30 The Hunting Party

Soon, Xuan arrived at the place of gathering for the Hunting Party Public Event—the very center of the city, where the large statue of a knight stood. A large crowd had gathered, made up of both players and NPCs, all seeking to reap some rewards from this occasion.

On the way there, Xuan thought about his cultivation journey in this new life thus far, and couldn't help but notice how ridiculous it was—he'd went from first layer Body Tempering to Ninth Layer in the span of a mere night, but since then he'd completely stopped progressing for a few days and now was about to break through to Core Formation after this event's completion.

When he had left the guild building, Zhi Ruo had wondered if he was going to be attending this event. He had responded truthfully, since there was no reason to lie about something like this. She wished him good luck and saw him off, though she didn't want to attend herself. It was a mystery why since this event offered good rewards, but perhaps she just wasn't the fighting type. Many alchemists weren't.

In any case, there was a good few hundred people at the gathering. Not a small number for sure, but against a threat like a Ninth-Order Magic Beast, Xuan honestly felt it was still lacking, even with all the masters present. Using his Divine Asura Eye, Xuan saw through their cultivations and identities—many were from major sects and other large cities in the region, all of which had come to try their luck at obtaining the grand prize of one favor from Cloud Catcher City's city lord, no matter what that favor was.

The highest cultivation in the bunch was an Origin Monarch stage powerhouse, who was wearing what looked to be a sect uniform. Surrounding him were several younger cultivators wearing similar clothes (albeit less grand), and all of them were male. They had obnoxious expressions on their faces as they looked at everyone else in the crowd, as if these peasants weren't even fit to be breathing the same air as them.

What really drew attention, however, were the various women in slave clothing kneeling on the ground beside them, steel collars around their necks and dirt and grime all over their pale white clothes. Their bodies were lined with scars and wounds, but they had false smiles plastered over their faces, eyes hollow and dead.

It was a vile sight, that was for certain.

Xuan, however, remained unaffected. He'd seen far worse in his past life, sights that he didn't even want to remember again but were unfortunately burned into his head as mental images regardless. This was nothing. It did tell him one thing, though—that sect uniform represented the Stealing Heart Sect he'd heard plenty about, the infamous 'evil' sect that apparently was the reason for the Zhou family's prosperity and power in Cloud Catcher City.

There were other sects in the area too, of course, but the more powerful ones didn't even care about a backwater place like Cloud Catcher City, and the less powerful ones were all beneath Stealing Heart Sect. After all, this city might be decently large, but it was still in one of the most isolated parts of the Xianxia Continent. Amongst the crowd, Xuan could see several other sect uniforms and whatnot, but there were only two Origin Transformation stage cultivators amongst them.

Without a doubt, this was a lacking force to face off against a Ninth-Order Magic Beast. But what did Xuan care? He wasn't going for the beast anyway. As long as these idiots could keep it distracted for a few minutes, he was fine. If they lost and the Wyvern decides to destroy this city, all Xuan had to do was run—and maybe take Zhi Ruo with him as a return favor for taking him to the private auction as well as saving his life. Either way, whether this city lives or dies was none of his concern.

Just as the crowd's size began to stabilize, a refined-looking man stepped up onto the small stage holding the knight statue, a small beard beneath his chin and a small crown resemblant of those worn by government officials in ancient China on top of his head. His robes were lavishly purple; his movements graceful and lined with authority.

'… Another Origin Monarch,' Xuan thought as he used his Divine Asura Eye to perceive the city lord's cultivation. 'Makes sense, considering city lords are usually powerful figures…'

"Good evening, everyone," the man said, voice deep and powerful. "As all of you know already, I am the city lord of Cloud Catcher City, Yun Liao. Since you have gathered here today, it means you already know the purpose of this mission, so there is no point in explaining any further.

"The rewards for participation have also been made very clear, but just so everyone is on the same page, allow me to reiterate: for every Beast you slay, you will be rewarded with 100 Spirit Crystals. In addition, you will get to keep its Beast Core and parts. The battlefield is under a surveillance array, so any lying or stealing won't do you any good. Lastly, whoever I deem contributed the most will be able to receive any favor of their wish from me. Is that clear?"

The crowd murmured in understanding, and so, clearing his throat, the city lord continued.

"I will keep things simple—the hideout of the Ninth-Order Magic Beast has been located 30 kilometers to the West of the city, and my array masters have already set up a Space Array to teleport us there. Before that, however, I must confirm that everyone here is at least of the Core Formation stage. Body Tempering stage cultivators who cannot even use Qi yet will not stand a chance against any Beasts, regardless of their Order. As such, I must ask that everyone infuse their Qi into this talisman, and hold it up into the air."

Saying this, he waved his arms, causing a plethora of blank wooden talismans to fly out of his sleeve and scatter around the crowd. There was more than enough for everyone, so Xuan caught one out of the air before channeling his Qi into it… or rather, World Qi that had been converted into his own Qi.

The people standing close to him glanced at him as they felt the energy in the atmosphere beside them fade a little, but didn't think too much of it and instead focused on their own business. Immediately, the talisman in Xuan's hands began charging up with energy, a thick red Qi surrounding its borders and coloring in the mysterious glyph on its surface. He held it up into the air as many in the crowd did the same, and the city lord Yun Liao scanned over them with his eyes while nodding.

Throughout the past few days, there was no doubt that many players have broken through to the Core Formation realm, and were looking for Beast Cores to further solidify their core, hence their participation in this public event. There were a few Body Tempering stage cultivators amidst the crowd as well—both player and NPC—trying to sneak in so they could potentially easily obtain some Beast Cores, but this little test exposed them with ease, and they had no choice but to go home in dejection.

That said, the crowd's size didn't shrink by much, and Xuan successfully cheated his way through the test. The city lord recollected all of the talismans with a swipe of his hand—the items had probably been enchanted somehow—and he scanned over the crowd once more.

"Now then… is everyone ready? Once we pass through the Space Array, there will be no turning back or running away."

The crowd all nodded, and no one made a move to leave. Yun Liao, seeing this, gave a satisfied nod.

"Good. In that case, without any further ado…"

With a snap of his fingers, a bright blue gate holding a portal vortex within appeared in front of him, having been concealed and disabled until now. Many in the crowd were taken aback by this, but Xuan and some of the more experienced players and NPCs weren't at all fazed. On the other hand, he did notice a certain annoying fool looking at him with a smug grin on his face—Zhou Hai. Standing beside him were two First-Order Origin Transformation realm masters, and judging by the smirk on that stupid young master's face, they weren't here just to protect him.

'… Well,' Xuan thought. 'If you come looking for me, that'd actually be doing me a favor. How can I refuse such good intentions?'

The city lord confirmed with the crowd once more, then narrowed his eyes.

"… Let us depart."

*****

After the entire crowd stepped through the portal in batches, they found themselves in an open field, surrounded by trees. Up ahead was the entrance to a large dark cave, presumably the Ninth-Order Magic Beast's lair. Xuan looked around—it would seem this area had been purposely cleared out for this battle by Yun Liao's men, since the Beasts would have an advantage if they fought in a forest terrain lined with trees and plants. Charging into the cave, of course, would also be a death wish granted.

The sky was dark and the moon was high—the time for the war was nigh.

Yun Liao stepped forward, now in combat attire, and pointed his spear's sharp head in the direction of the cave.

"Beast! Come, and meet your end! It was your mistake to settle near my city—and now, you must face the consequences!"

Following Yun Liao's booming voice, amplified with some kind of technique, came a deep rumbling that shook the earth itself.

"𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉... 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏."

Xuan narrowed his eyes. There was no doubt about it—the rumors he'd heard had been true. This was the voice of a Wyvern—not quite strong enough to be a full-fledged Dragon, but close.

"Ngh…" Many cultivators had to cover their ears and stabilize themselves from the sheer power of this being's voice alone, but Yun Liao did not waver.

"You have stayed here long enough, eating the food of my citizens. If we don't attack you now, who knows when you'll invade my city? Come out and face us, animal! We end this today!"

Xuan sighed. He didn't know whether this was by luck or not, but the city lord was in fact doing the right thing by taunting and challenging the beast like this. The better option would've been to ask nicely for any other species, but when it came to Dragons and their subsidiary race—Wyverns—they preferred backbone more than anything else. It was also, coincidentally, their favorite part of the human body to eat.

If someone was a coward, they wouldn't even bother sparing them at a glance before eating them. But since Yun Liao had actually challenged it to come out and fight… it was now curious to see just what this city lord was capable of.

"𝑯𝒂... 𝒉𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒉𝒂! 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒎𝒆? 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕, 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔... 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒚."

The Wyvern laughed as if enjoying this, and immediately after, yet another rumbling noise could be heard. But this time, it was different. It wasn't the deep vibrations being emitted from a voice—this was the sound of hundreds—no, thousands—of heavy footsteps, belonging to beasts, accompanied by spine-chilling howls and leg-shaking roars.

"Here they come—prepare to fight, everyone!"