Turtle Beast

With the two Monster Hunting Squads combined, there were sixty-two cultivators, a formidable lineup indeed. Liu Ruoyun gave a simple, honest smile, his gaze landing on Han Changming and the others as he said, "Fellow Daoist Han, the younger generation of your Han Clan is quite impressive! This lineup is much better than the last one."

"You are too kind, Fellow Daoist Liu. Your Liu Clan's lineup is nothing to scoff at either. Oh, that's right, Changming, come over and pay your respects to Fellow Daoist Liu."

Han Changming acknowledged the command, quickly stepping out from the crowd to stand before Liu Ruoyun, where he bowed deeply: "Grandson Han Changming pays his respects to Great-Granduncle."

When Han Changming's aunt had married into the Liu Clan, Liu Ruoyun had not yet reached Foundation Establishment. Liu Ruoyun had four sons and two daughters, and Han Changming's aunt had married his youngest son.

Liu Ruoyun scrutinized Han Changming carefully before smiling and saying, "So you are the only grandson of my in-law who possesses spiritual roots? Not bad, you have already reached the seventh level of Qi Refining. Wenyue, come and meet your cousin."

A girl in a green dress, looking to be in her early twenties, stepped out from the crowd and approached Han Changming.

The girl had a melon-seed-shaped face, a small cherry mouth, and snow-white skin, with a cultivation base at the sixth level of Qi Refining.

Liu Wenyue was Han Changming's cousin. Han Changming had seen her a few times when he was young, but he hadn't seen much of her since growing up.

Liu Wenyue offered a sweet smile and said, "Cousin, long time no see."

"Wenyue, you should learn more from your cousin. You are older than him, yet you are only at the sixth level of Qi Refining; you are far behind him," Liu Ruoyun said in a stern tone.

"I understand, Grandfather. I will work hard on my cultivation," Liu Wenyue promised obediently.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Liu Ruoyun and Han Deling began discussing official business.

The island they occupied was not large and was somewhat far from where low-level monsters gathered, but it had the advantage of being safe. The more monsters there were in a place, the easier it was for conflicts to break out with other cultivators in the Green Carp Sea.

Every time the Ten Thousand Monsters Pilgrimage occurred, many low-level monsters would pass through here; how many they could hunt depended entirely on their own abilities.

According to custom, they would divide the sixty people into four Monster Hunting Squads, distributed in the four cardinal directions, with two Foundation Establishment cultivators in the center to coordinate. If they encountered multiple second-tier monsters, they would focus their fire to eliminate them and assist one another.

The Han Clan cultivators were split into two squads of fifteen, stationed in the southeast and south, while the Liu Clan's two squads were stationed in the northwest and west. They built a wooden tower over ten feet tall in the center of the island. The two Foundation Establishment cultivators stood atop the tower, where they could clearly see the situation of all four squads; if the Qi Refining cultivators could not handle a threat, the Foundation Establishment cultivators would intervene.

Every time the Ten Thousand Monsters Pilgrimage occurred, dozens of types of monsters would pass by this island, each with different habits, so they had no choice but to cast a wide net.

The Monster Hunting Squad that Han Changming belonged to deployed two sets of second-tier formations, with four eighth-level Qi Refining cultivators operating them.

The bait team scattered red algae, minced monster meat, and monster urine into the sea, while tossing fish monster carcasses and female monster urine onto the beach.

Once this was done, they cast the Invisibility Technique on themselves and went into hiding.

In less than half an hour, a group of Turtle Beasts with black shells floated to the surface and began crawling toward the shore.

Despite their heavy, cumbersome shells, they moved with great speed, their target being the carcasses of the fish monsters.

Turtle Beasts possessed strong defenses and were adept at water and fire-type spells. Some mutated Turtle Beasts could even unleash lightning-type spells, though these were rare; once discovered, they were to be captured alive and subdued if possible.

There were over sixty Turtle Beasts. They crawled onto the shore, reached the fish carcasses, and began to bite into them greedily.

Among them were two Turtle Beasts, each two zhang in size, with red heads and wrinkled skin; these were second-tier low-grade Turtle Beasts.

The number of Turtle Beasts was simply too high. Even as the bait was nearly consumed, more Turtle Beasts continued to surface and crawl onto the shore.

Han Changming was secretly shocked; it was truly worthy of being the Ten Thousand Monsters Pilgrimage. It was difficult to see so many low-level monsters on ordinary days.

If the number of monsters was too great, the formation could not contain them all. Suddenly, a mass of red mist appeared, and a pale red light barrier emerged, trapping over forty Turtle Beasts inside.

The remaining twenty-plus Turtle Beasts scrambled back toward the sea at high speed.

Rumble!

A wall of earth, over ten feet long and a foot thick, rose from the ground, blocking their retreat.

The Turtle Beasts let out strange hisses, either spitting flames or firing water arrows, striking the earth wall and leaving large craters on its surface.

A wave of scorching heat surged forward as dozens of Crimson Fireballs flew through the air, slamming into the twenty-plus Turtle Beasts.

A series of explosions rang out, leaving dozens of large craters in the sand. The twenty-plus Turtle Beasts were engulfed in crimson flames, letting out strange, pained roars. Some retracted their heads and limbs into their shells, while others, unafraid of fire-type spells, charged at the earth wall.

The Turtle Beasts that retracted their heads and limbs were water-type monsters that feared fire, while those that did not fear fire-type spells were fire-type monsters, which had to be contained with earth or ice-type spells.

The ground suddenly collapsed, revealing several large sand pits. A few Turtle Beasts fell into them; the walls of the pits were as hard as copper and iron, and no matter how hard they struggled, they could not escape.

The sudden attack frightened off the other Turtle Beasts preparing to come ashore, and they dove back into the depths of the sea.

Han Changying controlled two Spider Puppet Beasts, which spat out crimson flames, causing the fire to flare up intensely.

Han Debiao unleashed a Red Gourd, which spewed a massive sheet of crimson flame, further intensifying the blaze.

Han Changming did not attack, keeping a stack of talismans clutched in his hand.

Turtle Beast shells were hard, and the creatures were timid; at the slightest sign of trouble, they would flee. If they encountered danger and could not escape, they would retract their heads and limbs into their shells.

Turtle Beast shells were quite valuable and were typically used to refine defensive magical artifacts.

Han Changying and the others used fire-type spells or fire-type magical artifacts to attack the Turtle Beasts.

The forty-plus Turtle Beasts trapped by the formation realized something was wrong and, led by the two second-tier Turtle Beasts, began attacking the formation frantically.

Water arrows and flames struck the red light barrier, but it remained motionless.

Countless sparks appeared within the red light barrier, transforming into giant fireballs the size of water vats, which slammed into the Turtle Beasts.

A series of explosions echoed as the interior of the red light barrier blazed with fire. A massive sheet of crimson flame engulfed the forty-plus Turtle Beasts; even from a distance, Han Changming could feel the scorching heat.

The intense heat caused the Turtle Beasts to let out pitiful cries that sounded quite wretched.

The two second-tier Turtle Beasts led the others in a frenzied attack on the formation. Because of the sheer number of Turtle Beasts, the formation disks in the hands of the four Qi Refining cultivators began to emit sharp, crisp chirps, and the red light flickered incessantly.