Chapter 135: Intensive Preparations (Please Subscribe)

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The muffled, resonant sounds emanated from within the mountain from time to time, silently endured and absorbed by the primeval forest, and thus did not cause any ripples.

Following the sound, one arrived at the entrance of a hidden cave.

Entering the cave to explore, one could see along the way that the mud and stone were hard, forming sturdy and resilient cave walls that would not collapse due to the continuous vibrations.

Upon reaching the depths of the cave, directly beneath the mountain—at a position resembling the main root of a tree—was a fairly spacious area, artificially lit by fire to illuminate the scene within.

A heavy cannonball, one and a half zhang in diameter, was rapidly condensed and generated, then launched with force to strike directly against the cave wall of the mountain ahead.

With a loud boom, this Earth Cannon blasted away a large section of the mountain's mud and stone, which came clattering down.

"Heh! Now that you mention it, I have something to say."

Such a change made Du En raise his eyebrows slightly.

"Think of the bright side; it's laid-back and free here, without all the rules and regulations of the city, the hypocrisy, and also, hehe, bullying the newcomers!"

"Do you want to go again?"

However, cultivation pills were not a necessity for the veteran patrol guards after all, so the amount looted was not particularly large, and the increase in accumulation was not that obvious.

Du En quietly left this place, climbed to a high vantage point outside to survey several directions, and then, having chosen one, moved away rapidly and silently.

This was naturally because the pills restored his mana and soothed his mind, which brought about an improvement in his practice efficiency.

The reason was simple: at a juncture like this, even if they originally had stock, it had to be given to the new patrol guards, making them work overtime through the night to refine it into finished products.

Thus, he was exceptionally well-supplied with such pills; looting one person's stash was enough for him to use for four or five days.

In the past, if five people gathered together, it was mostly to lock onto some special, precious spiritual object, or to hunt some formidable demonic beast.

But now, the reason for gathering together was very simple: to guard against harassment by evil cultivators.

Sneaking along the way, he soon crossed several hundred li and arrived near a clearing in the forest.

There was no miasma or poison in the surroundings, and the scorching sunlight spilled down onto the lush green lawn.

Pretending to be an evil cultivator committing crimes, he had already struck twice in succession, slaughtering four veteran patrol guards who deserved to die, burying their corpses in a supernatural death zone, and looting everything they carried on their persons.

This cave wall had collapsed and been compressed, then blasted and collapsed again; before one knew it, it had expanded much more than at the beginning, and looking around, the natural form was no longer visible, only the form left after artificial impact and compression.

There were also some supplements in terms of spirit stones, but not too many; it was enough to cover daily consumption with a slight surplus.

"The recovery pills are finished; it's time to go act again."

The five people on the clearing's lawn had not yet noticed Du En's close observation, nor were they practicing at this juncture, as being interrupted would result in backlash and injury at best, or cultivation deviation and damage to their Dao foundation at worst.

This sound of evil laughter was quickly met with a response.

When coming and leaving, one just checked the patrol jade; if there was nothing unusual, there was no need to worry about it, and everything else was one's own personal time.

"That's what I'm saying; the camp master executed them too quickly last time, I hadn't seen enough yet."

Twenty days had passed since the day of the public execution, yet his spell proficiency growth rate was about fifty percent faster than originally planned.

Things were becoming a bit troublesome; with five people, even if the targets were all at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, Du En could kill them if he wanted to, but he would be unable to finish it quickly, and would certainly leave behind some traces.

"What are you thinking about? Do you think the border city exiled you and me here for us to cultivate in peace?"

The one casting spells and practicing here, creating this artificial scene, was naturally Du En.

Although he would strike and disguise himself as an evil cultivator to cause chaos, he did not do it too ruthlessly, as that would only make the camp shrink and turtle up, which would be disadvantageous to his "liver-grinding" practice plan.

This differed from what Du En had expected; he had originally thought he could search for and hoard spiritual energy on the side, but he could only find a pile of finished goods.

A veteran patrol guard was pouring out his grievances, full of doubts, and this topic also made Du En somewhat concerned, so he, who had already prepared to strike, decided to delay it for a while.

At the same time, some of the gravel and mud were compressed exceptionally tightly by the impact and collision.

Things shouldn't happen more than three times; it hadn't even been three times yet—or no, if you count Zhao Jinlin, it barely counts as three.

Therefore, they were feeling somewhat bored, chatting idly.

In less than a short month, the rampant evil cultivators had already killed five people in a row, all of whom were veteran patrol guards!

Although this was still far from breaking past records, it was enough to prompt the patrol guards to gather more closely, changing from the original groups of two or three to the current situation of at least five people per group.

【Spell: Earth Cannon Art (Mastery 410/3000)】

Du En felt his mana recovering and his mind soothing, then glanced at the cultivation column.

"But just bullying them is still too soft; it would be best to find someone to kill for fun, to soothe and relax the mind."

Added to the need to guard against real evil cultivators, and considering the possibility that if he acted too ruthlessly, Xiang Tao might call for reinforcements from the border city... in short, striking every once in a while and slowly pushing the situation to change was the most appropriate way.

"Good idea! Anyway, the camp master won't mind, mm-hmm, let's use this to soothe the recent..."

【Cultivation: Mid-stage Foundation Establishment (18/100)】

Especially the pills for replenishment and recovery!

After all, when they fought against evil cultivators, it was basically a war of attrition, focusing on logistics and resources.

"That's right, that's right, watching that bunch of newcomers who haven't adapted yet, who still have hope in their hearts, become miserable and desperate, it really feels great!"

Where did the pills come from?

The reason why the accumulation was so high was, of course, because of the pills.

Looted.

"So boring!"

"It's just a very simple matter; tell me, is it really necessary for us to be these damn patrol guards? Clearly, there is the border grand array, and there are no third-rank demonic beasts in the mountains of the Southern Frontier. Although the evil cultivators seem rampant, they are still limited to the Foundation Establishment stage. I really can't understand, is it really necessary to set up such a warning line here and establish this outpost camp?"

"The higher-ups have their own intentions; anyway, we can't defy them, so we might as well think of the bright side."

"Yeah, I think that kid who buries the corpses is not bad. During the execution before, he stood out from the crowd and clearly angered the camp master. Now, no one is willing to group with him, and he is in a solitary state. It's very suitable to secretly grab him, torture him severely, and then kill him!"

However, this did not make him give up; he quickly calculated in his heart, his calm eyes peering for an opportunity.

After deciding to focus on the Earth Cannon Art, he carried out his daily practice in a well-organized and intensive manner at several similar practice points.

After finishing another practice session and feeling the increase in proficiency, Du En paused for a moment, took out a bottle of mana-restoring pills, popped one into his mouth, and then put away the empty bottle.

Five people, dressed in a rugged and savage manner, mostly burly in build and bearing fierce expressions, were resting there at this moment.

"There is still a lack of spiritual items, but for now, this is all that can be done; we must rely on the Spirit-Seeking 【technique】 during our spare time to slowly accumulate them."

"Tell us about it. Anyway, even the Camp Master has been guarding this place for nearly a hundred years without any hope of leaving in sight. Our prospects are likely even worse; reaching the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment is difficult, so there's no need to be too cautious about anything."

"Exactly. We can't cultivate, can't hunt, can't do this, and can't do that. It would be better to stay in the camp; at least we could cultivate there and bully those newcomers who have finally learned to behave. Tsk!"

It was mainly finished goods like pills, magical artifacts, and talismans, while there were not many raw spiritual items such as spiritual herbs and spiritual materials.

Or rather, this was the daily patrol state of the veteran patrol guards.

They were smirking, wanting to find some fun in killing, and then, before these words were even finished, someone stared with wide, stunned eyes.

Because he saw that they could not speak a word of sense and had already casually skipped over the key topics, Du En naturally did not continue to wait; at this moment, he struck fiercely, his methods strong and powerful.

(End of this chapter)