As for refining it, that would have to be done slowly.

WHOOSH~

His Fire Manipulation ignited Ji Tianping’s dismembered corpse, burning it to ash.

Gu Zheng collected his spoils and returned to the corpse of the third-rank Blood Boiling Demon Eagle, where he performed Absorption on its Bloodshed and Demon Essence, and took a Demon Pill.

He kept the Demon Pill for now, converting the rest into Demon Points.

Ji Tianping had entered the passage and crossed into the Demon Realm, but it was unclear if he had run into Jiang Xiong and the others.

To be safe, Gu Zheng didn’t rush back out. He continued to follow the auras of Demon Fiends, slaying Centaurs, Dwarf Earth Dragons, Cannibal Demons, and other Scattered Demons.

He encountered few Blood Boiling Demon Eagles, and since they flew high in the sky, he didn’t manage to slay any more of them.

He also didn’t run into a second Rock Giant.

He stayed in this area for nearly a month. He killed so many Centaurs that he nearly drove them to extinction. The Cannibal Demons and Dwarf Earth Dragons stopped appearing altogether, and the Scattered Demons were wiped out.

His accumulated Demon Points reached forty thousand.

Gu Zheng stopped his slaughter.

He returned to Qixia Valley through the passage.

"Lord Gu, you’re finally back."

At the mouth of the passage, Sun Yunrang let out a sigh of relief when he saw Gu Zheng. He said gratefully, "Thank you for your hard work, Lord Gu! Not a single Demon Fiend has come out of the passage this past month. If not for that, Old Jiang and I wouldn’t have been able to stop ourselves from going through to the other side to find you."

"I’ve made Lord Sun and Lord Jiang worry."

Gu Zheng clasped his fist. "Fortunately, I didn’t fail my mission. I went to the other side and killed ninety percent of the Centaurs, Dwarf Earth Dragons, and Cannibal Demons. I also eliminated one Rock Giant. Everyone here at the Qixia Valley passage should be able to rest for a while."

"..."

Hearing this, Sun Yunrang’s face filled with astonishment, his eyes widening slightly. Once he processed it, he exclaimed in awe and admiration, "Although Old Jiang and I were prepared for this, hearing the news firsthand is still a bit of a shock. Lord Gu, on behalf of everyone in Qixia Valley, I, Old Sun, thank you for your month of tireless effort!"

As he spoke, he bent at the waist and gave Gu Zheng a deep bow. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

If it had been anyone else, Sun Yunrang would have been skeptical at best. But since it was Gu Zheng saying it, it had to be the absolute truth, including the part about eliminating the Rock Giant.

There was a simple reason for this: Gu Zheng’s past achievements had long since proven his capability.

If he said they could rest, then they could definitely rest.

"You flatter me, Lord Sun. It’s all just part of slaying Demon Fiends." Gu Zheng sidestepped the bow, changed the subject, and asked, "By the way, Lord Sun, has anything major happened this past month?"

"Not really."

Sun Yunrang didn’t think much of it and replied casually, "The birth of a Domain, the repelling of a Demon Fiend city assault... none of those really count as major incidents. A truly major incident, like the Royal Capital being infiltrated by Yue Country spies who summoned an Evil God, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties... one of those is more than enough."

"That’s true."

Gu Zheng nodded, but thought to himself,

’Ji Tianping entered the passage without coming into contact with anyone else!’

’Otherwise, Sun Yunrang wouldn’t have said that.’

’This Commander was never one to manage affairs, always going into seclusion at the drop of a hat. That’s why no one grew suspicious even when he vanished for over half a month.’

’For Gu Zheng, this actually saved him some trouble.’

...

After taking his leave of Sun Yunrang, he also said goodbye to Jiang Xiong.

Gu Zheng returned to Qingshi County, entered the Cultivation Chamber, and went into seclusion to consume the Earth Pill and refine the Demon Pill.

He kept the Giant’s Heart. The thing contained an immense amount of Vitality; strictly speaking, it was also a "Rebirth" Source Fruit.

He would keep it as a backup, just in case.

After he finished absorbing the Earth Pill, the Demon Pill, and most of his Profound Pills, the Demon Points required to break through to the third stage of the Heroic Body Realm had been reduced to ninety thousand!

He currently had forty thousand accumulated Demon Points.

If he could get another fifty thousand, he would be able to condense the Divine Seed!

And to get Demon Points, the natural course of action was to find a place teeming with Demon Fiends to hunt.

The Demon Fiends on the other side of Fengzhou’s two third-rank passages had been all but wiped out by Gu Zheng.

Should he go to another province?

As he was pondering this...

BUZZ~ BUZZ~

The Demon-Slaying Seal suddenly vibrated.

Gu Zheng used Absorption to draw it over and read the message.

It was a distress call from Cheng Zong.

They had traced the head-shaped Evil God Stone to Qianshan Prefecture and were now trapped there!

...

「Qianshan Prefecture.」

A large prefecture to the west of Fengzhou, situated just northwest of Nanyun Prefecture.

The region was mountainous, with Ciming Mountain being one of its more famous ranges.

At this moment, inside a hidden cave on Ciming Mountain, Cheng Zong, Xue Ding, Nie Yunxiao, Tao Qi, and other Demon Suppression Guards were hiding deep within. Every one of them was wounded, and the atmosphere was grim.

Cheng Zong’s face was also pale. His arm was bandaged, and there was a bloody hole in his abdomen. Although the bleeding had stopped, the blood that had flowed out had already stained most of his clothes red.

He was leaning against the rock wall with his eyes closed, regulating his breathing.

Suddenly...

"Lord Cheng, they’ve found us!"

A suppressed cry of alarm shattered the silence in the cave.

Hearing this, the others, who had been sitting or lying down, all shot to their feet and grabbed their weapons.

Cheng Zong did the same, getting to his feet and shouting in a low voice, "Don’t lose heart, everyone! I’ve already sent a message to Lord Gu. We just have to hold on for a little while! Once Lord Gu arrives, those maniacs outside won’t get off easy, and that includes their bullshit Sect Leader! They’re all going to die!"

"That’s right! Once Lord Gu gets here, none of these bastards, these animals, will leave here alive!" Tao Qi added, boosting their morale.

"Kill!"

"Let’s give ’em hell!"

Hearing this, the group’s morale soared. They brandished their weapons and charged out of the cave.

SWISH! SWISH!

Sharp arrows flew first.

Sword Qi, Powerful Qi, and Fist Force followed behind.

As the group charged out of the cave, they came face to face with a group of men and women in ragged clothes, each one wreathed in a silver-black mist.

Every one of these people had bloodshot eyes and a crazed expression. They felt no fatigue, no pain, and no fear. They knew only slaughter, and they let out bestial roars from their mouths.

Each one possessed immense strength, fighting bare-fisted, their skin so tough that even a Half-Spiritual Soldier couldn’t cut through it.