nights.

The people of Meishan City, exhausted from days of fierce battles, took this opportunity to rest and recuperate.

During these past few days, Li Yuan had not been idle. He spent a little time each day opening meridians and acupoints. He opened them very quickly, needing only the time it took for two incense sticks to burn to open a new meridian.

He had been in Meishan County for four days and had opened four new meridians. His total True Qi had increased sevenfold.

He had already opened more than half of the twelve main meridians. In a few more days, he would be able to open all twelve main meridians, and his strength would then increase significantly.

During this time, in addition to his own cultivation, Li Yuan would also occasionally guide the cultivation of the members of his nineteenth squad.

He was now a renowned top martial artist in Meishan County. The fact that Li Yuan had mastered Martial Dao True Intent was known to almost everyone in Meishan.

Many people would break their heads to get such an opportunity to be guided by a genius martial artist like Li Yuan.

Even a casual piece of advice from Li Yuan made these team members extremely grateful.

As the days passed, the performance of those Evil Warriors clearly weakened. Normally, only one or two Evil Warriors would come out to cause trouble, and the number of Evil Creatures attacking the city at night also decreased significantly.

Li Yuan stayed in Meishan for more than ten days. After multiple investigations, Meishan finally confirmed that the Evil Warriors were no longer capable of breaking through Meishan County City. This was good news, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The martial artists and Spirit Masters who came to support them also returned one by one.

When Li Yuan and the others returned to Jiujiang Commandery, they felt a sense of relief, finally back in a familiar place. Although they hadn't stayed in Meishan for long, it felt like a lifetime ago.

"Alright, let's report back to the Special Capture Division."

Zong Lin also said at the opportune moment.

The mission was complete, and they could earn contributions. Everyone was excited and hurried towards the Special Capture Division.