Li Mingju City, a military stronghold, an open-air school martial arts arena.

Bam!

Four fists clashed, unleashing a fierce wind and scattering the dust on the ground.

The next moment, the fists were separated, only to collide again at a speed beyond normal comprehension.

In an instant, they had exchanged hundreds of punches, each hitting heavily, like the unceasing thunder of drums.

"Haha, satisfying!"

After hundreds of punches, Xing Tiexin stepped back a few paces, his bare torso emitting scorching steam.

On the other side, Song Changming was dressed in armor, his expression unchanged.

"Bring the sword and spear!" Xing Tiexin shouted.

Not far away, Fu Yuan immediately tossed the spear to Xing Tiexin and then handed the sword to Song Changming.

"Changming, don’t hold back, use your full strength!" Xing Tiexin laughed heartily, his muscles rippling, and Innate Qi Aura bursting forth.

Purple Gold Fire ignited around Song Changming, with gale winds rising and Thunder Light flashing.

"Excellent!" Xing Tiexin moved, thrusting the long spear, a spear dragon roaring and engulfing.

Song Changming showed no fear, approaching with the momentum of wind and thunder, colliding directly with the spear dragon.

Even more ferocious Gang Qi raged throughout the school martial arts arena.

Fortunately, the runes carved into the arena lit up, absorbing and blocking the aftermath of the battle, preventing further disturbance.

"Sss! This youngster indeed is formidable; now he can actually spar with General Xing!"

"What’s that? Earlier, General Song fought against the Eagle Demon; now that was something truly earth-shattering! He’s already the top Deputy General in our 41st Army, comparable to no ordinary Commander!"

"Tsk tsk, he truly is incredible, it won’t be long before he rises through the ranks in the army."

"..."

After a while, Song Changming looked at the debris of blades on the ground and the hilt in his hand, bowed slightly.

"General’s strength is remarkable, Changming concedes."

Xing Tiexin casually discarded the army’s iron spear that had been chopped off, folding his slightly trembling hand.

Secretly, he thought this kid’s Qi Power was becoming ever more exaggeratingly formidable, even he found it hard to endure.

"No need for courtesy between us, the blades this time were not suitable, let’s call it a draw."

"Yes." Song Changming didn’t say more.

Thanks to Xing Tiexin’s sparring these days, he’s quickly adapted to the strength of his rapidly growing physique.

As for winning or losing, it fundamentally held no significance.

He hadn’t used the Witch Seal, and Xing Tiexin equally hadn’t fought him with all his might.

With both holding back, who won or lost was inconsequential.

Song Changming only conceded out of consideration for Xing Tiexin’s commander’s honor.

A personal guard of Xing Tiexin came quickly now, dressing Xing Tiexin in battle armor, while saying.

"General, the Grand Marshal is asking for you."

"I understand." Xing Tiexin donned his battle armor, swiftly leaving.

"Looks like it’s time for another deployment." Fu Yuan observed, speaking.

"Changming, let’s head back and prepare early."

"Hmm." Song Changming nodded and left.

Not long after, Xing Tiexin returned, as expected, organizing the troops for a swift departure from the camp.

This time, another two troop units were deployed together, led personally by Little Flag Master Yang Zhen.

Intelligence indicated a demon swarm was entrenched outside a town, requiring extermination.

Everyone was accustomed to such demon-extermination missions these days.

In a previous fight in the dense forest, eighty percent of the demons were eradicated, the remaining stragglers scattered, plus some additional influx of Demon Race from West Valley Road, setting the current targets for the army’s crusade.

A thousand elite soldiers galloped swiftly, soon arriving at the town.

The town was not far from Li Mingju City, the townspeople had already relocated to the city for refuge, leaving behind an empty town and some corpses.

Approaching closer, Song Changming could distinctly sense the demon aura permeating the area, confirming the demons had not left.

"Mostly Little Demons, not worth fearing, divide forces to attack them." Yang Zhen issued the command.

The three elite troops he brought immediately followed orders, led by the commander into the town, slaying demons, annihilating beasts.

An hour later, several green-skinned Ape Demons shrieked in panic, escaping the town, quickly darting into the forest outside the town, running for a while without seeing any pursuers, then slowed down, not rushing anymore.

Having run through the forest for a while, one Ape Demon suddenly took out a piece of leg meat it was carrying.

The leg meat was dripping with blood, slightly rotten, it was indeed a human leg.

The remaining Ape Demons, seeing it had hidden away privates, salivated immediately.

For little demons like them, unable to hunt live humans, eating nearly rotten dead bodies would suffice.

Just then, several streaks of purple-gold Sword Qi descended from the sky, flying over.

The Ape Demons, lacking skill, even if they reacted in time, couldn’t evade, and were cleanly cut by the heavenly Sword Qi.

"Followed them for nothing..." Song Changming landed, looking at these demon corpses, thinking.

He initially wanted to use these Ape Demons to uncover more Demon Race, but the plan fell through.

These scattered Ape Demons similarly didn’t have information on any other Demon Race companions, upon seeing this he didn’t bother wasting time further, killed them to settle it.

He approached to absorb all the Blood Qi Essence from these Ape Demons, even a little is still nutritional.

He would never waste any chance to obtain Demon Beast Blood Qi Essence.

Then with a blaze, burned the now shriveled and useless demon corpses, he turned again to explore the forest here.

The forest was small, swiftly searched through, as expected, no other demons were dwelling here.

Not far away, there was a towering mountain cliff, more conspicuous than this forest.

"Hmm?" He suddenly saw clouds rolling atop the cliff of the mountain.

A massive claw suddenly emerged from the clouds.