53: He is indeed a two-star warrior, right?
"Thunderbolt Slash!"
Drawing the blade and sheathing it were done in one smooth motion.
A large, hideous wound appeared on the white snake's forehead.
Blood flowed profusely!
The blood flowing from its wound instantly dyed the surface of the lake around the Heart Sea Lotus red.
In an instant, it gave the Heart Sea Lotus a somewhat eerie hue.
Fearing that the Tidal Surging Ox might return, Li Canglan retrieved the Heart Sea Lotus, then took a scale from the white snake's body to use as proof.
Then, using all his strength, he struck with his blade, barely managing to cut through the scales on the white snake's body.
"There really is a crystal core!"
Li Canglan reached out, picked up the pure white crystal core, and then immediately ran for it.
On the other side, after the Tidal Surging Ox killed the black-clad Martial Artist and returned to the lake, it saw the empty lake surface and the white snake's corpse floating on it.
The Tidal Surging Ox let out a violent roar, scaring the weak Demonic Beasts around the lake into fleeing in all directions.
As for Li Canglan, he had already escaped far away.
"My revenge is complete, and it's about time."
Li Canglan glanced at the sky, packed his things, and headed towards the city.
On the way back, he retrieved all the snake-skin bags he had hidden along the road.
After some thought, to avoid being too conspicuous, he decided to only take two snake-skin bags back to the city.
When he arrived at the city gate carrying the large and small bags, order had already been restored there.
"Two days have passed; it seems those people from the Chen family can't keep watch at the gate all the time."
At the city gate, many Martial Artist squads were also returning to the city, counting their spoils in the work sheds.
One of the Martial Artist squads had clearly become the focus of everyone's attention.
Nothing else, because the Martial Artist backpacks of their five-man squad were all stuffed completely full!
For a moment, it drew many envious gazes.
"Eighty-nine Early Stage, One-star Demonic Beasts."
"Forty-three Middle Stage, One-star Demonic Beasts."
"Three Late Stage, One-star Demonic Beasts!"
"Congratulations, you have earned 233,000 shen xia currency and 248 merit points."
The staff member, rarely encountering a Martial Artist squad capable of hunting so many Demonic Beasts, said respectfully, "The shen xia currency will be deposited into your captain's bank card later. As for the merit points, how do you plan to distribute them?"
The scar-faced leader crossed his arms over his chest, "According to the rules, split them equally."
The surrounding Martial Artists all revealed expressions of envy.
230,000 shen xia currency, for Martial Artists, actually wasn't much.
But the corresponding merit points were not a small amount!
Feeling the envious gazes around them, the Martial Artists of the Crazy Saber Squad were all feeling quite pleased with themselves.
"Excuse me, please make way, I need to count my spoils."
A slightly helpless voice came from outside the crowd.
A Martial Artist queuing on the periphery turned his head in annoyance, "What the... what the hell?!"
Seeing the two snake-skin bags in Li Canglan's hands, this Martial Artist's eyes widened in disbelief.
The surrounding Martial Artists all looked towards the sound, and then they all froze there.
"What the hell? Everyone uses standard backpacks to carry beast ears, yet this guy actually uses snake-skin bags?"
"Damn, where did this tough guy come from? Is his style so wild?"
"The key is that this guy is alone! Is he really not afraid of being robbed?"
"Don't say it, actually, don't say it, I feel like this guy's beast ears might have been robbed from others... After all, with so many Demonic Beasts, if one person killed them, it would probably take until the year of the monkey!"
Just as that person finished speaking, he saw Li Canglan's indifferent gaze sweep over.
Frightened, he quickly shut his mouth and hid in the crowd.
The Martial Artists of the Crazy Saber Squad were also staring blankly.
However, the look they gave Li Canglan was full of wariness!
The reason they were able to have so many spoils was because they robbed many lone Martial Artists!
For this person to be able to carry so many spoils alone and return to the city by himself, he must have quite a few lives on his hands!
Even if he killed all of these himself, there would definitely be some blind Martial Artists who would want to come and rob him, and then die miserably under his blade!
Such a person was definitely a tough guy they couldn't afford to offend!
The group of Martial Artists quickly cleared a path to let Li Canglan walk in.
The strong, no matter where they go, are worthy of respect!
With a thud, Li Canglan slammed the two snake-skin bags onto the ground.
Everyone felt their scalps tingle.
The staff member opened the snake-skin bags and poured them out with a clatter.
The mixed scent of blood, stench, and so on immediately spread out.
However, regarding this, these Martial Artists who lived life on the edge were already used to it.
What shocked them was the quality of these spoils!
"A one-foot-long saber tooth, this must be from a Sabertooth Boar King to have such long saber teeth, right?"
"This indentation... is the left ear of a Raging ManBear? A Late Stage, One-star Demonic Beast?!"
"What the hell?!"
"Alone, hunting a Late Stage, One-star Demonic Beast?"
At this moment, all the Martial Artists present were completely convinced.
What they were convinced of wasn't just that Li Canglan could hunt a Late Stage, One-star Demonic Beast.
The Crazy Saber Squad could actually do that too.
However, deep in the wilderness, while 'a Demonic Beast every ten steps' might be a bit of an exaggeration, it wouldn't be too far off.
Ordinary Martial Artists choose to group up to go into the wilderness, besides making hunting Demonic Beasts easier, they can also get the chance to rest and heal when injured.
If it's one person, once they are seriously injured in a battle with a Demonic Beast, any enemy could put them to death!
Therefore, for this person to be able to kill a Late Stage, One-star Raging ManBear, it can only mean that his strength far exceeds that of a Late Stage, One-star!
"Could it be that this person has already become a Two-Star Martial Artist at such a young age?"
Although Li Canglan had disguised his face, there were not many traces of age left on it.
No matter how you look at it, he was at most in his twenties.
A Two-Star Martial Artist in his twenties—this is a hot commodity!
An existence that any organization would desperately try to recruit!
"This scale!"
In the crowd, someone's pupils suddenly shrank.
As if remembering something terrifying, their body began to tremble.
This person was someone Li Canglan had met once before, an instructor from the Zhenhai Martial Arts Academy!
When he was taking a dozen or so Early Stage, One-star Martial Artists into the wilderness for a lesson, they accidentally ran into the white snake.
Based on his experience, he did not recognize the type of white snake.
Relying on the fact that they had strength in numbers, he wasn't too worried.
However, all carelessness comes with a heavy price!
Eight students died miserably in the white snake's mouth!
If it weren't for the fact that the terrifying white snake seemed to be full, he himself probably wouldn't have escaped either!
After a brief moment of shock, the staff member began to count the spoils.
"198 Early Stage, One-star Demonic Beasts!"
"123 Middle Stage, One-star Demonic Beasts!"
"37 Late Stage, One-star Demonic Beasts!"
"2 Peak, One-star Demonic Beasts!"
Hearing the final 'Peak, One-star', the onlookers were struck by lightning.
They were completely stunned!
"He really is a Two-Star Martial Artist, isn't he?"