Winter Arrives

After collecting the spoils, Ling Yunhong still did not leave.

Yesterday, although he and Liu Daozhou had divided up the spoils before the battle, that only included the corpses of the Flame Tiger killed in this battle.

Among the group of Flame Tiger were two Foundation Establishment tiger demons. Ling Yunhong could easily guess that the tiger demon's lair was built on a Spirit Vein.

Spirit Vein occupied by Demon Beast often contain treasures, though their values vary. A single harvest can be considered a freebie.

Even if this windfall is small, Ling Yunhong has no intention of giving it up.

Ling Yunhong began speaking to Liu Daozhou.

"Liu Daoist Friend, this battle is over. Shouldn't we now search for the lair of these Flame Tiger King together?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Daozhou and the three Beast Tamer of different ages from the Liu Clan all froze.

Even a hint of murderous intent flashed in Liu Daozhou's eyes, but it vanished in an instant.

Liu Daozhou glanced warily at the enormous flying sword hovering beside Ling Yunhong, which was piercing a five-zhang-long Sword-Ray. Recalling how easily Ling Yunhong had fought the Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment Flame Tiger, he sighed helplessly, and his expression returned to normal.

As Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, Ling Yunhong possessed incredibly powerful Divine Sense. He subtly detected the changes in the expressions of Liu Daozhou and the other three. With a slight movement of his eyes, he waved his hand, signaling Ling Pengyun and the other nine to prepare for battle.

Then he raised his questions.

"Liu Daoist Friend, is there something you're hiding from me?"

Forced by Ling Yunhong's strength, Liu Daozhou could not stop Ling Yunhong from going to the Flame Tiger's lair, so he had no choice but to reveal the secret of the Flame Tiger's lair.

"Since Ling Daoyou has figured it out, I won't hide it anymore. The two early and mid-Foundation Establishment tiger demons among those Flame Tiger gave birth to three cubs half a year ago, and the cubs they gave birth to are still young."

"Since you know about this matter, let's talk about the distribution of the three tiger cubs in advance. This tiger demon matter was originally led by my Liu Clan, and the majority of the corpses obtained from killing the Flame Tiger pack were given to your Ling Clan. My Liu Clan is determined to get those three Flame Tiger cubs."

"A young beast with Foundation Establishment bloodline costs around four hundred Spirit Stone on the market, so three would cost one thousand two hundred Spirit Stone. We will split it equally between our two families, giving you six hundred Spirit Stone to compensate you. As for the three Flame Tiger cubs, they belong to my Liu Clan. If you insist on forcing me, I am not afraid of fighting."

Seeing Liu Daozhou's cold expression, Ling Yunhong realized that he did indeed seem ready to fight to the death. Moreover, the offspring of Foundation Establishment Demon Beast could not necessarily be cultivated to Foundation Establishment; it would be considered good if they could be cultivated to the Qi Training Completion stage.

Furthermore, the Ling Clan has been cultivating the same Foundation Establishment bloodline of the Immortal Spirit Crane for over two hundred years, yet not a single one has reached Foundation Establishment. The Immortal Spirit Crane Cranes haven't been properly cultivated, so Ling Yunhong feels that Spirit Stone are a more worthwhile investment.

The price Liu Daozhou mentioned was indeed fair.

However, this was not something he, a member of the Ling Clan clan, had done alone; he had also consulted with Ling Pengyun and nine others.

Ling Pengyun and the other nine had all heard Liu Daozhou's firm stance. Although several members of the Ling Clan clan wanted the Flame Tiger cub, none of them wanted to put Ling Yunhong in a difficult position, lest a conflict break out between the two clans. So, they reluctantly agreed that it would be better to exchange it for Spirit Stone.

Seeing the attitude of his clansmen, Ling Yunhong said, "Making up with Spirit Stone is fine, but let's wait until we get to the nest and check if there are three cubs inside before making a deal."

"Okay." Liu Daozhou breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, as the request was not unreasonable.

Although he spoke with such unwavering resolve, he was actually extremely unwilling to clash with Ling Yunhong and the Ling Clan family.

Although the Ling Clan family had fewer people, Ling Yunhong's Earthly Fiend Sword Formation had many swords, and there was also a Trapping Array.

If Ling Yunhong and the others fight desperately, he and Flame Cloud Tiger will most likely perish here, not to mention the more than twenty Qi Training Stage Liu Clan clan members.

There was a reason why he was so insistent on taking the three Flame Tiger cubs.

The Liu Clan is Aristocratic Clan of beast tamers, and they have unique insights into the cultivation of Demon Beast.

In Liu Daozhou's view as a Second-Order Beast Tamer, the three Flame Tiger cubs whose parents were both Foundation Establishment Realm had the opportunity to enter the Foundation Establishment like the Flame Cloud Tiger. Although this opportunity was not many, it was still not enough that there were three Flame Tiger cubs with Foundation Establishment bloodlines. It was possible that after a hundred years, one of the three cubs would reach the Foundation Establishment.

Furthermore, even if the Flame Tiger cubs have difficulty reaching the Foundation Establishment, if they have a mother tiger, they can mate with the Flame Cloud Tiger, which is also a tiger and belongs to the fire element, to produce cubs, or they can find other tiger-type Spirit Beast to reproduce with and benefit the Liu Clan.

After the two sides reached an agreement, Liu Daozhou collected the only two corpses of early and mid-Foundation Establishment Flame Tiger on the ground, and then called everyone to continue deeper into the dense forest.

After traveling for nearly three or four miles, the group finally reached a cave several meters in size, located deep in the dense forest beneath a small hill.

"This cave is the lair of the Flame Tiger pack," Liu Daozhou told Ling Yunhong, before leading the Flame Cloud Tiger into the cave.

Ling Yunhong probed the depths of the nest with his Divine Sense and found nothing unusual. Only then did he lead the Ling Clan clan members to follow Liu Daozhou and enter the nest.

There were no other spirit creatures inside the nest, but there were indeed three Flame Tiger cubs.

Moreover, all three Flame Tiger cubs have reached the Innate Perfection stage, and are only one step away from entering the Qi Refinement Realm.

Since it had been agreed beforehand that the three Flame Tiger cubs would belong to Liu Daozhou, after Liu Daozhou took out six hundred Spirit Stone, Ling Yunhong led the Ling Clan family to bid farewell to Liu Daozhou and left the nest, parting ways with the Liu Clan and the others.

The two companies were able to cooperate this time because of the hunting of the Flame Tiger pack. Now that the Flame Tiger pack has been wiped out, the two companies should naturally part ways.

Although it would be easier for the cultivators of the two races to continue cooperating in hunting Demon Beast, Ling Yunhong and Liu Daozhou were both uneasy about it.

There's no guarantee that someone from the opposing tribe won't stab you in the back during the battle.

After Ling Yunhong led the Ling Clan clan away from the dense forest where the Flame Tiger's lair was located, he released the Immortal Spirit Crane King in the air and observe whether any of the Liu Clan had followed.

After learning that the Liu Clan cultivators had left from another direction in the dense forest, Ling Yunhong led his group to continue on their way.

However, since Liu Daozhou already knew the location of the previous desolate valley, for safety reasons, Ling Yunhong led his people to find another desolate valley as their new settlement.

Time flies, and six months have passed in the blink of an eye.

The arrival of Lidong (the Beginning of Winter) is a harbinger of winter.

On this day, snowflakes drifted down from the azure sky.

The snow was very heavy; within a few hours, the ground was covered with a layer of silver frost about an inch deep.

As the snow fell, a rather large white crane flew in the air, its head lowered and its eyes constantly scanning the ground, searching for any traces of Demon Beast.

However, after searching for nearly half a day and within a radius of nearly a hundred miles, no trace of any Demon Beast group was found; only three lone Demon Beast were discovered.

This situation left the white crane feeling extremely frustrated. With nightfall approaching and the temperature plummeting, the heavy snowfall was about to intensify, so the white crane had no choice but to abandon its search elsewhere and turn back to a secluded valley.

Upon entering the valley, the white crane landed beside a middle-aged cultivator.

Beside this middle-aged cultivator were nine other cultivators of varying ages.

These ten people were Ling Yunhong, Ling Pengyun, Ling Pengxing Ling Yunqian, Ling Xiaohua, and others who stayed in the Serpent Dragon Lake area to hunt Demon Beast.

And that white crane was naturally the Ling Clan Guardian Spirit Beast, the "Immortal Spirit Crane King".

As soon as the Immortal Spirit Crane King returned, everyone's eyes were on it.

With a hint of anticipation in his eyes, Ling Yunhong asked the newly returned Immortal Spirit Crane King, "Did you find any trace of the Demon Beast horde today?"

Thanks to the Recognition of Ownership Restriction between itself and Ling Yunhong, the Immortal Spirit Crane King understood Ling Yunhong's words.

It shook its head and let out two crane cries.

The rather impatient Ling Yunqian asked Ling Yunhong.

"Third Brother, have we found no trace of the Demon Beast horde again?"

Ling Yunhong sighed helplessly and nodded.

Having failed to hunt any Demon Beast for several days and gained nothing, coupled with the considerable profits earned from the trip to Serpent Dragon Lake, Ling Yunhong also felt the urge to return to his clan.

He suggested, "Since the temperature plummeted this month, the Demon Beast have gradually returned to their nests and fallen into a deep sleep, returning to their normal lives. The Immortal Spirit Crane King has also found it increasingly difficult to spot the Demon Beast hordes with the naked eye."

"The first half of the month was fine, with Peng Yun's Spirit Seeking Rat helping us find the hibernation nests of Demon Beast. But since the Spirit Seeking Rat was killed by the Demon Bear three days ago, we haven't made any progress. If we stay here, the only option is to venture deeper into the Serpent Dragon Lake area and go to the areas where the Demon Beast have higher cultivation levels. Perhaps then we can find some traces of Demon Beast, but this is too dangerous."

"However, if we return to the Ice Flood Dragon Market Town and buy Spirit Seeking Rat Spirit Beast, which are more sensitive to Spiritual Qi, it's not worth it. These Spirit Beast- seeking rats have relatively low cultivation levels and might follow in the footsteps of the previous Spirit Seeking Rat, getting killed while we were searching for Demon Beast."

"The Spirit Beast with higher cultivation levels and greater sensitivity to Spiritual Qi have all been driven up in price by the Spirit Beast dealers in the Ice Flood Dragon Market Town. They've taken advantage of the large number of cultivators entering the Serpent Dragon Lake area to hunt Demon Beast, creating a high demand for these kinds of Spirit Beast. A Qi Training Middle Stage beast costs over two hundred Spirit Stone, and Qi Training Late Stage spirit beast costs over five hundred Spirit Stone, which is two or three times the usual price. The price is too expensive, at least five hundred Spirit Stone. We only need them for hunting Demon Beast in the Serpent Dragon Lake area for a short period of time, so it's not worth it."

"Now that the Contribution Points needed to purchase the Hundred Spirits Water have been raised, and you have all made some gains, I suggest we return to the Clan Mountain."

The cold of winter and the lack of food do not pose a great threat to the thick-furred Demon Beast that are protected by spiritual power. However, like ordinary wild animals, the Demon Beast will still hide in their dens and sleep for a period of time during the winter to get through the cold winter.

After all, most Demon Beast gradually evolved from wild beasts, and after living as wild beasts for many years, they became accustomed to the process of hibernation.

During hibernation, the Demon Beast do not simply sleep; Demon Beast cultivation relies on this deep sleep.

The long period of hibernation during which Demon Beast sleeps and cultivates can also greatly refine the spiritual power within its body.

Of course, those very few exceptionally gifted Demon Beast who are born with Qi Refining do not know how to hibernate. They are born with sufficient intelligence and can operate the bloodline inheritance method on their own to improve their spiritual power.

The reason why Ling Yunhong's Immortal Spirit Crane King and Wind Shadow Peng did not enter hibernation for arduous cultivation was because Ling Yunhong and Ling Pengyun did not allow it, since they were still in the territory of Serpent Dragon Lake and needed to use these two Spirit Beast.

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