Roadside Wolf Demon

Xiao Menglan had also said that after entering the grand formation, the formation would separate everyone, but those who were relatively close in distance would not be split apart.

Among the disciples participating in the Demon Hunting Tournament each year, there were always some in the Qi Refinement stage encountering demon beasts stronger than them, even ones comparable to Foundation Establishment cultivators.

If they did not cooperate, then they could only end up being slaughtered.

She and Dan Yao had learned all this beforehand, which was why they chose to enter together before stepping into the formation.

However, the current situation was clearly different from what Xiao Menglan had described.

But since things had already reached this point, staying in place was not a solution.

Cao Xueyan joined the Demon Hunting Tournament in order to temper herself.

There was no way she would panic because of a small unexpected situation.

“Next, we will hunt beasts while searching to see whether there are any traces of Senior Sister.”

Cao Xueyan looked around, chose a direction, and began to walk straight ahead.

The path here was quite hard to walk.

The vegetation in the cultivation world tended to grow very wildly.

Trees large enough to need over a dozen people to encircle them were everywhere.

And those tree roots as thick as water vats occupied most of the ground without restraint.

There were few places where Cao Xueyan could place her feet.

She carefully made her way forward for nearly half an hour.

When she looked back, she realized she hadn’t gone very far at all.

After all, it was her first time in a place like this.

Even though she carried plenty of medicinal pills with her, she still didn’t want to waste spiritual energy needlessly.

Such caution was reasonable.

This wasn’t a fair competition in the arena.

Cao Xueyan didn’t even know where the demon beasts were hiding.

The enemy was hidden, she was exposed.

The road ahead became harder and harder to walk.

The path narrowed, and occasionally stray branches and vines blocked her way, making it nearly impossible to advance.

With no other choice, Cao Xueyan took out the Frost Moon Sword from her storage pouch.

Ever since she memorized the sword formula Qin Ximo had taught her that day, she had felt as though she had gained the sword’s approval, and her swordsmanship had become almost instinctive.

She withdrew the Frost Moon Sword mainly to clear a path.

Even without spiritual energy, the blade was exceedingly sharp.

The branches and obstacles blocking her were sliced cleanly in half with just the lightest touch.

Sometimes she even gained unexpected spoils, such as a few well-hidden snake demons.

These snake demons liked to rest in trees.

Their scales were dark and deep-colored, making them look just like tree bark from a distance.

And they emitted no demonic aura.

If Cao Xueyan weren’t sharp-eyed, she really wouldn’t have noticed them.

Although they possessed natural camouflage and lethal striking ability, blending perfectly with their surroundings—

Even mortals would glance past them without noticing.

Even cultivators needed to stay fully alert to detect them immediately.

But as it turned out, these snake demons were unlucky to encounter Cao Xueyan, who was basically playing with cheats.

They thought they were perfectly hidden.

But although Cao Xueyan did not yet have divine sense, the ornament pin in her hair held treasures harvested from snake demons.

Whenever danger approached, the pin would give her a warning.

All she needed to do was swing her sword forward a few times, and the wood chips would fall together with several bloody chunks of snake flesh.

She bent down and examined her spoils.

The snake corpses were useless.

Their venom wasn’t strong enough to matter much to cultivators, so the corpses had little value.

But their gallbladders did have some use.

Later, she could hand them to the materials handlers to be resold to the Pill Peak.

There would definitely be alchemists willing to buy them.

She had already prepared several jars inside her storage pouch, specifically for storing demon beast materials.

In just a few days, the jars could keep things from rotting as much as possible.

Ah, the things in the cultivation world were really convenient.

Cao Xueyan thought to herself as she continued forward.

The path ahead still seemed endless.

She didn’t know when this would end.

This place was truly vast.

Even though many disciples were participating in the Demon Hunting Tournament, Cao Xueyan had yet to encounter a single person.

After several more hours passed, she finally found a small clearing.

She planned to sit down and rest a bit.

But before she could even warm the ground with her seat, the treasure on her body sent a warning signal again.

Cao Xueyan sensed something and sharply raised her head, turning in one direction.

A foul, fishy wind blew straight toward her, making her want to gag.

It was wolf demons—more than one, a whole pack.

They pounced downward from the high tree branches, jaws open wide, displaying ferocious fangs.

“So you’ve been following me all this time, huh?”

Cao Xueyan’s grip on her sword had never relaxed.

She had been wary from the beginning.

These wolf demons were cunning.

Relying on their sense of smell, they had probably detected her long ago.

But because of the sword she carried, they didn’t dare act rashly.

They waited until she rested, believing they finally had an opening.

Cao Xueyan reacted quickly.

Her heart raced for an instant, but she took a deep breath and circulated her spiritual technique to steady herself.

She swung her sword to meet the attack.

In a matter of strikes, several wolves that had lunged at her were already howling in pain and falling from the air, hitting the ground in a sorry heap.

The smell of blood only made the rest of the wolves more frenzied rather than fearful.

Among the pack, Cao Xueyan quickly spotted a wolf whose size and coloring differed from the others.

Although her method of identification was crude, that one was almost certainly the leader.

The head wolf was the largest and the most cultivated.

Among first-rank demon beasts, it was considered quite strong.

A cultivator in the later stages of Qi Refinement would be needed to deal with it.

It allowed the others to attack first to wear her down while it lurked, sharpening its claws and waiting for an opportunity.

But in truth, these wolves were no different from cannon fodder.

Wherever her sword landed, no matter the spot—even the hardest part of a wolf’s skull—she could slice off chunks effortlessly.

After all, this was a blade that even Qin Ximo had once used as her personal weapon.

It was not something a few low-level demon beasts could resist.

The next moment, blood and flesh burst apart.

The spiritual light protecting Cao Xueyan kept all filth off her clothes.

Her sword remained cold and bright, reflecting her profile.

The remaining wolves were few.

The head wolf showed unmistakable human-like fear in its eyes.

Demons were demons because they had already gained intelligence.

The more intelligence, the less blind they were.

And facing someone far beyond its ability to handle, continuing to attack would only lead to needless loss.

The air was filled with faint traces of human presence elsewhere.

There was no need to risk everything here.

The head wolf let out a howl.

The surviving wolves immediately obeyed and attempted a tactical retreat.

In other words—run.

“My storage pouch is still pretty empty. Why are you running, little doggies?”

Cao Xueyan licked the corner of her lips, clearly not yet satisfied.

But the wolves moved fast.

In a few bounding leaps, they were already climbing up trees, movements even nimbler than monkeys.

Cao Xueyan would not let them escape so easily.

She circulated her technique, and several silver needles formed in her hand.

She had been practicing this technique on trees in the Moon-Inviting Palace courtyard.

Now, at last, she had live moving targets.

She flicked her fingers.

With spiritual power added, the silver needles flew incredibly fast.

In the blink of an eye, wolves that had been running suddenly stiffened and fell from the trees.

The head wolf was no exception.

Cold energy entered their bodies, freezing their blood and muscles.

They couldn’t move at all.

Without Foundation Establishment cultivation, no one could withstand the Ice-Soul Silver Needles.

Seeing the wolves fall one after another, Cao Xueyan walked forward unhurriedly.

With a swing of her sword, she finished off the immobilized wolf demons.

Though wolf corpses were larger than snake corpses, they actually held fewer valuable parts.

Oh—that’s right, wolf tails could be used to craft talisman brushes.

She almost forgot.

She smacked her forehead, walked over, and without bothering to skin them, simply chopped off the tails and tossed them all into her storage pouch.

……

Elsewhere, Dan Yao leaned against a bluestone boulder to rest, accompanied by a young female disciple who was also participating in the Demon Hunting Tournament.

“Dan Yao, take your time to recover. Thank you for earlier.”

“If not for you, I would have been eliminated already.”

“We are all from the same sect, lending a hand is only—” Dan Yao forced a small smile.

But halfway through speaking, the girl before her suddenly disappeared.

What?

Dan Yao jolted to her feet.

A living person vanished before her eyes in a blink.

A formation?

Yes—this was just like how she was separated from Cao Xueyan earlier.

Dan Yao’s expression grew uneasy.

This year’s Demon Hunting Tournament… felt very different from the previous ones.