I Have 10 Equipment Slots-Chapter 68 - 62: Seeking a Way to Live

"No wonder..."

"No wonder Daping County is in the southernmost part of Qiayu Prefecture. Demon Fiends haven’t even appeared in the other counties yet, but they’re already running rampant here."

"So that’s what it is. A new Domain is about to open!"

Gu Zheng’s face was expressionless, but his sharp brows were tightly furrowed.

When a Domain opens, its minimum range is fifty li.

He had just jumped and glided all the way here from Daping County Town, a straight-line distance of a full forty li.

In other words, once the Domain opens, Daping County Town, just like Qingshi County Town, will be completely enveloped!

...

WHOOM!

He threw a fierce punch straight at the wall of air before him. The impact boomed, sending a large ripple across the transparent film, even causing it to cave in significantly.

But soon, all the ripples and the indentation vanished, and the wall of air remained.

Gu Zheng watched the entire process, falling silent.

The next moment, he turned around and used Triple Jump and gliding to return to the county town.

Once he was back over the county town, he didn’t descend right away. Instead, he circled in midair, listening for any sounds from the ground below.

After a while, he finally dropped down onto a street.

WHOOSH—

THUD!

Controlling his force, he landed with a heavy thud, kicking up a ring of dust and a gust of air as he stamped a clear footprint into the ground. At the same time, Gu Zheng looked at Yan Hongxue, who was three steps away, and asked quickly, "How much do you know about Domains? Can you estimate the time between when one first appears and when it officially opens?"

"...I can."

Yan Hongxue was stunned for a moment. She answered first, then asked a question of her own. "A Domain has formed in Daping County?"

"Yes, to the south."

Gu Zheng nodded and looked at the dazed constables trailing behind Yan Hongxue. "What’s the name of the largest lake south of Daping County?"

"Thousand... Thousand Star Lake," one of the constables answered instinctively.

"You’re coming with me to Thousand Star Lake."

Gu Zheng looked at Yan Hongxue. Before she could even nod, he grabbed her by the shoulder and leaped into the air, soaring dozens of feet high in a single bound.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—

Again, he used a series of Triple Jumps, gliding through the air without pause as he headed straight south.

As Yan Hongxue felt the strong wind rushing against her, her initial shock and panic subsided. She looked down at the earth below and noticed that the farther south they went, the more and the thicker the mist became, both in the air and on the ground.

By the time Gu Zheng brought her over the vast lake, which stretched as far as the eye could see...

"It really is a Domain Wall!"

Yan Hongxue exclaimed, staring in horror at the wall of air that connected the sky and the earth. "This Domain Wall is about to break."

"When the wall breaks, the Domain officially opens, right?" Gu Zheng asked.

"Correct."

Yan Hongxue took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. "Once the Domain Wall disappears, the overlapping zone will expand to cover a certain area—a minimum of fifty li. Daping County Town is..."

"Less than forty li away," Gu Zheng finished. "Examine the wall closely. How many days until it disappears?"

"...Alright. Let me down to the ground. I need to circle the wall for a bit," Yan Hongxue said calmly.

Hearing this, Gu Zheng, who had been gliding, held onto Yan Hongxue and drifted down toward the water’s surface, landing on a small rocky islet less than ten square meters in size.

The moment they landed, Yan Hongxue’s Divine Wondrous power surged. She activated a Secret Technique to sense the wall.

The next moment, she was already moving, running swiftly across the surface of the water along the invisible wall of air.

Gu Zheng glanced at her before looking away, focusing instead on sensing the Demon Qi in the surrounding air.

Since a Domain had formed, Demon Fiends would be present within a five-li radius.

The possessing Demon Fiends that resurrected the dead had originated from the Demon Realm, crossing over when the Domain first began to form.

Water Manipulation!

His Divine Wondrous power surged, enveloping his entire body. Gu Zheng began walking on the water’s surface, sensing for Demon Qi.

However, after walking several hundred meters and searching three small islands, he found no trace of Demon Qi.

Meanwhile, Yan Hongxue had finished inspecting the wall of air and returned to find Gu Zheng.

"Two days!"

"Two days at most. This Domain will officially open in two days!"

Yan Hongxue said with a grim expression, "Based on my observations, this Domain has existed for at least three months. In all that time, the Daping County Magistrate’s Office somehow never noticed the celestial phenomena its formation caused."

"Daping County has many bodies of water, so the air is always humid, and there’s always fog. The phenomenon caused by the Domain was a dense fog. But it spread gradually, and the county town has never paid much attention to the south..."

Gu Zheng sighed and didn’t elaborate further. His voice turned grave. "It’s too late for any of that now. The most urgent task is to evacuate the people outside the walls and bring them into the town!"

"Right."

Yan Hongxue naturally understood the gravity of the situation and quickly said, "Mr. Gu, you should return to the town first and have Magistrate Shi arrange for the evacuation. I’ll stay here and hunt down the Demon Fiends that have already slipped out. I’ll take out a batch of them first."

"...Alright."

Gu Zheng hesitated for a second, then nodded. "Be careful."

Without another word, Gu Zheng leaped high into the sky.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—

He used Triple Jump and gliding all the way back to the county town, where he found Shi Huaiying and summoned the City Defense Captain.

In front of them both, he ordered the evacuation of all civilians outside the walls into the town.

He made it clear that this was a mandatory order!

Everyone had to obey, and force could be used against any who resisted.

Although shocked, Shi Huaiying and the County Soldier Captain didn’t dare ask for the reason and immediately split up to carry out the order.

Everyone in the County Magistrate’s Office, all the County Soldiers, sprang into action.

Gu Zheng didn’t stay idle either.

He resumed his previous demon-slaying operation, taking only a single constable with him as a guide to hunt down and kill the remaining possessing Demon Fiends one by one.

Yan Hongxue cleared the area around Thousand Star Lake, while Gu Zheng and Zhang Boshong cleared the town.

Thousand Star Lake got its name because its thousands of small islands dotted the water like a field of stars.

The Domain had existed for at least three months.

Although its current range was only five li around Thousand Star Lake, a special mist released by the Domain’s influence had been causing the dead in Daping County to not decompose. And it was this same special mist that allowed the possessing Demon Fiends to move about unrestricted, active both inside and outside the county town!

These possessing Demon Fiends, capable of Invisibility, could move through the mist.

There probably weren’t many of them at first.

They possessed the corpses of villagers around Thousand Star Lake, siphoned energy from the living, and hatched into the hundreds that existed now.

The abilities of these Demon Fiends, one had to admit, were truly bizarre.

...

SHINK! SHINK! SHINK—

One slash, one kill, he cut a swath through the entire town.

By nightfall, Gu Zheng had earned another 9 Demon Points.

He didn’t stop to rest.

Moving under the cover of darkness, Gu Zheng continued slaying the remaining possessing Demon Fiends, led by the constable guide.

As they were passing through a small alley...

WHOOSH—!

A damp gust of Great Feng suddenly blew head-on, brushing against the faces of Gu Zheng and the constable guide.

The constable’s body stiffened.

The next moment, with a sudden THUMP, he collapsed to the ground without any warning.

"How bold."

Gu Zheng sensed the guide’s life force and relaxed slightly when he found the man had only fallen unconscious.

His eyes, now using Dark Vision, stared unblinkingly at the center of the alley ahead as he spoke coolly, "I haven’t even come looking for you, yet you’ve served yourselves up on a platter!"

"Lord Gu, could you perhaps spare our lives?"