At Least, We Had Avenged Them!

The battle was a complete one-sided massacre!

The Golden Generation's seamless teamwork, coupled with Venusaur's terrifying area-of-effect attacks, swiftly cleared out all the Wolf Bandit within their field of vision like a hot knife through butter.

The number of Wolf Bandit is decreasing at a visible rate. Limbs and scalding blood stain every inch of the land, and the strong smell of blood and burnt flesh is almost suffocating.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, the last Wolf Bandit who tried to escape was pinned to a dead tree by the Moon Blade thrown by Xie Yue. He struggled a few times and then fell silent. In the clearing at the edge of the forest, apart from heavy breathing, there was only a nauseating silence.

More than three hundred ferocious Wolf Bandit were all killed!

Lin Xia slowly retracted Venusaur and looked around.

The comrades stood amidst pools of blood and wolf carcasses, their faces showing little joy of victory, only solemnity and lingering killing intent.

Ye Lingling had already summoned the Nine Heart Begonia, and its soft halo continuously showered down, healing any minor scratches or abrasions that the people might have suffered during the battle, while also trying to dispel the discomfort caused by the thick stench of blood in the air.

"Walk."

Lin Xia's voice was hoarse from the battle and carried a hint of barely Frisk fatigue, but it was mostly heavy.

"Go inside and see if any of the villagers who were arrested have survived. And while you're at it... see if any scum have escaped."

The group nodded silently, suppressing their discomfort, and followed Lin Xia, carefully following the trail of blood and chaotic footprints on the ground, heading deeper into the forest in the direction the Wolf Bandit had originally traveled.

The deeper you go, the stronger and more pungent the smell of blood becomes, almost solidifying and so thick that it makes it hard to breathe.

The bloodstains on the ground were becoming more and more numerous and fresher, and the drag marks were becoming increasingly messy, as if a brutal slaughter had just ended there.

Soon, they arrived at a relatively open clearing in the woods.

The sight before them made everyone's hearts sink to the bottom, their faces turned ashen, and a bone-chilling coldness shot from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads!

In the center of the open space, there was a small mountain made up of corpses!

Men, women, young and old—no one was spared.

These were the villagers of Qingshui Village who had been dragged away by the Wolf Bandit! The corpses were piled up haphazardly, many bearing the marks of being roughly dragged, their clothes tattered and torn.

Their expressions were frozen in the extreme fear and pain of their final moments, their eyes mostly wide open, staring blankly at the gray sky, as if silently accusing the atrocities.

Lin Xia stood at the edge of the open space, as if frozen by the coldest ice.

He felt as if all the blood in his body had stopped flowing, and his heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, almost suffocating him.

While they were engaged in fierce fighting with the Wolf Bandit on the outskirts, those Wolf Bandit who had been driven into this open area, realizing they could not resist, turned their blades on the defenseless people at the last moment!

They slaughtered all the Wolf Bandit, leaving not a single one alive!

But... they couldn't save anyone.

Not a single one.

This belated victory brought not relief, but a deeper, colder sense of despair and powerlessness.

It was as if someone had used a red-hot branding iron to brand the word "failure" deep into everyone's soul.

After a long silence, Lin Xia broke the suffocating silence with a deep but undeniably firm voice.

"Don't overthink it. At least we've avenged them. Those beasts deserved to die."

After saying this, a cold glint flashed in Lin Xia's eyes. He was about to start digging a common resting place for these innocent villagers when his gaze inadvertently swept over the corpse of a Wolf Bandit closest to him.

Deep within the gaping wound at the base of the corpse's thigh, a soft bluish light faintly emanated!

The light stood out starkly against the backdrop of blood and carnage.

Lin Xia frowned slightly, stepped forward, bent down and used her Soul Power to shake away the obstructing bits of flesh and blood.

A bone about a foot long lay there quietly, radiating a warm and restrained blue aura, its shape exactly like the right leg bone!

The light was not dazzling, but it contained a pure and condensed energy fluctuation, far exceeding the aura of ordinary Soul Beast. It was clearly a Spirit Bone of quite good quality!

"Spirit Bone?!"

Yan was the first to cry out in surprise, her voice filled with disbelief.

He rushed forward, his eyes wide as he stared at the blue bone in Lin Xia's hand. They knew all too well how rare Spirit Bone were; who could have imagined that such a treasure would be found among this group of filthy, bloodthirsty Wolf Bandit?

Hu Liena, Xie Yue, Dugu Yan, and Ye Lingling also gathered around, their faces filled with shock.

Wolf Bandit, monsters that exist between Soul Beast and humans, are difficult to absorb even their Soul Ring, let alone produce Spirit Bone! This is a discovery that completely overturns our understanding.

Lin Xia weighed the right leg bone in her hand, which felt warm and smooth like jade and shimmered with a bluish light, and the surging power she felt became even clearer.

His eyes held no greed whatsoever; instead, they were unusually calm.

Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, he flicked his wrist, and the Spirit Bone that emitted an alluring blue light, enough to drive countless Soul Master mad, was thrown directly towards Xie Yue beside him as if it were an ordinary stone.

"Take it."

Lin Xia's voice was flat and emotionless, as if she were talking about a trivial matter.

"This..."

Xie Yue instinctively caught the Spirit Bone. It was cool to the touch, and the immense energy it exuded made his heart skip a beat.

He looked at Lin Xia, his eyes questioning.

"I have plenty of Spirit Bone; I don't need this one."

Lin Xia waved his hand, his tone carrying the confidence and composure befitting a Holy Son of the Spirit Hall.

"Your increased strength will be more helpful for our upcoming trip to Sea God Island. It's up to you, Nana, or Yan to decide who's best suited for it."

"Of course, if you don't like it, you can sell it. I'll find you a new one!"

Upon hearing this, Xie Yue gave Lin Xia a deep look.

He knew that Lin Xia's words were true; given Lin Xia's status in the Spirit Hall and her extraordinary encounters, it was not impossible for her to possess multiple Spirit Bone.

This trust and unreserved gift warmed his heart. He didn't feign reluctance, but simply nodded firmly and said in a deep voice:

"Thanks, Lin Xia!"

He then flipped his wrist, and the Spirit Bone containing the blue light disappeared from his Storage Soul Tool.

This decisiveness and efficiency is precisely the unspoken understanding between them.

No one lingered any longer.

Under Lin Xia's command, the Wolf Bandit corpses, burned beyond recognition and emitting a pungent Stench, were gathered together and set ablaze once more.

Blazing flames shot into the sky, turning the beasts that had slaughtered the innocent into ashes, as if burning away all the filth and sin on this land.