Hunting

This day, Wang Hong led his retinue out of the city in a grand procession.

A petty hoodlum, who often loitered around the city gates, saw this and quietly released a sound transmission talisman.

Sound transmission talismans were the most common means of communication in the cultivation world, with transmission distances ranging from dozens to thousands of miles.

Except for Wang Hong, everyone in their group was clad in metal armor, carrying a bundle of gleaming short spears on their backs, and holding long iron spears. They made clanking sounds as they walked. Although most were mortals without cultivation, the presence of a few at Qi Refining Layer One was still awe-inspiring.

Aside from the few who had converted their strength into spiritual power, the rest of these soldiers had now reached the Xiantian Realm of martial artists. Their individual strength, not counting talismans or magic artifacts, was not weaker than early-stage Qi Refining cultivators.

After cultivating for some time, Wang Hong had mastered the Artifact Control Technique, as well as the Wood element's Entanglement, Wood Shield, and Wood Thorn techniques, and the Fire element's Fireball technique, and the Earth element's Earth Wall technique.

He possessed four-element spiritual roots, and aside from Metal, he could cultivate all other four elemental spells. It could be considered a small advantage of having mixed spiritual roots.

To cultivate these spells, he had consumed over a thousand pounds of Spirit Wine, worth tens of thousands of Spirit Stones. Announcing this would terrify other rogue cultivators to death.

Other low-level cultivators only chose to cultivate one or two spells. After casting a few spells, their spiritual power would be depleted, and they would have to meditate to recover it, making their progress extremely slow.

While the consumption was immense, Wang Hong also gained a benefit. Through the repeated cycles of depleting and replenishing his spiritual power, his spiritual power had been tempered and become more refined.

Their destination this time was Purple Cloud Peak, fifty miles from Qingxu City. The spiritual energy there was abundant, it was rich in spirit herbs, and there were also many Demonic Beasts. Cultivators often went there to hunt Demonic Beasts and collect spirit herbs.

Wang Hong's purpose for entering the mountains this time was to fight Demonic Beasts and hone everyone's combat skills. As for collecting spirit herbs, that was a secondary matter.

After searching in the mountains for nearly two hours, they finally saw a clump of thorny bushes shaking slightly, with sounds coming from within. To prevent accidentally harming humans, Skinny Monkey threw a small stone towards the spot.

A low growl erupted from where the stone landed, and the thorny bushes parted, revealing an Iron-toothed Bristle Pig, as tall as a person, crawling out.

This pig was taking a nap, sleeping soundly, when it was suddenly struck by a stone, interrupting its sweet dream.

So, in its displeasure, it saw a group of two-legged creatures standing not far away and charged towards them. Normally, it wouldn't bother provoking these two-legged creatures, as they weren't part of its diet.

But now, filled with rage, it didn't care if they were its food or not; it just wanted to kill them first. It needed a target for its anger.

"Prepare, shoot!"

At Zhang Chunfeng's command, over forty short spears whistled through the air. In a single volley, they pierced the Iron-toothed Bristle Pig, turning it into a porcupine. The Iron-toothed Bristle Pig ran a few more steps due to inertia before collapsing to the ground, dead.

Wang Hong was quite satisfied with resolving a low-grade Rank 1 Demonic Beast in one round.

Demonic Beasts were also divided into ranks. Rank 1 Demonic Beasts were equivalent to Qi Refining cultivators in strength. Rank 2 was equivalent to human Foundation Establishment, Rank 3 to Golden Core, and so on. Each rank was further divided into low-grade, mid-grade, and high-grade, corresponding to early, mid, and late stages.

After clearing the battlefield, they continued their journey. Along the way, they encountered two more Demonic Beasts, both of which were easily dealt with. Wang Hong didn't even get a chance to make a move.

As dusk fell, the group found a flat area by a stream and set up camp.

They dragged the Iron-toothed Bristle Pig to the stream, cleaned and butchered it, and placed the meat in several large basins. Wang Hong took out several kinds of spirit herb powders and sprinkled them in. He ordered Zhang Chunfeng and Skinny Monkey to help knead the meat repeatedly with their spiritual power. The purpose was to neutralize the violent spiritual energy within the Demonic Beast's meat.

Wang Hong had also learned some Spirit Chef skills over the years, mainly because he loved eating meat. Perhaps he had been extremely hungry in the past, but now he had a particular fondness for eating meat.

Skinny Monkey set up two large pots, placing the meat and bones into separate pots. He poured in Spirit Spring Water, added some seasonings, and lit Spirit Charcoal underneath. Ordinary fire would not be hot enough to cook the Demonic Beast meat properly.

Skinny Monkey shared a common trait with Wang Hong: they both loved eating meat and enjoyed cooking. He was always the most enthusiastic about preparing food. Perhaps it was because they had both gone hungry before.

Half an hour later, a rich aroma of meat wafted through the air. Skinny Monkey took out a pile of large flatbreads from his storage bag and called everyone to eat.

Wang Hong took a large flatbread, heated it over the fire, spread it open, placed several pieces of stewed meat inside, drizzled some soup on top, and then rolled up the flatbread.

He took a big bite, and his mouth was filled with fragrance. The stewed meat was tender and soft, mixed with the soup. The flatbread was made with Spirit Wheat Flour from Wang Hong's Mysterious Space, making it particularly chewy. He also drank a few mouthfuls of the bone broth, which was thick and rich.

"It would be even better if I could roll a spring onion inside this flatbread. I'll grow some spirit onions next time," Wang Hong thought to himself.

The night in the mountains was not quiet, with the sounds of various birds and insects chirping incessantly, and sometimes the roars of distant beasts could be heard.

Wang Hong was meditating in his tent when suddenly a rumbling sound echoed. He immediately leaped up and rushed out. This was because the warning talisman he had set up had been triggered.

"Enemy attack!"

"Enemy attack!"

Accompanied by the shouts of several night patrol soldiers, everyone rushed out of their tents. Within two breaths, they formed up in a battle formation, with no one making a sound.

Wang Hong looked in the direction of the warning and saw twelve people approaching.

Wang Hong recognized the person in the lead. Last time, in the Lin Family's Hall of Enlightenment, this person had been following the Lin Family's eldest legitimate son, Lin Yun. He was likely a collateral descendant of the Lin Family, with a cultivation base of Qi Refining Layer Six.

The Lin Family was a mid-to-lower-tier power in Qingxu City, possessing one Foundation Establishment cultivator, dozens of Qi Refining cultivators, and with the addition of rogue cultivators who had pledged allegiance, their numbers reached over a hundred.

Among the other eleven people, one was at Qi Refining Layer Five, three were at Qi Refining Layer Four, and the remaining seven were only at Qi Refining Layer Two or Three.

Wang Hong stood at the forefront and shouted, "Who are you people?"

The person in the lead waved his sleeve back and said with a feigned casual smile, "You must be Wang Hong. I am Lin Junjie of the Lin Family. I've been a bit short on funds recently and heard you have quite some assets. I'd like to borrow some Spirit Stones to tide me over. Surely you won't be stingy with a little external wealth, will you?"

"How much do you want?" Wang Hong asked noncommittally.

"As long as you hand over your storage bags and the magic artifacts in your hands to me, you'll be considered one of my people, and I guarantee no harm will come to you. If you have any difficulties in Qingxu City in the future, feel free to come find me," Lin Junjie continued to persuade, seeing Wang Hong seemed to be considering it.

At this moment, the cultivator at Qi Refining Layer Five jumped out and said, "Kid, don't be ungrateful. How many people in Qingxu City are eager to give gifts to Young Master Lin but can't find a way? It's your good fortune that Young Master Lin fancies you."

Wang Hong pondered for a moment and said, "Alright, I hope Young Master Lin will keep his word. From now on, I will follow Young Master Lin's lead."

He turned and waved, "Brothers, come and greet Young Master Lin."

The people behind him stepped forward in unison, their movements as neat as one.

Wang Hong cursed, "Relax, everyone. Who are you trying to impress with such seriousness?"

At the same time, as he walked towards Lin Junjie, he unbuckled the storage bag from his waist and tossed it to Lin Junjie.

Lin Junjie's face broke into a smug smile. Just as he reached out to take the storage bag, his expression turned to shock and he dodged backward.

But it was too late. Several plant seeds shot out from beneath the storage bag. He dodged three of them, but two still managed to land on him.

One of the seeds quickly sprouted, extending branches that firmly bound his limbs. At the same time, numerous small thorns pierced his skin, releasing wood toxin that hindered the flow of his spiritual energy.

Simultaneously, a whistling sound filled the air as dozens of short spears flew towards him. Lin Junjie was terrified to his core, watching helplessly as the spears reached him and pierced his body with dull thuds.

Before he died, he felt immense regret. He shouldn't have listened to that sinister wolf's instigation and come to rob this young cultivator. Those mortal soldiers were truly bizarre; how could they react so quickly and in such unison? He only needed at most two more breaths to break free.