My Cultivation Techniques Upgrade Automatically

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Cannot Go Soft

Hearing there were ample medicinal herbs on the summit, refugees streamed continuously toward the mountaintop.

Their numbers swelled rapidly from twenty or thirty to sixty, then seventy, eighty...

Once the number reached ninety, the interval between new arrivals grew longer and longer.

Until the final figure appeared.

He staggered forward, bathed in blood, his body riddled with wounds so deep they exposed the bone.

As he ran, fresh blood spilled from his gashes. He was a gruesome sight, and he mumbled:

”There are members of the Blood Slaughter Sect in these mountains!”

”There are members of the Demon Sect! We’re all just Great Medicines!”

He took one last step out of the forest, then collapsed, his breath expiring.

Then, a group of more than ten black-clad figures stepped over the refugee’s corpse, emerged from the dense woods, and arrived at the summit of Broken Blade Mountain.

”Whoa, that’s a lot of Great Medicines... huh...”

A disciple of the Blood Slaughter Sect excitedly drew his blade, ready to move in for the harvest.

But as he looked at the nearly one hundred refugees, some sitting, others squatting, he hesitated and shrank back slightly.

After all, his squad only had about ten members. Against a hundred people at the end of their rope, the outcome was far from certain.

But then, the sound of countless footsteps echoed from all around, the CRUNCH of trampled dead leaves filling the air.

From the sound of it, he knew the other sect disciples had caught up, and his courage returned.

Team after team of black-clad Blood Slaughter Sect disciples emerged from the forest, dense and numerous as a swarm of ants.

Fifty, one hundred, two hundred...

Only when their numbers had swelled to nearly five hundred did the rustling in the forest finally cease.

Nearly five hundred disciples of the Blood Slaughter Sect formed an impenetrable, jet-black human wall, sealing the edge of the forest and leaving the refugees with no escape.

Unless they jumped off the cliff behind them.

Faced with the solid wall of black-clad figures, the refugees collapsed to the ground. Even though they had been warned, the sight of the actual Blood Slaughter Sect disciples filled them with an unconcealable terror.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Wu Chen slowly rose to his feet, patting the dust from his clothes.

As he rose, the refugees around him also drew their blades.

But their hands trembled uncontrollably. They were terrified.

Wu Chen and the others had already explained the situation to them.

They had walked into a demon’s den. The mountain was surrounded by members of the Blood Slaughter Sect, who had come to harvest them like a crop of Great Medicines!

Fleeing down the mountain meant death. Their only choice was to fight with their backs to the wall!

Wu Chen, however, was unfazed. His gaze slowly swept across the ranks of the Blood Slaughter Sect.

He was pinpointing the locations of the strongest among these Demon Sect disciples, preparing to kill them in the swiftest manner possible.

After a quick scan, he realized there were far fewer Blood Slaughter Sect disciples than his intelligence had suggested.

But then he recalled the corpse of the Blood Slaughter Sect disciple he’d found in the woods, its heart gouged out, and he instantly understood why.

’These people are vicious!’

’In just half a day, these Demon Sect disciples have not only killed a hundred refugees, but they’ve also murdered over a hundred of their own!’

’Worthy of the Demon Sect indeed.’

This gave Wu Chen a new appreciation for the people of the Demon Sect. They were not just cruel to outsiders, but to their own as well.

It only strengthened his resolve to slaughter every last one of them, if only to fortify his own spirit.

In these chaotic times, one could not afford to be soft!

Wu Chen pushed his way forward from the rear, a strange sight amidst the crowd of refugees who were all inching backward.

Fortunately, he was not entirely alone.

”Young Master Wu, we’ll cover you!”

Liu Linshan and his companions stood on either side of Wu Chen, half a step behind, hoping to share some of the pressure of the coming charge.

After all, they were facing disciples of the Demon Sect—foes far more terrifying than the Demon Corpses.

These were not mindless opponents who would just stand there and take a beating.

They would use hidden weapons, poisons, and an endless variety of tricks against you.

Furthermore, their numbers were far more terrifying than the Demon Corpses—a full five times as many!

”Don’t bother.”

Wu Chen shook his head. ”You’ll just get in my way.”

Liu Linshan and his men were speechless.

The words stung, but they knew it was the truth.

Given Wu Chen’s power, they really would just be a burden, unable to play any decisive role.

Thankfully, Wu Chen continued:

”However, I’ll be charging in to kill their strongest disciples as quickly as possible. I won’t have time to loot the bodies.”

”I need you to follow behind and search the corpses for any Martial Arts manuals as fast as you can.”

”And stick close to me.”

Liu Linshan and his companions nodded vigorously, a fervent fire igniting in their eyes.

At this life-or-death moment, they weren’t afraid of dying. They were afraid of being useless, of being unable to contribute.

Besides, the chance to charge into battle alongside a master like Wu Chen was an opportunity that might only come once in a lifetime!

A charge of one hundred against five hundred!

Gazing at the oppressive black wall of men, with no path of retreat, Liu Linshan and his companions felt their Qi and Blood boil. A strange flush colored their faces, and their hands gripped their steel blades so tightly they CREAKED.

Seeing these few figures move forward, a ripple of courage spread through the crowd. The refugees from Qingzhou gradually stopped their retreat, their panic subsiding slightly.

The young man at the front of the crowd, the one with the most authority among them, saw Wu Chen come up from behind and nod. He knew it was his time to step forward.

He raised his steel blade high, faced the hundred-odd refugees from Qingzhou behind him, and roared:

”Fellow folks from Qingzhou!”

”We’ve traveled all this way from Qingzhou, just looking for a path to survival!”

”But Heaven itself seems to want us dead, letting us walk right into a demon’s den!”

”Now, there’s a cliff at our backs! We have no way to retreat!”

Veins bulged on his neck, his face contorted and crimson.

”If you want to live, then grip your blades tight and carve us a Blood Road out of here!”

Some of the dazed refugees were jolted back to their senses by his roar.

They looked at the empty cliff behind them. To retreat was certain death.

If they wanted to live, they had to—

SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING!

One by one, the refugees drew their steel blades, their eyes fixed on the seemingly unbreakable human wall before them.

They knew in their hearts that their only path to survival was to charge forward.

The fear in their eyes slowly faded, replaced by a glimmer of ferocity.

”Heh heh!”

Hearing the refugees’ morale-boosting cries, the Blood Slaughter Sect disciples let out scornful laughs.

”These Great Medicines have some nerve. To be honest, I was afraid they’d all just jump off the cliff!”

”But that brings up a point, my dear brothers and sisters... there are hundreds of us, and only a hundred or so Great Medicines. How are we supposed to split them?”

After a few moments of silence, one disciple stepped forward.

It was a Direct Disciple of Qin Hee. He said:

”We kill all the Great Medicines first. Afterward, it’s every man for himself. Whoever can make it back down the mountain to Zhuangzi with the hearts, gets to keep them.”

”Not a bad idea, but what if someone holds back, saving their strength to use against us later?”

Another disciple spoke up. He was a Direct Disciple of Zhao Rui, and he clearly didn’t agree with this plan.

”Then what’s your proposal?” Qin Hee’s Direct Disciple shot him a hostile glare.

”Let’s just split them now. Our team takes half the Great Medicines. The rest of you can fight over what’s left.”

Zhao Rui’s Direct Disciple glanced at Qin Hee’s team and smirked.

”Why, I don’t see Senior Sister Tao E. Don’t tell me she’s dead? Or did she get lost in the mountains?”

”I was so looking forward to experiencing her blade work for myself this time!”

”If she’s really dead, I doubt your group can even handle what’s left!”

”How would you know Tao E is dead?”

The provocation from Zhao Rui’s Direct Disciple was blatant. The face of Qin Hee’s Direct Disciple instantly darkened.

”Did you kill her?”

”Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can’t just say things like that!”

Zhao Rui’s Direct Disciple waved his hands dismissively. ”Don’t go pinning the blame on innocent people like us!”

”For all we know, you might have killed her yourself.”

He looked at the surrounding disciples and said, in a voice loud enough for all to hear, ”Perhaps it was you, slaughtering your own sect sister to get more of Elder Qin’s resources.”

”Am I right, everyone?!”

The accusation was thrown right back in his face. Qin Hee’s Direct Disciple was livid, but he knew it was a plausible lie. Everyone in the sect knew his master had limited resources, so they’d believe he might do something so desperate.

It was a situation where the truth was impossible to prove.

”To hell with you! Die!”

Unable to argue his case, he chose to let his blade do the talking. He drew it on the spot, intending to cut down this bastard and vent his fury.

”See? Look, everyone!”

As the figure charged at him with a drawn blade, Zhao Rui’s Direct Disciple practically danced with glee, shouting to the crowd:

”I must have hit a nerve! He’s flying into a rage out of shame!”

”And you all saw it! He drew his blade on me first!”

”I can’t just stand here and let him attack me!”

SHIIING!

He drew his own blade and charged forward to meet the attack.