Tuoba Beast’s expression was cold. "You followers of the Demon Path are a conscienceless lot, committing all sorts of inhuman deeds. Now that you’re in a bind, you suddenly know how to kneel and beg for mercy?"
Hearing this, the faces of the Heavenly Demon Sect disciples changed drastically. They pleaded desperately, their voices trembling.
"We won’t dare to again!"
"Please, spare us! Give us a chance to live! We’ll turn over a new leaf and never make the same mistakes again..."
Faced with their pleas, Tuoba Beast remained unmoved. He unleashed several sword strikes.
SHINK! SHINK! SHINK!
Blood splattered everywhere. With a series of dull thuds, the remaining Heavenly Demon Sect disciples collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
Afterward, with a sweep of his hand, Tuoba Beast collected all the tokens from the bodies of the Heavenly Demon Sect disciples. Glancing at the tokens in his hand, he pulled out a portion. "Let’s split these tokens evenly among everyone here. Any objections?"
"No objections."
"None from me either."
No one objected to Tuoba Beast’s proposal. After such a chaotic battle, it was impossible to determine which tokens belonged to whom. Since everyone present had fought with all their might, splitting them evenly was the fairest solution.
"Now that this is settled, we can go," Tuoba Beast said. "We’ll take this bastard’s head with us. I doubt the Heavenly Demon Sect disciples outside will dare to resist after seeing it."
As he spoke, Tuoba Beast swung his sword.
SHINK!
The head of the already-dead Yan Chen was lopped clean off.
"You all go on ahead. I need to find a place to recover for a bit," Long Chen said to the group. He was thinking about Xia Duoduo, who was still in the forbidden ground, and wondered how she was doing.
Hearing this, the others simply nodded and left without asking questions.
"Brother Chen, I’ll stay here with you," Long Xin said, worried for his safety.
"Don’t worry. All the Heavenly Demon Sect disciples here have been eliminated, so there’s no longer any threat," Long Chen said. "You go on with Sister Chu. I’ll catch up with you all later."
"But..." Long Xin started to protest, but Long Chen gently patted her head. "Be good."
Long Xin looked up at Long Chen with her limpid eyes. Though still worried, she ultimately nodded and did as he said.
Chu Lingjun said coolly, "Alright, let’s go. Stop dawdling."
Long Xin’s face flushed.
"Go on," Long Chen urged.
"Please be careful here by yourself!" Long Xin reminded him one last time before she left.
"I will." Long Chen nodded. Once everyone was gone, he headed toward the forbidden ground.
Upon entering the forbidden ground, he found Xia Duoduo. She was still sitting cross-legged in meditation, concentrating on circulating her energy to recover. Long Chen observed that her complexion was already much better than before.
However, he didn’t know how long it would take for her to fully recover, and he didn’t dare to interrupt her. With no other choice, Long Chen sat down cross-legged beside her and began to regulate the turbulent energy within his own body. He discovered that the Demonic Qi inside him was incredibly abundant. He had to refine and expend it immediately. Otherwise, even with Chu Lingjun having used her Inner Strength to help suppress it earlier, he still risked his body exploding from the pressure.
「A day passed in the blink of an eye.」
Long Chen spent the entire time focused on refining the Demonic Qi inside him.
BOOM!
An extremely powerful aura erupted from his body! This new aura was clearly far more potent than before.
Long Chen slowly opened his eyes, feeling completely refreshed and invigorated. He had broken through.
He really had Yan Chen to thank for this.
After completely refining the Demonic Qi he had absorbed from Yan Chen, his cultivation had skyrocketed from the War Maniac Realm Seventh Level to the Ninth Level! He was now only one minor realm away from the War Ancestor Realm! His total combat power was now comparable to an expert at the Ninth Level of the War King Realm!
He turned his head to look at Xia Duoduo. She was still completely absorbed in her recovery, showing no signs of stopping.
"The Demon Pursuit Conference is about to end. I can’t stay here and guard you any longer. I’ll have to wait for you outside."
With that, Long Chen left the Heavenly Demon Sect’s grounds. Besides, this place was so well-hidden that Xia Duoduo would be safe from any threat.
Afterward, Long Chen headed for the resource supply station. Ever since entering Nine Demons Mountain, he had been holding onto all the tokens he had acquired, but he hadn’t registered any of them yet. They were crucial for his ranking in the Demon Pursuit Conference and also determined whether he could be promoted to a First-class Disciple by special exception. It was finally time to register his tokens and claim his points.