Becoming a Saint From the Iron Armor Skill

Chapter 370: Chapter 192: Waiting with Eager Anticipation

「Great Yu Calendar, year 1059, the tenth day of the ninth month.」

Though it was still morning, the sun already hung high in the eastern sky. A dry autumn wind carried a hint of scorching heat.

Outside Linji City’s South City Gate, a large crowd of people and horses had gathered, creating a bustling scene.

The Four Great Clans of the Inner City were all scheduled to depart today for their demon-slaying expeditions.

Xin’an, Xinyi, and Moshan Counties all lay south of Linji City. Thus, the Jiang, Wang, and Shen families were all gathered outside the South City Gate to organize their demon-slaying teams.

With the power of these three families and so many days of preparation, their manpower should have already been arranged. There was little need for further organization; they could have simply gathered in the Inner City and set off.

However, a major incident had occurred in the Dongcheng District last night. The Gang Leader and all the chieftains of the Blood Saber Gang, the district’s largest faction, had been slain.

Only a disorganized mob remained, and they too scattered like birds and beasts, their hearts filled with fear.

The Blood Saber Gang disintegrated overnight, effectively wiped from existence.

The landscape of Jianghu Gangs in the Dongcheng District was inevitably facing a reshuffle.

The Wang Family would certainly need to prop up a new gang to replace the Blood Saber Gang.

Naturally, the Jiang, Qin, and Shen families would also have to make a move and cultivate some Jianghu Influence of their own.

This was to avoid a repeat of the situation where the entire Jianghu Influence of the Dongcheng District fell under the Wang Family’s control.

Under normal circumstances, these matters could be planned out slowly.

But with every family now rushing to leave the city to slay demons, time was short. Their manpower was already stretched thin, so they were forced to alter their original plans and delay their departure.

Besides the disciples of the Four Great Clans of the Inner City, many formidable figures from Linji City’s Jianghu had also flocked to the scene.

Some of these Jianghu figures had formed their own Demon Hunting Teams to leave the city and slay demons.

Their goal was to harvest Demon materials to earn silver coins or to exchange for Merit from the City Lord’s Mansion.

These Demon Hunting Teams were often weaker in terms of Martial Arts Power, mostly composed of Skin Grinding Realm Martial Artists. Even hunting a Tier One Demon Beast posed a great risk to them.

However, Demon Beast Materials were extremely valuable. A lucky kill of even a single Tier One Demon Beast could earn them several thousand taels of silver.

For these Martial Artists, the reward was immense.

Others chose to join the Demon-slaying Teams of the Four Great Clans, assisting them in their hunts in exchange for payment.

These Jianghu figures were typically more powerful, and there were even quite a few Muscle Strengthening Realm and Bone Forger Realm Martial Artists among them.

Their goal wasn’t just to earn silver coins, but to obtain precious Elixir Pills like Low Grade Muscle Strengthening Pills and Low Grade Bone Tempering Pills—items that were difficult to purchase even if one had the money.

However, the disciples of the Four Great Clans of the Inner City were already powerful in their own right. When these Jianghu figures joined their teams, they were often heavily exploited, and their share of the profits was very limited.

Moreover, they were made to do all the hard and tiring work. When danger arose, they were easily used as cannon fodder, pushed to the front lines where they might well lose their lives.

In the past, these Jianghu figures would have preferred to join a different team: the demon-slaying team from the Zheng Martial Arts Hall.

The Zheng Martial Arts Hall’s team was led by Mr. Zheng himself, so there was no need to worry about encountering overwhelmingly powerful Demons.

Furthermore, Mr. Zheng had come from humble beginnings and was known for his integrity, so he treated these Jianghu figures quite well.

They often only had to run errands or scout for traces of Demons to receive a generous share of the rewards.

But now, with Mr. Zheng away from Linji City, these Jianghu figures had no other choice but to join the Demon-slaying Teams of the Four Great Clans.

Of course, the Jianghu figures with any real Martial Arts Power were no fools. They had their own wits and could assess the situation in Linji City.

They had their own opinions about which of the Four Great Clans’ demon-slaying teams would be the most suitable to join.

As for the Four Great Clans of the Inner City, they welcomed all sorts of Jianghu figures to join their teams.

On one hand, it was a way to win people over and expand their own influence.

On the other, they genuinely needed more hands to act as cannon fodder, to deal with dangerous situations and reduce the casualties among their own family disciples during the demon slays.

It was a two-way street, a choice that mutually benefited both the Jianghu Martial Artists and the Four Great Clans of the Inner City.

The Jiang Family controlled the City Lord’s Mansion and was the most powerful family in Linji City, so their demon-slaying team attracted a few more Jianghu figures.

The Wang Family came in second. This time, the overall Martial Arts Power of their demon-slaying team was no less than the Jiang Family’s.

Moreover, the Wang Family had always publicly proclaimed that they were widely recruiting Jianghu figures and offered generous shares of the rewards.

As for the Shen Family, its younger generation was short on talent, and with its vigor fading, the family was gradually showing signs of decline.

Their demon-slaying team for this expedition was also the weakest.

After all, the Jiang Family had Jiang Lang, the number one martial artist of the younger generation, while the Wang Family had Wang Xiongba, who was born with Copper Skin and Iron Bone.

The Martial Arts Power of these two was second only to the older generation’s Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm experts, and both could single-handedly slay a Tier Three Demon Beast with ease.

Even if the older experts didn’t make a move, one could still benefit just by being associated with these two.

The Shen Family, on the other hand, didn’t have a single noteworthy fighter among its younger generation.

Aside from Patriarch Shen Mingyuan and Xue Huai’an, the Vice Director of the Demon Suppression Department overseeing the demon scourge in Moshan County, everyone else was lacking in strength.

If they encountered a Tier Three Demon Beast, they would likely need to combine the strength of several people just to hold their ground.

After all, Tier Three Demon Beasts were incredibly powerful; it typically took three or four Perfect Martial Artists of the Bone Forger Realm working in concert to have a chance of slaying one.

The strength of the Shen Family’s demon-slaying team was, frankly, pathetic.

Tagging along with the Shen Family’s demon-slaying team, one would most likely be the first to face the danger of being used as cannon fodder.

When leaving the city to slay demons, whether or not one made any gains was secondary; surviving was what mattered most.

After analyzing the situation, these Jianghu figures naturally made their calculations.

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