Chapter 129 – "Holy Crap!"

Thanks to the alchemical potions, Su Ming and Xu Qianqian’s injuries weren’t as troublesome to recover from as one might expect.

Su Ming mainly needed to restore his magic power; otherwise, he couldn’t freely use the power of the 【Silver Arm】. With his current strength, he likely couldn’t do much against an Upper-Rank Professional like Gao Xu.

Xu Qianqian’s injuries were more severe. Even with the help of alchemical potions, it would take quite some time for her to fully recover.

Unless they used the highest-grade alchemical potions, like the one Gao Xu had given Xu Yanyan—which could rapidly heal even a near-fatal injury like a half-severed neck—some time would inevitably be spent on recovery.

For now, the two decided to spend the night in this mountain forest.

With the alchemical potions, after a night of rest, both should recover mostly well.

Although this mountain forest wasn’t particularly hidden, it was still better than staying out in the wild. Su Ming and Xu Qianqian found a small cabin used by forest rangers for breaks and settled in.

Then, Su Ming began contacting his teammates, while Xu Qianqian started reaching out to her private army, each busy with their own tasks.

“That’s how it is. I probably won’t be able to return to your side today. Make sure to be careful on your own.”

Su Ming spoke in a rather helpless tone during the call with his teammates.

On the other end of the line, the person answering was Ye Bai.

As soon as Su Ming finished speaking, Ye Bai’s voice, strained as if veins were bulging, came through.

“That’s how it is… my foot! You haven’t explained anything at all, have you!?”

Ye Bai roared.

It turned out Su Ming hadn’t told them anything about what happened on his side.

There was no other way.

“It’s not that I don’t want to explain, but the situation is a bit complicated, and it’s too troublesome to go into details,” Su Ming said, his tone turning sincere. “You’re out there hunting Phantom Demons right now. If you get bothered by my issues and it affects you, wouldn’t that be terrible?”

Su Ming spoke as if it were the truth.

“We’re already bothered and affected by your situation,” Ye Bai said, both angry and exasperated. “After you ran off, our firepower clearly dropped. Goddess An has been distracted the whole time, and our efficiency in subjugating Phantom Demons has plummeted. We can’t stay safely in the vehicle like before, charging ahead while fighting.”

Clearly, without Su Ming, the team’s operations had run into some issues. Relying solely on An Zijin, a new Sorcerer, was inevitably a case of ambition outstripping ability.

Even though An Zijin had vast Spirit Power and used Spirit Arts lavishly without needing to conserve, she could only employ a limited number of Spirit Arts. It was natural that their firepower was lacking.

Thus, Su Ming wasn’t surprised.

“So, are you all okay now?”

Su Ming was only concerned about whether his friends on the other end had encountered any trouble or danger.”Fortunately, although efficiency has decreased quite a bit, our extermination mission didn’t encounter any unexpected issues.” Ye Bai’s tone finally relaxed considerably, even carrying some excitement as he continued: “Let me tell you, Su Ming, you missing out on being here is truly a great loss. Did you know that Junior Jiang possesses an alchemical weapon?”

“Oh?” Su Ming raised an eyebrow, speaking with a faint smile: “Don’t tell me Junior Jiang used an alchemical weapon in combat?”

“Exactly!” Ye Bai, still unaware of Su Ming’s unusual reaction, continued excitedly: “You should have seen how ferocious Junior Jiang became after wielding that alchemical weapon. No matter what Phantom Demon she encountered, even massive ones like Trolls, she cut through them like slicing melons and vegetables. The damage she inflicted on Phantom Demons was comparable to our Spirit Arts. Those Phantom Demons wounded by her alchemical weapon couldn’t regenerate and died instantly – absolutely fierce!”

This was the power of alchemical weapons.

During Su Ming’s battle with Gao Xu, since both parties wielded alchemical weapons, they couldn’t fully demonstrate the formidable power of weapons like Fire Fang and the Scythe.

But when facing opponents without alchemical weapons, their overwhelming superiority became immediately apparent.

Their lethality against Phantom Demons went without saying – from Ye Bai’s description, one could clearly see how threatening alchemical weapons were to Phantom Demons.

Even large Phantom Demons like Trolls, despite their astonishing defensive capabilities, were cut down as easily as vegetables when struck by alchemical weapons. Their regeneration abilities proved useless, leading directly to their extermination.

If facing human Hunters, as long as the opponent lacked alchemical weapons and dared to clash ordinary weapons against them, those weapons would be severed instantly without any doubt.

Alchemical weapons could even effectively block and counterattack against Spirit Arts used by Sorcerers.

Many famous Hunters had used alchemical weapons to disperse Spirit Arts released by Sorcerers, or employed them to block such arts while remaining completely unharmed.

Given these facts, it was no wonder alchemical weapons were so highly regarded.

In that battle between Su Ming and Gao Xu, since both possessed alchemical weapons, neither could cleanly sever the other’s weapon, resulting in a prolonged stalemate.

Had either side been wielding ordinary weapons, the fight would likely have ended much sooner.

Thus, an alchemical weapon held tremendous significance for Hunters specializing in close combat.

Now that Jiang Wanyu had revealed her previously concealed alchemical weapon, she could undoubtedly crush lower-level Phantom Demons with overwhelming force.

It could be said that, with Su Ming currently away, Jiang Wanyu wielding her alchemical weapon had become the undisputed strongest member of their team.

With her present, even when encountering large groups of Phantom Demons or mutated lower-level Phantom Demons, the team shouldn’t face any serious trouble.

Of course, it was better to be safe than sorry.

As a precaution, Su Ming had placed alert spiders on An Zijin. If any situation arose there, he would immediately return.

For now, however, everything appeared to be proceeding smoothly.

Thus, Su Ming spoke up.”Since Junior Jiang has an alchemical weapon, as long as you’re careful, there shouldn’t be any problems,” Su Ming said, adding a reminder: “But you should tell Junior Jiang that if she encounters Professionals from other squads, it’s best to put away the alchemical weapon.”

As the saying goes, while the object itself may be innocent, possessing a treasure becomes a crime.

Alchemical weapons are items even Upper-Rank Professionals covet, making them extremely valuable.

If Jiang Wanyu accidentally reveals her possession of one in front of others, it might inevitably provoke greed in those with ill intentions.

Wealth should never be flaunted, and one must always guard against others’ potential malice—being cautious in this regard is never a mistake.

Jiang Wanyu clearly understood this as well, which is why her voice came through from the other end of the phone after Su Ming finished speaking.

“Don’t worry, Senior, I’m being careful about it.”

Jiang Wanyu’s voice was brimming with vitality.

It seemed the girl’s injuries truly weren’t serious anymore. Being able to contribute to the squad and no longer holding everyone back had made Jiang Wanyu quite happy, and she no longer appeared to be overthinking things.

Just then, An Zijin’s voice chimed in again.

“When are you coming back, Brother Su Ming?”

An Zijin remained as attached and dependent on Su Ming as ever.

“Tomorrow,” Su Ming replied, scratching his cheek. “I’ll return as soon as I’ve resolved matters here.”

“Alright then,” An Zijin responded reluctantly, murmuring softly, “Be careful, Brother Su Ming, and don’t do anything dangerous.”

“I know,” Su Ming deliberately made his voice sound lighthearted, even joking: “I won’t do anything dangerous—only things that are… pleasurable.”

No sooner had these words left his mouth than a voice sounded beside him.

“Are you done?”

Xu Qianqian had returned at some point, standing quietly next to Su Ming and suddenly speaking up.

The scene instantly fell silent.

“That voice…”

On the other end of the phone, An Zijin’s voice became completely devoid of emotion.

Su Ming felt a chill run down his spine and hurriedly ended the call.

……

Inside a ruin in B-5 Zone.

An off-road vehicle parked there, but the atmosphere had turned strangely tense.

“A-An underclassman?”

“Little Zijin…?”

Lei Hao, Ye Bai, Jiang Wanyu, and Yao Beibei stared at An Zijin with terrified expressions.

An Zijin sat there, her face blank.

“Pleasurable… pleasurable…”

An Zijin muttered under her breath, the cold aura emanating from her having materialized into tangible black Qi.

The others could only watch her trembling, inwardly cursing Su Ming—who had caused this mess, wasn’t present, and left them to deal with the aftermath.

Especially Lei Hao, who was nearly going mad.

After all, the voice that had just appeared beside Su Ming sounded exactly like his goddess?

Was Su Ming having “pleasurable” times with his goddess?

“Su Ming! Goddammit!”

……

Meanwhile, Su Ming was also complaining to Xu Qianqian.

“Why did you suddenly speak up? Don’t you know startling people like that could scare someone to death?”

Su Ming’s dissatisfaction with Xu Qianqian was completely overflowing.He could somewhat guess that upon returning, he would likely face a major problem.

If this wasn’t handled properly, he might get stabbed in the back.

Just thinking about that outcome made Su Ming feel terrible all over.

Xu Qianqian, however, showed not a hint of remorse and merely spoke in a calm tone.

“I’ve contacted my subordinates. It seems they managed to survive by sheer luck.”

Despite saying this, Xu Qianqian’s face showed little joy.

It was easy to imagine that even if her subordinates had truly survived by chance, they must have suffered heavy casualties.

After all, the shockwaves from the battle between Su Ming and Gao Xu were terrifying.

Moreover, the Private Army had been defeated by Gao Xu, with many losing their combat capabilities—some might not have escaped at all.

Of course, the same likely applied to the Family Hunters brought by Xu Yanyan.

And Xu Qianqian’s teammates, Li Wei and the others.

They had been directly ambushed by the Xu Family, and with their off-road vehicle exploding, their chances of survival were slim.

(End of Chapter)