Chapter 105: 105. Chapter 105: Slaying the Demon Beasts (In Honor of Master Ye Xun, Alliance Leader)

105. Chapter 105: Slaying the Demon Beasts (In Honor of Master Ye Xun, Alliance Leader)

“Another second-rank demon beast slain…”

Within the dense forest, all around was silent.

The aura of a second-rank demon beast and its dying scream were enough to clear the entire vicinity.

Yet such a disturbance clearly failed to attract third-rank demon beasts.

Fang Xing stood atop the corpse of the four-armed Golden Ape, wiping blood from his blade with its brilliant, flame-like golden fur.

He then began dissecting the demon beast.

“I hope my guess is right… but even if I’m wrong, I still gain the materials of a second-rank demon beast, plus experience in a sparring match and a life-or-death battle—no loss.”

He skillfully slit open the ape’s belly, cutting straight through a massive stomach sac.

A pungent, sour stench surged forth, but Fang Xing had already activated his nanotech suit to form a gas mask.

At that moment, he peered inside the sac and saw numerous undigested ores.

Each ore emitted a faint spiritual glow—some as large as a palm, others no bigger than a longan, all unmistakably extraordinary.

“These must all be second-rank ores… they’d fetch a good price in spirit stones. So this monkey likes swallowing ores to temper its body? No wonder its defense is so strong!”

Fang Xing searched further and found some undigested demon beast meat, prompting him to ponder:

“The death of a Golden Core cultivator is like a whale fall… its body brims with spiritual energy—even a single drop of blood carries it… so nearby demon beasts would surely fight to devour it.”

“Then those beasts either ascend in rank, or are devoured by even stronger ones…”

“With only this one second-rank monkey left here, it must be the ‘Cultivation King’—anything valuable should be in its possession.”

He rummaged further, then suddenly his eyes lit up.

A strangely shaped golden phoenix hairpin fell into Fang Xing’s hand.

Though merely a small hairpin, it was unnaturally heavy; its phoenix eyes glowed crimson, lifelike, as if ready to take flight.

“This sensation is far more astonishing than any spiritual artifact… no wonder—it’s a Golden Core cultivator’s treasure! Even inside the stomach of a demon beast that digests second-rank ores, it remains pristine.”

Fang Xing speculated silently: perhaps after decades or even centuries, this phoenix hairpin would slowly be digested by the ape, further enhancing its defense.

By then, I might not be able to break through it at all.

‘No—martial cultivation isn’t immortal cultivation; progress is lightning-fast. In a hundred years, will I even care about a mere demon beast? Even if it reaches near-third-rank or full third-rank body tempering?’

He played with the phoenix hairpin again, probing it with his spiritual energy.

Alas… it was like a mud ox sinking into the sea.

In the end, he could only reluctantly admit: valuable as it was, it was only worth its material value, and promptly prepared to store it in his storage bag before continuing to dissect the second-rank demon beast.

As for the Golden Core cultivator’s storage bag? It was certainly not here.

It was highly likely swallowed by the third-rank dragon.

A third-rank demon beast rivals a Golden Core cultivator!

Even more terrifying: a third-rank dragon must possess extraordinary bloodline, equivalent at least to a True Core or even a Golden Core cultivator!

Far beyond Fang Xing’s current capability to challenge.

“Hm?”

As he was inserting his spiritual energy into the storage bag, his expression suddenly changed!

Inside the bag, the ‘Ten-Thousand Command Seal’ began glowing faintly—and growing stronger!

“Impossible!”

Fang Xing’s face darkened: “I’m still far from the previous maximum detection range! Could it be… the seal’s detection range keeps changing?”

“Or… is the object it senses nearby? Did those three Golden Core cultivators bring it out of the secret realm?”

His expression turned grave as he began to reconstruct the events:

‘If the Ten-Thousand Command Seal is sensing something from the secret realm, the most likely candidate is what was brought out… but why here?’

‘Unless… the female Golden Core cultivator, knowing she was certain to die, secretly discarded it before death—refusing to let the dragon or the traitor who ambushed her benefit. Remarkable… even surveillance missed her move…’

‘Of course, it could also be that the Ten-Thousand Command Seal is broken, or its sensing range has changed… easy to test: just move toward Five Scorpion Valley and observe its reaction.’

Setting variables and conducting experiments was something every Blue Star student learned.

Think it? Do it!

Fang Xing leapt forward, sprinting toward Five Scorpion Valley while monitoring the Ten-Thousand Command Seal inside his storage bag.

Soon, the seal’s glow began to fade…

He stopped: “Good… it seems those three Golden Core cultivators really did have some skill—they truly brought out a treasure.”

“But… is this treasure truly meant for me? Can I really be the one to reap the benefit?”

“Even if I find it, will a cultivator’s treasure be useful to me?”

“And how far am I willing to risk myself for this unknown treasure?”

Fang Xing relentlessly questioned his own heart, then formulated a plan…

…

Moments later.

A small bird drone, its claw tied with the Ten-Thousand Command Seal, flew out of the forest.

Fang Xing held a portable case, eyes locked unblinkingly on the monitor screen.

“Left… shifted… the glow is intensifying… direction’s correct…”

Minutes later.

The simulated bird perched on an unremarkable ancient tree branch, its claw wrapped in a radiant orb of light.

The glow was unnaturally dense, making countless runes seem to flow across the black iron seal.

Tap! Tap!

Tap! Tap! The drone, like a woodpecker, used its sharp beak to peck through the bark and pulled out a bronze ring.

The bronze ring resembled a finger ring, etched with a few ancient, simple grooves.

The bird waited a moment—the bronze ring showed no further anomalies.

Half an hour later, the drone bird seized the bronze ring and soared into the sky.

…

In a desolate wasteland.

Fang Xing watched the drone descend, his expression oddly strained.

“A ring?”

“Judging by its shape… could this be another artifact?”

Something hidden so carefully by a Golden Core cultivator could hardly be ordinary.

It was almost certainly a rare treasure from the secret realm!

“Surprisingly, no danger…”

Fang Xing, wearing silver gloves, picked up the bronze ring.

The ancient grooves on the ring remained utterly still.

The Ten-Thousand Command Seal beside it still glowed faintly, unmistakably extraordinary.

“So the Ten-Thousand Command Seal isn’t just a pass to the secret realm—it seems linked to this ring? Huh? This sensation?”

Fang Xing’s mind stirred; he extended his spiritual energy toward the bronze ring.

A hazy space immediately appeared—at least ten cubic meters!

“It’s a storage artifact!”

“And the spiritual imprint is incredibly strong… the female Golden Core cultivator is dead, yet her imprint remains this potent?”

“Fortunately, I’m no longer who I was.”

Fang Xing’s body faintly shimmered with dragon shadows, accompanied by the roar of a tiger and the bellow of a dragon-elephant, radiating iron-blooded killing intent.

The Dragon’s Ambience, the Tiger-Taming Ambience, the Dragon-Elephant Ambience, the Martial Killing Fist!

The four ambience forces, merged with his spiritual energy, surged instantly into the bronze ring.

Hours later, the spiritual imprint within the ring finally shattered, revealing its entire interior space to Fang Xing!

“So large!”

Fang Xing swept his spiritual energy across it, unable to suppress a sigh of awe.

The storage ring’s interior was vast.

His two storage bags each held about one cubic meter.

But this ring held ten cubic meters!

Ten times the space—its price was surely not tenfold, but a hundred or even a thousand times greater!

What surprised him was that the bronze ring contained no spirit stones, pills, or artifacts…

Inside was empty—save for two items!

At Fang Xing’s mental command, a thunderous crash echoed!

A white jade coffin materialized, crashing heavily to the ground.

The coffin radiated a chilling cold, seemingly extremely heavy.

Beside it stood a three-legged, two-eared bronze cauldron.

Its design was ancient, inscribed with complex runes—most now blurred beyond recognition.

“Only a coffin and a cauldron?”

He stepped forward and saw the coffin had no lid—inside lay a person.

The man wore a dark ancient robe; his face should have been handsome, but his features were obscured by a talisman pasted across his forehead, covering most of it!

The talisman was half a foot long and three inches wide, entirely black, with only its vermilion ink inscriptions glowing faintly.

Its lines were intricate, more complex and precise than the second-rank “Binghuo Divine Thunder Talisman” Fang Xing had collected, and its aura was deeper and more terrifying—like the depths of an ocean.

“Could it be… a third-rank talisman? Stuck on the forehead like this—it gives me a bad feeling… Could this be a cultivated corpse?”

“Is this talisman the third-rank ‘Corpse-Sealing Talisman’? Has it suppressed a third-rank corpse demon?”

Whether it was an illusion or not, when Fang Xing’s spiritual power swept over the corpse, he felt the thing wasn’t particularly strong.

“Heh…”

He extended his hand, as if to peel off the talisman, then immediately withdrew it.

“What kind of eyes do I have? What kind of eyes does a Golden Core cultivator have?”

“If even a Golden Core cultivator treats this with caution and seals it with a talisman, I’d be a fool to remove it myself…”

Fang Xing had watched too many ghost films in his past life—he found those protagonists who always ignored warnings and courted death utterly baffling.

Listening to advice fills your belly.

Before he could dominate the world, it was wiser to avoid unnecessary risks.

So Fang Xing immediately ignored the white jade coffin and turned his gaze to the bronze cauldron.

The bronze cauldron stood half a person tall, its legs thick, its handles ancient, its surface inscriptions blurred, radiating an air of antiquity.

“In the cultivation world, artifacts like towers, cauldrons, and mirrors are difficult to forge; when they appear, they are often top-tier for their rank, sometimes even carrying strange spells and abilities…”

Fang Xing was no cultivation novice—he understood this common knowledge.

At this moment, as he carefully examined the cauldron’s body, he made another discovery: “This cauldron… is it the source of the Wan Fa Law’s disturbance?”