Three corpses, three severed heads.
Just moments ago, they had been strutting around, loudly demanding that someone hand over their belongings—or else die.
Now they lay headless and lifeless, eyes frozen open in death, looking even more pathetic than dead dogs.
Nothing is more convincing than death.
The hundred-odd martial artists had terror written in every eye. If it weren't for their masks, their expressions at this moment would have been the very picture of horror.
With strength like this, what good was having numbers?
To put it bluntly—if the man wanted them dead, he could wipe every last one of them out within a quarter of an hour, and not a single survivor would escape.
It had been too fast. The speed of his strikes was faster than a shooting star.
Even the three strongest fighters, attacking together, couldn't withstand a single blow.
If all ten of them charged at once, he'd probably cut them down in one stroke anyway.
The gap between them was like a grown man crushing a toddler. They weren't even in the same league.
Pair after pair of terrified eyes stared at the three corpses. They didn't even have the courage to look at
Jiang Chen had struck midair and slain all three in a single move.
He twisted his body and landed lightly at the foot of the slope.
He had zero interest in this group of dumbfounded martial artists.
After this battle, their wills had been stripped away. They were already cripples—dead weight. On the path of martial cultivation, they would never advance another step.
For trash like that, Jiang Chen couldn't even be bothered to kill them.
"Men die for wealth, birds die for food. These clowns couldn't even master their own skills, yet they dared to scheme against me. They truly had no idea what death looked like."
Jiang Chen shook his head. With a few bounds, his figure vanished without a trace.
Only after Jiang Chen's silhouette disappeared did the hundred-odd martial artists finally manage to breathe a little easier.
Just moments ago, they hadn't even had the courage to breathe, afraid that the slightest sound might invite annihilation.
The feeling of cheating death drenched every last one of their backs in cold sweat.
In their misery, they realized that this monstrous prodigy hadn't even found them worth killing.
What is tragedy? This is true tragedy.
What is the gap between people? This is the real gap.
They understood now just how weak they were—so weak that he couldn't even be bothered to end their lives.
"Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying," one survivor stammered, his voice trembling.
"In a single move—I didn't even see him draw a weapon—three powerful Spirit Realm martial artists just died. Is this... is this even real?"
"What a joke. What a cruel joke. In his eyes, we're probably less than ants. And here we were, a bunch of ants, foolishly daring to plot against him."
Jiang Chen's figure disappeared into the vast forest. In a corner of that forest, a figure who had vanished earlier suddenly reappeared beneath a great tree.
"The man who survived a sea of fire—he really is something. How laughable, that crowd of clowns, overestimating themselves and throwing their lives away for nothing."
This person had been watching Jiang Chen the entire time. Now, he was even more certain—the man who had lived through that sea of fire was definitely Jiang Chen.
Over the next few days, Jiang Chen kept an extremely low profile, making his way through less populated areas whenever possible. It wasn't that he feared other martial artists would attack him again—he simply didn't want to be dragged into trouble by a bunch of fools.
Last time, the Firecrow tribe had been provoked by those two groups of fighters, which led to a blaze that scorched a hundred miles.
After days of traversing the area, Jiang Chen came to understand that this Bright-Dark Valley was anything but simple. If even a Saint Grade Spirit Beast like the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Salamander existed here, there had to be other powerful creatures as well.
One stroke of luck—encountering a Saint Grade Spirit Beast near the end of its lifespan—didn't mean his luck would hold forever.
If he ran into a healthy Saint Grade Spirit Beast, even with all his extraordinary abilities, things would likely end badly.
After all, a Saint Grade Spirit Beast was equivalent to a Yuan Realm ancestor among humans. If uninjured, it could crush every Spirit Realm martial artist with ease.
For the remaining days, Jiang Chen stayed low, stayed careful, and made safety his top priority.
Thanks to this approach, while he still ran into the occasional minor challenge, he resolved them one by one with ease.
The last few days brought no more windfall opportunities, but with small-scale scavenging, his haul was still respectable.
This Bright-Dark Valley truly was a place where treasures could be found everywhere. Relying on his experience from his previous life, Jiang Chen possessed judgment far beyond ordinary people, so even amid the small skirmishes, the occasional pleasant surprise turned up.
Thus, several uneventful days slipped by, and the ten-day assessment period finally came to an end.