The archdemon's vitality was extraordinarily tenacious.
Even with Jin Dajun and Gong Qian joining forces, it took a full ten thousand punches before Deimos finally breathed his last.
Moreover, during this process, Deimos feigned death several times. Yet the two paid no heed, pummeling him straight out of suspended animation until he woke, only to beat him back into apparent death once more.
After several such cycles, Deimos was finally dead beyond any shadow of a doubt.
Even then, the two did not stop, continuing their ruthless beating until Deimos's eyeballs popped right out of their sockets before they finally halted.
"Is he dead?"
Jin Dajun kicked Deimos's corpse, standing in place still unwilling to lower his guard.
On the other side, Gong Qian was drenched in sweat, feeling as if her arms no longer belonged to her. Yet despite the utter exhaustion, a satisfied smile spread across her face.
This was the first time she had ever fought with such pure exhilaration.
Every punch landed solid against flesh and bone.
There was no need to consider the surrounding terrain, no running around, no aiming—all she had to do was close her eyes and throw full-power punches.
In fact, only in such a state could she truly unite her waist and stance to unleash her utmost power. Deimos was likely the first enemy to take the full, unadulterated brunt of her ten-thousand-ton punches with every single strike.
Meanwhile, the personnel originally tasked with teleporting General Zhao Yi and the other generals looked at each other in bewilderment.
Deimos was already dead.
Did they still need to proceed?
The team leader immediately contacted his superior, who in turn contacted higher command. Soon, new instructions arrived: suspend the teleportation.
Qilin headquarters began verifying the information. A call was finally placed to Jin Dajun, confirming that the Dragon-rank archdemon Deimos truly had been slain. However, Jin Dajun had not taken down Deimos alone; Gong Qian and others had assisted him.
Jin Dajun had recognized Gong Qian from her fists, but having never seen Yu Xian's bubbles before, he had not known they were Yu Xian's ability.
Before long, however, the higher-ups learned of Yu Xian's MVP-tier support abilities through a call with Gong Qian.
At Qilin headquarters, senior leadership had assembled in the conference room. Minister Yu Lie hung up the phone, looked at the deputy ministers, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Everyone, it has now been confirmed. The Dragon-rank threat, the archdemon Deimos, has been jointly eliminated by Jin Dajun, Gong Qian, and Yu Xian."
"Gong Qian possesses the Pangu Herculean Divine Ability, so it isn't surprising that she could intervene in a Dragon-rank battle. But Yu Xian... isn't he only Ant rank?" a deputy minister asked in confusion.
When he descended on Silver City back then, he had specifically touched Yu Xian's head to verify his rank.
"Heh, not only did he take part, but he was also the key to taking down Deimos this time," Yu Lie chuckled wryly, rubbing his temples in slight exasperation. "We'd better discuss how to reward him properly."
Yu Xian had thwarted the aberrant worms' plot and saved tens of millions of people in Silver City; everything that could reasonably be awarded had already been given.
Just two days ago, Yu Xian had discovered in advance that Zhou Tai possessed the ability to unearth the bloodline potential of transcendent creatures, reporting it promptly and bringing a potential Dragon-rank crisis to light. They were still debating whether that merited a First-Class Merit or a Second-Class Merit.
Who would have thought that before they could even reach a conclusion, Yu Xian would go and accomplish another tremendous deed?
The attendees exchanged glances and ultimately wore wry smiles. The annual quota of Pangu's Blood was limited; it had to be distributed internally within Qilin, while outside brother organizations like Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise also claimed their shares. Headquarters genuinely could not squeeze out any more.
"If there's really no other way, reward him with a weapon. Craft him a Dragon-rank weapon?" one deputy minister suggested, an expression of sheer heartache on his face.
Yu Lie pondered for a moment. "Let Jin Sheng ask Yu Xian what he wants later, and we'll decide then."
Although everyone had a headache over how to reward Yu Xian, they all knew full well deep down just how many resources had been saved because of him.
Had it not been for Yu Xian, they would have had to expend immense resources and take enormous risks to teleport several generals over. If a monster with unknown abilities were to slip through an Abyss rift into Earth in their absence, another aberrant worm crisis could unfold in a heartbeat.
Therefore, if Pangu's Blood weren't genuinely in such short supply, awarding Yu Xian another drop wouldn't have been out of the question.
A Transcendent's immense power was entirely personal; empty promises and sweet talk could never retain real talent.
Qilin had always maintained a clear system of rewards and penalties: merit had to be rewarded, and the reward had to match the scale of the achievement. Only in this way could they win hearts and unite everyone from top to bottom.
***
Following Deimos's death, the Demon Cage gradually collapsed, though the ground had been permanently transformed into a highly toxic swamp.
For the time being, no one other than Jin Dajun could enter the swamp, so the task of dismembering Deimos fell entirely on his shoulders. The entire cordoned-off area would likely remain sealed for a very long time, or even be designated a permanent forbidden zone.
Yu Xian and his two companions returned to the military camp outside Silver City. The entire base was a whirlwind of frantic activity. Seeing that a member of her squad was missing a leg, Gong Qian hastily bade farewell to Yu Xian and Zhang Shou and rushed over to assess the situation.
Yu Xian quickly spotted Qingniao in the crowd. Seeing that she looked pale as if she had just wept, he asked, "Qingniao, where's the captain?"
"Salty Fish, the captain is still in emergency resuscitation, and... there's only us left of our squad," Qingniao said, looking up at Yu Xian. Her eyes instantly reddened, her voice trembling on the verge of tears.
Originally, with the addition of Yu Xian and Zhang Shou, the Evil-Slaying Squad had grown to seven members. But due to Deimos's sudden attack the previous night, three members had sacrificed their lives.
"Sister, what about Brother Bo?" Zhang Shou asked nervously upon hearing this.
Qingniao glanced at Zhang Shou and sorrowfully shook her head. Zhang Shou froze completely.
Yesterday, Yu Xian had been on a mission with Qingniao, while Zhang Shou had been paired with Yu Bo. Yu Bo was the eldest member of the Evil-Slaying Squad, smooth and affable without being cynical. Along the way, he had joked and chatted with Zhang Shou, imparting a wealth of practical experience to him.
After Deimos appeared, Yu Bo had told Zhang Shou to evacuate immediately, while he himself went to find the captain.
Yet that parting had turned out to be their final farewell.
In Zhang Shou's mind flashed the memory of Yu Bo smiling as he turned and walked away.
He had clearly promised everything would be fine.
Hadn't he said he was experienced, that he'd seen dangers like this thousands of times before?
Zhang Shou clenched his fists, his eyes bloodshot. Wiping his eyes, he asked, "Then what about the captain? I'm our squad's healer."
"Follow me!" Hearing this, Qingniao stood up and led the way.
With a heavy heart, Yu Xian followed behind the two. When they arrived at the medical station, numerous people were waiting anxiously outside.
Four or five men and women carrying blades and swords saw Yu Xian and immediately stepped forward to thank him; they were part of the personnel rescued by Yu Xian's bubbles.
Only after chatting with them did Yu Xian learn that they were members of the Wickedness-Cleaving Squad, present here because their captain, Gan Jiang, and vice captain, Mo Ye, were still undergoing treatment.
Among the four squads, the Wickedness-Cleaving Squad and the Monster-Slaying Squad were relatively fortunate: neither had suffered any fatalities, though their captains were severely wounded.
The most tragic was Gong Qian's Crime-Purging Squad. Aside from Gong Qian, there was only a single survivor; all the other members had perished.
Chapter 50