Leaving the City

Faintly, Gao Fei heard someone outside the city gates calling for them to be opened.

Gao Fei raised his spear and thrust it through the chest of the white-clad runner who had just answered, sending him vomiting blood as he fell.

"Open the gates!"

Only then did the three react and begin moving the bracing beam, while Lu Xiaoliu hurried forward to help.

Gao Fei did not move. He needed to conserve his strength.

The instant the gates opened, the villagers outside surged in like a flood.

"Clear the road in the middle, or I'll trample straight through. If anyone gets crushed or injured, don't blame me!"

After shouting that, Gao Fei said to Xiao Liu, "You don't need to follow me. Once the villagers are inside, close the gates. Find a rope and wait on the city wall to support me."

With that, he crashed straight out.

The people outside the city were all villagers unwilling to spend money to enter, numbering roughly over a hundred.

Not far away, more than a dozen Dog Demons had surrounded a single person.

Around the outside, over two hundred upright Minor Monsters with Awakened Intelligence watched while barking "woof, woof" from the side.

At the very edge of the villagers stood over a dozen men in their prime, clutching long spears as they confronted several dozen Dog Demons without Awakened Intelligence.

Taking in the situation, Gao Fei leaped directly over them.

With one thrust, he killed a Dog Demon without Awakened Intelligence that stood half a man tall.

Even a single Merit Point was a gain. Gao Fei did not let it go and rushed forward.

His spearwork was swift to the extreme. Within a few breaths, ten dog corpses lay on the ground.

The villagers were packed together as they entered, moving slowly. The upright Dog Demons in the distance noticed the gates opening and charged over at full speed.

Gao Fei glanced at the farmers beside him, their hands trembling slightly as they gripped wooden spears.

"Each of you pick up one Dog Demon corpse and take it into the city. It's my gift to you."

Those who could still step forward at a time like this were truly rare.

They had not entered the city all this while, so they must have been strapped for cash. This was all he could do to help.

"Thank you, sir!"

Seeing the living Dog Demons without Awakened Intelligence shrink back fearfully into the distance, the farmers around him beamed with delight.

They hurried forward and picked out the largest Dog Demon corpses.

One of them carried a corpse on his shoulder while grinning and cursing, "You bit me once. It's not too much for me to eat you, is it?"

Gao Fei smiled. He did not take the fifty-odd upright Dog Demons charging from afar seriously at all.

Then he heard someone shouting from the city wall, "Close the gates!"

The villagers were nearly all inside. The Dog Demons' charge arrived just in time to catch the instant the gates closed.

"I'll hold them off for a while. You go first!"

Gao Fei called out to the men carrying dog corpses, then picked up a broken spear from the ground.

He hurled it at the fat constable still gesturing and pointing from atop the city gate.

A few breaths later, a system notification sounded: Merit Points +8.

Liu Chief Constable, that fat bastard, had not been killed by him. That little fat Liu had done quite a bit in betraying humanity too, hadn't he?

The villagers were nearly done entering, and the Dog Demons had already rushed close.

Seeing that only one Dog Demon had come to attack him,

Gao Fei, slighted, held his spear sideways and gathered strength.

"Trying to get through without even telling me..."

As he spoke, his spear swept across the battlefield. The Dog Demon rushing toward the gates was smacked into the air and sent crashing into those behind it.

He drew back the spear and spun, smashing it toward the other side.

The spear curved across his back in a flourish before sweeping out once more.

The Dog Demons rushing toward the city gates were forcibly halted in place by Gao Fei alone.

As the gates shut behind him, Gao Fei heard the sound of the crossbar dropping into place.

"You people are far too rude. I hope there won't be a next time."

After speaking, Gao Fei revealed a cruel smile.

Just now, his priority had been stopping the enemy, with killing demons secondary. Now that he had no worries behind him, it was time to get to work.

System notification:

Merit Points +1

Merit Points +1

...

Not bad. His efforts had not been in vain—one point apiece, not a single one missing.

"Eh?"

Gao Fei discovered that some among them did not yield Merit Points at all.

"Could it be that they won't die even if the Dog Demons catch up to them?"

Looking at the fiercely charging Dog Demons, it did not seem likely.

That left only one possibility: the system had determined that they were bad people, and killing them yielded Merit Points.

Distinguishing loyalty from treachery was not his business. If he truly wanted to tell, he only had to kill them to find out.

Right now, he wanted to collect Zhang Constable's body.

In the distance, the small circle where more than a dozen upright Dog Demons had surrounded someone had scattered. A man lay facedown on the ground, his face hidden, but the large character for "constable" on his back revealed his identity.

With Late Qi-Blood Realm cultivation, being surrounded by a pack of Dog Demons and still surviving until now could only mean they had been toying with him, perhaps also seeing whether they could trick open the city gates.

Looking at so many walking Merit Points, Gao Fei, who had been in a decent mood, now felt somewhat irritated.

The villagers who resisted, Zhang Constable—people like them were also the first to die.

If all such people died, those left behind might become slaves of the Demon Race.

This time, Gao Fei struck back.

His spear thrust forward, piercing two in a row.

With his left hand, he drew his longsword and hacked at the Dog Demons drawing close.

The blade was sharp. Every slash cut an inch into flesh, but none struck vital points, so they were not fatal.

The spearhead was sharper than the blade. Using only half his strength, he could pierce through Skin-Tempered Dog Demons.

The Skin-Tempered Dog Demons carried no weapons and fought barehanded. Only those in the Blood-Qi Realm wielded wooden clubs.

Though there were only a few wooden clubs, after a fierce exchange of blows, splinters still flew everywhere.

Gao Fei was immensely strong, but he could not keep using spear in his right hand and blade in his left for long. Feeling his stamina drain, he knew it would be difficult to kill all the Dog Demons, so he sheathed the blade on his back.

With only his spear, he drove straight in, charging as his main approach. Within the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he reached Zhang Constable's side.

His back was covered in palm prints and marks left by wooden club strikes, and every bone in his body had been broken.

Using his spear like a hoe, Gao Fei turned him over. Blood seeped from the corners of his mouth, eyes, ears, and nose.

The Dog Demons, frightened by Gao Fei's slaughter, did not attack for the moment, merely surrounding him tightly.

The Dog Demons did not pause for long before swarming at him again.

Gao Fei used his fists at close range and his spear at a distance. He had already used Dark Force five times.

"Gao Fei, there seem to be two Spirit-Absorption Realm Dog Demons. Be careful and conserve your strength."

Gao Linyue stood on the city wall, watching the surrounded Gao Fei with some anxiety.

He had arrived long ago. With his eyesight, he could tell that the two Dog Demons were different.

From the moment he saw Gao Fei's spearwork, hope had emerged from his despair at losing his nephew.

Every thrust, smash, and lift contained no unnecessary movement—clean and decisive.

Seeing Gao Fei slaughtering in all directions amid the Dog Demons, Gao Yan could not help but sigh.

"Brother Fei seems like a different person. He's incredible!"

Gao Linyue and his wife exchanged a glance but did not answer. They watched the battle below, a trace of worry showing on their faces.

Qiu Mei and Xiaocui were also on the city wall.

The wall was filled with the white-clad runners who had stayed behind, along with some volunteers who had come to defend it and guards from Yueyang County's two Lineages.

There were not many of them, and they stood scattered sparsely along the wall.

Seeing Gao Fei's godlike bravery outside the city, all of them looked as though they had seen a ghost. Many had watched Gao Fei grow up.

What sort of person had he been? Since childhood, he had stolen chickens and dogs, indulged in food, drink, whoring, and gambling, bullied the weak, and tyrannized the market, committing countless petty offenses.

Usually, he could not even beat an ordinary neighbor who was a little better at martial arts. What was going on now?

Had he been pretending to be a wastrel all along?

Could it be that his family had offended some great power and hidden here to escape disaster?