69: Chapter 69: Are they all done killing?

Li Zhengyang slowly lowered his abyssal meteor dragon spear.

The golden light on the spear tip gradually faded.

"Ah, so it's you guys."

Li Zhengyang's tone was laced with impatience. "I thought you were reinforcements for the demons."

At the canyon entrance.

Lei Hu clutched his chest and climbed up from the pile of rubble, feeling as if his internal organs were churning.

He looked at Li Zhengyang, then at his own battle-axe which had been sent flying dozens of meters away, feeling a wave of shock.

If that spear strike just now hadn't been held back...

...he would already be torn in two.

Zhou Han lay on the ground, his face deathly pale.

He stared blankly at the broken hilt remaining in his hand.

This was an A-grade battle blade that had accompanied him in killing over a hundred magical beasts, yet today, in a single encounter, it had been snapped in two by a spear.

Zhao Yi arrived at this moment with the rest of the Seventh Squad.

They had originally prepared themselves to die, rushing all the way to provide support.

But when they rushed into the canyon and saw the scene before them, everyone stopped dead in their tracks.

There was no overwhelming ambush of demons.

There was only an eerie Bone Tower and a ground covered in demon corpses.

On the rock wall not far away, there were still blood-stained holes left by the spear piercing through.

Zhao Yi's gaze passed over Li Zhengyang and landed on the headless corpses beneath the Bone Tower.

Judging by the degree of bone mutation, the strength of these three demons before their deaths was definitely formidable.

"This... did you kill all of them?"

Zhao Yi's voice was somewhat hoarse.

Li Zhengyang flicked his spear tip.

"Just killed a few pathfinders." Li Zhengyang pointed at the corpses. "Don't just stand there, get up."

Zhou Han struggled to climb up from the ground.

He followed Li Zhengyang's finger, his gaze sweeping over the fatal wounds on the demon corpses.

One spear strike through the throat.

One spear strike through the heart.

One spear strike through the head.

All the wounds were fatal in a single blow.

There were no signs of any unnecessary struggle; the demons hadn't even had time to trigger their vaunted regenerative abilities.

Zhou Han's face burned with pain.

Two hours ago, at the round table in the Command Center, he had slammed the table, questioning the authenticity of Li Zhengyang's combat report.

He had said it was impossible for a rookie to solo a peak Rank 6 demon—that it was suicidal.

Now, the evidence was right before his eyes, slapping him hard in the face.

"Cough..."

Lei Hu walked over, rubbing his tight chest. "Brother Li, you just said... pathfinders?"

"This place is a transit altar for the demons."

Li Zhengyang struck his spear against the ground, making a sharp sound. "The three just now were here to deliver offerings. There are three more groups of demons behind them, bringing the remaining blood soul orbs."

"blood soul orbs?" Zhao Yi's brows twitched. "Those are items used for breakthroughs by demons of Lord-level and above! Is there a Blood Demon here?"

"Yes, its strength should be stuck at the Half-Step Martial Venerable stage."

Li Zhengyang's tone was casual.

Half-Step Martial Venerable!

As soon as these four words were spoken, the faces of everyone present instantly turned pale.

"It's fine. The Lord Blood Demon isn't here; this area only contains some minor blood demons."

Li Zhengyang's voice wasn't loud, but it temporarily steadied everyone's nerves.

"We can wait here like rabbits waiting for a stump, killing these demons who are coming to deliver the blood soul orbs. This will indirectly delay the Lord Blood Demon's promotion."

The canyon was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Zhao Yi looked at Li Zhengyang's calm profile, gritted his teeth, and made a gesture.

"Everyone, take cover! Suppress your aura!"

Lei Hu and Zhou Han exchanged glances, nodded helplessly, and led their respective team members into the shadows on both sides of the canyon.

Time ticked by in the deathly silence.

Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes.

The grey mist outside the canyon churned, and even the sound of the wind felt eerie.

Lei Hu squatted behind a rock, his legs long since numb.

But he didn't lower his guard; his hand gripping the battle-axe was covered in sweat.

An hour passed.

Let alone demons delivering offerings, not even a flying insect had entered the canyon.

Zhao Yi frowned deeply and gave a gesture to Zhou Han.

Zhou Han nodded, hunched over, and led two scouts to silently slip out of the canyon.

Li Zhengyang opened his eyes and yawned.

Ten minutes later, Zhou Han returned.

When he reached Zhao Yi, Zhou Han shook his head.

"Nothing. Not a shadow of a demon anywhere."

Zhao Yi was full of question marks: "??? What's going on? Did the demons discover us?"

Or perhaps, are the demons in this vicinity all dead?

Everyone realized it at the same time and looked at Li Zhengyang.

Li Zhengyang noticed the strange gazes around him, stood up, and brushed the dust off his pants.

"Oh."

He remembered.

On the way here, he found the demons scattering and running away to be annoying. To clear the red dots on his radar, he had casually wiped out the few waves of demons nearby that weren't running fast enough.

He rubbed his chin and clicked his tongue. "I stabbed a few to death on the way here. I might have accidentally wiped out all the ones in this area."

Zhao Yi: "..."

Lei Hu: "..."

Zhou Han took a deep breath, feeling that his worldview needed to be rebuilt.

What was a terrifying ambush that everyone else treated like a life-or-death crisis was, in this guy's eyes, just "accidentally finished killing them all."

"Since there are no monsters left, let's retreat."

Li Zhengyang picked up his long spear, stopped lingering, and walked straight out of the canyon.

It was time to improve his strength.

——

Pojun Division branch, logistics settlement center.

The hall was bustling with people, and several squads that had just returned from outside the walls were tallying materials from low-rank magical beasts.

Li Zhengyang strode into the entrance and went straight to the high-level loot settlement counter at the very back.

"Settlement."

He pointed his tactical watch at the receiving counter.

Clatter!

A pile of demon cores poured out, stacking into a small hill on the counter.

The most eye-catching items were the dozen or so dark red orbs mixed in among the demon cores, radiating a rich aura of blood energy.

The middle-aged deacon behind the settlement counter had originally been holding a teacup. After seeing the items on the table, his hand shook, and scalding tea spilled all over his crotch.

He stood up abruptly, not even caring about the burn, and lunged across the counter.

"This is... blood soul orb?!"

His voice cracked.

Several veterans of the Pojun Division who had been queuing up nearby heard the sound and gathered around.

When they saw the quality of the demon cores and those dozen or so blood soul orbs, they began to discuss animatedly.

"Are those the cores of peak Rank 6 demons?"

"One, two, three... Damn, over thirty?"

"Did this rookie dig up the demons' ancestral graves?"

The deacon's hands were shaking slightly. He carefully picked up a blood soul orb, and after confirming it was genuine, he looked up at Li Zhengyang, his eyes looking as if he were staring at a monster.

"These materials... are you sure you want to settle all of them? Not leaving a single one?"

"Yes! Exchange them all for money, don't leave a single one."