Anomaly

Jiang Lu shouted to the two spirit beasts.

Cang Chen and Chi Li nodded, holding back the demon beast from both sides.

The sword in Jiang Lu's hand flashed with a red light, tracing several red streaks of light in the air along the edge of the blade.

With several sharp swooshes, her attacks struck the demon beast's body.

Stung by the pain, the demon beast roared, its body instinctively adopting an even more violent and aggressive stance.

Its blood-red eyes glared intently at Jiang Lu. It scraped its claws backward against the ground, its teeth trembling in its maw.

Damned human!

It wanted her dead!

Then, it lunged violently toward Jiang Lu.

Its massive body was nearly twice Jiang Lu's size. Startled, she sent a barrage of fireballs and wind blades flying straight toward it.

With sword in hand, she used the two spells as cover. After a few leaps, she was hovering right above the demon beast. Flipping mid-air, she sent her sword light slicing directly toward its neck.

With a sharp tearing sound, a bloody gash appeared on the demon beast's skin.

Jiang Lu gritted her teeth and dragged her sword upward, striking something hard.

The demon beast's core, glowing with a faint red light, came into her view. With a thought, she swept the core into her space.

The demon beast then collapsed with a heavy thud.

Seeing this, Jiang Lu ignored the fallen demon beast beneath her feet and immediately rushed to help the other disciples. Strangely, the other demon beasts did not have demon cores; they died simply by having their necks severed.

Jiang Lu was slightly puzzled, but her sixth sense told her that she must not let anyone else know about this. When she saw the demon core earlier, she hadn't extracted it by hand, so no one should have noticed.

They spent an entire day in relentless slaughter. Looking at the devastated ground around them, they let out a collective sigh of relief.

After slaying the very last demon beast, they immediately sat down to meditate, heal their bodily injuries, and recover their spiritual energy.

Meanwhile, Gu Miao and several late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators immediately gathered the demon beasts' corpses. The stench of blood here was far too strong, requiring disciples with wind-attribute spiritual roots to blow the scent away.

During the fierce battle, everyone had been consuming elixirs while fighting. Fortunately, they were all disciples of the Medicine King Pavilion, so they had an ample supply of elixirs.

From this, it was easy to imagine that the disciples of other factions must have suffered far more devastating losses.

“Those of you who are injured, quickly take some Qi-Solidifying Pills and healing elixirs,” Gu Miao said as he walked over and handed elixirs to the severely injured disciples. These elixirs were provided by the City Lord's Manor, and whatever they consumed would be deducted from their eventual harvest.

After all, they were disciples of the Medicine King Pavilion; as long as they could be saved, they would not be abandoned.

Jiang Lu felt her depleted spiritual energy slowly refilling her dantian, and she let out a breath.

Over the past few months, she had learned to control the speed at which her body absorbed spiritual energy, ensuring that no massive spiritual energy vortexes formed around her during cultivation.

Since everyone else was currently cultivating as well, no one noticed the subtle changes in her.

She sensed that cultivating to refill her dantian after completely depleting her spiritual energy seemed to make her feel more comfortable. Perhaps doing so would allow her strength to grow even faster.

Moreover, her spiritual energy reserves seemed to be much larger than everyone else's. Even the late-stage Qi Condensation disciples had run out of spiritual energy and had to take several elixirs, whereas she didn't seem to need any.

She lowered her head to hide the gleam in her eyes. Whether this was truly the case, she would find out after testing it over the next few days.

Seeing that everyone had mostly recovered, Gu Miao led them to regroup with the other teams. The second wave of attacks would not arrive so quickly.

They needed to take this opportunity to report the situation immediately, as the subsequent plans would undoubtedly have to be adjusted.

Jiang Lu did not ask why, but seeing his furrowed brow, she knew this matter was far from simple.

She lowered her head and followed behind. A heavy air of dejection hung over the crowd, completely replacing their previous eagerness.

If they still couldn't tell that there was something wrong with this demon beast tide, they would have lived all these years in vain.

“Fellow Daoist Gu, you've finally arrived.”

Upon seeing Gu Miao's group, a disheveled cultivator from the opposite side immediately rushed over to greet them.

Gu Miao was secretly alarmed by their battered appearance. He knew that this other group consisted almost entirely of offensive-attribute cultivators.

Yet they were more than twice as disheveled as his own team, likely having been caught completely off guard.

He then glanced at Jiang Lu. It was entirely thanks to her warning; otherwise, without any preparation, their lack of strength would have made their outcome far more tragic.

Keeping his thoughts to himself, he scanned the other teams and spotted the Lord of Xijiang City, Chi Yan, who was surrounded by the crowd.

He was at the early stage of the Golden Core realm.

He sat in the host seat, his expression solemn and slightly inscrutable.

A crowd of cultivators surrounded him, their expressions filled with anxiety as they chattered away in a chaotic clamor.

The team leaders walked over and reported their respective experiences one by one. After hearing them out, the crowd fell into an even deeper silence.

The team leaders of the subsequent waves, in particular, showed hints of panic upon hearing the news.

If even the disciples of these great factions were in such a wretched state, what hope did they have?

They looked at the man in the host seat, wanting to speak but hesitating, waiting only for his orders.

“City Lord, this demon beast tide seems far more severe than previous ones. If every wave comes in such numbers, our losses will be catastrophic.”

“Indeed. The number of demon beasts has doubled, and with our current lack of manpower, it is difficult to defend against them.”

“Exactly, exactly.”

...

Chi Yan glanced at the crowd and raised his hand slightly. Everyone immediately fell silent, their eyes turning toward him.

After pondering for a moment, he spoke:

“In that case, we will merge the teams of two waves into a single wave to advance. The other waves will follow in order, with each staying stationed ten li apart.”

“Furthermore, the alchemists from the Medicine King Pavilion and other factions will no longer participate in the fighting. Instead, they will be distributed among each team to provide elixirs.”

Having said this, he scanned the crowd, taking in everyone's expressions.

“Do any of you have any objections?”

Everyone shook their heads. As long as they had support, they were satisfied. Merging the two waves into one undoubtedly eased the pressure, and with the alchemists from the Medicine King Pavilion accompanying them, they would be ungrateful if they still weren't satisfied.

Upon returning to his team, Gu Miao immediately began making arrangements. In truth, not many of the disciples who had come to fight were actual alchemists; most were just disciples who knew how to process spiritual plants.

But when counting those from all the other factions as well, the number was quite significant.

Since Jiang Lu had not told anyone that she could refine elixirs, Gu Miao bypassed her directly, which was exactly what she wanted.

She still planned to temper herself properly to confirm whether her theory was correct. If she stayed in the rear refining elixirs, she might obtain the same amount of resources in the end, but it would do her no practical good.

She trusted her sixth sense. Since she leaned toward real combat experience, then combat experience it would be.

Due to the restructuring of the teams, they were now operating alongside another team.

Although the two sides were unfamiliar with each other, Gu Miao's group were disciples of the Medicine King Pavilion, so the other side did not try to assert dominance and quickly accepted them.

After all, not knowing how to refine elixirs now did not mean they wouldn't learn in the future. One must never underestimate the benefits any alchemist could bring.