Su Yu lifted his foot and kicked aside the headless corpse on the ground. Black blood poured from its neck cavity, draining into the mud.
With a slight flick of his wrist, the blood remaining on the blade shook free along its groove.
The black-and-gold saber scraped against its sheath with a teeth-grating shriek before sliding fully home.
Rustling came from deep within the ruins.
Clutching his broken ribs, Tang Shan limped out.
His Demon Suppression Guard uniform had long since been shredded into strips, and broad patches of dark red blood had crusted over his chest.
After a brief rest, the two made a circuit of Blackwater Village, finished off a few surviving half-demons, and set off.
The morning mist had yet to disperse, and the dead woods reeked of rotting leaves.
They had walked less than two li through the mud.
Tang Shan's injuries flared, and his right foot suddenly lost its footing, sending him pitching toward an enormous dead stump ahead.
The rotten wooden shell collapsed instantly, spraying splinters everywhere.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a black shadow shot out from inside the stump.
It was a venomous black-scaled python as thick as a forearm. Its flat, triangular head spread wide in an instant, and two fangs dripping sickly green venom stabbed straight at Tang Shan's face.
It was too close.
Tang Shan's pupils contracted sharply. He had not even drawn his short saber.
Suddenly, a gale rose. Su Yu crushed the dead leaves beneath his foot as he shifted sideways.
His right hand pressed against the saber hilt, his thumb pushing the guard free. Half the black-and-gold blade swept diagonally upward, carrying a fierce wind.
A muffled sound rang out as the edge sliced through cold, hard scales, severing the python in midair.
Foul snake blood sprayed in a fan into the nearby bushes. The two halves fell into the mud, thrashing and twisting wildly.
Su Yu sheathed his saber.
[Slain: Mortal Realm First Layer Blackscale Snake. Gained 10 Slaughter Points.]
Tang Shan slumped on the ground, cold sweat pouring off him.
Without so much as a glance at the snake's corpse, Su Yu walked straight to the shattered stump.
A pile of tiny white bones lay beneath the black snake nest.
At the very center of the bones grew a shrub barely a handspan tall.
Two scarlet fruits hung from its branches, their skins covered in fine golden patterns.
A wisp of extraordinarily overpowering fragrance drifted out, instantly strangling every trace of blood stench nearby.
Vermilion Fruit.
Mature.
If a Mortal Realm martial artist swallowed it, it would be enough to forcibly expand their blood and Qi channels, vastly increasing their physical foundation.
On Nanhe County's black market, the starting price would be three hundred taels of silver.
Su Yu reached out, plucked off a Vermilion Fruit at its base, and tucked it into his robes.
Out here in the wilderness, a simple fall could lead straight to heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
He turned his head, his gaze falling on Tang Shan, who was still rubbing his leg.
He had fled to Nanhe County as a refugee.
He was gravely wounded.
He had been forced to accept a certain-death mission as cannon fodder.
Yet somehow, he had avoided large numbers of patrolling demons and smashed open a blind box containing a supreme-grade spiritual herb with a single step.
Turning disaster into fortune, finding treasure without fail.
He was blessed with tremendous fortune.
A cold, ruthless glint flashed through Su Yu's eyes.
Kill him for a gold drop?
Too wasteful.
Fortune was profoundly mysterious. Forcibly intercepting and killing him might even provoke a backlash, bringing unnecessary trouble.
Rather than kill the hen for its eggs, he might as well keep him as a treasure radar with a steady output.
"The wilderness is dangerous. Change formation."
Su Yu's voice was cold and hard, allowing no refusal.
"You lead from the front. I'll cover the rear."
Tang Shan froze.
With two broken ribs and his spiritual power exhausted, walking at the very front was no different from being moving demon fodder.
How was this leading the way? He was clearly being made into mine-clearing cannon fodder.
But he did not dare utter a single word of refusal.
His mind was filled with the brutal image of Su Yu tearing apart a Mortal Realm Sixth Stage Blood Baleful Intent Demon Corpse with his bare hands in the cavern an hour earlier.
Gritting his teeth, he picked the remaining Vermilion Fruit and limped to the front.
With a hand resting on his saber, Su Yu followed unhurriedly three zhang behind.
Over the next two hours, the wilderness became Su Yu's private supply depot.
While crossing a low slope, Tang Shan stepped on a rock and caused it to collapse as he tried to avoid a wild rabbit.
A concealed burrow appeared in the slope. Three dark red grasses swayed at its entrance, their leaves covered in veinlike patterns.
Mortal-grade, mid-tier spiritual herbs: Blood Stabilizing Grass.
After crossing a dry riverbed, Tang Shan took a wrong turn into a thorn thicket. Swinging his saber wildly to clear a path, he cut through a barrier of dead vines.
Behind the vines lay a tiny spiritual spring, its water steaming with thick white mist of Spiritual Qi.
A huge Mortal Realm Fourth Layer venomous toad crouched beside the pool, the pustules on its back bulging high as it prepared to spit venom.
Su Yu surged straight toward it.
His perfection-level Vajra Fist unleashed a piercing sonic boom.
His fist plunged straight onto the toad's head, its tremendous, violent momentum instantly smashing its skull into pulp.
The toad became a heap of mangled flesh before it could even scream.
Su Yu pulled the flask from his waist and emptied out the ordinary water.
Crouching down, he poured in every last drop of spiritual spring water and plugged it tightly with its wooden stopper.
He wrapped the Blood Stabilizing Grass in broad leaves and stuffed it all into his pack.
Tang Shan stood nearby, watching Su Yu's utterly practiced looting, wanting to speak but holding back.
Those were opportunities he had stumbled into at the risk of his life.
Su Yu tightened the straps on his pack and straightened.
"An innocent man commits no crime, yet carrying jade makes him guilty."
Su Yu walked up to Tang Shan and placed his rough, large hand on his shoulder. An intensely restrained killing presence passed through his palm.
Every hair on Tang Shan's body stood on end.
"Your cultivation is too low, and you're badly wounded."
"If you carry spiritual treasures like these, their Spiritual Qi will leak out. Every bloodthirsty demon within ten li will follow the scent to kill you."
"I'll hold on to them for you for now."
"Once we're back in Nanhe County and you're out of danger, I'll decide what to do."
Tang Shan stopped and looked up at Su Yu.
There was not the slightest emotional fluctuation on that stern profile, only the absolute oppressive presence of a superior locking firmly onto him.
Tang Shan's heart turned to dead ash, then filled with profound awe.
This newly appointed squad leader possessed terrifying strength and unfathomable depths.
He had no choice at all.
Without Su Yu, he would already have died in Blackwater Village.
Trading opportunity for his life was a deal he had to accept.
"Thank you for your consideration, Brother Su!"
"My strength is insignificant. I don't deserve to possess spiritual herbs. They should all be left to Brother Su to distribute!"
Tang Shan cupped his fists and bowed deeply.
His gaze calm, Su Yu nodded slightly.
Turning exploitation into a gift-as long as his martial might could suppress everything, he alone determined the logic of every narrative.
At the same time.
Deep within the Liu Family estate in Nanhe County.
Liu Qingyun strode inside, his cheek muscles twitching wildly. He seized the redwood lampstand beside him.
His five fingers tightened abruptly, crushing the hard redwood into fragments that pattered to the floor.
The Blackwater Village outpost had been destroyed. Three capable Mortal Realm Fifth Layer fighters, along with a Demon God Cult member they had already won over.
All of them had fallen!
"Notify Liu Xiong."
"Have him secretly follow Liu Ying's escort party in two days."
"I won't hear any excuses about mishaps. He must bring me Su Yu's head."
The setting sun was blood-red.
Nanhe County's towering walls were dyed dark red as Su Yu and Tang Shan stepped through the Demon Suppression Bureau's gates.
The report handover went extremely smoothly. Su Yu had erased every trace of the cavern altar and the Demon God Cult.
He reported only that they had been ambushed by a pack of Corpse Dogs and cleared the perimeter after a bitter fight.
If he passed word of the Demon God Cult up the chain, the higher-ups would intervene, and the Liu Family would certainly sever its tail to survive, wiping away the clues.
That absolutely would not do.
He wanted the Liu Family to come knocking, oblivious to death. Experience packages that delivered themselves to his doorstep were the only lawful, regulation-compliant source of Slaughter Points.
Tang Shan was sent to the infirmary.
Carrying his heavy pack, Su Yu returned alone to the courtyard reserved for the squad leader.
He sat down at the stone table in the courtyard and opened his pack.
Two stalks of Blood Stabilizing Grass.
A flask of spiritual spring water.
A scarlet Vermilion Fruit with an exotic fragrance.
And the movement martial art he had found on the black-robed man: Wandering Dragon Steps.
The haul was extraordinarily rich.
Su Yu summoned the system panel.
[Host: Su Yu] [Cultivation: Mortal Realm Fifth Layer] [Cultivation method: Suppressing Prisons and Subduing Demons (mortal), minor accomplishment] [Martial arts: Vajra Fist (mortal), subtlety; pinnacle killing move: Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist; Gale Saber Technique (mortal), subtlety; pinnacle killing move: Wind Falls Silent, Leaving No Trace] [Current Slaughter Points: 200]
Extrapolating supreme-grade cultivation methods was truly a gold-devouring beast.
But with these two hundred Slaughter Points in hand, along with a table full of heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
It was enough for him to break through to the Mortal Realm Sixth Stage, perhaps even the seventh layer.
In troubled times, human lives were worth no more than weeds. Within Nanhe County, the Liu Family watched like a tiger eyeing its prey, while countless demons wrought havoc outside.
Even though he now possessed the combat strength of the Mortal Realm Sixth Stage, he was still far from being able to protect himself.
"There are two Spirit Realm experts in Nanhe County: Lin Xiao and the Liu Family head. If I want to wipe out the Liu Family, I need to raise my cultivation to the Spirit Realm first!"
Su Yu reached out with his right hand and grasped the scarlet Vermilion Fruit.
Its skin was warm. Sensing its scent, the Suppressing Prisons and Subduing Demons spiritual power within him began circulating wildly beyond his control.
He had just raised his wrist, preparing to swallow the Vermilion Fruit.
Knock! Knock!
Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door.
"Su Yu!"
"Chief Lin summons you!"
A low voice came from outside the door.
Su Yu's hand stopped in midair, still holding the Vermilion Fruit, and a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.