Chapter 69: Heavy Losses

[Never go to Soul Land Subreddit, the sub is filled with Tang San Bootlickers]

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At that moment, the hook-nosed man's spear spirit struck at the middle of Gu Chen's back. But Gu Chen's entire body was covered in golden scales. That low-level spear spirit, even with the enhanced piercing power from the hook-nosed man's third soul skill, still couldn't penetrate Gu Chen's body.

"Impossible?!" the hook-nosed man exclaimed in shock and immediately tried to retreat.

But with her hands now free, how could Gu Yue Na give him that chance?

A spike of earth shot up from the ground, piercing between the man's legs and then blasting through the top of his skull, skewering him like a meat skewer.

Whoosh!

Gu Yue Na flicked her right hand, sending an ice spike flying out. It accurately pierced into the heart of one of the masked men.

Feng Xiaoyu, following Gu Yue Na's orders, no longer held back. Her body flitted across the battlefield like a breeze. In a flash, three masked men were pierced through the heart by her Wind Thrust.

Xue Youyou swung her Ice Snow Sword and cleanly beheaded a masked man who had already lost an arm.

Now, of the eleven black-masked men, only one remained.

That man knelt on the ground, looking toward Gu Chen without panic. He raised his head and said, "My father is an elder of the Spirit Hall. My family has plenty of gold soul coins. I can give you a million gold soul coins to buy my life. Otherwise, if I die, my father will stop at nothing to hunt you down."

"That does sound tempting, doesn't it?" Gu Chen said with a half-smile.

The masked man thought Gu Chen was persuaded and smiled. "So, what is your choice?"

Gu Chen's smile faded. He raised his right hand, which held a Scorpion Pistol.

"My choice is…"

Bang!

The unsilenced Scorpion Pistol roared with a deafening bang. A flash of fire lit the air as a searing-hot bullet spun at high speed and blasted through the masked man's forehead.

"Over."

...

"D-Did we just kill people?" The battlefield fell into silence after all the masked men were slain. Xue Youyou finally came to her senses.

Seeing the decapitated head rolling across the ground, she couldn't hold it in and bent over to vomit.

Hua Buluo and Feng Xiaoyu also began retching. The others looked just as pale.

"They were the enemy. Enemies… must be killed by us." Gu Chen said calmly. If they couldn't overcome the hurdle of killing, then they weren't worthy of being his followers.

From the look of it, Xue Youyou and the others had met his expectations.

"Brother Chen… if we face enemies again in the future, what should we do?" Luo Chen asked, his face still pale as he looked at Gu Chen.

"Kill in one strike. Give them no chance," Gu Chen said coldly. He then bent down and started rummaging through the corpses, retrieving their score wristbands and storing them in his own band's storage space.

"Luo Chen, come here," Gu Chen called.

Though confused, Luo Chen obeyed and walked over.

"Open your hand," Gu Chen said.

Luo Chen held out his right hand.

Gu Chen raised his own hand and gently placed a gleaming Scorpion Pistol in Luo Chen's palm.

"This is for you. Protect yourself," Gu Chen said, his tone softening.

Luo Chen had just witnessed how Gu Chen used the pistol to kill, and his eyes lit up. "Brother Chen, thank you!"

Gu Chen smiled and patted Luo Chen's shoulder. "Do we really need to say thanks between us?"

He had seen Luo Chen's attribute panel already — his loyalty was as high as 90%, more than enough for Gu Chen to entrust him with the Scorpion Pistol.

However, the pistol wasn't fitted with a suppressor, and the magazine only had 19 bullets.

"Xuan Mo, from now on, your task is to protect Ling Xiaojiu. Jin Zi, you'll stay with us and help hunt abyssal creatures," Gu Chen ordered.

Both nodded.

Two days passed. After Gu Chen's team entered the inner perimeter of the Nameless Mountains, they halted further advance — the appearance of abyssal creatures had become much more frequent.

In those two days, they encountered four waves of Abyssal Bomb Bees, over three hundred Four-Clawed Bats, Baan, and even a Demonic Enchantress.

Feng Xiaoyu, during yesterday's surprise attack by the Demonic Enchantress, was critically wounded and near death. Even with Ling Xiaojiu's healing, she remained unconscious.

Luo Chen took the initiative to carry Feng Xiaoyu on his back.

"There's firelight ahead," Gu Chen said.

A hundred meters away stood a wooden cabin made of dead trees. Inside, there was the flickering glow of fire.

"Nana and I will check it out. The rest of you stay here," Gu Chen instructed, heading for the cabin.

He knocked. No response. So Gu Chen pushed open the door.

What he saw made his eyes light up. "So many compressed biscuits and water pouches. Enough food for three days! Nana, let's take it all."

He didn't know which unlucky person had left their supplies here so carelessly, but it was their loss now — Gu Chen would be the one benefiting.

The two quickly began gathering the supplies.

"Who are you?!" A surprised shout came from outside. A figure jumped through the window, trying to stop Gu Chen.

"Nana!" Gu Chen shouted, then threw a punch at the intruder's jaw, sending him flying.

Gu Yue Na grabbed Gu Chen's shoulder and used space teleportation. In an instant, they reappeared a hundred meters away — back with the rest of their group.

"There was someone in that cabin. Let's go," Gu Chen said.

"I sensed his soul power. He's probably a Soul Emperor-level survivor, about 25 years old," Gu Yue Na added.

The group of nine quickly retreated.

But during their escape, they inadvertently ran into a massive swarm of Abyssal Bomb Bees — at least over a thousand, the largest swarm they had ever seen.

And this time, the swarm chased them relentlessly.

"Nana, use the Dragon God Transformation!" Gu Chen shouted. It was the only way to wipe out the swarm.

Gu Yue Na wrapped her arms around Gu Chen, embracing him tightly. The soft sensation made Gu Chen briefly lose focus, but he quickly poured soul power into her, beginning their fusion.

A giant Dragon God phantom appeared, brimming with terrifying energy.

A nine-colored beam of light shot across the sky. Countless abyssal bomb bees turned to ash, their gray energy vaporized before it could even form.

From over a thousand abyssal bees, fewer than two hundred survived that devastating attack.

Seeing Gu Chen and Gu Yue Na collapse with their soul power drained, the remaining abyssal bees surged forward.

Xuan Mo and Jin Zi leapt to shield them, managing to slay dozens of bees before both fell with serious injuries.

The remaining bees continued their assault toward Gu Chen and Gu Yue Na, who were defenseless and also severely injured.

The rest — Hua Buluo and the others — fought desperately. In the end, they eliminated the swarm, but Xue Youyou was gravely wounded and fell unconscious. The only healer, Ling Xiaojiu, was also unconscious.

Hua Buluo fainted, and Feng Xiao — still unconscious from before — hadn't awakened.

Now, the only one left standing was Luo Chen, having emptied his Scorpion Pistol of all bullets.

(End of Chapter)