Slaying and Harvest!

Several of them followed the mountain village path all the way forward and soon arrived at the back mountain.

All around them was dense forest, with weeds as tall as half a person and every kind of venomous insect lurking everywhere.

Not even sunlight could reach the ground.

"Whew..."

A gust of chilling wind swept past, sending a shiver through everyone and making the place seem exceptionally eerie.

Lu Changsheng looked ahead and saw a well opening some ten meters away, covered by deadwood.

"Let us move the deadwood aside and take a look."

Yue Shulan spoke softly.

Just as everyone was preparing to act, a sudden change erupted.

"Buzz..."

As waves of eerie sound rippled out from the void, a blood-red figure charged out from the shadows.

It wore a red dress, its ink-black hair hanging loose. Even its facial features were blurred beyond recognition.

Sha Qi surged around it, making it a terrifying sight.

The blood-red figure floated in the air before swiftly charging toward Lu Changsheng and the others.

"The target has appeared. Kill it quickly!"

Li Yunhua roared and immediately drew the long blade at his waist, slashing forward.

As his blood and qi erupted at full force, he resembled a small sun, radiating waves of scorching heat.

Lu Changsheng also drew the long blade at his waist and fiercely slashed forward.

"Screech..."

The blade rubbed against the air, producing a sharp tearing sound.

To keep the others from noticing anything unusual about him, he only displayed strength around the Iron Skin Realm.

Yue Shulan and the others hurriedly followed, joining forces to surround the Wicked Spirit in the center.

"Boom boom boom..."

The Wicked Spirit extended its sharp claws and collided violently with the group.

Everyone was sent stumbling back again and again, their faces filled with shock.

"This beast is incredibly powerful."

Everyone's hearts tightened.

To suppress them head-on, it was already nearly as powerful as a Muscle Refining expert.

Not only that, the moment they clashed, they felt bone-piercing cold radiating through their arms. Even their own blood and qi struggled to resist it.

"Everyone, be careful. This is a Wicked Spirit's unique ability. Release your blood and qi with all your strength and suppress it..."

Yue Shulan quickly warned them.

Among the group, Li Yunhua was the strongest, having reached the peak of Skin Refining.

Yue Shulan was next, having also only recently reached the peak of Skin Refining.

The remaining two disciples of noble families had reached advanced Skin Refining.

As for the strength Lu Changsheng had displayed, everyone simply ignored it, treating him as little more than someone there to make up the numbers.

Hearing this, the group immediately began erupting with all their blood and qi, charging at the Wicked Spirit ahead.

"Boom boom boom..."

For a time, both sides fought a bloody battle without pause amid the ruined forest, and the group gradually suppressed the Wicked Spirit.

Lu Changsheng was in no hurry either, slowly maneuvering with his perfected Fleeting Light and Shadow.

Every now and then, he would slash out with his blade, looking as though he were giving it his all and struggling somewhat.

Not far away, Li Yunhua, as the main force, constantly observed the battlefield.

When he saw Lu Changsheng's performance, a cold smile surfaced in his heart.

He gradually guided the battle toward Lu Changsheng.

"Ah..."

Then, Li Yunhua pretended to be overwhelmed and swiftly dodged to the side. The Wicked Spirit in midair directly passed over Li Yunhua and lunged fiercely at Lu Changsheng with unmatched ferocity.

"Watch out!"

Yue Shulan looked anxious, but she was too far away to rescue him in time.

The other two noble family disciples remained unmoved, even showing some delight at his misfortune.

"This is bad."

Lu Changsheng put on a panicked expression and hurriedly activated Fleeting Light and Shadow at full force, rushing toward one of the noble family disciples beside him.

At the same time, the Wicked Spirit followed after him.

"What are you doing?!"

The stern-faced man was filled with terror.

But before he could react, a pitch-black ghostly hand pierced straight through his chest. No more words came from his mouth, black mist spread over his face, and he quickly lost all signs of life.

"Brother Yao!"

The remaining noble family disciple shouted, glaring at Lu Changsheng with fury.

Lu Changsheng, meanwhile, dodged to the side and revealed a lingering look of fright.

Yet he sneered inwardly.

With just a slight move from him, they had tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to lure it. Dream on if they thought they could scheme against him.

With his perfected movement technique, his speed was astonishing.

Li Yunhua was simply showing off his skill before an expert.

Everything had happened too quickly. Before the others could react, they had already lost a companion.

Yue Shulan's expression was especially strange.

She had seen the scene just now with perfect clarity.

She even felt rather pleased.

It was rare enough to see these lofty noble family disciples suffer a setback.

Killing intent burst from Li Yunhua's eyes, and the rage in his heart was nearly impossible to suppress.

He had never expected that his move would cost him one of his helpers instead.

"Everyone, stop holding back! Kill this beast with everything you have!"

He roared loudly.

Then he took the lead and charged forward.

Lu Changsheng and the others followed close behind.

"Boom boom boom..."

A new round of exchanges began, growing ever more intense.

Even with one fewer person, they still held the upper hand. At this rate, it would not take long to kill this Wicked Spirit.

At the same time, the remaining noble family disciple became wary and kept a considerable distance from Lu Changsheng.

Moreover, Li Yunhua still intentionally or unintentionally tried to lure the Wicked Spirit toward Lu Changsheng, but Lu Changsheng easily avoided it every time.

Only after several attempts did he finally give up completely.

Killing intent gradually rose in Lu Changsheng's heart. On the return journey, he would find a chance to kill that man sooner or later.

Presumably, the other man had the same thought.

Time slowly passed.

The battle between both sides had yet to cease.

Just as this Wicked Spirit was about to give out, a sudden disturbance came from the edge of the well ahead.

"Roar roar roar..."

With an enraged roar, an extremely strange figure rapidly crawled out from underground, then fiercely charged at the four of them, its Sha Qi oppressive.

"This is bad, it has another helper."

Everyone's expressions changed drastically.

Lu Changsheng looked closely and saw that the figure was hunched over with blood-red eyes, no longer resembling a human at all.

"It's Peng Yuntian. He has been refined into a Living Corpse."

At this point, the others also recognized him, their faces full of astonishment.

This Living Corpse's Sha Qi was extremely dense. Its strength was surely not weak either.

All of this happened in an instant.

"Let's risk our lives."

Li Yuntian gritted his teeth and directly took out a pill, swallowing it.

Yue Shulan and the other person did the same.

These pills were Blood Fury Pills issued by the Demon Suppression Department. They could temporarily stimulate one's strength, though they would leave the user weakened for two days afterward.

Seeing this, Lu Changsheng also took out a pitch-black candy and swallowed it.

In an instant, everyone's aura surged dramatically.

"Boom boom boom..."

At that moment, both sides crashed together.

The violent collision rang through the forest.

Blades clashed with pitch-black claws, sending sparks flying.

The two Wicked Spirits were directly forced back more than ten meters by the group, their auras turning cold.

Strike while it was sick and take its life.

Li Yunhua and the others charged forward again.

They raised the long blades in their hands and slashed down viciously.

Lu Changsheng likewise used the most powerful move of the Five Tigers Severing Gate Blade, slashing out with a single stroke.

Cold gleams flashed through the air.

Bolstered by the "pill," he maintained strength close to that of a Copper Skin Martial Artist.

"Buzz..."

The group's blades descended from above like Mount Tai bearing down, their momentum astonishing.

Cold light surged along the edges of their blades, their sharpness unstoppable.

"Ao... the Venerable Master will avenge me..."

A miserable scream rang out as the two Wicked Spirits were directly chopped into several pieces. A mass of dark green fluid scattered across the ground, looking utterly revolting.

A moment later, the group stood with their blades sheathed, their expressions grim.

Because the Demon Suppression Department's intelligence had been wrong, there had actually been two Wicked Spirits here.

They had suffered considerable losses and even had to take pills to complete this mission.

Lu Changsheng stared at the traces on the ground in silence.

These two truly made quite a pair.

The man had sold his childhood sweetheart to another, while the woman had refined the man into a Living Corpse. Now they could truly remain together forever.

"Do we still need to search that dried-up well?"

Yue Shulan pointed at the well ahead and frowned.

That strange stench was truly unbearable.

Li Yunhua and the others also looked disgusted, with no intention of moving at all.

They all knew that in a Wicked Spirit's hiding place, aside from a few "broken stones," there was nothing good to be found.

This had already been proven by countless predecessors.

Those black stones could only emit a bit of chilly air before dissipating after a while. They were useless.

However, according to Demon Suppression Department custom, the place still had to be cleaned up after killing fiends and evil beings, so everyone began making excuses.

Lu Changsheng's heart stirred.

"I'll clean it up."

Under the others' astonished gazes, Lu Changsheng quickly walked to the dried-up well, leaped up, and jumped inside.

There was no water in the well, only a skeleton. The smell around it was extremely foul.

In a corner at the bottom of the well lay three dark black stones, each only the size of a fist and utterly unremarkable.

Lu Changsheng crouched down and picked up one of them.

Strands of icy chill flowed into his hand.

"Harvested one Soul Stone. Absorb it?"

The familiar voice sounded, filling him with delight.

"Absorb."

He immediately nodded.

"Source Energy Points increased by six."

The Light Screen swiftly appeared, displaying a string of numbers.

"This effect is so strong?"

Lu Changsheng was overjoyed. One Soul Stone was equivalent to a piece of Centennial Ginseng.

There were three of them here. He had truly struck it rich.

What other martial artists saw as trash could be put to use by him. From now on, he had another source of Source Energy Points.

It seemed that the Golden Finger could absorb any object with energy, making it extraordinarily powerful.

With the Pangolin exploring the forests in the future, combined with his killing Wicked Spirits in the Demon Suppression Department, the two sources stacked together would surely make his cultivation advance by leaps and bounds.

Soon, Lu Changsheng absorbed the remaining two stones as well, turning them into Source Energy Points.

Looking at the total of forty-two Source Energy Points on the panel, the fusion button behind Iron Cloth Shirt lit up once more, and he felt deeply excited.

His recent exploration of the forests, combined with what he had gained this time, had made him well-off once again.

He could hardly wait to find out what the fused cultivation technique would become.

Then Lu Changsheng gathered his thoughts, picked up the corpse from the well, and leaped lightly upward, landing beside the well.

"Other than this skeleton, there were only a few broken stones down there."

He smiled faintly as he spoke to the others.

The group wore expressions that said it was exactly as expected.

"To avoid any more trouble, let us return at once."

Li Yuntian's gaze flickered as he looked at Lu Changsheng, as though lost in thought.

Yue Shulan nodded as well.

Afterward, the group sprinted toward the county town.