A Beautiful Demon Comes Knocking

This 800-fold critical hit brought Qin Dongcheng gains across the board.

Cultivation, Body Phase, experience, techniques, insights... it would be no exaggeration to call this a massive harvest.

However, if he had a choice, Qin Dongcheng would rather have foregone these gains than experience such a life-or-death struggle.

After all, these gains could be slowly acquired through the Heaven Rewards Diligence System with just a bit more time and effort, but one only has a single life; once lost, it is gone forever.

Qin Dongcheng was not stupid; he knew which was more important and could distinguish between the two.

Early the next morning, Qin Dongcheng handed the rat demon's corpse over to the patrol team, who only then realized that more than one demon had infiltrated Bamboo Forest Valley.

Considering the destruction these demons had caused to the valley, Qin Dongcheng's actions were equivalent to resolving a major hidden danger, so they rewarded him with a full one hundred sect contribution points.

Adding this to his previous savings, he now had over three hundred contribution points, meaning he would soon be able to exchange them for a meat-refining cultivation technique.

Upon returning to the Herb Field, Qin Dongcheng immediately informed the various herb field laborers of the matter, telling them all to be careful.

After all, no one knew if there was a third rat demon lurking about after the first two had been killed.

He had originally thought there was only one, and just as he had let his guard down, he had immediately encountered a second.

Since there was a second, could there be a third, a fourth... or perhaps other demons and monsters?

Qin Dongcheng's encounter left all the herb field laborers quite terrified; no one dared to be careless anymore, and they all tried their best to hide in their homes at night, not daring to come out casually.

Yet, Qin Dongcheng still felt unsafe; how could a thin, bamboo door possibly stop a demon comparable to a Martial Artist?

If the opponent was determined to eat humans, the bamboo hut would not be able to stop them at all. A first-level demon possessed hundreds of kilograms of brute force in its gestures, allowing it to easily break through the bamboo structure.

Otherwise, there wouldn't have been a string of missing herb field laborers before. Hiding at home had limited effectiveness, and furthermore, he couldn't stay hidden in the bamboo hut forever and stop coming out to cultivate at night.

He had originally thought the herb field would be very safe, but he hadn't expected to find himself in such a dangerous situation in the blink of an eye.

Although the creatures infiltrating the area were only low-level demons and monsters, they were still not something the laborers could resist.

Moreover, as the person with the highest strength in this area, Qin Dongcheng possessed quite abundant blood energy. To demons and monsters with keen senses, he was a prime meal, and he would be the first one they would want to target.

Therefore, this place was already very unsafe for him.

Should he expose a bit of his strength and pass the formal disciple examination? That would grant him the qualifications to move into the Osmanthus Garden, where patrol teams guarded the area twelve hours a day, making such situations impossible.

Even though his strength had increased several times over, it didn't mean he had no opponents; no matter how much it had increased, he had only just stepped into the second realm of the martial path.

Qin Dongcheng became somewhat hesitant; if he didn't become a formal disciple, he would have to continue living in this dangerous bamboo hut.

Becoming a formal disciple meant he would have to complete one task every month, and there might even be mandatory tasks occasionally, but it would ultimately be much safer.

Furthermore, if he passed the examination as an alchemy apprentice, the tasks he would need to perform would mostly be safe tasks related to alchemy and medicine production, and the mandatory tasks would likely be the same; it didn't seem to carry much danger.

He had carefully looked into it over these past few days: almost all formal disciples who were alchemists, artifact refiners, or formation masters were rarely assigned tasks involving the slaying of demons and monsters for their mandatory requirements.

Moreover, completing these tasks would also earn him significant sect contribution points. Plus, since his alchemy skills were now up to standard, he could fully pass the examination as an alchemy apprentice and become a formal disciple.

While he hesitated, Qin Dongcheng's success rate in refining the Detoxification Pill had already reached over thirty percent.

With the success rate for all three types of low-level pills reaching over thirty percent, he could easily pass the examination for a formal alchemist, let alone an examination corresponding to the level of an alchemy apprentice.

As a formal alchemist, once exposed, Qin Dongcheng's status and position would be in the upper-middle tier even among formal disciples, and even those inner sect disciples would treat him with respect.

His monthly income would also skyrocket, and he would receive more care from the sect.

If he improved even further, as long as he wasn't too old, becoming an inner sect disciple was not an impossible feat.

Just as Qin Dongcheng was hesitating, in a bamboo hut about a mile away, Wang Kun was practicing the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist.

Under Qin Dongcheng's guidance, he felt he had gradually grasped the essence of the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist. As long as he practiced step-by-step, it shouldn't take long before he had a chance to step into the level of a Martial Artist.

Consequently, he practiced harder and harder, spending most of his nights on it. Unfortunately, the bamboo hut was a bit too cramped; once the invading demons and monsters in the vicinity were wiped out, it would be better to practice outside.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

Just as he was deep into his practice, a knocking sound came from outside, causing Wang Kun's expression to change, and he hurriedly stopped.

In the middle of the night, why would there suddenly be a knock at the door? Could it be a demon?

Without time to think, Wang Kun hurriedly lit a torch, making the room bright, and peered through a crack in the bamboo door. He saw a delicate, moving face that was both charming and alluring looking at him anxiously from outside.

When their eyes met, Wang Kun felt a boom in his head, and he no longer knew where he was.

Just like that, he opened the door and followed the demon—which had a moving face but an ugly snake body—away from the spot, gradually disappearing into the depths of the bamboo forest.

Wang Kun, who had already stepped half a foot into the Martial Artist level, was taken away by the demon silently, without making a single sound.

It wasn't until the next day when the surrounding laborers came to look for him that they discovered something was wrong. After searching everywhere, they finally confirmed one thing: Wang Kun had gone missing.

Qin Dongcheng received the news at noon. He was quite familiar with Wang Kun, who was one of the first herb field laborers to follow him in practicing the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist and was very close to stepping into the Martial Artist level.

If nothing had gone wrong, he would have become a Body Phase Martial Artist in about half a year, yet he had disappeared just like that, without even a shred of news leaking out.

Qin Dongcheng knew clearly in his heart that there must be other demons and monsters nearby, and they weren't necessarily rat demons. After all, a first-level rat demon would find it difficult to devour Wang Kun silently without leaving a single sign of a struggle.

Either that demon possessed astonishing strength, or it mastered special methods. Regardless of which it was, both could pose a huge threat to Qin Dongcheng.

Therefore, he made his decision at noon: he would head to the Cauldron Hall in the afternoon to take the formal disciple examination.