Before coming to Ailin, Jiang Che had worried: could these so-called Demon Monsters actually provide transmigration energy?
If they could not, that would be disastrous.
Of course, he had considered the worst-case scenario too: if killing Demon Monsters really yielded nothing, then... searching the bodies of his fellow disciples would certainly yield some.
After all, with such a high death rate on this assignment and so many people being thrown into it, there would never be any shortage of corpses.
The thought was rather unscrupulous, but there was nothing truly blameworthy about it. He had no intention of getting anyone killed. If someone died and he benefited from it, what was there to criticize?
But now, it seemed things would not be quite that grim.
As long as Demon Monsters yielded energy, everything would be manageable.
His spirits lifted, Jiang Che watched Officer Chen urge the soldiers into the house to inspect the remaining embers and check whether any enemies remained.
He also heard faint screams from not far away. Another nearby squad seemed to be having trouble.
But that was none of their concern.
With today's operation off to a good start, it was time to deal with the next target.
After they regrouped and headed toward the next location, Jiang Che's gaze happened to sweep over a young soldier.
The man was staring at Jiang Che with hatred.
Jiang Che's thoughts turned, and he vaguely recalled that when the armored soldier killed by the Demon Monster had fallen, this man had been the first to try to rush forward, only for Zhang Erguo to beat him to it.
From the looks of things, those two had probably been close friends.
When the young soldier met Jiang Che's eyes, he instinctively shrank back. But then, as though anger had suddenly surged into his head, he stepped out abruptly, pointed at Jiang Che and his two companions, and cursed in a hoarse voice:
"Why?! Why do you cultivators hold back when you're clearly stronger?!"
"You insist on making us open the doors! When some powerful Demon Monster comes charging out, we're the first ones it hits... you're sending us to our deaths! You Azure Mystic disciples are all fucking..."
Before he could finish, Officer Chen hurried over and kicked the shouting soldier to the ground. Still not satisfied, he delivered two more vicious kicks, leaving the soldier curled into a ball, groaning repeatedly and unable to speak.
Then Chen Mou turned toward the three Azure Mystic disciples with an ingratiating smile. "Please don't take offense, my lords. This brat has lost his mind. He's spouting nonsense, none of it worth taking seriously. From now on, I'll be sure to discipline him properly. Nothing like this will ever happen again!"
Jiang Che and his companions said nothing.
Zhang Erguo shifted slightly, a trace of pity on his face. But Jiang Che discreetly reached out and held him back.
And so he kept his mouth shut too.
Seeing that the three remained silent, Chen Mou gradually lost his ability to maintain that smile. A faint pleading look took its place.
But after waiting for a long while, the three Azure Mystic disciples remained unmoved. In the end, he could only sigh helplessly.
He slowly drew the saber at his waist:
"Brothers, bear witness! The soldier Chen Sanju has disobeyed military orders, sown disorder in the face of the enemy, defied the High Persons, and undermined the army's resolve-"
"He shall be executed!"
The blade flashed, and the sentence was carried out on the spot.
With half his neck severed by the military saber, the soldier spurted blood in great gushes. His body twitched a few times, then went still.
All the soldiers wore mournful expressions, but the three Azure Mystic disciples showed not the slightest ripple of emotion. Only Hu Yan spoke:
"Let's keep moving."
Had that soldier been wrong?
In truth, he had been right.
Sending soldiers to kick down doors and set fires was, from the outset, treating their lives as worthless. They were meant to test the depths of each house, see how the enemy reacted, and probe exactly what sort of creatures lurked within. If a powerful Demon Monster really was hiding in those ruins, the three cultivators holding the rear would have warning enough to prepare.
They were the ones most likely to die.
But what was there to say about that?
Just like now: those three Qi Refining lords sat comfortably outside without coming in at all. Were they not also throwing the lives of Embryonic Breath cultivators like Jiang Che into this place?
Qi Refining cultivators threw in the lives of Embryonic Breath cultivators, and Embryonic Breath cultivators threw in the lives of armored soldiers.
It was all the same.
But while resentment was permissible, expressing it was not. Once it was shouted in public, it became a challenge to authority and a blow to the army's resolve.
Jiang Che and his companions could see that the officer wanted to save his subordinate's life, but they could not let it slide.
Just as Embryonic Breath cultivators like themselves could not show any fear of battle before the Qi Refining lords.
That, too, was exactly the same.
Jiang Che sighed silently in his heart, then suppressed that tiny ripple of emotion completely.
Afterward, they cleared several more houses, all with scares but no real danger.
Some of the tension in their hearts eased.
Honestly, seeing how miserable the previous batch had been had certainly frightened them a little. But right now, wasn't everything going quite smoothly?
Still, though Jiang Che's tension had faded, his vigilance remained.
Presumably, the previous batch had operated just like they were now, in groups of three accompanied by soldiers.
After a day of fighting, across all the groups, setting aside the soldiers who died, one cultivator would be killed. Six deaths in six days-actually, that fit the current situation perfectly:
Most of the time, things went smoothly, but danger could not be ruled out. And every day, some unlucky bastard would run into something serious and lose his life.
To avoid becoming that unlucky bastard, luck came first. After that, it depended on decisions made in the moment and one's own abilities.
But... it seemed that today's bad luck really was about to fall on their heads.
And not just theirs. There were rather a lot of unlucky bastards.
After Jiang Che's squad cleared another house, he looked up and saw that the Ruined Temple was no longer very far away. Just then, shouts of battle and screams suddenly erupted from the other side of a broken wall ahead, drawing closer and closer.
Going around the broken wall to look, they saw a band of battered, routed troops being driven toward them.
It was the other squad operating nearby!
A large pack of Demon Monsters was chasing them. Unable to form a defensive line at all, they had already collapsed into a rout.
Three Azure Mystic disciples and an officer were fighting as they retreated, utterly bedraggled.
Within moments, the officer of the Wu Soldier troops was the first to die. A desiccated corpse with tattered, fleshy wings from some unknown bird or beast stitched between its wrists and hip bones swooped in from the flank, knocked him down, and bit into his face.
At first, he could still struggle. Then the Corpse Tide swallowed him, and he fell silent.
With one fewer Embryonic Breath fighter to help them, the remaining three Azure Mystic Registered Disciples were even less able to hold out.
By then, after watching for a moment, Jiang Che and his companions had largely assessed the enemy. Leaving aside the ordinary desiccated corpses tainted by demonic energy, there were no fewer than ten at the Embryonic Breath level!
Even more horrifying, half of those ten exuded strength equivalent to Transforming Force!
Jiang Che exchanged glances with Hu Yan and Zhang Erguo.
"We have to help them," Hu Yan said first.
It was not entirely for the others' sake. If those three fellow disciples all died, this great pack of Demon Monsters would immediately come to surround and attack them.
Jiang Che thought the same. His longsword was already drawn, and beside him, Zhang Erguo raised his twin hammers.
All three advanced together to meet the enemy.
Before you continue