"Everyone, our journey to the Southern Mang Mountains is long. I have a magical artifact for travel that will help us conserve some Magical Power."

Senior Sister Yang smiled faintly and took a small, exquisite paper kite from her storage bag, blowing a breath of air onto it.

The paper kite immediately grew in the wind, expanding to the size of a house and floating lightly in the air. The Spirit Patterns on its surface flickered, and a gentle breeze seemed to drift from it.

The five boarded the paper kite. Senior Sister Yang performed a Spell, and the kite smoothly glided into the air. It picked up speed, gradually accelerating to a pace comparable to the Flying Escape of a Late-stage Sensing Cultivator.

As they chatted idly along the way, Fang Cheng learned that many Outer Disciples were currently forming teams to venture into the Southern Mang Mountains to hunt Demon Beasts and search for things like Spiritual Medicine and Profound Iron.

With the True Disciples and Inner Sect Disciples leading the charge, the Demon Cleansing Conference had been underway for several months. The danger within the Southern Mang Mountains had been significantly reduced, attracting a great number of disciples from prominent families, as well as Loose Cultivators, making the area bustling with activity.

It was rumored that the Southern Mang Demon King had not been seen since his battle with a Supreme Elder of the Yinluo Sect.

Furthermore, several of the twelve Great Demons under his command had been slain by the Yinluo Sect’s Inner Sect Elders. The rest had retreated into hiding, allowing the Disciples of the Yinluo Sect to sweep through the Southern Mang region unhindered.

Senior Brother Liu had grown up in the Yinluo Sect and was thus quite worldly and well-informed. He was an expert on all the minor gossip from within and outside the sect, recounting it all with intimate familiarity.

He was a Body Cultivator who practiced Body Refining Techniques. He often traveled through the mountains and rivers outside the Demon Beast Wilderness Island and the Daze to temper himself, and he had the most experience of the five in fighting the Demon Race.

Senior Sister Yang, for her part, was a rare Music Cultivator. To have entered the Outer Sect, she clearly had some considerable skills.

In front of Fang Cheng and the other two, the pair carried themselves with the rich experience and confidence of seasoned veterans. They spoke with eloquence along the way, offering the three of them plenty of guidance and advice.

Chen Yu Yan’s background was somewhat mysterious, but unlike disciples from prominent families, she associated with disciples from common, grassroots origins. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The personalities of Senior Brother Liu and Senior Sister Yang were also completely different from the disciples of prominent families Fang Cheng had previously encountered.

After chatting for a while, they each settled into a meditative state to regulate their breathing and cultivate.

...

Beyond the Daze, mountains rose like the dark green spines of great beasts, a grim and terrifying sight.

Within the vast mountains, canyons crisscrossed the land, and great, mighty rivers flowed through them, eventually converging into the Abyssal Marsh.

The Spiritual Qi here was impure and chaotic, the air thick with miasma. It was home to innumerable venomous insects and Demon Beasts.

As for the birds and beasts on the Demon Beast Wilderness Islands within the Abyssal Marsh, some had migrated there on their own, while others had been swept up in a demonic wind by a Great Demon and brought there.

Demon Beasts are naturally able to commune with the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, and their power is fundamentally based on bloodline inheritance. Their numbers and rate of reproduction far surpass those of Human Race Cultivators.

However, Demon Beasts generally possess low intelligence, and the limitations of their bloodline talents are too great, resulting in a very low ceiling for their Cultivation.

Only a rare few Demon Beasts can awaken their intelligence and take on human form to cultivate. An even smaller portion of these possess astonishing natural talent, rivaling even the prodigies of the Human Race.

Thus, Human Race Cultivators refer to them as the Demon Race, or Demon Cultivators.

The entire Southern Mang Mountains was practically the domain of the Demon Race, but for thousands of years, the demons here have been intimidated and suppressed by the Yinluo Sect, keeping them largely submissive.

The entire Southern Mang Mountains had also become a "resource repository" for the Yinluo Sect’s numerous Inner Sect Disciples, True Disciples, and Elders.

The various bones, flesh, souls, Spirit Grass, medicines, and minerals required by the members of the Yinluo Sect to cultivate their Demon Skills... the Southern Mang had them all in abundance.

Aside from the slightly harsh environment, one could hardly find any other fault with the place.

Therefore, many Loose Cultivators were also willing to live in seclusion in the Southern Mang, seeking a carefree and unrestrained life.

「On this day.」

A house-sized paper kite flew in from the horizon.

Standing on the kite were five men and women of extraordinary bearing. The two men at the front were in conversation.

"Junior Brother Fang, this area used to be the territory of the Six-Armed Golden Ape, Hou Tong. But two months ago, he was slain by our sect’s Inner Sect Elder, Gao E. There are no powerful Demon Cultivators left here now," Senior Brother Liu said, pointing to the forest ahead as he explained to Fang Cheng.

Fang Cheng stood at the edge of the paper kite, gazing down at the mountain ridges below. Within the dense jungle, he could sense various hidden auras of differing strengths.

After achieving Sword Heart Clarity, he was extremely sensitive to changes in aura. Hearing this, he nodded. "No wonder," he said. "All along the way, we’ve mostly seen Tier One Early and Mid Stage Demon Beasts. We’ve rarely even seen a late-stage one."

Aside from Chen Yu Yan, everyone else in their group had a Late-stage Sensing Cultivation. Mere First-stage Mid-level Demon Beasts weren’t worth them going to all this trouble to hunt.

Senior Brother Liu smiled. He took a simple, ancient-looking bronze mirror from his storage bag and said, "Don’t be hasty, Junior Brother. I have a treasure that can detect the movements of Demon Beasts."

He infused a stream of Magical Power into it, and the bronze mirror immediately lit up with a hazy, white spiritual glow.

He held up the bronze mirror, slowly panning it across the distant sky.

When he panned it toward the southwest, the mirror flashed and burst forth with a crimson light, which began to flicker in rapid succession!

Without needing a word from Senior Brother Liu, Senior Sister Yang immediately changed the paper kite’s direction and flew toward the southwest.

Senior Brother Liu explained to Fang Cheng, Ye Yan, and Chen Yu Yan, "This mirror is called the Demon-Revealing Mirror. It was crafted by an Outer Elder and excels at sensing demonic energy within a hundred-li radius... Originally, it was meant for avoiding Demon Beast attacks, but now we’re using it for the opposite purpose."

Outer Disciples who have been in the sect for many years will have accumulated a wide variety of Magical Artifacts, Talismans, medicinal pills, and so on. Their foundations are much deeper than those of disciples like Fang Cheng and Chen Yu Yan, who have only just entered the Outer Sect.

Fang Cheng chuckled and offered some pleasantries, "Traveling with you, Senior Brother and Senior Sister, has truly been an eye-opening experience. I’ve benefited immensely."

Senior Brother Liu laughed heartily, clearly pleased. "We were all your age once. We’re just a few years older and have a bit more experience, that’s all."

Before long, the five of them saw a clearing in the forest. Three tall, tiger-headed demons were sitting around a large iron cauldron.

A thick soup boiled and bubbled in the cauldron, giving off a foul, coppery stench.

One of the Tiger Demons noticed the approaching paper kite. It turned its head, bared its teeth in a grin, and said, "Tsk, tsk, more Human Race Cultivators, delivering themselves right to our doorstep. Our luck’s not bad this time. To think there are three Female Cultivators..."

"Excellent! Excellent! The stew is just getting good. We’ll eat our fill."

The last Tiger Demon mumbled, chewing on something as he spoke.

Aboard the paper kite, Ye Yan and Chen Yu Yan had never witnessed such a scene. They found it unbearable. Their faces paled, and they turned away, gagging.

In contrast, Senior Brother Liu and Senior Sister Yang seemed to have witnessed such scenes before. Their expressions were calm, showing no signs of emotional distress.

"Junior Brother Fang, these three Tiger Demons are all at Tier One Late Stage. Your Senior Sister and I will each take one. The three of you be careful with the one that’s left," Senior Brother Liu said, his voice low and heavy as he stared at the human remains tumbling in the iron cauldron.

A hidden rage tinged his voice.

...