The Rewards

Although Zhu Lin and Luo Fang had taken healing pills and spent a long time circulating their Qi to recover, they had been struck head-on by a third-tier attack. Their internal injuries would not heal anytime soon.

After only a few steps, their footing grew unsteady, and their bodies swayed slightly.

Lu Feng glanced at them, stopped, and held out a hand to either side.

"Let me help you. In your current condition, I'm afraid you'll collapse before you even make it out of the cave."

Zhu Lin and Luo Fang exchanged a glance and accepted.

One on either side of Lu Feng, they draped their arms over his shoulders and leaned against him for support.

Lu Feng's body instantly stiffened.

Against his right arm, he could clearly feel something exceedingly soft through the thin fabric of his clothes.

It was heavy, rising and falling slightly with each of Zhu Lin's breaths, warm and soft against his arm.

This... has to be a G cup, right? The thought flashed uncontrollably through his mind.

"What?"

Zhu Lin, on his right, seemed to have heard something. She turned to look at him, her cheeks reddening slightly as she unconsciously drew her hand back a little.

"Maybe... we should just walk slowly on our own."

"No need."

Lu Feng's expression did not change.

"The fighting just now was intense. The cave's supporting structure is already unstable, and it could collapse at any moment. We'd better leave quickly."

Hearing this, the two women looked up at the stone walls around them.

Sure enough, fresh cracks ran all over the walls, and small bits of stone trickled down from overhead from time to time.

The cave really would not hold out much longer.

They said no more and leaned against him again.

Lu Feng gathered his thoughts and helped them steadily onward.

They walked for over an hour.

After passing through the stone door and stepping back into Fragrant Virtue Hall, they found several Fire Saber Sect disciples standing at the entrance. Judging by their clothes, they were inner sect disciples, and they were pacing back and forth with anxious expressions.

When they saw the three emerge from behind the stone door, the one in the lead immediately called in a low voice to the disciples behind him:

"Quick, go report to the lady!" Then he hurried forward and bowed.

"My lords! Is there anything we can help with?"

Lu Feng let Zhu Lin and Luo Fang down from his shoulders. The two of them could finally stand steadily on their own feet.

He felt that both his arms had gone completely numb. For over an hour, he had not dared move them at all, and they were as stiff as two pieces of wood.

"Where's Zhou Si?" he asked.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a figure in dark robes darted in from outside the hall.

Zhou Si landed, stirring a light breeze, and quickly swept her gaze over the three of them.

When she saw the wounds on Lu Feng and the deathly pale faces of Zhu Lin and Luo Fang, her pupils contracted slightly.

She glanced behind them as well. There was no one beyond the stone door.

"Are you all right? Where's Liu Yong?"

No one spoke.

Zhou Si's expression changed, but she asked no more questions.

"Let's return to the lodgings first."

She turned and instructed several female disciples to help Zhu Lin and Luo Fang.

Lu Feng followed behind as the group crossed the Fire Saber Sect's corridors in silence and returned to their lodgings.

The door was shut. Only the four of them remained in the room.

"Tell me," Zhou Si said, her voice grave.

"What exactly happened? How did you two get hurt so badly? Liu Yong... how did he die?"

Zhu Lin took a deep breath and recounted everything that had happened after they entered the underground cave, from beginning to end.

After listening, Zhou Si fell silent for a long time.

"A Half-Demon." She let out a heavy breath.

"Zhu Ren was a Half-Demon. His strength was comparable to the third tier. No wonder you two were hurt so badly."

After saying this, she added, "Fortunately, Lu Feng held out until the Demon Transformation ended. If you'd fought him head-on while he was transformed, I'm afraid none of you three would have made it out of that cave."

Zhu Lin and Luo Fang nodded at the same time, still shaken.

What they did not know was that, in his Demon Transformation state, Zhu Ren's strength had not merely been comparable to the third tier. He had truly reached it.

Nor had Lu Feng held out until the Demon Transformation ended. He had met the third-tier Half-Demon head-on and beaten him to death.

Naturally, Lu Feng did not say any of this.

"This is Zhu Ren's head, and Liu Yong's body as well." Luo Fang untied a storage bag from her waist and handed it to Zhou Si with both hands.

Zhou Si took it, opened it and looked inside, then closed it and put it away.

She was in charge of this mission, and all spoils and the belongings of those who had fallen were to be kept in her custody. That was the Demon-Slaying Bureau's rule.

Lu Feng looked at Zhou Si. "What about you? Did you find anything outside?"

"Same as before. I didn't find anything unusual." Zhou Si shook her head.

"But the entire Fire Saber Sect is under my control now."

A flicker of surprise crossed Lu Feng's eyes.

In just a few hours. One person. Had taken control of an entire sect with nearly twenty thousand disciples.

Such skill and ability truly commanded a new level of respect.

Afterward, they continued their discussions for a long time: how to deal with the Fire Saber Sect going forward, how to arrange for its disciples, what to report to the Demon-Slaying Bureau and what account to give, Liu Yong's funeral arrangements, and the distribution of merit.

They discussed every matter, one by one, down to the smallest detail.

Once everything was settled, they went their separate ways.

Lu Feng returned to his room, locked the door behind him, and sat cross-legged on the stone bed.

He took a deep breath and opened the system panel.

[Host: Lu Feng]

[Cultivation: Early Hua Jin]

[Cultivation arts: Innate Primordial Qi (progress: 100%); Hundred Beasts Body-Tempering Art]

[Perfected martial arts: Gale Slash, Gale Saber Art, Golden Bell Shield, Carefree Steps, Treading on Snow Without a Trace, Cold Plum Jin, Gate-Severing Saber Art, Grasping Hand, Iron Cloth Shirt]

[Demon Points: 253,800]

Two hundred and fifty-three thousand eight hundred.

But Lu Feng's gaze fell first on the newly appeared name: "Hundred Beasts Body-Tempering Art."

With a thought, the art's introduction became a stream of information that flooded into his mind.

A moment later, Lu Feng slowly opened his eyes, a flicker of barely concealed excitement in them.

This was a pure physical cultivation art. It involved obtaining demon beast essence blood to temper the body, strengthening only the physique. There was no Demon Transformation and no side effects whatsoever.

It was a completely different path from the depraved method Zhu Ren had used to turn himself into a Half-Demon.

The art had five levels in all.

The first level required the essence blood of ten different first-tier demon beasts to temper the body. Once mastered, the body would be as tough as a first-tier demon beast's.

The second level required the essence blood of ten different second-tier demon beasts. Once mastered, the body would be comparable to a second-tier demon beast's.

The third level required the essence blood of one hundred different second-tier demon beasts. Once mastered, the body would be comparable to a third-tier demon beast's.

The fourth level required the essence blood of one hundred different third-tier demon beasts, along with an supplementary material called "Bone-Tempering Sand."

The fifth level required the essence blood of one hundred different fourth-tier demon beasts, and likewise required Bone-Tempering Sand.

After reading the introductions to the last two levels, Lu Feng frowned slightly.

He had never heard the name Bone-Tempering Sand before.

But that was not something he needed to worry about for now. The fourth and fifth tiers were still far beyond his reach.

A method for extracting essence blood was attached at the end of the art. The steps were detailed and the technique was simple, easy to learn at a glance.

Lu Feng went over the art again from beginning to end, growing more satisfied the more he read.

Without activating Golden Bell Shield and Iron Cloth Shirt, his current physical toughness was only a shade greater than that of cultivators at the same stage.

After all, Golden Bell Shield and Iron Cloth Shirt were both Ming Jin-stage arts. The improvements they could make to his body had nearly reached their limit, and it was difficult to advance another inch.

But this Hundred Beasts Body-Tempering Art could push his body to an entirely different level.

Unfortunately, he did not have a single portion of demon beast essence blood on hand.