Zeng Minghe had been extremely calm and composed. He was a bit commandeering but as he was the only beast tamer around, that was a given. Not only was this occupation rare since it was at the convergence of both alchemy and medicine - with knowledge of many other fields to acquire - but during a stampede, it was the most important occupation. A beast tamer was someone who knew how demonic beasts reacted. And they could give a tremendous amount of help during such a crisis.
Of course, a young man with so much influence would be a bit arrogant and proud. However, as he had been mostly silent and only talked when it came to his expertise, no one minded his tone. Moreover, they were all aware of how much work a beast tamer had to put in.
This occupation was not often chosen by cultivators because it seemed like too much work for lacking results. Beast tamers got their names because they could indeed tame beasts. But it required a lot of time to form a relationship with a demonic beast and to learn to know it on a personal level. Many young beast tamers had in fact never truly tamed a beast themselves. Only an older beast tamer had had enough time with a beast to truthfully claim that it was tamed.
Honestly, Cao Yun had not that much interest in such an occupation. This required a lot of time. And Cao Yun had most of the knowledge on demonic beasts that was available in the Hongchen Kingdom in his head already. He didn't need anything else as he did not intend to tame a beast any time soon.
"I'm sorry, Brother Zeng. But it turns out that I really know this area. I've been there before and I think I'll be more useful there. Of course, if my fellow cultivators don't want to..."
"No, not at all, friend."
One of the hunters answered immediately. Apparently, the area Cao Yun had to investigate originally was a bit closer to Yinmen City. That being said, both areas were still rather far and arguably closer to Baziyun City, or at least halfway between the two provinces. In addition, his area was less dangerous. So both hunters jumped on the occasion. Everyone was happy but Zeng Minghe, who was visibly annoyed and did no effort to hide it.
"I'm very sorry, Brother Zeng. I imagine that you had to work hard on our respective roles. But I don't see any problem with us exchanging our areas. Unless you had something specific in mind in your choice?"
Racking his brain, Zeng Minghe found no argument to stop them from exchanging their orders. However, the audience saw that he was vexed that someone had decided to go against his orders, even a little bit. And the rest of the meeting was awkward. Some hunters had the same idea as Cao Yun and thought about exchanging their duties, but they decided not to do so in front of the beast tamer.
-
Before his departure, Cao Yun went to see his friends as well as City Lord Dun Mofan. Yun Ping's authority had been recognized by everyone and he was ordering people around in the courtyard. The battle formations Cao Yun had seen before had already become way more refined. Those mercenaries and hunters knew each other prior to this, so they were able to coordinate themselves extremely fast. After less than a hundred repetitions, their battle formations had been able to reach the level of Perfect. Just like for alchemy or array formations, the Perfect grade was equivalent to a 90% mastery.
For battle formations, this was more difficult to judge those things. First of all, the grades corresponded to the increase in strength of the fighters using the battle formation. Thus, it was necessary to take into account their original strength. And the level of mastery could change during a battle. Usually, it slowly increased as the battle intensified and then ineluctably decreased with fatigue or injuries.
Anyway, seeing those mercenaries was reassuring. Some groups, although they were made up of Mortals, had a strength comparable to an early Mortal Warrior, or a 4-core demonic beast. They probably wouldn't be able to maintain such a strength indefinitely though. Just like Cao Yun's 'Dragon's Heart', those were short surges of extreme power.
City Lord Dun Mofan, on the other hand, was being worked to death by Sun Liao. Despite being a Mortal, Sun Liao had some knowledge concerning Human array formations and even a few Heaven ones. The only thing preventing him from setting up such powerful array formations was his cultivation. As the direct disciple of Chief Elder Suxian, Sun Liao truly was a genius in his occupation. And now that he had a willing Spirit Warrior to set up his array formations for him, this was perfect. Of course, he could not control every single detail of the array formation, so they would not be optimal. And despite his knowledge, he was still lacking experience.
As such, he had not the same kind of intuition concerning higher array formations compared to the ones he was used to. However, setting up a lacking Heaven array formation was still way better than the most powerful Earth array formation. And thankfully, there were already a few Heaven array formations that were rather satisfying around Yinmen City. By using them as a basis, Sun Liao could improve the overall defense of the city.
-
Finally, Cao Yun got back to the other hunters who had been chosen to gather information on the demonic beasts. There were around twenty of them. Zeng Minghe was also there to give further instructions and insist on the things he really needed to know in each area. He was very adamant on the fact that fighting should be avoided as much as possible. Until he knew exactly how the demonic beasts were behaving, killing even a single one could tip things in the wrong direction. Only after collecting and analyzing all those information, could Zeng Minghe plan the culling of some demonic beasts. If he was good enough in his analysis, they could reduce the violence of the stampede significantly.
Cao Yun exchanged a few words with Suo Xiaolu and Shi Baoxie. The two of them had also annoyed the beast tamer by wanting to stick together. But only Cao Yun had received a stern look from the young man. On the other hand, the two hunters who had exchanged their area with Cao Yun were quite happy.
Cao Yun's area was a bit farther than halfway between Baziyun City and Yinmen City. And it was very close to the nest of the couple of Mountain Fenghuangs, where he wanted to go. However, he was conscious of the importance of his mission. And his choice was not purely based on those magnificent birds, but also on geography. The area he had chosen was the farthest from Yinmen City. The original area he had been given was also pretty far as well, but not to this extent.
And he was clearly the one with the most strength and stamina thanks to his cultivation and the blood in his veins. The Drop of Wrath had formed new blood from the blood runes it had devoured, and the evil Qi within them. As such, Cao Yun had both more Qi in his blood and better muscles and tissues overall. Thus, he was sure that he was the fastest. Moreover, he knew perfectly well how to get there. Of course the hunters knew those mountains as well. But Cao Yun had even used his 'Shen Visualization' to retake the entire road in his mind.
Under the angry stare of Zeng Minghan, Cao Yun departed with the other hunters. Very soon, they parted ways to go to the areas they had to scout and also to stay as discrete as possible. Usually the demonic beasts dwelling in those mountains did not have more than three cores, and those were the apex predators. However, with the upcoming stampede, they could have many surprises. Not only some more powerful demonic beasts could be found, but even the weaker ones could be more dangerous because more desperate and aggressive.
-
It had taken Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue nearly two months to cross the entire mountains between the two cities. But now that he was alone and much more powerful, Cao Yun realized he could probably do the same thing in two or three weeks. Furthermore, he didn't really have a hard time being stealthy thanks to his 'Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'. With a higher mind cultivation, it was even easier to use the technique. Not only could he keep his Qi contained in his body, Cao Yun could also slow down his heartbeat and his breathing for several hours with no problem. And none of his steps were making any noise at all.
Seeing Cao Yun run through the forest was very strange. He was incredibly fast and yet not even the air around him seemed to be disturbed. There was no sound at all. The first objective was to be stealthy, but it also allowed him to be more perceptive. Since he did not produce any sound, he was able to focus all his senses on detecting other sounds around him.
Thanks to that, he was able to avoid a few demonic beasts. Some were very familiar to him. For example, he encountered a group of thirty High Silver Lion-Stags. The beast alone was not very dangerous for Cao Yun but a pack as large as that one was beyond rare. Usually, they stayed by five or six. And Cao Yun could see that a few of them had been wounded. The other ones had fresh blood on their jaws and their eyes were strange and ominous. They had probably gone rabid.
This was not the only thing Cao Yun noticed. Despite his speed, he was able to take many notes. Although it wasn't the area he had to monitor, every bit of information could be useful.
In less than a week, Cao Yun could finally see the foot of the peak where the two Mountain Fenghuangs used to have their nest. As he had traveled through the forest, he had gotten worried about them. Maybe they were not even here anymore. But they had an egg to protect and most of the demonic beasts in those mountains lived in the forest, not on rocky peaks. So the chances were still high to find them again.
-
As Cao Yun was reaching his destination, the other hunters had also mostly reached theirs. They were all slower than Cao Yun, both because they were physically weaker but also because they were more careful as they lacked the confidence he had in his stealth. Among those hunters, the duo who had exchanged their areas with Cao Yun had just arrived at the border of the area they had to monitor.
For a few hours they encountered no demonic beast at all, even though they had met quite a number of them on their way there. The two of them were becoming more and more anxious. The absence of threat was even more ominous than the threats they could actually see. Indeed, they felt like a larger menace was looming over their head.
Gradually, they became slower and more and more careful as time was passing. The longer the calm lasted, the more their nerves were becoming agitated. Although they were used to hunting stronger demonic beasts than them, they were truly scared. Their intuition was telling them that something was wrong.
Out of nowhere, the first man of the group screamed at the top of his lungs. When his friend looked back, he saw several trees cut in half and his friend's legs on the ground in a pool of blood. The rest of his body had been sent against a nearby tree whose bark had been shattered. He had neither seen nor heard anything. Sending one last look to his friend, the hunter tried to run away as fast as possible, throwing stealth away.
Being a hunter was tough so his dying friend did not begrudge the running man. Instead, he focused all of his last moments of consciousness on his family who was waiting for him, hoping they would still receive the money he had won. The final thing he saw were two long green tubes covered in hair. They almost looked like hairy flower stalks. But on their extremities, there were two suction cups. Both of them went on his torso from where his organs were now leaving his body. A great force got applied to him and his torso was split into two more halves.
The second hunter who was fleeing did not try to understand what was going on or who or what was after him. He just ran.
But his run stopped when an incredible pain lacerated his ankles. Still, he tried to keep on running but found himself on the ground. When he looked back, he saw that both of his feet were still on the ground, separated from his legs. Unable to register the pain, he tried to keep going anyway. Then, a boot stepped on his back and forced him to the ground.
"You're not Chen Guo... Where is he?"
With a kick, the man towering over the hunter turned him on his back. Now the poor cultivator could see his enemy. He didn't know that but he was faced with Can Mouye, the demonic cultivator working for Xiong Nixie. His appearance created an intense contrast with the scene of violence that had just happened. He was perfectly dressed, with his hair and beard impeccably neat. There was not a trace of dirt or blood on him. Plastered on his face, he had a serene smile. And his tone was incredibly polite, which made him even more eerie.
"I was supposed to kill Chen Guo. Please, tell me where he is and I will spare you some suffering."
As he spoke, a giant creature appeared in his back. This was a true abomination. The hunter had never seen such a thing. As adrenaline was still coursing through his body, he failed to clearly see it all. The only thing he truly noticed were ten long and hairy legs of a vivid green.
"Sir, please, answer me. Where is Chen Guo?"
As a hunter, he had his pride. Despite the polite tone of the man, he knew he was certainly a demonic cultivator with the sinister air around him. He would torture him for hours if not days to get his answer. And Cao Yun would also get killed. This was not acceptable! The only choice left was to die.
The hunter concentrated all of his Qi in his Lower Dantian. As a 7th-grade Mortal, he had accumulated a lot of it. If he were to detonate all of his Qi in his Lower Dantian, he would thoroughly die. Unfortunately, he could probably not harm the young man despite their proximity, but it didn't matter right now. Death was the best option.