Sacrificed the soul of a lesser demon. Obtained 265 Experience Points.
A panel notification flashed before Chen Xian's eyes as he gripped his blade and panted heavily.
Just then, Ding Chen and the other five brought down the remaining wolf demon.
Chen Xian's gaze flickered. He hurled the long blade in his hand, and it struck the wolf demon squarely in the head, pinning it dead just as it tried to rise again.
Sacrificed the soul of a lesser demon. Obtained 139 Experience Points.
The panel gave another notification.
Chen Xian braced his arms on his knees, gasping for breath.
He had struck it rich tonight. All twelve wolf demons had died by his hand, and every one of them had yielded over a hundred Experience Points.
But the fifteen of them had suffered grievous casualties.
Ding Chen and the other five dropped to the ground on their butts, staring weakly at Chen Xian.
Three times!
If not for Chen Xian, they would already have died three times over!
A cold glint flashed in Ding Chen's blood-smeared eyes. Perhaps someone had been plotting against him ever since that first wolf demon.
The tiger demon last time had been the same. This time, it was even more obvious.
Why would the Demon Slayer Soldiers leave twelve wolf demons alive?
The more Ding Chen thought about it, the more fury blazed in his heart.
"Li Sheng!"
He roared and sprang to his feet.
Chen Xian and the others were taken aback.
What did he mean, Li Sheng?
Seeing everyone staring at him, Ding Chen forced down the towering fury in his heart in an instant.
He wiped the blood from his face and instructed everyone to load their dead comrades onto the cart before dragging it back to the military camp.
Outside the Ninth Camp, the night-watch soldiers saw several figures staggering back and thought they were demons. They rushed forward one after another.
When they saw that they were from the Cooks' Camp, the soldiers were stunned as well.
Without saying a word, Ding Chen and Chen Xian pulled the cart while Wang Yan and the others pushed it back to the Cooks' Camp.
"Zhao Tong!"
Before Ding Chen could speak, Wang Yan let out an angry roar.
It instantly startled the surrounding tents.
Zhao Tong rushed out of his tent in nightclothes. When he saw that Ding Chen and the other six were still alive, with two more on the cart severely wounded but not yet dead, his heart skipped a beat.
But he put on an expression of shock and concern as he asked in a deep voice, "What happened?"
Wang Yan clenched his fist and threw a punch at him. "Fuck you!"
Who the hell were you putting on an act for?
But how could Wang Yan be Zhao Tong's match? Zhao Tong caught his fist in one hand and kicked him three meters away. "You dare attack me? Are you courting death?"
Wang Yan crashed to the ground and spat out blood.
Chen Xian's face darkened. Just as he was about to step forward, Ding Chen seized his arm.
This was a military camp. A subordinate striking a superior was a grave offense.
Wang Yan had acted rashly, but Chen Xian could not be allowed to do the same.
"Chief Medic Zhao, twelve wolf demons had been lying in ambush on the battlefield. My brothers fought them to the death; some died, some were wounded. Wang Yan was merely overcome with emotion for a moment. You are a magnanimous man, so please do not hold it against him."
Ding Chen fixed Zhao Tong with a cold stare and spoke unhurriedly.
"Twelve wolf demons lying in ambush?"
Zhao Tong feigned a look of utter astonishment. "How could such a thing happen?"
Seeing his deliberately false expression, Wang Yan, Qin Fei, and the others ground their teeth, but they did not act rashly again.
"I also ask Chief Medic Zhao to punish me. It was Ding Chen's incompetence that prevented me from bringing back the remaining wolf demon corpses from the battlefield." Ding Chen bowed deeply.
Zhao Tong's eyes flickered. "Punish you for what? It is already a blessing that you escaped death. Hurry and get some rest."
At those words, Ding Chen ignored Zhao Tong. He and Chen Xian first carried Cao Fang and Zhao Yu into the tent and bandaged them.
The two were too severely injured and had already fallen unconscious.
Ding Chen went to Zhao Tong again to ask for healing pills. Zhao Tong hesitated for a long while before taking out two pills.
Only after Cao Fang and Zhao Yu took the pills did Ding Chen and the others finally breathe a sigh of relief.
After resting for a while, Ding Chen sat cross-legged on the communal bed and began circulating his blood and qi to heal his injuries.
The other four did the same.
Chen Xian also sat cross-legged and closed his eyes, summoning the panel.
Experience: 1401 points Martial arts: Ox Demon Breathing Technique (Perfected), Demon-Slaying Blade Technique (Perfected), Great Tablet Smashing Hand (Perfected) Realm: Blood Moving Perfection Lifespan: four years and seven months
Tonight, he had slain twelve lesser demons and sacrificed twelve lesser demon souls. The Experience Points were a bloody windfall.
Yet they had been bought with their lives!
Chen Xian's heart felt somewhat heavy. After steadying himself for a moment, he began using Experience Points to temper his acupoints.
If he had reached the Surging Origin Realm, even if only as a beginner, he would not have had to flee in that situation earlier, and those seven cooks would not have died.
After twelve months of day-and-night training, you have tempered six acupoints.
After twelve months of diligent training, you have tempered six acupoints.
Chen Xian frowned slightly. Through his own cultivation, he had tempered three acupoints in nearly a month. Using Experience Points, it was equivalent to tempering one acupoint every two months.
A ratio of six to one.
Even so, it was still extremely worthwhile. It saved him time.
Before long, Chen Xian had tempered sixty acupoints. Added to the original forty-six, he had now tempered a total of one hundred and six acupoints throughout his body.
As heat coursed through many parts of his body, his physical strength increased by another cauldron's worth, reaching the strength of five cauldrons.
Experience: 1341 points
After glancing at his Experience Points, Chen Xian did not continue. Instead, he lay down and rested.
The next day.
Chen Xian and the other five rose, sorted through the belongings left behind by the seven cooks, then took their bodies away for burial.
The Head Chef Army camp.
Inside a relatively spacious tent, a man clad in dark golden armor reported to three young men wearing silver armor.
After hearing him out, the fair-faced youth seated in the middle—his face arrogant and his gaze cold and sinister—raised a sword-like brow. "He still isn't dead!?"
"Reporting to Commander Li, not only is Ding Chen alive, but the seven brothers who lived and died alongside him are alive as well," said the man in dark golden armor, lowering his head.
"Heh!"
Commander Li was named Li Sheng. He sneered. Chen Xian and the others had originally been meant to accompany that useless prince Ding Chen to the grave, yet...!
"His life really was tough! Twelve wolf demons, and they still couldn't kill him?"
The man in dark golden armor said, "Commander Li, Ding Chen and the others have all applied for the Blood Flame Ox Demon Technique. Their strength should all be at the Blood Moving Realm. Should we transfer them to the vanguard to fight demons?"
Li Sheng was about to agree when someone beside him tugged at his arm.
Li Sheng glanced at the man and waved his hand. "Let this commander think it over. You may leave first."
The man in dark golden armor bowed and withdrew.
"Wang Pei, why did you stop me just now?" Li Sheng frowned at the youth who had pulled him. The man was named Wang Pei, a scion of a powerful family in the Capital City.
Wang Pei wore a respectful expression. He too was a scion of a powerful Capital City family, but his status was incomparable to Li Sheng's.
The Li Family was one of the powerful families supporting Sixth Prince Ning Hong, and it was highly valued by the Sixth Prince.
As for Ding Chen, he was actually Ninth Prince Ning Chen, the most pathetic prince in the imperial palace, born to a beauty. That beauty had died of massive hemorrhaging after giving birth to Ning Chen.
Ning Chen's maternal family was merely a merchant household from some small place. Their reach could not extend into the imperial palace at all, and they could not help Ning Chen—indeed, they could barely protect themselves.
Thus, Ninth Prince Ning Chen was effectively without any backing in the imperial palace.
Ever since childhood, he had been bullied by the princes and princesses. This time, when he came to Demon-Slaying Pass, had Ning Chen not desperately begged Emperor Ning, he would not even have been qualified to come here for training.
In recent years, Emperor Ning had secretly sent seven princes to train in front of Demon-Slaying Pass. The princes with backing enjoyed themselves in the army. Even if some prince wished to go to the vanguard and earn military merit, powerful experts protected him, and going onto the battlefield was merely for show.
Yet Ninth Prince Ning Chen could only remain in the Cooks' Camp, with no chance of ever rising above the rest.
"Brother Sheng, you absolutely cannot give the Ninth Prince a chance to establish merit. Think about it—he's a useless... cough, cough!" Wang Pei coughed lightly midway through his words.
Li Sheng's face was full of disdain. He snorted. "He's a useless piece of trash. No need to mince words! Tell me what you have in mind!"
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