As the ghostly mist evaporated, the sky reclaimed its clarity.

Qing’an City was silent. Deathly silent.

For the mortals and rogue cultivators huddled in the streets, the last few moments had been a fever dream. One second, a ferocious demonic cultivator was towering over them, promising to refine every living soul in the city into a ghost slave. The next, he had… combusted.

It wasn’t a metaphor. The man had literally exploded. His final words were a confused “What the—?” before he was reduced to a fine mist of blood.

It was supposed to be a massacre, a tragedy of epic proportions. Instead, it had ended with the casual abruptness of a cancelled TV show.

Thousands of people stood with their mouths agape, staring blankly at the empty space where the villain had been, their brains unable to reboot.

While the crowd remained lobotomized by shock, Qi Yuan was busy looting.

With a wave of his hand, he snatched the fallen storage ring and the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls. One look at the loot confirmed the “courier’s” identity: an Inner Sect Disciple of the Nether Fiend Sect.

Qi Yuan scanned the banner. Inside, over eighty thousand souls were wailing in torment. To refine a wicked artifact like this, that bastard Qu Yang had slaughtered nearly a hundred thousand people. If he had succeeded in harvesting Qing’an City today, he would have hit the hundred-thousand mark, upgrading the banner to a Mid-Grade Dharma Treasure.

“Just a random Inner Sect disciple, yet so brutal,” Qi Yuan mused, disgust flickering in his eyes. “The Demonic Sects really do live up to their reputation.”

compared to this psychopath, Ji Chan’er was practically a bodhisattva. She might be a prickly, high-maintenance tsundere, but he had never seen her slaughter innocents for crafting materials. She was truly a breath of fresh air in that cesspool of a sect.

As he pocketed the loot, a cascade of chimes rang out in his mind.

[Ding! Main Quest ‘Crisis in Qing’an’ Complete.]

[Rewards:] 1,500 Counterattack Points, 20 Top-Grade Essence Nourishing Pills. (Items deposited in Storage Space).

[Talent Upgrade:] [Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing] has evolved into [True Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing]. (Passive effect. Permanently active. No activation required).

[Additional Objective Complete:] Survivors detected. Calculating bonus…

[Result:] 2,782 Cultivators survived. 18,000 Mortals survived. [Bonus Reward:] 32,200 Counterattack Points.

Thirty thousand points!

Qi Yuan’s eyes lit up, but a moment later, he sighed with regret.

“Damn Dog System,” he grumbled internally. “It definitely set that tight deadline on purpose to stop me from cheese-ing the mechanics.”

From the moment the quest triggered to the deadline, he had less than a day. He barely had time to teleport himself here using the ultra-long-range array, let alone organize a mass migration. If he’d had a week, he would have teleported in millions of mortals from the countryside and farmed the survivor bonus until the System went bankrupt.

Still, thirty thousand points was a massive windfall.

Counterattack Points were the ultimate currency. They could force sudden enlightenment for cultivation techniques or buy impossible items from the System Mall—like the ancient Master-Servant Contract he had used on Shao Xuanji. Such things were extinct in the modern cultivation world, yet the System sold them for a measly 2,000 points.

“Fine, I’ll take it,” Qi Yuan thought, mentally patting the System on the head. “Good job, System. Keep giving me quests like this, and I promise to stop calling you trash. It’s a win-win.”

After buttering up the AI, Qi Yuan composed himself. His figure blurred, transforming into a streak of escape light that shot toward the horizon.

He had a date with Tu Ruoxu, the Holy Scion of the Ten Thousand Antiquity Sect, in four days. He couldn’t afford to be late.

Only after the golden light vanished did the city below finally wake up.

“Look! It must have been that Senior!” cried a cultivator, pointing at the fading trail of light. “He saved us! If not for him, we’d all be ghost slaves right now!”

“Too powerful… He instant-killed a Nascent Soul demon!” another gasped, clutching his chest. “I snatched my life back from the Gates of Hell today.”

“Thank you, Senior, for your grace! Please accept this junior’s bow!”

One by one, the cultivators bowed deeply. The mortals dropped to their knees, kowtowing toward the horizon with tears in their eyes.

“Does anyone know his name?” someone asked. “Such kindness must be repaid!”

“I have a Recording Talisman!” a young man shouted, waving a glowing paper. “I captured his face! If we ask around, we can definitely find him!”

“Brother! Make me a copy!”

“Me too! I need to enshrine his image!”

The city erupted into a fervor of hero worship.

Meanwhile, in the dense forest outside the city.

“Senior Brother Qu… popped?”

A male cultivator in black robes stood frozen in the shadows, his face pale as ash. He stared at the distant city walls, his mind refusing to accept reality.

It was supposed to be a simple job. A relaxed, cheerful massacre. Enter city, kill everyone, loot treasure, leave.

How did it turn into this?

Qu Yang was a Nascent Soul cultivator! An Inner Sect elite of the Nether Fiend Sect! He was the pride of Ghost Taming Peak, a genius rumored to be the next True Disciple!

And he had been erased. Instantly. Not even his Nascent Soul escaped.

Run.

The thought hit him like a lightning bolt.

The black-robed cultivator spun around and bolted into the deep woods.

Revenge? Don’t make him laugh. In the Demonic Sects, loyalty was a joke. He was just a lackey Qu Yang had dragged along to clean up the mess. Why should he die for a corpse?

He pushed his movement technique to the limit, desperate to put as much distance between himself and that city as possible.

But he barely made it a mile before he skidded to a halt.

A figure was leaning against a tree ahead of him, blocking the path with leisurely ease.

I’m dead.

Recognizing the face of the monster who had just vaporized his boss, the demonic cultivator’s survival instincts overrode his dignity.

Thump.

His knees hit the dirt. His forehead hit the dirt.

“Senior, spare me!” he wailed, executing a perfect kowtow. “This lowly one was kidnapped by that bastard Qu Yang! I’m innocent! I never killed anyone! Please, Senior, be magnanimous and treat me like a fart—just let me go!”

From spotting the enemy to begging for his life, the transition took less than a second. It was smooth, practiced, and utterly shameless—the mark of a true elite disciple of the Demonic Sect.

Qi Yuan looked down at him and smiled. “You’re sensible. I like smart people. What’s your name?”

The smile did not comfort the lackey. In fact, it terrified him. A raging hero he could understand; a smiling monster was unpredictable.

He took a trembling breath. “This… this lowly one is named Chen Huai. I’m an Outer Sect Disciple of the Saint… no, the Nether Fiend Sect. I have nothing to do with Qu Yang! He just brought me along to clean up the battlefield and… and catch any fish that slipped through the net!”

Qi Yuan’s eyebrows shot up. “Fish that slipped through the net?”

He stepped forward, his expression turning strangely intensely. “Excellent. I am that fish. Come on, hurry up and arrest me.”

Chen Huai froze. “Huh?”

He looked up, terrified. “Senior… I don’t dare… I really don’t dare…”

“Do you think I’m joking?” Qi Yuan’s smile vanished, replaced by a cold, murderous glare. “You will do exactly as I say, or I will slaughter you right now.”

Chen Huai nodded frantically, tears streaming down his face.

“Good,” Qi Yuan said, his face twisting into a grimace as he relayed the instructions. “I have some business to attend to first. You wait here. In two days, I will come back. When I do, you are going to capture me, tie me up, and sell me to…”

Qi Yuan paused, looking like he had swallowed a fly.

Chen Huai stared at him, utterly dumbfounded. What kind of operation is this?!

Looking at the bewildered lackey, Qi Yuan felt the urge to vomit blood.

Damn Dog System!

I just praised you, and you pull this stunt immediately? You give me a sweet date and then slap me across the face?

Fck!*