8: Chapter 8 Second-grade magical beasts are like weeds

"Fine." Li Zhengyang paid the fare, shouldered his mountain-piercing spear, and got out of the vehicle.

Li Zhengyang stood on the road and looked ahead.

The Northern Suburb Wetlands, officially termed the "outskirts of the protected area," was in reality a lawless no-man's-land.

Low-level magical beasts loved this kind of environment; with water, grass, and cover, the government army couldn't be bothered to conduct deep sweeps, so they outsourced it to the Martial Artist Agency.

Li Zhengyang took his mountain-piercing spear from his back, leaned on it with one hand, and stepped into the reed marshes.

After walking about two hundred meters inside, the reeds grew increasingly dense.

His line of sight was compressed to a range of three to five meters, so Li Zhengyang pricked up his ears to listen.

The five senses of a Martial Master far exceeded those of a martial artist.

Three minutes later, he heard it.

Breathing.

Deep, low breathing.

To the front right, about twenty meters away, deep in the reed marshes.

Two of them.

Li Zhengyang did not stop; he continued walking forward, slowing his pace.

When he reached fifteen meters away, he saw them.

There were two lumps in the reeds.

They were grayish-green, close to the color of the reed leaves, making them impossible to distinguish without a careful look.

The surface of the lumps was covered with a dense layer of scales.

Iron-Spine Lizards.

The agency's files stated: Second-Rank magical beasts, their dorsal iron armor is extremely hard and difficult for ordinary weapons to penetrate. Their weaknesses are the abdomen and throat. It is recommended that three or more Martial Masters work together to fight them.

Recommended three or more Martial Masters?

Sorry, but I'm not an ordinary Martial Master.

Li Zhengyang looked at the mountain-piercing spear in his hand, then at those two grayish-green lumps.

When he reached ten meters away, the Iron-Spine Lizard on the right moved.

It moved very suddenly, diving headfirst into the water, sending mud splashing over two meters high, its pair of eyes staring straight at Li Zhengyang.

Its mouth opened, and a row of teeth hissed as it exhaled.

It must have weighed five or six hundred catties.

This thing had a nickname in the local martial artist circle: "Mud Tank."

The reason was simple. Hard, fast, and aggressive.

Once it started charging, it couldn't easily change direction, but if you were even grazed by it, a martial artist-level body couldn't handle it.

Li Zhengyang didn't retreat.

He took two steps forward, actively closing the distance.

The Iron-Spine Lizard took this as a provocation.

It charged over.

Its speed was faster than imagined; a five-or-six-hundred-catty creature could actually sprint at nearly sixty yards in the muddy ground.

Li Zhengyang stood still until the Iron-Spine Lizard charged to within three meters.

Then, he struck with his spear.

The shaft of the mountain-piercing spear swept horizontally, the metal rod smashing into the side of the Iron-Spine Lizard's head.

A muffled, thunderous sound rang out.

The Iron-Spine Lizard's body was knocked off course by the lateral force, and the entire lizard slid past Li Zhengyang's left side.

Li Zhengyang stepped forward, gripped the mountain-piercing spear with both hands, and pointed the tip downward.

This time, it was a stab.

From top to bottom, aiming at the Iron-Spine Lizard's head.

The spearhead entered from the top of its head and exited through its lower jaw, blood gushing from the wound, mixed with brains in a sticky, messy pool.

The Iron-Spine Lizard's four legs twitched a few times.

It was dead.

Li Zhengyang pulled out the mountain-piercing spear and shook the blood off the tip.

The other Iron-Spine Lizard saw this and turned to run.

Running?

Li Zhengyang caught up in three steps and thrust the mountain-piercing spear in from behind.

It pierced through the soft flesh of its lower back, the tip of the mountain-piercing spear emerging from under its belly.

The Iron-Spine Lizard let out a scream, the sound sharp and piercing.

He pulled out the spear and delivered a finishing blow; this time, he stabbed the neck.

The scales on the neck were thinner than those on the back; the spear pierced through, and blood sprayed out.

Two of them, in less than a minute.

Li Zhengyang looked down at himself, covered in a mixture of mud and blood, and muttered to himself.

"Disgusting."

He squatted down and cut off the Iron-Spine Lizard's tail spikes; the agency accepted these as proof.

He cut off two.

He stuffed them into his backpack and continued walking deeper into the marsh.

With the experience from the first two, in the next half hour, he killed another six.

Four more to go.

Li Zhengyang found a slightly drier slope to sit down and rest for a while, drinking some water.

There were an absurd number of mosquitoes in the wetlands; one slap on his arm would leave a palmful of blood.

However, a Martial Master's blood was hotter than an ordinary person's; the mosquitoes would get drunk after biting him and fall to the ground, listless.

He remembered the agency's files mentioning that Iron-Spine Lizards were gregarious animals, usually found in groups of ten to fifteen in one area, distributed across three to five nesting sites.

He had already cleared two sites, so the rest should be deeper inside.

He got up and continued walking.

The deeper he went, the more water there was, and the muddier the ground became.

After walking for another ten minutes or so, the reeds ahead suddenly thinned out, revealing an open mudflat.

In the center of the mudflat was a depression filled with stagnant, foul water, and four Iron-Spine Lizards were lying by the water.

They were larger than the ones he had encountered before.

The scales on the back of the largest one were black, indicating it was an elderly specimen.

Four of them, perfect.

Li Zhengyang didn't use any tactics.

He walked straight over.

The four lizards spotted him at the same time and let out hisses simultaneously.

The largest one stood up, its four legs braced in the mud, its body lowered, adopting a charging stance.

Li Zhengyang leveled his mountain-piercing spear and infused it with his Qi and blood.

The aura on the tip of the mountain-piercing spear was thicker than it had been in the alley earlier.

Weapons were an extension of one's Qi and blood; the higher the grade, the more could be infused, and the stronger the armor-piercing effect.

When the first elderly specimen charged over, he didn't choose to take it head-on; instead, he sidestepped to avoid it, swept his mountain-piercing spear horizontally, and the tip sliced open the lizard's flank.

The scales split open, and blood gushed out.

It wasn't fatal, but it was painful.

The old lizard was enraged and turned to charge again.

The second one also charged over, the two of them attacking from the left and right.

Li Zhengyang took two steps back and thrust his mountain-piercing spear into the forehead of the one on the right.

It pierced through.

The tail of the lizard on the left swept over, the tail spike whistling through the air.

Li Zhengyang didn't have time to pull out his spear; he crouched down, and the tail swept over his head, snapping the reed stalks behind him.

The lizard turned around, preparing for a second sweep.

Li Zhengyang smashed his fist into its nose.

A Second-Rank Martial Master, possessing over two thousand catties of strength.

The lizard's head was knocked askew, its entire body slid sideways by half a meter, and its four legs slipped.

Before it could steady itself, Li Zhengyang walked over, pulled out his mountain-piercing spear, and turned to thrust it into the old lizard's mouth.

The tip of the mountain-piercing spear emerged from the back of its head.

The third one was already running toward the water.

It didn't get away.

He threw the mountain-piercing spear; from a distance of twenty meters, it pinned it to its back.

It pierced through the iron armor and nailed it into the mud.

Li Zhengyang walked over, stepped on the lizard's back, and pulled out the mountain-piercing spear.

The fourth one was even more cowardly, huddled at the edge of the mudflat, not daring to move.

He killed it with one stab.

Twelve Iron-Spine Lizards, in half an hour.

He cut off the last four tail spikes, combined them with the previous ones to make twelve, and his backpack was packed full.

"Looks like I'll need a bigger backpack next time."

When he stood up, he was covered from head to toe in mud, like a mud statue.

But he was in a good mood.

The sixty-thousand-yuan mission was in the bag.

Li Zhengyang picked up his bag and walked back.

When he reached the edge of the reed marshes, he stopped.

Fifty meters ahead, on the dirt road.

Four people were standing on the side, all looking in his direction.