Once they settled on their cave dwellings, Qin Sang gave the bone sword and bone spear to the grey-robed man and the old woman, then asked the other three for the magic tools they were most adept at using.
Not one to be stingy, Qin Sang directly refined the flood dragon carcasses he had previously hunted to enhance the power of their magic tools.
If he wanted these people to help him track demons, giving them more life-saving means was essential so they could explore a broader area. The Fuhu Sea Area lay right on the outermost edge of the territory frequented by cultivators from Douyan Island—a chaotic expanse. While they did not need to hunt the demons themselves, scouring everywhere for the tracks of great demons still carried substantial danger.
Fortunately, very few cultivators roamed the Fuhu Sea Area. In this vast, boundless ocean, running into another person was nearly impossible, sparing them the trouble of having to guard against other immortal cultivators.
Even better, less than a month after arriving in the Fuhu Sea Area, they helped Qin Sang locate a suitable red flood dragon.
Having finally gathered all nine flood dragon spirit souls, the full might of the Nine Dragons Heavenly Chariot Talisman was thoroughly unleashed. The spirit talisman, originally shaped like a jade tablet, transformed into a palm-sized jade flood dragon. Resembling a living beast, it slumbered quietly in Qin Sang's sea of qi.
Anyone who did not know better would never have imagined this was actually a spirit talisman!
The moment he activated the secret talisman, a radiant shroud enveloped Qin Sang. Nine flood dragon silhouettes swirled across its surface. Because fully five of the spirit souls were from red flood dragons, the shroud bore a vivid, fiery crimson hue. It looked as though he were cloaked in the legendary Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover, uniquely striking.
After its transformation, the secret talisman's fully awakened power turned out to be somewhat stronger than Qin Sang had anticipated.
During the Turmoil of the Two Domains, Qin Sang had personally witnessed clashes between Core Formation stage cultivators many times. Comparing in his mind, he realized that with the aid of the Sword Qi Thunderclap, his evasion speed was slightly superior even to an ordinary late Golden Core cultivator.
Once he broke through to the mid Core Formation stage, even those late-stage cultivators would be left in his dust.
Still, Qin Sang estimated that the secret talisman's power had its limits. Even if he attained the late stage, combining it with the Sword Qi Thunderclap would never allow him to rival the evasion speed of a Nascent Soul Patriarch.
Among the Four Great Secret Talismans of the Shangyuan Qingjing Palace, the Neijing Origin Talisman, the Tiangang Saber Talisman, and the Nine Dragons Heavenly Chariot Talisman were all treasures of the Core Formation grade.
The final secret talisman was said to be connected to the Nascent Soul realm, but it was exceptionally mysterious. Qin Sang had inquired for a long time, yet he had failed to learn even its name, let alone its effects.
Accordingly, the Nine Dragons Heavenly Chariot Talisman's consumption of true essence had skyrocketed, proving even more terrifying than the Ten Directions Yanluo Banner.
The first time Qin Sang activated the fully completed Nine Dragons Heavenly Chariot Talisman, he was in such high spirits that he got a bit carried away. By the time he noticed his true essence was nearly dry, it was already too late, and he nearly tumbled into the sea in utter disarray.
Given his current cultivation, Qin Sang could not sustain the secret talisman for long before draining his true essence, but using it to escape in a moment of crisis was more than sufficient.
With the secret talisman to protect him, Qin Sang could finally ease the tension that had gripped him for so long, yet he still dared not let his guard down. If he provoked a late Demon Core stage great demon, even the Nine Dragons Heavenly Chariot Talisman might not save his life.
Of course, against any beast below the late Demon Core stage, so long as it did not specialize in evasion techniques, Qin Sang could handle it with ease. If he could not overpower it, he simply treated the fight as training; the moment things went south, he activated the talisman and fled.
Unable to catch up, those demon beasts could only roar in futile fury as they watched his retreating figure vanish into the distance.
In fact, when he encountered his very first demon beast in the Fuhu Sea Area, that was precisely what Qin Sang had done.
It was a mid Demon Core stage fuhu.
The fuhu was a species of fish demon that resembled an eel, but possessed a parrot-like beak and eight legs, giving it a bizarre appearance.
A natural water-element demon beast, its array of water-based divine abilities was formidable. Moving in coordinated pairs, its eight legs could unleash four distinct divine abilities, each shifting unpredictably and making them exceedingly difficult to defend against.
Yet of the four divine abilities the fuhu excelled at, none happened to be a water evasion technique.
In the past, Qin Sang certainly would not have dared provoke such a formidable beast, but now he was naturally unwilling to pass up such a prime sparring partner.
After discovering this fuhu, Qin Sang became hooked. Every so often, he went to pick a fight with it. Following a fierce clash, he would activate his secret talisman, sail away, and return to his cave dwelling to cultivate.
At first, Qin Sang had entertained thoughts of slaying it. Later, he realized that was nearly impossible; none of the fuhu's four divine abilities could be underestimated, and when combined, their might was astounding.
Even if he were willing to risk the destruction of his Flying Yakshas, he had no guarantee of success.
When hunting in the Demon Sea, comparing the strength of the two combatants alone was not enough.
During several of their previous clashes, whenever the fight dragged into a prolonged stalemate, Qin Sang would sense the atmosphere in the surrounding waters turning ominous. Other great demons were inevitably stirred by the commotion and creeping closer in secret.
Under such circumstances, Qin Sang had no choice but to flee.
However, Qin Sang did not abandon the idea entirely. After several consecutive battles, he knew the fuhu's repertoire inside and out. He planned to return to Douyan Island after some time, gather helpers, and come back to hunt the beast.
To his surprise, just as he was daydreaming about slaying the demon, he suddenly discovered that the fuhu had grown so thoroughly annoyed by his harassment that it abandoned its territory and vanished without a trace.
Refusing to give up, Qin Sang searched several times, but the fuhu was gone without an echo, having departed far from its native home.
This was merely a minor interlude. Qin Sang's training journey remained uninterrupted, progressing smoothly with the help of the elderly couple and their companions.
In the blink of an eye, Qin Sang spent four springs and autumns in the Fuhu Sea Area.
Qin Sang judged every situation with care, coming and going like the wind. He practically became a local scourge of the Fuhu Sea Area, having harassed nearly every great demon that exposed its tracks.
Although he devoted most of his time to cultivation, Qin Sang's Qianjun Ring still accumulated more than a dozen demon cores, though all were from the early Demon Core stage.
During this period, they also encountered danger several times.
A demon bird spotted the grey-robed man, tearing off one of his arms in a gruesome mauling before he managed to escape by self-detonating his bone sword. On another occasion, the elderly couple nearly perished in the jaws of a demon beast, saved only because Qin Sang arrived in the nick of time.
Qin Sang himself was no exception.
During one prolonged struggle with a mid Demon Core demon beast, a passing late Demon Core great demon sensed the battle.
Shocked, Qin Sang immediately activated his secret talisman and fled for his life. Seeing how fast Qin Sang moved, and drawn instead by the blood of the demon beast he had been fighting, the great demon abandoned the chase.
From a distance, Qin Sang watched a breathtaking, bloodcurdling clash between two great demons, and his opponent ended up as a meal in the belly of the late Demon Core beast.
Once his racing heart calmed, Qin Sang became even more resolved to forge the Primordial Concentric Rings as soon as possible.
One of the abilities of the Primordial Concentric Rings was an extraordinary sensitivity to demon qi; whenever a great demon approached within a certain range, it would automatically issue a warning.
In the Demon Sea, this was nothing short of a godsend. With this magic treasure, Qin Sang could detect the tracks of great demons in advance and prepare early, never repeating today's close call.
Aside from that, the greatest function of the Primordial Concentric Rings was controlling demon beasts.
By commanding the Yang Ring, Qin Sang could use the Yin Ring to control an early Demon Core demon beast.
Because the magic treasure was limited in grade, there would be considerable restrictions when directing a demon beast in combat, but it still amounted to gaining another helper no weaker than himself, in addition to the Flying Yakshas.
Chapter 686