A Demon Core? And a Whole Basket of Them!

This was the first Black Friday the martial world of Binzhou had seen in fifty years.

Three thousand martial warriors and battle commanders from the Military Armament Division divided into thirteen forces to encircle the star-beast tide. At the cost of a thousand dead or wounded, they annihilated twenty thousand star beasts and drove another ten thousand back into the high-level forbidden zone.

A patrol force formed by the Inspection Team of the Martial Administration Bureau and the Martial Arts Research Institute paid the price of eighty-eight dead or wounded to kill twenty-two beastmen within Binzhou and destroy two strongholds belonging to the Divine Fall Alliance.

The worst of all was Marker 514.

Within thirty minutes of the electromagnetic nuclear bomb’s detonation, the three parties dispatched several helicopters and fully mobilized the satellite network, conducting a carpet search for signs of life.

At dawn the following day, the Martial Administration Bureau issued a statement on the star-beast tide, together with a list of the warriors who had died in battle.

At the very top was Binzhou’s Light, Zhang Chu.

More than a million ordinary citizens across Binzhou erupted in uproar, while the martial arts forum’s servers crashed outright.

At the entrance to Zhang Chu’s small villa in West Sand Garden, flowers of remembrance lay packed together in dense clusters.

Zhang Xueying, Wang Peng, Hu Sanyi, and the others stood there in gloomy silence. As warrior after warrior came to pay their respects to Zhang Chu, their eyes reddened.

The devastation at Marker 514 in Qingcheng River Valley defied description.

The beastmen lay scattered in pieces, limbs severed and heads separated from their bodies.

Yet not even a complete corpse of Zhang Chu had been found.

That same day, Zhang Daoyi publicly issued an apology in his capacity as both city lord and director of the Military Armament Division, acknowledging that he had caused the accidental casualties.

At noon the following day, the Martial Administration Bureau issued a second official announcement, posthumously conferring upon Zhang Chu the title of “God of War of Binzhou” and sending his gravestone to the “Warriors’ Cemetery,” a place symbolizing the highest honor.

While Binzhou was drowning in grief, in a mountain villa several hundred kilometers away, Su Mingyue, dressed in a long black gown, watched the report on an enormous electronic screen. Her eyes were filled with delight.

“Zhang Chu, you’re finally dead. All those sacrifices made by our Divine Fall Alliance to unleash the star-beast tide were worth it after all!”

“Miss Su, the Alliance Leader has just sent someone to summon you. He wants you to come over and discuss the investiture ceremony.”

Su Mingyue nodded slowly and walked out, her long legs carrying her through the door.

In a few days, she would welcome her moment of glory.

The news of Zhang Chu’s death was a heaven-sent gift to her. At last, she had vented the anger she had been holding inside.

Two days later, the barrier surrounding the high-level forbidden zone of Mount Canglong was repaired.

Three brand-new Diamond Demon-Suppressing Stones were set in place, and a garrison composed of nine-star twin-force warriors was stationed there.

The Military Armament Division also supplied advanced electromagnetic cannons.

Even a Spirit Realm practitioner might not be able to get close to the Diamond Demon-Suppressing Stones.

That evening, the patrol team had just finished inspecting the three Diamond Demon-Suppressing Towers when the detector suddenly emitted a piercing alarm.

“Report to Director Fan immediately! An abnormal energy fluctuation has been detected at the center of the high-level forbidden zone. Requesting reinforcements!”

In an instant, everyone in the patrol team panicked. The defensive systems around all three Diamond Demon-Suppressing Stones activated, and the electromagnetic cannons moved into position.

Fan Tianlei had just been preparing to leave work when he received the call. He pushed past the dispirited Zhang Xueying and rushed toward the director’s office.

“Xueying, there’s an abnormal energy fluctuation in the high-level forbidden zone. It may be the Demon-Suppressing Tower. Hurry and inform your father. Tell the Military Armament Division to make preparations!”

The moment she heard that something had happened to the Demon-Suppressing Tower, the gloom vanished from Zhang Xueying’s face. She immediately drove toward the Military Armament Division.

“Zhang Chu, rest in peace. You traded your life for Binzhou’s safety. I will never allow anything to happen to the Demon-Suppressing Tower!”

...

Zhang Chu woke because he was starving.

He had only one thought: he was hungry enough to eat an entire man from Fujian.

Fortunately, he had compressed biscuits and carbonated drinks stored in his storage ring.

After taking a few hurried bites and downing a bottle of physical-energy replenishment fluid, Zhang Chu finally began to recover.

He took out a portable glow stick and illuminated his surroundings. The sight left him utterly dumbfounded.

“Wasn’t I in Qingcheng River Valley? How did I end up inside a tower the moment I opened my eyes?”

Calling it a tower seemed somewhat premature. He had not even entered through the door.

Behind him stood an enormous bronze door. The moment he approached it, he sensed a high-energy magical barrier. One glance was enough to tell him it was the work of a Spirit Realm practitioner.

Other than that, he found no clues whatsoever. There were not even any murals. The place was practically a prison.

“What kind of hellhole is this?”

Zhang Chu searched the entire area. Apart from the enormous bronze door, which stood more than three meters tall behind him, there was no entrance or exit.

“System?”

He tried to activate the system, but received no response.

“Damn it, did the system crash?”

He thought back to that heart-stopping scene.

If the system had not intervened in time, sacrificing ten years of his lifespan to force him into the Spirit Realm and awaken something called the Wings of the Spirit Realm, he would have already been blasted into dust.

Fortunately, he could still summon his personal information panel.

He glanced at it.

Combat Power: 5,000,000/6,000,000

Mental Power: 5,000,000/6,000,000

He was still one million points of mental power and one million points of combat power away from breaking through into the Spirit Realm.

“What is going on? Didn’t I break through into the Spirit Realm? How did I fall back to nine-star? Did I waste ten years of my life for nothing?”

Zhang Chu was completely bewildered.

That had been ten years of his lifespan!

“Ding! The host’s vital signs have been detected. System rebooting.”

At that very moment, the system’s voice rang out in Zhang Chu’s mind.

“Oh, thank goodness. I thought you had crashed.”

Hearing the system’s voice, Zhang Chu let out a long breath. Fortunately, this heaven-defying cheat was still intact.

“Quickly check what kind of hellhole this is.”

“Detection in progress.”

“Detection complete!”

Soon, a white notification window appeared before Zhang Chu’s eyes. Three words were clearly displayed across it:

Demon-Suppressing Tower.

Holy crap!

Those three words struck Zhang Chu like a thunderclap. Panicking badly, he hurriedly retreated, putting as much distance as possible between himself and the bronze door.

“You useless system, what have you done? You actually sent me into the Demon-Suppressing Tower! No wonder I can’t sense the parasitic demon anymore!”

This place was protected by an immense barrier. The seal had been created personally by a half-step Qi Refiner, and the barrier’s pressure suppressed every member of the demon race.

The parasitic demon residing within his body was also a demon. It had already fallen into a deep sleep inside his stomach, terrified that the barrier would kill it.

The Demon-Suppressing Tower was a forbidden place among Binzhou’s warriors.

Fan Tianlei had told him before that this was a passage leading to the Demon Realm.

If the Demon-Suppressing Tower were damaged, the demon race would invade, and humanity would suffer a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.

Whenever the Demon-Suppressing Tower was mentioned, warriors avoided it like the plague.

And yet Zhang Chu had been blasted straight inside by a single cannon shot, where he had remained unconscious for two days.

The system then began its explanation.

Only after listening did Zhang Chu understand.

To save his life, the system had forcibly overclocked its processor, causing a temporary shutdown. To restart itself, it had been forced to absorb Zhang Chu’s combat power and mental power. That was why his cultivation had fallen from the Spirit Realm all the way back to nine-star.

“So, how do I get out of this hellhole?”

Zhang Chu did not want to remain in a place like this for even one minute.

If some towering demon came charging through the bronze door, he might suffer a heart attack and die on the spot.

“According to the scan, the host must possess at least Spirit Realm cultivation in order to leave.”

“Planning a path to increase cultivation.”

The instant the system finished speaking, a red point of light began flashing before Zhang Chu’s eyes. A line of text appeared beneath it:

“A large quantity of demon-core energy has been detected. It is estimated to be sufficient for the host to break through into the Spirit Realm. Consume it at your discretion.”

Demon cores?

How could something like that possibly exist on the Spirit Continent?

But a few minutes later, following the location indicated by the system, he indeed found a mechanism.

When he activated it, the floor tiles collapsed.

A box slowly rose before Zhang Chu.

“Holy crap, they really are demon cores—and there’s an entire basket of them! This is absurd!”