Hundreds of meters outside Black Mountain Town, corpses littered the ground and blood flowed like rivers.
The bodies of mountain-like wild beasts, Demon Beasts, and humans were strewn everywhere.
Originally numbering just over ten thousand, the Battle Slaves were now fewer than eight thousand.
In less than half an hour, more than two thousand had died.
This mortality rate was far too high.
As for the outer disciples and others of the Great Desolation Immortal Sect, not a single one had perished.
Such was the purpose of using Battle Slaves as cannon fodder.
Elsewhere.
Seeing Beigong Yu slaughtering wild beasts at will like a god of death walking through an uninhabited realm, Fatty Ding's eyes filled with intense killing intent.
For some inexplicable reason, he sensed a trace of threat emanating from the other.
It was absurd, yet this intuition was overwhelmingly strong.
Moreover, a lowly slave had repeatedly ignored and humiliated him—it was a heinous crime.
At a certain moment, a thought flashed through Fatty Ding's mind. Summoning a three-inch-long, pitch-black Piercing Soul Nail from his Qiankun bag, he shot it directly toward Beigong Yu's heart while everyone else was distracted.
The Piercing Soul Nail was an extremely vicious magic weapon. Though its grade was not low, once a practitioner in the Spirit Gathering Realm was struck by it, they would suffer a piercing agony in their heart and die within a mere moment.
It was a demonic artifact.
As Beigong Yu was searching for an opportunity to slay a Demon Beast, he suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his chest, and an aura of death instantly enveloped his heart.
Almost instinctively, his figure flashed three meters to the left while his blood-red saber slashed forward.
With a crisp *clang*, he actually knocked the Piercing Soul Nail to the ground with his strike.
Seeing the Piercing Soul Nail lying on the ground, Beigong Yu abruptly fixed his gaze on Fatty Ding, who was standing a little over ten meters away.
Feeling the terrifying killing intent and ferocity radiating from Beigong Yu's eyes, Fatty Ding shuddered violently and couldn't help roaring, "Lowly slave, what are you looking at me for? I didn't shoot that piercing sou—"
The rest of the words refused to come out.
Because this was already a confession by default.
"Fat pig, you just wait for me!"
Suppressing the towering rage in his heart, Beigong Yu picked up the Piercing Soul Nail—which had a nick from his blade but was not entirely shattered—and carefully stored it away.
Without looking back, he charged back into the fray where the Demon Beasts were gathered.
This was not the time for him to settle scores.
Not to mention whether he possessed the strength to do so.
Even if he did, killing the other person would bring absolute ruin upon himself.
Sometimes, a gentleman takes revenge overnight because he has sufficient foundation and a powerful background.
But he did not.
It didn't matter, though—the Spirit Gathering Realm was just ahead, and he would reach it soon enough!
This scene may or may not have been witnessed by some of the outer disciples.
However, seeing it or not seeing it made no difference.
Though Beigong Yu's performance was eye-catching—slaying level 7 and level 8 wild beasts as easily as cutting vegetables, one slash at a time—it still could not erase his identity as a Battle Slave without a Spirit Root.
Fatty Ding, on the other hand, was different. He was an outer disciple, and rumor had it that he had a good relationship with a certain deacon in the outer sect.
"Damn lowly slave."
Elsewhere, remembering how he, a dignified outer disciple, had just been frightened by the gaze of a lowly slave, Fatty Ding felt a surge of humiliation and murderous rage.
His desire to kill Beigong Yu became even more urgent.
At that moment, Beigong Yu's heart was filled with endless coldness, and the blood-red saber in his hand grew increasingly chilling.
Kill!
With a low bark, the blood-red saber flashed like red lightning, hacking toward the head of a level 1 Demon Beast—the Green-eyed Wolf.
He needed strength!
He needed the kind of strength where no one would dare humiliate him!
Seeing Beigong Yu courting death by charging at a level 1 Green-eyed Wolf, Fatty Ding wore a look of utter astonishment, which quickly turned into mockery and disdain.
What a pity that this ant hadn't died by his own hand, instead ending up in the wolf's belly.
Some thirty meters away, Li Yun—who was locked in fierce combat with a level 2 ferocious ape—changed expression slightly upon seeing this and shouted hurriedly, "Little brother, be careful! That wolf is a level 1 Demon Beast!"
"Fatty Ding, what are you still standing around for? Why aren't you going to help the little brother?"
"Senior Brother Li, I'm sorry... I just tweaked my back while killing a beast... Holy crap!"
Hearing this, Fatty Ding flashed a mocking grin and replied loudly. But at that very moment, a massive wolf head came hurtling directly toward him.
He sidestepped to evade it, only for his peripheral vision to catch the sight of Beigong Yu already having slain that Green-eyed Wolf.
And this wolf head was none other than the one from...
A look of sheer horror washed over Fatty Ding's face.
This ant... he had actually killed a level 1 Green-eyed Wolf—comparable to a level 4 or 5 Spirit Vein Realm cultivator—with a single blade stroke?
How was this possible?
Li Yun, along with the other outer disciples of the Great Desolation Immortal Sect, was equally stunned by the sight.
For a Battle Slave to single-handedly slaughter a level 1 Demon Beast was simply mind-blowing.
"Haha! Good lad, I certainly didn't misjudge you. Well done!"
Recovering from his shock, Li Yun let out a hearty laugh, though the gaze he directed at Beigong Yu was laced with astonishment.
He knew this kid was interesting and far from ordinary, but he hadn't expected him to be *this* extraordinary.
Killing level 8 and 9 wild beasts with the cultivation of the 7th Stage Blood Refining Realm was one thing.
That could still be attributed to the grade-2 treasure weapon in his hand—the blood-red saber.
However, leaping entirely across a major realm and several minor realms to slay a level 1 Demon Beast was entirely too exaggerated.
It seemed this kid harbored some secrets.
Perhaps he was the lucky fellow, after all.
Fortunately, he hadn't underestimated the youth earlier, and had even promised him 500 Demon contribution points.
That was a move he had played correctly.
Of course, it was still too early to say for sure.
Let's see how things play out in the future.
During this period, he wouldn't mind investing a little in the fellow.
He had nothing to lose anyway.
If the kid unfortunately perished halfway, he would simply consider it a wasted effort with no real loss.
But if the youth could ride the wind like a dragon and rise powerfully, then he would reap a massive profit.
One had to admit that Li Yun was extremely slick and worldly in his dealings.
"Terrifying blood qi, immense strength, overbearing momentum, calm and composed, utterly fearless, bold yet meticulous... Excellent, truly excellent, hahaha..."
"I never expected my Great Desolation Immortal Sect to produce such fine talent. This trip was well worth it."
"Hm? A Battle Slave collar? He's a member of the Battle Slave camp?"
"Meaning... he has no Spirit Root? What a pity... Such a great pity."
Atop a cloud high in the sky, a disheveled old Daoist looked down with misty, intoxicated eyes at the silver-haired youth slaughtering his way through the pack of Demon Beasts like a god of death. A sharp gleam flashed through his turbid eyes.
Yet when he spotted the Battle Slave collar around the silver-haired youth's neck, he let out a mental sigh of regret.
Lacking a Spirit Root foretold limited future achievements.
This greatly diminished the old Daoist's curiosity.
However, right at that moment, a sudden change occurred...