Chapter 139: Autumn Hunt

A flash of brilliance passed, and the scenery in front of him suddenly changed. An island suddenly appeared on the vast sea.

The island was long and narrow, like an ox horn, like a hook moon, like a bent bow, running north-south, with the widest part east-west being no more than two or three hundred miles, but the north-south length was a full thousand miles. I really don't know how the Xiao family managed to get such a large island.

The island was covered with tall mulberry and maple trees. It was autumn now, and although it was still green, it was also mixed with red and yellow, which was very colorful.

There were mountains and lakes on the island, as well as grasslands and dense forests, extremely vast. Under the cover of grass and trees, many strange birds and beasts could be vaguely seen running among them.

The two landed on a flat grassland at the southernmost end, where many people had already gathered, all of them young people.

Not long after the two landed, someone recognized Xiao Eleventh Lady. After all, she was the one who ranked sixth in the report, and those who were worse than her hoped to turn the tables in the Autumn Hunt, while those who were better than her were also worried that she would perform well in the Autumn Hunt and eventually surpass them.

Seeing that she brought a strange man, everyone came to inquire, asking which family's expert she invited.

Qingshen Mountain, Cheng Qieqing.

A name that no one had heard of.

Not long after, one hundred young Xiao family children, all of whom were young people who had been sent out to take over business and returned to report, and one hundred outsiders, all of whom were helpers invited by the Xiao family children to help in the Autumn Hunt.

Two hundred people, all arrived.

Cheng Xinzhan had nothing to do and looked around. Unexpectedly, with this look, he discovered several familiar figures.

They were all righteous disciples who had rotated on West Kunlun.

However, his appearance now was very different from his original appearance and the second half of his time on Kunlun, so he didn't go up to say hello.

He looked around and actually discovered another special figure he had seen a long time ago.

It was a thin, tall person like a bamboo pole.

It was just that the face looked a bit mismatched.

Such a coincidence?

Cheng Xinzhan operated the Nine Yang Returning Form Cinnabar Pupils. Three Cinnabar Yang flashed in his left pupil, and the face of that thin person was reflected in his pupils, slowly changing, changing into the appearance Cheng Xinzhan was familiar with.

Both cheekbones were high, skin wrapped around bone, like a skeleton.

It really is you.

Thin Daoist.

It was also at this time that the thin Daoist seemed to sense something and immediately looked toward Cheng Xinzhan's direction.

However, Cheng Xinzhan immediately restrained his Cinnabar Pupils and looked elsewhere.

"Greetings, Elder."

At this time, a sound of greetings rang out again. Suddenly, a sturdy bald old man appeared in front of everyone, with a large bow on his back, and it was unknown what realm he was in.

"This is the Elder of our Xiao family, who has entered the Third Realm for over a hundred years, an expert in body refining."

Eleventh Lady explained to Cheng Xinzhan.

The bald old man faced everyone, bowed, and smiled,

"Welcome everyone to Changqing Island to participate in the Autumn Hunt Ceremony of our Xiao family. To express our gratitude, we specially present the VIP card of our Haiqing City."

The old man waved his hand and threw out many tokens floating in the air.

Immediately, many guest ministers used magic power to pull the tokens for the first time. The purpose of their coming to participate in the Xiao family's Autumn Hunt was for this. With this token, they could get a 20% discount when purchasing in Haiqing City, which was an extremely tight thing.

Cheng Xinzhan also took one after seeing it. He played with it and found that except for the patterns, there was not much difference from the Kong Que City one.

"Xinzhan, you have the token of the Kong Que City City Lord's Mansion, which is much better to use than this."

Eleventh Lady said.

Cheng Xinzhan put away the token; he didn't come for this anyway.

"The rules of our Xiao family's Autumn Hunt are very simple. I think the children of my clan have already told you, so I won't say more. After the arrow sounds, everyone can show their skills!"

After saying that, the old man drew his bow and shot an arrow into the sky.

This seemed to be a ritual passed down from ancient times.

The arrows whistled, and the group also shot off like arrows released from a bow, streaking toward the north.

These two days, Xiao Eleventh Lady had already explained the rules of the Autumn Hunt to Cheng Xinzhan.

Changqing Island was long and narrow like a curved moon. They set off from the south corner. There were many spirit beasts along the way, but they could only hunt those with white powder smeared on their foreheads.

There were one hundred Xiao family children participating in the Autumn Hunt, but there were only fifty spirit beasts with white powder smeared on their foreheads.

Moreover, the Xiao family elders would cast spells to drive all the spirit beasts on the island to the north, and within a twenty-mile range at the northernmost end, there was a forest. Once the spirit beasts entered the forest, everyone could not enter to hunt.

Because the spirit beasts captured were rare, everyone was allowed to compete with each other, but they must not cause human lives.

In addition, on the whole island, there were two wood spirits transformed from spirit plants hidden. According to Xiao Eleventh Lady's introduction, the ones that had appeared before included green snakes transformed from green bamboo, black bears transformed from pine trees, water buffaloes transformed from mulberry trees, and butterflies transformed from spirit flowers. They were different every time.

The importance of a spirit plant that could transform into a wood spirit for those who practice the Grafting Wood Technique is self-evident. The rule of the Xiao family's Autumn Hunt is that whoever catches this wood spirit, it belongs to them. Whoever catches two wood spirits will not only obtain them but will also directly become the winner of this hunt. If one catches one, it will be worth hunting ten spirit beasts with powder.

However, wood spirits do not have powder and are good at camouflage, so they are no different from ordinary spirit beasts. The Xiao family also stipulated that if one catches not a wood spirit but an ordinary spirit beast, then not only will there be no reward, but there will also be a penalty, becoming the biggest loser in this hunt.

Xiao Eleventh Lady and Cheng Xinzhan flew in the forest. Under them, the white dog was galloping. Listening to the movement of the beasts fleeing, the dog was extremely excited.

Cheng Xinzhan said, "Eleventh Lady, you look at those spirit beasts with powder. Dengge will help you, and I will go find the wood spirit for you."

Eleventh Lady nodded and said okay.

However, very few people could catch wood spirits in previous years, and she didn't have much hope.

Cheng Xinzhan had just finished explaining and disappeared immediately.

Eleventh Lady looked at his departing back and blinked. He said he was going to find the wood spirit, but he went alone.

Cheng Xinzhan disappeared from Eleventh Lady's sight and performed the Nine Yang Returning Form Cinnabar Pupils to search carefully. However, he did not leave Eleventh Lady too far. After all, it was said that competition was allowed, so if Eleventh Lady was disturbed, he could go over immediately.

Facts proved that his consideration was reasonable. He had only left for the time it took to drink a cup of tea when he immediately heard Dengge's barking.

He only used three or four breaths of time to rush over. As soon as he arrived, he saw four people surrounding Eleventh Lady. Looking at their attire, they were two Xiao family members and two guest ministers.

Dengge had a bloodstain on its forehead. At this time, it was baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, roaring at the four people. Under the dog, it was protecting a purple sable, with a little white powder smeared on its forehead. It should have been bitten on the neck by Dengge, and it was lying there with only the breath out and no breath in.

"Eleventh Lady, why didn't your guest minister guard you?" A Xiao family child asked.

"But your dog is not bad. You discovered a spirit beast just after starting. Why don't you sell it to me?"

Xiao Eleventh Lady looked disgusted and did not answer. It seemed that the relationship between the two was not very good on weekdays.

Eleventh Lady's fighting technique was very interesting. She sprinkled a handful of seeds from the sachet at her waist and urged them with Wood technique. As soon as the seeds landed, vines and poisonous flowers grew. The poisonous flowers sprayed colorful poisonous powder, and the vines followed the formulas Eleventh Lady pinched, like snakes winding and like whips whipping.

The Xiao family man sprinkled a net. This net was woven with copper coins strung with red ropes. There was thunder fire moving on the red ropes. Covering Eleventh Lady's spirit plants immediately burned them black.

Red ropes plus copper coins, and also containing thunder fire, one look and it was known that it was a treasure bought from Mount Longhu. Things from Mount Longhu were always extremely expensive. The Xiao family was indeed a wealthy master.

Another Xiao family member was a woman, and her means of defending against the enemy was a magic fan, fanning out streaks of firelight.

Eleventh Lady was casting spells herself, while the other two relied on the power of magic treasures, and fire overcame wood, so they occupied the upper hand instantly.

The two guest ministers did not attack Eleventh Lady, letting the Xiao family members fight themselves. It was just that they saw Dengge still protecting the spirit beast, and their faces showed disdain. One of them threw out a silver-white talisman, like a knife to slash the dog, and the other performed the method of capturing, condensing a large hand with magic power, seemingly wanting to capture the dog and the sable together.

Dengge was not simple now. Seeing the two people's actions, it did not dodge, but instead opened its mouth to bite. A phantom appeared in the void, a vague giant beast, which swallowed the silver talisman in one bite, and then went to bite the magic power hand.

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"Hua~"

In the forest, those few people suddenly heard the sound of water.

They followed the sound to look, and saw a great river surging over.

Where did the river come from in the forest?

This river was between reality and illusion, the sound of water was surging, waves were blooming, making people feel like they were by the river, but this river was traveling through the trees, and it was not affected at all, looking very unreal.

"Who is playing tricks?!"

Someone shouted. They thought it was an illusion.

The great river arrived in the blink of an eye. Xiao Eleventh Lady was facing the great river, and she was the first to come into contact with the great river, but nothing happened.

"It really is a bluffing illusion. Eleventh Lady, is your guest minister here?"

The Xiao family member smiled.

However, his smile immediately froze on his face, because the river water also touched him soon.

The two Xiao family members fell into the great river and immediately felt like falling into an ice cellar. White frost immediately rose all over their bodies, and they fell to the ground shivering.

The two guest ministers were much more alert. When the great river rushed over, before it touched their bodies, they felt a strand of cold magic power seeping directly into their bones, so they ran away quickly.

But at this time, sparkling light suddenly appeared on the river surface, floating light jumping silver, like the reflection of the bright moon.

The next moment, the sparkling light jumped and gathered into a mass, forming a clear moon shadow.

I don't know when, above the great river, opposite the moon shadow, a bright moon really appeared. Even in the daylight, the bright moon emitted fluorescent light.

The two who were running away looked back, but in their eyes, what was hanging in the sky was not the bright moon at all; it was clearly a sharp, cold sword intent, stabbing towards them.

They sacrificed their magic treasures to resist the moonlight, but they were delayed by this action, and the great river immediately rolled over. At this moment in the river, the two felt new changes. This river was not only cold, but those waves were clearly sword Qi pressing over. The river waves and sword Qi were continuous, and they formed a momentum, one after another. In the sky, there was also sharp sword intent aggressive, pressing them so they could not parry.

"Fellow Daoist, please stop. We admit defeat and will leave now!"

One of them shouted.

As soon as this person's voice fell, the great river and the bright moon disappeared instantly, as if it were really an illusion.

The four people who got a chance to breathe fled in a hurry.

And from the direction the great river came, a young man with a plain appearance walked over in the air.

Xiao Eleventh Lady saw Cheng Xinzhan coming over and naturally stopped pinching the formula. She looked at her hands, thinking, why did his magic look like playing compared to his?

"Xinzhan uses thunder fire, is good at talismans and swords, this I know, but when did his water techniques become so powerful?"

Eleventh Lady asked curiously.

Cheng Xinzhan smiled, "The sage said: One should look at a scholar with new eyes after three days of separation."

She smiled and replied, "Xinzhan learns magic, a thousand miles a day, why wait three days."

Eleventh Lady landed beside Dengge, mysterious light wiped over her hands, and she cured the wound on the dog's forehead. The dog then bit the purple sable and handed it to the woman like a treasure.

"Good dog."

Eleventh Lady didn't expect to have gains at the beginning.

So the two continued to move forward, but Cheng Xinzhan did not leave Eleventh Lady to find it alone later.

After galloping for another four or five hundred miles, passing a small half of the journey, there was no gain at all. At this time, suddenly saw people in front, beasts roaring, it seemed to be fighting, and it seemed to be chasing.

The two looked at each other and flew over.

Looking closely, they found that fifty or sixty people were chasing the herd together, and the herd had three or four hundred, all kinds of jackals, wolves, tigers, leopards, cattle, deer, horses, and sheep, all among them.

Cheng Xinzhan and Eleventh Lady saw at a glance that there were ten or so in the herd with powder smeared on their foreheads. It seemed that the herd walked together during the process of fleeing.

Now the people chasing behind were afraid of the rats, and the beasts were tightly stuck together. They didn't dare to do it, fearing to hurt the ordinary spirit beasts, and instead stealing the chicken and losing the rice.

Cheng Xinzhan looked and found that the thin Daoist was also among them.

And just when Cheng Xinzhan looked at the thin Daoist, the thin Daoist also happened to have some action. He took out a banner that also made Cheng Xinzhan feel familiar. He shook the banner, and many beast souls drifted out of it.

However, a few years passed, the thin Daoist's cultivation and magic treasures were obviously improved a lot. After the beast souls came out of the banner, they gradually solidified and finally were no different from real spirit beasts, falling to the ground.

The beast souls that came out of the banner were all fierce beasts like tigers and leopards. After entering the herd, they went straight to the ten or so spirit beasts with powder smeared on their foreheads, and then, under the eyes of everyone, they bit the necks of those spirit beasts with their bloody mouths.

A total of thirteen spirit beasts with powder on their foreheads were actually taken by the thin Daoist alone.

At this time, the real herd went far away, leaving only the thin Daoist's beast souls biting the prey and leaving.

The remaining people surrounded them with bad intentions.

The thin Daoist saw this, laughed, didn't care, and shook the banner again. Suddenly, hundreds of beast souls drifted out of it, arching the thin Daoist, each fierce and evil, wanting to choose people to eat.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 140 =====