Demon Hunt

The shopkeeper collected his payment and took his leave. Qin Sang quietly observed the young man. He was handsome, and his cultivation had already reached the late Core Formation stage. His aura was deep and concealed, even more unfathomable than Immortal Aunt Yue's. More importantly, there was not a trace of demon qi on him. This meant he had either obtained spirit herbs to purge the fiend demon qi, or he had never taken a Fiend Demon Pill in the first place, having attained Core Formation entirely through his own comprehension. Over the years, very few of the Core Formation experts Qin Sang had encountered were like this young man. Resisting the temptation of a Fiend Demon Pill required not only sufficient talent, but also unyielding willpower. His strength was bound to surpass that of other cultivators at the same realm. "Troubles have tied me down, preventing me from visiting you in person on Tianxing Island. I had to trouble you to make the journey here, Fellow Daoist, and I hope you will not take offense," the youth surnamed Fang said, cupping his hands. Qin Sang gave an easy smile. "You are too polite, Fellow Daoist Fang. So long as the matter gets done, making a trip is nothing at all." "Straightforward, Fellow Daoist Qin! Then I shall speak plainly. I have an important matter at hand and am seeking powerful helpers. The friend I invited previously met with an unexpected mishap and could not come along. Fortunately, the shopkeeper strongly recommended you..." The youth surnamed Fang spoke at length, explaining the circumstances. Qin Sang nodded inwardly. After listening, he glanced toward the mountaintop and asked, "May I ask how many others you have invited, Fellow Daoist Fang? Or is it just the two of us?" The youth shook his head. "There are several other Daoist friends quietly cultivating at the summit. They are all helpers I recruited and will be coming along. If you agree to lend a hand, I will introduce you to them." "I am indeed interested," Qin Sang said in a deep voice. "However, knowing nothing of your objective, I cannot make a hasty decision." The youth smiled. "There is really nothing to hide. My purpose is quite simple: I wish to hire several Daoist friends to help me hunt and kill a demon beast." "Hunt a demon?" Qin Sang was taken aback, his brows furrowing. "Could it be in the Demon Sea?" The Demon Sea was currently nothing short of a dragon's pool and a tiger's den. Having escaped it with great difficulty, he had no desire to plunge straight back in. The youth shook his head. "Not the Demon Sea. That beast is right here within our Inner Sea. Everyone knows the state of the Demon Sea; I would hardly risk my neck for a single demon beast." As long as it was not the Demon Sea, Qin Sang felt reassured. He was an experienced hand at hunting demons, having even teamed up with others to slay a giant turtle in the late Demon Core stage. Qin Sang's expression relaxed, and he looked the young man up and down. "With your cultivation, an ordinary demon beast shouldn't pose any trouble, right? Could it be a greater demon in the late Demon Core stage?" A greater demon of that caliber was hard to hunt even in the Demon Sea; if one encountered one, the first thought was usually flight, not a hunt. Right now, there were surely plenty outside Dahuang Island—it was just a question of whether one had the skill to hunt them. A greater demon with formidable bloodline divine abilities could even prove troublesome for a Nascent Soul Patriarch. If the youth was targeting such a creature, it was no wonder he needed helpers. "Indeed. The beast I have set my sights on is indeed a greater demon in the late Demon Core stage. Moreover, its innate gifts are bizarre and its divine abilities extraordinary, far surpassing ordinary greater demons. To ensure nothing goes awry, I even prepared a spirit array, and those fellow Daoists are currently rehearsing its variations..." Yet when Qin Sang pressed for details, the youth refused to disclose what kind of demon beast it was. "Please do not ask further, Fellow Daoist Qin. Until the very end, I will not say," the youth said decisively. "That beast is exceedingly rare, possessing a spiritual material essential for my cultivation. That is precisely why I am willing to pay such a steep price to enlist your aid. Once the deed is done, the beast's carcass belongs to me, and none of you may take the slightest bit!" The remuneration the youth offered left Qin Sang somewhat disappointed—only a single top-grade spirit stone. "The demon beast is in the North Sea? A round trip will likely take several months. Going all that way for a single top-grade spirit stone..." Hesitation showed on Qin Sang's face. The youth frowned in displeasure. "It is only hunting a demon, and you only need to preside over an array, Fellow Daoist Qin. Just how many spirit stones are you looking for?" Qin Sang looked at him and smiled wryly. "I need at least six more top-grade spirit stones." "Six!" The youth's brow furrowed deeply. "Even setting aside whether I have that many top-grade spirit stones, even if I did, there is no way I would spend that much for one demon beast. You are not the only helper I have recruited; it would bankrupt me! How about this... I am short-handed right now. If you can fully cooperate with me in hunting down that beast, I will add one more after we succeed, as a gesture of goodwill." *This man seems quite wealthy!* Qin Sang thought. Without hesitation, Qin Sang accepted the invitation. At the same time, he calculated that fostering good relations with this person might allow him to trade for another top-grade spirit stone later—saving the trouble of looking elsewhere—which would give him enough to craft the Ten Directions Yanluo Banner. Having come to an agreement, the two dashed toward the mountaintop together. Arriving before a cave at the rear of the mountain, Qin Sang felt a distinct chill seeping from within. The cultivators' auras he had sensed earlier were coming from inside the cavern. He glanced at the youth in mild surprise. "I stumbled upon this Cold Ice Cave by chance; there is a cold pool inside," the youth explained, leading him downward. "It was only by drawing on the chill of that pool that I managed to refine the Heavenly Cold Fierce Wind Array..." The two hurried into the cavern. The cold grew progressively sharper, accompanied by swirling white mist. After several twists and turns, a spacious underground cavern opened before them. At its center lay a pool radiating dense cold qi, yet its surface was entirely free of ice. Four people sat cross-legged around the pool, each gripping a crystal stele. The four crystal steles were identical in appearance, their qi interlinked. As the four poured their true essence into the crystal steles, thick plumes of cold qi billowed forth, forming miniature cold currents between them that gathered and dispersed by turns. They were rehearsing the array. However, the spirit array required five people to be complete; lacking one, its variations were greatly diminished. Neither Qin Sang nor the youth spoke, quietly watching them finish the final variation. Qin Sang's gaze landed upon a burly, bearded man, and an odd look crossed his face. "Fellow Daoist Qiu?" The four put away their crystal steles, and the burly man immediately rose to his feet, striding over with a booming laugh. "To think the final helper would be you, Fellow Daoist Qin! With you here, I can rest easy. A mere little demon will surely be child's play!" "You know each other? It seems my introduction won't be needed..." The youth looked on with a faint smile, showing no sign of surprise. Qin Sang gave a slight nod, subtly evading the man's bear hug before cupping his hands in greeting. This man's surname was Qiu, a fellow rogue cultivator from Mount Baogu whose Metal-phase Daoist arts were exceptionally fierce. His cultivation had already reached the bottleneck of the late stage, and Qin Sang had become acquainted with him while cultivating on Mount Baogu. If one were to speak of deep friendship, there was hardly any. It was simply that this man naturally acted as if he had known everyone forever, greeting everyone with the same boisterous warmth. Aside from this burly man surnamed Qiu, one of the other faces also looked somewhat familiar—someone Qin Sang had seen before, though they had never spoken. *The man surnamed Fang wasn't lying; they really are all cultivators recruited from Tianxing City.* Qin Sang nodded inwardly.