Demon Hunting Hall

"Excuse me, is Junior Brother Lin Jing here?"

"You're... the senior sister from the Harvest Pavilion?"

Half a month had passed since the Rising Dragon Festival. While Lin Jing was still buried in diligent cultivation, an unexpected visitor arrived.

She wore Daoist robes and had a lovely face, though she looked somewhat frail, like a sickly beauty.

"Sorry to disturb you, Junior Brother. My name is Qin Caixin. I've come today to ask a favor," Senior Sister Caixin said.

"Please go ahead, Senior Sister." Lin Jing seemed to have heard that name before. She was apparently one of the strongest disciples in the outer sect. He had never expected her to be the senior sister who had tried to sell him fertilizer.

"Have you been out these past two days, Junior Brother? Did you hear that Senior Brother He Yiming was severely injured by someone from the Demon Hunting Hall in the Beast Arena?"

"The senior brother who was the first to challenge the Bamboo Dragon during the Rising Dragon Festival?" Lin Jing knew nothing about it. "And what sort of organization is this Demon Hunting Hall?"

Senior Sister Caixin said, "The Demon Hunting Hall was founded by Elder Li Hai of our sect. Elder Li has always been dissatisfied with the sect's policies for training disciples. He believes the sect protects its disciples too well. Even when they take missions to gain experience outside the sect, they choose ones suited to themselves. He feels that this approach can never produce truly powerful cultivators."

"So he founded the Demon Hunting Hall. Every few years, he recruits a batch of outer sect disciples to join."

"The disciples of the Demon Hunting Hall don't cultivate within the sect. Elder Li throws them all into the Wilds and Wasteland, making them grow through mortal combat with demon beasts, leaving their lives and deaths to fate."

"Since they can't cultivate in a comfortable environment, their cultivation might not be very high. But when it comes to fighting to the death, they're truly formidable. Senior Brother He Yiming was no match at all."

"Why are you telling me all this, Senior Sister?" Lin Jing asked. "Don't tell me they want to cause trouble for me too... If that's the case, please tell them I also think Elder Li's methods are better at producing powerful cultivators."

"They might just be a bit hard on the disciples and their pet beasts."

Senior Sister Caixin gave a wry smile. "No, that's not it. You're actually right, Junior Brother Lin Jing. How could secluded cultivation improve your strength as much as life-and-death trials? As for the death rate... Elder Li took dozens of people away three years ago, and only four have returned alive."

"Our Beast Taming Sect isn't a demonic sect. There's no way we could adopt that sort of training on a large scale."

"And my visit today... Actually, I wanted to ask whether you could sell me a few of those Red Flying Leaves you brought out while fighting the Bamboo Dragon."

"My contracted pet beast is a tree bear, and it has also mastered the Flying Leaf Art. We've tried using leaves from all kinds of spirit plants, but none had the destructive power of the Red Flying Leaves your Pineleaf Squirrel used that day."

"There are only a few months left until the annual Inner Gate examination. With the Demon Hunting Hall disciples returning this time, the examination is certain to become much harder. I want to improve my strength as much as possible before then."

After Senior Sister Caixin finished, Lin Jing understood, but he said regretfully, "I'm very sorry. For certain special reasons, those Red Leaves can only be used by us."

Lin Jing was not lying. The Red Leaves synthesized by the Pineleaf Squirrel shared a sort of "communion of hearts" with it, allowing it to control the flying leaves "at will." Under this "mindforce control," the flying leaves' power and speed increased dramatically. Even with little practice, it could control ten Red Leaves at once at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. Other demon beasts, however, would not have that bond.

"I see..." Senior Sister Caixin sighed. "Sorry for the trouble, Junior Brother Lin Jing."

With that, she left. Lin Jing closed the courtyard gate and intended to go back to reading.

"Heh heh." Unexpectedly, a strange chuckle came from inside the courtyard.

A Black Bear Monster wearing white Daoist robes had appeared in Lin Jing's courtyard at some point.

"I remember that lass. She seems to come from a small cultivation lineage. She was born frail and wasn't suited to ordinary cultivation, so her family sent her to the Beast Taming Sect."

"Your Dao heart is firm, lad. A pretty senior sister came asking a favor, and you weren't swayed in the slightest! I reckon you'll definitely achieve something in your cultivation!"

"More importantly, with your longevity body, you really aren't suited to finding an ordinary Dao companion. Find yourself a female cultivator with a high cultivation realm someday. At least that way, she won't kick the bucket too long before you!"

Lin Jing looked speechlessly at Elder Black Bear. "Did you suddenly come over for something?"

"The Pineleaf Squirrel has stockpiled a whole crate of Red Leaves. It can't use them all itself. If they could be sold, I'd have wanted to sell them long ago. It really is the only one that can use them."

"Nothing important." Elder Black Bear glanced at the mechanism gears and parts scattered across the courtyard, along with the crooked little turtle toys. "Been learning the Mechanism Art these past few days? Not bad. They're beginning to look the part."

"I came to remind you."

"Didn't that little lass just mention it? The Inner Gate examination is only a few months away. You're still a fair way from the seventh layer of Qi Refining, but with that Pineleaf Squirrel's aptitude, it might reach the seventh layer if it has enough resources and take you along to the Inner Gate examination!"

"Once you enter the Inner Gate, you'll have to choose a peak to join. The different peaks of the Beast Taming Sect represent different paths. For instance, Cinnabar Glow Peak offers alchemy as a supplementary discipline, Nine Dragons Peak specializes in raising demon beasts with dragon blood, and Clear Pool Peak is suited to the cultivation of water-type spirit beasts..."

"Basically, every outer sect disciple chooses a suitable inner peak to join then and learns spells there."

"Of the elders you know, Elder Mo has already retired to Lotus Peak and no longer concerns himself with sect affairs, while Elder Yu oversees the outer sect and stays out of Inner Gate matters. So you won't be able to turn to either of them then. You'll still have to think about which inner peak you want to join."

"Once you decide, this old bear will put in a word for you and get them to keep an eye on you in advance. Whatever else, even those Golden Core elders in the Beast Taming Sect have to show me some respect."

Lin Jing was more interested in Cinnabar Glow Peak, mainly because he had already invested considerable effort in learning the Alchemy Art.

"Elder Black Bear, you must have come for something else as well, right?" Lin Jing was not quite convinced. Offering favors for no reason did not seem like Elder Black Bear's style.

"Heh heh." Sure enough, Elder Black Bear laughed. "Don't tell Elder Mo. Ever since I was little, I've loved eating a kind of spirit fruit called Dragonbone Flower. But after I formed my demon core, the nutrients in that low-grade spirit fruit stopped being any use to me. I only eat a few now and then to satisfy my palate."

"My mother recently crossed mountains and rivers to visit me at the Beast Taming Sect and brought me quite a lot of Dragonbone Flowers from back home. That got me thinking: since that squirrel can synthesize spirit rice and spirit beans, could it synthesize Dragonbone Flowers too?"

"After synthesis, might they do more for me than just satisfy my palate? Might they have some other value? Surely not everything turns explosive."

"Help me out, and I'll pay you. But let me say it again: don't tell Elder Mo, whatever you do. If he finds out I've been disturbing your cultivation, I'm done for!"

Lin Jing nodded. "But Elder Black Bear, what exactly is this Dragonbone Flower? The Complete Compendium of Flora doesn't seem to mention it... Could its grade or quality be too high? If so, the Pineleaf Squirrel won't be able to synthesize it."

"That's perfectly normal. Aside from tasting good, it has no particular value. Don't worry, it's just a relatively rare, low-grade spirit fruit." As Elder Black Bear spoke, the bear took a fruit from a Storage Bag that resembled the dragon fruit Lin Jing remembered and bit into it. Then, because its flesh was bright red... the Black Bear Monster looked as though the bear's mouth was full of blood, which was quite frightening.