"Senior Brother Xu, isn't covering two hundred li tomorrow cutting it a little too close?"
"The sun has only just begun to set. We could still cover another twenty or thirty li."
A man beside him, equally good-looking but with somewhat sparse eyebrows, spoke up.
"Junior Brother Huo, Senior Brother Xu is in charge of this Elimination Mission."
"What Senior Brother Xu says goes. Don't argue."
Another woman, sweet-faced and wearing a ponytail, immediately contradicted him.
"Senior Sister Li, I was talking to Senior Brother Xu, not you."
Junior Brother Huo refused to indulge her.
"Enough."
"We'll do as I said."
Xu Yi spoke calmly.
"Did you hear that?"
The sweet-faced woman smiled smugly.
Love-struck fool...
Seeing her expression, Junior Brother Huo sneered inwardly.
But he dared not challenge Xu Yi's decision again and could only nod in agreement.
Before long.
The group stopped and found a clearing beside the main road to use as a temporary campsite.
Campfires soon sprang up one after another.
Everyone gathered in groups of three or five, taking out their food to eat.
Lu Mian sat alone at the edge of the clearing.
He could not even be bothered to start a campfire. He took out some jerky and began chewing it as it was.
His recent practice of Iron Shirt had made even his bite frighteningly powerful. A few chews reduced the dry jerky to minced meat, which he swallowed.
His gluttonous stomach quickly began digesting it, converting it into energy to nourish his entire body.
In fact, this strange supernatural ability was also quite useful in the wilderness, allowing him to recover his stamina quickly.
The sun gradually sank.
The sky grew darker and darker.
Despite holding more than a hundred people, the temporary camp was almost silent.
After all, they were exactly a hundred li from Thousand Chimes Commandery City. Once night fell, Weird Beings or Evil Spirits might appear, so they had to be as careful as possible.
The night deepened.
The people in the camp began taking turns on watch.
They still had to rush two hundred li tomorrow. Even though the weakest among them had reached minor blood-qi completion, it would still be a considerable strain, so they needed enough rest.
Lu Mian had not been assigned any duties, so he lay straight down on the ground and went to sleep.
He slept lightly like this, ready to wake at the slightest disturbance.
Nothing strange happened all the way until dawn.
After all, there were over a hundred of them, each with vigorous blood-qi. Together, they were like a massive furnace.
Ordinary, weak resentful souls did not dare approach.
But that might not hold true for the rest of their journey.
"Today's journey may be tough. We have to cover two hundred li and try to reach Flying Cloud County Seat by evening."
"Everyone, you mustn't fall behind. Whatever happens, you have to keep going."
A burly man stood and called out in a deep voice.
His name was Huang Shi, and he was a deputy commander of the Mountain Tiger Guard.
This time, he represented the Guard Hall and was responsible for communicating with Xu Yi of the Demon Extermination Palace.
They called it communication, but in Lu Mian's eyes, he was just a mouthpiece.
Huang Shi would never reject Xu Yi's decisions.
Under the rules of Thousand Chimes Commandery City, the Demon Extermination Palace even had the right to kill at will. That alone showed how exalted its position was.
Everyone in the camp heard Huang Shi.
Without a word, they began packing their belongings.
Having slept through the night, Lu Mian also rose silently.
Before long.
The group set off again.
This time, they moved noticeably faster than yesterday.
They had to cover more than two hundred li, after all. They had no choice but to pick up the pace.
They ran from morning until noon without resting, everyone gritting their teeth and pressing on.
Finally, before evening, the group reached a dilapidated county seat.
In the fading glow of the setting sun, the town looked exceptionally terrifying and eerie.
White paper money lay scattered everywhere, while rows of white soul-summoning banners stood atop the gate tower.
When the cold wind blew, it seemed to carry the weeping of resentful souls.
Xu Yi gazed at the town before him and smiled faintly. "We're finally here. I wonder how strong the Evil Spirits and Weird Beings lurking here are."
With that, he darted into Flying Cloud County Seat before anyone could react.
"Senior Brother Xu, wait for me!"
The sweet-faced woman immediately darted after him.
Huo Kang hesitated briefly, then rushed inside as well, soon disappearing into the gloomy, dilapidated streets.
"Everyone... let's go in too."
"Split up and do your best to wipe out the Evil Spirits and Weird Beings here."
Huang Shi spoke.
The longer they stayed in a place like this, the greater the danger. They had to finish the Elimination Mission as soon as possible, then withdraw quickly.
Besides, this was not a war. Keeping everyone concentrated was not necessarily a good thing. They might not even notice if an Evil Spirit or Weird Being infiltrated their ranks.
Once something went wrong, the entire force might be wiped out.
Splitting into small squads and spreading out through the town was the best approach instead.
In fact, even before Huang Shi spoke, everyone had already formed their own squads.
Only Lu Mian stood alone.
Without a word, he entered Flying Cloud County Seat with the Great Cleaver on his back.
"Captain, is that the Corpse Collector you told us about?"
"He's got some nerve, going in alone."
A man with a thick beard watched Lu Mian's retreating figure and spoke in surprise.
"Didn't the captain say he invited him?"
"But that Corpse Collector has a strange temperament. He actually turned down the captain's kind offer."
Someone else spoke.
"Exactly... Going alone in Flying Cloud County Seat? Does he really think he's from the Demon Extermination Palace?"
Another person chimed in.
None of them approved of Lu Mian's actions. They thought he was far too foolish, no different from someone looking to die.
"Stop talking like that."
"Lu Mian has his own judgment and makes his own choices."
"Let's focus on ourselves and figure out how we're going to handle tonight."
Zhuang Shen interrupted his squad members.
It was practically impossible to slack off on an Elimination Mission like this.
Anyone who survived had to hand in their Evil-Sensing Talisman upon returning.
If an Evil-Sensing Talisman was blank or had only one or two black spots, its owner could easily be judged to have shirked their duties. Next time, they would only be assigned a more dangerous mission.
Besides, killing Evil Spirits and Weird Beings also earned monetary rewards.
The squad members immediately fell silent.
Then, one squad after another entered Flying Cloud County Seat, disappearing into its dark streets.
They had to find somewhere to rest and recover their stamina as quickly as possible, before the sun went down.
A county seat covered a considerable area. A hundred or so people entering it barely made a ripple.
Flying Cloud County Seat is so big. A lot of people must have died here.
They even sent people from the Demon Extermination Palace. There must be a First-Tier Fierce Spirit here.
I have to be careful.
Lu Mian's current strength far exceeded that of an ordinary martial artist at great blood-qi perfection.
But without entering the cultivation realm, he was still effectively unranked. If he encountered a First-Tier Fierce Spirit, he had little confidence in his chances.
So his current plan was simple.
If his luck really was that bad tonight and he ran into a First-Tier Fierce Spirit...
He only needed to think about how to escape.
If he could not beat it, he at least had to outrun it.
Lu Mian did not know his way around Flying Cloud County Seat. After turning at random into a narrow alley, he took out some jerky and began chewing.
Flying Cloud County Seat looked so eerie that even if he encountered no Fierce Spirits, there would be no shortage of wandering resentful souls.
Tonight was destined to be long.
Before you continue