Three hours later.
With the last Sin Beast slain by Lin An, the entire mountain forest fell silent.
Only the thick stench of blood, the crimson earth, the countless corpses of Sin Beast, and the sound of blood flowing like a trickle tell the story.
"What a pity, they only managed to complete a third of the race."
Lin An shook his head helplessly. It was fortunate that he kept mocking them; otherwise, they would have started running away long ago when only a tenth of these Sin Beast were dead.
After confirming that there were no Sin Beast, Lin An landed on the ground... or more accurately, on the corpse of Sin Beast.
Then, Lin An's spiritual energy surged, and the blood on his body was instantly blasted away, making his clothes look brand new again.
"Gentlemen, since you're here, please come out," Lin An said with a smile.
The mountains and forests fell silent, save for the whistling wind.
Swish...
The next instant, Lin An unleashed a flash of sword light.
The blade flashed with incredible speed, eventually exploding in front of a giant rock, at which point the six people from Shi Shan also appeared.
"Brother Lin, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. We didn't mean to harm you," Shi Shan said hurriedly, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
They watched as Lin An, like a demon god, reaped the lives of these Sin Beast. They had planned to leave quietly after Lin An left, but they never expected to be discovered by him.
"Don't be afraid, everyone. I'm not someone who kills indiscriminately," Lin An said with a smile.
The six of them silently looked at the corpses of the Sin Beast scattered on the ground.
???
Dude, that's not very convincing.
"Except for the Sin Beast, I'm actually quite a kind person."
Lin An frowned as he spoke, "You all don't believe me?"
"We believe you! Of course we believe you!"
"When we first saw Brother Lin, we could tell you were a very kind person."
"Yes, yes, Brother Lin is willing to help these Sin Beast get rid of their vermin status as soon as possible. Who dares to say that Brother Lin is not kind?"
"..."
The six people hurriedly spoke, their hearts filled with panic.
They were genuinely scared!
Is the other person frowning?
They were the ones whose heads were twisted.
Hearing what the six people said, Lin An's brows relaxed.
These six people... are quite remarkable.
"Brother Lin, if there's nothing else, we'll take our leave now."
Shi Shan said cautiously, "When we return to Heavenly Vault Pass, we'll treat Brother Lin to a drink."
He dared not linger there any longer, fearing that he might offend Lin An and accidentally help them reincarnate.
"Please wait a moment, everyone. I have a favor to ask of you."
Lin An said, "As you all have seen, there are far too many corpses of Sin Beast here. If I were alone, I don't know how long it would take to deal with them all, so I would appreciate your help."
"Of course, we won't let the six of you help for nothing; each of you can take ten Sin Beast Crystal Cores."
There were as many as six or seven thousand Sin Beast on the scene. These Sin Beast Sin Beast were different from those in the Spirit Realm. In addition to the materials, they also had Sin Beast crystal cores.
Lin An was still somewhat reluctant to just leave it alone.
Even if you don't need these things yourself, you can exchange them for military merits and use them to acquire cultivation resources.
It would be slow for him to handle it alone, but with the help of these six people, it would be much faster.
Upon hearing this, the six people's eyes lit up.
Taking ten Sin Beast Cores each is already quite a lot; on average, each person gets five or six Cores every time they come out, which is considered pretty good.
Besides, all he needs to do now is help Lin An dispose of these Sin Beast corpses, and he'll receive ten crystal cores as a reward—it's practically free.
However, they didn't rush to agree, mainly because Lin An was putting too much pressure on them.
"It is our good fortune to be able to assist Brother Lin. Brother Lin, rest assured, we will take care of these Sin Beast corpses," Shi Shan said.
Although he was afraid of Lin An, he also knew that if he didn't agree, Lin An might find out and kill them on the spot.
After all, they weren't familiar with Lin An and didn't know what kind of person he was.
"Then I'll leave it to you all. If Sin Beast attack, I'll handle it myself. Don't worry about your safety." Lin An nodded with a smile.
Everyone believed this, after all, there were still five or six thousand corpses of Sin Beast in front of them.
The six then sprang into action, helping Lin An clean up the battlefield.
Lin An wasn't idle either; he joined in as well.
It only took Lin An three hours to kill these Sin Beast, but it took the seven of them a full five hours to dispose of their Sin Beast.
This was done to save time; many materials were removed by force, otherwise it would have taken even longer.
During the conversation, Shi Shan and the others chatted with Lin An. They were no longer as fearful of Lin An as they had been at the beginning, but they still kept their distance and held him in great awe.
Five hours later, after processing all the materials, the six people handed everything over to Lin An.
They dared not hide it; if they were discovered, all six of them would die here.
"Luckily I bought a larger storage ring beforehand, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to fit all these things in," Lin An thought to himself.
Even so, two-thirds of the 5,000 cubic meter space was occupied.
"These are the Sin Beast Cores I promised you earlier."
Lin An took out sixty crystal cores and gave them to everyone.
A hint of surprise flashed in the eyes of the six people as they looked at the crystal cores.
They thought Lin An would give them Platinum First Grade Sin Beast Crystal Cores.
They were surprised to find that all of them were Platinum Fifth Grade, which made them feel more favorably toward Lin An.
"Are you planning to go back, or stay outside?" Lin An asked.
"We're planning to head back now," Shi Shan said.
Lin An had killed so many of the outer Sin Beast that only a third remained. At this point, these Sin Beast would surely be hiding or heading towards the inner perimeter.
The six of them dared not venture deep into the inner perimeter of the Dark Cloud Mountain Range.
Lin An hesitated for a few seconds.
He originally intended to press on and directly storm into the inner perimeter of the Dark Cloud Mountain Range.
Killing those Sin Beast was easy; the trouble was dealing with their corpses.
Moreover, his storage ring was almost full, and he couldn't bear to give up those materials.
"I'll go back with you," Lin An said.
He planned to go back first and exchange all his belongings for military merits.
Then he could exchange for a large-scale formation and create it. This way, he wouldn't have to cut them down one by one; once the formation was created, he could refine them all directly.
In addition, he also needs to create some puppets. The combat power of these puppets is secondary; their main purpose is to help him dispose of corpses.
Hearing that Lin An was also going back, the six men from Shi Shan were happy, after all, with such a powerful figure by their side, their return would be extremely safe.
The group immediately flew out of the mountains. While flying, Lin An stopped and then, amidst the puzzled gazes of the others, flew towards the ground.
Then everyone saw Lin An capture a black tiger, Platinum First Grade, Sin Beast.
"My lord, spare my life! I don't want to die! If you spare me, I'm willing to be your slave."
When Black Tiger saw that it was Lin An, he was so scared that he almost died. His limbs went weak and he immediately fell to the ground, begging for mercy.
It had witnessed Lin An's display of power before, and was originally mocked by Lin An and wanted to fight to the death, but because it was too weak, it couldn't even get close.
Then, once it calmed down from its anger, it ran away without hesitation.
He thought that since several hours had passed, Lin An wouldn't come here, so he came out to check, but he never expected to be caught by Lin An.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you."
"I just want you to deliver a message to those vermin inside the Dark Cloud Mountain Range."
"Let them wash their necks clean; I'll come and slaughter them tomorrow."
Lin An laughed and said, "Of course, they can run away too. After all, they're a bunch of bugs; running away is in their nature."
Although Lin An was smiling, in Black Tiger's eyes, he looked like a devil.
However, upon hearing that he wouldn't die, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Don't worry, sir, I'll go and tell those vermin everything you said right away," Black Tiger said hastily.
Lin An nodded, then left with Shi Shan and the others.
Half an hour later, Black Tiger felt a little strength return. He looked around cautiously, and only after confirming that Lin An was gone did he flee the place.