Swift Victory (Please Follow and Bookmark)

The Breaking Void Sound beneath the Clouds carried an unsettling sensation into their ears. Everyone on the battlefield was affected; all the Qi practitioners and Monsters felt the spiritual energy in the air trembling, instinctively pulling apart to widen the distance between them.

The discomfort vanished in a flash, and the battlefield's clamor returned. Wang Ping suppressed every stray thought, cast a divination, and confirmed there was no risk. He then drew the Steel Sword from his Storage Bag, formed the Sword Control Art hand seal with his Left Hand, and circulated the spiritual energy throughout his body. A streak of cold light tore through the sky above the battlefield, stabbing toward Eagle's head.

A direct hit!

The next moment, Eagle let out a piercing shriek. His diving posture faltered slightly, then his body spun without stop, flinging Tiger Demon from his back. Wang Ping fixed his eyes on where Tiger Demon would land and kicked off the ground in pursuit.

Thud.

Tiger Demon steadied himself before landing and touched down behind the Militia formation. Then Wang Ping appeared five Zhang before him, Long Sword in hand.

Roar!

Tiger Demon was furious that his dashing entrance had been interrupted. As he roared, he pricked up the ears atop his head and bared every yellow tooth in his bloody maw. The Demonic Qi around his body condensed into a Black Spear. Pointing it at Wang Ping, he roared, "Ignorant human, I'll make you—"

"Suppress!"

Wang Ping issued a command, pressing together the index and middle fingers of his Left Hand to form the Mountain Suppressing Art hand seal he had devised.

Tiger Demon's furious rebuke came to an abrupt halt. An invisible pressure crashed down from above his head, driving his body directly to its knees. The Black Spear in his hand fell to the ground. Then came a wet splat—an irregular deep crater appeared in the earth, and Crimson Blood mixed with fragments of organs splashed out from it.

"..."

Wang Ping was somewhat dumbfounded. The nearby Militia who witnessed it were pale with horror. Then Wang Ping felt his Dantian Qi Sea become hollow, because two-thirds of the spiritual energy within it had been drained in an instant!

The spiritual energy consumed by the Mountain Suppressing Art depended on the target's strength rather than being fixed. This discovery gave Wang Ping a fright, and he secretly resolved that unless absolutely necessary, he would never use this move again.

"He's dead..."

Yulian reminded Wang Ping from within the Spirit Sea. She enlarged herself to her usual size, wrapped her tail around Wang Ping's left wrist, and stretched along his arm to his shoulder, her head level with his.

"You really didn't dodge at all?"

Wang Ping took out a bottle of pills, swiftly poured out two, and swallowed them. These were Qi Replenishing Pills brought by Wang Kang, the most common pills used by Qi practitioners to temporarily replenish the spiritual energy consumed within their bodies. At the same time, Yulian promptly replenished the spiritual energy in his Qi Sea, easing his exhaustion.

A short while later, Wang Ping had adjusted his state of mind. He stepped forward to look at the Tiger Demon, now crushed into minced flesh in the crater, then leaped with Yulian onto a nearby rise. His gaze swept across the various battlefields. Once he located Feng Miao, he rushed to reinforce her. Yet the Steel Sword in his hand moved first, stabbing toward the back of the wolf Yao's neck as it fought Feng Miao.

Clang!

The strike was blocked by a saber caught in the wolf Yao's tail. "Return." Wang Ping rapidly changed his Left Hand seal, drawing the Long Sword back to his side while landing on Feng Miao's flank. Only at close range did he realize that this wasn't a wolf Yao at all—it was a rat Yao!

"Give it everything you have. End this quickly!"

As Feng Miao spoke, a thread of flame emerged over the surface of her body. The flames clinging to the saber in her hand rose in temperature at a rate visible to the naked eye, scorching the surrounding air until it distorted.

Wang Ping coordinated with Yulian, draining the spiritual energy from the surrounding space. He formed the Sword Control Art hand seal, defending against the rat Yao's attacks while controlling the Steel Sword to build up an offensive.

However, the rat Yao opposite them rolled his eyes and abruptly took a step back at top speed. He discarded one saber, formed a hand seal with his freed hand, and then Demonic Qi swirled around him as he burrowed directly underground.

"I can't sense him anymore!"

There was surprise in Yulian's voice. She could not understand why this rat Yao had fled. Wang Ping instinctively exchanged looks with Feng Miao.

Feng Miao: "..."

Wang Ping: "..."

"Cowardly and cunning bastard..."

Feng Miao reacted first. Having dealt with Monsters outside for years, she had been mentally prepared for a rat Yao fleeing in the midst of battle. She then looked toward Xia Yao's battlefield in the distance.

Wang Ping also turned his gaze toward where Xia Yao was fighting. The Steel Sword's offensive in his hand had already taken shape and now needed somewhere to vent itself. Thus, he and Feng Miao almost simultaneously rushed to reinforce Xia Yao.

Feng Miao's attack arrived first. Her speed was astonishing. As the enemy pursued Xia Yao, she slashed her saber across his inevitable path...

Sizzle.

The high temperature rapidly vitrified the ground, leaving a saber mark half a zhang long across the earth.

She failed to strike the enemy. He halted his pursuit and narrowly avoided the slash. At that moment, Wang Ping's Steel Sword launched another surprise attack.

Clang!

Clang!

Two Metal Collisions rang out in succession. The enemy had four arms and controlled two sabers to block Wang Ping's charged strike. The first saber was sent flying outright, while the second barely managed to stop the blow.

At that moment, Xia Yao formed a hand seal and issued a command. "Bind!"

It was the spell she had used earlier on the River Surface, and it proved effective even on land. At her command, a string of Bubbles emerged from the earth beneath the enemy's feet, swiftly forming a Water Rope that bound his lower body and tripped him to the ground in the blink of an eye.

"Die!"

A fierce expression surfaced on Feng Miao's face as she slashed her saber down toward the enemy's chest.

Clang!

This strike, too, was blocked by the two sabers he held together.

But another Steel Sword came hurtling in, piercing his neck beneath his terrified gaze.

"Ah..."

He seemed to want to say something, but when he opened his mouth, only blood came out...

"Still not dead?"

Feng Miao dealt another blow. Seizing the moment when his hands had gone slack, she drove her saber into his chest. The next instant, searing flames engulfed his entire body.

"Alas!"

Xia Yao watched the opponent wrapped in flames and sighed softly. She then took out a pill and placed it in her mouth. Her battle with this half-human, half-Demon opponent had left her with considerable injuries.

"Why pity him? He was merely a muddleheaded fool who could not even figure out who he was!"

Feng Miao scoffed at the emotion Xia Yao had displayed.

Boom.

At that moment, a muffled blast echoed from above the Clouds...

Then a flag, more than half destroyed, fell from the Clouds. A blood-red streak of light sped toward the distant horizon, closely followed by another streak of light that appeared to be pursuing it.

The battle between the Secret Method Cultivators in the sky had also ended. They simply did not know who had won and who had lost.

The battle on the ground briefly stalled again because of the sound from the sky. Several breaths later, the cries of slaughter still shook the heavens...

No one came to tell Wang Ping and the others the result of the battle above. But after Wang Ping's group dealt with their respective opponents, the scales of victory in the battle below quickly shifted.

Half an Hour later...

More than half of the Group of Demons had been slain. Only several dozen escaped back into the Mountain Forest.

A small portion of the Guangxuan Organization cleaned up the battlefield, while most of the others continued the Mountain Search Operation that should have taken place that day!

Feng Miao was full of energy. She interrogated some of the captured Monsters. After meditating briefly to rest, Xia Yao discussed matters with Guangxuan for a short while, then interrogated the Deserters who had been the first to collapse that day.

Wang Ping, meanwhile, returned to his tent to meditate and rest, while waiting for the results of the mountain search.

The first news to arrive was that Daoist Gu Heng of Sanhe Temple had defeated the Secret Method Cultivator in the Mountain Forest.

Then Zhao Qing had someone carry in a Black Spear.

"I heard this was your trophy, senior brother!"

It was the weapon of the Mountain God Tiger Demon...

Zhao Qing said with a genial smile, "This is fine stuff. It was forged from excellent iron nurtured by the Earth Veins, a reward granted when the Xia Kingdom's imperial family appointed the Mountain God."

"Melt it down and forge me a sword. You can deal with whatever remains yourself."

"Yes, senior brother!"

Not long after Zhao Qing left, Feng Miao and Xia Yao entered Wang Ping's tent one after the other.

Before Feng Miao had even sat down, she began, "The Human Trafficking clues have connected. This place was the final area where the accounts were settled. Aside from those consumed locally, all the missing people were transported here. They even established a Smuggling Route for this. The matters involved run very deep. Once I return and report this, have someone send you a letter if there is any news."