Chapter 145: The Killing Spree Begins

The General let loose an agonized howl as he swung around to retaliate with a frantic kick.

Fang Che met the kick with one of his own, and the General was sent rolling along the ground like a loose barrel.

Fang Che immediately set off in pursuit, slicing gash after gash into the opposing General's body with his saber.

By the time the General was able to draw his sword with his left hand, a look of despair had already appeared in his eyes.

His body was already riddled with wounds, and to further compound his woes, he was right-handed, so he had lost his dominant hand.

He hurled his sword through the air without any hesitation, sending it hurtling toward Fang Che while he continued to flee as quickly as he could.

However, Fang Che was able to evade his sword with ease while hurling his saber through the air as well, and it pierced straight through the General's chest.

He continued to stumble forward out of pure momentum, but the life was quickly drained from his body, and he collapsed to the ground.

Fang Che sprang forward and retrieved his saber while cautiously observing his surroundings.

A ball of black light emerged from the body before taking on the form of a tiny centipede, except it was trembling incessantly with its legs turned up into the air in a completely vulnerable state.

The Five Spirit Parasite on Fang Che's head screeched in elation as it pounced onto the other Five Spirit Parasite, sucking the latter in as a streak of black light.

The Five Spirit Parasite then flew back onto the top of Fang Che's head before conveying to him a sense of joy and yearning, telling him that it wanted more.

Fang Che quickly darted away into the undergrowth in a wraith-like manner.

As soon as Fang Che disappeared, another figure appeared nearby, and only after cautiously inspecting his surroundings did he look down at the remains of the General that Fang Che had just slain.

One's already dead! That was fast!

All of the warriors in here were of the General tier, so it wasn't an easy task to slay an assailant in such short order.

Despite claiming his first kill, Fang Che was feeling a little concerned.

His opponent had been caught completely off guard by a sneak attack, yet killing him had still been quite a hassle.

If he hadn't managed to sever his opponent's right hand from the get-go, there was a chance that they would've been able to get away.

Not only were all of the warriors in here Generals, they were all carefully selected Generals with outstanding combat prowess, so there were no slouches among them.

I used Sun Yuan's Soaring Saber Techniques just now, but it looks like that's not going to be enough in here. No one knows who I am anyway, so I should just use the Seven Blood Spirit Swords paired with the sword forms in the Boundless Sutra. Otherwise, there's no way I'm going to be able to kill all 150,000 Generals in here in just a month!

Things had not turned out the way he had expected. He had set out with the goal of killing all of the Generals in the Parasite Ascension Project, but only after witnessing all of the participating Generals assembled in one place did he come to realize just how absurd an objective that was.

Even so, he would still do his best to kill as many as possible, and with that in mind, he darted into the forest in search of his next prey.

Looking down from his vantage point, he could see that countless battles were already unfolding within the forest.

As the name suggested, the key to the Parasite Ascension Project was parasite ascension, and the only way for Five Spirit Parasites to evolve was through devouring others of its kind.

Hence, everyone in here was an enemy.

Fang Che drifted through the forest like a plume of smoke, and before long, his Five Spirit Parasite had already devoured four others.

All of a sudden, the sound of clashing weapons rang out up ahead, and Fang Che immediately concealed himself.

A loud clang rang out several hundred feet directly up ahead, immediately followed by another metallic clang several hundred feet to his left.

The sound of the clashing weapons was constantly coming from different directions, making it impossible to pin down where the battle was taking place.

The Generals of these demonic churches are truly all battle-hardened veterans. They don't want others to swoop in and strike them down while they're vulnerable in the aftermath of their battle, so they're constantly moving around to be elusive.

It seemed that there truly wasn't going to be any easy prey to target in here.

Fang Che approached the battle as discreetly as he could, and he quickly spotted two sword-wielders locked in a fierce clash.

They were doing their best to evade each other's attacks, but on the occasions where their swords clashed with a loud clang that tipped off their location, they would immediately dart away to continue their battle elsewhere.

Fang Che took a deep breath, then closed in to around a hundred feet away before springing forward like a speeding arrow and unleashing the first technique of the Seven Blood Spirit Swords.

One of the two combatants was instantly slain by a sword strike to the back of the head, while the other combatant was able to just barely parry Fang Che's sword before harrumphing coldly, "I knew there was someone closing in on us!"

A battle immediately commenced between the two, while Fang Che's Five Spirit Parasite made a brief detour to devour the Five Spirit Parasite of the General that had just been slain.

At this point, Fang Che's Five Spirit Parasite was glowing radiantly with black light, and upon catching sight of it, his assailant exclaimed, "Why does your Five Spirit Parasite look like that? How many other Five Spirit Parasites has it already devoured?"

"I've lost count, but it'll get to have yours soon!" Fang Che sneered.

As soon as the General heard Fang Che's voice, a hint of recognition immediately flashed through his eyes.

"You're the bastard that was provoking everyone outside!"

There had been over 150,000 Generals on the plaza, so some of them had been standing too far away to catch a clear glimpse of Fang Che, but his distinctive voice was a dead giveaway.

Fang Che harrumphed coldly as he continued to up the ante, quickly backing his opponent into a corner.

Forced onto the back foot, the General roared with all his might, "The shit-talker is here! Come get him!"

His voice erupted like rumbling thunder, causing the surrounding air to buzz and vibrate, while countless leaves came raining down from the nearby trees.

Attracting others onto the scene wasn't guaranteed to ensure his survival, but continuing this one-on-one battle was sure to result in his demise.

Furthemore, this was also a distraction tactic that could plant a seed of fear into his opponent's heart.

However, Fang Che was completely unfazed as he only continued to lash out with greater precision and urgency.

At the same time, he released a wisp of baleful qi.

His assailant instantly felt a chill run down his spine, resulting in the tiniest lapse in concentration.

Fang Che pounced on this extremely brief window of opportunity, piercing his sword straight through his opponent's throat.

His Five Spirit Parasite instantly sprang forward to claim the spoils.

The General glowered resentfully for a moment at Fang Che before the light faded from his eyes, and he tumbled to the ground, at which point the Fang Che's Five Spirit Parasite had already finished its meal.

Fang Che could hear countless figures converging onto the scene from all directions, and he immediately sprang up into the air.

Someone darted out of the undergrowth in a vicious sneak attack, timing his attack perfectly to strike right before Fang Che was able to land on the tree branch directly beneath him.

However, Fang Che was already prepared, and he swung his sword down to parry the attack, using the force of the clash to his advantage to propel himself over a hundred feet through the air, quickly landing on another tree.

Immediately thereafter, he slid down the tree and vanished out of his sight, leaving his assailant to look on in astonishment.

Fang Che had parried his attack and used it to his advantage so perfectly that it felt like a choreographed sequence, leaving him completely bewildered.

***

Before long, around thirty to forty Generals had converged onto the scene, and there were even more coming from afar.

At the center of the clearing, a pair of brawny men were examining the bodies of the two Generals that Fang Che had just slain.

"There are no visible entry wounds on this one aside from a red spot, but both his brain and his dantian have been completely shredded by sword qi. Whoever killed them was using the Seven Blood Spirit Swords!"

"Same for this one. There's a red spot on this throat, but nothing else."

"He must be a General from the One Heart Church! Are any of you from the One Heart Church?" one of the two men interrogated as he scanned his gaze over the nearby Generals.

The answer was a unanimous and resounding no.

Even if there were any One Heart Church Generals among them, they weren't going to admit it.

The brawny man was silent for a moment, then said, "We need to come up with a plan. We're all enemies in here, but to be frank, if all of us continue to fight on our own like this, none of us have very good chances of leaving this place alive."

Contemplative looks appeared on everyone's faces upon hearing this.

"Hence, I propose that we forge a temporary alliance. There are over forty of us here right now, and each of us will be assigned a number. We'll take turns devouring the Five Spirit Parasites of the people that we kill in sequential order, and we'll part ways and disband the alliance after twenty days. What do we all think?"

This was not a bad idea, and quite a few of the Generals present were tempted to join him.

All of a sudden, someone yelled, "It would take way too long to go through a roster of forty people in sequential order! A party of four will do me just fine, so I only need three people to join me. If anyone thinks they're up to the task, I'd be happy to forge an alliance."

Three people instantly stepped forward to take him up on the offer.

Immediately thereafter, the four Generals departed, vanishing into the undergrowth in a flash.

The example set by them served as a cautionary warning to everyone.

A group of forty people would be far too bloated and complicated, and it would take a very long time to go through a roster of forty, whereas smaller groups were going to be much more manageable.

Hence, many of the Generals present immediately began forming small parties of their own.

"I'll take three!"

"I'll take four!"

All of a sudden, the brawny man that had made the initial proposal found himself being ignored.

With all of the nearby Generals leaving in small groups of four or five, an urgent look appeared in his eyes as he yelled, "We'll have three people join us as well!"

Never had he envisioned that this would be the outcome of his proposal, and he had no choice but to change his plans.

In the blink of an eye, everyone in the clearing had departed in small groups, and similar alliances were being forged in all directions.

As soon as these alliances took shape, they immediately set off to hunt down individual stragglers, eager to take advantage of their superior numbers.