One more catty, one more attribute point

A half-collapsed tent from a bonfire belched black smoke outward.

The remaining people.

Their bodies were also wrapped in bandages, and they appeared exhausted.

Some were squatting on the ground, eating chunks of meat in small bites to replenish their strength.

Others were continuously wiping their weapons or silently reciting blessings and Heart Sutras to combat the kind of fear that could drive one crazy.

In the center of the valley.

Su Li, clad in a plain white dress, held a long sword in her hand.

Beside her was another woman about thirty years old, donned in silver armor and wielding a long spear.

This elder, named Zhao Luoying, was Su Li\'s immediate superior and had taken care of her during their missions outside. The relationship between the two was also very good.

"Even though we just repelled an attack, it was only a feint to test us. The real battle could erupt at any time, and you must protect yourself," Zhao Luoying whispered her advice. "Do you remember what I told you if you encounter danger?"

"If I encounter a danger I can\'t deal with, I must run away immediately and not linger," Su Li repeated seriously.

"Not bad..."

A satisfied smile appeared on Zhao Luoying\'s face.

She reached out, wanting to pat Su Li on the head, but then she noticed her iron armor.

Her hand, raised halfway, paused and then she chose to lower it, instead patting Su Li on the shoulder. "Preserving yourself is always the top priority."

A-wooo!!!

A long, mournful howl came clearly from afar.

The smile on Zhao Luoying\'s face quickly vanished, and she abruptly looked up to see a giant, furry, grey wolf\'s head poking out from atop the cliff.

"Be careful," Zhao Luoying warned softly, and in the next instant.

Boom!

As black light flashed by, the ground beneath them suddenly exploded.

Zhao Luoying and Su Li dodged to the left and right, as the spot where they had been standing was transformed into a giant pit over a meter deep.

Wisps of black smoke rose from the pit, and a vague figure emerged.

It was a handsome man with a cloak and a sinister smile on his face.

"Bi Song!" Zhao Luoying\'s expression grew stern.

She looked up.

To her shock, she saw a pack of giant wolves and disciples of the Sky Wolf Sect swathed in black cloaks rushing out from the forests on either side.

They were accompanied by copious amounts of poison smoke, poison water, and hidden weapons such as poison darts and blades.

The ground instantly turned into chaos.

The disciples of the Demon Suppression Bureau and a vast number of ordinary elite soldiers from the county office were embroiled in a melee with these cultists.

The sounds of hand-to-hand fighting and clashing swords were incessant, and the pungent smell of blood began to spread gradually.

"It seems that you\'ve been driven into a corner," Zhao Luoying gripped her spear tightly and took an attacking stance, scoffing coldly, "Otherwise, you wouldn\'t expend such a great cost to forcefully attempt to break through at this time."

"It\'s you people from the Demon Suppression Bureau who have been driven into a corner!"

Bi Song\'s face, hearing the truth in her words, lost its sinister smile, twisting instead into anger.

With a slight gesture of his hands, his fingertips turned into black, sharply pointed wolf claws, slashing towards Zhao Luoying\'s throat.

The two clashed with a metallic ring.

In a blink of an eye, they exchanged a dozen moves. The energies around them tore through the air, and the rocks underfoot exploded into pieces.

Zhao Luoying was after all an elder of the Demon Suppression Bureau who practiced the orthodox Cultivation Techniques and had abundant combat experience. While their realms were not much different, Zhao Luoying was visibly stronger.

She maintained the upper hand with ease.

She even managed to provide support when the disciples nearby were in danger.

Hiss!

Another collision occurred.

Zhao Luoying lightly tapped the ground with her toes, her skirt armor swaying in unison.

Her spear pierced through the air with a shriek, aiming squarely for the heart of the sect elder.

The spear penetrated his black robe and the soft armor underneath, the force bursting forth to shred muscle and organs as a large amount of fresh blood spurted from the wound.

The battle was decided.

Yet Bi Song\'s face revealed a perverse smile.

"Watch out!" a somewhat shrill warning from Su Li came from the side.

A sense of foreboding flashed through Zhao Luoying\'s mind, soon followed by a tingling sensation spreading from her waist outward.

At first, it felt like a mosquito bite.

But in just a few breaths, the muscles in that area became stiff and numb, and the circulation of her strength slowed.

"What a fierce poison!"

Zhao Luoying furrowed her brow, standing still.

She operated the Green Wood Longevity Technique, which could only suppress, not completely alleviate, the poison.

Looking back, she saw another elder dressed in black, who bore a resemblance to Bi Song, appear at her side.

He held a dagger in his hand that glinted with a greenish light in the sunlight.

"Bi Lin!"

Zhao Luoying took a deep breath, "So it was a combined effort from you two. No wonder you dared to face me."

She stepped back, standing next to Su Li.

"Didn\'t you just say that if we encountered danger, you should run away first?" Zhao Luoying reprimanded using a secret sound transmission technique.

Su Li puffed up her cheeks but said nothing.

"However, even if you two joined forces, you might not necessarily win," Zhao Luoying said, her expression remaining calm throughout.

The stronger Bi Song had already suffered serious injuries. When the time came, they could spare no expense to kill him first. Then they would come back to their senses and deal with the other person. Even if the violent poison in her body might spread further as a result, the situation was still not the worst-case scenario.

Unless absolutely necessary, Zhao Luoying didn\'t want to retreat.

If she wanted to flee, she could definitely make it out, along with some of the Demon Suppression Bureau\'s disciples.

But those ordinary people left in this stronghold would surely die. They had come to cooperate with the Demon Suppression Bureau\'s operation at great cost.

They were truly brave warriors.

Zhao Luoying was not willing to easily give up on their lives.

"Are you still thinking about the lives of those ordinary people?" Bi Song seemed to know what Zhao Luoying was thinking as he said with a sinister smile, "You should worry about yourself first."

Whoosh!

He took a piercing arrow from his bosom and flung it into the sky.

The arrow burst into a large amount of red sparks.

Suddenly, the woods resounded with rustling noises as large quantities of stones rolled down from the cliffs on both sides.

Zhao Luoying looked up, her expression turning somewhat ugly for the first time.

On the mountainsides around them were large numbers of highly decomposed cadavers. Their skin had entirely rotted away, exposing bluish-purple muscles and internal organs. Wisps of poison gas emanated from the bubbling sores and spread out, quickly forming a large poisonous cloud that obscured their vision.

At Bi Song\'s command,

Hundreds of the cadavers charged down, bringing a rolling cloud of poison with them. The ground\'s flora withered instantly upon contact, hissing as they dehydrated.

Those elite humans didn\'t even qualify to confront these cadavers.

They died of poisoning before they could even get close.

Only a few archers with longbows or shooters with flintlock muskets had the bare qualification to fight back.

But these cadavers,

Though they seemed severely rotted, were actually as tough as steel, impervious to swords and spears.

The damage from the arrows was very limited. Only a direct hit from a musket could be effective.

But the muskets were far too slow to reload.

The disciples of the Demon Suppression Bureau also began to retreat, and in the process, many more were caught off guard and cut down.

Seeing this scene, Bi Song finally couldn\'t contain his glee.

He laughed heartily, tilting his head back as if he already held the winning ticket, not caring even as blood seeped from the corner of his mouth and chest.

Bi Song pointed a finger and declared with loathing, "Today, not one of you from the Demon Suppression Bureau will escape!"

Members of the Sky Wolf Sect fell from all around.

Figures flickered, encircling Zhao Luoying and Su Li. Read exclusive chapters at m_v-l\'-NovelFire.net

The two stood back to back, together. Zhao Luoying said in a low voice, "Later, I\'ll draw their attention while you try to break through and regroup with the other elders."

Bi Song was about to make his move.

But just then, Bi Lin, who had been silent all along, suddenly said, "Someone is coming!"

"Hmm?" Bi Song instinctively looked up.

But he saw on the sunlit slopes in the distance, a tall, burly shadow, overlooking the entire battlefield from a higher ground.

Their gazes met…

The man\'s face was calm, devoid of any murderous aura.

Yet inexplicably, Bi Song felt as though he was being targeted by a prehistoric beast, his heartbeat faltered for a moment, leaving him gasping for air.

"Who is that…" Zhao Luoying and Su Li also noticed the anomaly.

Zhao Luoying, who often carried out missions abroad, had not seen Su Heng but felt surprise, yet she could sense that he was not an ally.

"That\'s the newly appointed Deputy Governor from the Demon Suppression Bureau," someone mentioned on the battlefield.

Zhao Luoying\'s eyes brightened, "Isn\'t that your brother!?"

"Exactly," Su Li said, pursing her lips with unmistakeable pride in her tone.

"How strong is he?" To become a Deputy Governor obviously meant his strength was beyond doubt, but Zhao Luoying still asked instinctively.

"He\'s monstrously strong," Su Li answered seriously.

"A charlatan!" Bi Song was ready to wreak havoc but was now suddenly interrupted.

The feeling was like being in the midst of seduction,

And being told that a period had come all of a sudden.

Bi Song\'s face clouded with displeasure, annoyance written all over it. He pointed at Su Heng and then turned to look at Bi Lin, the elder next to him.

"You!" he commanded, "Go and kill him!"

"Right!" Bi Lin nodded, touched the ground with the tip of his foot, and with a puff of dust, he shot upwards and rushed forward.

Meanwhile, on the cliff,

Su Heng also leaped high, sweeping across battlefield.

His body was heavy, yet his speed was as quick as lightning, like a fleeting shadow, dashing by in a blink.

He was like a swallow that glides past the surface of the water or a startled deer streaking through the forest.

In the eyes of the onlookers,

The figures of Su Heng and Bi Lin intersected in the sky like a hawk and a sparrow.

The former continued to dive forward, bringing a roar of fury and a pressing wave of air, while the latter\'s body seemed to freeze aberrantly, suspended in mid-air.

Only after several heartbeats did it burst with a "bang".

Exploding into a shower of blood and flesh, raining down from the sky.