Chapter 72

The violent and dense beast roars, and the increasingly violent trembling underfoot, made the heart that had just slightly relaxed due to the maturation of the 【Spirit Blood Branch】 instantly jump to the throat.

Wang Shan's Spiritual Sense was in the system space, his eyes sharp.

System, 【Batch Harvest】!

【Command Confirmation. Batch Harvest in progress……】

At the center of the Shi Mu Ling Tian, the fourteen stalks of vivid red 【Spirit Blood Branch】 instantly turned into strands of red light and vanished.

【【Spirit Blood Branch】 harvest complete. Obtained 【Spirit Blood Branch】 (First Order): 140 stalks.】

【Obtained Spirit Plant Points: 4900 points.】

(Note: Each mature seed can yield 10 stalks of 【Spirit Blood Branch】, each stalk yields 35 Spirit Plant Points, seed cost 50 points, maturation cost about 143 points, total cost about 193 points, net gain about 157 points per seed, total 2198 points. If sold directly as finished product, value is higher.)

Wang Shan saw this number, his eyelid twitched.

Almost five thousand points!

This 【Spirit Blood Branch】 not only can save lives, it's also a point‑farming tool!

He didn't have time to think, his Spiritual Sense moved, and he first took out thirty stalks of 【Spirit Blood Branch】.

Outside World.

Wang Shan opened his eyes, and in his hand appeared a bunch of branches as bright red as blood‑jade carving.

A rich vitality and a strange bloody sweet fragrance instantly spread.

"Quick, all injured clansmen, take this immediately!"

"The rest, each take a portion, to restore spiritual power and strength!"

Wang Shan's voice was calm and powerful, dispelling the slight panic caused by the beast roars among the crowd.

The clansmen looked at the 【Spirit Blood Branch】 emitting a strange luster; although they didn't know what it was, the life‑force that washed over them made them instinctively crave it.

Wang Zhizhe was the first to receive a segment, imitating Wang Shan, and directly put it into his mouth.

The 【Spirit Blood Branch】 melted upon entry, a warm current mixed with bloody and sweet freshness instantly surged through his limbs.

He felt the muscles sore from the fierce battle ease, and his consumed Spiritual Power began to recover quickly.

The several wounds previously scratched by the Shadow‑Cat even transmitted tingling itches, obviously healing rapidly.

"What… what a miraculous elixir!" Wang Zhizhe exclaimed, delighted and surprised.

Seeing this, other clansmen stepped forward one after another to receive it.

The severely injured clansmen, after taking the 【Spirit Blood Branch】 with assistance, saw their originally paper‑pale complexion regain a hint of red at a visible speed.

Some of the lighter wounds even began to stop bleeding and scab over.

The despair and deathly silence that had permeated the group were greatly diluted by this sudden surge of vitality.

Many people's eyes regained their luster.

Alive, they seemed truly able to walk out of this damned place alive!

Wang Shan, seeing this, felt somewhat relieved in his heart.

He again immersed himself in the system, seeing the remaining Spirit Plant Points total: 1250 (Wan Hong's inheritance remainder) + 4900 (Spirit Blood Branch harvest) = 6150 points.

He without hesitation conducted exchanges in the system mall.

【Exchange Strong Healing Pill *20 bottles, consuming 1000 Spirit Plant Points.】

【Exchange Bi Gu Dan *100 pieces, consuming 500 Spirit Plant Points.】

【Exchange Second Order Lower Grade Defensive Talisman · Golden Light Talisman *3 sheets, consuming 1500 Spirit Plant Points.】

【Exchange Second Order Lower Grade Attack Talisman · Sharp Metal Talisman *2 sheets, consuming 1000 Spirit Plant Points.】

After these operations, the Spirit Plant Points remaining: 6150-1000-500-1500-1000=2150 points.

Wang Shan took out the pills and talismans and distributed them.

"These 【Strong Healing Pill】s, give priority to the most severely injured elders."

"【Bi Gu Dan】, give each person two pieces first, which can guarantee no hunger for several days."

With food and better pills, the team's atmosphere became more relaxed.

Some children even showed smiles long absent.

At this rare moment of respite, Wang Shan's keen perception suddenly caught several hostile gazes coming from deep in the forest behind their flank.

His eyes narrowed, he silently gave Wang Zhizhe and Wang Zhitao a look.

Moments later, deliberately made footsteps approached from afar.

Seven or eight figures emerged from the woods.

These people wore assorted clothing; some wore tattered leather armor, others went bare‑chested, revealing knotted muscles and ferocious scars.

They all exuded a strong smell of blood and a bandit‑like ferocity.

Leading them was a hulk over eight feet tall, his face full of flesh, nostrils large, shoulder bearing a giant axe flashing with cold light.

His cultivation was not weak; he was actually at Body Refining Eighth Layer.

The six or seven behind him were also mostly at Body Refining Sixth or Seventh Layer, each with fierce eyes like hungry wolves.

As soon as this group appeared, their eyes roved wantonly over the Wang Family members.

When they saw the women and children in the group, and Wang Shan et al. distributing pills, their greedy looks intensified.

The axe‑bearing hulk split his mouth wide, revealing yellow teeth, and gave a grim chuckle.

"Yo, in this god‑forsaken place, we actually run into a bunch of tender‑skinned fat sheep?"

"Judging by your appearance, you must be some unlucky family that met disaster, right?"

His gaze lingered on a few young women for a moment, his Adam's apple bobbed.

"Be sensible, hand over all your valuables, pills, and those few women to Grandpa!"

"Grandpa I'm in a good mood today; maybe I can show some mercy and spare you these defeated soldiers a dog's life!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the Wang family's atmosphere, which had just eased, instantly plummeted to freezing point.

After finally seeing a glimmer of hope from a desperate situation, they actually encountered such road‑blocking bandits!

"Damn it!"

"Going too far!"

Wang Zhize, Wang Zhitao and the other young clansmen were filled with rage, tightly gripping their weapons and shielding Wang Shan and the women and children behind them.

They had just taken the Spirit Blood Branch, regaining considerable strength; now, facing the provocation, their blood surged.

Wang Shan pushed aside the clansmen protecting him and stepped forward.

His face was calm, showing no joy or anger.

"Scram."

A single word, clearly transmitted into everyone's ears.

He didn't deliberately raise his voice, nor release any terrifying aura.

But the natural dignity exuded by one long in a high position, together with the demonic qi just slaughtered his way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, made the axe‑wielding sturdy man's heart jump inexplicably.

He felt that he was not facing a down‑on‑his‑luck scion of a fallen family, but a man‑eating tiger.

However, this feeling vanished in an instant.

The sturdy man glanced at the elderly, weak, women and children behind Wang Shan, and the mostly injured clansmen; the slight apprehension in his heart was immediately overwhelmed by greed.

Wang Shan's single "scram" provoked his ferocity, and the flesh on his face twitched.

"Hey, kid, you're given face and you still won't take it!"

"Refining Body Stage Eight? Looks impressive, but sadly, how many in your crew can actually fight?"

"Brothers, attack!"

"Kill all the men, loot all the goods! The women……"

Before he finished speaking, a figure blurred before his eyes.

Wang Shan moved!

His speed reached the extreme, like a green smoke flashing across several zhang, instantly appearing before the axe‑wielding sturdy man.

The sturdy man was greatly startled, instinctively raising his huge axe with a whooshing wind, and chopped down at Wang Shan's head.

Wang Shan's eyes were icy, he paid no heed to the massive, heavy axe.

He raised his right palm, a faint jade‑colored light blossoming on his palm, striking first despite coming later, and lightly pressed it onto the sturdy man's chest.

"【Pishan Palm】!"

The spiritual power of the Refining Body Stage Eight Midphase exploded without reservation!

"Crack!"

A bone‑cracking sound that made one's teeth ache rang out clearly.

The axe‑wielding sturdy man's ferocious grin froze, his eyes bulged out, and bloodshot veins filled them.

He stared in disbelief at the palm imprinted on his chest, feeling an unstoppable force surge through his body, instantly shattering his heart vessels and most of his sternum.

"Pfft!"

A mouthful of blood mixed with viscera fragments spurted out wildly.

The sturdy man's burly body, like a kite with its string cut, flew backward, heavily striking a large tree several zhang away, then softly slid to the ground.

He twitched twice, then fell silent.

He died on the spot!