Even when all of the Devil's Hand Guild members were subdued, the battle in the sky hadn't ended yet.
When the martial dao realm was at a higher level, a fight between two experts would take a long time to settle.
As the seventh branch Vice Commander, Liu Kun cultivated a mystic class, high-tier technique just like Elder Scorpion.
In the Azure Water Sect, mystic class peak-tier techniques weren't accessible to just anyone.
Only direct disciples, inner sect elders, and a minority of the members could redeem mystic class, peak-tier techniques.
Of course, to Liu Kun, a mystic class, high-tier technique was temporarily enough. As of now, he was only at the 17th rank of the mystic class, high-tier technique that he cultivated. It still wasn't at the highest 18th rank.
As their techniques and cultivation level were of similar levels, the only difference was their martial arts.
Martial arts were full of possibilities. There were many types and were mainly dependant on the practitioner.
After a few hundred exchanges, Liu Kun and Elder Scorpion were both still evenly matched.
"I'm not going to play with you any longer. I lost 5 million gold coins because of you. I shall kill five of your members!"
Elder Scorpion's figure shot down from the sky. Most of the people couldn't even react in time.
"You dare!" Liu Kun's eyes widened as he was angered.
Pfff, pfff, pfff….
Bursts of bloody mist erupted as five of the seventh branch Earth Realm members were crushed into smithereens.
The officers of Group 4 and 5 were included amongst the five.
Elder Scorpion originally intended to kill Emotionless Sword too, but Emotionless Sword had sharp senses and instantly dodged to the side when Elder Scorpion descended from the sky.
Li Fuchen was nearby too, but he dodged slightly even further than Emotionless Sword. The scene of Elder Scorpion instantly killing five men was clearly witnessed by him.
'A difference of a single realm was like heaven and earth. These two team leaders were at least at the peak stage of the Earth Realm. But they died just like that.' Li Fuchen's heart shivered. He knew he wouldn't be able to escape death if Elder Scorpion targeted him.
"You court death!" Liu Kun chased closely behind Elder Scorpion.
"There is no need to send me off. There will be opportunities for me to take your head."
Elder Scorpion's speed increased after he seemingly activated some fleeing type secret technique and left Liu Kun far behind.
"Damn it!" Liu Kun stopped his pursuit but his expression was extremely dark.
"Officer Luo and Officer Liang are dead…" The rest of the five team leaders grieved for their lost comrades.
"Only their luck can be blamed for actually meeting a Heaven Realm class demon dao martial artist. Hai… Life and death can interchange so quickly."
"Yes, if it were us, we wouldn't have been able to escape the gruesome fate either."
With everyone feeling the low morale, the excitement from them eradicating the Devil’s Hand Branch Guild began to dissipate.
***
The eradication of the Devil’s Hand Branch Guild was a matter that was three days old.
On the Hunter’s Board of the seventh branch was Li Fuchen’s name. The number behind his name was a single digit; 9.
This meant that Li Fuchen killed a total of nine Earth Realm demon dao fighters.
It didn’t sound like a lot, but in fact, Li Fuchen’s ranking was already above the nominal position.
On the Hunter’s Board, there were a total of over 400 direct disciples' names. Li Fuchen was ranked 198.
The Hunter’s Board rankings was made from combining both the Divine Wind Faction and Iron Blood Faction. Which meant that it was the overall ranking and not just a faction branch ranking.
Of course when the Hunter’s Board was updated, the latest results would be delayed.
Every month, the faction branches would update the overall rankings. Which meant that Li Fuchen’s name would not appear on the other faction branches yet. Only on the first day of the month would Li Fuchen’s name appear on the rest of the faction branches' list. By then, Li Fuchen may not be rank 198 anymore, as the other branches would also update their information.
"Out of the 400 over direct disciples, about 400 of them have less than a 20 kill count. Only the top 20 has more kills."
Li Fuchen looked upward and saw Xue Feng’s name.
Xue Feng was Emotionless Sword.
His kill count was at an impressive 98, Rank 5.
Above him was Sword Maniac and Sword Tiger.
One was rank 3, the other was rank 1.
At rank 3, the kill count was at 105. At rank 1, the kill count was at 145.
Sword Tiger was addicted to battle, which was why he had a higher kill count than Sword Maniac. This didn’t mean that Sword Tiger’s ability was superior to Sword Maniac's.
"Combining all the kill counts from the 400 plus direct disciples, they have killed a total of over a thousand Earth Realm martial artists. It sure is a horrific number."
What does over a thousand Earth Realm martial artist mean? During the days when the four major clans were still in Cloud Mist City, there was only a total of less than 20 Earth Realm martial artists.
Even medium sized cities like Silver Rich City would only have a total of about 30 Earth Realm martial artists.
Of course, this wasn’t the kill count of a single year, but the accumulated number of around a dozen years.
If direct disciples weren’t able to breakthrough to the Heaven Realm before the age of 40, they would automatically be given a high grade outer sect elder title.
Most people were promoted to direct disciples around 20 odd years of age. Before they reached the age of 40, they would have lived around 10+ years of a direct disciples life.
It was still acceptable to accumulate over a thousand Earth Realm martial artists kills in over two decades.
But what Li Fuchen didn’t know, was that during these two decades, the number of Earth Realm demon dao martial artists killed wasn’t just over a thousand, but at least twice that number.
Many of the previous direct disciples who weren’t direct disciples anymore would have their names removed from the Hunter’s Board.
Those that passed away would also have their names removed.
If those kill counts were to be taken into consideration, twice was just a minimum.
There was something else Li Fuchen didn’t know either. It was that direct disciples didn’t just only hunt demon dao members, but other sect’s Earth Realm martial artists too.
Such as the remnants of the Evil Fist Sect.
Or Earth Realm martial artists from Spirit Hidden Sect or Violent Sabre Sect. Neighbouring sects would definitely have conflicts. Although a conflict wouldn’t lead to a war, but small scale battles do happen often.
A few years back, the Azure Water Sect had a small scale battle with the Heaven Fiend Sect. There were at least a dozen Heaven Realm martial artists and over a thousand Earth Realm martial artists involved.
***
Time passed as days went by.
Group 10 was back to its normal peaceful days. Even when there were missions, it would seldomly be assigned to Group 10 unless it was a big-scale mission.
The first month ended and it was now the first day of the second month. As expected, Li Fuchen’s ranking had dropped from 198 to 215.
Li Fuchen didn’t mind it.
Kill counts were related to how many contribution points one could get.
For every Earth Realm demon dao martial artist slayed, the reward was 20,000 contribution points.
Li Fuchen didn’t have a lack for contribution points, so he didn’t bother about his ranking or his kill count.
***
In the Devil’s Hand Guild headquarters located somewhere underground…
A group of black shadows sat in a circle within a dark and eerie conference hall.
"Our branch has fallen to the Azure Water Sect’s seventh branch. We cannot remain silent, we must retaliate."
"Of course we need to retaliate, but we must take action quickly. We need to use the shortest amount of time to eliminate the survivors of the seventh branch and not let the other branches have time to provide reinforcements."
"Let’s teach the Azure Water Sect a lesson! Let them know the consequences of provoking our Devil’s Hand Guild!"
"When do we act?"
"Three days later. We will gather all our members during these three days and eradicate the seventh branch in one go. We will also take the opportunity to hit the nearby sixth and fifth branch viciously."
"Alright, three days later then. After we eliminate the seventh branch, we will then join the Five Poison Triad. They have already sent men to our branches."
The conference ended quickly. The seventh branch members didn’t know that a mass-scale assault was about to strike them. When it happens, it will certainly be a blood shed.