The Entry-plundering Demon Hunter

"Quick, let’s go! Old Chu is still alive!"

Yang Yong’s sudden words struck like a clap of thunder, shattering the silence on the battlefield.

Lin Yi’s expression changed, and he quickly stood up.

Even Tang Zhan, who had been busy collecting bodies in the distance, came running over.

"What did you say? Old Chu is still alive?"

His face alight with excitement, Yang Yong nodded. "He just called me. He’s not far from here. Follow me!"

With that, Yang Yong turned and ran.

Lin Yi, Tang Zhan, Zhao Jian, and the others all followed, running down the mountain.

After they had sprinted for less than five hundred meters...

...they saw a man in the distance leaning against a tree, repeatedly flicking a lighter. CLICK. CLICK.

Lin Yi saw him from a distance. Who else could it be but Chu Zhengxiong?

As they drew closer.

"Brother Chu?"

Seeing Chu Zhengxiong’s battered state, Lin Yi’s eyes instantly welled up with tears.

Old Chu was leaning against the tree, his body covered in wounds and blood.

It was impossible to tell which was his and which belonged to others.

Chu Zhengxiong weakly looked up at them.

The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile. "What’re you crying for? I’m not dead yet... COUGH, COUGH, COUGH. You got a light? C’mon, light a cigarette for me... Fucking hell, fought for a whole day and night, and... I didn’t even... COUGH, COUGH, COUGH... get a chance to have a smoke..."

Both Yang Yong and Tang Zhan fumbled in their pockets and produced lighters.

They offered them to him at almost the same time.

Chu Zhengxiong glanced at them and couldn’t help but smile.

He then leaned forward slightly, lighting his cigarette with the flame from Tang Zhan’s lighter.

He took a few deep drags, an expression of relief washing over his face.

At that moment, no one said another word; they all just watched him in silence.

After a long moment, Chu Zhengxiong finally said, "You all came down from the mountain, right?"

"Yeah," Yang Yong nodded. "If Lin Yi hadn’t insisted on coming, we might still have no idea what happened here!"

"Heh... You kid. Guess you have a conscience after all. So, how was it? Did your Martial Arts exam... go smoothly today?"

"I was supposed to treat you to a meal, and... and I fucking broke my promise again..."

Chu Zhengxiong’s breathing gradually grew more ragged.

Still, he managed to joke with Lin Yi, trying to act nonchalant.

Seeing his condition, Lin Yi rushed forward. "Brother Chu, please stop talking. I’m taking you to a clinic right now. Your injuries are too severe, you need immediate medical attention..."

"No need. I know my own body. It’s not a big fucking deal... I’m not going to die!"

"It’s just... Zhan Kai, Sun Lang, and Yin Xiaoyu..."

Before he could finish, his eyes blurred with tears.

Yang Yong, Lin Yi, and the others felt their hearts clench.

"Old Chu, we’ve already found Sun Lang’s body. What about Zhan Kai and Yin Xiaoyu?"

Chu Zhengxiong was silent for a moment, then took several more harsh drags from his cigarette...

"Dead. They died right in front of me. That fucking Blood Lord drained all the blood from Zhan Kai’s body."

"Yin Xiaoyu was killed by two 5-star Demon Beasts..."

"She was less than a hundred meters away from me at the time. Fucking less than a hundred meters!"

"I watched with my own two eyes as those animals tore out her heart... And I... I was fucking powerless. I couldn’t save her, do you understand? All I could do was fucking watch... I couldn’t save her..."

"And even as they were tearing out her heart, she... she fucking smiled at me. She took those two animals down with her..."

Chu Zhengxiong gritted his teeth, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face.

At that moment, no one could comprehend the emotions he was going through.

Lin Yi, Yang Yong, and the others hadn’t been on site.

The horror of watching a comrade die a gruesome death right before your eyes.

Only Chu Zhengxiong had experienced that firsthand.

"Brother Chu..."

"Old Chu?"

Lin Yi, Yang Yong, and the others all wanted to say something to comfort him.

But as the words reached their lips, they realized anything they might say would sound hollow and weak.

Perhaps letting him cry it out was the only way to alleviate his inner guilt and sorrow.

"And the members from Squads One, Two, Three, and Four... Agh, they all died in front of me, one by one!"

"I couldn’t save them. Not a single one. I could barely save myself."

"Sigh... That’s when I finally understood!"

"Saving people is so much fucking harder than killing them, especially when your comrades, your brothers-in-arms, are losing their lives right in front of you, and you’re powerless to do anything!"

"That feeling... it’s just fucking great. Makes you wish you were the one who died instead..."

Then, Chu Zhengxiong lowered his head and began to sob.

A man nearly one-point-nine meters tall, a hardened veteran who had survived countless battles.

For the first time, he was revealing the fragile side of his heart.

In that moment, his heart broke.

The comrades who had fought shoulder-to-shoulder with him had died gruesome deaths, one by one, right in front of him.

And he could only watch.

This was a feeling Lin Yi could not comprehend.

Perhaps Yang Yong, Zhao Jian, and Tang Zhan could understand it to some degree.

After all, they were all from the New District and had had similar experiences in the past.

Just nothing as deeply, searingly painful as this.

After a long while, Chu Zhengxiong stopped crying. He looked up, tossed away the cigarette butt, then took out a fresh cigarette and lit it.

"Old Chu, you should stop smoking. You can’t smoke so much in your current condition."

"What about the Elder Celestial Master? Where did he go?"

"And Mo Yanfeng, Qin Zhaoxue, Han Bin, and Mo Ya? Where did they go?"

Yang Yong pressed urgently.

Whether they were dead or alive, they had to at least know their whereabouts.

Hearing this, Chu Zhengxiong was startled.

"They haven’t come back yet?"

"Come back? What do you mean?"

Yang Yong pressed again, and Chu Zhengxiong’s brow furrowed deeply.

"Before I passed out, the Elder Celestial Master went after the Blood Lord, and Mu Ru went after the Demon King... I thought they would have been back by now. Xiaoxue, Old Mo, and the others were worried something might happen to the Elder Celestial Master and Elder Mu Ru, so they went to provide support..."

"What? The Demon King has emerged?"

Yang Yong’s expression changed drastically.

Chu Zhengxiong nodded. "It’s out. A fucking 7-star Demon King, just one step shy of the Shattering Star Technique!"

"If it hadn’t been for it, we wouldn’t have lost so many people..."

At these words, everyone’s expression changed.

No wonder the battlefield here had become so brutal.

’So the Demon King has already emerged? If it teamed up with the Blood Lord...’

...they would be more than enough to destroy all the Demon Hunting Bureau’s squads.

It was a good thing Mu Ru and the Elder Celestial Master were here as reinforcements.

If it weren’t for the two of them, the Demon Hunting Bureau would likely have been completely wiped out.

Lin Yi quickly asked, "Brother Chu, which way did they go?"

Chu Zhengxiong glanced up at him.

"Stay out of this matter. Don’t get involved... Your future has only just begun."

"Besides, this... this isn’t something you can get involved in!"

"You just focus on living your life, go to university, and get some good training in!"

"None of this other business concerns you... You hear me?"

Chu Zhengxiong stared at Lin Yi, his eyes bloodshot.

It was as if, in that instant, he had seen right through Lin Yi’s thoughts.

The Battle of Wushan was indeed not something Lin Yi could get involved in.

The members of the Demon Hunting Squads—even interns like Qin Zhaoxue and Shen Yuzhe—were all at the Four-Star Realm.

And yet, Shen Yuzhe had still died in battle here.

The same went for Zhan Kai, Sun Lang, and Yin Xiaoyu.

Weren’t they all battle-hardened veterans? Weren’t they all experienced?

And hadn’t they all met a tragic end here just the same?

The Demon Hunting Bureau had suffered devastating losses; more than half of the elite members from every squad were gone.

The only good news was that Qin Zhaoxue and Mo Yanfeng were still alive.

The Elder Celestial Master and Elder Mu Ru also had a high chance of victory in their pursuit of the Blood Lord and the Demon King.

The Demon King was only a 7-star, easily crushed by Elder Mu Ru.

As for the Blood Lord, his realm was only 7-star at its peak.

He too could be crushed by the Elder Celestial Master.

Killing them was only a matter of time.

As they spoke, the sky gradually lightened completely.

A light breeze swept past, carrying the metallic tang of blood across all of Wushan.

Chu Zhengxiong finished his second cigarette and tried to stand up.

But just as he refused everyone’s help and had pushed himself halfway up using the tree for support...

...his vision suddenly went black, and his weakened body swayed.

The one-point-nine-meter-tall man fell to the ground with a thud.

Seeing this, Lin Yi, Yang Yong, Tang Zhan, and the others rushed over.

"Get a medic!"

They shouted in a panic, and a moment later, they saw people coming down from the mountain.

A dozen officers from the Martial Arts Police Station and several doctors in white coats came running over with a stretcher.

Everyone scrambled to lift the unconscious Chu Zhengxiong onto the stretcher.

...and rushed straight down the mountain.