Horned sheep were Bronze One Star, herbivorous herd beasts. They were skilled at building up momentum for a charge, and entered a frenzied state when their lives were threatened.
The sun set, and night fell.
Trial Grounds, beginner hunting area, a horned sheep habitat.
Xian Wu, Nie Li, Lu Piao, and the Du brothers had just finished discussing their plan.
They planned to have one person act as bait and lure a lone horned sheep into attacking. Once it fell into a trap, everyone would shoot it with crossbow bolts coated in Nie Li's secret anesthetic.
To earn Nie Li's trust, Xian Wu volunteered to be the bait.
Looking down at the narrow pit two or three meters ahead, Xian Wu felt a bead of cold sweat trickle down his forehead.
If the horned sheep failed to step into the pit, he would have to face it head-on.
He wasn't even a Bronze One Star Fighter yet. If a horned sheep rammed him, he'd probably end up paralyzed from the waist down.
Fortunately, though, he had the "Demon Left Hand."
The Demon Left Hand could slice through iron as easily as mud. The horned sheep's hard skull would be as fragile as tofu before it.
No, a soap bubble was a more apt comparison.
Any substance that touched his left hand would instantly be broken down into atoms.
Thinking of this, Xian Wu couldn't help feeling more confident.
He clasped his hands behind his back and stood tall, radiating an air of "none under heaven can rival me."
"It's coming!" Lu Piao warned.
Nie Li had used the stone-throwing method to lure the horned sheep over step by step.
The spot where they were lying in wait was still quite far from the horned sheep's habitat.
Otherwise, the horned sheep's cries would attract its companions. If they all charged at once, they'd trample the group into a pulp.
The power of unity was not to be underestimated.
After luring the horned sheep to the designated spot, Nie Li quickly disappeared into the bushes and went to meet up with Lu Piao and Du Ze.
Taking the light crossbow Du Ze tossed him, Nie Li dropped to one knee, swiftly loaded an anesthetic bolt, and took aim at the horned sheep.
The horned sheep was facing off against Xian Wu.
As the bait, Xian Wu knew better than to wear his pitch-black cloak. He did his best to make himself stand out.
Under the bright moonlight, his silver-white hair gleamed. The horned sheep spotted the intruder without the slightest effort.
"Baa—" Its eyes glowed red, and white breath steamed from its nostrils. It roared as it pawed at the ground with its forehooves.
Though Xian Wu had been confident earlier, when he actually came face-to-face with the horned sheep, he couldn't help swallowing nervously.
Without the slightest warning, the horned sheep suddenly charged.
Xian Wu clenched his left fist and gritted his teeth. "Let's see whose head is harder—yours or my fist!"
Unexpectedly, Nie Li's shoddy trap actually worked.
As the horned sheep charged, one of its forehooves sank into the pit.
Its heavy body folded its front leg under the force of its momentum, and it crashed down hard, sprawled face-first on the ground.
"Baa!" Its shrill, brief cry swept through the air like a gust of wind, then vanished into the dense forest.
Xian Wu swallowed. The sharp horns were only a few centimeters from his vital parts.
Seeing the horned sheep thrashing about as it tried to stand, Xian Wu raised his fist, ready to smash its head in.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Before he could land a blow, three crossbow bolts shot into the horned sheep's body in quick succession.
The poison seeped into its bloodstream, circulated rapidly to its heart, and then flowed through its brain.
In less than a minute, the horned sheep's entire nervous system was paralyzed. It lay motionless, eyes open, in a state of suspended animation.
Nie Li and Lu Piao slapped hands in celebration, while Du Ze drew the meat-cleaver he'd prepared and went over to carve up their spoils.
"Leave the horns, the hide under its neck, the Demonic Crystal, and the spirit. Don't bother with anything else; it isn't worth much." Nie Li came over to remind them. He patted Xian Wu on the shoulder and looked at him approvingly. "Well done. Keep it up."
It was rare for someone so young to stay calm even when a mountain collapsed before him.
If it had been him in his previous life, he would have been scared out of his wits.
With a fearless warrior like Xian Wu by his side, his chances of dealing with the Sacred Emperor had just improved.
But... there seemed to be something wrong with Xian Wu's constitution. He wondered if his guess was right.
He wouldn't know for sure until he tested Xian Wu's Sea of Soul. It was too early to draw any conclusions.
Testing the Sea of Soul required a pure Primary Soul Crystal. One of those cost over a thousand Demon Spirit Coins, and he didn't have the money to buy one yet.
"How much are these horns worth?" Lu Piao asked Nie Li, holding the still-dripping horns.
He was a young noble from an aristocratic family and had lived a pampered life. Though he'd been hunting before, he knew little about the value of demon beasts, since servants were the ones who sold the spoils.
Nie Li turned to look down at Lu Piao and answered, "Horned sheep are relatively low-level demon beasts. Their parts aren't worth much."
"These horns can probably sell for five Demon Spirit Coins. The hide around its neck can fetch three, and the Demonic Crystal is worth five too. As for the spirit, that thing is so rare it can probably sell for tens of thousands of Demon Spirit Coins."
Normally, a demon beast's Demonic Crystal and spirit were both inside its head.
A Demonic Crystal was a thumb-sized crystal. Every demon beast had one; it was the source of their demonic power.
A spirit was like a candle flame, with a different color for each one. They were extremely rare—only one or two horned sheep out of tens of thousands possessed a spirit.
Even if they found a horned sheep spirit, they wouldn't be able to take it with them.
Without a Demonic Spirit Stone to contain it, a spirit exposed to the outside world would dissipate within the time it took to burn a stick of incense.
Nie Li didn't think they'd hunt down a spirit, so he hadn't bought a Demonic Spirit Stone.
"Tens of thousands of Demon Spirit Coins?" Du Ze was astonished by the spirit's high price.
The spirit of a single horned sheep would cover all his expenses for completing his education at Sacred Orchid Academy.
Lu Piao couldn't help pouring cold water on him. "Don't dream, Du Ze!"
"First, the people who brought horned sheep into the Trial Grounds won't leave one alone if it has a spirit."
"Second, it's harder for an ordinary horned sheep to develop a spirit than it is to reach the heavens, unless it eats rare flowers and herbs. Do you really think a place like the Trial Grounds would have such precious spirit herbs?"
"So don't dream about it. You'll never find a spirit."
"Tch. How do you know unless you try?" Du Ze pursed his lips.
After half a stick of incense, the three of them finished carving up the horned sheep.
They packed the horns, hide, and Demonic Crystal into three large sacks.
Du Ze stared at the horned sheep's mangled body on the ground and asked, "Nie Li, what should we do with the corpse? Leave it here to rot?"
"Leave it to me." Before Nie Li could speak, Xian Wu, who had been sitting on a large rock nearby doing nothing, stood up.
The three of them looked at Xian Wu, curious about how he planned to deal with the corpse.
Xian Wu walked over and stopped beside the horned sheep. As he bent down and touched it, he muttered:
"Secret Technique: Complete Decomposition!"
The moment Xian Wu's palm touched the corpse, the horned sheep disappeared.
A hot gust of wind, tinged with the stench of blood, burst from where the corpse had been, blowing so hard that the others could barely keep their eyes open.
"How... how did you do that, Xian Wu?" Once he'd recovered, Nie Li asked in disbelief. He was well-read and knowledgeable, yet he had never seen anything so astonishing.
Before you continue