Chapter Eleven: Reinforcements and Old Acquaintances

As the demon bear collapsed, a phantom figure flashed amid streaks of lightning.

Sword aura and thunder coiled through the air. One aberrant demon and demonic beast after another was reduced in an instant to headless corpses.

By the time the lightning finally stilled, scarcely fifteen minutes had passed. More than a hundred aberrant demons, accompanied by over a dozen demonic beasts, had all been transformed into shattered remains scattered across the ground.

As the lightning faded, a figure appeared before the crowd—a handsome young man holding a black sword.

The moment You Sha-hu recognized his face, his eyes widened.

It was, naturally, Chen Fan.

Looking at the gruesome scene before him, Chen Fan clasped his fists and said at once, “The Martial Academy has sent reinforcements. We arrived a step too late. You have all worked hard.”

In truth, Chen Fan had arrived as quickly as possible. Relying on the Unity-stage Three Thousand Thunder Movement, he had used his perfected movement technique to rush ahead when he neared the county town.

The other disciples were still traveling on horseback and remained some distance away.

You Sha-hu stared at Chen Fan, his face holding nothing but a bitter smile and the relief of having survived.

“We made it…”

The aberrant demons and demonic beasts attacking Feiling County were nowhere near as numerous as those that had assailed Yandu City.

Before Yandu City’s main gate, Chen Fan had killed four sixth-level aberrant demons and one sixth-level demonic beast in less than half an hour. Here in Feiling County, among more than a hundred aberrant demons and demonic beasts, there had been only one sixth-level demonic beast.

For him, it had been effortless. For the warriors defending the county, however, it had been a matter of life and death.

Chen Fan naturally recognized You Sha-hu’s identity. Yet compared with their previous encounter, their positions had now been completely reversed. Chen Fan had become someone whom You Sha-hu could only look up to.

From You Sha-hu, he gained a brief understanding of the situation in Feiling County.

The county’s major martial academies and great clans had accumulated fairly impressive strength, making the county town the safest place in the region.

Only after the warriors of the various clans had thoroughly cleared the town did they gradually extend their efforts into the surrounding areas to eliminate the aberrant demons.

Though the struggle was arduous, at least the aberrant demons had not truly managed to break into the county town. Yet in the outskirts and remote regions, no one knew how many people had become food for those monsters.

Even Chen Fan, who considered himself ruthless, was rendered speechless for a time by the devastation in the outskirts.

The Martial Academy had always used demonic beasts to temper its disciples. Even the illusions within the Myriad Manifestations Void Realm were modeled on demonic beasts. Chen Fan had never felt the reason for that so clearly before, but seeing such a scene, he finally understood.

At that very moment, on the border of Qinghe Commandery, Fan Lin was leading the Azure Python Army in resisting the beast tide.

That was the true meat grinder.

Just then, a messenger warrior from the Black Tiger Gang arrived and hurried before You Sha-hu.

“Gang Lord, a sixth-level demon has appeared at the North City Pass. The He family patriarch and the Bao family’s Grand Elder are both injured and barely holding on. They request reinforcements…”

You Sha-hu’s expression changed. His entire body was wracked with pain, and he could no longer move. He immediately turned to Chen Fan, his expression complicated.

“Chen Fan, I’m counting on you…”

Chen Fan’s heart tightened as well.

The defensive sector where the Bao family was stationed…

Feiling County was not without prodigies. It was simply that its prodigies had either been gathered into Yandu City or, like Chai Yong and Zhao Hei, had already joined the Martial Academy. The sixth-level warriors who remained in Feiling County were, at best, talented among ordinary people. They could not compare with the disciples of the Martial Academy.

Thus, the moment a sixth-level demon appeared, the county faced the danger of having its walls breached.

Chen Fan immediately ordered some of the Martial Academy disciples who had already arrived to remain behind and help You Sha-hu repel the enemies. He sent the other half to reinforce different locations.

He himself went alone to reinforce the North City Pass of Feiling County.

In such circumstances, Chen Fan kept an essence stone clasped in his hand and activated his Unity-stage movement technique. Lightning spread beneath his feet as his body shot forward at tremendous speed.

Across the vast county town, it took Chen Fan no more than fifteen minutes to cross from the western outskirts to the North City Pass.

Feiling County possessed neither Yandu City’s sturdy walls nor its abundance of weapons of war. When it came to blocking the demons, everything depended on the warriors.

Beneath the city gate, both sides were locked in fierce combat.

Aberrant demons and demonic beasts far more numerous than those in the western outskirts were battling a human force several times their own size.

Standing atop the wall and looking down, Chen Fan quickly spotted the most desperate fighting in the distance.

Seven or eight warriors from Feiling County were struggling to hold off a two-headed aberrant demon.

“This is a mutated sixth-level aberrant demon!”

Some aberrant demons possessed unusual mutations.

An aberrant demon that had evolved two heads was considered one of the stronger specimens even among sixth-level creatures. It possessed not only greater strength but also tougher skin, making it more difficult to deal with than an ordinary sixth-level demonic beast.

The seven or eight warriors were all at least thirty years old. Each had a powerful build, and all of them were experts of at least the fifth level.

One of them was somewhat older, with graying hair and skin flushed crimson from head to toe. Blood gushed from his mouth, clearly the result of employing a special secret technique.

Chen Fan furrowed his brows. If he had arrived any later, dealing with this single aberrant demon would have cost them numerous lives.

He did not hesitate. In an instant, he transformed into a streak of lightning and charged forward.

Crackling thunder rang out.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Fan vanished from the city wall.

The crowd’s vision blurred. A flash of lightning streaked past, and a figure suddenly appeared beside them.

The two-headed aberrant demon was hurled through the air by a burst of terrifying force.

With a sharp sound, a perfectly even cut appeared across its neck, and lightning instantly spread through its body.

A blaze of searing white fire flashed past.

With a dull thud, the aberrant demon was reduced to a charred carcass that scattered through the air.

One sword stroke had slain it.

With Chen Fan’s current strength, even an ordinary sixth-level demonic beast could be killed with a single sword strike, let alone an aberrant demon whose vital energy and strength were far inferior to those of a demonic beast.

Thinking back to the scene in Yandu City, when he had blocked that seventh-level aberrant demon, Chen Fan could not help shaking his head. The difference of a single level was truly the difference between heaven and earth.

Those nearby who had been locked in bitter struggle and barely holding on were all astonished and delighted by what they had witnessed.

The old man who had used the secret technique let out a long breath of relief before sinking down to sit on the ground.

“A Grandmaster!”

A middle-aged man stared in shock and hurriedly clasped his fists toward Chen Fan.

“May I ask which esteemed Grandmaster from Yandu City you are…”

Chen Fan waved a hand and glanced at them.

“I’m not a Grandmaster. I’m a disciple of the Martial Academy, here with the reinforcements. The danger has not yet passed. Once the demonic threat is dealt with, I’ll speak with all of you at length.”

With that, his body transformed into lightning once more and shot toward the side.

The others exchanged bewildered glances before immediately returning to the battle.

Some of them found Chen Fan familiar, but none dared to identify him.

…

The North City Pass was defended by disciples of the He family, the Bao family, and several smaller clans of Feiling County.

At that moment, many young disciples were fighting in the midst of the slaughter.

Chen Fan even saw quite a few familiar faces among them.

He did not dare delay. Sword light swept across the battlefield, the radiance of his blade avoiding the defenders while harvesting the lives of the demons.

With his assistance, the pressure on the human warriors was greatly reduced. In less than the time it took an incense stick to burn, they had completely wiped out all the remaining aberrant demons.

“Chen Fan! Is that really you?”

An incredulous voice rose from the crowd.

Chen Fan turned around. When he saw who it was, a smile appeared on his face.

“Senior Brother Meng Qi. It has been a long time.”

Meng Qi had been, apart from Bao Tianyou, the disciple he had been closest to at the White Cloud Branch Academy.

It had indeed been a long time since they had last met.

Meng Qi approached Chen Fan in delighted surprise, his face filled with emotion.

“You’ve changed so much. You’re so tall now!”

More than two years had passed since Chen Fan had participated in the martial competition. He was not only taller than before; his features had also grown considerably more mature.