Until his death, this Advanced Martial Artist of the Meng family could not believe that not only had he been ambushed, but that his attacker had actually been a Beginner Martial Artist!
Before he could even react, he had been beheaded.
Thus, his eyes remained wide open, unable to rest in peace.
Blood Consumption directly stored his corpse away, then continued the pursuit... That heavily wounded C-class Fierce Beast was a massive chunk of meat. He would not let it go!
Meanwhile.
Su Zhan swiftly looted the Advanced Martial Artist's Space Ring.
Gold Coins, techniques, pills, all kinds of materials, Spirit Weapons... they were basically all first-, second-, and third-grade items... and there was not much of any of them.
However, after Su Zhan made a rough calculation, their combined value came to around 7,000 Gold Coins.
"Not bad!"
"Much better than the last one."
That previous Advanced Martial Artist had possessed less than 3,000 Gold Coins' worth of valuables in total.
This was more than double.
And compared to hunting Fierce Beasts, killing people clearly brought faster and greater rewards!
"No wonder so many Martial Artists loved murder and robbery, ambushing others for treasure. This really brings in money fast!"
Hunting Fierce Beasts was stable, without much fluctuation. The stronger one was, the higher the profits.
Hunting Martial Artists was extremely unstable, but correspondingly, any random one might carry someone else's savings from years or even decades—enough to make you rich overnight!
The only trouble was the enormous risk involved... Getting counter-killed was one thing, but if you accidentally ran into a truly tough opponent, or someone with a powerful background, you might end up throwing your own life away.
But this was precisely what Su Zhan did not worry about.
They were all technique incarnations. Killing was simply killing.
No matter how awesome you were, even if you had a Martial Marshal level backer, you would never be able to trace it back to him!
"Ding! Basic Qi and Blood Method wishes to devour one of your Advanced Martial Artist corpses. Allow?"
"Allow!"
An Advanced Martial Artist—how much of a multiplier would it provide?
"Ding! Basic Qi and Blood Method has devoured one of your Advanced Martial Artist corpses. Cultivation acceleration increased by 2x!"
2x.
It was only 1x more than a C-class Fierce Beast of the same level, which was not particularly high... After all, hunting Fierce Beasts was far less difficult than hunting Martial Artists, and their numbers differed tremendously as well.
The greatest benefit was looting treasure, while putting the corpses to use along the way.
Fierce Beast Flesh could still be sold for money... but who would dare sell Warrior Flesh?
"You can kill people, seize treasure, and directly increase the multiplier by putting the waste to use. This deal is worth it!"
"Keep going. From now on, the Meng family will be my mobile treasury!"
The corners of Su Zhan's mouth curled up.
"Charge, charge, charge, charge, charge!"
"This Nine Giant White Bear only has one breath left!"
"Once we slaughter it, we'll make a huge haul!"
A group of Martial Artists dressed in Meng family attire were besieging a Nine Giant White Bear.
There were eight of them in total: two Advanced Martial Artists, three Intermediate Martial Artists, and three Beginner Martial Artists... forming a small team to farm monsters here.
Boom!
As the Nine Giant White Bear collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust, all the Martial Artists cheered.
The leading Advanced Martial Artist was especially delighted. Just as he was about to step forward and stab the Nine Giant White Bear's heart to see whether it had Blood Essence—
A figure suddenly descended.
"Who's there?!"
The Intermediate Martial Artists and Beginner Martial Artists immediately became vigilant.
This person wore a Black Cloak and a mask. Not even the tiniest sliver of skin was exposed anywhere on his body.
"What are you making such a fuss over?"
"He's only a Beginner Martial Artist. What's there to fear?"
The leading Advanced Martial Artist said disdainfully, "Just kill him. He's an eyesore!"
The cloaked figure said nothing. With a flick of his hand, he stored away the Nine Giant White Bear.
That enraged the Advanced Martial Artist. "Stealing my spoils? You're tired of living, aren't you?"
Just as he rushed in front of him, the cloaked figure suddenly swung his saber. Crimson Blade Energy swept across him.
Carried by inertia, the Advanced Martial Artist's body split perfectly in two from the center of his brow, then fell to either side of the cloaked figure as blood dyed the earth red.
Everyone around them immediately revealed looks of terror.
"Th-the captain is dead?!"
"One slash?!"
"Wasn't he a Beginner Martial Artist?!"
"Run, run!!"
All the Martial Artists panicked and hurriedly turned to flee.
The Black Cloak flicked the long saber in his hand, then decisively charged after them.
Only a few minutes later.
Meng family Martial Artists lay strewn everywhere as corpses.
"Too weak. Not satisfying."
Frenzy Blood shook his head unhappily.
His nature was to love fighting head-on. Whether he could win or not, he fought first and talked later!
He removed their Space Rings, then began devouring the corpses one by one.
Because he was an Elite Grade Technique, the effect was only 1x.
"The acceleration effect is passable, a little better than Fierce Beasts. These are boring—I need to find some stronger ones to deal with!"
Frenzy Blood continued roaming.
Meanwhile.
"Not bad, Frenzy Blood. You took out eight people in one go!"
"Their combined value is nearly 20,000!"
Su Zhan praised him.
Less than an hour had passed.
Yet they had already harvested nearly 30,000 Gold Coins.
At this rate, would they not earn at least two or three hundred thousand Gold Coins a day?
Two or three hundred thousand Gold Coins per day... Hiss~~
Just thinking about it felt exhilarating!
"Ding! Gilded Jade Body has acquired one Intermediate Martial Artist corpse!"
"Ding! Nine Heavens Thunder Fire Saber has acquired one Advanced Martial Artist corpse!"
"Ding! Bloodthirsty Rampage has acquired one Advanced Martial Artist corpse!"
"..."
From then on, acquisition notifications popped into Su Zhan's mind at regular intervals.
At first, he eagerly stripped off each Space Ring, counted how many treasures it held and how much they were worth, grumbled when the haul was small and got excited when it was large... But as the quantity gradually increased and the harvesting frequency rose, Su Zhan simply set everything aside and waited half an hour or an hour before calculating and sorting it all at once.
Su Zhan was having a leisurely and comfortable time.
But over at the Meng family strongholds, everyone was acting as if they faced a formidable enemy!
One of the Meng family's Fierce Beast strongholds.
A stronghold, put plainly, was a temporary little town or village.
Though the place was small, it had all five vital organs complete—everything that should be there was there... Even entertainments forbidden in Heaven City could be enjoyed freely here. You could be as bold as you wished, as unrestrained as you pleased.
As long as you paid the "admission fee" and the "hunting fee" for going out to hunt, even if you were not a member of the Meng family, you could hunt nearby.
Thus, there were quite a few people in the stronghold, from several hundred to over a thousand... Besides Meng family Martial Artists, there were also Martial Artists from other Lineages and independent Martial Artist Corps.
Yet now, the entire stronghold had fallen into chaos.
"What?! Old Huang and the others have all lost contact? What happened?"
"This is bad... We can't contact the captain either! Could he have died at the hands of a Fierce Beast?"
"Look, something happened on the Meng family's side too. They lost Martial Artists as well, and even Advanced Martial Artists!"
"No way, did the Lin family attack? How could there have been no sign at all?"
"If the Lin family wanted to attack, they would attack B-grade strongholds or higher. Wouldn't any B-grade stronghold be far more valuable than a C-grade stronghold?"
"Latest news! Latest news! Something huge has happened! The Meng family has lost more than three Advanced Martial Artists, all slaughtered by a masked man in a cloak!"
"A masked man in a cloak?! What's going on?!"
"Do you even need to ask? He must be a ruthless figure—either connected to the Lin family or here for revenge. Why are you still fooling around? Grab your weapons already!"
"..."
The stronghold was tiny, while Martial Artists had exceptionally sharp hearing and perception. News spread from one to ten, ten to a hundred. In less than ten minutes, everyone in the entire stronghold understood the situation thoroughly.
Similar scenes were playing out at the Meng family's other three strongholds.
"They're dead?!"
The stronghold's garrison commander's expression changed upon hearing the news. "Have you found out who did it?"
"Not yet, because the Martial Artists sent to investigate also... also died!" His subordinate shrank his neck and said tremblingly.
"The Lin family?" The garrison commander seemed somewhat dazed. "No, the Lin family has always attacked strongholds directly. Why would they need to lie in ambush? If they truly intended to act, they would have pounced long ago!"
"Never mind that. Seal off the stronghold and go on full alert! The moment anyone suspicious is found, act immediately!"
"Yes!"
As trouble continued breaking out across the four strongholds, every one of them was thrown into panic.
Meanwhile, on Su Zhan's side, Frenzy Blood was the first to vanish when his hour was up. Then Sanyu and Nine Heavens Thunder Fire Saber vanished when their time ran out, leaving only Blood Consumption still fighting.
Su Zhan decisively tallied everything up.
The final result was out:
"Today's total harvest is... 270,000!"
An unprecedented brilliance erupted in Su Zhan's eyes.
Before you continue