One Hundred and Twenty-One Minor Merits, a Top-Tier Core Condensation Method of Great Zhou!

Outside help was even less likely.

Ever since what Pei Xuance had done a few years ago, Qingzhou had felt increasingly sidelined by the imperial court.

Repeated requests for aid had gone unanswered. The inspector had never come to visit, and even their pay and provisions had been cut considerably.

Otherwise, Qingzhou would never have been reduced to enduring a challenge from Yellow Wind Mountain.

So he really had killed them!?

Everyone stared at the young Deputy General in a daze.

He had casually produced several strands of Demonic Qi from Core-Condensation Realm demons. The shock was no less than watching a three-year-old child pin down a striped tiger with one hand.

"Yang Xiao, what exactly... have you been doing these past few days?"

Zhou Zheng spoke first, his voice dry.

He edged half a step toward Yang Xiao, one hand clenched inside his sleeve.

He had expected Yang Xiao to advance quickly, but after only a month apart, the man seemed to have mounted a bird and soared so high that Zhou Zheng could no longer see where he would stop.

The Nine-Poison Scorpion Lord, the Jade-Ridge Silkweaver Spider, the Sword Mantis—any one of them was a great demon the Demon-Slaying Battalion would talk about for years.

A great demon like that was no quarry for an ordinary Deputy General. When had the Demon-Slaying Battalion ever acted without scouting in advance, laying plans, and gathering plenty of hands?

Yet it had been only a month. Travel alone must have taken a good deal of time, hadn't it?

Yang Xiao opened his mouth to answer.

"Ahem."

Li Hanguang raised a hand and pressed it lightly downward.

Zhou Zheng stepped back half a pace and swallowed the rest of his question, though his eyes stayed fixed on Yang Xiao's face. His