The Deity of War
Chapter 96: Seventy-Two Badges

Thump!

Duan Lang’s headless body fell heavily to the ground.

Thump!

The Dragon Tiger Demon-Slaying Staff also continued to crash down with its original momentum, making the ground tremor with the heavy impact.

Qi Ying didn’t even bat an eyelid as blood and brains splattered onto him. He turned and yelled once again, “Qi Ying is here; who wants to fight me?”

No one gave a reply. Qi Ying’s gaze suddenly settled on a warrior, and he pointed his staff at him before roaring, “Fight me! I have forty-two badges and they’ll all be yours if you beat me!”

The warrior being challenged by Qi Ying almost sh*t himself. He stumbled back in panic, and unwittingly backed into a tree.

He thought the tree was Qi Ying skirting around behind him to deal him a lethal blow, and he instantly wrapped his arms around his head, fleeing into the distance as he howled for mercy.

Qi Ying pointed his staff at someone else. “Do you dare to fight me?”

“Argh! No! I wouldn’t dare!”

That person also scurried away like a rat, in fear that Qi Ying would smash his head into oblivion!

None of the warriors present dared to engage Qi Ying in battle anymore. The Duan family was an example of what happened to those who messed with Qi Ying. Even though he had slain Sun Zhixing, no one from the Sun family dared to attack him.

‘Fight Qi Ying? Are you sick of living?! Haven’t you seen how many he’s killed?!’

Tian Shou harrumphed coldly and departed with a furious expression on his face. Duan Lang was dead, so there was no way he would be getting the Spirit Soul Pill that was promised to him. As such, there was no need for him to hang around any longer.

After Tian Shou’s departure, all of the other warriors also fled the scene.

Feng Hemu was the last one left, and he scrutinized Qi Ying with a look of indignant rage.

Qi Ying pointed his staff at him and challenged, “What? You want to fight me?”

He then looked up into the sky and mused, “The sun is about to set; if you don’t make your move now, there won’t be enough time to get more badges!”

“Hmph!”

Feng Hemu didn’t accept the challenge. Instead, he turned to rush out of the forest.

He had already been injured in the past battle, and he really didn’t want to face Qi Ying anymore. There was barely any time left, and he had to steal badges from other people…

Qi Ying stood with his staff in his hand, and he tilted his head back as he chortled to the skies.

He had done it!

…

The sun soon completely set below the horizon, and night fell upon the hunting grounds. The voice of Commander Wei Jianshan rang out from the voice amplification spell formation. “That will be the end of the tournament!”

All of the warriors with badges in the hunting grounds abruptly discovered that white light was shining glowing from their bodies.

Those who had only one or two badges exuded very faint light, while those who were carrying close to twenty badges shone like miniature suns!

In the forest, there was a particularly bright pillar of light that outshone everyone else by a significant margin.

The light emanating from Qi Ying’s body illuminated an area with a radius of several hundred feet, making it appear as if it were bright as day!

‘Haha! Surely no one has more badges than my seventy-two!’

Qi Ying raised his Dragon Tiger Demon-Slaying Staff and chortled with glee!

He really wanted to thank the Duan family for gifting him so many badges. His nine badges in addition to Duan Gucheng’s thirty-three, and the fifteen each that he scavenged from the bodies of Duan Lang and Sun Zhixing totaled seventy-two; more than a quarter of the total number of badges!

Whoosh!

A figure descended beside Qi Ying.

Qi Ying turned to him and immediately stowed away his staff before joining his hands in a salute. “Master Qi Shun.”

Qi Shun responded with an amiable smile, “No need to be so respectful… Congratulations on securing the number one spot in the entire Celestial River County. You have won yourself the right to enter the Yun Xiao Academy.”

…

The participants that were still alive made their way out of the hunting grounds.

The top ten had finally been ascertained!

Qi Kaiyang announced in a loud voice, “The ten people who have been accepted into the Yun Xiao Academy are: Qi Ying of the Celestial River Academy, Sun Changyu of the Celestial River County’s Sun family, Tian Shou of the Celestial River County Army, An Shaoping of the Celestial River County’s An family… and Feng Hemu of the Celestial River County Army! Please travel to Yun Xiao City within a month, and enrolment will commence on the day of the autumnal equinox!”

Outside the hunting grounds, there were people congratulating one another, but also no lack of people who were absolutely furious. Many powers were seeking revenge for the deaths of their warriors!

However, the county army and supervisors from the capital were all present, so no one dared to engage in conflict.

…

“Yes yes, alright, I understand, principal… I’ll go to the academy tomorrow… My success is largely owing to the guidance from the elders and teachers… Piss off, Wang Mazi! Shoo, Li Gousheng, don’t get in my way…”

Qi Ying forced his way out of the massive crowd of people that were offering congratulations to him, and he heaved a sigh of relief. His gaze immediately fell upon a lonesome figure, and he quickly strode over to her. “When did you get here, Mother Yu? Who accompanied you here?”

Xuan Yu’s white dress was extremely eye-catching in the night. She didn’t provide a direct answer to his question. Instead, she replied, “I arrived quite a while ago. It must have been very difficult to get so many badges, right?”

“Not at all! It was easy!”

Qi Ying chuckled as he scratched his head.

At that moment, a burst of commotion erupted from outside. “Capture everyone from the Duan family!”

Bam bam bam! The sound of physical altercations rang out. Many people were given a fright, and fled in all directions. Qi Ying hurriedly wrapped his arms around Xuan Yu, and led her away from the scene.

‘What happened?’

‘That was voice was quite familiar; was it Zhang Wuleng’s voice?’

‘Didn’t he side with the Duan family last time? Why is he trying to detain them now?’

Just as those thoughts were running through his mind.

Whoosh!

Two figures descended from the sky!

It was Master Thirteen and Lu Feifei, and they stood directly before Qi Ying and Xuan Yu.

“Master Thirteen… What’s going on with the Duan family?” Qi Ying asked.

Master Thirteen chuckled in response, “Here’s a present for you!”

Thud!

Master Thirteen threw a round object onto the ground.

Qi Ying focused his gaze upon the object, and his eyes widened in shock.

It was a human head!

That heavily bearded face… It was Duan Xilai’s head!

There was still a horrified expression etched onto his colorless face.

“Master Thirteen… How?”

Qi Ying had too many questions in his heart.

“Haha!” Master Thirteen pulled out a jade flagon and downed a hearty mouthful of wine before replying, “Anything is possible when you’re Yan Thirteen!”