Shuqiu City had already been ravaged by the Demon Realm Army and turned into a ruin.

Now, after enduring even more brutal mecha firepower scourging, it had transformed into an even more complete city ruin.

Numerous buildings were still burning furiously from the aftermath of the explosions, the flickering flames illuminating Wang Zhifan standing alone in the city, with the tall mecha Sirius by his side, its surface shifting between light and dark.

"A Demon Venerable is heading this way, I need to leave quickly."

He took out the Demon Sealing List and glanced at the map. As expected, Wang Zhifan found that the previous earth-shattering commotion had attracted nearby Demon Realm forces, as this place was considered a major base area for the Demon Realm in the Calamity Realm, with a relatively dense distribution of demons.

However, he did not immediately put on the Wind Concealing Conical Hat to leave invisibly. Instead, he raised his hand to store the mecha beside him into his portable space and then looked at the body of a certain person lying on the ground before him, smiling serenely with closed eyes.

There was no doubt that Zhang Siqian was now completely gone, ending his young and tragic life.

But in a certain sense, he was also happy. At least in the final moments of his life, he achieved his wish of personally avenging the demons; otherwise, he wouldn’t have died with a relieved smile.

"Mr. Zhang, since we met, let me at least dig you a simple grave... right here on the land you’ve lived on for twenty years, soon to be in the path of the spreading flames... May you reunite happily with your family below."

After thinking it over, Wang Zhifan decided to bury Zhang Siqian’s body on the spot. After all, Shuqiu City was the place of his birth and upbringing, and he should be content to rest here eternally.

Considering that demons might come later and the freshly buried body might be unsafe, with the risk of being dug up and eaten, Wang Zhifan planned to bury him where the fire would spread, so the raging flames would consume his body, turning it into a handful of ash.

These tasks might not be quickly achievable for an ordinary person, but with Wang Zhifan’s current power, it was merely a matter of casually wielding the active mode of the Epic Layer Biological Force Field to create a suitable pit with a wave. Then he placed Zhang Siqian’s body inside, covered it with a thin layer of soil, and added some combustible materials, completing the task.

"Farewell, Mr. Zhang."

Having swiftly finished the final arrangements, Wang Zhifan bid a last goodbye to the deceased. He then donned the Wind Concealing Conical Hat, entered a stealth state, and flew off to the next exploration site.

During the subsequent period, Wang Zhifan encountered no unusual situations.

He quietly visited the whereabouts of several Demon Venerables, discovering none of them were his intended targets, nor were there any particularly opportune conditions to strike. Hence, he went silently and left silently, heading to the areas near Xuanzhou for exploration.

Until late one night, he found no signs of the suspected target, but he did encounter two Demon Venerables who were simply freebies and gladly sent them to the Western Heaven.

"Well then, how come I have over fourteen thousand merit points... That’s a full two thousand more than the second place Wutian Daoist, am I really striving this hard?"

Feeling that he wouldn’t achieve his goal today, Wang Zhifan habitually took out the Demon Sealing List to check and found that his score was currently atop the list, as unreasonably high as the former Demon Tathagata.

"Those two old men still haven’t sent any news, seems like they haven’t detected any target movements either."

Then, he contacted Wutian and Wudi Daoists as well as Elder Fumo, confirming they had no progress either. He directly teleported back near Celestial Essence City, casually clearing out a nearby Demon Army, and returned to the city to rest after completing the task.

It could be said that today’s Celestial Essence City ranks among the top ten in safety within the entire Calamity Realm.

Internally, there was always the incredibly powerful Zhenxu, an ultra Innate Daoist, stationed there. Externally, he, as the top ranker on the Demon Sealing List, had repeatedly scoured the area, with the equally formidable Mie Xiyue occasionally assisting.

Combined with a large number of Innate cultivators in the city and a Demon Extermination Squad composed of three players working hard in battle, Celestial Essence City hadn’t faced substantial threats since the initial Demonic Realm’s organized Demon Venerable assault, and any demon military force daring to approach perished quickly.

"I should meditate and practice for a while; I feel like there’s a sign of a breakthrough in my three Level 3 Cultivation Techniques, need to fan the flames."

The reason for returning to the Martial Venerable Hall in Celestial Essence City wasn’t because Wang Zhifan was getting lazy but because he wanted to strike a balance between work and rest, squeezing in some foundational improvement time in the daily routine of Demon Venerable slaying.

For months, he’d been battling with Demon Venerables daily, gaining abundant practical experience, and he had also made considerable progress in his cultivation techniques.

Aside from advancing the Great Dream Saber Scripture from Level 6 to Level 7, the other three techniques had also yielded many insights, proving more effective than secluded bitter cultivation, just missing the final breakthrough.

Therefore, he exchanged the usual polite words with Mieyue Xi from Moon Destruction Island, then proceeded to meditate and cultivate in the inner hall until dawn.

However, just as he began to have a sense of breakthrough, the Demon Sealing List suddenly received a communication from a designated friend.

"Is there news about that Demon Venerable?"

On reflex, Wang Zhifan made this speculation. He immediately exited his meditative state without hesitation and summoned the Demon Sealing List to check for messages from the second and third rankers.

"Wutian and Wudi Daoists: Venerable Martial, this poor Daoist has deduced from some vestiges left by this enemy that it left Xuanzhou yesterday and should currently be in the western region of Ruizhou! We’ve been searching in the wrong area!"