"Here comes more! Here comes more!"

"Heaven has blessed us, heaven has blessed us!" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Enough talk, hurry up and grab some! Anything you get is a win!"

"..."

In Taiping City, cheers once again erupted from the crowds on the streets and in the alleys.

Bathed in Demon Blood, they all welcomed the falling chunks of the large-headed swordfish Demon Fiends.

Some didn’t even wait for the pieces to hit the ground, rushing to catch them with basins, buckets, and whatever other containers they had.

The large-headed swordfish Demon Fiends were also edible.

What they couldn’t eat right away could be salted or dried.

This was yet another win for everyone involved.

The threat of the Demon Fiends to Taiping City was neutralized, Gu Zheng harvested his Demon Points, and the city’s citizens restocked their food supplies.

After slaying and dicing all several thousand of the large-headed swordfish Demon Fiends, Gu Zheng had harvested over 23,500 Demon Points.

SWISH~ SWISH~ SWISH~!

But the three hundred and sixty blades didn’t stop. They continued to dance and crisscross through the air, slaying the invisible, interlocking giant python Demon Fiends.

SPLAT~ SPLAT~

Empowered by his Divine Wondrous ability, the three hundred and sixty blades sliced the invisible, interlocking giant python Demon Fiends into sections in a single, sweeping assault.

As their bodies were severed, the splattering Demon Blood was as black as ink. It made a strange hissing sound—TSSS TSSS TSSS—as it touched the air.

’Highly corrosive?’

’With the Demon Blood being like this, the Demon Flesh is almost certainly poisonous!’

Immediately, Gu Zheng manipulated the Power of Heaven and Earth. As his Divine Wondrous power surged, he unleashed his Wind Demon Techniques. He summoned whirlwinds that enveloped the splattering Demon Blood and severed corpses of the invisible, interlocking giant python Demon Fiends, flinging them far into the sky.

They flew in a straight line beyond the borders of Taiping City and fell into the deep mountains.

It all happened so fast that few of the people on the streets and in the alleys below even noticed.

They were still immersed in the joy of Demon Flesh raining from the sky.

In the city’s northern district, however, Jiang Hanshan and the others in his courtyard saw everything, their expressions unreadable.

"As expected of the Gu King, he’s always thinking of the people!"

"That’s right. He cast the poisonous Demon Flesh and Blood out of the city but let the people take the non-toxic flesh."

"In the past, whenever a Domain appeared, the chaos it caused wouldn’t end until dozens, even hundreds, had died. Taiping City is incredibly lucky. The Gu King was just passing through, and he not only eliminated the Demon Fiend threat but also gifted all the Demon Flesh to the citizens. I’d bet my life that no other King’s Body would ever be so benevolent!"

"This is true kindness, true compassion. The Gu King’s existence is a blessing for all the people of this world."

"..."

The people in the courtyard chattered amongst themselves.

Most of them were completely sincere, gazing at the sky with reverence and awe.

The King’s Body experts of the Noble Families rarely show themselves, let alone help the common people.

But Gu Zheng was different.

He single-handedly stopped the Demon Fiend invasion of Taiping City.

No matter how many came, he killed them all!

「In the Imperial Palace.」

Emperor Zhou had also seen it all. He stared at the empty sky, trying to find Gu Zheng.

His cloudy eyes were filled with shock, surprise, joy, and disbelief.

He had long known that Taiping City lacked food.

But there was nothing he could do.

He barely had enough food for himself, and few of his subordinates listened to him anymore.

The Imperial Court had ceased to function long ago.

When he had first seen Gu Zheng appear at the entrance of Taiji Hall, Emperor Zhou hadn’t known who he was. He hadn’t dared to speak his mind, fearing the worst possible outcome.

Now he understood.

This man was definitely not from a Noble Family, and he certainly wasn’t one of those eight whelps.

This was a genius, a commoner who had risen from the lowest rungs of society. He was also a...

King’s Body!

A King’s Body! A King’s Body expert who had risen from the common folk... Emperor Zhou was both shocked and thrilled.

Only a King’s Body who came from the bottom would help the common people and see them as human beings.

The man was a King’s Body. With his power alone, he had held back the Demon Fiend invasion. For now, the crisis in Taiping City was averted.

Emperor Zhou’s eyes widened, staring at the sky without blinking, his breathing rapid.

Just as he swallowed nervously, about to shout out, another huge swarm of Demon Fiends swooped down from the inverted Pitch Black Mountain Range.

WHIRRR~

WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~ WHOOSH!

The dense thrum of flapping wings vibrated the air, creating a strange, uniform hum.

Their ferocious charge created a series of sharp, whistling sounds as they tore through the air.

Gu Zheng scanned the swarm with his Eyes of Golden Flame. He saw Demon Fiends descending from the sky, each one no bigger than a dozen centimeters long, with translucent wings. They looked remarkably like potatoes.

The comparison to potatoes was apt; their skin tone was similar, and they lacked organs like eyes or a nose. They had only a single, thread-like mouth, slightly agape, revealing a row of fine, sharp teeth within.

They filled the sky, a densely packed swarm. A quick glance suggested over ten thousand of them—no, twenty thousand!

The first wave charged out of the Inverted Mountain Range, followed by a ceaseless flood of more.

’So many Potato Demon Fiends...’

’Excellent!’

SWISH~ SWISH~ SWISH~!

The three hundred and sixty blades, which had paused for only a moment, once again shot through the air, dancing and cutting, weaving through the Potato Demon Fiends.

SHINK! SHINK! SHINK!

Flashes of light flickered, disappearing and reappearing.

One after another, the Potato Demon Fiends were sliced in half, or into quarters.

Even when a Potato Demon Fiend sensed the danger and used a skill mid-dive—a brief Instant Teleportation—it was useless. It could not escape its fate of being sliced and dismembered.

Spirit Capturing!

[Demon Points +1]

[Demon Points +1]

...

’A single Potato Demon Fiend only gives one Demon Point?’

Gu Zheng arched an eyebrow.

’One point is one point. With numbers this high, it’ll still be a huge haul.’

The sectioned corpses of the Potato Demon Fiends rained down into Taiping City, sparking another round of cheers.

"Hahaha, perfect! Bring on more!"

"SOB~ Why couldn’t you have come one day sooner? If you had, my mother and sister wouldn’t have died... SOB SOB SOB~~"

"Hurry, grab them! Hurry! There are a lot in this batch of Demon Flesh, but they’re so small. Couldn’t we get some bigger ones?"