Chapter 609

The Spirit Devouring Rat displayed its extreme speed and charged towards the fleeing Primal Core cultivators, killing them in a frenzy. Its attacks were extremely ruthless, leaving almost no corpses intact.

As the number of Primal Core cultivators it killed increased, its originally intelligent eyes were filled with savagery.

There were too many despicable and cunning humans who went back on their word. What made the Spirit Devouring Rat even angrier was that these humans took the rewards without caring about the lives of their employers. They only had themselves in their hearts.

The Spirit Devouring Rat didn't know how many Primal Core cultivators had died in the battle, but it was counting the Primal Core cultivators it had killed. Now, more than 75 had died at its hands.

And this number was still increasing.

When all the mid-stage Primal Core cultivators were killed, it was already the end of the battle. When Wang Qiong and the others joined the battle of the early-stage Primal Core cultivators, a massacre had already begun.

Soon, the battle was over. The 93 Primal Core cultivators from the eight forces were all killed. Not a single one was left alive.

Wang Shan was walking among the corpses, cleaning up the battlefield and picking up the Primal Core cultivators' weapons, spirit rings, and energy Primal Core cultivators. As for Lu Peng and the others, they were doing a headcount, including the Primal Core cultivators' corpses.

As for the surviving Primal Core cultivators, they had already left to heal their wounds.

Zi Chen stood in the air, calmly watching all this. Behind him, Heifeng and Wild Wolf stood with their heads lowered, not even daring to breathe loudly.

After 60 minutes, the headcount was over. Wang Shan walked towards Zi Chen in the air.

"Before the battle, we had 680 early-stage Primal Core cultivators. In this battle, 01 died, leaving 91. Among them, 63 are heavily injured, and the rest have light injuries. As for the Primal Core cultivators from the eight forces, they were all killed. Not a single one was left alive."

As soon as Wang Shan arrived in front of Zi Chen, he began to report the situation of the battle. After a short pause, he continued, "Among our group of early Dan Primary Stage cultivators, there are thirty-three people who are missing. I think they ran away because of fear."

Zi Chen only nodded calmly. Wang Shan glanced at Wild Wolf and Heifeng before turning to leave. Behind Zi Chen, Wild Wolf and Heifeng broke out in cold sweat from Wang Shan's gaze.

This was because among the thirty-three people who had fled, more than eighty percent of their Core Essences had been recruited by the two of them.

"We were incompetent. Please punish us, Sir." Before Zi Chen could speak, the two of them took the initiative to admit their mistakes.

Zi Chen waved his hand and said in a calm voice, "You were just following my orders. I don't blame you for this. Speaking of which, I was too anxious about this. I thought that I could make up for all of this with high treatment, but it seems that it won't work."

"They accepted the reward from our lord, but they actually left halfway. This is obviously disloyal and despicable. Let's take some people and chase after them. We must capture these despicable people." Wild Wolf's expression was full of anger.

Zi Chen didn't say anything and just shook his head. The two immediately shut their mouths and didn't dare to act on their own accord. Ever since they had seen Zi Chen's powerful battle prowess, they no longer dared to disobey him.

Zi Chen stood in the air and looked into the distance calmly, as if he was waiting for something. A moment later, a white light appeared in his line of sight. It was flying towards him at an extremely fast speed.

"That's a Spirit Devouring Rat." After seeing the figure in the white light, Wild Wolf and Heifeng's pupils shrank slightly.

The Spirit Devouring Rat appeared from the horizon and headed straight for Zi Chen. When it got close, it transmitted its voice, "A total of thirty-three escaped Core Essences have been found. They're all here."

The Spirit Devouring Rat didn't deliberately suppress its transmission, so Wild Wolf and Heifeng could hear it. After the Spirit Devouring Rat finished speaking, a white light flashed in front of it. Then, thirty Core Essences, thirty Core Weapons, and thirty Spirit Rings appeared.

Wild Wolf and Heifeng's expressions changed instantly when they saw the Spirit Devouring Rat take out these items. They didn't think that Zi Chen had already anticipated this and had already made arrangements for it.

And this little rat that looked more like a pet actually had the strength to kill more than thirty Core Essences. This was truly terrifying.

Now, the two of them couldn't help but believe that anything that could follow Zi Chen, even if it was just a flying rat, had extraordinary means.

"Give these things to Wang Shan. In the future, he'll be in charge of all things related to resources," Zi Chen said calmly.

"En, alright." The Spirit Devouring Rat nodded and left with these items.

Looking at Zi Chen's back, Wild Wolf and Heifeng only felt a chill in their hearts. Zi Chen's powerful battle strength had already made them afraid, but now, Zi Chen's mental calculation was the real reason why the two of them were terrified.

Zi Chen turned around and his calm eyes fell on the two of them. Then, he said lightly, "Go and see how the injuries of those Core Essences are. Tell them to rest well. The second battle should still be a long time."

The two of them nodded and then turned to leave. During this time, they actually didn't dare to look at Zi Chen's eyes. Moreover, the two of them didn't know when their clothes were completely drenched in cold sweat.

Everyone left, even the corpses on the ground were taken care of. Only Zi Chen was still standing in the air, his calm eyes looking forward. That direction was the depths of the Bedlam Lands, where Chaos City was located. There were five overlord forces there, as well as many other forces, big and small.

Although Zi Chen's expression was calm, he was very irritated and annoyed. He originally thought that he could create a force that would make people tremble in fear and become famous in the Bedlam Lands. However, in today's battle, this force that could only be called a team had exposed its most fundamental problem.

And that was loyalty.

Without a group of loyal subordinates, there was no way to fight a battle. So what if he recruited an army of Core Essences? As soon as the battle started and casualties appeared, there would be Core Essences who would flee in fear.

With such a chaotic situation, not only would they not be able to destroy the enemy, but they would also cause endless panic. Once panic arose, the battle would be equivalent to losing.

And today's battle was the most obvious example. If they hadn't killed the mid-stage Core Essences in the fastest speed and controlled the situation, there would have been more Core Essences who fled in fear.

Zi Chen had once naively thought that by giving them enough rewards and resources, he would be able to make them work for him wholeheartedly and fight for him.

However, reality proved that this was just Zi Chen's naive thinking. Human nature was the most complicated and unfathomable thing.

"Something's on your mind."

Wang Xian 'er appeared from afar. She was dressed in white and looked like a fairy. She leaned on Zi Chen's shoulder, her black hair cascading down like a waterfall.

"No." Zi Chen smiled and hugged Wang Xian 'er.

Wang Xian 'er leaned on Zi Chen's shoulder and closed her eyes, allowing the breeze to caress her face. She seemed to cherish this scene very much and didn't speak for a long time.

Zi Chen was also silent and looked ahead.

After a long time, Wang Xian 'er slowly opened her eyes. She seemed to be talking to herself and said softly, "Back then, when father just became the City Lord, there were many who came to join the Wang Family of Yunxia City. However, they were all rejected by father."

"At that time, there were many experts, and many of them were famous. Father rejected all of them, which made many elders in the family unhappy. They questioned father and asked him why he did this. In the end, father only said one sentence and shut their mouths."

"At that time, father said that outsiders were unreliable. Instead of wasting resources on them, he might as well use these resources to nurture some reliable Core Essences."

"Haha, your father is indeed smart and far-sighted." Zi Chen chuckled.

Wang Xian 'er slowly raised her head and looked at Zi Chen. She said softly, "Zi Chen, you have already done very well. Don't add so much pressure to yourself. At the very least, you have made a hundred unreliable Core Essences believe in you and work for you."

Zi Chen nodded. He could naturally hear the consolation and concern in Wang Xian 'er's words. If he was given enough time, he could also nurture a loyal Core Essences army.

However, it seemed that what he lacked the most now was time. Although he won the first battle and bought enough time for him, he only had two months at most.

Two months seemed to be a long time, but nurturing a Core Essences army was undoubtedly a fool's dream. Unless he had two years, or even twenty years.

According to the original plan, Zi Chen would expand his forces in the next two months. At the same time, he would continue to recruit Core Essences. However, after today's battle, Zi Chen had to give up on the idea of expanding his forces due to the lack of loyalty.

The more Core Essences there were, the easier it was to cause chaos. Now, Zi Chen's only hope was to rely on the formation.

Lv Peng had returned with a piece of good news. He had found a suitable place to set up the formation. The battle with the Overlords would be held in the formation.

Wang Xian 'er left from the sky to look for Lv Peng. Zi Chen wanted to discuss the formation with her and Old Mo. Moreover, time was tight. Therefore, they had to go and scout the terrain immediately.

Before Lv Peng arrived, a figure flew over from afar. It was Longhu.

"Are you worried about the disloyalty of the Core Essences?" Longhu asked directly.

This was the biggest hidden danger in the team so far. There was nothing to hide. Zi Chen nodded.

Longhu thought for a while and said, "I can't give you any advice regarding the current Core Essences. However, if it's the future Core Essences, I can guarantee their loyalty."

Zi Chen looked at Longhu and waited for him to continue.

"In my inherited memory, there is a way to control the soul."

"Control the soul."

Zi Chen was shocked. The soul was the most mysterious thing for a cultivator, and also the foundation of a cultivator. If there was a problem with the soul, it would mean that there was a problem with the cultivator.

In the best case scenario, the cultivator would suffer from dementia, while in the worst case scenario, they would die instantly.

"That's right, it's a Soul Seed Art. Once it's implanted into a cultivator's soul, it's equivalent to controlling the cultivator like a puppet. It can guarantee their loyalty, but …" Longhu paused.

"But what?" Zi Chen asked.