Monster-Hunting Trip

The vast forest stretched as far as one's eyes could see. Grassy, lush vegetation spread endlessly for thousands of miles.

Mo Tiange stood on a tall cliff, watching her surroundings in silence. This was the southernmost end of the Kunwu mountain range, an area that bordered some parts of the forest. Countless demonic beasts lived in this place. Though some of them had been tamed by cultivators and became spiritual beasts, the majority still lived freely inside the forest, living, cultivating, and transforming.

According to legend, in the innermost part of the forest, at the area that was closest to the sea, lived a lot of demonic beasts that had transformed and taken a human appearance. Although they generally wouldn't come out of the forest, every once in a while, they couldn't help but want to command lower-ranking demonic beasts to seize the areas belonging to human cultivators.

Naturally, under normal circumstances, they wouldn't succeed. However, in each attack, they would obtain a lot of medicinal pills that they could use to aid their cultivations. Because of this reason, they liked attacking the areas belonging to human cultivators over and over.

When the attacks came was always a gamble. Sometimes, the damage human cultivators suffered would be disastrous, while sometimes they would harvest numerous demonic beasts' remains in pretty good condition which they could use them as materials to refine tools.

Mo Tiange had never experienced this matter. She was only an insignificant low-level cultivator who had been in Kunwu for only about ten years while the most recent demonic beast rebellion happened at least fifty to sixty years ago.

Standing beside her on this tall cliff were a Core Formation cultivator, more than ten Foundation Building cultivators, as well as several hundred Aura Refining disciples.

The consequence of Zixia Sect's annexation of Yunwu Sect was already apparent. Previously, when the minor competition was held, Yunwu Sect's Aura Refining disciples who were in the seventh layer and above numbered more than 400 people. Right now, perhaps their number wouldn't even reach 300 people.

Among these cultivators, Mo Tiange didn't see many familiar figures. Senior Martial Brother Zhou didn't come. Because his cultivation level already reached the eleventh layer of the Aura Refining realm, he automatically had a share of Foundation-Building Pills. Besides, the sect had just gone through a catastrophe; he didn't want to attract anyone's attention and simply didn't participate.

Wang Qianyi and Shen Bing also didn't come. Both of them had gone to live in Zixia Sect's headquarters. She also heard that both of them had long been selected to accept Foundation-Building Pills. This news actually made her feel slightly better. At the very least, their sacrifices wouldn't be pointless.

Unexpectedly, Murong Yan did come. She looked pale and skinny, expressionlessly standing by herself among the crowd. The formerly quite beautiful girl could no longer be seen. Seeing her appearance, Mo Tiange could only sigh in her heart. This was also good - at least this way, she wouldn't have to follow Shen Bing and Wang Qianyi's footsteps.

Before long, a group of people appeared on the horizon and flew towards them before they finally landed on this tall cliff. They were Jindao School's disciples. Just like Yunwu Sect's disciples, although the colors of their robes didn't change, the symbol of Zixia Sect had been added to their robes.

According to her estimations, Jindao School had roughly 100 disciples. Evidently, they had also undergone a period of purgation as everyone looked dispirited. Although they were going to fight for Foundation-Building Pills, unexpectedly, none of them seemed excited about it. It was very obvious that what they experienced was much more tragic than Yunwu Sect.

The Core Formation cultivator leading them was a Daoist dressed in the secular world's style of robes. Because of this reason, Mo Tiange took a longer look at him. Although every Righteous Path cultivator in the cultivation world practiced the Law of Dao, many of their Daoist robes had different styles than in the secular world.

In the secular world, most of the Daoists wore either black or dark blue buttoned robes, thick but without many layers. On the contrary, most of the Daoist robes in the cultivation world were already beautified. Inner clothing, buttoned robes, outer robes, and a pile of layers had been embroidered with primordial trigrams and the Yin Yang pattern. Different colors were also used to differentiate each party. Thus, they looked elegant but still maintained a solemn vibe. Compared with the Daoists in the secular world, they seemed even more ethereal and noble, so they rarely wore Daoist robes from the secular world. After all, they couldn't show off their temperament as someone from the cultivation world if they did.

The Daoist before her eyes was obviously a Core Formation cultivator, yet he paid not the slightest attention to his attire. From this fact, it was obvious that this person was someone with a very firm Dao heart.

Once this person appeared, the current Branch Master of Mount Yunwu, Branch Master Jiang, enthusiastically greeted him: "Long time no see, Senior Martial Brother Lin."

However, this Daoist didn't give him much respect and only uttered a soft grunt before closing his eyes and resting.

Branch Master Jiang seemed rather embarrassed after getting the cold shoulder.

From what Mo Tiange saw, many Yunwu Sect's disciples seemed to be secretly happy over this matter, like Xu Jingzhi for example.

On the other hand, Jiang Shanghang looked rather angry. It was as if he couldn't bear to see what his elder had done. Moreover, hatred flashed across his face while he stared at a cultivator standing beside Branch Master Jiang.

Mo Tiange found out that person was a child of Jiang Clan who once bullied him, Jiang Chengxian. Apparently, this Jiang Chengxian was a direct descendant of Branch Master Jiang. He always stayed by Branch Master Jiang's side and looked very proud of himself.

Although Mo Tiange and Jiang Shanghang weren't compatible, she couldn't help but have some contempt for this Jiang Chengxian after watching this scene. A privileged son of a powerful lineage who relied on his bloodline and elders to behave unscrupulously who never focused on cultivating and didn't have any real talent… It was no wonder Jiang Shanghang felt he was unpleasing to the eye.

After a while, another group once again appeared on the horizon and flew towards them. The number of people in that group was more than the number of disciples in their two groups combined together. That group was the disciples of Zixia Sect.

The cultivator leading Zixia Sect's disciples seemed quite friendly, but facing Branch Master Jiang, he was also indifferent. Nonetheless, he was extremely courteous when he faced that Daoist.

After the three of them had a brief discussion, all of them employed their respective magic weapons. All of a sudden, a Transporting Formation appeared in the sky. Apparently, they were using the same technique as they did in Miwu Valley. In all likelihood, this place had also been used to test disciples before.

"Disciples, you are to enter one by one. You mustn't cut in line!"

Having gone through such a disastrous event, the former disciples of Yunwu Sect and Jindao School were very quiet and nonchalant. Unlike them, the disciples of Zixia Sect were brimming with excitement, scrambling to get ahead of the others. The disciples of the two other groups completely didn't care and engrossed themselves in waiting.

Mo Tiange looked around to watch the senior martial brothers beside her; Liu Yidao looked excited, Xu Jingzhi was calm, Qin Xi seemed steady and composed, and Jiang Shanghang had a frown etched on his face. She then groped her own face. Sensing that her expression was somewhat stiff, she took a deep breath and hid her emotions.

She was determined to get a Foundation-Building Pill. In the future, if she couldn't bear the way Zixia Sect handled thing, she just needed to find an excuse to leave the mountain and didn't need to come back. After all, Zixia Sect didn't have the time to care about a low-level disciple. Before then, it'd be best if she could obtain Foundation-Building Pills and build her foundation while she was still in the sect. Otherwise, with her cultivation level only in the Aura Refining realm, added to the fact that Second Uncle's lifespan was almost exhausted, she wouldn't dare to leave at will.

Just as she was lost in her thoughts, she found that Xu Jingzhi standing close to her seemed to be trembling. She called out softly, "Senior Martial Brother Xu?"

Xu Jingzhi turned his head. His pale face was covered in sweat. His voice also had a slight tremble in it as he said, "En?"

Mo Tiange sighed and said, "We haven't even entered yet, you can't collapse now."

Hearing her comments, Xu Jingzhi hastily wiped the sweat off his face and pretended he was alright. "Junior Martial Brother Ye doesn't need to worry."

"This feeling is also overwhelming for me," Mo Tiange said. "The situation inside the forest will be very dangerous. Furthermore, we're not allowed to go in as a team. You have to brace yourself!"

Xu Jingzhi nodded. After a long while, he was still feeling uncertain, so he whispered to her, "Junior Martial Brother Ye, I'm really worried. There's obviously hostility between the three groups; won't putting all of us in the forest together cause some conflict?"

Mo Tiange was puzzled and asked, "Why?"

After a long moment of silence, Xu Jingzhi suddenly said through gritted teeth, "If I run into that Jiang Chengxian, if I can do it cleanly, I'll…"

A murderous expression appeared for an instant on his face. His meaning was obvious enough.

Mo Tiange was frightened by his words. She turned around to watch her surroundings. It was only after she found out that no one was paying attention to them that her nerves relaxed. She whispered, "Senior Martial Brother Xu mustn't say such nonsense! You're overcome with nervousness…"

Xu Jingzhi closed his eyes and nodded before once again wiping his sweat off. "What Junior Martial Brother Ye said is correct." After he said this, he closed his eyes again, focusing on meditating to regain his composure.

Mo Tiange pondered their situation then fetched something from her robe and passed it to him. "Senior Martial Brother Xu, this is a Heart-Calming Talisman. If you can't control your heart, just stick it on your body."

Xu Jingzhi's eyes opened. Without too many unnecessary superfluous words, he accepted the talisman and said, "Thank you, Junior Martial Brother Ye."

She smiled and stopped talking, shifting her attention towards that Transporting Formation.

After quite a bit of effort, most of Zixia Sect's disciples entered. Having composed herself, she stepped forward, walking towards the Transporting Formation.