Chapter 296: A Professional Sword Pig Hunting Team

Generally speaking, in this location, the Spirit Power in every small area is still relatively uniform.

Ordinary creatures also have natural Spirit Power aggregation, but because the environmental Spirit Power concentration is slightly higher than at the foot of the mountain, the Spirit Power radiance on some ordinary creatures that are too small might be masked by the environment, making it very difficult to distinguish.

Exotic beasts are very easy to distinguish.

Occasionally, there will be short bursts of Spirit Power on the periphery; after disrupting the surrounding area, it gradually calms down—this is Cultivators hunting Sword pigs.

The Spirit Power radiance of Sword pigs lies between that of ordinary animals and exotic beasts, and coupled with their massive size and lack of knowledge of the Dark Silence method of Spirit Power, they are very easy to find.

Chen Shu swept his gaze around and quickly locked onto a target.

A small group consisting of seven or eight Sword pigs.

Chen Shu reached out and pointed in that direction, closed his eyes slightly, and operated a very practical little Spell to determine the orientation, then immediately lowered his altitude and shouted to the two people standing below: "Northwest, 309 degrees, about 1.5 kilometers, I'm going ahead."

"Whoosh..."

His figure swept past the treetops.

The two people below saw this and hurriedly followed.

As Jiang Lai ran, he took out a compass to determine the direction.

There was no need to run too precisely, having a general idea was enough; when the time came, there would inevitably be Spell activity from that direction, and he would naturally be able to find Brother Chen.

At the same time, Jiang Lai was also very curious—

Two years ago, when Brother Chen was at the Fourth Stage, hunting Sword pigs was still easy; now that he has reached the Sixth Stage and learned to fly, what kind of scene would it be?

Jiang Lai put away the compass.

In order to catch up with him quickly and try to drag him down as little as possible, Meng Chunqiu was already running at full speed.

The Imperial Family bloodline is very powerful and naturally suited for Martial Cultivators; this point is reflected most vividly in him.

Don't look at how he never exercises and is always in the appearance of a weak scholar, sneering at cultivation and martial force; in fact, his physical fitness is very strong. Plus, most majors at Yujing Academy require taking cultivation classes, and children of the Imperial Family also receive enlightenment from a young age. Therefore, even though he has never been interested in cultivation, due to his outstanding talent, by this age, he had already muddled his way to the Second Rank Peak.

Ever since he made up his mind to change, he immediately entered the Third Tier.

Although he is still far from being a match for a Sword pig in a one-on-one fight, with so many hunters in the mountain at this time, his cultivation level might already be higher than the average baseline.

It's a pity that both roommates are reckless...

Both are geniuses.

By comparison, it only makes him seem very weak.

Meng Chunqiu gritted his teeth; branches and small thorns tore his clothes and scraped his body, causing him pain, but he didn't care at all.

Since he wants to change, he must change thoroughly.

Since he wants to transform, he must start from the root.

Coming to the Hunting Festival this time, first, to broaden his horizons; second, to bid farewell to the elegant and brilliant self of the past; and third, if appropriate, he could also experience the taste of battle. Only then would he be a true descendant of Meng Yi.

Running a bit faster, perhaps he can still catch up.

Firing a shot blindly is also fine.

At this moment, a mountain ridge suddenly appeared in front, about ten meters high. Jiang Lai slammed on the brakes to a stop and turned his head to look at him.

"Brother Meng, can you jump?"

"I can!"

"Do you need me to go down and catch you? Or I can carry you and jump down."

"No need!"

After Meng Chunqiu finished speaking, he jumped first as a gesture of courtesy.

Just at the moment his feet left the ground, he looked up and aimed straight ahead.

Due to the existence of the mountain ridge, the terrain was higher and the field of vision was wider than before. He saw a small black dot flying over the forest in the distance. A moment later, dense purple-red lightning bloomed in the sky, like the roots of a plant, growing from the sky toward the ground.

In an instant, a strong light flashed, and the sky seemed to dim for a few seconds.

"Boom..."

Meng Chunqiu fell heavily to the ground.

"Brother Meng!"

"I'm... fine..."

Meng Chunqiu raised one hand and waved it twice.

A few minutes later.

The two passed through the dense forest and arrived at the area just covered by the thunder.

There were no traces of lightning strikes on the ground or trees, only eight Sword pigs lying on the ground, twitching constantly, having already been gathered into a pile. In addition, there were three small Sword pigs not even as big as a dog on the side; two were already stupid, and one was even stupider, constantly bumping into Chen Shu's feet. Chen Shu ignored it.

"This..."

Meng Chunqiu looked at this scene, dumbfounded.

Wasn't it said that Sword pigs have thick skin and flesh? Wasn't it said they could fight a Four-stage Martial Artist? Wasn't it said that hunting Sword pigs is very difficult?

"..."

Meng Chunqiu swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Chen Shu saw them, stood up, and kicked the small Sword pig away. Although considering curbing the number of Sword pigs, this small Sword pig could also be taken away, but seeing that it looked quite cute, Chen Shu couldn't be bothered to pay attention to it.

The little lamb is different.

The little lamb was paid for.

"Brother Jiang, I'll trouble you." Chen Shu said to Jiang Lai, while smiling, "I just happened to encounter a group, which is why the efficiency is so high. After this, I estimate there won't be such good luck. I'll catch them slowly, and you move them slowly."

"No problem, with Brother Meng guarding, Brother Chen, you go ahead and catch them, the more the better. At worst, I'll move them all night."

As Jiang Lai spoke, he had already hoisted a pig onto his shoulder, turned around directly, and ran toward the outside of the mountain.

Because it had rained in the mountains two days ago, the ground was wet and soft, not yet dry. With over a ton of weight pressing on him, and him running fast, every step he took left a deep footprint in the ground, and when he pulled his foot out, it kicked up a pile of mud.

Shrubs and grass were knocked aside, making a rustling sound, and in the blink of an eye, his figure had disappeared into the dense forest.

Meng Chunqiu stared blankly.

"Isn't it fierce?"

Chen Shu asked with a smile.

"Fierce..."

Meng Chunqiu couldn't help but nod: "Is this the power of a Five-stage Martial Artist?"

"Brother Jiang's plan for himself is very interesting. Relying on his own talent and the modern martial artist system, he madly polishes himself, managing to obtain power not inferior to other martial artists who have implanted a Beast Bloodline solely through his own body. Moreover, his recovery and stamina are both absurd," Chen Shu said. "Remember that female martial artist who fused with the Pegasus bloodline? I reckon she wouldn't be able to beat him in a stamina contest."

"Then if he were to fuse with a Beast Bloodline..."

"If he could obtain the bloodline of a high-tier beast and successfully fuse it, perhaps when he reaches the end of the Daoist path, he would be the strongest martial artist in history."

"Brother Jiang is actually this formidable..."

Meng Chunqiu couldn't help but sigh again; it was a pity Brother Jiang could not open a Spirit Sea.

Otherwise, even if his Spirit Sea talent wasn't high, by relying on his martial artist talent and following the path of a Martial Cultivator, focusing on being a martial artist and only using the Spirit Sea to break through the limits of a martial artist, he would likely have become a very famous high-tier Martial Cultivator expert, right?

"Get lost, get lost, if you ram into me again, I'm eating roast suckling pig tonight." Chen Shu kicked the stupid pig again, then said, "Brother Meng, I'll leave the guarding to you. If you happen to encounter beasts approaching, don't be in a rush to use force; keep a good attitude and try to communicate with them first. If you happen to encounter humans trying to rob us, fire the Tracer Technique into the sky."

"Understood."

"Take this, your weapon of choice."

"Good."

"Then I'm off."

"Boom..."

Chen Shu shot into the sky once again.

In fact, the Storage Artifact the Spirit Sect gave him already had a very large space; the volume, when calculated, was no less than a bedroom in the Dormitory—a proper strategic resource. Moreover, the height of the space inside was not very high overall, with the lowest point being just over a meter and the highest not exceeding two meters, so the floor area was quite large, and items stored wouldn't be stacked too high. At the same time, the space was relatively regular with high utilization, very suitable for daily use; if used to hold Sword Pigs, he could fit several at once.

It was just that everyone was hunting in a team and splitting the money equally, and Brother Jiang was a thin-skinned person, so letting him do a bit more work was quite good.

Furthermore, Brother Jiang was a martial artist and needed to train his stamina regularly; a load of over a ton wasn't easy to find. The gravity equipment in ordinary martial arts halls or the Martial Cultivation Hall at school could only provide a few hundred kilograms of load at most.

What a great training opportunity this was.

Chen Shu thought to himself, grinning happily.

He found another Sword Pig up ahead.

"Boom..."

Chen Shu descended rapidly, carrying blinding but moderately powered thunder, and plunged directly into the dense forest.

At dusk.

Chen Shu had finished work and cooked a meal.

He used canned luncheon meat, braised beef, and braised pork, added cabbage and vermicelli, and cooked a pot of stew. It was very oily and high in calories, just right for a manual laborer like Brother Jiang who had worked hard all day.

Today's harvest: 47 Sword Pigs.

The aerial advantage was just too great.

This quantity was equivalent to half of the total from seven days two years ago, at least a million-plus in earnings.

Money was a small matter; the main thing was the sense of accomplishment.

At this moment, there were still over a dozen Sword Pigs lying to the side; some had already woken up, but because a Cage Technique was set up around them, they couldn't run out.

The sense of accomplishment was so satisfying.

Chen Shu was delighted, eating in small bites.

Brother Meng, on the other hand, had a numb expression and a poor appetite.

Only Brother Jiang was drenched in sweat, shoveling food into his mouth as if he hadn't eaten in three days.

"I've basically cleared out the Sword Pigs within a few kilometers of here. There might be some left, but the cost-effectiveness of searching carefully is very low. If you can move all these Sword Pigs today, Brother Jiang, we'll change locations tomorrow."

"I can move them all!"

Jiang Lai said indistinctly, continuing to shovel food.

"No rush, take your time."

"Mm..."

"I'm finished, you eat slowly."

Chen Shu was the first to put down his bowl and chopsticks, sat cross-legged on the spot, and began to cultivate and recover.

After a full day today, his Spirit Sea was nearing exhaustion—he hadn't spent much Spirit Power catching the Sword Pigs, but the vast majority of the consumption was used on flying, with the remaining small amount of Spirit Power kept for emergencies, just in case.

He would have to save more tomorrow.

Firstly, as he approached the edge, the danger level increased. Secondly, going further in meant there would be no signal again, so he needed to save some Spirit Power to fly outside and video call his childhood sweetheart, who was always worrying about this and that. Thirdly, the deeper he went, the further he was from the outside, and Brother Jiang might not be able to move them if he caught too many Sword Pigs.

Finally...

He could also go to the edge of the Forbidden Land at night to take a look.

Chen Shu looked up.

The daylight hadn't faded, but the moon was already in the sky, only a little bit away from being a full moon.

"Brother Jiang?"

"Hm?"

"I heard there are quite a lot of Spirit Plants at the edge of the Forbidden Land. If we have time later, we can go take a look; it might be even more profitable than Sword Pigs," Chen Shu said. "If we make money, we'll still split it fifty-fifty."

"I don't need that money; I can't help you with much," Jiang Lai paused his bowl and chopsticks. "However, I do intend to go to the edge of the Forbidden Land to take a look."

"You want to go find beasts?"

"I want to go take a look first..."

Jiang Lai paused: "I originally thought that if Brother Chen didn't come, I would come by myself. If I could catch Sword Pigs, I'd take them out to sell for money; if I couldn't, I would find beasts at the edge of the Forbidden Land and ask them to accompany me in fighting and sparring. If I happened to run into a powerful high-tier beast, and it happened to have a good temper and was willing to give me some blood, that would be even better. It turns out Brother Chen, you helped me find a free sparring partner."

"Exotic beast blood, huh..."

Chen Shu had often seen such accounts in ancient texts; because exotic beasts were friendly toward humans and the law strictly prohibited hunting them, the way the vast majority of ancient Martial Artists obtained exotic beast blood was very simple—

Prepare gifts, request, exchange.

Yet this person wanted the other party to just give it to him for free.

He certainly had a beautiful imagination.

Not long after, Jiang Lai stood up, didn't even rest, wiped his mouth, and then shouldered another Sword pig, walking as if flying.

On this day, a rumor spread among the pig-collecting merchants and hunters on the outskirts.

The rumor said there was a young-looking boy who would carry out a Sword pig every ten to twenty minutes; his hunting efficiency was truly rare. Moreover, the Sword pigs he hunted had no wounds on their bodies, they were merely unconscious, and after a short while, they would immediately become lively again, so he had a very high reputation among the pig-collecting merchants.

Some speculated that he had an extremely professional hunting team behind him, specialized in capturing Sword pigs.

Quite a few merchants secretly found him and offered high prices.

They would even, for his sake, stop collecting at the village entrance and instead let him carry the pigs to the nearest road; no matter where, he only needed to send a location, and they would drive their vehicles along the road to him, shortening the transport distance for him.

Even so, Jiang Lai felt his body had been hollowed out; he rolled in the creek water in the middle of the night upon returning, and as soon as he entered his tent, he collapsed and fell into a dead sleep.

Early the next morning, he continued to work.

Exhausting, yet fulfilling.