"So strong?" Qian Jin felt a slight surprise in his heart. Even the Fen Jin Lian Zhan technique, which he hadn't completely mastered yet, was this formidable. If he could truly simulate the Qian Jun Wu Zhan, how powerful would it be?

While thinking, Qian Jin did not stop his movements. He parted his arms and plunged his index fingers directly into the foreheads of the two Beelzebub demons.

Suddenly, more Demon Quelling Warriors joined the fray, and the balance of the Human-Demon battle quickly tilted. Qian Jin held back almost nothing, unleashing the power of the Jiang Mo Ba Zhan (Eight Battles of Demon Quelling). Wherever he passed, the skulls of the Beelzebub demons fractured.

A continuous stream of screeching Beelzebub demons echoed. Bosk, momentarily distracted, had his spear, which resembled a coiling dragon, thrust directly through his neck. The spear’s immense rotational force wrenched his head clean off, spraying blood high from the severed portion of his facial tentacles.

Seeing Bosk of the Mammon Demon Clan slain, the remaining Beelzebub demons instantly lost the will to fight. Their attempt to flee resulted in them being mercilessly slaughtered by the counter-attacking mercenaries.

"A fine spear! Truly a fine spear!" Duan Feng Burui raised the spear high above his head, brandishing it several times before striding up to Qian Jin. "Comrade! Thank you for gifting me such a superb battle weapon! It is vastly superior to the mere spearhead I possess back home! I truly don't know how to repay you."

In the hand Qian Jin held with Duan Feng Burui's other hand, a Starry Azure Gold and a Gem of the Son of Earth materialized. "Listen up, everyone~" Duan Feng Burui stepped between Qian Jin and the others, spreading his arms toward the rest of the mercenaries. "We won! We defeated the demons!"

The mercenaries looked at the demon corpses strewn on the ground, momentarily unable to believe that such a small group of them had managed to kill so many demons. The battle they expected to end in their annihilation resulted in only three of their own dying—one of whom was a driver, and the other Boss Liang.

Qian Jin placed his hands behind his back, storing the Son of Earth and the Starry Azure Gold into his Battle Realm. This was the first time he noticed how meticulous Duan Feng Burui was. When the mercenaries were facing life and death, their natural thought was survival. Once they survived, they would inevitably become interested in the Son of Earth and the Starry Azure Gold. Did he have to eliminate all these mercenaries to prevent them from finding these items? There was no better way to keep them hidden! "We won!"

The mercenaries embraced each other happily. Having walked the edge of death, many of these battle-hardened individuals still shed tears. After cheering and experiencing excitement, the mercenaries calmed down. Immediately, someone began searching the ground everywhere. Although they didn't know what the Starry Azure Gold was, they knew that anything purchased alongside the Son of Earth for fifty thousand gold coins could not be inferior raw material.

Over forty mercenaries searched the area like a net. Duan Feng Burui also searched around, pretending to be engrossed, muttering intermittently, but adjusting his volume so others could just barely hear him: "Where did it go? When I killed him, I clearly saw him toss something this way, how can I not find it? It's too dark! It's truly too dark here! The torches simply don't illuminate enough!"

The mercenaries sighed in unison, raising their torches and continuing their patient search, putting on the appearance of being determined to find the items.

Qian Jin walked over to the wooden chest containing the gold bars. He harshly pulled out several bars and placed them on the ground. This action quickly drew the attention of the other mercenaries, pulling everyone over.

Instead of searching the dense grass for small items, it seemed more practical to first discuss how to divide the gold bars. "How about this? We all divide these gold bars equally?" A mercenary quietly suggested this, which was immediately met with unanimous agreement from the others.

"Not good enough," Qian Jin's voice loudly shattered their consensus. "If it weren't for us just now, the three of us could have settled this with a bit more time. But if it were just you lot without us? The ones standing here discussing how to divide the gold bars should probably be the demons currently lying on the ground, right?"

The previous harmony instantly dissolved into silence. The mercenaries stared intently at the gold bars on the ground—five hundred bars! That was fifty thousand gold coins! If they split this, they could live a comfortable, carefree life back home for a long time without squandering it.

"But we also contributed quite a bit," a mercenary broke the silence. "Without our escort, these things would have been snatched away when we encountered Black Wind! Black Wind's retreat was partly due to our presence, so these gold bars..."

Qian Jin frowned. A great warrior needed more than just battle qi; the battle between Duan Feng Burui and Bosk today clearly showed that good weaponry and equipment were indispensable factors.

The Starry Azure Gold and the Gem of the Son of Earth alone were far from enough. This batch of gold bars was perfect for purchasing superior raw materials when they encountered them later!

These mercenaries contributed little, yet they expected to take the majority of the gold? Qian Jin let out a cold laugh. "If your contribution was substantial enough, I wouldn't object to you taking the majority of the gold. But, in reality, without us this time, you wouldn't even have your lives! And you still want the lion's share of the gold? Initially, I intended to give you one hundred bars; life is tough, and you were risking your lives for the mission. But now... take ten bars, and get lost immediately."

The mercenaries froze simultaneously, staring blankly at Qian Jin, unable to believe these words came from him—the one who usually appeared relatively kind, perhaps even a bit soft or easygoing.

Duan Feng Burui crossed his arms, watching the stunned expressions of the mercenaries with amusement. "You are all seasoned mercenaries; you should know not to push things too far. My comrade usually shows you consideration, did you really think you could bully him just because he has a good temper?"

The mercenaries stared blankly at Qian Jin, a flicker of greedy fervor slowly emerging in their eyes. Fifty thousand gold coins! That was enough to drive many people completely mad!

Qian Jin suddenly clenched his fists. The powerful battle qi, compressed by the clenching action, forced a sharp snap from the air. To the mercenaries' ears, the sound was no less jarring than the war drums on the battlefield. "What?" Qian Jin swept his cold gaze over the restless mercenaries. "You still intend to draw weapons and kill? Rob us outright?"

His chilling words were like a bucket of ice water poured over them from head to toe, instantly clearing the bloody morale as if struck by lightning. These young men had recently executed Wan Yan Tiegu of Black Wind! That was a true Bloodline Warrior! Robbing him? Seeking death?

The mercenaries hastily collected the ten gold bars and departed quickly without looking back, having lost even the interest in searching for the Starry Azure Gold and the Gem of the Son of Earth. "Haha, alright! Now it's time for us to divide the spoils." Duan Feng Burui squatted down and picked up a gold bar. "This one is mine. Okay, I'm done."

Fen Tu Kuangge shook his head as he looked at the gold bars on the ground, then turned to Qian Jin and said, "My share, consider it the first installment for the tuition fee you provided in guidance."

"Find me when you need to divine things," Qian Jin dropped the instruction and stopped being polite. In front of the two, he directly unfurled his Battle Realm, tossed out some iron ore, and then hurled five chests of gold bars into the realm before finishing.

Fen Tu Kuangge stared at Qian Jin in stunned silence, as if seeing a ghost. "You... just now... was that the Battle Realm?"

"Yeah, just don't spread it around." Qian Jin didn't intend to hide this secret from the companion who had observed him for two days. Although he spoke little and his temper was slightly quick, he at least appeared to be a responsible man, a dependable comrade.

Fen Tu Kuangge felt dizzy. The Battle Realm! Qian Jin possessed a Battle Realm! Very few in the Fen Tu noble family even had one. How many secrets did Qian Jin hold? The Jiang Mo Jiu Zhan (Nine Battles of Demon Quelling), an archer, gifting away a battle spear, and now a Battle Realm! Could he be from the Qian family, descended from the Elven King's bloodline? Was he a key subject of training by the Qian family, sent out for this trial? No, that couldn't be right! In several battles, he hadn't displayed any bloodline power! Rumor had it that the most promising person of the current generation in the Qian family was named Qian Wushuang, and Qian Jin's appearance was vastly different from the legendary Qian Wushuang.

"A fine spear, truly a fine spear!" Duan Feng Burui channeled his battle qi into the spear again, and the pale shaft emitted a faint glow once more. "From today onward, you shall be called the Burui Spear! It’s truly extraordinary; the battle qi conductivity is excellent."

Qian Jin watched from the side, shaking his head. "When we get back to Yongliu, hand the spear over to me." "No way~~" Duan Feng Burui held the spear with both hands, clinging to it like a beloved woman. "Comrade, how can you take back something you gifted?" Qian Jin sighed, "I’m just taking it back to fix this piece of junk—"

"Burui Spear," Duan Feng Burui seriously corrected the term Qian Jin used, much like a father would be displeased if his own son was called a little brat.

"Fine, this broken Burui Spear," Qian Jin shrugged, ignoring Duan Feng Burui's protesting eyes. "Its battle qi conduction is indeed decent. If we only consider unidirectional battle qi transmission, this broken Burui Spear's conductivity is acceptable. But when it comes to bidirectional battle qi conduction, it’s a failed piece of scrap." "Scrap—?"

Fen Tu Kuangge and Duan Feng Burui looked at Qian Jin in confusion. How could someone call a well-crafted battle weapon scrap? If this claim got out, wouldn't he be laughed to death?

"Kuangge, grip the spear tip and channel battle qi toward Burui," Qian Jin demonstrated the gesture, looking at the Burui Spear that was once again glowing faintly. "Is the battle qi transmission just as smooth?" Fen Tu Kuangge nodded vaguely, wearing an expression that asked, 'So what?'

"That's the problem," Qian Jin reopened his Battle Realm, holding his Zhanmadao (Horse-Slaying Saber) between his fingers and pointing it toward Fen Tu Kuangge. A slight chill rose between the three of them; under the torchlight, the Zhanmadao shimmered with a cold, faint radiance. "Now, grip the spine of the saber and channel battle qi again. C