Chapter 130: 抢夺功绩

The Mountain-Splitting Beast was startled by Jiang Fan's sudden move. A flicker of panic crossed its eyes. It quickly tried to retract the blood-red glow from its nose, but it was already too late. In an instant, Jiang Fan rushed forward. Just as the last hint of blood-red light faded from its nose, he thrust his sword.

Strangely enough, while the Mountain-Splitting Beast's entire body was as hard as iron, including its nose, its nose became incredibly soft when it was accumulating the blood-red light. The Black Sword instantly pierced through it. Driven by the beast's forward momentum, the sword tip continued to plunge deeper, until only the hilt remained visible. At this point, the Black Sword had completely penetrated the Mountain-Splitting Beast's skull. As Jiang Fan activated his spiritual energy, the Black Sword vibrated violently, shattering everything inside the beast's head.

Oww—

The Mountain-Splitting Beast let out a painful roar, and blood gushed from its seven orifices. Its massive body crashed to the ground!

Jiang Fan pulled out the Black Sword, and a milky white cerebral fluid, carrying an earthy yellow round bead, gushed out. Jiang Fan, who had anticipated this, quickly grabbed it. This was the Beast Core of the demon beast. It contained not only demonic power but also some of the beast's innate abilities. The Mountain-Splitting Beast's talent was incredibly powerful, and if this Beast Core could be refined into a magical artifact, it would possess some of the ability to split mountains and shatter rocks. It would fetch a good price.

Naturally, its scales were also valuable, and Jiang Fan saw no reason to waste them. He peeled off all the scales. Besides these, its tendons, internal organs, blood, and meat were all valuable commodities. Indeed, as soon as he finished stripping the scales, local merchants rushed out and bought the remaining parts at a high price of two hundred spirit crystals.

On the city wall, the disciples watched in stunned silence.

"Junior Brother Jiang killed the Mountain-Splitting Beast all by himself?"

"That's a powerful demon beast that even Ding Tianxiang and many young strong cultivators from the Ding family couldn't handle, even working together."

"Couldn't handle? They were clearly being hunted and fleeing in a sorry state!"

"That's why I say, our Qingyun Sect disciples are truly formidable. What's a martial arts family compared to us?"

At this moment, Ding Xuhui, realizing something was amiss, arrived with the family's strong cultivators.

"What happened? Why is there such a huge commotion?"

They had initially thought they could easily deal with the demon beasts attacking the city, but after hearing several earth-shaking disturbances, they realized something was wrong and rushed over immediately. Coincidentally, below the city, the merchants were carrying the scaled corpse of the Mountain-Splitting Beast into the city.

Ding Xuhui's pupils contracted. "The Mountain-Splitting Beast? A few days ago, it led the demon beasts in attacking the city and injured the Hong family patriarch! You... you actually killed it!"

Immediately after, he looked at Ding Tianxiang with intense surprise. "Tianxiang, you've truly amazed your father! Your father will certainly publicize this widely, letting Yunyang City and the Heavenly Secret Pavilion know that an extraordinary true dragon has emerged from my Ding family!"

Ding Tianxiang's expression was grim. He remained silent, his face sullen. The rescued Qingyun Sect disciples, having climbed back, happened to overhear these words and couldn't help but sneer:

"Patriarch Ding, you really shouldn't think so highly of your son! His involvement in the killing of this Mountain-Splitting Beast is absolutely zero! It was Junior Brother Jiang who killed it all by himself!"

"What? Jiang Fan?"

Ding Xuhui was in disbelief; after all, he had personally witnessed how powerful the Mountain-Splitting Beast was. What cultivation level was Jiang Fan at to be able to kill it alone?

"Tianxiang, is this true?" Ding Xuhui asked with a frown.

Ding Tianxiang glared fiercely at Jiang Fan, then said begrudgingly, "He just got lucky and killed it by chance!"

Hearing this, Ding Xuhui stroked his beard and nodded. It could only be attributed to luck. Otherwise, there was no logical reason why a powerful beast that his son couldn't kill could be single-handedly slain by an unknown junior.

Just then, in the distant forest, several plumes of dust suddenly rose, accompanied by the sounds of vegetation being torn apart. It seemed as if something was approaching in groups. Ding Xuhui's expression changed slightly. "It's a beast horde!" He then realized, "The Mountain-Splitting Beast was an advance scout, breaking through the city first to clear a path for the beast horde behind it! Do these demon beasts possess such high intelligence?"

As he pondered in surprise, over a dozen demon beasts indeed burst out from the forest! Only three were at the Qi Refinement Realm. The remaining ten were all at the Foundation Establishment Realm! Most were furry demon beasts, no longer the indestructible type.

Ding Wanping's eyes lit up. "Finally, it's my turn to show what I can do! Ding Tianxiang, and all of you, charge forward for this young master and kill them!"

Ding Tianxiang glanced sideways at Ding Wanping. However, seeing Jiang Fan already engaging the beast horde, he immediately jumped off the city wall. Moreover, he had already fallen behind Jiang Fan twice, including at the Ding family's entrance. This left him seething with frustration. So, when he faced the demon beasts, he unleashed his full power!

However, this group of demon beasts was very strong. While not as troublesome as the Mountain-Splitting Beast, they were all nimble, had sharp claws, and possessed various strange innate abilities. For example, the demonic wolf he was currently facing could use sound wave attacks. With a roar, the sound waves paralyzed his body. If his spiritual energy hadn't been strong enough to dispel the paralysis in time, the demonic wolf would have ripped open his belly with a single claw.

Therefore, after dozens of rounds, he barely managed to slay one demonic wolf. Meanwhile, casualties had already appeared elsewhere. Several Ding family disciples were bitten by demon beasts, some even dying on the spot. It was a brutal sight! This caused Ding Xuhui on the city wall immense distress.

But what was even harder for him to accept was that while the Ding family disciples struggled to kill the demon beasts, an incredibly nimble figure, like a ghost, weaved through the beast horde. He wielded the Black Sword. He didn't strike idly. Every strike was swift, precise, and ruthless, accurately hitting the demon beasts' vital points. One sword, one kill! In just half a cup of tea, he had already slain five Foundation Establishment Realm demon beasts. In contrast, the Ding family had only managed to kill one, by Ding Tianxiang.

Such a stark contrast made Ding Wanping burn with anxiety. "What's with Jiang Fan? He clearly doesn't have a high cultivation level, yet he kills demon beasts more easily than Ding Tianxiang? If this continues, won't he take all the merit points?"

Ding Xuhui also couldn't sit still. Jiang Fan wasn't just killing demon beasts; he was also humiliating the Ding family! If Qin Wenyuan were to learn how ineffective the Ding family was, how would he view them, and what would he think of their cooperation? Gritting his teeth, he rushed down the city wall and joined the fight against the demon beasts.

The Qingyun Sect disciples were utterly speechless. Patriarch Ding was so pressured that he had to abandon his pride. With the addition of a Foundation Establishment Realm ninth-level cultivator, the situation for the Ding family members greatly improved. Centering around him and Ding Tianxiang, the Ding family members worked together to slay the demon beasts, finding it much easier.

Since the city wall remained intact, the demon beasts were caught off guard and trapped outside the city wall with no escape. They were then encircled and slaughtered by Jiang Fan and the Ding family. Before long, this small beast horde was completely annihilated. Not a single one remained.

The final tally showed Jiang Fan alone had slain seven Foundation Establishment Realm demon beasts. The Ding family, working together, had slain three Foundation Establishment Realm demon beasts and three Qi Refinement Realm demon beasts. In terms of merit points, Jiang Fan's contribution alone surpassed that of the entire Ding family combined.

Ding Wanping, unable to believe it, questioned angrily, "Jiang Fan! Did you cheat?"