Chapter 36: You Didn't Look After Me
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What happened today made Huang Zhengliang regret cultivating both the muscles, bones, skin, and flesh.
As the eldest grandson of a great general, he had chosen external-body cultivation precisely because it consumed the most resources.
As the battle continued, the first to exhaust his spiritual power was none other than this second-generation military heir.
The five-man group’s speed in slaughtering the demons grew slower and slower.
The number of demons in the courtyard was equal to the number of people in the group.
The explosion from the Demon Suppression Bureau’s storehouse chilled everyone to the bone.
Without a supply of spiritual power, there was no way to win this battle.
Just as despair settled over them, commands rang out across the night sky.
“Everyone, fall back and defend the main hall!”
“Everyone, fall back and defend the main hall!”
The shouts reached Chu Chen and the others. Huang Zhengliang was the first to react.
“Let’s go!”
The main hall stood at the center of the Demon Suppression Bureau. Thanks to Bai Ning’s preference for quiet, her residence lay some distance away from it.
If everyone retreated to the main hall, any demon beasts that fell there might not remain within the grounds of the Demon Suppression Bureau.
If even one demon beast leaped over the courtyard wall, the civilians in the city would suffer a catastrophe.
“You go. I’ll stay here,” Chu Chen said.
“We’re leaving together.” Huang Zhengliang answered him and stepped forward to seize his arm. “Chu Chen, I know you’re strong, but don’t try to be a hero now.”
He knew perfectly well that this matter was aimed at him.
If a demon beast escaped over the wall and the people in the city suffered because of it, he would never be able to bear the guilt.
“Go on. I’m staying here.”
“You’ll die!” Huang Zhengliang said with utmost seriousness.
“I’m not that easy to kill.” Chu Chen spoke half-jokingly, urging the other four to leave as quickly as possible. “Go. We’ll have breakfast together tomorrow morning.”
“Deal!”
Huang Zhengliang was clearly the backbone of the squad, and he had the authority to decide whether they stayed or left.
Once he had made his decision, he led the other three toward the main hall at full speed.
In the courtyard, Chu Chen faced four demons alone.
He let out a bitter laugh. I could never reach the kind of enlightenment expressed by, “I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me.”
Cao the Thief and I merely share the same tastes. We are fundamentally different people.
His consciousness sank, and he took half a bottle of ancient demon-beast blood essence from the catalog, pouring it over his head without hesitation.
Damn it. If they’re coming for me, then let them come!
When he killed the Corpse-Guarding Demon last time, he had been rewarded with a thousand Spiritual Rhyme Pills.
He took out five and swallowed them directly.
The spiritual energy he had expended in battle was replenished at once.
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Unless absolutely necessary, he had no intention of using that God-Transformation Experience Card.
“Roar! Roar!”
Throughout the entire Demon Suppression Bureau, the demon beasts howled as one.
As if summoned, they charged toward the same direction.
Bai Ning stared ahead, having long since been unable to contain herself.
When she saw all the demons rushing toward her courtyard, she completely disregarded Steward Xu’s orders and left the main hall she had been guarding without permission.
A white shadow shot into the air, and Xu Liang shouted.
“Bai Ning, your only duty is to protect the main hall!”
His voice rang out loudly, but Bai Ning did not listen in the slightest.
Together with the horde of demon beasts, she charged toward that courtyard.
Before Bai Ning even reached her destination, her pupils suddenly widened, and her heart began to pound wildly.
She saw a demon beast carrying Chu Chen in its mouth as it leaped out of the Demon Suppression Bureau’s grounds.
“Master, save me!”
The instant Bai Ning heard Chu Chen’s cry for help, what little capacity for thought she possessed vanished completely.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she followed them out of the Demon Suppression Bureau.
Steward Xu watched that white shadow disappear into the night sky.
With Bai Ning—their strongest combatant—gone, his ominous premonition intensified.
The members rushing in from every direction surrounded the entire main hall so tightly that not even water could pass through.
Yet all the demon beasts had charged toward Bai Ning’s courtyard.
Everyone looked at one another, unable to understand what was happening.
Without Steward Xu’s orders, no one dared make a move.
Many of them secretly hoped that things would remain this way.
Huang Zhengliang brought his men to his grandfather and reported what had just happened.
“Why did you leave Chu Chen behind?”
“Grandfather, he refused to go.” After answering, Huang Zhengliang pulled everyone forward and continued, “They all heard him. Chu Chen decided to stay.”
The moment he finished speaking, Zheng Zhong immediately added, “Master, it was indeed Chu Chen’s decision to stay. Zhengliang tried to persuade him several times without success, and only then did he lead us away.”
“Alas…” Huang Yuan sighed.
Everyone gathered in the main hall, naturally forming a situation in which each group stayed with its own people.
Cao Meng ordered his men to count the survivors and determine how many disciples had died in battle.
General Lu Xing ordered every disciple to hand over the Spiritual Rhyme Pills they carried. The pills were then distributed evenly among the God-Transformation cultivators.
He had assessed the battle clearly: Qi-Refining disciples were of no use, Spirit-Refining disciples could contribute little, and only God-Transformation cultivators were decisive to the outcome of this battle.
General Zhuang Xian ordered all disciples below the God-Transformation realm to enter the main hall and cultivate.
He led four God-Transformation cultivators outside the main hall to deal with any unexpected developments.
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Yet after waiting and waiting, no unexpected development came.
Falling back to defend the main hall did more than protect this small patch of ground. Even the airspace above the hall had become a no-fly zone.
Demon beasts continued to fall from the night sky. Some were killed within the restricted airspace.
Those that successfully reached the ground charged straight toward the courtyard where Bai Ning was.
That courtyard, seldom visited by anyone, flashed with streaks of golden lightning beneath the night sky.
Xu Liang stood high above and could see far into the distance.
He could not help wondering who the person fighting the demon beasts in the courtyard was, and why that person refused to obey orders.
“Zhang Heng!”
Xu Liang called out, and Zhang Heng immediately leaped onto the roof of the main hall.
“Steward Xu, what do you need?”
“Who is inside General Bai Ning’s courtyard?”
Zhang Heng glanced into the distance but did not answer directly.
“Steward Xu, we only need to guard the main hall.”
Hearing this, Steward Xu’s eyes shifted slightly, but he said nothing more.
More and more demon beasts gathered around the courtyard. Chu Chen could no longer hold out, and his hot-tempered master still had not come to save him.
The outcome was much as he had expected. Lured by the ancient demon-beast blood essence, the demon beasts had begun slaughtering one another.
Yet some of them were still coming specifically for Chu Chen.
Fortunately, he had the Silver-Thread Treasure Armor. Otherwise, he would have no idea how many times he would have died by now.
He could only fight and dodge at the same time while sinking his consciousness into the catalog gallery.
“Slain a seventh-tier Azureflame Tiger Demon. Obtained one copy of the cultivation art, Tiger’s Roar Fist.”
The instant he heard the announcement, he immediately returned his consciousness to the battlefield and blocked a demon beast’s strike.
Damn it, couldn’t you give me something I could use right away?
“Slain a seventh-tier Short-Tailed Azure Serpent Demon. Obtained one formula for Soul-Severing Powder.”
“Slain a seventh-tier Shadowfoot Six-Legged Butterfly Demon. Obtained one supreme movement art, Nine Shadows Linked Pearls.”
Chu Chen returned his consciousness to the battlefield and pulled the Coil Serpent Sword from the demon’s body. His own body was immediately sent flying by a collision.
Before he could land, a serpent demon wrapped itself around him.
“Another serpent demon, and another entangling attack. Can’t you come up with anything new?”
Times had changed. Chu Chen now possessed not only the Mysterious Thunder Sword Art, but also the Bai family’s boxing techniques.
He circulated the spiritual energy within his body, and a fierce wave of force blasted the serpent’s tail until its flesh split open.
Inside the gallery, countless rewards already floated about like the colorful balls in a children’s play area.
Yet not one of them could be taken out and used immediately.
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