17: Chapter 17 Startling Cloud Steps

The Red-Refined Leopard was indeed fast; its dark red fur didn't even flicker between the weeds, stretching directly into a red line.

If it were yesterday, even if Li Zhengyang could withstand this pounce, he would have had to retreat two steps to disperse the force.

But now, there was the Startling Cloud Step.

With the soles of his feet tapping the ground, his figure shifted three feet sideways out of thin air.

The Red-Refined Leopard pounced into empty air.

Before it could land on all fours and turn around, a section of a silver-white spear shaft appeared in its field of vision.

Collapse Technique.

The Great Martial Master's blood energy poured into the mountain-piercing spear, and the aura gathered into a violent cyclone at the spear tip.

"Puchi."

The spear tip pierced in through the Red-Refined Leopard's left ear and came out through the right, with brains and blood splattering out.

Instant kill.

Li Zhengyang pulled out the spear, bent over, and skillfully used a short blade to dissect the skull.

A red crystal the size of a pigeon egg slid into his palm.

A rank-three beast core.

This thing could sell for at least sixty thousand.

The whole process took less than five seconds; a Yellow-grade high-tier movement technique combined with a Profound-grade low-tier spear technique had an outrageously effective combat result.

Tossing the beast core into his space ring, Li Zhengyang looked up at the sky.

It was still early.

Since the Startling Cloud Step was so useful, not pushing it to its limit would be a disservice to the fifty thousand he had just spent.

With a flick of the spear, blood droplets hit the ground, and Li Zhengyang carried the spear into the deeper part of the forest.

For the next three hours, the magical beasts of the North Mountain faced their doom.

This wasn't completing missions; this was a slaughter.

The Iron-Armored Bear? This thing was known for having invincible physical defense at the same rank, but Li Zhengyang couldn't even be bothered to look for its weak point. He used the Startling Cloud Step to circle behind it, then used the Twist Technique to stab directly into its rectum, stirring it up until its intestines and heart were shredded together.

A pack of Bloodthirsty Wolves? Large in number?

The Startling Cloud Step created four or five afterimages within the wolf pack, and the mountain-piercing spear flew up and down. The pack-dwelling Bloodthirsty Wolves often couldn't even touch the enemy's shadow before having their throats slit in large numbers.

Mission tokens, magical beast tail stingers, and all sorts of messy but valuable spiritual materials—Li Zhengyang snatched up everything he saw.

The space in the space ring was becoming increasingly limited.

"Puchi!"

As the last Bloodthirsty Wolf fell.

Li Zhengyang leaned against a big tree, preparing to take a break.

There was movement ahead.

It wasn't the movement of magical beasts, but people.

The clashing of swords, continuous shouting, and interspersed with a few highly penetrating profanities.

Li Zhengyang crept toward the sound and stood at the top of the hillside to look down.

In the depression below, five people were circling a rank-three magical beast, a Black-Scaled Python.

It was a python as thick as a bucket, its scales harder than steel plates; with a casual sweep of its tail, a deep trench was carved into the ground.

The five people coordinated very well, with three holding the front and two maneuvering on the sides. Their tactics were extremely standard: drain stamina, find weaknesses.

The leader was a middle-aged man with a shaved head, holding a nine-ringed broadsword in his hand; he was a rank-one Great Martial Master.

The remaining four were all high-rank Martial Masters.

Their equipment was uniform, and each had a "Crazy Wind" emblem embroidered on their chest.

The Crazy Wind Squad.

A well-known, veteran team in this county.

This group fought very steadily, so steadily that Li Zhengyang found it a bit tedious.

According to their fighting style, it would take at least another half hour for the Black-Scaled Python to be worn to death.

And taking a detour would waste too much time.

He took a sip of water, picked up his spear, and jumped down the hillside.

"Captain, the snake's head has raised up, watch the right side!"

"Contain it on the left! Don't let it turn around!"

The bald captain was shouting hoarsely, his nine-ringed broadsword just raised above his head to meet the Black-Scaled Python's tail whip.

A figure flashed past his eyes.

It really just flashed past.

The bald man didn't even see the person's face clearly before feeling an aura far more powerful than his own rushing toward him.

"Pu."

An extreme piercing sound.

The Black-Scaled Python that had forced the five of them into a precarious situation froze.

Its bucket-thick neck was pierced by a silver spear; the person holding the spear exerted force with one hand and flicked the spear shaft upward.

The massive python head, weighing over six hundred jin, was forcibly flicked up.

With a flash of a blade, Li Zhengyang pulled out a short blade with his left hand and skillfully cut down along the seven-inch mark, and a fist-sized black beast core fell into his hand.

He retracted the spear.

The headless corpse of the Black-Scaled Python slammed heavily onto the ground.

The entire scene fell into dead silence.

The five members of the Crazy Wind Squad maintained their defensive posture, completely stunned.

"Excuse me."

After Li Zhengyang threw the beast core into his ring, he dashed past them.

"Stop!"

The bald captain reacted, his face flushing red, and he pointed his nine-ringed broadsword forward: "Where did this wild brat come from? Do you know the rules! We've been surrounding it in the wild for over half an hour, and you come up and snatch the prey?"

Snatching prey was a major taboo in the wild; in serious cases, it could trigger a fight between squads.

Li Zhengyang turned around and sized up the bald captain.

"Rules? Did that magical beast have your name written on it?"

"You're courting death!" The bald man was furious.

He was a Great Martial Master, after all, and used to running rampant in this area; he had never seen such an arrogant rogue cultivator.

"Hand over the beast core, then apologize, and I'll pretend I never saw you today. Otherwise, that spear of yours is quite nice; I'll take it."

The four team members also surrounded him, looking unfriendly.

"Oh?" Li Zhengyang slammed his spear onto the ground, "Seeing how much trouble you were having earlier, I thought you were about to be counter-killed and kindly stepped in to save you. It turns out my kindness was wasted on a donkey's liver and lungs."

"A mouth full of twisted logic!"

The bald man's temper flared, and he swung the nine-ringed broadsword down directly.

The Great Martial Master's blood energy was pushed to the limit, and the blade wind was fierce.

Li Zhengyang didn't move his spear and activated the Startling Cloud Step.

The bald man's vision blurred, and this strike landed in empty air.

Before he could retract his blade, wind whistled by his ear.

"Pa!"

A crisp, loud slap.

The bald man's two-hundred-plus-pound frame flew sideways.

"Thud," his whole body was embedded into the stone wall nearby.

The bald man's face was swollen like a pig's head, his eyes rolled back, half his body was stuck in the crevice, his limbs were twitching, and he simply couldn't get himself out.

The remaining four team members, having just raised their weapons, collectively petrified.

A single slap had knocked a rank-one Great Martial Master into the stone wall.

What kind of god-like combat power was this?

Li Zhengyang ignored the bald man in the wall, walked over, and tapped the stone wall with the butt of his spear.

"Peng, peng."

"Don't play dead." Li Zhengyang looked at the bald man who couldn't get out, then looked at the four terrified people nearby, "I'm a reasonable person. I just saved your five lives; shouldn't you pay a little for that?"

The four team members looked at each other.

The one holding the sword swallowed a mouthful of saliva, his voice trembling: "How... how much?"

"How much?" Li Zhengyang sighed and said very considerately, "Of course, you give everything."

No more acting; this was pure robbery.

But looking at their unconscious captain in the stone wall and the silver spear in Li Zhengyang's hand, the four of them didn't have the slightest thought of bargaining.

"S-scan... scan the code."

The team members tremblingly took out their phones, pooled their money, and scanned for one hundred thousand.

"One hundred thousand."

The payment notification sound rang out.

"Get lost, and by the way, pry that one out of the wall and take him with you; he's an eyesore." Li Zhengyang waved his hand.

The four let out a sigh of relief and worked together to pull the bald captain out. Accompanied by the bald man's scream, they finally pulled him from the stone wall, carried him away as they scrambled and crawled, not even having the courage to look back.

Li Zhengyang watched their fleeing backs, feeling no ripples in his heart.

The horizon turned white.

Li Zhengyang stood on the mountainside and stretched.

His joints made a crisp sound; he hadn't slept all night, but instead of feeling tired, he was full of energy due to his overflowing blood energy.

It was time to take stock.

In one night, he had wiped out all the D-rank and C-rank mission targets in the vicinity.

His space ring was packed full, containing over thirty beast cores and countless mission tokens and materials. Plus the one hundred thousand in "life-saving fees" from just now, and so on.

A rough calculation showed that this North Mountain clearance had brought in nearly one million in direct earnings.

Li Zhengyang rubbed his chin.

"One million great xia currency, ten thousand blood energy points; enough to promote."

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