Chapter 1 Milestone Achieved?

Zhou Jing's heart stirred.

[Slaughter Ten Thousand for Supremacy] was, like [Unrivaled Under Heaven], a milestone Sheng Fa had set several years ago, requiring the accumulation of ten thousand kills to achieve.

Because the conditions were relatively harsh, Zhou Jing hadn't specifically tried to complete it, deciding to let it happen naturally.

Over the years, he had fought dozens or hundreds of battles, large and small, always charging into the fray, and each time he reaped a large number of enemy soldiers.

Even so, it took him several years to accumulate enough kills to approach the milestone requirement.

Tonight, the daring raid on the camp and the wholesale slaughter had finally provided the remaining kills he needed.

Zhou Jing remembered that the reward for this milestone seemed even more generous than [Unrivaled Under Heaven], and he curiously looked at the information:

[You have received 24,000 Star Realm Points, 280 Informational Particles]

[You have received [Talent Enhancement - Comprehensive (Major)] x1]

[You have received [Auxiliary Function Upgrade] x3]

[You have received [Auxiliary Function - The Way of Humanity] (The Way of Humanity, diminish the insufficient to supplement the excessive. By killing enemies, you seize their life energy, transforming it into Star Realm Points or freely allocated points for this Apostle.)]

[[Slaughter Ten Thousand for Supremacy] Milestone Additional Trait: The higher the Star Realm Apostle's kill count, the easier it is to intimidate others, but if wavering occurs, it may also breed inner demons, evil spirits, and other negative states.]

"Hiss, a bit much."

Zhou Jing's eyes twitched.

This wave of Informational Particle rewards directly boosted Chen Feng's current completion progress by 50%.

When he last checked, the progress was still over 560, but now it had jumped straight to 840+, a truly massive increase in the completion rating.

Last time, when Bill completed his run in the Exotic Beast World after being left there for several years, the completion progress exceeded the minimum standard by a little more than twice, reaching an "Excellent" rating, and the completion rewards were very generous.

Now, Chen Feng hadn't even kicked the bucket yet, and the completion progress had already reached about three and a half times the standard of 240 points. Once he achieved Eternity, it would definitely be the highest-rated completion ever.

Talent Enhancement and Auxiliary Function Upgrade were both good things, the more the merrier.

As for the newly acquired [Auxiliary Function - The Way of Humanity], in Zhou Jing's view, the long-term benefits outweighed the capped [Character Level System], making it suitable for Apostles who fought year-round.

Most importantly, the [Character Level System] was an extra attachment, and once this Auxiliary Function was swapped out, the bonus disappeared. The accumulation from [The Way of Humanity], on the other hand, was permanent. The Star Realm Points and attributes seized would not disappear when the function was switched, making its growth potential far greater than the former.

According to his analysis, these two Auxiliary Functions had different focuses: one was to quickly level up to increase early self-preservation, and the other was a powerful tool for long-term development.

"Three Auxiliary Function Upgrade opportunities... I can allocate one to The Way of Humanity. This thing is definitely worth investing in."

Zhou Jing's mind raced.

As for the other two opportunities, he decided to continue investing in the Map function and the Follower function. Both were equally worth strengthening.

He looked at the last piece of information, the milestone's additional trait, and understood something.

The [Unrivaled Under Heaven] milestone had given him the [Martial Arts Prodigy] trait, and [Slaughter Ten Thousand for Supremacy] had the same, although it wasn't explicit. The effect was to increase his own intimidation.

But the No. 4 Apostle's [Ferocity] talent inherently came with intimidation. The combination of the two had caused the Apostle's talent to mutate... He was probably right in guessing this.

"The mutated talent is said to be solidified killing intent... I wonder if it has any new effects. This thing isn't just a visual effect, is it?"

Zhou Jing looked at the black cloud above his head, curious, and tried to manipulate it.

In less than three seconds, he figured out the trick. With a thought, the black cloud rapidly retracted, attaching to his body and turning into billowing black smoke, making him look like he had been completely blackened, like a final boss, full of oppressive aura.

He slowed his breathing, and the black gas retreated into his body, restoring his normal appearance.

After some searching, Zhou Jing vaguely understood the improvement. The main thing was that the intimidation had undergone a qualitative change, easily shaking the minds of others. Even if he did nothing, just standing there, others would constantly be making willpower checks when facing him.

Generally speaking, this talent was like a fear aura, inspiring instinctive fear. When ordinary people looked at a ruthless killer, they might cower in fear, their bones chilled. The intimidation effect of this talent was similar, but the effect was more obvious.

The milestone rewards were generous, but now was not the time to deal with them. Zhou Jing quickly took stock and closed the panel, looking at the routed officers and soldiers fleeing in all directions.

Now that the enemies were within sight, there was no reason to let them go easily.

"Don't run, you government thieves!"

Zhou Jing roared loudly, abandoning the corpses scattered on the ground, and strode after the various reinforcements.

His legs spun like wheels, each step easily covering several zhang, his speed terrifying. Wherever he passed, dust billowed, like an earth dragon rapidly approaching.

Ling Fengzi was even more impressive, chasing in the sky, stirring up even more flying sand and stones, and occasionally firing wind pressure cannons that went wide, blasting pits next to Zhou Jing, making it look like he was really chasing him down.

The fleeing officers and soldiers looked back and saw this pair of Wolong (Sleeping Dragon) and Fengchu (Young Phoenix) rapidly approaching, immediately scaring them out of their wits. Their eyes widened in horror, and they cried out in their hearts:

--Don't come over here, you two!

Zhou Jing seemed to understand their inner prayers, and suddenly accelerated, catching up with the rear of one reinforcement force. He thrust his spear straight into them, stirring up chaos and sending soldiers flying.

Immediately afterward, Ling Fengzi also caught up, and the rolling storm of dust and smoke immediately swallowed the rearguard, causing much more damage.

Just as the two were wreaking havoc on the reinforcements, a force from Dragon King Fort emerged in the distance, approaching the already broken and lost camp.

They were the troops who had set out with Zhou Jing, positioned far away to seize an opportunity.

Because True Man Yufeng's reinforcements had an astonishingly destructive aftermath, they had remained still as per Zhou Jing's instructions before his departure.

Later, when both sides stopped fighting, they had wanted to come out to meet them, but they were stunned to find that the camp here was nearly annihilated. Their boss didn't need their help at all; he could kill all the soldiers in a camp by himself.

They had originally thought that this attack on the enemy camp would be a hard battle, but they didn't expect to become spectators the whole time. Their only role was to come out and clean up the mess, a wasted trip. Their hearts were filled with even more awe and fanaticism for the Fort Master's martial prowess.

The leader of the troops worried that the Fort Master might be in danger, so he sent a contingent to follow Zhou Jing as support, while he himself led the others to the breached government camp to clear out the remaining enemies.

Walking through the muddy, bloody camp, looking at the scenes of carnage, everyone, though hardened veterans used to seeing death, couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.

"Leader, the Fort Master said before he left that he wanted to build a Jingguan (a mound of corpses). Do you think we should still build this Jingguan?"

The adjutant asked cautiously.

The troop leader looked down at his feet, his lips twitching: "It's all smashed to pieces. Can we still build it?"

The adjutant thought seriously: "It's a little broken, but if we put the body parts together, it should have a similar effect..."

"Shut up! Let the Fort Master decide when he gets back."

The troop leader quickly interrupted the adjutant.

Although he wasn't a saint, he couldn't help but feel that this was a little twisted.

Before long, Zhou Jing returned with the support troops, covered in blood.

Those government soldiers had made a determined escape. He had chased and killed them for a while, only scattering the enemy. Seeing that the enemies were running in all directions, he stopped chasing and returned the way he had come.

As for Ling Fengzi, he didn't follow, and had left on his own.

The troop leader hurried forward to greet Zhou Jing.

"Fort Master, are you injured?"

"Ha, can these chickens and dogs of the imperial court hurt me?"

Zhou Jing replied casually.

The protective Stellar Energy consumed a lot of energy. Although he had two first-tier traits, [Rapid Qi Recovery] and [Lasting Stamina], they weren't enough to support constant activation, so he occasionally relied on his strong resistance and physical body to tough it out.

His body was naturally not injured, but the leather armor he was wearing outside was battered, giving him a war-torn look.

He casually tore off the damaged leather armor, and then checked the Bin Iron Panlong Spear in his hand, realizing that the spear was also severely worn. The dragon patterns had been worn smooth, and it was slippery with blood.

He had used this weapon for several years. Under his great strength, it was already scarred. If it weren't made of Bin Iron, which was durable, it would have been broken long ago.

Tonight's battle had finally been the last straw for the Bin Iron Panlong Spear, its lifespan had reached its end.

"Looks like it's time to change to a new weapon. This spear is only seventy-six jin (a unit of weight, approximately 500 grams), it's becoming less and less handy. It should be several hundred jin at least."

Zhou Jing thought to himself.

However, a spear weighing several hundred jin would be basically impossible to balance, and the variations in moves would be almost non-existent... Should he just use a hammer instead?

Actually, there's nothing wrong with a hammer. It's powerful and heavy. Although he hadn't specifically trained with it, he could just use the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique (hitting randomly).

Or he could improve it, holding a hammer in each hand, connected by a chain, tied to his arms. He could also use it as a meteor hammer, with a longer attack range and higher killing efficiency on the battlefield than an iron spear, like a human-shaped meat grinder.

After all, exquisite spear techniques weren't needed to deal with ordinary soldiers. He could really consider it when he got back...

He suppressed his thoughts for now, looked at the carnage on the ground, felt that there was no need to build a Jingguan, and said:

"Let's leave this place for the government soldiers to clean up, as a deterrent... Retreat, let's go home."

With that, he led his troops away, naturally unimpeded all the way.

The wind howled mournfully, and the pale moon was eerie.

The entire camp of government soldiers was filled with corpses, not a single survivor.

The originally noisy battlefield was now only a dead silence.

It was unknown how long passed before the fleeing officers escaped their fear, reorganized their troops, and cautiously returned to this place to investigate, to confirm that the fierce god had left.

Realizing that the enemy had retreated, the officers and soldiers couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, feeling like they had escaped a disaster.

But seeing the bloody carnage of corpses scattered everywhere, many people turned pale, and some even vomited.

The commander, his fear still lingering, swallowed and muttered to himself:

"A demon! That Chen rebel must be a man-eating demon! Otherwise, how could there be such violent behavior?!"