Chapter 412: How Could the Second on the Human Ranking Be a Mere Yellow-Rank Demon Suppressor?

The great sun rose in the east.

The warm winter light barely pierced through the dark clouds, casting faint rays upon the Xuanwu Fortress.

Shen Mo woke up as usual.

No sooner had he risen than he heard Li Heitan and the others chatting about something.

“…Why would that centurion suddenly be arrested? That’s too strange.”

“Not just him—several Demon Suppressors were taken away too. Rumor says it might be related to the demon race.”

“Scary stuff… to think someone could get parasitized by a demon without anyone noticing. If only we had some way to screen the body.”

“Well, I’ve heard that only those with weak willpower are vulnerable to demon parasitism. As long as we stay true to ourselves, we should be fine.”

“Yeah, you’re right… Hey? Brother Shen, you’re up too?”

When they saw Shen Mo, Li Heitan and the others looked at him with respect in their eyes.

Shen Mo smiled and nodded. “What’s going on?”

Li Heitan and the other three immediately relayed everything that had happened the night before in detail.

Shen Mo nodded knowingly.

It was all within his expectations.

After all, it involved a centurion.

Zhang Longxiang would certainly collect evidence from all sides and carefully verify whether that anonymous tip-off was legitimate.

A one-day turnaround—already very efficient.

Since Zhang Longxiang had already apprehended the people on that list, his own military merits should have been awarded too, right?

Shen Mo sensed the Demon Suppressor bracelet on his wrist.

And then a look of joy lit up his face.

He had received twenty whole B-rank military merits!

As expected, the Will of Heaven would consider the overall impact of an incident when assigning merit.

Although Shen Mo hadn’t fought any demons directly, and hadn’t personally captured An Zhenxiong or the others—

He had played a critical role in the entire operation.

Without him, An Zhenxiong and the members of the Demon-Slaying Society would never have been exposed.

They would have coordinated with the demon race from within, causing catastrophic damage to the fortress and resulting in the tragic outcome described in the fated future.

‘Killing an ordinary True Demon Venerable usually grants ten D-rank military merits on average.’

‘The specific reward depends on the demon’s strength, bloodline, and how many underlings they command.’

‘The higher the True Demon Venerable’s strength, the more military merit is awarded—sometimes five to six times more, or even higher.’

Shen Mo reflected on what he’d heard from the conversations of Shi Dingyue and the others.

That intel had come from their centurion, Ning Tianying.

Killing a Silver-peak True Demon Venerable—forty D-rank merits on average.

Killing a Gold-peak True Demon Venerable—twenty C-rank merits on average.

Killing a Peak True Demon Venerable—two B-rank merits on average.

Reporting a parasitized Demon Suppressor—one C-rank merit on average.

By that logic, Shen Mo’s anonymous report of An Zhenxiong and the Demon-Slaying Society had earned him ten times the usual reward.

An absolutely staggering figure.

If military rank promotions didn’t also require corresponding cultivation realms, Shen Mo could’ve been promoted to Earth-rank Demon Suppressor on the spot!

‘Now I can finally redeem the fifth layer of the Divine Elephant Suppression Technique. My blood energy has long since reached full capacity. Once I get the technique, I’ll be able to step into the Silver-peak Lord Realm in no time.’

Shen Mo smiled.

In just two more days, the Heavenly Dao Treasury would descend again.

He had long been looking forward to the fifth layer of the Divine Elephant Suppression Technique.

Two days later—

The Heavenly Dao Treasury descended as scheduled.

However, the Heavenly Dao Golden Ranking Board unexpectedly did not appear.

Shen Mo didn’t care about that.

He quickly redeemed the fifth layer of the Divine Elephant Suppression Technique, two pieces of Qīngluán Blood Essence, and a core of Divine Thunder Water Essence.

The fifth layer of the Divine Elephant Suppression Technique—thirteen B-rank merits.

Two Qīngluán Blood Essences—one hundred D-rank merits total.

Divine Thunder Water Essence Core—sixty-one D-rank merits.

After spending all that, Shen Mo was left with only a few B-rank merits.

Even so, this amount of military merit already far surpassed most Black-rank and Yellow-rank Demon Suppressors.

Perhaps only a few extremely lucky Black-rank Demon Suppressors could hope to amass so much.

Shen Mo raised an eyebrow, suddenly remembering something important.

“With all this military merit… I might end up at the very top of the Human Ranking, huh?”

“Damn… that’ll definitely put a target on my back.”

He’d long known that the demon race constantly monitored the three Heavenly Dao Ranking Boards.

Those Demon Suppressors who ranked high were always singled out for special attention by the demons—

Including, but not limited to, assassination and poisoning.

And once on the battlefield, they’d be marked targets.

To Demon Suppressors, appearing on the three Heavenly Dao Rankings was a mark of glory.

But to the demon race, those rankings were practically bounty lists.

“I’d better spend a bit more of my merit—no need to rank too high.”

“Who was first again? I think it was Tang Shenting, a Black-rank Demon Suppressor from the Qinglong Fortress?”

“Alright, I’ll stay just under him.”

With that, Shen Mo straightforwardly spent the rest of his merit on various types of blood essences and Divine Thunder Water Essence.

Blood essence from rare birds and beasts was best for cultivating the Divine Elephant Suppression Technique.

As for the Divine Thunder Water Essence, it was used to assist in cultivating the Divine Thunder Demon-Suppressing Scripture.

These resources were never wasted—the more, the better.

After this shopping spree, Shen Mo’s military merit had dwindled down to a single B-rank point.

Only then did he nod in satisfaction.

Another day passed.

The Heavenly Dao Golden Rankings finally descended.

For some reason, this time the rankings appeared after the Heavenly Dao Treasury, rather than before.

For thousands of years, the three Heavenly Dao Ranking Boards and the Treasury had always appeared on time, every ten days—never early, never late.

This unexpected delay left the Demon Suppressors rather puzzled.

Could even the Will of Heaven show up late like some slacker?

But the divine thunder descending over the Demon Suppressor Sea soon reassured everyone.

As long as the divine thunder was still there, everything was fine.

However, this time, when the three rankings descended, the Heaven and Earth Rankings didn’t change much.

But the Human Ranking changed drastically.

“Look at that—who’s second on the Human Ranking now? Shen Mo? From Xuanwu Fortress? A Yellow-rank Demon Suppressor?!”

“A Yellow-rank Demon Suppressor? What the hell!”

“I heard most Black-rank Demon Suppressors usually maintain one or two B-rank merits just to hold their position on the Human Ranking and get their monthly reward. How did that Yellow-ranker even get B-rank merit?”

“That’s way too bizarre! Absolutely absurd! Who the hell is that Shen Mo? Some Demon Suppression General’s long-lost son? Did they cripple a bunch of Peak True Demon Venerables and let him finish them off for credit?”

“No way. Military merit is awarded by the Will of Heaven based on contribution. Whoever contributes the most to killing a demon gets the most merit—period.”

Across the ten fortresses, countless Demon Suppressors were abuzz with speculation.

Everyone was asking the same thing—who was Shen Mo, and how had he suddenly risen to second place on the Human Ranking with such overwhelming merit?

Qinglong Fortress.

A lean, shirtless young man was training with martial techniques.

Each of his punches roared with wind and thunder, shaking the skies as if tearing open the heavens.

This was Tang Shenting—the first on the Human Ranking.

Several Demon Suppression Generals had said that Tang Shenting would one day become a general himself.

He had long held a top spot on the demon race’s most-wanted list.

Over the years, countless demons had tried to assassinate, poison, and ambush him—but every time, he survived, becoming even stronger.

“Squad Leader, the Heavenly Dao Ranking has appeared,” someone nearby said with a smile.

Tang Shenting didn’t even blink. “Nothing to look at. The rankings barely ever change.”

He was about to resume his training.

But the Demon Suppressor beside him suddenly froze after reading the Human Ranking.

“Boss—the second place just changed! It’s not Lion Slayer anymore—it’s a Yellow-rank Demon Suppressor from Xuanwu Fortress named Shen Mo!”

Tang Shenting’s fist froze mid-strike.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Madara Web Novel