While Ling Xiao’s team was carrying out their mission, the other squads were also executing their tasks simultaneously.
Due to the meticulous planning and the sudden nature of the operation, it caught the Dream Pill traffickers off guard, dealing them a heavy blow.
Many Qianlong Camp disciples reaped a fair amount of merit points in the fighting.
These individuals were all geniuses, and having experienced life-and-death battles before, they weren’t afraid of such real combat.
However, after the initial panic and widespread casualties, the Dream Pill traffickers gradually regained their footing, dispatching experts to various locations.
At this point, casualties began to appear among the Qianlong Camp disciples.
That’s the life of a soldier—ever since the day they joined Qianlong Camp, they should have understood that death on the battlefield is commonplace.
The young genius Zhang Yuan, from earlier, had followed the wrong team and was abandoned by his squad at a critical moment, dying tragically at the hands of the Dream Pill traffickers. He became Qianlong Camp’s first casualty.
Fortunately, the Twelve Tiger Guards held back most of the martial master-level experts, otherwise the losses among these Qianlong Camp geniuses would have been even more severe.
Of course, in terms of casualty ratios, their mission was a resounding success. This time, they had seriously dampened the arrogance of the Dream Pill traffickers.
Ling Xiao and his four-person team were still resting or cultivating.
Having torched the Bi-Eye Clan’s Dream Pill factory, they had undoubtedly become a thorn in the Bi-Eye Clan’s side. Taking a moment to rest now was a wise choice.
The night passed without incident.
The next morning, as the first ray of light hit Ling Xiao’s body, he opened his eyes.
“Five of my martial veins’ gang qi have already transformed into true essence. From now on, even if I face an early-stage Martial Vein Seventh Layer martial master without Senior Sister Yi Xue’s help, I’ll have the strength to fight!”
Although in this mission he had severely injured one early-stage Martial Vein Seventh Layer martial master and killed another, those were special circumstances.
The first fool had abandoned his spirit, essentially crippling himself.
The second was taken out by a sneak attack.
If he had faced an early-stage Martial Vein Seventh Layer martial master head-on—one with a martial soul, heroic spirit, ninja spirit, or similar combat soul—he’d have had no chance of winning without using the corpse of the Mighty Ape God. He’d have only been able to flee.
But things were different now. Now, even in a direct confrontation with an early-stage Martial Vein Seventh Layer martial master, he wouldn’t be afraid. If he unleashed his full strength, he’d have at least a fifty percent chance of victory.
A true half-step martial master, in the proper sense, is a Martial Vein Sixth Layer peak martial artist with at least five veins of gang qi converted into true essence.
Before, his combat strength had reached that level, but he didn’t quite qualify.
Now, he was a half-step martial master in the truest sense.
“Let’s go, we’ll continue the mission today.”
After casually eating something, the four-person squad left their hiding spot and headed towards their next target.
A couple of miles ahead on their path lay a village.
This village, being close to Yun Kong City, was mostly populated by martial artists, though the strongest among them were only at Martial Vein Third Layer.
Naturally, these people dreamed of one day becoming great martial artists, but for now, they used their martial prowess for hunting and farming, making them authentic peasants.
The village had always been peaceful, isolated from worldly strife, unaware of the dangers of the world or how terrifying Dream Pills could be.
They didn’t even see foreign races as particularly fearsome.
That morning, a group arrived in the village, led by someone the others called “Boss.”
This group consisted of Bi-Eye Clan and Ninja Clan members, over thirty in total. The weakest among them was a Martial Vein Fourth Layer martial artist—stronger than the village’s best.
“Take the young women, kill the rest!”
The boss waved his hand lightly, a cruel smile spreading across his face.
“Sir, sir, please show mercy! We truly haven’t done anything to wrong you!”
The village’s elderly chief knelt on the ground, pleading with the boss.
“Hahaha, you haven’t, true, but who told you to be human? Humans deserve to die!”
The boss burst into laughter. Whenever he was in a bad mood, he’d find a human village to slaughter.
Of course, he’d take the young, beautiful women with him.
He’d probably wiped out a dozen or so villages by now—he didn’t bother keeping count.
Lin Ze had once demanded that the Bi-Eye Clan embassy’s ambassador hand him over.
But the ambassador ignored Lin Ze, merely docking his pay for a month as “punishment.”
Even so, his hatred for humans only grew, and far from restraining himself, his actions became even more brazen.
This time, with his Dream Pill factory destroyed, he was furious beyond measure and naturally sought a village to vent his rage on.
“Kill—!”
The boss let out a manic laugh.
Suddenly, a brilliant firework shot into the sky and burst apart.
Anyone could tell it was a signal, but many organisations used similar ones, so the boss sitting there couldn’t discern which group it belonged to.
Only Qianlong Camp disciples would recognise the unique colour within the firework that marked it as theirs.
As the firework rose, a figure emerged from the jungle.
A sturdy young man who didn’t quite seem human.
This was Shi Lei, one of Qianlong Camp’s deputy commanders.
Shi Lei had been teamed up with another deputy commander, but they’d gotten separated in the forest just moments ago.
When he reached the edge of the village, he happened to witness the Bi-Eye and Ninja Clan members slaughtering villagers, so he sent up the distress signal and stepped forward.
His opponents were strong.
The boss was a peak Martial Vein Seventh Layer martial master.
His two lieutenants were early-stage Martial Vein Seventh Layer martial masters.
Facing three Martial Vein Seventh Layer martial masters, even Shi Lei knew he was in deep trouble.
He was only an early-stage Martial Vein Seventh Layer martial master himself, capable of handling one of equal strength or slightly stronger at most. This situation was practically a death sentence.
He stepped forward only to stop the villagers from being massacred further.
Of course, he also hoped the distress signal would catch the eye of nearby Qianlong Camp disciples or the Twelve Tiger Guards, prompting a rescue.
“That’s a distress signal?”
With Ling Xiao’s sharp senses, there was no way he’d miss something like that.
Besides, they were already heading in that direction.
“Let’s go. As Qianlong Camp disciples, we can’t stand by and watch someone die!”
Without hesitation, Ling Xiao immediately used his Soaring Cloud Steps and took off.
By now, the other three followed his lead without question, sticking close behind.
Mid-flight, Ling Xiao entered a soul-possession state, getting a rough look at the situation ahead.
He didn’t need to look.
But once he did, he bit down so hard his gums bled.
“Beasts worse than pigs and dogs! They deserve to die!”
Poisoning human martial artists with Dream Pills was bad enough, but slaughtering innocent civilians? That was the kind of behaviour Ling Xiao despised most.
When he’d fought the Dream Pill traffickers before, he’d had a flicker of doubt about whether it was right, whether they could be persuaded to turn over a new leaf.
But at this moment, he completely cast aside such notions.
These people had to be killed without mercy!
Over there, Shi Lei was facing a dire crisis.
At that moment, he was being flanked by two early-stage Martial Vein Seventh Layer martial masters, while other Bi-Eye and Ninja Clan martial artists fired sneaky shots from the sidelines.
