Gu Xiechen squatted on the ground, rummaging through the corpse of Hizoji Keiko, and he said with a smile to Maha standing beside him, "Quite the romantic fortune you've stumbled into!"

Maha's face darkened completely. He waited for Gu Xiechen with simmering resentment, only letting out cold snorts repeatedly. 1 Novel α..C organized

Bhanra stood to one side, hands clasped in prayer, silently chanting sutras for release. Only after completing one complete scripture did he speak calmly, "To survive a great disaster and gain fortune is no lie. Maha, you have benefited from this misfortune, and your skill has grown immensely. However, the source of this power is ultimately a stain on your virtue. When you return to Earth, remember to silently recite these sutras one hundred times daily."

Maha's already pitch-black face could have squeezed out ink. He roared in explosive fury, "Nonsense! One hundred times a day? Damn it, a stain on virtue? Bullshit, foul-smelling nonsense!"

Furious and exasperated, Maha could barely form words. He was the victim! For this sudden surge of power, he had been struck by lightning nine times and had barely escaped death! Couldn't they see his hair was completely burned off, and his skin was blackened? Reciting sutras a hundred times? With that much time, he’d rather go seduce a few women for some pleasure!

Bhanra simply glared coldly at Maha. Maha’s body stiffened. He sighed dejectedly, "One hundred times it is, a month at most!"

Bhanra nodded slowly, softly uttering a Buddhist invocation.

Gu Xiechen stared blankly at the two brothers. After a long moment, he finally mused, "Bhanra, you truly should find an ancient temple deep in the mountains to cultivate. You shouldn't be mercenaries."

Bhanra looked at Gu Xiechen with eyes as clear as still water and whispered, "To cultivate while immersed in the world—that was our father's dying wish for us. Unless we can achieve enlightenment amidst the mortal coil, we must remain to struggle here. When our cultivation reaches its peak, we will naturally return."

Gu Xiechen’s curiosity was piqued, and just as he was about to pry into the backstory gossip of the Bhanra and Maha brothers, Siren, who had been standing on a tree branch dozens of meters above the ground looking around, suddenly hissed softly, "Be careful. The atmosphere around us feels wrong. Listen—even the insects have stopped chirping."

Everyone present possessed deep cultivation. Hearing Siren’s warning, they simultaneously looked up at the sky. Three bright moons hung directly overhead, and the incessant drone of insects had indeed fallen silent. Thin wisps of mist coiled through the forest, and an unsettling presence slowly crept in from all directions.

Gu Xiechen raised his right hand and made several gestures. Everyone found cover, concealing themselves. Soon, only the withered, ugly corpse of Hizoji Keiko remained in the woodland clearing.

Without any apparent movement from the crouching Gu Xiechen, a mere flicker of True Qi stirred within him. His Taoist robes and crane cloak puffed out slightly. A gentle breeze circled him, lifting him silently skyward like an ascending immortal for dozens of meters. He drifted down, light as a cloud of vapor, landing beside Siren. Siren and Aredia stared at Gu Xiechen as if seeing a ghost; his movement technique was utterly beyond their imagination.

"Can you confirm which faction this is? The Holy See? The Pantheon? Or the Dao Alliance?" Gu Xiechen lowered his voice.

Siren handed Gu Xiechen the night-vision binoculars, whispering, "I don't know. But it probably isn't the Holy See. Don't they always make the grandest entrance possible? The Holy See wouldn't stoop low enough for this kind of stealthy infiltration."

Raising the binoculars to survey the surroundings, Gu Xiechen detected nothing amiss. Yet, the unsettling aura grew heavier, and a sense of danger was slowly closing in from all sides.

Silver light coalesced in Siren’s eyes. After several seconds, streaks of silver light began flashing around him. Small figures of girls dressed in tight black bodysuits continuously rushed out from the silver light. These girls moved like agile monkeys, using the surrounding dense foliage for leverage as they swiftly darted out in all directions. In just a few minutes, Siren had deployed hundreds of Jie Puppets.

Gu Xiechen admired this, giving a thumbs-up before suddenly sighing. Their Jie Puppets could summon hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands with a single move, yet he had only managed to summon one Xin Jia, who was markedly different from a normal human. He didn't know how much longer he’d have to wait for a second one. He had consumed quite a bit of the Lingzhi, Ginseng, and other treasures from the small valley, and his soul origin had only managed to recover to about sixty percent of its former strength.

Everyone waited silently for the intelligence from Siren’s Jie Puppets, but after only two minutes, a loud scream suddenly erupted from the western thicket.

"Our men!" Bhanra and Maha shouted simultaneously. In the western woods, Gu Xiechen had stationed hundreds of seasoned Fighter-level experts as backup. These fighters, forcibly elevated by Siren and Aredia, were equipped with heavy weaponry. Though only a few hundred strong, their combat power on a direct front was certainly comparable to an enhanced Federal Division! Yet, the screams now echoing were theirs.

A faint cloud light jetted from his Cloud Boots, and Gu Xiechen shot forward like the wind, covering hundreds of meters. With three or five effortless strides, he arrived at the thicket where the fierce battle was raging.

Nearly a hundred black panthers, each over five meters long, were bounding through the dense woods, leaping, pouncing, tearing, and biting. The claws and fangs of these bio-engineered beasts were harder than special alloy steel, and the impact force generated by their multi-ton bodies moving at speed was easily tens of tons. Ordinary Fighters couldn't withstand such heavy collisions! The panthers moved at nearly sonic speeds, and streaks of black shadow lunged and struck amidst muffled roars. The Fighters hidden in the woods were caught completely off guard, and within moments, dozens were ripped to shreds by the bio-beasts' claws.

When Gu Xiechen arrived, the ambushed Fighters had managed to react. They quickly formed a circular defense, and their heavy weapons spat long tongues of fire almost simultaneously.

Amidst the dull thump-thump-thump of heavy machine guns, balls of fire exploded upon the black panthers. The beasts were blasted backward repeatedly, roaring madly. Even with foot-sized wounds bleeding on their bodies, they fought relentlessly and refused to retreat. Nearly a hundred panthers furiously charged the circle, constantly pressing the attack. A Fighter in the formation let his guard down for an instant, and a panther dragged him out of the circle. Once pulled out, several panthers would simultaneously descend upon the victim and tear him to pieces.

The Fighter pinned to the ground being savagely shredded mustered all his strength, fiercely swinging his fists and palms to attack the panthers. His heavy palm strikes pulverized the beasts' powerful muscles into meaty paste and shattered their bones, which were as hard as alloy steel. However, these tenacious bio-beasts, regardless of the Fighters' counterattacks, only continued to bite and claw, fighting to the death to rip the Fighters apart.

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A new week begins, comrades; new recommendation votes must be smashed down...