Chapter 231: The Hunt

The sheep demon's fur was charred black, oozing blood, lying sprawled on the mountain path.

The demon hunters did not approach lightly; Yu Chengyi glanced at the beast, then at Mo Shan, casting him a questioning look.

Mo Shan frowned slightly and gave a slight shake of his head—meaning the beast was feigning death.

So everyone scattered, surrounding the beast, waiting patiently.

Different demons feign death in different ways, and demon hunters must respond accordingly.

For a Crimson-Eyed Sheep Demon, once it feigns death, one must not approach rashly.

Whoever approaches first will face its final counterattack—extremely perilous. Those with bad luck die outright, swallowed whole by the demon.

If everyone approaches together, they risk being swept up by its demonic energy.

A late-stage Rank One demon not only has vigorous blood qi but also deeply potent demonic energy; its innate abilities fueled by that energy are especially treacherous.

If wounded by its demonic energy, trouble would be immense.

Demon hunters lack long-range attack methods; though they have bows and arrows, their power is weak. They can trigger the array's spirit stones, but using them against demons is barely useful.

So for safety's sake, the demon hunters made no move.

The sheep demon lay motionless on the ground; the demon hunters stood guard in place, waiting patiently.

A dying demon bleeds slowly, its breath fading gradually; with patience, it will be the one to collapse first.

Mo Hua also hid behind a rock, watching, his spiritual sense sensing the demon's energy slowly flowing.

It seemed either like a living demon gathering its energy, or like a dead demon's energy slowly draining away.

Mo Hua could not tell whether the demon was truly dead or not.

"It seems my experience is insufficient—even with spiritual sense, I cannot discern life from death by observing energy flow."

His father Mo Shan didn't even need spiritual sense; one glance, based on experience alone, was enough to see the demon was feigning death.

A cultivator's experience is also a form of cultivator ability.

Mo Hua thought silently to himself.

The demon still feigned death; the hunters still waited—but Mo Hua was already growing tired of waiting.

They had no long-range attack methods, but Mo Hua did.

So Mo Hua began to gather his qi and cast Fireball Technique.

The moment he willed it, spiritual energy gathered at his fingertips; he pointed forward, and the Fireball coalesced, roaring outward toward the feigning-dead sheep demon.

The demon hunters were startled, but seeing Mo Hua was the one casting the spell, they relaxed.

The Fireball exploded against the sheep demon, but the demon did not move.

"It's just a sheep—trying to play Wang Ba?"

Mo Hua remarked in surprise, then pointed again; another Fireball shot out, striking the sheep demon once more.

The sheep demon could no longer hold its act; it roared, rising to its feet, eyes blazing crimson with ferocity, fixed unblinkingly on Mo Hua.

Yu Chengyi said coldly: "Kill!"

The demon hunters swung their blades in a chaotic storm toward the sheep demon.

The Crimson-Eyed Sheep Demon, already at its last breath, could no longer hold on; its eyes turned blood-red, demonic energy pushed to its limit, blood qi surging violently.

Seeing this, Yu Chengyi immediately shouted: "Fall back!"

The demon hunters, already prepared, swiftly retreated.

As the demon hunters withdrew, the Crimson-Eyed Sheep Demon erupted in a burst of blood mist.

Mo Hua had heard from Mo Shan that when a Crimson-Eyed Sheep Demon is near death or in crisis, it uses demonic energy to trigger its innate ability, exploding into blood mist.

If a demon hunter is caught within the mist, their eyes are stained crimson, vision obscured, and their spirit is affected by the mist.

Under such conditions, without a companion to rescue them, death is virtually certain.

"So this is the blood mist…"

Mo Hua was astonished; late-stage Rank One demons were indeed far more dangerous than he'd imagined.

Fortunately, though treacherous, the mist did not last long and soon dissipated.

And the demon, now depleted of demonic energy, truly became a lamb awaiting slaughter.

The demon hunters swiftly slew the Crimson-Eyed Sheep Demon; as it collapsed once more, everyone exhaled in relief.

Mo Hua scanned the demon again with his spiritual sense.

He found that a truly dead demon's energy flowed slower, more sluggish, and its color gradually faded.

Mo Hua memorized this distinction—now he had a basis for judging whether a demon was feigning death.

But since he was still unfamiliar with late-stage Rank One demons, for safety's sake, he confirmed with his father:

"Is it dead?"

Mo Shan glanced once more at the demon and nodded: "Dead."

Mo Hua ran out from behind the rock and walked up to the demon, pointing near its heart meridian:

"Father, make an incision here."

Mo Shan slashed once, carving a half-finger-long gash; demonic blood oozed out.

Mo Hua quickly pulled out a jade vial, catching the demonic blood while using Blood-Siphoning Technique to draw blood from the demon's other meridians.

After collecting the demonic blood, the demon hunters skinned and boned the carcass; once everything was tidied, they returned to camp.

The inner mountains always held unknown dangers; staying in camp was far safer.

The camp in the inner mountains was similar to the outer one, but larger and more concealed, with better arrays on the stone gate.

But to Mo Hua's eyes, the array was rather crude.

He found it uncomfortable to look at, so he mixed new demonic blood into spirit ink and personally painted a Rank One Earth-Stone Array onto it, finally feeling satisfied.

Everyone ate a little, then rested in the camp.

Yu Chengyi held the compass marked with the Earth-Fire Array, glancing left and right, then couldn't help saying:

"This thing is great!"

It has formidable power, can be used multiple times, and the pattern drawn on it is a First-Rank Array.

A First-Rank Array…

From now on, our Hunter's Guild can use First-Rank Arrays to hunt demonic beasts.

This has never happened before.

Even a few years ago, he never dared to imagine it.

Yu Chengyi sighed, then asked: "How many times can this be used?"

Mo Hua, chewing meat, thought for a moment and said: "About seven or eight times."

"The array medium isn't very good—it's mixed with refined iron, so it's a bit more durable, but after seven or eight uses, it can't contain the spiritual energy of the Earth-Fire Array's explosion," Mo Hua added.

"Then it becomes useless?" Yu Chengyi said, disappointed.

"You can repurpose it—take it to Master Chen to melt down and reforge," Mo Hua said.

That's the advantage of having an Artificer—you can sometimes forge things according to your own ideas.

"That's good."

Yu Chengyi nodded, holding the Earth-Fire Array compass, gazing at it more and more fondly.

With this device, hunting demonic beasts will become much easier. Most importantly, it reduces risk—and thus casualties.

It's not easy for Hunters to survive well.

Who doesn't want to enter the mountains steadily and return home safely?

"This compass… is a bit ugly," Yu Chengyi spoke honestly.

He loved its function, but it really was ugly…

Mo Hua scratched his head—he had no solution; it was hastily forged.

Normally, spiritual weapons come with matching arrays, and ordinary arrays have corresponding standardized spiritual weapons.

For example, swords bear Sword Arrays, blades bear Blade Arrays, and Qingxin Hairpins bear Qingxin Arrays.

But Mo Hua couldn't find a spiritual weapon matched to the Earth-Fire Array; he asked Master Chen, who didn't know either, so he had to improvise by forging a temporary iron compass based on his south-pointing compass to serve as the array medium.

Though ugly, Yu Chengyi still treasured the Earth-Fire Array compass as a priceless treasure.