Chapter 41: Star Demon Blood

How long the battle lasted, Jiang Changkong did not know.

He only saw the soaring blood aura and the students thrown into chaos.

Jiang Changkong went off to kill Star Demons, striving to improve himself.

By evening, when Jiang Changkong returned, Zhang Hua and the others had already left.

They had relocated to another spot. Among the dozen or so people, aside from the two senior sisters, everyone else looked utterly disheveled.

Zhang Hua was covered in blood, his face deathly pale.

Cao Ye, the top student, was in a similar state, his clothes tattered and torn.

The other students were even worse off—not only were their clothes in shreds, but they also bore numerous injuries.

If not for Ji Ziling and Ying Yanxue, who had no desire to see lives lost, half of their teammates would likely have perished.

“Senior Sister, it’s all your fault. If it weren’tt for you, there wouldn’t have been so many Star Demons.”

Huang Mingye couldn’t help but speak up.

He was injured too, with a long scar on his arm, but fortunately, Ji Ziling had helped treat it.

Ji Ziling sneered coldly, “You can blame me? If you hadn’t known when to hold back, things wouldn’t have turned out like this.”

Ying Yanxue also spoke up, “If it weren’t for the Special Star Demon, we wouldn’t have bothered. Can’t you see that both Ziling and I are injured too?”

“Enough, all of you.”

Zhang Hua intervened to stop the three from arguing, though he himself harbored some doubts.

Was Ji Ziling deliberately doing this to enhance her healing abilities?

But seeing that both of them were injured, coupled with the threat Zhou Wen posed, he dismissed the thought.

Huang Mingye wisely fell silent, having only dared to voice a single complaint.

“My backpack is missing,” a young man said.

“Missing is missing. It’s a miracle we’re still alive.”

Zhang Hua snorted coldly, “We only have three Star Smoke Balls left.”

The young man was somewhat displeased but said nothing more.

It wasn’t your backpack that went missing, so of course you don’t care. That was all my earnings from the entire journey.

“Using several Star Smoke Balls simultaneously attracted the Special Star Demon one after another.”

Ji Ziling pondered, “But clearly, the presence of blood aura made it even more enticing.”

Zhang Hua looked at her. Usually, it was a blessing if Ji Ziling didn’t cause trouble, but now she was actively offering strategies?

However, what she said was true. They had indeed seen a Special Star Demon today.

Though they only caught a glimpse and couldn’t examine it closely, the humanoid figure, along with its claws and Star Demon skin, was unmistakably a Humanoid Star Demon.

A Humanoid Star Demon was undoubtedly a Special Star Demon!

“Tomorrow, we’ll use Star Smoke Balls along with Star Demon corpses and blood to lure it.”

Zhang Hua mused, “We’ll also prepare ourselves. If the Special Star Demon appears, we’ll act, but we can’t repeat today’s chaos.”

Elsewhere, Jiang Changkong rushed to the battlefield, where many Star Demons still lingered.

The Star Demons feasted on the corpses, the blood aura soaring into the sky as Essence, Qi, and Spirit rapidly dissipated.

Jiang Changkong charged into the midst of the Star Demons, extracting Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

For the living Star Demons, he ignored them for the time being, focusing first on extracting the Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

Meanwhile.

The Kexiang small team.

“The muscleheads from the Martial Arts School fought with the Star Demons?”

Zhang Xiaoyu and the others stared in astonishment at a young man.

“Yes, the blood aura was soaring into the sky. I used the Starlight Detector.”

The young man replied, “Those muscleheads discovered a Special Star Demon but failed to capture it. They ended up in a fierce battle with the Star Demon horde.

From what I gathered, they probably killed two to three hundred Star Demons.”

“Truly a bunch of muscleheads who only grow in Star Power but lack brains.”

The Kexiang students sneered disdainfully.

The two schools developed slightly differently. Kexiang placed greater emphasis on technology, innovation, and equipment.

In some respects, Kexiang held a sense of superiority, believing that Martial Arts Schools only knew how to resolve matters with their fists.

And indeed, that was the case—Martial Arts Schools relied most heavily on individual strength.

Thus, many students at Kexiang referred to those from Martial Arts Schools as muscleheads and barbarians.

“What a pity about those several hundred Star Stones.”

The Kexiang students wore expressions of regret.

When fighting a horde of Star Demons, just staying alive was an achievement; there was certainly no chance to dig out the Star Stones.

“Still, the muscles of Martial Arts Schools are quite enviable.”

Zhang Xiaoyu and the other three thought of Jiang Changkong.

If they could have that kind of defense, they would gladly become muscleheads too.

When Star Demons bit him, their teeth shattered—who wouldn’t envy such defense?

Even those from Kexiang envied it, but envy was all they could do; they could only seek a bit of superiority in their words.

As for their claim that a student’s physique was so strong that Star Demons couldn’t bite through it and even shattered their teeth—they didn’t believe it.

That kind of defense should belong to their battle armor, their alloys!

…

Essence: 5892

Although a fair amount of Essence had been lost—quite a bit had been gnawed away—fortunately, most of the Star Stones remained, which was why the number was so high.

It must be said, Zhang Hua and the others had worked hard enough.

These hired hands hadn’t been found in vain.

Adding what he had killed today, along with the Star Smoke Balls and the rest, everything was poured into Three Blades Without Trace.

Jiang Changkong’s internal Star Power grew significantly denser once more.

Jiang Changkong: late-stage stellar qi

Low-Grade Mid-Tier Martial Arts:

Bronze Skin Iron Bone Technique: Mastery 1/16000

Tai Chi Fist Scripture: Mastery 1/16000

Three Blades Without Trace: Mastery 10352/16000

Essence: 0

“One more time, and my Three Blades Without Trace might reach perfection directly?”

Jiang Changkong murmured to himself.

Originally, he hadn’t dared to hope for it, but now, he could fully look forward to it.

Oh, right, there was also that pouch of Star Stones.

The one Ji Ziling had kicked out didn’t contain many Star Stones—only thirty pieces.

Twenty were at peak stellar qi, eight at early-stage stellar qi, and two at mid-stage stellar qi.

What a poor bastard!

He couldn’t even be bothered with such meager Star Stones now. Better to toss them to Ji Ziling.

Just as he thought of Ji Ziling, the weeds rustled, and Ji Ziling, dressed in green robes, arrived carrying a bottle:

“Good brother, you’ve made me search all over for you.”

“You can’t sneak out now—aren’t you afraid of being discovered?” Jiang Changkong was slightly taken aback.

“They’re all exhausted right now, and Yan Xue is helping keep watch,” Ji Ziling said dismissively. “But as for that Star Demon horde, we can’t get the Star Stones either—a bunch of Star Demons are guarding them.”

Jiang Changkong chuckled. “No matter. Seeing them in such a sorry state makes me feel quite pleased. Here are the Star Stones I got, though none of them are anything special.”

“Keep them all for now. When we make our move tomorrow, we’ll take every last one of their Star Stones. I want them to lose everything, down to their last thread—and they still dare to dream of Special Starstones?”

Ji Ziling sneered. Since they had dared to cheat her like this, of course she had to retaliate.

Special Starstones? First, she’d make them cough up every Star Stone in their possession.

“What’s in that bottle you’re holding?” Jiang Changkong’s gaze fell on the bottle in her hand.

Inside was a pool of black liquid he couldn’t identify.

“Star Demon Blood, from a Star Cloud Peak Star Demon,” Ji Ziling whispered. “We’ll continue the operation tomorrow. When the Special Star Demon coughs up blood and is severely injured, that little brat Zhang Hua is sure to go mad.”

“I’ll follow your lead, Senior Sister. But you should be careful too—the Kexiang people are nearby,” Jiang Changkong said.

Ji Ziling nodded slightly, “Don’t worry. Although the two schools are rivals, they generally won’t fight to the death.”

After leaving the Star Demon Blood and agreeing to meet again late tomorrow night, Ji Ziling departed.

Jiang Changkong thought for a moment and, out of caution, moved to a different spot.

What if someone else came?

Earlier, he had been too absorbed in his Essence, Qi, and Spirit, and hadn’t even checked the Primal Martial Compass, failing to notice Ji Ziling’s arrival.

Should he go hunt some more Star Demons?

Jiang Changkong considered it. Since it was still early, he decided to kill a few more—resting in the latter half of the night would be enough.

The more Star Demons he killed, the sooner he could level up.