Chapter 159: Spirit Cultivators

Both sides agreed that Foundation Establishment cultivators would not engage.

The next day, the Qian family cultivators began moving, their line stretching from the foot of the Nameless Peak all the way to the mine entrance halfway up the mountain.

Their numbers were roughly twice those of the beast hunters.

Mo Hua looked down from the highest mine entrance and saw the valley below densely packed with Qian family cultivators—estimating over a thousand.

How are we supposed to fight this?

Mo Hua turned to Elder Yu.

Elder Yu shrugged: "Looks like a lot, but they're all useless."

Thus, the two sides began combat.

At first, both sides merely probed, exchanging casual strikes.

Though the beast hunters' realms were slightly lower than those of the Qian family cultivators, they had spent years fighting beasts, mastered their arts, possessed rich experience, and had fought countless battles with flawless coordination.

The Qian family cultivators, though higher in cultivation, were accustomed to bullying others; their arts were mediocre, they dared not fight to the death, and in actual combat, they were timid and hesitant.

After a brief melee, the tide began to clearly turn.

The beast hunters could advance or retreat at will; though they appeared to fight individually, they supported each other seamlessly. Despite being outnumbered, they forced the Qian family cultivators into steady retreat.

The beast hunters earned their living by hunting beasts—they could kill monsters, let alone these inept cultivators.

The Qian family cultivators gradually began to collapse.

Qian Zhongxuan watched, his expression unreadable, then waved his hand and ordered the Qian family cultivators to withdraw.

Probably afraid that if they lagged behind, Elder Yu would curse them on the battlefield.

The first day ended hastily; both sides rested, then faced off again the next day.

Among the Qian family cultivators, twenty or so new ones had appeared.

These twenty or so cultivators stood together, while the rest of the Qian family cultivators formed a tight protective circle around them.

Elder Yu frowned: "That old devil Qian Zhongxuan—he's been planning this all along."

Then he picked up a piece of beef and ate it.

The beef belonged to Mo Hua.

Elder Yu had originally been observing the battle from above, but as he watched, he noticed Mo Hua crouching secretly at a cave entrance, peering out.

Before him lay wild fruits, pine nuts, beef, and fruit wine.

Worried for Mo Hua's safety, Elder Yu moved closer.

The two of them sat there, watching and eating.

Mo Hua had assumed today would be just like yesterday—a hard-fought but one-sided victory.

So he had prepared food and drink, ready to enjoy the show.

But now Elder Yu's brow was furrowed, his expression far from optimistic.

Mo Hua asked: "What's wrong?"

Elder Yu pointed at the twenty or so Qian family cultivators standing apart: "Look at those men."

Mo Hua glanced over—they seemed weak in vitality, unimpressive in strength, yet the Qian family had isolated them and surrounded them with heavy protection; he couldn't fathom why.

"Elder, who are these people…?"

"Just watch," said Elder Yu.

Soon, the battle resumed as the beast hunters charged forward.

But the Qian family cultivators did not advance; instead, they formed a defensive formation, shielding the twenty or so cultivators.

Simultaneously, those twenty or so cultivators simultaneously pressed their fingers into incantation seals.

Mo Hua's heart tightened.

Spirit cultivators!

Moments later, after completing their spells, they unleashed fireballs, ice arrows, wind blades—magic projectiles rained down onto the front-line beast hunters.

In chaotic melee, even without deliberate aiming, spells inevitably struck someone.

Beast hunters struck by magic froze in place; those lightly wounded spat blood from spiritual force impacts, while the severely wounded were slowly consumed by spiritual energy and collapsed, losing combat capability.

At the same time, the Qian family's body cultivators surged forward, driving back the charging beast hunters.

Meanwhile, the Qian family's spirit cultivators continued gathering spiritual energy and casting spells.

Soon, fireballs and ice arrows came again.

The beast hunters were in agony.

If they charged forward, the Qian family's body cultivators would block them.

If they didn't charge, they became stationary targets, enduring the relentless spells of those twenty spirit cultivators.

Elder Yu's brow tightened further.

Twenty or so spirit cultivators—all at late Qi Refining stage, some even at Qi Refining Ninth Layer!

That brat Qian Zhongxuan—he's been planning this all along.

He's exploiting the fact that the beast hunters have no spirit cultivators!

Qi Refining beast hunters truly aren't suited to be spirit cultivators.

Spirit cultivators require time to cast spells, but in life-or-death battles against beasts, even a moment's delay can mean death.

So beast hunters generally don't focus on spellcasting; instead, they train in martial arts and spiritual techniques to awaken their physical potential and fight beasts directly.

Moreover, spirit cultivators have weak bodies; a single claw from a beast can kill them or leave them grievously wounded. Unlike body cultivators, whose thick skin and tough flesh can withstand multiple blows.

But now, in battle against the Qian family, the Qian family knew the beast hunters had no spirit cultivators—or at least none worth mentioning.

They have what we lack.

With this advantage, the Qian family used their spirit cultivators' spells to slowly wear the beast hunters down to death.

Among the demon hunters, it wasn't that there were no spiritual cultivators at all, but unless they had eight or nine layers of Qi Refining and numbered around twenty, in a chaotic melee like this they wouldn't make much of a difference and couldn't change the situation.

Elder Yu felt a hidden anger rising in his heart.

No wonder that old thing Qian Zhongxuan had agreed that Foundation Establishment cultivators wouldn't make a move.

If he could act, he'd definitely rush over at the first moment and slaughter those twenty-odd spiritual cultivators directly! That would save a lot of trouble.

Now that he couldn't act, relying only on a group of Qi Refining body-tempering demon hunters, they couldn't charge through and could only be tormented by the opponents' spells.

Elder Yu sighed, knowing the situation was unfavorable, and directly ordered the demon hunters to retreat, only holding the cave entrance.

Qian Zhongxuan smiled contemptuously and stopped pursuing.

He wasn't in a hurry. If he couldn't deal with those spiritual cultivators, this group of demon hunters would sooner or later be worn down to death bit by bit.

If he rashly chased after them, he'd instead easily fall into that old scoundrel Yu Changlin's trap.

Over all these years, he had dealt with Yu Changlin quite a few times and knew all too well that this man's shamelessness was simply unmatched.

In Yu Changlin's hands, he hadn't gained much advantage, but now, it was his turn to hold his head high.

The Qian family withdrew, while Elder Yu frowned in thought, considering how to deal with the Qian family's spiritual cultivators.

Yu Chengyi said, "Father, why don't you secretly make a move and slaughter this group of spiritual cultivators?"

Elder Yu glared at him. "What nonsense are you spouting? Didn't you hear what that old scoundrel said? The witness was made by the Dao Ting Si's Zhou Zhangsi. If I rashly make a move, that's slapping the Dao Ting Si's face — how would I explain myself to the Zhou Zhangsi?"

Yu Chengyi said quietly, "Secretly…"

Elder Yu raised his brow. "Do you think everyone else is a fool? They can't tell it was my doing?"

Yu Chengyi had nothing to say. After a while, he said again:

"We wear iron armor and charge in to kill?"

Seeing Mo Shan, who stood at the side, shook his head. "Wearing iron armor would slow our movement a bit, and we'd still be targets."

Yu Chengyi said again, "Then let's find a few people with good movement skills, think of a way to dodge the Qian family's body cultivators, circle around behind them, and kill their spiritual cultivators!"

Seeing Mo Shan nodded and said, "Right now this is the only option, but it's quite dangerous. We have to be extremely careful, otherwise it's easy to get caught in a pincer attack, attacked from front and rear."

"The risk is too great. Once we fail, it'll be very hard to get away." Elder Yu sighed.

Unless absolutely necessary, he didn't really want to let the demon hunters take this kind of risk.

"Can we also find spiritual cultivators to deal with them?" Yu Chengyi asked tentatively.

Elder Yu thought for a moment, then shook his head and said:

"Their cultivation isn't high, their numbers aren't many — spiritual cultivators won't change the situation either."

Everyone fell silent in thought again.

Elder Yu suddenly thought of a question:

"Among our demon hunters, who exactly is a spiritual cultivator?"

Yu Chengyi and Seeing Mo Shan both froze at the words, unable to recall anyone for the moment.

A proper demon hunter — who would go become a spiritual cultivator?

The few of them exchanged glances.

Mo Hua timidly raised a small hand. "I am."