Although the foe Lu Yuan had just slain was a Helmdoss-level figure from the Underworld, unfortunately, even the Helmdoss-level Hanluo was destitute. The Asura Clan did not, and could not, rely on spirit beasts to augment their cultivation, thus they never hoarded them; spirit stones were also exceptionally scarce. Only his Asura Bone Saber held any real value.

Such was the entire fortune of an Asura Clan Helmdoss—a poverty beyond measure. Had the fallen been of any other species, the spoils of this battle would have been unimaginably rich, perhaps even exceeding the rewards of first place in the Five Peaks Grand Competition.

Lu Yuan paid it no mind.

Lu Yuan had always possessed a temperament of accepting what fate brought, never proactively pursuing spirit stones or the like.

Of course, if spoils were delivered right to his doorstep, Lu Yuan wouldn't turn them away; he wasn't a fool. With cleanup mostly complete, it was time to continue slaying demons and eradicating evil.

Lu Yuan flashed away, streaking toward the headquarters of the Tenth Branch. The Great Asura who had been battling Song Jianji there suddenly started, startled. Song Jianji’s magic power was severely depleted, and he had sustained minor injuries; if the fight continued, the Great Asura could have secured a victory against him. He had originally dispatched Hanluo to deal with Lu Yuan, never imagining that Hanluo would spectacularly fail against some nameless nobody.

This was truly…

This Great Asura, a demon at the eighth level of the Body Tempering Stage—the level capable of Sword Flight—immediately considered fleeing. Sword Flight did not involve standing atop a flying sword; if it did, few female cultivators would dare fly amongst crowds. Picture a female cultivator standing on a sword as it soars overhead—from above, she appears as a graceful, ethereal figure, but viewed from below, misfortune dictates that one might glimpse her undergarments. True Sword Flight involved the sword transforming into a streak of light that enveloped the user, hurtling them through the void.

This Helmdoss-level Great Asura, Jinnanluo, naturally wished to flee; the situation was clearly unfavorable. Yet, Song Jianji was no pushover. Song Jianji was, after all, also a Helmdoss. Song Jianji was deeply filled with sudden realization: he had utterly misjudged Lu Yuan. Be it the incident at the Tenth Branch, the confrontation with the Underworld demons, or this very moment, he had never anticipated Lu Yuan’s combat strength reaching the Helmdoss level! It was truly unforeseen. Countless thoughts raced through Song Jianji’s mind, but his long sword would not easily let Jinnanluo escape. He entangled Jinnanluo, preventing his escape, while Lu Yuan swiftly arrived to join forces with Song Jianji against him.

Jinnanluo was certainly no easy opponent. Facing two foes, he wielded his Asura Bone Saber with blinding speed. His saber techniques were by no means inferior to Hanluo’s.

Unfortunately, he was facing the combined might of Song Jianji and Lu Yuan.

Song Jianji possessed seasoned experience and exquisite swordsmanship.

Although Lu Yuan’s magic power reserves were lower, the effect of the Blood Sacrifice Sword Art had not yet faded, further augmented by his peerless swordsmanship. Against two, Jinnanluo barely had room to retaliate. What disgusted Jinnanluo most was that no matter what ultimate technique he employed, Song Jianji might not break it, but Lu Yuan often shattered it with a single, casual strike.

Jinnanluo felt like spitting blood from sheer anguish. He knew he was not truly being defeated by Song Jianji; his downfall was due to this young man in green robes. His sword skills were so profoundly refined that he effortlessly negated Jinnanluo’s most powerful moves—a feat Song Jianji himself likely couldn't achieve.

Song Jianji felt a jolt of shock. While observing Lu Yuan’s swordsmanship before, he had sensed its brilliance, but only by fighting alongside him against Jinnanluo's terrifying onslaught—seeing those ferocious moves dissolved by Lu Yuan’s gentle parry—did he finally grasp the true zenith of Lu Yuan’s skill, an impression far deeper than mere observation could convey.

Initially, the demonic forces’ plan, as previously outlined, was to crush the Tenth Branch rapidly with superior numbers, and then deploy those forces to overwhelm the Fourth and Seventh Branches. Who could have predicted that Lu Yuan would suddenly intervene? Lu Yuan’s strength was entirely beyond their estimations. Not only had countless demons fallen to his blade, but one Helmdoss-level commander had also perished by his hand.

This single development completely shattered the demons' entire strategic framework. If that were the extent of it, perhaps it could be managed.

But fate insisted on compounding their misery: Lu Yuan then teamed up with Song Jianji to dispatch another Helmdoss, Jinnanluo, culminating in Lu Yuan delivering the killing blow to Jinnanluo with a single sword thrust.

This resulted in a bizarre reversal of fortunes. Thanks to Lu Yuan altering the tide of battle, the cultivators at the Tenth Branch now possessed greater troop numbers and soaring morale. The demons attacking them were utterly routed, quickly forced into a desperate retreat by the counterattack. After dealing with the demons from those two branches, the Tenth Branch forces immediately moved to reinforce the Seventh Branch.

Now, it was the Five Immortals Alliance side that held the advantage in military strength, precisely the opposite of what the Underworld demons had originally intended.

Naturally, this marked the beginning of the wholesale slaughter and defeat of the four Underworld branch strongholds.

The battle raged for the entire afternoon before finally drawing to a close.

Although the Underworld lacked true day and night cycles, everyone habitually used concepts like morning, noon, afternoon, and evening to delineate time.

After the fight, nearly everyone was exhausted, their limbs weak and their magic power almost entirely spent. But they had won. Despite their own casualties, it was a victory worth celebrating, and they began to examine their loot.

Spoils, yes. Lu Yuan was currently so tired he didn't even want to twitch a finger, but fortunately, the Spirit Sealing Tablet was continuously channeling cloud-element magic power into his body. He decided to check the extent of his haul. With a mental probe, Lu Yuan entered his Minor Sumeru Pouch.

The moment he dipped his consciousness in, Lu Yuan was startled. Everywhere he looked, the contents were a chaotic jumble of spoils.

He hadn't realized how much loot he had accumulated. The collection was so vast it almost filled half of his Minor Sumeru Pouch—a frightening realization given the seemingly infinite extent of the pouch itself.

He began counting. First, the Asura Horns. He had slain countless Asuras on his journey. Of course, the Qi Condensation level and Body Tempering level ones had to be counted separately. The Qi Condensation horns were so numerous that a careful count revealed exactly thirty-three of them, indicating thirty-three Qi Condensation Asuras had fallen by his hand along the way.

Next, the Body Tempering Asura Horns. These were noticeably thicker, darker, and harder than their lower-tier counterparts. There were sixteen in total, two of which were pitch-black and gleaming, possessing the hardness of flying swords—these belonged to the two Helmdoss commanders, Hanluo and Jinnanluo.

Then, the Sand Demon Bone Spikes: twenty-one in total.

The Earth Demons, much like the Sand Demons, had a distinguishing feature at the back of their necks: bone spikes. He counted fourteen Earth Demon Bone Spikes, most of which were from those he had casually dispatched during his journey.

The Fire Yaksha were identifiable by a fiery, crimson bead between their brows, called the Flame Pearl. He counted thirteen of these.

The Ground Spider-Men’s most prominent feature was the hard carapace on their backs; he found seven of these shells.

The Blood Mother Demon possessed a blood-red bead between its brows, known as the Blood Pearl, a crucial component for refining magical treasures. He counted five of these.

Beyond these specific items, there were miscellaneous materials left behind by various other demons slain by his sword. In total, he estimated that over one hundred and ten demons had perished by his blade on this expedition. This number was certainly unmatched by anyone in the Tenth Branch. This was likely his opening salvo in the Underworld, and after this battle, Lu Yuan would gain some renown down here.

Of course, Lu Yuan himself held no particular interest in gaining fame in the Underworld; it was merely a tangential thought that crossed his mind.

In addition to the materials, there were thirteen assorted flying swords, including the Red Sand Flying Swords favored by the Sand Demons. The Asura Bone Sabers numbered sixteen. There were also the miscellaneous armaments from the Ground Spider-Men, along with various strange Underworld flora and other unidentifiable objects.

Ah, he almost forgot: Spirit Stones!

The quantity of low-grade spirit stones he acquired this time was staggering. He had obtained around three thousand low-grade spirit stones! Three thousand! This was an immense amount, yet when weighed against the sheer number of demons he had slain, three thousand low-grade stones seemed somewhat meager.

He also collected a considerable number of Sand-element and Earth-element spirit beasts.

Among the Sand-element beasts, there were six mid-grade ones and a staggering forty-three small ones.

The Earth-element spirit beasts were equally abundant: five mid-grade beasts and forty-seven small ones. Since the surface demons primarily cultivated Sand and Earth elements, their spirit beasts naturally fell into these two main categories, with little variation.

Compared to these numbers, the spirit beasts acquired in every previous battle seemed pitifully few. This time, he had truly struck it rich. If the two Helmdoss-level commanders hadn't been Great Asuras—who were inherently poor—the total spoils from this campaign would have been even greater.

These spirit beasts, of course, couldn't be used by him directly, but they could be traded at the cultivator market for Cloud-element spirit beasts.

Lu Yuan now understood the saying: "A man cannot become rich without a sudden windfall."

Under normal circumstances, it would have taken him many years of dedicated accumulation to amass such wealth. This fortune was gained from just one major battle involving seven branch strongholds. Of course, opportunities like this were exceedingly rare; the branches usually maintained a delicate balance, making a seven-branch melee almost impossible to encounter.

In the entire Underworld, there were only about two hundred branch strongholds, so such a massive seven-branch conflict was quite uncommon. And the lion's share of the benefits from this rare melee had fallen almost entirely to Lu Yuan, granting him this opportunity for sudden wealth.

Naturally, opportunities for such sudden windfalls were few and far between; after encountering this one, who knew how long it would be until the next.