Demon Hunting Team

Biodata

Duties and Operations

Demon Hunting

• Local protection: Tracks demon beasts entering within a hundred li of Windrise Stronghold and hunts them when an opportunity arises 24.
• Stronghold defense: Helps the City Guard Battalion repel demon-beast attacks 10.
• Expeditions: Regularly leaves the stronghold to hunt deeper within the Desolate Ruins, which border the beasts’ lair in the Ten Thousand Barbarian Mountains 10 24.
• Teamwork: Usually pools its members’ strength against demon beasts; an Acquired martial artist attempting a solo kill faces extreme danger 43.
• Hunting proceeds: Demon beasts killed by the team belong to it, providing valuable materials and substantial income 24.

Military and Internal Security

• West Mountain Hollow: Expands its ranks to contest the ironstone mine against Flowing Stone Stronghold, with new recruits assigned directly to the fighting 28 43.
• Outer City suppression: Attacks growing factions to prevent the Outer City from unifying into a threat to Windrise Stronghold 46.
• Recruit blooding: Uses these attacks to give inexperienced recruits their first experience of killing and intimidate the Outer City before departing on expeditions 46.
• Target selection: According to Jiang Beiwang, the team traditionally intervenes when a faction controls nearly a quarter of the Outer City. Its attack on his Black Saber Alliance comes earlier, when the alliance controls roughly a sixth 47.

Organization and Members

Command Structure

After expansion, the team has eight veteran squads and ten newly formed squads. Two squads consist entirely of women, including Xu Yun’s 46.

Notable Personnel

• Fu Qingyang — Commander; shares hunting proceeds with his comrades and controls the team independently of Wang Tianye in practice 24.
• Ye Xicheng — Deputy commander and Fu Qingyang’s adopted son; oversees recruitment, squad assignments, and discipline 30 33 36 43.
• Qianshan Xue — Deputy commander; participates in the West Mountain Hollow expedition and investigates the captured Black-Iron Bows 43 46 50.
• Iron Bull — Veteran guardsman at the eighth acquired stage; guides recruits, enforces the prohibition on infighting, and leads the attack on the Black Saber Alliance 43 46 47.
• Chen Shi’an — Newly appointed squad leader; serves under Ye Xicheng and earns the highest recognition in the Black Saber Alliance operation 36 46 50.
• Song Yuming — New squad leader from Windrise Martial Academy; an eighth-stage Acquired martial artist backed by Xiang Chuxiong and Song Yuan 33 36.
• Xu Yun — New squad leader from Windrise Martial Academy; commands an all-female squad 36 46.
• Tu Gou — New squad leader assigned to Qianshan Xue 36 46.
• Pi Hou — Chen Shi’an’s first volunteer subordinate; subsequently fights alongside his squad 36 45 46.
• Hou Fang — Former member who served for more than ten years without becoming a squad leader; transfers to the City Guard Battalion and recommends Chen Shi’an 24 28 36.

Recruitment and Advancement

Entry Requirements

The team normally selects elite recruits from the City Guard Battalion. The West Mountain Hollow expansion opens recruitment to the entire stronghold 10 28.

Expansion Trials

• Appointments: Fu Qingyang personally attaches rank tokens to the new squad leaders; the assembled team repeats each appointee’s name three times and cheers 36.
• Squad allocation: Recruits initially choose their leaders, with ten subordinate places per squad; those who do not choose accept assignment 36.
• Chen Shi’an’s exception: Although the announced limit is ten subordinates, he later receives eleven, making his squad twelve strong including himself 43 45.
• Advancement opportunities: Military merit can earn Marrow-Washing Pills and cultivation techniques 36 46.
• Risk: Hou Fang states that the casualty rate exceeds sixty percent and warns that the West Mountain Hollow fighting will make it worse 28.

Discipline and Combat Practices

Comradeship

• Infighting is forbidden: Members must trust one another against demon beasts and must not turn their fists or blades on comrades 46.
• Excessive violence is condemned: Senior officers and veterans disapprove when Song Yuming needlessly injures a fellow recruit during squad leader selection 34.
• Merit remains competitive: Members are encouraged to compete through battlefield achievements rather than jealousy or complaints 50.
• Off-duty drinking is permitted: Iron Bull explicitly states that drinking in the barracks is allowed when members are not on a mission 46.

Battlefield Methods

• Coordinated small teams: Veterans fight back-to-back in groups of two or three, resisting enemies who outnumber them five or six to one 47.
• Experienced archers: Chen Shi’an observes exceptional power, speed, and accuracy during the recruitment archery test 34.
• Prepared assaults: Veterans remove hidden sentries before the new squads surround the Black Saber Alliance headquarters 46.
• Killing families: During that raid, veterans kill defenseless women and children and pressure recruits to do the same to prevent future retaliation. Chen Shi’an rejects this practice and orders his squad to spare them 47.

Finances, Rewards, and Family Benefits

The team receives no military wages from Windrise Stronghold. It pays its own members through hunting income, with Fu Qingyang generally sharing the proceeds. This financial independence limits the leverage of both Wang Tianye and Xiang Chuxiong 24.

Equipment and Facilities

• Standard uniform and waist saber: Issued immediately after recruitment; the sabers share the City Guard Battalion’s design 36.
• Rank tokens: Worn at the waist to identify squad leaders 36.
• Longbows and practice arrows: Used by thirty archers in the recruitment assessment 34.
• Linked-Ring Soft Armor: Awarded to Chen Shi’an’s subordinates after the Black Saber Alliance raid 50.
• Captured Black-Iron weapons: Chen Shi’an returns with six Black-Iron Bows and twenty-four arrows, prompting an investigation by Ye Xicheng and Qianshan Xue 50.
• Main camp: Contains several dozen plain barracks and an enormous training ground, with guarded entrances and chevaux-de-frise 30 32.
• Meeting hall: Small, simply furnished, and unadorned 43.

Political Relationships

• City Guard Battalion — Parent organization in name, but its commander, Wang Tianye, cannot effectively command the team 24.
• Wang Tianye — Fu Qingyang’s longstanding rival; objects to expansion because the team already takes the battalion’s most promising recruits 21 28.
• Xiang Chuxiong — Uses the West Mountain Hollow crisis to place his own people in the team. Fu Qingyang considers outright refusal politically dangerous 33.
• Windrise Martial Academy — Sends disciples during the expansion to gain experience and positions; the team refuses requests for preferential treatment 30 32.
• Flowing Stone Stronghold — Military opponent in the struggle over West Mountain Hollow 28 43.
• Black Saber Alliance — Outer City faction targeted for suppression after rapid territorial expansion 46 47.

Major Arcs

Expansion for West Mountain Hollow

With Windrise Stronghold losing ground in the mine dispute, the team broadens recruitment beyond the City Guard Battalion. Chen Shi’an joins to gain Fu Qingyang’s backing against Wang Tianye and learn more about the Desolate Ruins before taking his family away 28.

The selection produces ten new squad leaders and expands the force to nearly two hundred. Ye Xicheng tells recruits there is no time for training: the battlefield itself will serve that purpose 36 43 46.

Protection of Chen Shi’an

When Xiang Qinglong demands an apology and compensation for injured gambling-house employees, Chen Shi’an refuses. Ye Xicheng supports him, while Fu Qingyang promises protection and gives him the confidential Flowing Flame Saber Technique as an investment in his potential 43 44.

Fu Qingyang and Ye Xicheng also seek to use Chen Shi’an to counter Song Yuming. Through Iron Bull, Ye promises that loyal service will protect Chen from Song’s backing and that successfully suppressing Song could bring promotion 46.

Black Saber Alliance Raid

Before continuing to West Mountain Hollow, the ten new squads attack the Black Saber Alliance under veteran guidance. They overwhelm its headquarters, but Black-Iron Arrows wound Iron Bull and three companions during the pursuit of Jiang Beiwang 46 47.

Chen Shi’an continues the chase alone and returns with Jiang’s head, captured weapons, and treasure. Fu Qingyang awards him two Marrow-Washing Pills and gives each subordinate ten Strong-Blood Pills and Linked-Ring Soft Armor. The team then resumes its journey toward West Mountain Hollow 48 50.