Time quickly passed, and it was already dawn.

At this moment, the fires and chaos inside Celestial Essence City from last night had long been pacified. Only some street blocks, being busily repaired by countless civilian workers and artisans, testified to how intense the battle had been.

Suddenly, a silhouette appeared in the sky streaked with the first light of dawn.

As it came closer, one could see it was an exceptional young man riding a chestnut-peach colored pegasus, none other than Wang Zhifan, who had hurried back on his Red Deer Horse from the nearby areas.

"It’s just dawn, and I’ve already used up my teleport quota for the day... Looks like I’ll have to arrange for more doppelgangers to spread out as much as possible to shorten emergency travel times."

As Wang Zhifan flew into Celestial Essence City on the Red Deer Horse and landed in front of the Martial Venerable Hall, he mused to himself.

He had fought quite diligently last night, and the process was rather smooth. Besides teaming up with Demon Tathagata in Hezhou to kill five Demon Venerables, he later teleported to places closer to Celestial Essence City, like Huangzhou, and killed two more Demon Venerables, earning a substantial amount of merit points.

Jumping off the horse, he summoned the Demon Sealing List and was just about to take a closer look when he saw his chief disciple He Kuang walking out of the hall, looking like he had something to say.

"He Kuang, you seem like you haven’t slept all night. Did something happen in the city last night?"

Wang Zhifan noticed He Kuang’s Spirit wasn’t particularly bright and remembered the scenes he’d observed from the sky, prompting his inquiry. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Master, indeed I haven’t slept all night. It was because around dawn, some suspected demonic intruders caused a lot of damage in the city. I was worried they might hide somewhere and attack the Martial Venerable Hall..."

He Kuang immediately started recounting last night’s events to Wang Zhifan, making him furrow his brows as he gradually grasped the situation.

"Hmm... You did the right thing, He Kuang. Those guys are very dangerous, and it’s definitely better to be cautious... But now that I’m back, you can go rest assured."

With a few words, he arranged for He Kuang to go to the side hall to sleep and recuperate, while he intended to find someone to get a detailed understanding of last night’s events.

Before that, however, he first examined the Demon Sealing List and also had someone get some fine fodder for the Red Deer Horse to eat.

"I now have nearly seventeen hundred merit points, currently ranked twelfth on the Demon Sealing List. I climbed nearly twenty ranks overnight; this rise is almost out of control...

But it’s alright. With Demon Tathagata and those leaderboard kings at the top, not too many people should pay attention to me."

After checking the Demon Sealing List, Wang Zhifan noticed his rank had soared again, justifying his hard work overnight.

However, the gap in merit points between him and the leaderboard top remained vast, as the first-ranked Demon Tathagata had more than forty-one hundred points, over twice his merits.

Looking at the enemy distribution on the Demon Sealing List map, Wang Zhifan quickly identified several suitable targets.

Unfortunately, they were all a considerable distance from Celestial Essence City, and with his teleport already exhausted, he couldn’t reach them in time.

"Forget it. I don’t have to work so hard during the day; it wouldn’t be good if the demonic intruders stole my home while I’m running far away."

After pondering for a moment, Wang Zhifan set aside his combat desires.

He put away the Demon Sealing List and confirmed the Red Deer Horse was satisfied with the fodder before flying towards Qingyang Palace, located just a few blocks west of the Martial Venerable Hall.

His choice of Qingyang Palace over Zhenxu Hall or Huayang Palace wasn’t primarily because of its proximity.

The crucial reason was that the current security chief of Celestial Essence City was Qingyangzi; the other two Daoists were still recovering from injuries and generally wouldn’t come out to manage affairs.

As expected, upon Wang Zhifan’s arrival at Qingyang Palace, he found Qingyangzi already sensing his presence and coming out from the inner hall.

This middle-aged Daoist, who exuded a moderate aura, anticipated Wang Zhifan’s purpose and directly led him underground at Qingyang Palace to see firsthand what was left from last night.

"These gold and iron artifacts are suspected to be left by demonic gangs. I can’t figure out their use, but it seems your three friends at the Martial Venerable Hall are quite familiar with them..."

Qingyangzi first presented some key items collected by his sect to Wang Zhifan. They were mainly technological artifacts, such as rocket fragments and burned laser emitters, remnants from the battle involving Otherworld players.

"There are also two suspected demonic corpses. Originally, there should have been three, but one was eaten by your subordinate at the Martial Venerable Hall. I heard that when it was thrown up, only a few broken bones were left, so I didn’t collect it here..."

Qingyangzi continued to show him the important corpses, which included an almost intact tall white corpse and a heap of charred black remains.

Wang Zhifan was surprised upon seeing this, wondering how these players suddenly met an untimely end?

After a few inquiries, he quickly learned the details through Qingyangzi, combining He Kuang’s earlier account, he gathered the overall context, feeling quite speechless internally.

"Wow... Those three players ended up with two of them being beaten to death by Qingyangzi and his men. Only one appeared to have died at the hands of Otherworld players...

So it turns out the NPCs in this instance are even more dangerous than the enemies. My SVIP status has seen a massive value increase..."

He sighed internally, not making a dark joke, but indeed realizing the truth upon further reflection.