Lu Tianzi and Elder Diansheng subconsciously took a glance at each other.

"Let's leave quietly," Elder Diansheng's voice sounded out in Lu Tianzi's head, and the youngster responded with a silent nod.

Even as they were leaving the scene, the two of them took the utmost care not to let the two guards discover their presence.

It did not take long for Lu Tianzi and Elder Diansheng to rejoin the others at the common areas. But even after taking their seats, the conversation that they had just overheard continued to linger stubbornly in their minds.

Elder Diansheng closed his eyes, deeply pondering over what the guards had mentioned.

General Nanbai Zhaoyu had successfully cultivated a mid ranked beast core to the state of a high ranked beast core?

Could that really be the case?

At this moment, Lu Tianzi's voice suddenly sounded out in his head.

"Elder Diansheng, what exactly is a high ranked beast core?" Lu Tianzi asked.

Lu Tianzi had already spent quite some time living among the demons, yet he had never heard anyone mentioning anything about a high ranked beast core. Lu Tianzi had a good guess in his mind; however, and was only looking for some form of confirmation.

Turning to look at the youngster seated beside him, Elder Diansheng let out a gentle smile before answering. "High ranked beast cores refer to beast cores that originated from beasts that possess strength at the level of an Overlord realm martial artist."

"Overlord realm.." Lu Tianzi swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

He had thought as much. But still, at his current level, Lu Tianzi truly had no way of understanding just how powerful an Overlord realm martial artist was.

"That's right," Elder Diansheng nodded. "An existence at the Origin Core realm is said to have purified the Essence core, allowing the display of its true latent potential. However, an existence at the Overlord realm has gone one step further, completely reconstructing the Essence core. The newly reconstructed Essence core would then be incorporated with comprehensions of the world laws. Even though some mid ranked beast cores might possess remnant laws, those are nothing in comparison to the comprehensions of a true Overlord realm existence. If used properly, high ranked beast cores could easily allow an Origin Core realm martial artist to break through any small boundary!"

"So that's how it is.." Lu Tianzi pondered for a moment before asking again. "But if that is the case, would it really be possible to cultivate a mid ranked beast core to reach the state of a high ranked beast core?"

Hearing that, Elder Diansheng's expression immediately turned solemn.

"Nanlu Tianzi, you do understand the severity of what we have just heard, don't you?" Elder Diansheng cautioned. "Do not speak of it to anyone else, not even to Inscription Master Nanbai. Otherwise, you might risk causing a rift among the various influences of Bluenight City!"

Lu Tianzi nodded in understanding.

Indeed, if the various influences realised that General Nanbai Zhaoyu had enlisted their help under the guise of eliminating a human settlement threat, only to be searching for a treasure that he had lost to the other party, there was no way that they would be happy about it.

Seeing that Lu Tianzi had understood, Elder Diansheng finally relaxed a little as he continued. "As for your earlier question, it is extremely difficult to cultivate a mid ranked beast core to reach the state of a high ranked beast core, but it is still theoretically possible. There are multiple ways to do so; however, all these methords would require an astronomically huge investment, making them practically infeasible to carry out. Otherwise, even I would have done so by now!"

At this point, Lu Tianzi was astonished!

However, it was not because of Elder Diansheng's explanation, but more because of his expression while doing the explanation.

While Elder Diansheng was speaking, Lu Tianzi had clearly seen a strange light flash across his eyes, giving away the greed that had formed in his heart.

There was no mistaking it.

Elder Diansheng must have been tempted by the prospect of obtaining the high ranked beast core as well!

Was that why Elder Diansheng told him not to spread the word?

So that Elder Diansheng would have fewer competitors when trying to vie for the high ranked beast core in the upcoming operation?

Lu Tianzi mused in his heart. If that was so, then he could only feel sorry for Elder Diansheng.

After all, the high ranked beast core was already in his hands!

Indeed, it was just as Lu Tianzi guessed.

Even someone as composed as Elder Diansheng had started to feel the temptation of this treasure stir up the greed within him, slowly grinding away at his self-control.

If he were to obtain something like a high ranked beast core, there was no doubt that he would be able to at least break through to the next boundary!

Of course, this was based on the premise that the two guards from before truly knew what they were saying. There was always the off chance that they were just rambling on mindlessly to pass their time while on duty.

Still, as long as there was even the slightest chance of it being the truth, Elder Diansheng would not take this news lightly.

Since that was the case, Elder Diansheng had no choice but to create his own opportunities during the battle. After all, if the human leader truly managed to obtain something like that, it was almost certain that he would keep it in his possession.

Come to think of it, this would also explain why General Nanbai Zhaoyu seemed to be going all out to prevent the human leader from escaping. That was the only way he could be certain that the cultivated beast core would remain within the human settlement.

Now, he just had to be the first person to get to that human leader!

As long as he could secretly stow away the human leader's spatial ring before anyone else arrived, he could simply feign ignorance about the high ranked beast core. At that time, even if General Nanbai Zhaoyu was suspicious of him, he would be completely helpless!

After all, having hidden the existence of the high ranked beast core from everyone else, General Nanbai Zhaoyu could not possibly request to search him, could he?

Unfortunately, every Origin Core realm martial artist had already been given a specific role in this operation, and his role just happened to be charging into the human settlement alongside General Nanbai Zhaoyu!

Damn it, how did he end up with such a shitty role?

If he had to stick with General Nanbai Zhaoyu throughout the operation, then he might as well just give up on the high ranked beast core right now!

No, wait a minute..

Elder Diansheng's eyes lit up before looking at Lu Tianzi expectantly.

"Elder Diansheng..?" seeing the sudden change in the Elder, Lu Tianzi could not help but ask in hesitation.

"Nanlu Tianzi," Elder Diansheng flashed the kindest of smiles. "I have to ask a favour of you during the operation.."

***

Two days later.

Atop the tall walls of Ivory Rock City, the guards watched on vigilantly as they kept their eyes on the numerous workers gathering resources nearby.

Ever since months ago, the entire city had been constantly on guard. They definitely did not want a repeat of that incident where their respected city lord was almost murdered in cold blood!

Although there had not been any cases of demon attacks since then, the fact that even a Holy Guardian could turn on them made everyone heighten their alert level.

In the current Ivory Rock City, anyone who acted even the least bit suspicious would be immediately taken in for questioning.

Thus, everyone was now extremely careful when they went about their daily activities, living like they were treading on thin ice.

Likewise, even for a mundane activity like watching for threats while the workers gathered resources, none of the guards dared to slack off one bit.

After all, if shit happened and something went wrong, there was no telling exactly what sort of punishment awaited them at the end of their shift!

But as fate would have it, no matter how vigilant they were today, they had absolutely no way of preventing the slaughter that was to come.

The first sign of trouble appeared when wild birds flocked into the sky, heading in all sorts of random directions. This was a common indicator that they were escaping from a certain form of threat.

"Hey, look at that."

One of the guards pointed it out to his duty partner.

"Damn it, is it a wild beast?" his partner frowned. "Get ready to sound the horn. If it gets any nearer, we would have to warn the workers."

He thought he was already being careful.

However, he never would have expected that he was still being nowhere near careful enough.

The onslaught came so fast that before they knew it, the workers were already in grave danger.

Slash-!

The furthest worker had no time to even scream for help. His head was severed in the fraction of a second, with his attacker dashing past him before his knees even started to bend.

Clean and precise.

The attacker did not even bother looking as the worker fell motionlessly to the ground.

"That..!" the guard on the city walls exclaimed in shock. "S-Sound the alarm! Quick!"

"Y-Yes!" his partner almost stumbled over his own foot in his hurry.

Before long, the sound of the warning horns had started reverberating through the city.

Three horn blows.

That was the signal for a demon attack!

Everyone in the city immediately sprang into action.

This was not only the second demon attack in months, but also the second demon attack in the entire history of Ivory Rock City.

However, the human in Ivory Rock City were well prepared for it.

Ever since Ivory Rock City launched an assault on the demon forces of Shadowfront Fortress, they had been awaiting the retaliation from the demons.

Even though months had passed since then, instead of relaxing, they had only grown more and more on edge.

Now, the retaliation was finally here, but it was slightly stronger than what they had expected.

No, not just slightly.

The force of this retaliation was on such an incredible scale that it could easily bring the defence to its knees!

After all, the ones spearheading the offence on the South Gate were three Origin Core realm martial artists, each of them with a cultivation level higher than their revered City Lord Hu!

"Shit! How are they this fast?"

"Close the gate!"

"But the workers are still out there!"

"Are you blind? We can't save them anymore! Just shut the gate!"

Shouts of panic rang out incessantly on the city gates.

Seeing that the incoming demons had completely blown past the workers, the guards had no choice but to abandon them.

Right before the Origin Core realm martial artists could reach the heavy city gate, they slammed shut with a loud boom. In the end, their quick decision to abandon the workers worked in their favour, shutting out the demons right in the nick of time.

But at the very next moment, an oppressive aura suddenly burst forth from beyond the gate.

Rushing up from behind, Lu Tianzi saw that for just a moment, the silhouettes of three illusory figures appeared, one behind each of these Origin Core realm martial artists.

It was only for the briefest of moments, but there was no mistaking it.

They were illusory figures that had been formed as a result of the Origin Core realm martial artists releasing their Essence energy without restraint.

It was the definite proof of their strength as martial artists who had officially stepped into the Origin Core realm!

And in their current state, the three of them struck forth all at once!

Bang-!

Yet another loud explosion came from the heavy city gate. Only that this time, it was not due to the closing of the city gate.

In a single move, the heavily fortified South Gate of the Ivory Rock City had been completely blown to pieces!