Chapter 232: The Hunt
The Goat Demon's fur was charred black, its body bleeding as it collapsed onto the mountain path.
The demon hunters didn't rush forward. Yu Chengyi glanced at the beast, then turned toward Mo Shan, giving him a questioning look.
Mo Shan furrowed his brow and gave a small shake of his head, meaning the demon was feigning death.
The group immediately spread out, surrounding the beast as they waited patiently.
Different demonic beasts had different ways of playing dead, and naturally, the ways to deal with them varied as well.
The Red-Eyed Goat Demon, for example, could never be approached rashly once it began feigning death.
Whoever moved first would be struck by its dying counterattack, deadly and vicious. Those with poor luck often ended up as food in its belly.
If everyone rushed together, they might all be caught in its demonic backlash.
A late-stage First-Grade demon beast didn't just possess potent blood essence—its demon power was also extremely dense, and the innate techniques it could unleash through that power were especially troublesome.
Getting injured by such demonic power could lead to serious consequences.
The demon hunters lacked long-range offensive methods. They had bows and arrows, but their power was meager. Detonating the spirit stones embedded in their formations worked fine against traps—but against demons, it was almost useless.
Thus, for safety's sake, none of the demon hunters acted hastily.
The Goat Demon lay motionless on the ground; the hunters stood on alert, waiting.
A dying beast's blood would slowly drain, its breath gradually weakening. With enough patience, the one who broke first would always be the beast.
Mo Hua crouched behind a rock, observing. In his Divine-Sense, the demon's power flowed slowly, it looked both like the movement of restrained demonic energy and the slow dissipation of lifeforce after death.
He couldn't tell whether the creature was alive or not.
"Seems I still lack experience. Even if my Divine-Sense can perceive the flow of demonic energy, I can't yet judge whether a beast lives or dies."
His father, Mo Shan, didn't even need Divine-Sense. One look, and with experience alone, he knew the beast was feigning death.
Experience was also a kind of cultivation ability.
Mo Hua reminded himself quietly.
The beast kept pretending; the hunters kept waiting... but Mo Hua was getting impatient.
They lacked ranged attacks, but he didn't.
He began channeling his spiritual power, casting Fireball Technique.
At his mental command, spiritual power gathered at his fingertips. With a gesture, a fiery orb formed and roared forward, slamming into the seemingly dead Goat Demon.
The hunters looked startled, but when they saw it was Mo Hua casting the spell, they relaxed slightly.
The fireball exploded against the demon's body. It didn't move.
"A goat pretending to be a turtle, huh?"
Mo Hua said curiously, then raised his fingers again, another fireball shot out, striking the beast once more.
The Goat Demon finally couldn't hold it in. With a furious bellow, it sprang up, blood-red eyes full of murderous rage, locking onto Mo Hua.
Yu Chengyi's voice was cold: "Kill!"
The hunters surged forward, blades flashing.
Already at the end of its strength, the Red-Eyed Goat Demon could no longer hold on. Its eyes glowed redder still as its demonic power surged violently, blood energy boiling through its body.
Yu Chengyi shouted sharply, "Scatter!"
The hunters instantly withdrew, having been prepared.
As they retreated, a thick blood mist exploded from the Goat Demon's body.
Mo Hua remembered what his father had told him, when Red-Eyed Goat Demons were dying or cornered, they could force their demonic power to erupt, producing this deadly blood mist.
Anyone caught within it would have their eyes tainted red, losing sight entirely, their mind falling into chaos.
Without aid, such a person was as good as dead.
"So this is the Blood Mist…"
Mo Hua was shocked. Late-stage First-Grade beasts were indeed far more dangerous than he'd imagined.
Fortunately, the mist, though troublesome, didn't last long. It soon dispersed.
The demon, having burned through all its power, was now truly a lamb awaiting slaughter.
The hunters quickly finished the kill. When the Goat Demon finally collapsed for good, everyone exhaled in relief.
Mo Hua swept it once more with his Divine-Sense.
He noticed that when a demon truly died, its demonic energy became sluggish and faint, its glow dimming gradually.
He memorized this distinction, it would help him judge in the future whether a beast was truly dead or just pretending.
Still, since he wasn't yet familiar with late-stage demons, he turned to his father for confirmation:
"It's dead now?"
Mo Shan took a look and nodded. "Dead."
Mo Hua ran out from behind the rock, stopping by the beast's side and pointing near its heart meridian.
"Father, open a cut here for me."
Mo Shan sliced down with his blade, leaving a wound half a finger wide. Dark-red demon blood poured forth.
Mo Hua quickly uncorked a jade vial, collecting the blood while simultaneously using Blood Extraction Technique to draw out what remained from its other meridians.
When he'd finished gathering, the hunters skinned and dismembered the beast, packed up their spoils, and returned to camp.
The inner mountains were full of unknown dangers, staying in camp was far safer.
The camp itself was similar to those in the outer mountains, though larger, more concealed, and protected by stronger formations carved onto its stone gate.
But to Mo Hua's eyes, the formation was rather crude.
It looked all wrong to him, so he mixed up new spiritual ink with the fresh demon blood and personally painted a First-Grade Earth-Stone Array over the gate. Only then did it finally look right.
After eating some food, everyone rested.
Yu Chengyi picked up the iron plate inscribed with the Earthfire Array, turning it over and over, eyes gleaming.
"This thing's amazing!"
Its power was impressive, and it could be reused multiple times. A genuine First-Grade formation!
A First-Grade formation…
From now on, their demon-hunting team could use such arrays to hunt beasts.
That had never happened before.
Even just a few years ago, he wouldn't have dared to dream of it.
Yu Chengyi sighed in amazement, then asked, "How many times can this be used?"
Mo Hua, chewing a piece of meat, thought for a moment. "Seven or eight times, maybe."
"The base material isn't very good, it's mixed with refined iron. It's a bit sturdier that way, but after seven or eight uses, it won't be able to handle the Earthfire Array's explosions anymore," he explained.
Yu Chengyi looked regretful. "And after that, it's useless?"
"It can still be recycled," Mo Hua replied. "Have Master Chen melt it down and refine it again."
That was the benefit of having an artificer, sometimes, you could forge things however you wanted.
"That's good to hear."
Yu Chengyi nodded, still admiring the compass.
With this tool, hunting demon beasts would become much easier—and, more importantly, safer, reducing casualties.
Surviving as a demon hunter wasn't easy.
Everyone just wanted to go into the mountains safely, and come back alive.
"Still," Yu Chengyi muttered honestly, "this iron plate is… kind of ugly."
Though he loved its function, he couldn't deny it was an eyesore.
Mo Hua scratched his head helplessly. It was ugly—he'd forged it on the spot.
Normally, spiritual artifacts came paired with their matching formations; standard formations had standardized artifact designs.
For example—sword artifacts for sword arrays, blade artifacts for blade arrays, and Clear-Heart Hairpins for Clear-Heart Arrays.
But Mo Hua couldn't find the corresponding artifact for the Earthfire Array. When he asked Master Chen, he didn't know either.
So Mo Hua improvised, casting an iron plate modeled after his directional compass one to serve as the formation medium.
Ugly, yes, but Yu Chengyi still treated it like a treasure.
(End of Chapter)