Chapter 117 - 116: How Will You Thank Me?

Chapter 117: Chapter 116: How Will You Thank Me?

In an instant, of the three Ninth Layer Jade Bone Realm Demon Sect members, one was dead and two were severely wounded.

The cost? A single thrown bamboo hat.

GULP! GULP!

Gu Hongbin took two steps back, swallowing hard. He couldn’t seem to believe the scene before him.

But he didn’t dare to stand there dazed. He was about to raise his saber to defend against the next wave of attacks from the other Demon Sect members.

But when he looked up, he realized it was completely silent in front of him. Staring intently, he saw a large area had been cleared out, the ground littered with the fallen bodies of Demon Sect members.

On these seven or eight corpses, the heads were nowhere to be found. Only scarlet blood gushed out, staining a large patch of ground red—a horrifyingly bizarre sight.

’I know the Blood Slaughter Sect takes people’s hearts, but since when has there been a Demon Sect that takes people’s heads?’

Silver Wolf Captain Gu Hongbin, a man with at least twenty lives on his hands, felt a chill creep up his neck as he saw the clean cuts on the headless corpses.

Though his mind was reeling, he knew this was no time to be in a daze.

He took a deep breath and, dragging his injured body, dashed toward another area where the Demon Sect members were gathered, intending to rescue the other Demon Suppression Guards.

"The three demon leaders have all been slain! All of you, leave at once!"

As Gu Hongbin charged forward, this is what he had intended to shout.

Whether the Demon Sect members retreated or not, it would serve as a deterrent and strike fear into their hearts.

But the only sound that came from his throat was:

"GACK—!"

For no other reason than a hand had clamped down on the back of his neck, forcing him to swallow every word he was about to say.

"Senior, this is... why?" Gu Hongbin turned his head to look at the figure beside him, forcing the words out.

’Could it be that this person didn’t come to save us, but plans to kill everyone here?’

’He’ll turn in the Demon Suppression Bureau members to the Demon Sect for a reward, and the Demon Sect members to the orthodox sects for theirs?’

’Or is he a Blood Slaughter Sect member himself, meaning everyone here has to die?’

As these thoughts surfaced, a chill gradually rose in the Silver Wolf Captain’s heart.

However, Wu Chen—who had just reappeared, his face and figure concealed after taking a new bamboo hat from his storage pouch—had no intention of explaining himself.

The hand gripping the captain’s neck suddenly yanked, and the Ninth Layer Jade Bone Realm Silver Wolf Captain was tossed aside like a toy, landing in an empty clearing.

’If I let you shout and a couple of these Demon Sect members get away, wouldn’t I be at a huge loss?’

Of course, Wu Chen was unwilling to let a single one escape. Capturing all of them was the only way to make this trip worthwhile.

What left him speechless, however, was how a situation where he’d originally planned to fight the Demon Suppression Guards had turned into him saving them.

He had tossed the Silver Wolf Captain aside, and even though he hadn’t been able to shout, the Blood Evil Demon Sect members still sensed something was wrong.

After all, with more than ten of their comrades dead at Wu Chen’s hands, the Demon Suppression Guards felt the change most clearly. The pressure on them greatly reduced, they began to counterattack, and the Demon Sect’s encirclement formation crumbled.

"Push harder, brothers! It looks like the Captain killed the demon leader!"

"That’s right! These Demon Sect members can’t hold on any longer!"

The Demon Suppression Guards roared, both to bolster their own morale and to intimidate the Demon Sect members.

"..."

With the deterrent shouts already out, there was nothing Wu Chen could do this time. He could only harvest as many heads as he could.

SWISH!

He lunged toward the area with the most Demon Sect members.

And that was precisely where Li Qi had originally planned to break through and call for reinforcements from Mountain Mist City.

However, they hadn’t succeeded. Surrounded by seven or eight Demon Sect members, they were finding it hard to fight their way out.

"Kill these few before we go!"

"Alright!"

These few Demon Sect members had already sensed something was wrong, but they were still hoping for the best. When someone suggested they quickly kill the three Demon Suppression Guards in front of them and then leave, they immediately reached a consensus.

Facing the Demon Sect’s aggressive attacks, the two Demon Suppression Guards and Li Qi stood back-to-back, struggling to fend them off. They were quickly covered in wounds.

But as a streak of black light flashed past, Li Qi and the other two guards only felt a cold wind brush by them, and then the pressure on them suddenly vanished.

The next thing they knew, a warm liquid sprayed into their faces, drenching their entire bodies.

"Captain, your killing methods are too savage! Look at me, I’m soaked!"

"Yeah, couldn’t you just slice them anywhere else..."

Seeing the headless but still-standing corpses in front of them, the Demon Suppression Guards let out a sigh of relief.

They assumed their Captain must have used a Secret Technique to temporarily break through his current cultivation and reach the Organ Refining Realm, which would explain such a ferocious aura.

But when they got a clear look at the figure behind the corpses, they couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.

"It’s not the Captain!..."

Only then did they see that the one who had charged in to kill was the wandering martial artist who had hidden his face and charged their lines on horseback earlier!

’It’s him...’

The other Demon Suppression Guards didn’t recognize him, but Li Qi instantly knew who it was from the pitch-black blade in his hand.

He had seen that blade quite a few times recently.

Seeing how the other man was concealing his appearance, he understood that Wu Chen didn’t intend to reveal his identity. He quickly averted his gaze to prevent the other guards from noticing anything.

Wu Chen had no time to pay them any mind; he turned to look elsewhere.

He saw the dozen or so remaining Demon Sect members, realizing the situation was lost, shout "Retreat!" With a WHOOSH, they scattered in different directions.

These individuals were not low-level cultivators. Even though most of their Qi Power had been depleted in the fighting, a single leap could still carry them several dozen feet.

And since they were fleeing for their lives, their speed was all the faster for it.

The Demon Suppression Guards were already exhausted. Seeing the Demon Sect members retreat, they breathed a sigh of relief and were about to sheathe their sabers and clean up the mess.

But then a hoarse voice clearly reached the ears of everyone present:

"Don’t let a single Blood Evil Demon Sect member escape! Or I’ll take your lives instead!"

The voice seemed to carry an intrinsic chill, making a coldness seep into the very bones of all the Demon Suppression Guards.

Looking at the headless corpses of the Demon Sect members around them, at the smooth, clean cuts, the guards knew: if this man said something like that, he was capable of doing it.

"What are you standing around for?! Don’t let a single one get away!"

"If one escapes, I’ll skin you all alive!"

The Silver Wolf Captain, however, understood the situation. The moment he heard that hoarse voice, he bellowed and leaped after a fleeing Demon Sect member.

He had already figured it out. This wandering martial artist just wanted the heads of these Demon Sect members.

He wasn’t some grand demon lord who profited from both the righteous and the wicked, as he had first thought.

The only thing to do now was to obey this person.

"..."

Hearing threats of being beheaded and skinned, how could the Demon Suppression Guards dare to stop? They summoned every last ounce of their strength and chased after the fleeing Demon Sect members.

Even if they couldn’t win, as long as they could delay their target for a few breaths, a black shadow would flash by and slice off the Demon Sect member’s head.

In less than a moment, every last Blood Evil Demon Sect member present was dead.

Looking at the field full of headless bodies, Silver Wolf Captain Gu Hongbin finally let out a breath of relief. He walked toward the wandering martial artist and cupped his fist.

"Thank you, Senior, for your assistance." ℯℯ𝘭.

Wu Chen was in the middle of severing the heads of two late-stage Jade Bone Realm Demon Sect members.

He had originally planned to keep these two high-level cultivators alive to interrogate them about other Demon Sect gathering places, but he hadn’t expected them to be so weak; they had died outright.

Placing the heads into his storage pouch, he raised an eyebrow at the disheveled man and asked, "How thankful?"

"Very... thankful..."

Gu Hongbin was no greenhorn. He understood immediately. He quickly unfastened a silver storage pouch from his waist and took out everything inside.

"I have three volumes of Jade Bone Realm Martial Arts, twenty pills corresponding to each, and a three-thousand-tael silver banknote. In total, it’s worth about six thousand silver taels. I hope Senior will not find it lacking."

He was only a Silver Wolf Captain and this was all he had on him. As for the three thousand taels, that had been a "gift" from the county magistrate.

Wu Chen nodded. With a sweep of his cloak, he took it all without a second thought.

"One more thing," he said, pointing to the corpses on the ground.

Gu Hongbin naturally understood his meaning. He wanted them to search the bodies and collect the loot.

In front of others, he was the arrogant and proud Silver Wolf Captain.

But now, he didn’t dare put on any airs. He immediately looked at the other Demon Suppression Guards and commanded:

"Get moving! Search all the bodies for loot and pile it up!"

After speaking, he also began to turn over the Demon Sect members’ bodies, ignoring the pain in his chest.

Soon, a small pile of miscellaneous bottles and jars, along with some loose silver taels, was gathered together.

Wu Chen waved his robe, sweeping all the loot into his storage pouch.

Gu Hongbin stepped forward, wanting to say a few more polite words, something about how if Senior ever came to Cangwu City, he would be well-received.

But he didn’t expect Wu Chen to let out a whistle and leap away, giving him no chance to speak.

A date-red steed carried Wu Chen away at a gallop. In just a few blinks of an eye, it leaped over a dirt mound and vanished from everyone’s sight.

"..."

Wu Chen didn’t immediately return to Mountain Mist City, nor did he go to Refining Valley to claim his reward.

Instead, he appeared in a deserted patch of mountain forest near Mountain Mist City.

He shed the bulky bamboo hat and robes, changing into a clean, neat ink-black shirt.

"HUFF!"

He let out a long breath, expelling the thick stench of blood from his nose and mouth. He instantly felt much more refreshed.

’First, let’s count the spoils!’

He found a clean rock to sit on, took out the three Martial Arts manuals he had just acquired from his storage pouch, and began to look them over carefully.