Crushing!

Sand flew in all directions.

On the Official Road, hoofbeats approached from afar.

At sunset, beneath his bamboo hat, Luo Chen raised his eyes and narrowed them slightly, looking toward a Green Mountain at the end of his sight.

The Green Mountain stood tall and majestic between heaven and earth, piercing straight into the clouds.

Thus, it was named Cloud Mist Mountain.

After receiving the assessment mission at Noon, Luo Chen had rushed straight for Cloud Mist Mountain without stopping.

He had not told Uncle Liu, lest his family worry.

Only after leaving Qingyuan City and traveling a hundred li did he truly witness the hardships of the common people.

White bones lay scattered everywhere by the roadside. Refugees passing by were thin and gaunt, their faces sallow and numb.

There was no shortage of people selling their sons and daughters by the roadside.

In an age where Demonic Beasts ran rampant, human lives were as cheap as grass.

Luo Chen gripped the long blade in his hand tightly, his heart surging with emotion.

At the foot of Cloud Mist Mountain.

A village stood isolated from the world, peaceful and beautiful.

But today, all that tranquility had been shattered. Several dozen villagers gathered in the open space at the village entrance, crouching on the ground and trembling.

Before them, a tall figure sat cross-legged atop a boulder.

It was a Demonic Beast with a snake's head and a human body. Golden light seemed to flow within its vertical pupils whenever they opened and closed.

Its huge mouth split all the way to the back of its head as it swallowed a village hunter whole. Amid the piercing crack of shattering bones came the sound of its abdominal muscles squeezing and crushing its prey.

The villagers were terrified out of their wits, every one of them trembling.

That hunter had been one of the village's most capable men, able to draw a five-hundred-jin bow, yet he had been slapped to death by the Demonic Beast without the slightest chance to resist.

The crowd was despairing. The aged village chief knelt trembling on the ground and pleaded.

"If you want to eat someone, then eat me. Leave the old and young of the village a way to live."

The Snake Demon lowered its vertical pupils to look at the old man kneeling before it, and disgust flashed through its eyes.

A piercing voice emerged from its throat.

"Old and feeble. Get lost!"

The Snake Demon's tail swayed beneath its robes, lashing the old village chief in an instant.

With the sound of flesh bursting apart, the old village chief was sent flying into the crowd. He spat blood, clearly on the verge of death.

The villagers cried out in alarm. Fear filled their eyes as they hurriedly surrounded him.

In their hearts, they prayed that the villagers who had escaped that morning would bring back rescuers.

Some of the young men roared, grabbing wooden clubs and iron shovels as they charged at the Snake Demon.

"Ants!"

The Snake Demon's eyes grew even more disdainful. Its tail swept out, carrying a shrieking howl through the air.

In an instant, several figures were sent flying.

With a flick of its tail, it curled up a young man and delivered him into its mouth.

Fear and despair spread among the villagers.

The Snake Demon stopped killing and digested for a moment, a trace of anxiety in its eyes.

It had already reached the brink of a breakthrough. Otherwise, it would not have risked its life to come here and devour blood food.

Unfortunately, the qi and blood of ordinary people were simply not enough to help it break through.

It could only pile up the quantity.

If only a human martial artist would come knocking now!

The qi and blood within a human martial artist was abundant; to Demonic Beasts, it was an enormous tonic.

Gradually, a flicker of confusion passed through the Snake Demon's eyes.

It turned and looked toward the depths of the muddy path behind it.

From there, hoofbeats approached from afar.

As the hoofbeats grew louder, the villagers heard them as well, and a thread of hope rose in their hearts.

"Could it be the government martial artist Dazhuang and the others brought back?"

"We're saved."

"..."

The Snake Demon flicked its scarlet tongue. Beneath its wide robes, its tail swayed, revealing the unease in its heart.

Suddenly,

Its two vertical pupils shrank instantly into needlepoints.

A long blade carrying blazing, tyrannical qi and blood arrived in the blink of an eye.

The long blade whistled through the air, piercing through the Snake Demon's head in an instant. Carrying unimaginable force, it shot toward the forest behind it.

Its head pierced through, the snake tail twisted and coiled wildly in midair, and agonized hisses echoed through the forest.

The long blade carried the Snake Demon's massive body through dozens of trees in succession before finally stopping.

On the small path, beneath the stunned gazes of the villagers.

Luo Chen, wearing a bamboo hat and dressed in black robes, rode his fine horse up before them.

Luo Chen looked at the blood and severed limbs scattered across the ground, then at the expectant eyes amid the villagers' numbness.

He thought of the corpses of villagers he had buried six years ago. Those people's eyes seemed to appear before him once more.

He said nothing.

Luo Chen stepped forward, his figure shooting toward the forest at tremendous speed.

There was still no message in his mind confirming the Demonic Beast's death, which meant the Snake Demon was not dead yet.

Within the forest.

Inside a pit of shattered stone, its head pierced through, the Snake Demon had revealed its true form—a giant python over ten meters long, its body twisting and coiling within the pit.

The agonized hissing made it impossible for it to remain calm.

The martial artist's supremely yang qi and blood had pierced through its head and invaded its body, as though salt had been rubbed into an open wound.

The giant python hissed and tried to rise and flee.

Suddenly, a massive fist descended from the heavens and smashed viciously into its snake body.

Flesh flew everywhere, and its head crashed hard into the ground.

Luo Chen planted one foot on the Snake Demon as though he were a great mountain. The terrifying force filled the Snake Demon with despair.

A pair of hands gripped the hilt. Before the Snake Demon's despairing eyes, the long blade was pulled free.

A flash of cold light, and the Snake Demon's enormous head was severed.

The Snake Demon, on the verge of stepping into the Bone Forging realm, was slain.

[Slain a first-realm (Skin Tempering) Snake Demon. Plundered 38 years of lifespan.]

[Lifespan: 16/121.]

Luo Chen took a deep breath. Looking at his replenished lifespan, he felt a trace of security.

He sheathed his blade, took out a firestarter from his robes, and set the Demonic Beast's snake body ablaze.

Demonic Beast flesh could not be eaten, though certain precious materials could be used to forge treasures.

But this Snake Demon, which had only just entered the ranks, clearly possessed no such treasure materials.

He packed the Snake Demon's head into a cloth sack and carried it bulging on his back.

This was the token for completing his assessment. Nothing could go wrong with it.

Half an hour later.

Looking at the Snake Demon's corpse, which had been burned to ashes, Luo Chen buried it.

He dusted the dirt from his body and walked out of the woods.

At the village entrance.

The villagers had seen no movement from deep within the forest for a long time.

They did not dare enter to investigate and could only wait outside anxiously.

"That young hero severely wounded that Demonic Beast from so far away. He should be fine."

"That beast must be dead. The young hero is probably dealing with the corpse."

The old village chief had been treated by the others and managed to hold on to his life, though several ribs in his chest were broken and he still could not move.

Hearing footsteps, the villagers all looked over nervously.

When they saw Luo Chen emerge, they hurried forward and knelt, offering endless thanks.

"It was merely my duty. There is no need for everyone to do this."

"This village lies amid the mountains and forest. Aren't you afraid of wild beasts and Demonic Beasts attacking?"

"Alas, we can still drive away wild beasts when they attack, but when Demonic Beasts bring disaster, we can only seek help from the government."

"Then why don't you move away from here?"

"Young hero, you do not know. Our ancestors have lived in this village for generations, and we still have farmland to cultivate. If we moved to a town, how would we survive?"

"..."

Luo Chen fell silent for a moment and sighed inwardly.

The moment he learned that a Demonic Beast was causing trouble, he had rushed here without stopping, yet he had still arrived too late. Many people in the village had died.

He declined the villagers' goodwill.

Under the moonlight, he headed toward Qingyuan City.