Chapter 23

One hour later, the world was finally peaceful.

Just a moment ago, Zhang Xingyu swung his sword and killed the last Red Phoenix bird, declaring that this hunting activity had officially ended. If not for the deaths of the brothers Wang Dashan and Wang Xiaoshan, this Red Phoenix bird hunting activity could be called perfect.

Zhang Xingyu, Hu Siping, Li Dalong, and Liu Lvzhu sat at the bottom of the nest, panting heavily, while Hou Dengyun carried the animal skin bag, collecting Red Phoenix bird blood everywhere.

After resting for a while, Li Dalong stood up, walked to Hou Dengyun's side, and asked: "Boss Hou, this Red Phoenix bird blood isn't worth much money, why are you busy with this?"

Hou Dengyun neither raised his head nor answered, just busying himself with collecting the Red Phoenix bird blood.

Li Dalong was snubbed, so he gave Liu Lvzhu a wink. The two of them walked tacitly to the side of a Red Phoenix bird carcass and began to work.

Zhang Xingyu and Hu Siping exchanged a glance, also stood up, and went to collect the materials from the Red Phoenix birds themselves.

For this hunting operation, the rules of distribution had not been agreed upon beforehand, so it was most proper to get the monster materials into their own hands first.

The focus of collection was the golden feathers on the Red Phoenix birds' heads, followed by the red beaks and sharp claws; as for other parts of lower value, they were all discarded.

The four of them worked until the moon was in the middle of the sky before they barely finished.

When they stopped to look, that Hou Dengyun was still concentrating intently on collecting the Red Phoenix bird blood. He collected it very thoroughly; every drop of bird blood was carefully collected by him into the leather bag.

Another hour passed, and Hou Dengyun finally finished collecting the fresh blood from the last Red Phoenix bird carcass. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his blood-stained palm, then stood up, his face carrying undisguised excitement.

His gaze swept over Li Dalong, Liu Lvzhu, and Zhang Xingyu in turn, and finally stopped on the six cloth bags in front of them.

This hunt could be called a bumper harvest.

The monster-hunting team killed a total of fifty-four Red Phoenix birds. In addition to the several large bags of bird blood collected by Hou Dengyun, they obtained a total of one hundred and two complete Red Phoenix bird feathers, forty-one pairs of sharp claws, and fifty red beaks.

Hou Dengyun nodded at Zhang Xingyu and the other four, then clenched his fist and hammered his lower back. He had been busy stooping to collect Red Phoenix bird blood just now, and at this moment, he felt his waist sore and his back aching.

Li Dalong leaned his ugly face toward Hou Dengyun and asked loudly: "Boss Hou, with so many monster materials, how shall we distribute them?"

Hou Dengyun glanced at him: "Collect them all. When they are sold for money, divide them equally by head."

Divide equally?

Unexpectedly, this Boss Hou was so generous.

The news of this place was obtained by him, and he also killed the most Red Phoenix birds; unexpectedly, he wanted to split the proceeds of this time equally.

Could it be that I thought too much? Perhaps this person is truly a selfless, noble-minded person, one of the few good people left in the Cultivation Realm.

No, one must be loyal. Although I am short of money, I cannot let him suffer a loss.

Thinking of this, Zhang Xingyu spoke up: "We were able to get so many monster materials this time, all thanks to the information Boss Hou obtained. Therefore, I suggest that Boss Hou gets forty percent, and the remaining sixty percent is divided among the four of us, fifteen percent each."

Hearing Zhang Xingyu's suggestion, Hu Siping was the first to nod in agreement.

Hearing Zhang Xingyu's proposal, Li Dalong and Liu Lvzhu frowned at the same time.

There is a saying, 'not taking advantage when you can is a bastard.' This kid named Zhang Xingyu is truly a blockhead.

Li Dalong and Liu Lvzhu thought this in their hearts, but their faces did not show the slightest dissatisfaction. The two of them just remained silent. At this moment, silence is golden. Silence is opposition.

Seeing this, Hou Dengyun first glanced at Zhang Xingyu and the other, then smiled and waved his hand.

"No need, let's just divide it equally," Hou Dengyun said.

"Boss Hou is righteous." Before Hou Dengyun's voice had faded, Li Dalong had already given him a thumbs up.

Hou Dengyun smiled at him and said no more.

The five of them filed out of the nest and carefully slid down the tree trunk to the mountaintop. At this moment, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse, everything was silent, and the mountain wind blew past, making the big tree overhead wail, as if it were grieving and mourning for the dead Red Phoenix birds.

Everyone went down the mountain overnight along the mountain path they had come by. Because the harvest was bountiful, everyone had a face full of joy, and even their legs, which were already exhausted, felt exceptionally light.

In less than an hour, the five of them returned to the vicinity of the water pool halfway up the mountain. Hou Dengyun waved his hand to make everyone stop: "The environment here is not bad! We have been busy for a day, why don't we rest here for a night and go down the mountain when it is dawn."

"That's good!" Liu Lvzhu was the first to express agreement. As the only female in the team, it was already a miracle that she could hold on until now.

The five of them found an open space by the water pool and then sat around to rest.

The ground was a bit damp, but everyone had fought with the Red Phoenix birds for a whole night and was already exhausted beyond recognition, so how could they care about this.

Before long, snoring sounded loudly, and several people fell into a deep sleep one after another.

That night, Zhang Xingyu had a dream.

In the dream, he turned into a Red Phoenix bird. He wanted to fly, but no matter what, he couldn't fly high. He flew with all his might, but he could never fly fast. Behind him, a hunter holding a fishing net chased relentlessly. Finally, the hunter threw out a fishing net, and he was caught.

He used his beak to peck, used his claws to tear, trying hard to break free from the fishing net, but found that no matter how hard he tried, it was useless.

He didn't know how long it had been, but the hunter appeared again, holding a blood-stained sharp knife in his hand.

Ah!

Zhang Xingyu woke up from the nightmare with a start.

He wanted to rub his eyes with his hands, but found that his hands were firmly tied by something, and no matter how he lifted them, they wouldn't move.

He thought, could it be that I am still in a dream, and now I am a little bird trapped in a net.

Thinking this, his consciousness became a bit clearer. He tried hard to open his sleepy eyes, and then found that the situation was not right. It turned out that his hands were really tied up by someone.

"Kid, you're awake?" A cold and eerie voice sounded in his ear.

Zhang Xingyu stared wide-eyed.

Standing in front of him was a person with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, expressionless.

This person was none other than Hou Dengyun.

Behind Hou Dengyun lay three other people who were also tied up like zongzi.

They were the other companions of this trip: Li Dalong, Liu Lvzhu, and Hu Siping.

The rope was tied very tightly. Zhang Xingyu struggled hard, but found it was of no use at all.

"What do you want to do?" Zhang Xingyu asked.

Hou Dengyun did not answer.

He was thinking about something and seemed not to have heard Zhang Xingyu's question.

"Hey, Boss Hou, what exactly do you want? If it's because you're dissatisfied with the small share, at worst, we'll give you the lion's share."

Hou Dengyun did not move, as if he were a robot with the power cut off, without the slightest sensation.

Zhang Xingyu was speechless.

He looked around and only then realized that everyone was in a very spacious mountain cave.

A pillar of golden sunlight shone down from a crack in the top of the cave, illuminating the scenery of the entire cave exceptionally clearly.

On one side of this cave were placed a stone table, stone chairs, and a stone bed; it was clear that someone had lived and resided here before.

In the center of the cave, there was also a water pool about five or six square meters in size, filled with half a foot of bright red blood, continuously emitting waves of pungent, fishy stench.

Floating in the center of the pool was a fiery red bird egg, the surface of the bird egg bearing an incomparably eerie flame pattern.

After a while, Li Dalong, Liu Lvzhu, and Hu Siping woke up one after another.

They looked at the scene in front of them with puzzled faces.

After a moment, Liu Lvzhu asked weakly: "Boss Hou, why did you tie us up?"

Boss Hou recovered from his disconnected state.

"Why? Naturally, it is to prevent you from resisting," Hou Dengyun said coldly.

"Boss Hou, we have known each other for many years. For the sake of mere hundreds of thousands of gold coins worth of materials, is it worth it?" Li Dalong asked loudly.

Boss Hou smiled coldly: "It is worth it, of course it is worth it. If it weren't for you being too useless, causing me to waste quite a bit of Red Phoenix bird blood, how would I have resorted to this desperate measure."

Hu Siping looked at Hou Dengyun: "Boss Hou, so you wanted Red Phoenix bird blood. Quickly release us, and we will go help you catch another flock of Red Phoenix birds for you to take the blood."

Boss Hou shook his head: "Catch another flock? You say it easily. In this Yunshen Mountain Range, perhaps even on this Xuantiandalu, only the Red Phoenix birds we killed possess the bloodline of the Immortal Phoenix."

"Boss Hou, what you want is the blood of the Red Phoenix birds; catching us is useless. Quickly release us." Liu Lvzhu pleaded with Boss Hou.

Boss Hou looked at Liu Lvzhu coldly: "The blood of the Red Phoenix birds is not enough, so I have to use your blood to make up the number. It's truly hateful; the grade of the hatched phoenix bird will definitely drop."

Liu Lvzhu still wanted to plead, but Boss Hou took out a small red porcelain bottle from his bosom.

"Immortal-Down!" Li Dalong exclaimed.

"Right, it is the Immortal-Down that is rumored to be able to knock out immortals. Li Dalong, Liu Lvzhu, for the sake of our past friendship, I will let you die without a shred of pain," Boss Hou said coldly.

After he finished speaking, he turned to Zhang Xingyu and Hu Siping and said: "As for you, just watch yourselves bleed to death."

"No. Boss Hou, let me go. As long as you let me go, I am willing to do anything for you?" Liu Lvzhu pleaded while casting amorous glances at Hou Dengyun.

However, everything she did was destined to be in vain.

Hou Dengyun pulled out the bottle stopper, grabbed her hair, and placed the bottle mouth under her nose.

Liu Lvzhu tried to hold her breath, but was acupointed by Hou Dengyun.

After a moment, she slowly closed her eyes with a satisfied expression on her face.

Hou Dengyun dragged her to the side of the pool, drew a short knife, and cut a gash on her wrist.

Fresh blood dripped into the blood pool along Liu Lvzhu's fingers, continuously splashing up beautiful, sorrowful blood flowers.

After Hou Dengyun finished doing this, he came to the front of Li Dalong again.

"Boss Hou, spare me. I have money, I will give it all to you. As long as you are willing to spare me, I will listen to you from now on. Boss Hou..." Li Dalong kept begging for mercy. However, Hou Dengyun was too lazy to even bother with him.

Following the same method, Li Dalong was also drugged unconscious, and his wrists were cut to drain his blood.

After dealing with Li Dalong, Hou Dengyun paced to the front of Hu Siping.

Seeing him take out the porcelain bottle, Zhang Xingyu's heart tightened instantly.

"Wait!" He shouted at Hou Dengyun.

"Boss Hou, if you want blood, we can get it for you, why must you harm human lives."

Hou Dengyun turned his head and glanced at Zhang Xingyu, but did not reply. He reached out and pulled out the bottle stopper, then placed the bottle under Hu Siping's nose.

After a moment, Hu Siping's head tilted, and he also fainted.

Hou Dengyun cut Hu Siping's wrist and finally arrived in front of Zhang Xingyu.

"Kid, do you know why I left you for last?" Hou Dengyun stared at Zhang Xingyu and said.

Zhang Xingyu shook his head.

"Because you kid have a conscience and know to let me take the lion's share. Therefore, I want you to die knowing why," Hou Dengyun chuckled.