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nWu Long led the group to the depths of the Spiritual Lands of the former Clear River Pavilion which was a lush forest, with slightly more tropical plants. When they first set off Wu Long separated from the group for a little as he went to dispose of a few rats that were in the vicinity of the sect, presumably to monitor his movements. He noticed them when he went to scout the area and decided to get rid of them before the hunt, as they could potentially try to interfere at the worst moment.

nHe then rejoined the five beauties. Wu Long and Wei Lan used their own speed while Ye Ling formed a formation with the others and they sped off into the depths. After half a day of such fast travel, they arrived at the edge of a large open area. The land here was scorched and heat from here could already be felt from a kilometer away. There were crystal ores, much like the one Wu Long encountered when he first went hunting near his sect, but in larger amounts and bigger, exuding scorching heat all over the place.

nIn the distance was a pile of large rocks that had the biggest and brightest crystals in them, and there was a large serpent coiled around it. Its head was the size of a human torso and covered in protruding spikes, and it had a line of glowing orange crystal-like scales, constantly burning with a flame going down the middle of its back.

n“Blazing Spine Serpent, it has quite hard scales so we would have to exert a bit of effort to kill it, but it’s not impossible, just watch out for its speed if it bypasses me somehow as it is quite fast. As I explained before, it spits a scorching acid that melts pretty much everything that cannot withstand a full-strength attack of a Core Formation Realm expert, so watch out for that too. But if you move according to the plan we should not have any problems taking it down quickly”

nThe others nodded. Ye Ling stood with Luo Mingyu while Hua Ziyan, Shen Min, and Wei Lan stepped forward. Wu Long started approaching the serpent at a fast speed. A flurry of talismans was released into the air and flew around him as he moved.

nThe three moved not far behind him. The serpent’s glowing orange-red eyes flashed open as it moved at an astonishing speed toward them. Wu Long accelerated and a sword appeared in his left hand, which he unsheathed with his right one and immediately unleashed a strike of Sword Qi which was unsurprisingly avoided along with twenty-seven other strikes, but as it’s speed dropped a little to bypass Wu Long’s specially arranged volley of Sword Qi strikes it was led to the only optimal route which Wei Lan struck with an upward strike of her staff with her full strength, sending the serpent’s head up along with chunks of dirt.

nHua Ziyan already manifested her ten Spiritual Qi fists and six of them went in a straight vertical line one slightly behind the other, consecutively striking the serpent’s belly that got exposed by Wei Lan, and then lifted up even more by each subsequent strike, and thus lifting the whole body of the serpent into the air strike by strike. Once its body was lifted into the air its orange scales started to glow first near its tail and then rapidly progressing to its head.

n“Dream on!”

nHua Ziyan shouted as the serpent started to open its mouth and the other four fists that she already sent with the previous six, two from above, and two from below hit its jaws, tightly shutting them, and the scorching acid that was about to be spat out only trickled down the corners a little, incinerating and melting the ground below instantly creating a small poodle of lava.

nTwo chakrams spun around its neck in a circle as they both rotated around their own center and moved around the serpent’s neck and started releasing sparks as they basically sawed into the places between the hard scales and after an initial slowing down due to the toughness of the outer part completely sawed its head off, as they touched and were bounced off each other, flying off to the sides. They did not fly too far until they melted into liquid metal chunks and splashed onto the earth in the distance.

nThe whole scene took a split moment. Wu Long slowed it down and placed it into a position for Wei Lan to completely stop it and lift it up. Hua Ziyan took away all of its subsequent mobility because none of it now touched the ground and sealed off its mouth. Shen Min then finished it off with the spare chakrams she picked up in the Supreme Master Pavilion as Wu Long warned her that none of her weapons could endure contact with the acid. 𝙚𝙙𝙣𝒐𝙫𝙚𝙡.𝙤𝙧𝒈

nAfter it was done Wu Long took down the levitating talismans that he did not use in the end, which were an insurance against its acid and would shield Hua Ziyan or anyone for a few moments, which was enough to get away.

nBlazing Spine Serpent was no doubt powerful and a very dangerous demonic beast that was born a 6th-tier, and would gradually progress to be an 8th-tier. It possessed great speed and strength in its tail attacks and in squeezing its prey, hard and durable scales, and its acid was deadly. What made such a fast and quite easy-looking hunt possible was the meticulous calculation and precise teamwork. The reason he wanted to conceal their approach before the fight started was actually so that it would not move from this open area where it would be relatively more vulnerable without so many objects to sneak behind.

nIn truth, Ye Ling alone was enough to kill this serpent with her Sword Intent and high cultivation base that allowed her to release more of its strength, but Wu Long wanted to use this chance to give Hua Ziyan and Shen Min some more experience, Hua Ziyan was not used to fighting yet, while Shen Min used to do everything alone so she was not used to fighting in a team.

nYe Ling mostly was there in case something was wrong, and Wei Lan was there since there were not enough people without Ye Ling as someone had to make the initial strike to make it a little easier for Hua Ziyan as it was her first time using the technique in actual combat.

nNow that he decided to travel with them, he wanted to improve their fighting potential as he knew that none of them were the damsel-in-distress type of woman, and he was not usually attracted to that type anyway. Even Luo Mingyu was eager to start on the path of her own Dao so she could manifest her Dao Power.

nSome Dao Cultivators chose the path of Equilibrium, a balance between having strength and being peaceful enough not to use it, and thus could exert a power that was similar to mental strength that could influence the physical world around them, which was called Dao Power. Its strongest points were usually defense, but its uses were not limited to that.

nLuo Mingyu saw how powerless she was when the bandit leader decided to target her and she could only hide behind the backs of others, unable to even set foot outside her home before Wu Long showed up. So her understanding of the Dao went through a transformation and the path of Equilibrium which she did not even know existed until she heard of it from him, became alluring to her. When she asked her teachers they all were enraged that Wu Long taught her about that ‘useless and heretical’ path.

nIt was generally shunned by orthodox Dao Cultivators but Equilibrium Dao Cultivators were a lot more supported than Dual Cultivators in the world of Dao Cultivators, and thus were able to hold their own without being denounced and completely torn from the Dao Cultivation.

n“Well done everyone”

nWu Long smiled as Hua Ziyan and Shen Min excitedly clenched their fists after tasting their new power. Wei Lan also still could not believe that they took down an 8th-tier demonic beast with seemingly such ease. Ye Ling and Luo Mingyu approached with smiles and also congratulated everyone on the successful hunt.

nWu Long first let the remaining scorching acid drip away into the now quite large lava pool, and then cut out its Neidan, storing it into a jade box and closing it up with talismans over it. He then took the whole remaining corpse into a separate storage ring, as he already saw Wei Lan’s eyes shine with a new light. She was already imagining all the food she can make from this serpent’s meat.

nHe chuckled and they then returned to the former Clear River Pavilion, where Wei Lan was able to unleash her skills. Wu Long, like everyone else, had to admit that it was incredibly delicious. But she was not really seeking compliments, as she was too busy savoring the taste as everyone laughed at her face of absolute delight with shining eyes and rosy cheeks.

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