Slaying demon beasts

After leaving the merchant building, Lu Shang continued along the streets of Tianxing City.

He encountered quite a few strange curiosities for sale along the way, but since this was his first visit, he never found anywhere that bought or sold cave abodes.

Lu Shang was still far too unfamiliar with this place.

"In that case, I'll find a remote island first."

With that, Lu Shang headed out of Tianxing City.

A cave abode was not essential. With his current strength, Lu Shang could protect himself in the Outer Sea, and not just anything could catch his interest.

Once he stepped outside Tianxing City, Lu Shang stopped holding back.

His aura surged.

In an instant, he shot off in one direction like a bolt of lightning.

The mortals and Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment cultivators below could only see a streak of red light flash across the sky.

"A... a... demonic cultivator!"

"A Core Formation Stage demonic cultivator has appeared in Tianxing City!"

Everyone below was startled when they realized what had happened.

Lu Shang was not flying particularly high, and some cultivators who specialized in sensing auras easily detected the power he had unleashed.

Demonic cultivators were a common sight in Tianxing City, but none were so brazen.

Tianxing City was now the Star Palace's last and strongest line of defense, though no major battles had broken out with the demonic cultivators.

But what demonic cultivator dared act so outrageously?

Everyone here lived with their tails tucked between their legs. A demonic cultivator who dared flaunt himself like this was practically mocking the Star Palace at the top of his lungs.

Before long, word of a Core Formation Stage demonic cultivator's actions in Tianxing City reached one of the Star Palace's elders.

A middle-aged man dressed in white elder's robes hurled the cup in his hand to the ground.

A violent aura instantly surged around him.

"The great formation breaks, the Thunder Roc emerges, demon beasts invade, and now there's word of a demonic cultivator causing trouble in Tianxing City," the elder said furiously.

"E... Elder..." A Core Formation cultivator beside him knelt on the ground, not daring to rise.

"A pack of useless fools!"

"Y... yes, yes, we're all useless fools."

But he immediately realized his mistake and spoke again. "N... no, I'm the useless fool. I'm the useless fool."

The Core Formation cultivator pressed his forehead to the ground, not daring to lift it even slightly, his legs trembling all the while.

"If the grand elder finds out about this...!"

At that, the Star Palace elder wilted.

Lu Shang had no idea that his brazen display had enraged a Star Palace elder even further, or that it had even sparked rumors within Tianxing City that demonic cultivators were gathering there.

By then, Lu Shang had already reached the Outer Sea through a teleportation formation.

Half a month later, Lu Shang landed on a nameless island.

"Of all the islands I've surveyed, this one has the best location."

"There are another six or seven small islands within a few hundred miles, just enough to meet my needs."

"Next, I'll clear out all the demon beasts on this island, then refine the treasurelight grass into formations."

"There are almost no traces of humans on this island, so it's probably full of demon beasts. There may even be quite a few above the fifth stage."

"They can only blame their bad luck for running into me, the scourge of demon beasts."

With that, Lu Shang flew toward the center of the island.

Along the way, he continuously probed the island with his divine sense.

Half an hour later, Lu Shang reached the island's center. "There are plenty of demon beasts, but hardly any worth paying attention to. Most are below the fifth stage. There are very few above that, and fifth-stage demon beasts make up the largest share of those. I haven't found any seventh-stage ones yet."

With that, Lu Shang took several handfuls of treasurelight grass from his Storage Bag and casually tossed them out. Apart from one handful that remained where he stood, the others flew off in different directions.

"I'll wait a little, then. In the meantime, I can carve out a cave abode."

Lu Shang landed and looked around.

Before long, a cliff caught his attention.

Lu Shang flew over to inspect it.

"Not bad. The rock and everything else are quite good."

After examining it for a while, Lu Shang was thoroughly satisfied.

Two Crimson Giant Hands appeared out of thin air behind his hands and began excavating.

Moments later, a huge cavern had appeared in the mountainside.

But after looking at it, Lu Shang fell into brief contemplation.

"This makes me look like some kind of bat spirit..."

"Forget it. It's all for the sake of forming my nascent soul," Lu Shang consoled himself helplessly.

After entering, Lu Shang made some finer alterations.

After all, what the giant hands had carved out was still nothing more than a cavern, with no resemblance to a cave abode whatsoever.

After a quarter of an hour of modifications, it finally looked like a cave abode.

"It's about time to clear out the demon beasts on this island."

Lu Shang immediately used Lightning Escape to appear above the treasurelight grass.

At a glance, he saw that dozens of demon beasts had already gathered.

A cold gleam flashed through his eyes.

"Not even a single fifth-stage one?" Lu Shang looked down in disappointment.

He then took out the Silver Frost Dragon Halberd and swung it downward several times in succession.

Several streaks of cold light slashed down. In an instant, the demon beasts below became mangled corpses, then froze into blocks of ice.

"Couldn't be easier."

"Next, I'll clear out the demon beasts elsewhere on the island."

Lu Shang then spent an entire day and night wiping out the island's demon beasts.

After watching the demon beasts in the island's last remaining area fall, Lu Shang prepared to attend to one final task.

He would incorporate the properties of treasurelight grass into talismans and formations, then deploy them elsewhere.

This was still to ensure that high-rank demon beasts would not disturb him while he was in seclusion attempting his breakthrough.

Two months later, Lu Shang emerged from his cave abode and looked at the things in his hand and before him.

These were the fruits of his two months of work.

A stack of talismans rested in his hand, while countless stone-like objects shimmering with purple light floated before him.

"With these, my seclusion will be secure."

"Next, I'll deploy these formations and talismans on the surrounding islands."

Treasurelight grass had an extremely potent effect, but that very potency made it unsuitable for direct use.

After Lu Shang's modifications turned it into talismans and Formation Stones, however, the aura they emitted was less direct than that of treasurelight grass.

But Lu Shang still had one more thing to do.

"It's time to take a look in the sea."

His main purpose in entering the sea was to clear out demon beasts above the fifth stage.

It would hardly be possible to spare not a single demon beast.

Lu Shang only needed to clear out the demon beasts within a few hundred miles.

Sixth- or seventh-stage demon beasts possessed a measure of intelligence, so Lu Shang would certainly have to thoroughly clear them out before entering seclusion.

He immediately plunged into the sea and began searching.

"The sea covers such a vast area that thoroughly checking for traces of high-rank demon beasts will be rather troublesome."

"I'm afraid it'll take quite some time."

After several months, Lu Shang finally finished thoroughly surveying the area within a radius of several hundred miles.

In fact, he had already hunted down nearly all his targets two months earlier.

But to leave no room for error, Lu Shang decided to keep checking.

His main reason for doing so was to see whether there were any traces of eighth-stage demon beasts nearby.

After all, the formations Lu Shang had deployed in succession could both attract demon beasts and conceal auras.

That would allow him to conceal the aura he released before his breakthrough.

Unless there truly was such an extraordinary coincidence, sixth- or seventh-stage demon beasts would have virtually no chance of finding their way near Lu Shang's cave abode.

"Next, it's time to collect the formations."