Fang Qianyuan had come here entirely by chance.
Unwilling to sit in the rear and wait around doing nothing, he had simply come to the front lines to investigate in person.
As he flew overhead, the lingering disturbances from the battle drew his attention. Yet when he descended to take a look, he discovered Wild Spirits hunting down Rogue Cultivators.
This was anything but normal. At first, Fang Qianyuan thought an enemy Earth Rank Expert had appeared. But after drawing closer, he too recognized that this might be a Spirit-Herding Envoy serving a Heaven Tier expert.
As an elder of a great sect, he knew even more of the inside story than these Rogue Cultivators did. Behind this practice of leading beasts to devour people lay an extremely primitive and barbaric secret sacrificial rite.
The flesh and souls of living beings could nourish the growth of demons and monsters. Even the spirit beasts and immortal beasts of legend could devour blood offerings to strengthen themselves, and some Heaven Tier experts had set their sights on precisely this method.
But these experts were all important figures with status and standing. How could they lower themselves to undertake something so tedious, so liable to invite condemnation and bring trouble upon themselves?
Whether for convenience or to keep their own hands clean, they needed Spirit-Herding Envoys to handle such chores for them.
Fang Qianyuan knew that many experts raised additional, second-string Spirit Creatures and recruited Spirit Herders. The difference was that some remained true to the Righteous Path and only had them seek Heavenly Treasures and resources from spirit veins, while others swallowed meat and greens alike, accepting everything from Heavenly Treasures to blood offerings and sacrificial victims.
"Who are you?" As Fang Qianyuan studied the Spirit Herder, the man slowly spoke.
His