Degrade from Nobility to a Humble Slave

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Loud sounds of drums from outside woke Zen up in the early hours of the morning.

As soon as he opened his door, he was infected by the atmosphere.

Amidst the bustle of the drumming, a hundred imperial soldiers were marching out of the fort in groups.

Martin located Zen, assembled the team, and they took up the task of hunting blade locusts beyond the confines of the fort.

Hundreds of miles in front of Dragon Fort was the principal battlefield against blade locusts.

Dead blade locusts were piled up in heaps on both sides of the path.

Zen saw some people crowding around the heaps as if they were searching for something. Occasionally one of them would prod at a corpse.

He noticed that all those scavenging the bodies were ordinary citizens. None of them were body refiners.

'So why are they out there?' he wondered. Common people were so weak that a single blade locust could easily kill them all. The battlefield was too dangerous for them.

After watching the people rifling through the remains, Zen asked, "Why are these civilians risking their lives outside the fort? Aren't they afraid to die?"

Martin laughed at his question, "Afraid to die? Of course, they are afraid to die. Every year many civilians get themselves killed here. Just a few days ago, some damned blade locusts got lucky! They rushed in, killing a dozen civilians."

"Then why do they come out of the fort?" asked Zen, puzzled.

Martin smiled, "It has to do with your sect."

Zen was still confused, so, Roger explained, "Each blade locust has a crystal core in its chest. In our sect, they only need the crystal cores you have collected to count the number of blade locusts you have killed. Usually, we take the crystal cores after we kill them. But, we always miss some amidst the many carcasses. These people are here to take a chance on luck. Crystal cores are sold at a premium in the fort."

That explanation cleared it up for Zen.

Twenty crystal cores were worth one point. One point was worth two cubic crystals.

Refiners would love to buy some crystal cores with gold or silver that they had no use for. At the same time, through trade, ordinary individuals could make a fortune, living a prosperous, comfortable life. It was a small wonder why so many men were willing to risk their lives looking for crystal cores outside of the fort.

Ahead, the lush green rain forest was quiet.

In the face of the insect army, other beasts migrated yearly because they were as defenseless as humans when it came to the insect horde. The creatures either went into hiding deep underground or fled the forest entirely.

All was still. The only sound was the leaves rustling in the wind.

Moving silently, Zen and the others made their way into the forest.

the environment perfectly, making them good at camouflaging themselves in the forest. When

instant Zen brushed by a shrub, there were two blades shooting out at his neck so fast that the blades whistled as they

seized a blade with his bare hand as it came close. Energy erupted through his body, covering every inch of him with

snapped between his fingers. At the same time, he shattered

on guard after the appearance of this blade locust. Zen killed it quickly, but that didn't relieve the tension. Instead, the saying, 'when you have one blade locust in sight, two thousand more are close,

grew louder and

forest was alive with thousands of blade locusts

'Kill!'

thought running through Zen's head

were nothing more than points and a ticket to get into

refining level, he had better control of his life energy. He couldn't use it to attack like a weapon or transform it into life vitality like people at the nature level yet though. Still, at this level, he

extending from Zen's body and the next moment his fist landed forcibly

'Die!'

either side of him, their sharp blades rising, snapping at the air as they closed

or dodge. His fists severed the air. The blow summoned a horrifying force, the Purple Light Fist!

"Thump! Clunk!"

of both blade locusts were crushed into

cores up, he heard the whistling in the air behind him. He ducked in reflex avoiding the attack from a blade locust and then swung

'Purple Fist Strength!'

of their body.

through the insect's thick shell to the deeper, softer part of its body, where the effect would do more

"Crack! Crush! Boof!"

dull thuds, the flood of force ripped its abdomen apart. The blade locust staggered before collapsing dead

He showed no fear, his parries

dropping dead in front of him, it wasn't long before a pile of bodies rose

Zen battled, he noticed everyone else was fighting as desperately

he would swing his sword and shoot a dark red light to pierce the blade locust in

Sun attacked vigorously. It was not their first time hunting blade locusts. Both of them were experienced fighters and aware of

drew together in a battle array against

"Shield!"

"Spear!"

"Arrow!"

from the Cloud Sect, their attack was reasonably effective under

"Crack!"

a blade locust and then poked its vulnerable head with his other hand, making it explode

one, there were no

a few blade locusts were left, and they surrounded Roger, Martin and the

that there were about sixty blade locust carcasses. He

the crystal cores from the dead bodies. It was a long, hard fight, yet his hard work only netted three