Chapter 482

This is normal. A patrol officer, by definition, is meant to patrol the four corners. This Iron-Backed Gray Ape is extremely cunning and troublesome, often gathering bands of apes to harass mortals. Local cultivator families have launched multiple suppression campaigns with no success, and the market officer stationed here couldn’t resolve it quickly, so they reported it to the palace.

Since I’m passing through this area, I naturally asked this family to lure the beast out and I’ll deal with it on the way. Otherwise, if this demonic ape somehow advances in cultivation, it’ll become truly difficult to handle," the young man replied with a light laugh.

"I see. So attacks by demonic beasts on mortals aren’t uncommon in the Chaotic Spirit Domain," Wang Yu said thoughtfully.

"Indeed. To be honest, although the Chaotic Spirit Domain is nominally under our human control, there are still countless demonic beasts lurking in the wilds—especially those with extremely short breeding cycles. We kill one wave, another emerges immediately; we can never fully eradicate them."

"In the major mortal cities under powerful cultivator factions, ordinary beasts dare not easily provoke them. But in smaller factions’ mortal settlements, conditions are far worse—due to insufficient cultivator garrisons, demonic beasts frequently emerge to harass."

"Although our Bishui Palace tries to arm mortals as much as possible, you’ve seen it yourself: ordinary mortal guards can handle common beasts, but once a demonic beast reaches the ranked level, mortal strength is utterly powerless against it. Only we cultivators can resolve such threats," the Yan surname youth said with a touch of helplessness.

"But according to my knowledge, some mortals who master martial arts seem capable of fighting low-ranked demonic beasts," Wang Yu replied after a moment’s thought.

"What you mention, Wang Dao You , are merely rare exceptions among mortals. Compared to the vast mortal population, these individuals are negligible."

"Not just our Bishui Palace, but also Mojian Gate and Spirit Puppet Sect are seeking ways to enhance mortal combat power. We don’t expect mortals to fight mid- or high-ranked demonic beasts—just enough self-defense against low-ranked ones, to greatly alleviate our human race’s shortage of low-level combat strength," the Yan surname youth explained.

"So according to what I know, are there truly so few Qi Condensation cultivators in the Chaotic Spirit Domain?" Wang Yu asked, slightly surprised.

"I’m not familiar with the situation of Qi Condensation cultivators in the Southern Continent, but in the Chaotic Spirit Domain and even all of Eastern Wilderness, compared to the number of low-ranked demonic beasts, Qi Condensation cultivators are drastically insufficient."

"Forget distant history—just consider the decisive battle when the Three Sects seized the Chaotic Spirit Domain."

"At the top level, the Fourth-Rank Snow Wolf King was incredibly powerful, even holding his own against three Nascent Soul experts simultaneously, yet he remained constantly on the defensive."

"At the high level, our three sects’ dozens of Golden Core cultivators faced the Snow Wolf clan’s Third-Rank demonic beings and their dozen or so Third-Rank demonic beasts, and the battle was evenly matched, largely at a stalemate."

"Only at the middle and lower levels did our Bishui Palace and the other two sects mobilize over fifty thousand Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment disciples, plus thirty or forty thousand wandering cultivators, yet we had to face over a million demonic beasts—more than one hundred thousand of which were ranked above the Second Rank."

"If our Foundation Establishment cultivators hadn’t outnumbered the Second-Rank beasts significantly, and if we hadn’t pre-deployed several arrays, we would’ve been overwhelmed by the sheer numbers in a single clash."

"If the three Nascent Soul experts hadn’t joined forces to slay the Snow Wolf King first, then used grand spiritual techniques to annihilate most of the beast horde, even if we won this battle, very few of our sect’s Qi Condensation disciples would’ve survived," the youth spoke rapidly, as if he had witnessed the great battle firsthand.

This left Wang Yu stunned, and he couldn’t help asking again:

"Yan Dao You , you’ve described this in such detail—could you have actually witnessed this battle yourself?"

Although he didn’t know the other’s exact age, he couldn’t imagine the man being over a hundred years old.

"Heh, I really did witness that decisive battle," the Yan surname youth chuckled, a mysterious glint in his eyes.

This naturally startled Wang Yu, but before he could ask further, the several Qi Condensation cultivators below had gathered the two halves of the black giant ape’s corpse into a leather sack, which the Qi Condensation Fourth Layer man who had first used the talisman sword then carried upward toward the bone boat.

"Disciple Ning Zhen bows to both Senior Elders. We’ve secured the demonic ape’s corpse and bring it to you," the Qi Condensation man said respectfully.

"This demonic ape was slain by Wang Dao You . Give the corpse to him," the Yan surname youth said, pointing at Wang Yu with a casual tone.

"Yes."

The man named Ning Zhen immediately raised the leather sack with both hands.

Wang Yu didn’t hesitate—he pressed one hand against his waist storage bag, and a shimmer of colored light burst forth, sweeping over the sack from Ning Zhen’s hands, making it vanish instantly.

"If the two Senior Elders have any further orders, I will carry them out if within my ability," Ning Zhen asked respectfully again.

"Since you’re from the Ning family, tell your patriarch this: since you sought out Yan Lingxiang to deal with this beast, your Ning family’s annual tribute of spirit stones to Bishui Palace will increase by thirty percent this year, and return to normal next year," the youth ordered bluntly.

"So you’re Senior Yan of Bishui Palace! I’ll certainly relay this to my patriarch," Ning Zhen exclaimed in surprise, bowed again, then obediently flew downward.

"Wang Dao You , let’s continue. The next place we’ll pause is ‘Wuyuan Lake’—a newly advanced Second-Rank fish demon has reportedly appeared there. We’ll deal with it on the way," the Yan surname youth said with false sincerity.

Wang Yu was speechless.

This Bishui Palace Foundation Establishment officer clearly treated him like a free enforcer.

But at least now he knew the man’s full name.

“Yan Lingxiang”—the name sounded distinctly extraordinary.

…

More than half a month later.

Above a vast lake spanning several miles, three flying vessels hovered in the air.

The largest of them, towering two stories high, was clearly a wooden pavilion-boat.

On the highest platform of the pavilion-boat stood three figures, looking down upon the lake.

Two of them were young men—one in a yellow robe, one in a blue robe—Wang Yu and Yan Lingxiang.

The third was a burly man with thick, bristly facial hair, bare-handed, but with a pale yellow wooden case strapped to his back.

The other two ordinary flying vessels floated below the pavilion-boat, each manned by several figures who poured bucket after bucket of fresh red beast blood into the lake, turning its surface crimson and filling the air with a foul stench.

"Sima Dao You , you’ve really spent heavily to lure out this fish demon—this much Second-Rank beast blood could buy several vials of Second-Rank cultivation pills," Yan Lingxiang glanced at the bearded man with a wry smile.

Wang Yu, gazing at the blood-red lake, wore a faintly intrigued expression.

"Yan Brother, you jest. When else would my Sima family spend if not now? Because of this Second-Rank fish demon’s disturbances, our Sima family’s spirit fish farms haven’t yielded a single harvest in over half a year," the bearded man replied through gritted teeth.