Translator: jinzeffect
Even when all of the Devilâs Hand Guild members were subdued, the battle in the sky hadnât ended yet.
When the martial dao realm was at a higher level, a fight between two experts would take a long time to settle.
As the seventh branch Vice Commander, Liu Kun cultivated a mystic class, high-tier technique just like Elder Scorpion.
In the Azure Water Sect, mystic class peak-tier techniques werenât accessible to just anyone.
Only direct disciples, inner sect elders, and a minority of the members could redeem mystic class, peak-tier techniques.
Of course, to Liu Kun, a mystic class, high-tier technique was temporarily enough. As of now, he was only at the 17th rank of the mystic class, high-tier technique that he cultivated. It still wasnât at the highest 18th rank.
As their techniques and cultivation level were of similar levels, the only difference was their martial arts.
Martial arts were full of possibilities. There were many types and were mainly dependant on the practitioner.
After a few hundred exchanges, Liu Kun and Elder Scorpion were both still evenly matched.
âIâm not going to play with you any longer. I lost 5 million gold coins because of you. I shall kill five of your members!â
Elder Scorpionâs figure shot down from the sky. Most of the people couldnât even react in time.
âYou dare!â Liu Kunâs eyes widened as he was angered.
Pfff, pfff, pfffâ¦.
Bursts of bloody mist erupted as five of the seventh branch Earth Realm members were crushed into smithereens.
The officers of Group 4 and 5 were included amongst the five.
Elder Scorpion originally intended to kill Emotionless Sword too, but Emotionless Sword had sharp senses and instantly dodged to the side when Elder Scorpion descended from the sky.
Li Fuchen was nearby too, but he dodged slightly even further than Emotionless Sword. The scene of Elder Scorpion instantly killing five men was clearly witnessed by him.
âA difference of a single realm was like heaven and earth. These two team leaders were at least at the peak stage of the Earth Realm. But they died just like that.â Li Fuchenâs heart shivered. He knew he wouldnât be able to escape death if Elder Scorpion targeted him.
âYou court death!â Liu Kun chased closely behind Elder Scorpion.
âThere is no need to send me off. There will be opportunities for me to take your head.â
Elder Scorpionâs speed increased after he seemingly activated some fleeing type secret technique and left Liu Kun far behind.
âDamn it!â Liu Kun stopped his pursuit but his expression was extremely dark.
âOfficer Luo and Officer Liang are deadâ¦â The rest of the five team leaders grieved for their lost comrades.
âOnly their luck can be blamed for actually meeting a Heaven Realm class demon dao martial artist. Hai⦠Life and death can interchange so quickly.â
âYes, if it were us, we wouldnât have been able to escape the gruesome fate either.â
With everyone feeling the low morale, the excitement from them eradicating the Devilâs Hand Branch Guild began to dissipate.
***
The eradication of the Devilâs Hand Branch Guild was a matter that was three days old.
On the Hunterâs Board of the seventh branch was Li Fuchenâs name. The number behind his name was a single digit; 9.
This meant that Li Fuchen killed a total of nine Earth Realm demon dao fighters.
It didnât sound like a lot, but in fact, Li Fuchenâs ranking was already above the nominal position.
On the Hunterâs Board, there were a total of over 400 direct disciplesâ names. Li Fuchen was ranked 198.
The Hunterâs Board rankings was made from combining both the Divine Wind Faction and Iron Blood Faction. Which meant that it was the overall ranking and not just a faction branch ranking.
Of course when the Hunterâs Board was updated, the latest results would be delayed.
Every month, the faction branches would update the overall rankings. Which meant that Li Fuchenâs name would not appear on the other faction branches yet. Only on the first day of the month would Li Fuchenâs name appear on the rest of the faction branchesâ list. By then, Li Fuchen may not be rank 198 anymore, as the other branches would also update their information.
âOut of the 400 over direct disciples, about 400 of them have less than a 20 kill count. Only the top 20 has more kills.â
Li Fuchen looked upward and saw Xue Fengâs name.
Xue Feng was Emotionless Sword.
His kill count was at an impressive 98, Rank 5.
Above him was Sword Maniac and Sword Tiger.
One was rank 3, the other was rank 1.
At rank 3, the kill count was at 105. At rank 1, the kill count was at 145.
Sword Tiger was addicted to battle, which was why he had a higher kill count than Sword Maniac. This didnât mean that Sword Tigerâs ability was superior to Sword Maniacâs.
âCombining all the kill counts from the 400 plus direct disciples, they have killed a total of over a thousand Earth Realm martial artists. It sure is a horrific number.â
What does over a thousand Earth Realm martial artist mean? During the days when the four major clans were still in Cloud Mist City, there was only a total of less than 20 Earth Realm martial artists.
Even medium sized cities like Silver Rich City would only have a total of about 30 Earth Realm martial artists.
Of course, this wasnât the kill count of a single year, but the accumulated number of around a dozen years.
If direct disciples werenât able to breakthrough to the Heaven Realm before the age of 40, they would automatically be given a high grade outer sect elder title.
Most people were promoted to direct disciples around 20 odd years of age. Before they reached the age of 40, they would have lived around 10+ years of a direct disciples life.
It was still acceptable to accumulate over a thousand Earth Realm martial artists kills in over two decades.
But what Li Fuchen didnât know, was that during these two decades, the number of Earth Realm demon dao martial artists killed wasnât just over a thousand, but at least twice that number.
Many of the previous direct disciples who werenât direct disciples anymore would have their names removed from the Hunterâs Board.
Those that passed away would also have their names removed.
If those kill counts were to be taken into consideration, twice was just a minimum.
There was something else Li Fuchen didnât know either. It was that direct disciples didnât just only hunt demon dao members, but other sectâs Earth Realm martial artists too.
Such as the remnants of the Evil Fist Sect.
Or Earth Realm martial artists from Spirit Hidden Sect or Violent Sabre Sect. Neighbouring sects would definitely have conflicts. Although a conflict wouldnât lead to a war, but small scale battles do happen often.
A few years back, the Azure Water Sect had a small scale battle with the Heaven Fiend Sect. There were at least a dozen Heaven Realm martial artists and over a thousand Earth Realm martial artists involved.
***
Time passed as days went by.
Group 10 was back to its normal peaceful days. Even when there were missions, it would seldomly be assigned to Group 10 unless it was a big-scale mission.
The first month ended and it was now the first day of the second month. As expected, Li Fuchenâs ranking had dropped from 198 to 215.
Li Fuchen didnât mind it.
Kill counts were related to how many contribution points one could get.
For every Earth Realm demon dao martial artist slayed, the reward was 20,000 contribution points.
Li Fuchen didnât have a lack for contribution points, so he didnât bother about his ranking or his kill count.
***
In the Devilâs Hand Guild headquarters located somewhere undergroundâ¦
A group of black shadows sat in a circle within a dark and eerie conference hall.
âOur branch has fallen to the Azure Water Sectâs seventh branch. We cannot remain silent, we must retaliate.â
âOf course we need to retaliate, but we must take action quickly. We need to use the shortest amount of time to eliminate the survivors of the seventh branch and not let the other branches have time to provide reinforcements.â
âLetâs teach the Azure Water Sect a lesson! Let them know the consequences of provoking our Devilâs Hand Guild!â
âWhen do we act?â
âThree days later. We will gather all our members during these three days and eradicate the seventh branch in one go. We will also take the opportunity to hit the nearby sixth and fifth branch viciously.â
âAlright, three days later then. After we eliminate the seventh branch, we will then join the Five Poison Triad. They have already sent men to our branches.â
The conference ended quickly. The seventh branch members didnât know that a mass-scale assault was about to strike them. When it happens, it will certainly be a blood shed.