Chapter 334: Task Completed: The Blood Exchange Plan

Zhou You certainly did not know how much trouble he had brought to the Manxiang Tribe, and that the elite troops of Dayin Mountain had been implicated as well.

Mudahan thought he had guessed the truth and, acting like a madman, ordered the encirclement and slaughter of this group of Zhong Yuan martial artists.

The Tiger General, meanwhile, was caught up in the thrill of the kill and ordered his various Tiger Generals and Retainer Generals to fight individually, the more enemies killed, the better.

This chaotic battle lasted for three days and three nights; the slaughter was so brutal that even the air was stained red.

The corpses of the Witch-people and martial artists were like dense, wild grass covering this land, and the blood once seeped hundreds of meters into the ground.

This battle directly crushed the core strength of the Manxiang Tribe.

The middle-tier strength, represented by Martial Masters, was slaughtered in large numbers by Dayin Mountain, especially by the Tiger General, whose personal tally of dead Martial Masters had reached double digits—an extraordinary result.

Afterwards, when the tribe's powerful Giant, Baxiang Shanshanluo, learned of this, he looked up to the heavens and roared, filled with deep hatred.

Their tribe was severely weakened as a result and withdrew from their position as the vanguard, yielding it to another large tribe.

Conversely, Dayin Mountain also suffered heavy losses; the Tiger General returned after a hundred battles, but he had lost an eye—an injury that could not be healed because the eyeball had been gouged out by a Witch-person attempting to take him down together.

Only 3 Tiger Generals remained, and the Retainer Generals were even more miserable; even counting those lying on the ground gasping for breath, they could barely scrape together 10 survivors.

In the end, they also failed to rendezvous with the Liu family's VIP, the auspicious Liu Fengji.

This battle was a significant loss for Dayin Mountain, one that could be called a blow to their very foundations.

After returning to Dayin Mountain, the Tiger General was punished with a caning; 13 iron rods as thick as bowls were broken, and he was forced to kneel for 3 days and 3 nights.

The only consolation was that the Disciples who returned alive were the elite who had survived the great waves.

The high-level members of Dayin Mountain gritted their teeth in heartache; the Retainer Generals were all promoted to Tiger Generals, and although the 3 Tiger Generals could not be promoted to Tiger General, they received generous compensation and rewards.

In order to replenish their manpower, Dayin Mountain opened its gates early to recruit new Disciples.

This was also a chain reaction caused by the Witch-people's invasion; Dayin Mountain had originally planned to expand its forces, but having lost so many elites, they were forced to move the plan forward.

Of course, when a sect recruits, not just anyone can get in.

At the top of the priority list were recommendations from current Disciples; branches of Dayin Mountain, such as martial arts halls and boxing gyms, were all sources of recruits.

If that didn't work, as long as you could pull strings and latch onto a relative of an internal member of Dayin Mountain, you also had the qualifications to compete for a spot.

As for those commoners without connections, they had to rely on luck.

Unless your aptitude was truly heaven-defying, you would not stand out among the many wild commoners and be able to enter the sect.

In any trade, there is never a shortage of people; what is lacking are the targeted candidates who meet the requirements.

Well, in this expansion, Lu Jianqing, thanks to Wang Jianxiong's vigorous efforts, successfully entered Dayin Mountain and became a proud Disciple, with his goal for the next three years being... to become a Retainer General.

Of course, Zhou You only learned of these things later; in short, he was speechless!

When that brutal battle broke out, he was busy burying his head and hurrying along his way.

Heaven truly favored him; after the storm, he finally saw the rainbow. Since encountering Ge Er Bu Han, there were no more major dangers on the road, and although there were sporadic sightings of Witch-people, they were all within his control.

Stealth to bypass... if he couldn't bypass, sneak close... strike with a palm to kill... destroy the bodies and erase the tracks... clap his hands and walk away.

On the 9th day, Zhou You finally stepped out of the area controlled by the Witch-people and let out a sigh of relief.

The vicinity was within the territory belonging to Su Cheng; although it was a scene of desolation, it still belonged to the Zhong Yuan region, and there were no traces of Witch-people.

Now, he was finally safe.

Zhou You picked an empty spot and took out the Hunger Pouch, his face showing a bit of heartache.

He opened the pouch, and with a 'pop' like a bursting water bubble, two figures tumbled onto the ground.

Liu Fengji and the little pageboy Xu'er fell to the ground in pain, opening their eyes in a daze.

After a good while, with the help of the pageboy, Liu Fengji tidied his clothes and hair bun and met with Zhou You again. "Brother Liu, what place is this?"

Zhou You pointed to the ruins not far away, "See that? That was originally Su Cheng."

Arrived at Su Cheng?

Liu Fengji showed surprise; he hadn't expected that upon waking up, he would have left the dangerous area heavily surrounded by Witch-people.

Although this was not Fucheng, the journey from Su Cheng to Fucheng was at least safer than being in the area controlled by the Witch-people.

The little pageboy Xu'er remained silent, walked around the area, dug a stone tablet out of the soil, and pointing to the characters on it, said, "Young Master, that's right, this is Lao Guan Zhen, which is under the jurisdiction of Su Cheng!"

Quite vigilant, afraid that Zhou You might be deceiving them.

Liu Fengji remained calm and cupped his hands, "Great kindness cannot be repaid with words. Brother Lu, for the grace of saving my life, I will surely repay you."

He thought for a moment, reached up to touch the headband on his head, and handed it to Zhou You, "This is a token. As long as you bring this item to find me, I will unconditionally satisfy one request of yours."

The headband was not necessarily very valuable, but it was embroidered with the unique patterns of the Liu family.

Zhou You took it, and unexpectedly, the pageboy screamed, "Young Master, you cannot give this, you cannot!"

It turned out that after a child of a prominent family was born, the parents would invite the most respected elders of the clan to craft eight personal ornaments for them, each representing a virtue, known as the 'Eight Prayers'.

The headband was one of them; its significance was great, representing the family's expectations and high regard for Liu Fengji.

"It is fine!"

Liu Fengji said to Zhou You, "The virtue this item represents is 'Promise'—a promise worth a thousand gold, never to be regretted until death."

"Brother Lu, you did not let me down, and I will not let you down either."

Zhou You accepted the headband and cupped his hands at him, "Brother Liu acts with such magnanimity; you have broadened my horizons."

"Before meeting you, I thought that the young ones from prominent families were all arrogant, foolish vermin who looked down their noses at people."

Liu Fengji smiled gently, "When you have time, I will introduce a cousin of mine to you. She does not care for needlework, only for boxing and martial arts, and loves to make friends with boxing and martial arts experts outside of prominent families."

"I will definitely do so when I have time!"

Zhou You was polite with his words, but he did not want to provoke any more women from prominent families.

After bidding farewell to Liu Fengji, the panel provided the settlement notification for the mission.

"Trial Project (Four-Star): Successfully escape the Witch-people's territory completed, Experience Points +9000."

"Trial Project (Four-Star): Rescue the Liu family master and servant completed, Experience Points +12000."

"Trial Project (Four-Star): Kill the Intermediate Martial Master Ge Er Bu Han completed, Experience Points +10800."

"Trial Project (Five-Star): Subjugate Fist Intent Puppet—Incomplete..."

Hmm, the Fist Intent Puppet is still trapped inside the Poison Nest, waiting for him to subjugate it! This matter is quite thorny; the Fist Intent Puppet's body is filled with intense martial blood qi, equivalent in quantity to a high-level Martial Master.

To subjugate the puppet, the only method is... blood replacement, replacing all the blood qi throughout the puppet's body.

The Blood Qi Gu can rely on devouring blood qi and then converting it into Zhou You's blood qi to spit out, but the speed is still too slow.

If he wants to complete the blood replacement and occupy the nest like a cuckoo, it would truly take until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse.

However, once the blood replacement is successful, this Fist Intent Puppet will belong to him; that is the combat power of a high-level Martial Master!

The prospect is too tempting; Zhou You cannot bear to give up this task and decides to go for it.

At worst, he will just hatch a few more Bewitching Blood Qi Gu; there is strength in numbers, which will accelerate the progress of devouring and replacing the blood.

(End of this chapter)