172: Black Dragon Prefecture? Sorry, never heard of it.

The city gate area was a scene of chaos.

Many people didn't even have a storage ring; they could only carry huge Desolate Beast corpses on their shoulders, staggering as they squeezed into the city.

Cultivators with missing arms or legs were visible everywhere.

Zhang Sheng understood after a bit of inquiry.

Most of those assigned to this Commandery City were groups judged to be at the bottom of the "Civilization Potential Rank."

Their New Prefecture couldn't attract the attention of merchant guilds at all.

What was worse, as soon as these people descended here, they had to face the threat of Desolate Beasts and were forced into bloody slaughters.

And those before his eyes were merely scattered remnants roaming about.

The real main force of the Desolate Beasts was entrenched in several Guard Cities further east—that was the meat grinder of the front lines of the "Pioneering War."

"My Lord! I beg of you!"

"Let me be your slave! I beg of you!"

A youth with a severed arm knelt by the roadside, constantly kowtowing and pleading with passersby.

Zhang Sheng glanced at him and shook his head inwardly.

This youth hadn't even had his Divine Sense Awakening; in a place like this, he was pure baggage.

No power would waste a precious "slave soul pill" on such trash.

He didn't even have the qualifications to be a slave.

The closer one got to the city gate, the more Cultivators there were selling themselves to survive.

Unfortunately, in these chaotic times, everyone was in danger; who had the spare energy to care about the life or death of others?

Stepping out of the city gate!

A wave of scorching heat, carrying violent Spiritual Qi, rushed toward him!

The Spiritual Qi was incredibly dense, yet it was like scalding oil; refining it was as difficult as trying to scoop sesame seeds out of a boiling pot with bare hands.

The frantic Spiritual Qi was also mixed with a large amount of chaotic and impure energy.

His Divine Sense swept out, taking in everything within a thousand miles—it was all "Refugee Cities" formed by clusters of fugitives!

Almost all the New Prefecture Cultivators who descended here had abandoned their initial landing points, huddling around the Guard Cities like moths to a flame, creating this deformed "grandeur."

In the end, it was just to be closer to the Guard City for a psychological sense of "safety."

Zhang Sheng's goal was clear: to go deep into the wild regions beyond the Guard City.

He wanted to hunt those roaming Desolate Beasts to understand their combat methods and prepare for truly entering the Pioneering War in the future.

But before that, he had to make some disguises.

With a slight circulation of his technique, his bones clicked softly, and his facial features shifted, instantly transforming him into a middle-aged man with a weathered face.

At the same time, he activated the Breath Concealment Art, suppressing his emitted aura to a level only two or three times stronger than an ordinary Divine Breath Realm Cultivator.

Confirming that the main force of the Desolate Beasts was to the east, Zhang Sheng sped toward the east through the air.

Along the way, he saw nothing but New Prefecture Cultivators fleeing in panic!

After flying for less than thirty thousand miles, a group of Desolate Beasts chasing fleeing Cultivators appeared in his field of vision.

This was the first time Zhang Sheng had seen a living Desolate Beast.

They were of various shapes and sizes, flying extremely fast, but their skin all showed a rock-like dull gray color!

Seeing their companion about to be caught, a Cultivator in desperation threw out several wind blades toward the Desolate Beast.

Unfortunately, those wind blades couldn't even scratch the skin of the Desolate Beast!

A Desolate Beast shaped like a lion opened its mouth and spat out a crimson energy chain that shot forth, instantly binding both that Cultivator and his companion!

No matter how the two struggled, the chain didn't budge, and in the blink of an eye, they were dragged into the giant maw to become blood food.

Some of these Desolate Beasts brandished great sabers and hammers condensed from blood and Qi, while others controlled energy weapons like Flying Daggers.

Although their weapon forms were different, they had one thing in common—they were all composed of pure, violent blood and Qi power!

Without exception, they primarily cultivated blood and Qi.

In this region of frantic and chaotic Spiritual Qi, human Cultivators were naturally at a disadvantage when fighting Desolate Beasts.

Those weapons condensed from blood and Qi not only had varied shapes but also emitted a dense and eye-catching blood light!

"Uncle! Run! The Desolate Beasts are coming for you!" An anxious Divine Sense transmission exploded in Zhang Sheng's mind.

The corner of Zhang Sheng's mouth curled up imperceptibly.

Instead of retreating, he advanced, charging straight into the beast swarm!

With a thought, countless incomparably sharp Moon Blades appeared out of thin air, sweeping through the beast swarm like a violent storm!

Pfft!

Pfft!

The Desolate Beasts fell in batches like wheat being harvested; even those few large ones with strength comparable to True Fetus Realm Cultivators did not escape!

Humans had no special division for the Realms of Desolate Beasts, simply and crudely corresponding them to the Realms of human Cultivators:

Those with attack power equivalent to the Divine Breath Realm were called Divine Breath Realm Desolate Beasts;

Those equivalent to the True Fetus Realm were called True Fetus Realm Desolate Beasts.

But usually, at the same Realm, in a one-on-one fight, a human Cultivator was by no means a match for a Desolate Beast.

The gap in their Physical Body was simply too large.

At this moment, Zhang Sheng was playing with an egg-sized, entirely blood-red bead in his hand.

This was the beast core of that True Fetus Realm lion Desolate Beast, condensing most of its blood and Qi essence.

This kind of "Blood Pill" was a precious medicine for restoring a Cultivator's blood and Qi, but unfortunately, it had to be refined into a pill before it could be consumed.

And the Pill Formula had long been tightly monopolized by major powers; the price they paid to purchase Blood Pills was suppressed extremely low.

Over three hundred Desolate Beasts, including five True Fetus Realm ones, were slaughtered by Zhang Sheng in almost a breath's time!

However, at the moment he waved his hand to collect the Desolate Beast corpses into his storage ring.

"Hey! Which blind fool dares to snatch this young master's prey?!" A cocky, sharp shout came.

A group of five people abruptly appeared in Zhang Sheng's vision, just in time to witness him collecting the corpses.

Leading them was a youth in silk robes, holding a spear flashing with spiritual light; his Divine Breath Realm cultivation was completely visible in Zhang Sheng's eyes.

His Foundation was quite solid, a Divine Breath Realm achieved through "First Refinement One Hundred Spirits."

Behind him followed four people, each with a powerful aura far exceeding the burly man Zhang Sheng had killed before; they were all experts in the True Fetus Realm!

Zhang Sheng's Divine Sense had actually discovered them long ago.

These five had a clear goal: use the fleeing refugees as bait to exhaust the Desolate Beasts' strength, and then come out to pick up the spoils.

What Zhang Sheng didn't know was that the beast swarm had been intentionally led toward the refugees by them.

"Oh?" Zhang Sheng sneered.

"I don't have the habit of spitting out what has entered my pocket. I'd like to see what you can do."

Before his voice faded, his figure suddenly blurred, turning into a stream of light and fleeing toward the east at high speed!

"Damn it! You snatched this young master's things and still want to run?!"

"Chase him!" The silk-robed youth was furious.

The four True Fetus Realm guards behind him instantly erupted, carrying the youth with them as they turned into four swift shadows in hot pursuit.

While fleeing, Zhang Sheng split off a strand of Divine Sense into the "omniscient jade slip," rapidly searching for information on this youth.

"Not someone on the fledgling tiger ranking? And yet he dares to be so arrogant?"

"It seems he's relying on some background... but he doesn't even have a Divine Power Realm guard by his side, just four True Fetus Realms, and this kid's Foundation isn't top-tier either; his background is likely quite limited."

Seeing Zhang Sheng suddenly stop, the pursuing youth thought he had softened and shouted triumphantly:

"What? Changed your mind? Be sensible and hand over all the beast cores!"

"This young master only wants the Beast Cores; as for the other trashy things, I can't be bothered to settle scores with you!"

Zhang Sheng turned around, his face expressionless: "May I ask this young master's honorable name?"

Five blood-red beast cores flew out from the storage ring and drifted toward the youth.

The youth looked delighted and said haughtily:

"You're quite sensible! Listen well, I am the Young Mansion Lord of the Black Dragon Mansion, Tian Yang! My father Tiger's great name is surely known to you like thunder in your ears, right?"

"Leave your name, and when you have time in the future, you can come sit at my Black Dragon Mansion!"

Hearing this, Zhang Sheng was slightly stunned. Black Dragon Mansion? Tiger... he really hadn't heard of it.

Without changing his expression, his Divine Sense once again sank into the omniscient jade slip.

Information soon emerged: Black Dragon Mansion, a New Prefecture power that had risen in the last hundred years.

Mansion Lord Tiger, a powerhouse on the Qingchuan Prefecture divine ability ranking, ranked—9,921st.