A flash of fire appeared, grazing the cheeks of several people, leaving blood marks and burns on their faces, making the already scorching air heat up again.
"Thump!"
Hearing the sound, everyone's gaze involuntarily followed the direction where the fire flew, finally discovering the headless General. The joy on the faces of the Guard Soldiers instantly turned into terror and despair.
From the initial slaughter of recruiters, to the sudden appearance of the Four Emissaries, the near-death experience, then the Great Demon being enraged and fighting fiercely with the Four Emissaries, the General appearing to command the battle, and finally, the General being beheaded by the enemy in one move.
In just one minute, the Guard Soldiers experienced multiple shifts between joy and sorrow.
Jin Zheng'en, like those who charged at the very front, still had a look of dissatisfaction on his face when his head fell to the ground.
The life-saving item he carried did take effect, but unfortunately, it didn't fully take effect, only resisting for a brief moment.
This strike was accumulated by Mu Yang for a long time, consuming half of his Solar Power, plus the auxiliary enhancements from "Unending Fire" and Ruo Li.
Under multiple amplifications, how could that flash of fire be so easy to withstand?
"The… General is dead!"
"Run! Run quickly!"
A few Guard Soldiers at this moment displayed astonishing team spirit, pushing their teammates towards Mu Yang to gain more time and possibility for escape.
Dazzling light flickered, and within the seemingly warm and gentle radiance, hidden murderous intent lurked, with death, its antithesis, spreading across the area.
None of the Guard Soldiers ultimately made it out of this forest. Corpses, still relatively intact, lay scattered on the ground, resembling a brutal crime scene.
Their flesh and blood would nourish this forest; this was the last positive contribution they could make to the world, and perhaps the only one.
Their actions were too heinous; many people died miserably in hell because of them, their sins reaching the heavens. But a merciful God might still forgive them, and as a Light Mage, Ruo Li's mission was to send them to meet God.
Of course, all of this assumed they had a chance to go to heaven.
The battle here was one-sided, but neither the General's death nor the complete annihilation of the Guard Soldiers caused even a ripple of concern or attention from the Great Demon.
It was as if it had been truly enraged by what the Four Emissaries did, reaching a state of losing its sanity. Even the death of its collaborator, Jin Zheng'en, was not enough to distract it; it only wanted a life-and-death battle with the Four Emissaries.
"Should we make a move?"
"There's no need for that. We can't keep this Great Demon. It has the Gate of Hell as a backing; it can leave whenever it wants. Let them quickly gather the required materials, and then let's go."
Mu Yang shook his head, refusing. What he said was indeed true; if not for the Gate of Hell, this Great Demon would not dare to act so recklessly here.
But his true purpose in saying this was not here; he had other ideas.
Several merchants hiding in the distance began collecting materials as soon as the battle ended. They needed many materials, but these demonic creatures, true to their name as secondary creatures, had very few organs with demonic bloodlines; the rest were worthless materials.
Fortunately, these merchants had specialized abilities and tools for collecting materials; otherwise, just dissecting them would take half a day.
Approximately three hours later, the merchants stopped their work and, after calculating, gave Mu Yang 5,000 paradise coins.
These secondary demonic creatures were very weak compared to New Contractors who had just entered Paradise, yet they were still worth 5,000 paradise coins, which exceeded Mu Yang's expectations.
"The demonic bloodline in these demonic creatures is too weak; they are only worth this price."
The merchants, seeing Mu Yang's strange expression, quickly explained.
"Alright."
After collecting the demonic materials, Mu Yang and the others turned and left the forest.
Because the Royal City's reinforcements arrived, the Great Demon directly committed a hit-and-run. Mu Yang attributed the deaths of the Guard Soldiers and the General entirely to it, not revealing that the Guard Soldiers had colluded with demons.
The Four Emissaries had no objections to this and were very satisfied with Mu Yang's explanation.
After all, if this matter were exposed, it might have some impact on the royal authority. After all, the Guard Soldiers colluding with demons was embarrassing no matter how you looked at it.
So, it was best for their royal family to handle it quietly and slowly, without causing too much commotion.
Before they left, the other party promised that the reward for this mission would not be reduced by a single cent, and they could just go to the Guard Soldiers to collect it.
After everyone left, the forest returned to peace, with only the remaining demonic remains telling the story of what had just happened.
Half an hour…
One hour…
It was not until two hours later that a stealthy figure quietly appeared in the forest.
"Damn it, how did such an insignificant mission attract so many strong people? Thankfully, they directly killed that useless Jin Zheng'en, and their attention was also drawn by the Great Demon. Otherwise, if they had interrogation tools, my plan would have been completely exposed."
The man wiped non-existent sweat from his forehead, stepped over the incomplete corpses of demonic creatures, and walked towards the center of the forest. His gaze constantly scanned his surroundings, fearing he might be exposed.
"It should be about here."
To prevent his item from being discovered by careful individuals, the man left no marks, only memorizing the surrounding landmarks.
He took out a green-quality shovel and, with a few swift movements, dug a pit over a meter deep, revealing a bead that was half black and half blood-red.
This bead was somewhat eerie; simply by getting close, one could hear resentful whispers and screams emanating from within it.
"It really worked!"
The man picked up the glass-like bead, his expression excited, then complained with dissatisfaction:
"It's still only blue quality, unfortunately. If those Contractors hadn't intervened, under my plan, both the Four Emissaries and the Great Demon would have died in this forest! If the Blood Soul Orb had absorbed their abilities and resentment, its quality would definitely have broken through beyond blue!"
As he spoke, he clenched his fist, fantasizing about suddenly appearing and beating the few people to their knees, begging for mercy, when they interfered with his plan.
But unfortunately, his strength was far inferior to theirs, so it could only remain a fantasy.
However, as long as he absorbed this Blood Soul Orb, his strength would undoubtedly increase significantly! At that time, he would definitely be able to withstand the powerful attack of that man!
Recalling the flash of fire he had just seen, which killed Jin Zheng'en with a single strike, a hint of longing and jealousy flashed in the man's eyes.
As he pondered, a hand reached out from the pit.
The man instinctively reached out his hand, but in the next instant, he realized something was wrong. There shouldn't be anyone else here besides him.
"Why are you still here?!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he was slapped unconscious.
Before he fainted, his mind was full of questions.
Why was this guy still here? Shouldn't he have left already? He had specifically waited for several hours before coming to retrieve the results.