One of the unique things about demonic zones is their time. Though Meng Xuan might have spent hours in the hellbound demonic zone, in the human world only a total of twenty minutes might have passed. Therefore, hunters took advantage of this time warp, spending days inside and gaining more benefits for themselves.
Just a few miles from where Meng Xuan was, a large hellhound the size of a bull was under siege by a group of people, which were likely a guild.
Eight figures—four males and four females—fought bitterly as they assaulted the hellhound beast.
The more they fought the beast, the more ferocious and vicious the beast grew, but their joint attacks also gave way as the beast suffered more injuries.
"Xiao Yan, use your Soul-Binding Art to trap it! The rest of us will attack!" a man who seemed to be in his late twenties spoke up.
"Guild Master, the Soul-Binding Art can only last for a minute,my holy force is almost depleted." a purple-haired girl replied. "We should be able to utilize that one minute, or else we would all be done for."
"Do it," the guild master commanded, his words echoed by the remaining members.
With a flick of her hand, glowing chains of soul energy erupted, binding the struggling hellhound in place. The beast roared, its flames surging violently against the restraints as it was being suppressed.
The raging flame on it's body gradually lessen.
"Damn beast, you killed my friend!" a lady with an anguished expression shouted, before unleashing countless blades of light that riddled the beast.
Their guild was known as the White Iron Guild.
Their plan was to ambush the alpha of a mid-level pack—a hellhound who was at the peak of the Master stage.
After killing the hounds, they went deeper, aiming for the alpha. But who could have thought the alpha wasn't inside as they had assumed? Instead, they suffered a sneak attack from the beast. The only two disciple-stage cultivator in their group was killed.
Their casualties even got worse when the hellhound used the Flame Tyrant Body.
Though demonic beasts and human cultivators of the same stage could be compared, one should know that beasts are more ferocious, especially considering the fact that they have various demonic techniques.
Thus, a human of the same stage with another beast might still be on the losing side.
Then suddenly, they saw a shadow pass in front of them, and in the next instant, the head of the beast came rolling down. Blood spurted endlessly, flowing across the land.
The head rolled to the feet of a girl, its red fiery eyes—which were now dead,stared at the girl lifelessly.
The group members all turned toward the figure standing beside the fallen hellhound.
A young man, judging from his stature, wore a blue mask. His long black cascading hair fell freely behind him, which the mask couldn't cover.
The masked figure suddenly dipped his hand into the body of the hellhound, bringing out a glowing demonic soul core and another item—a short red scroll.
"Sorry guys, but I really need this," the figure said in a faint voice,before he dashed away in the direction he came from, the masked figure's voice echoed in their ears as his silhouette disappeared into the forest.
"I hope you find another mid-level alpha beast."
One of them suddenly jerked awake from his stunned state and shouted:
"Bastard thief! Come back here—those are our loots!" His tone was that of an hungry man who had just been denied of his food. just as he was about to give chase,a strong muscular hand forcefully dragged him from behind.
"Guild master," he turned back in despair.
"Qin Long, where do you think you are going? I can hear that you are blind, but don't you have something they call intuition?" the man scolded before continuing,
"Someone who could cut the head of a master-stage beast with his bare hand—do you think that person is normal? You can also see he is a lone figure, hunting alone in an upper tier demonic zone. The person we just saw now might be at the chosen stage or even higher. We've already lost two members. Don't be the third."
"But he's so young, guild master—"
"Tsk. How many times will I say it? The world is so vast, you can't judge a book by its cover, Qin Long."
The other team members all grew restless. At the mention of the chosen stage, they knew its might—and that it was a stage where all realms below it were mortals.
...
Meng Xuan happily went back to the first hellhound cave. He had delayed with two things in his hand: a demonic core and a red scroll.
He was the masked figure. He had been casually sauntering around the forest, looking for lone wolves, when he reached a part where he heard commotion—the faint sound of humans.
When he arrived at the place, he saw some people attacking a mid-level alpha beast. He only waited in the forest's rim, biding his time until the beast was at its weakest, then struck at the perfect moment, killing it instantly and taking the whole benefit for himself.
What he did was what some people call stealing the chicken before its egg hatches.
A few more attacks from those team members and the beast might have fallen, but Meng Xuan came at the perfect time, already mastering the primordial demonic flame to an extent. He coated his palm in those flames, then used a martial art technique that turned the flames into blades. With that, he was able to chop down the beast's head in a single blow.
One should also know—the beast had already been greatly weakened. Meng Xuan merely came at the right time to deliver the last strike.
...
Meng Xuan was back in the compartment with the red scroll in his hand. The beast's technique, Flame Tyrant Body, could ignite the body when injured and increase attacks by 20%. It was a useful skill, truly precious, though it had only one requirement: the user must be a fire-element cultivator.
He even wanted the beast fragment of the hellhound, but he knew luck was not always on his side.
Though the Flame Tyrant Body could only increase one's attacks by 20%, it was a precious item most rookie hunters longed for. They knew it could enhance their battle strength and might even save them in a life-and-death struggle.
Meng Xuan resonated with the red scroll in his hand, fusing it into his soul. Slowly, the scroll dissolved into nothingness. His mind trembled as if he had grasped something new and extraordinary.
He went back outside to hunt. He would need to acquire more demonic cores to drop in the hunter bureau for refinement. Not doing so would only make him look more suspicious.