Chapter 329: Chapter 316: Slaying Demons and Seizing Treasures
Within the "Cloud Mist Marsh", a large number of demon beasts live there. Regardless of day or night, strange and peculiar beast roars frequently arise, which normally wouldn’t be something Zhouyang would pay much attention to.
However, the momentum transmitted in the beast roar just now clearly had reached the fourth tier, and most likely exceeded the lower grade of the fourth tier.
Most importantly, Zhouyang felt that the beast roar sounded somewhat like that of tiger or leopard-like demon beasts.
And as everyone knows, tigers and leopards are land demonic beasts that prefer residing in mountains and forests.
In other words, the direction from which the beast roar came had land.
Zhouyang had been searching for land for several days now, and upon discovering this situation, how could he not pay attention?
So even though he knew there might be some trouble ahead, he couldn’t resist heading toward the direction of the beast roar.
After flying for dozens of miles like this, he sensed intense fluctuations of magical combat and vaguely heard the angry shouts of cultivators.
Then as he got closer, he quickly discovered land within the range of his divine sense.
Due to the significant limitations on vision and divine sense within the fog area, Zhouyang didn’t know how extensive this land was.
However, by common logic, its area must not be small enough for a tier four demon beast to settle down here.
But he didn’t have time to measure the land’s size right now, because as he approached, the tier four demon beast occupying this land quickly noticed his presence and launched an attack across the air.
With this, even if he wanted to sit back and watch the tigers fight, he couldn’t, and had to reveal himself and plunge into the battlefield.
On the battlefield, a middle-aged male cultivator wearing a blue magic robe was commanding several magical artifacts in a battle against a fierce demon beast.
The beast appeared to be a tier four demon beast, the "Canglan Cloud Tiger", measuring over ten feet in length and seven feet tall, with yellow-brown fur covered in stripes of cloud-white patterns, and between its flanks, a pair of wings formed from clouds and mist grew.
These cloud mist wings were a unique divine technique of the "Canglan Cloud Tiger" clan, enabling them to gain the ability to fly while still at tier three.
However, unlike a normal "Canglan Cloud Tiger", this demon beast in Zhouyang’s sight had a blue singular horn about three feet long on its head, capable of releasing a powerful blue thunder divine technique through it.
With the help of this blue thunder divine technique and the environment of "Cloud Mist Marsh" extremely suitable for the "Canglan Cloud Tiger" clan to battle, the "Canglan Cloud Tiger" in Zhouyang’s sight, although only a tier four middle-grade, was overtaking the middle-aged human cultivator with sixth-layer of purple mansion cultivation, leaving the latter to only defend without the power to counterattack.
Seeing Zhouyang being forced to show himself by the demon beast, the middle-aged human cultivator was first startled, a hint of gloom flashing in his eyes.
Then his eyes flickered, and he quickly took the initiative to loudly remind Zhouyang: "Fellow Daoist, be careful, this vicious beast is a hybrid of a [Canglan Cloud Tiger] and a [Thunder Flash Leopard], perfectly inheriting both parents’ bloodline divine techniques, making it extremely difficult to deal with!"
This statement, at first glance, was full of concern.
But in reality, Zhouyang had never expressed the intention to team up with him to deal with the demon beast.
If it were a slower-reacting cultivator, they might really fall for his trick, not only thanking him for his reminder but also foolishly joining him to deal with the demon beast.
However, Zhouyang was clearly not such a person.
As soon as he heard this statement from the middle-aged human cultivator, a flash of unusual color passed through his eyes, and he immediately shouted: "Thank you fellow Daoist for the reminder, I’m Zhu Ziyu of the Purple Star Sect. If we meet again in the outside world, I will surely prepare some wine and food to thank you!"
After saying this, a flash of golden light appeared on him, and taking advantage of the fact that the demon beast’s main attention was still on the middle-aged human cultivator, he directly used the "Rainbow Light Gold Escape" to flee the battlefield.
His decisive escape made the middle-aged human cultivator momentarily stunned, and then he couldn’t help but shout in anger and embarrassment: "Damn! How dare this brat deceive me! If we meet again, I will definitely kill him!"
He initially thought he could use Zhouyang’s help to escape, but unexpectedly, he was seen through by Zhouyang and was instead tricked. How could this not make him both ashamed and angry?
Zhouyang, however, didn’t care what the middle-aged human cultivator thought. After using "Rainbow Light Gold Escape" to flee the battlefield, he did not actually leave, but instead concealed his aura and waited in the dark.
According to what he observed just now, he concluded that the middle-aged human cultivator would not be a match for the demon beast. After the two fought for a while, the middle-aged human cultivator would definitely retreat.
By then, he could take advantage of the situation to rush into the battlefield and deal with the demon beast that had just gone through a fierce battle.
The reality was almost as Zhouyang expected.
After seeing him leave the battlefield, the middle-aged human cultivator fought with the demon beast for another half an hour but was ultimately no match for the demon beast and fled the battlefield injured.
And for some reason, the demon beast did not pursue the fleeing enemy. Instead, after its victory, it let out a beast roar full of triumph to demonstrate to those lurking in the dark, then retreated back to its lair to rest.
Zhouyang, who had been watching outside all along, immediately moved and once again flew toward the piece of land.
Just like last time, as soon as Zhouyang reached the sky over the land, the demon beast somehow detected his presence and then launched an enraged attack on him.
However, Zhouyang was not that middle-aged human cultivator. Having already slain several Tier Four demon beasts and multiple Late-Stage Purple Mansion cultivators, how could he fear merely a single Tier Four Middle-Grade demon beast!
He didn’t even use any other methods, simply deploying the "Ten Directions Extinction Sword Array" to trap the demon beast within. The beast was left howling in pain.
Compared to dealing with cultivators who possess numerous methods, the sword array is undeniably more effective against demon beasts that are large in size and possess singular techniques.
As for the beast’s blue Thunder Divine Techniques, although indeed formidable, they couldn’t break Zhouyang’s protective "Azure Dragon Cauldron" defense.
After nearly an hour of fighting, the demon beast was first injured by Zhouyang with the "Godslaying Needle," disturbing its beast soul, and then decapitated by him with the "Six Harmonies Celestial Sword," a move he once used against Murong Qianqian.
After killing the beast with one sword strike, the first thing Zhouyang did was extract the beast soul.
This demon beast had the bloodline of a "Canglan Cloud Tiger" and "Thunder Flash Leopard," with considerable innate strength. Its beast soul, whether used as an Artifact Soul or in refining a "Beast Soul Talisman," was much stronger than ordinary Tier Four demon beasts’, so it couldn’t be wasted.
Standing before the huge demon beast’s corpse, Zhouyang cast the "Soul Extraction Technique," and a small "Canglan Cloud Tiger" beast soul, only the size of an ordinary cat, leapt out from the beast’s nostril.
Once free from the corpse, the beast soul bared its fangs and howled at Zhouyang, fiercely resisting the constraints of the "Soul Extraction Technique."
But it was, after all, just a beast soul of a Tier Four demon beast. Without a physical body to anchor it, its power was even less than a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s. How could it resist Zhouyang’s Secret Technique?
So after struggling for a few breaths, the "Canglan Cloud Tiger" beast soul was forcibly extracted by Zhouyang and placed into a dark jade bottle.
That unassuming dark jade bottle was crafted from the exceedingly precious Tier Four Spiritual Object, the "Soul Nourishing Jade." It was among the many treasures Zhouyang obtained from the Blood Nether’s relics.
Only by placing the beast soul in such a container, made of soul-nourishing material, could it be prevented from dissipating over time.
Otherwise, the beast soul of a mere Tier Four demon beast would vanish completely in less than half a day.
After extracting the beast soul, Zhouyang began to deal with its leftover carcass.
Due to the many scars left on the body from the sword array in battle, the hide was unsuitable for artifact refining. He could only select parts still intact for talisman making. The beast blood was also collected for future talisman making, while the beast meat, bones, and teeth Zhouyang intended to use for consumption and artifact refining.
As for the most valuable demon pill and the horn atop the demon beast’s head, capable of releasing Thunder Divine Techniques, Zhouyang carefully preserved them separately.
The demon pill’s uses are numerous, but Zhouyang was most interested in that horn.
Even after the death of the "Canglan Cloud Tiger," strands of blue thunder still flickered upon it.
This means that if he used this material in artifact refining and succeeded, he could let the magical artifact fully inherit the demon beast’s blue Thunder Divine Techniques.
Such materials that retain divine techniques after a demon beast’s death are quite rare.
Every Artifact Refiner hopes to use such materials in artifact refining, as it not only means creating a refined magical artifact and greatly enhancing one’s refining skills but also assists in deepening one’s understanding of related divine techniques.
For instance, if Zhouyang were to refine a magical artifact using this Thunder Attribute material, it would undoubtedly provide insights into Thunder Techniques during the refining process, thereby indirectly enhancing his understanding of the "Qianyang Divine Thunder."
Pill, Artifact, Talisman Array—these Hundred Skills of Cultivation are more than simple crafts.
Once practiced to a certain realm, they can assist in achieving enlightenment.
The path of cultivation eventually converges.
After dismembering the "Canglan Cloud Tiger" body, Zhouyang then carefully measured the scale of this piece of land and searched for spiritual objects on it.
To Zhouyang’s great delight, not only was this land large, nearly as vast as the Yuquan Lake Oasis, but it also contained a Tier Four Low-Grade Spiritual Vein.
The "Canglan Cloud Tiger’s" lair was situated atop the Spirit Vein’s Spiritual Eye.
It was a small valley only a thousand acres in size, with abundant Spiritual Qi and many spirit elixirs unique to the Cloud Mist Marsh, including a Tier Four Spirit Elixir, the "Thousand-Year Blue Star Taro."
However, the most valuable treasure to Zhouyang wasn’t that Tier Four Spirit Elixir, the "Thousand-Year Blue Star Taro," but rather two leaves of spirit tea on a tall tea tree in the valley.
Those two leaves of spirit tea were identical to the "Cloud Mist Immortal Tea" he obtained from the Purple Star Pavilion, only slightly less mature in size and quality, clearly not fully ripened.
Seeing these two not yet mature, yet already drinkable "Cloud Mist Immortal Tea" leaves, Zhouyang finally understood why, after injuring that middle-aged human cultivator, the "Canglan Cloud Tiger" didn’t choose to pursue the opponent.
He also understood why that middle-aged human cultivator, knowing full well he was no match for the "Canglan Cloud Tiger," was still unwilling to give up and insisted on confronting the demon beast.