Demon Extermination

Fang Xiao temporarily stopped when he was about to reach the two-hundred-fifty-thousand-mile mark. He took out his map and compared it with the terrain here. After identifying the general direction, he headed toward a mountain range to the side.

While exploring, he arrived before a rather concealed mountain. After carefully surveying it, he discovered a hidden First-Order Spirit Vein beneath the mountain.

He therefore decided to carve out a Cave Dwelling here. Directly urging the Qingjin Sword, he cut into the mountain. Before long, a Cave Dwelling had been excavated. Its entrance was not large, only wide enough for one person to pass through, but the interior had been carved out immensely spacious, with most of the space extending into the mountain underground.

Since this was only a temporary Cave Dwelling, everything was kept simple. He did not divide it into stone chambers, and merely cut out a stone bed, stone table, and stone stools at will. In the end, although he embedded several Night Pearls in the walls, the place still appeared exceedingly crude overall.

But Fang Xiao did not care about such things. He then washed the Cave Dwelling clean with the Water Gathering Technique and set up the Five Elements Reversal Array he had purchased from the Wuji Sect within it.

After a blur passed over the Cave Dwelling's entrance, it merged with the surrounding mountain. Had Fang Xiao not personally arranged this array, even he would not have spotted the slightest flaw. Once everything was ready, this would be the place where he recuperated over the next two years.

Fang Xiao was not in a hurry to hunt demon beasts. Although he was no longer in the Outer Court, he could not neglect his daily cultivation. He took out the Meditation Cushion he had prepared in advance, which could gather spiritual energy, as well as Spirit Incense that could calm the mind and steady the qi. Combined with the spirit-gathering effect of the Five Elements Reversal Array, the spiritual energy here was not much inferior to that of his Outer Court residence. Though he usually cultivated by swallowing pills and drinking wine, denser spiritual energy around him was still somewhat useful.

He lit the Spirit Incense and sat still upon the Meditation Cushion. After taking out pills and Spirit Wine and consuming them one by one, he began circulating his cultivation technique, slowly refining the pure spiritual energy. His cultivation at the eighth layer of Qi Refinement steadily increased as well.

Before dawn had fully broken the next day, Fang Xiao had already set out. A black shadow swept soundlessly through the dim forest. In just over an hour, he made a discovery.

As he passed through a stretch of woodland, he found obvious traces of demon beasts—and an entire beast pack at that. He immediately followed the tracks, and in less than half an hour, he had located them.

This was a pack of wolf demons known as Grayback Wolves. He had seen them in the demon beast bestiary before. They possessed no special talents, merely the bronze skin and iron bones common to ordinary demon beasts. Their weak points were their eyes and bellies.

At this moment, the Grayback Wolves were all lying on the ground resting. After observing them for a while, Fang Xiao found that the wolf pack leader was merely at the peak of the First Order. He no longer waited, suppressing his spiritual power as he silently controlled the Qingjin Sword toward the wolf pack.

The wolves had not noticed Fang Xiao in the distance, who had concealed his aura, nor had they noticed the flying sword already close at hand.

The Qingjin Sword was only as long as a pair of chopsticks, blending into the dense forest as it shot straight for the pack leader. The Grayback Wolf leader seemed to sense something. It had only just opened its eyes when the Qingjin Sword pierced through its wolf head. Then a green shadow darted through the air, and the remaining several dozen demon wolves were all slain in the same manner, dying without a sound.

Seeing that the entire wolf pack had been executed, he swiftly stepped forward, drew out their Demon Souls with the Soul Storage Banner, then stored the several dozen wolf corpses in his Storage Bag. Before the scent of blood could spread, he quickly departed and vanished into the dense forest.

Half a year later, within a withered forest deep in Yunmeng Marsh, a figure rose and fell rapidly through the trees in the distance, approaching from afar. It was Fang Xiao, and he was actually holding a demon beast cub in his arms.

Roars rose and fell behind him. A troop of golden-furred apes, nearly a hundred in number, was pursuing him relentlessly. Including their leader, there were even three Second-Order Demon Apes among them, equivalent to human cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.

Fang Xiao did not stop until he had left the withered forest, seemingly waiting for the demon apes.

He had encountered this troop of demon beasts called Vajra Apes several days ago. He had originally intended to strike immediately, but then discovered that one female ape was about to give birth, and an idea came to him.

Records in the Cultivation World stated that the highest realm ever reached by a Vajra Ape was the Seventh Order, equivalent to a cultivator at the late Golden Core stage. One step further was the Eighth Order Transformation Initial Stage. Moreover, some Vajra Ape tribes knew how to brew a Spirit Wine called Monkey Wine, so he had decided to wait until it gave birth before making his move.

This troop of Vajra Apes numbered nearly a hundred, and four Vajra Apes had reached the Second Order. The female ape giving birth was one of them. After killing the mother ape and taking the cub, the Vajra Apes, with their savage demon nature and their tendency to repay even the smallest grievance with utter vengeance, would surely pursue him without rest. Since he had not intended to spare this troop of demon apes anyway, he had arranged the Four Spirits Soaring Array here in advance, intending to slaughter them all here and avoid further complications.

Now, holding the ape cub, he stood within the array and waited only for the Vajra Apes to enter it. The Qingjin Sword was also concealed outside the array, to prevent any fish from slipping through the net.

Countless howls came from behind. The Vajra Apes had emerged from the withered forest, their eyes all bloodshot and their minds consumed by frenzy as they charged straight toward him.

Fang Xiao directly activated the array disk beneath his feet. Dozens of array flags resonated with the disk, and the Four Spirits Soaring Array rose. The invisible formation spread out, trapping most of the demon apes within it, including the three Second-Order Vajra Apes. The Qingjin Sword also began striking from behind them.

Four-colored light rose within the array. An icy-blue radiance swept across them, and every Vajra Ape became as immobile as though trapped in a mire. Immediately afterward, countless White Lights gathered and swept through like a storm of blades. Not a single First-Order Demon Ape escaped, all of them decapitated. The three Second-Order Vajra Apes were likewise covered in wounds, while green light streaked outside the array, where the Vajra Apes left outside had also been slaughtered to the last.

At this sight, the Vajra Ape leader trembled all over and released a shrill howl. Waves of blood-colored light rose from its body as its frame began to grow larger. It actually broke free of the Four Spirits Soaring Array's restraints. With a forceful kick, it swung its blood-glowing claws and pounced at Fang Xiao with blinding speed.

Seeing it charge directly at him, Fang Xiao's expression remained unchanged. He narrowed his eyes, raised his right hand, and formed a sword sign as he activated the Sword Art. The Great White Sword Pellet within his body flew out amid hazy five-colored radiance, transforming into a streak of purple light that shot straight at the Vajra Ape leader.

The Vajra Ape leader struck back with its claws. At the instant they met, the Great White Sword Pellet silently passed through the ape claw, then passed through its ape head in the same manner. Its savage expression froze upon its face as it crashed heavily to the ground.

The Great White Sword Pellet did not lose momentum, and slew the other two severely wounded Vajra Apes as well.

Once all the Vajra Ape demon beasts had been executed, Fang Xiao recalled the Great White and Qingjin swords, then retrieved the array disk and array flags of the Four Spirits Soaring Array.

Looking at the ape cub in his arms, he had slaughtered its entire tribe and would now take it as a spirit beast. He was becoming more and more like a devil. Fang Xiao shook his head. The conflict between the human race and the Demon Race was a war between races; there was no distinction between righteousness and evil.

No longer dwelling on such thoughts, he patted his Storage Bag and brought out the Soul Storage Banner to begin absorbing the Demon Souls. He also stored the demon ape corpses in his Storage Bag for later processing.

While collecting several Second-Order Vajra Apes, Fang Xiao discovered several gourds on them. It was a stroke of good fortune that the gourds had remained undamaged under the array's assault. Opening their stoppers, a rich fruity fragrance rushed into his nose. Fang Xiao's expression brightened. Monkey Wine. He quickly sealed the gourds again and stored them in his Storage Bag, intending to inspect them after returning to his temporary Cave Dwelling.

After handling everything and confirming his location and direction, he transformed into an afterimage and vanished into the distant mountain range.