Black Iron Demon Slayer

Inside the gray tent, a young man in a blue uniform sat.

Hu Lianfeng quietly explained to Ye Wudao, "Everyone wearing a blue uniform works at the outpost. If you have any questions, you can ask them anytime."

With that, he walked over to the staff member and said, "New recruit reporting in. He needs a recorder."

The staff member glanced at Hu Lianfeng, then at Ye Wudao behind him. "Name and Federation ID number?"

Hu Lianfeng looked back at Ye Wudao. Ye Wudao immediately understood and said, "Ye Wudao. My ID number is LXHC652021545."

As he spoke, the staff member worked at the computer in front of him.

After a while, he looked at Ye Wudao curiously and asked in a low voice, "You're an ordinary person?"

Ye Wudao nodded.

At that, Hu Lianfeng spoke up. "He's my disciple. I'll take him under my wing."

The staff member glanced at Hu Lianfeng again. "Where's your Demon Slayer Guard medal?"

At once, Hu Lianfeng pulled a silver medal from his pocket and handed it to the staff member.

The staff member placed the medal on a device and scanned it. Pressing his lips together, he said, "A Silver Demon Slayer at Houtian Great Accomplishment. You're qualified to take someone along to hunt monsters."

"But let me warn you: don't go near the canyon. There are only second-rank monsters over there. It'd be dangerous for you."

Hu Lianfeng smiled. "Don't worry. There's also a Gold Demon Slayer in our team."

The staff member glanced at Ye Wudao again. "All right. Just wait a moment."

With that, he clattered away at the keyboard for a while.

After a while, he took a black medal from beneath the drawer and scanned it with the machine beside the computer.

Once he was done, he set the black medal on the desk and said softly, "Ye Wudao, congratulations on becoming a Black Iron Demon Slayer."

"A Demon Slayer gets one point for killing a first-rank monster and two points for killing a second-rank monster, and so on."

"Once you've earned ten thousand points, you can come to me to exchange them for a Bronze Demon Slayer medal."

"You're an inmate at Haicheng First Prison, with fifteen years left on your sentence. Once you earn 5,475 points, your sentence will be automatically cleared, and you'll keep your points."

"The recorder is built into your Demon Slayer medal. Every monster you kill will be recorded, and you'll receive the corresponding rewards."

"If you lose your Demon Slayer medal, you can come to me for a replacement."

"If you kill monsters without wearing your Demon Slayer medal, you won't receive any rewards."

Ye Wudao nodded, stepped forward, and picked up the Demon Slayer medal from the desk.

If he wanted to get out early by killing monsters, he needed over five thousand points. That meant killing more than five thousand first-rank monsters or over two thousand second-rank monsters.

According to Hu Lianfeng and Zhang Hankuang, killing monsters was no easy task.

Killing ten monsters a day that matched your own level was already considered pretty good.

After picking up the black medal, he pinned it to his chest.

This thing was the key to whether he could get out early.

After registering as a Demon Slayer, he followed Hu Lianfeng out of the tent.

The moment they stepped outside, he asked Hu Lianfeng, "Master, you have more than nine hundred years left on your sentence. Doesn't that mean you need over three hundred thousand points to get out?"

Hu Lianfeng stopped and sighed. "I've been at Sea City Prison for six years, and I've only earned a little over forty thousand points. I haven't even advanced to Gold Demon Slayer."

"At my current rate of killing monsters, I won't get out for another fifty years. I'm afraid I won't live that long."

"That's why I said I'd never get out of here in this lifetime, unless I can advance to the Xiantian Realm and extend my lifespan."

Ye Wudao pressed his lips together and asked, "How many years does Elder Qin have left on his sentence? The Gold Demon Slayer you mentioned—is that Elder Qin?"

Hu Lianfeng kept walking and shook his head. "Don't go prying into Elder Qin's affairs. Even if I knew, I couldn't tell you much."

"If Elder Qin wants to tell you, then you can listen."

"All I can tell you is that Elder Qin has more than twice as much time left on his sentence as Zhang Hankuang and I do combined."

"But Elder Qin kills monsters very quickly too. He should be close to advancing to Gold Demon Slayer."

Ye Wudao pressed his lips together. Advancing to Bronze Demon Slayer required ten thousand points, and advancing to Silver Demon Slayer required a hundred thousand.

If Qin Tianlong was close to advancing to Gold Demon Slayer, didn't that mean he had eight or nine hundred thousand points?

Even with only eight hundred thousand points, he could knock off more than two thousand years from his sentence.

But Qin Tianlong still hadn't been released. Ye Wudao couldn't even imagine what kind of heinous crime he must have committed.

He looked at Hu Lianfeng and asked, "What about Senior Zhang Hankuang? He only has a little over three hundred years left. He should be getting out soon, right?"

Hu Lianfeng smiled. "He's only been here for half a year, but he's at Houtian Peak, so he kills monsters faster than I do."

"He can kill about twenty second-rank monsters a day. He's probably got over eight thousand points by now."

"At that rate, he'll definitely get out. He'll be gone in about ten years."

"There used to be several other people in Cell No. 1. Some got out early, and some died in the Rift World."

"Elder Qin has probably been in Cell No. 1 longer than anyone else. I heard from someone who used to be there that Elder Qin had been in Cell No. 1 for ten years."

With that, he sighed. "Sigh! Enough of that. Let's hurry and meet up with Elder Qin and the others."

"Really, I only brought you here today to broaden your horizons. With your current strength, there's no way you could kill a single monster."

"When you reach Body Tempering Great Accomplishment, you can go kill some first-rank monsters and get some experience."

Listening to Hu Lianfeng, Ye Wudao was stunned.

Elder Qin had only been in Cell No. 1 for ten years?

He'd earned eight or nine hundred thousand points in ten years?

Didn't that mean Elder Qin could earn at least two or three hundred points a day?

Was the Xiantian Realm really that powerful?

Hu Lianfeng and Zhang Hankuang hadn't said what realm Qin Tianlong was in.

But from the way they treated Elder Qin, it was clear that he was at least a Xiantian Realm expert.

He followed Hu Lianfeng, thinking as he walked.

Before long, they reached the large tent.

Hu Lianfeng stopped at the entrance and turned to Ye Wudao. "This is the weaponry. You can rent or buy weapons with points, but you can't take them out of the Rift World."

"You'd better not go in. Even renting a lousy weapon costs one point. You don't have any points right now, so there's no use going inside. It'll only distract you."

"When you advance to the Body Tempering Realm, I'll teach you a set of saber techniques."

"I'm going to get the weapon I stored here. Wait for me."

Ye Wudao nodded. Hu Lianfeng was telling the truth. He didn't have a single point, so there was no use going in.

A little while later, Hu Lianfeng came out of the tent with a large saber in his hand.

Ye Wudao pressed his lips together and asked, "Master, why don't you borrow a gun?"

"Wouldn't it be faster to kill monsters with a gun?"

He voiced the biggest question he had. Even monsters were made of flesh and blood. Could they really withstand bullets and cannon fire?

Hearing him, Hu Lianfeng burst into laughter. "Haha! Look around the whole outpost. Do you see anyone carrying a gun?"

Ye Wudao frowned slightly and thought back over everything he'd seen on the way here.

It seemed...

No one really was carrying a gun!

But the guards on the watchtowers did have guns in their hands.

Puzzled, he asked, "Master, what's going on?"

"Are the guards the only ones allowed to use guns? We Demon Slayers can't?"

"But weren't Demon Slayers created to wipe out monsters?"

"If we have powerful firearms, why insist on using cold weapons?"

Hu Lianfeng shook his head. "It's not that we're forbidden to use them. Firearms are dangerous."

"Monster habitats are teeming with tens of thousands of monsters."

"The moment you fire a gun, the sound draws them over."

"It doesn't matter what kind of gun it is or how good the silencer is. Nothing works."

"When the Blue Star Federation first discovered the Rift World, they used guns to kill monsters. The result was heavy casualties."

With that, he paused and looked into the distance. "Let's go. We should find Elder Qin and the others."

Ye Wudao nodded and dutifully followed behind Hu Lianfeng.