21: great merit

You dead rat, sixteen of us fighting one of you, and we still couldn't beat you to death in a group attack!

Lu Chen sped forward, carefully inspecting all fifteen of his Copper Armor Dao Soldiers, and found that there were indeed no signs of injury.

"As expected, their bodies are incredibly durable. Even a Tong Qiao Realm Demon Rat couldn't break through the defense of my Copper Armor Dao Soldiers," Lu Chen said, pleased.

However, this was also due to being underground, which provided a significant boost to the Copper Armor Dao Soldiers. If the fight had been on the surface, the outcome might not have been the same.

Furthermore, this Great Demon Rat didn't have powerful Flying Swords or similar weapons, otherwise the Copper Armor Dao Soldiers might not have been able to withstand the attacks from a Penetrating Aperture Realm being.

"I heard that demons in the Penetrating Aperture Realm can condense demon cores," Lu Chen thought. Just as the thought arose, a Copper Armor Dao Soldier stepped forward, roughly thrusting its hand into the Demon Rat's skull and pulling out a yellowish demon core the size of a goose egg.

Lu Chen took it, looked at it for a moment, and then had the Copper Armor Dao Soldier put it back into the Great Demon Rat's head.

Demon cores could also be used to nurture Dao Soldiers, and combined with the Great Demon Rat's powerful physique, the effect would be even better.

He didn't linger, collecting the corpses of all six Demon Rats into the Nurturing Soldier Immortal Coffin.

Taking a quick look, inside the Nurturing Soldier Immortal Coffin, the corpses of demons were already piled up like mountains. A few were Demon Monkeys and Demon Wolves he had killed himself, while the remaining hundred or so demons were Monster Corpses he had picked up earlier on Mangniu Mountain.

There were over fifty Qi Condensation Realm Monster Corpses, and the rest were Spirit Transformation Realm. There was only the Great Demon Rat he had just killed that was in the Penetrating Aperture Realm.

"To nurture all fifteen Copper Armor Dao Soldiers into Silver Armor Dao Soldiers, these demons should be enough!" Lu Chen wasn't entirely sure, but he guessed it was probably close.

He didn't stay any longer. He sat on one of the Copper Armor Dao Soldiers and sped back towards the Sect.

Interestingly, underground halfway back, Lu Chen actually encountered a giant earthworm that had already formed a climate, transformed into a demon, and even reached the Peak of the Spirit Transformation Realm.

However, this earthworm demon was unlucky. It encountered Lu Chen and was directly surrounded and killed by the fifteen Copper Armor Dao Soldiers.

Lu Chen thought for a moment and suddenly remembered that this place seemed to be a small town called 'Qingshi Town'. The Internal Affairs Hall had a mission posted there, stating that the town would experience tremors from time to time, and villagers who went up the mountain to chop wood or hunt would often fall into cracks in the ground and never reappear. The government suspected a demon was causing trouble underground, but the Sect had sent many Disciples who had not found any trace of a demon.

"Perfect, I'll take on the mission to slay the demon in 'Qingshi Town' later. I can also earn a sum of Merit Points," Lu Chen said happily as he left.

This mission outside the Sect could be said to have been extremely profitable.

Going to Wuguan County to slay demons, he encountered reckless rogue cultivators who wanted to hunt Dongming Sect Disciples. Going to Donghe County's Mangniu Mountain to investigate the anomaly, he encountered a gathering of demons and a strange tree resembling a green snake.

The Merit Points from these missions would definitely be much higher than average missions. More importantly, Lu Chen also picked up a pile of Monster Corpses, which was another significant gain.

…………

Wuguan County, a figure like a phantom silently moved through the crowd, yet was unseen by anyone.

He wore a Green Fox mask, was tall, with black and white intertwined hair tied up with a wooden hairpin and casually draped. Dressed in a grey robe with white trim, with each casual step, he instantly vanished from the street.

When he reappeared, he was outside a small courtyard in the northern part of Wuguan County city. If Lu Chen were here, he would recognize it as the home of Captain Song. The hunched old man and the Old Woman, the two rogue cultivators who wanted to hunt Dongming Sect Disciples, had also died here.

The figure with the Green Fox mask stopped outside the door, suddenly raised his hand and lightly beckoned. Immediately, two blurry phantoms floated from the courtyard and landed in his palm. Looking closely, they were indeed the old man and the Old Woman whose heads had been cut off by Zhong Yi and Zhang Bingsong.

"They were already old, and now they are useless!" He lightly clenched his fist, crushing the two phantoms in his palm, then looked up towards Donghe County: "The 'dragon transformation fruit' over there must be ripening soon! Dongming Sect, this time, how will you respond?"

…………

Dongming Sect, Outer Sect, Internal Affairs Hall.

Lu Chen stepped forward with a group of Disciples who were accepting missions, and it was soon his turn.

"Steward Hu, I'm turning in two missions," he greeted, taking out two mission bamboo slips and his identity jade token, which he handed over.

"Lu Bro, you're back," Hu Tai's stern face instantly broke into a smile. He took the two mission bamboo slips, first looking at the one from Wuguan County.

"Hmm? The heart essence blood of two early Spirit Transformation Realm Demon Monkeys, and the heart essence blood of one mid Spirit Transformation Realm Demon Wolf!" He was startled and couldn't help but look at Lu Chen again.

Good heavens, he was still only at Qi Condensation completion, yet he could consecutively kill Spirit Transformation Realm demons.

Demons were different from mindless monster beasts; they were similar to cultivators, and their bodies were powerful. Cultivators of the same Realm didn't actually have much of an advantage against demons.

But Lu Chen had killed three in one go!

"Could it be that his Sword Intent has made another Breakthrough?" Steward Hu Tai wondered. Was Sword Intent that easy to break through?

Of course not. If it were that easy to break through, he would have long since broken through the Penetrating Aperture Realm, entered the Profound Law Realm, and freely roamed the universe starry sky, instead of staying here contentedly as a Zhishi.

Putting aside distracting thoughts, Steward Hu Tai began to calculate. Two early Spirit Transformation Realm Demon Monkeys, ten Merit Points.

An early Spirit Transformation Realm demon was worth five Merit Points, which was not a small amount. Back when Lu Chen bought Qi Condensation Peak Ironclad Demon Oxen from Zhou Song, they were only two Merit Points each. If sold to the Sect, they definitely wouldn't get two Merit Points. Early Spirit Transformation Realm was only one level higher than Qi Condensation Peak, and getting five Merit Points was actually quite good.

Additionally, there was one mid Spirit Transformation Realm Demon Wolf, worth eight Merit Points. Completing the mission earned another two Merit Points, totaling twenty Merit Points.

Steward Hu Tai was about to transfer the Merit Points to Lu Chen's identity jade token when he suddenly paused: "Wait, slaying demons in Wuguan County? There were rogue cultivators hunting Dongming Sect Disciples in Wuguan County? The Law Enforcement Hall said that the Disciple who assisted in killing the rogue cultivators in Wuguan County was Lu Chen!"

Good heavens, one mission made Lu Chen extremely wealthy!

The Law Enforcement Hall also gave a reward of ten Merit Points, which meant that from this single mission, Lu Chen earned thirty Merit Points, equivalent to thirty mid-grade spiritual stones, or three thousand low-grade spiritual stones.

For other Outer Sect Disciples to earn these thirty Merit Points, it would take at least ten missions, and they couldn't be simple ones.

If it were those missions that only awarded one Good Deed or half a Good Deed, it would take several months to earn these thirty Merit Points, because simple missions were also hard to get as too many people competed for them.

Finally, Steward Hu Tai took out the mission bamboo slip from Donghe County. This was an investigation mission. The bamboo slip only contained the specific situation in Mangniu Mountain recorded by Lu Chen.

The moment Steward Hu Tai looked at it, his body subtly straightened up. After looking at it for a second time, his eyes were filled with shock. By the time he finished reading it, Steward Hu Tai had suddenly stood up!

"A Demon Tiger suspected of becoming a Mountain Lord, a Giant Python suspected of transforming into a flood dragon, and a strange tree that bears green fruits resembling a green snake spitting a pearl, this, this, this..."

Something major has happened!

No, Lu Chen has made a great contribution!