Chapter 65

At dusk, the Xuantong Sect's group also arrived at Huzigou, led by a female cultivator named Cao Yu, who was gentle and beautiful.

By this point, all the participants from the three sects for the winter hunt had gathered. Qian Jüan from the Pingyuan Sect, Cao Yu from the Xuantong Sect, and Wei Rongniang from the Xiandu Sect met to discuss their plans. They decided to enter the mountains the next day to investigate the situation before making further plans.

Cao Yu, skilled in social maneuvering, pulled Wei Rongniang aside and whispered to her, suggesting that the Xiandu Sect join forces with the Xuantong Sect. She proposed that the stronger and weaker disciples work together for mutual support. Wei Rongniang responded with polite formalities but ultimately declined gracefully.

Among the three sects participating in the winter hunt, the Pingyuan Sect was the strongest, followed by the Xuantong Sect, with the Xiandu Sect being the weakest. Wei Rongniang refused to ally with the Xuantong Sect because she did not trust Cao Yu. This woman appeared weak, but in reality, she was deeply calculating. Her senior brother had warned her to avoid entanglements with her.

After returning to the wooden house, Wei Rongniang briefly outlined the winter hunt arrangements to everyone.

The seven branches of the Kunlun Sect, Linyang and Yuanrong as one group, Shaoling and Yuxu as another, and Pingyuan, Xuantong, and Xiandu as the third, would gather every five years at Jietian Ridge to hunt monsters, an event known as the "winter hunt." They would hunt for one year and rest for one year. This practice aimed to train young disciples and increase their combat experience, as well as to collect materials like monster cores and bones for their sects to refine medicines and ritual objects. To avoid conflicts, the leading cultivators would define a general area for each group. For this winter hunt, the Pingyuan Sect was assigned to the northwest, the Xuantong Sect to the southeast, and the Xiandu Sect to the north. Jietian Ridge spanned thousands of miles, so unless they deliberately sought each other out, they would not meet.

Among the four disciples of the Xiandu Sect, Wei Shizheng had the strongest combat power and could act alone. Duan Wenhuan and Chen Suzhen, though highly cultivated, were not strong enough to operate independently. It was safer for them to travel together. Cao Jinren, being the weakest, could not enter the mountains, but he was skilled in herbal recognition. Wei Rongniang ordered him to collect herbs near Huzigou and not to venture deep into Jietian Ridge.

The next day, Qian, Cao, and Wei flew into Jietian Ridge on their swords, splitting up to cover hundreds of miles in a day. They roughly noted the locations of the monsters and marked them on a map, reminding their disciples to be cautious.

Along with the map, Wei Rongniang gave Wei Shizheng two communication jade slips, a small storage bag, and a bone-removing dagger.

The map was drawn on a rough piece of grass paper. "人" represented mountains, "木" represented forests, "川" represented streams, and "穴" represented caves. The locations of the monsters were marked with red "十" symbols, the thickness indicating the strength of the monster. At a glance, the paper was filled with "人人人人木木木木," with several "川穴十" scattered among them.

"This thing is really crude. They should at least find a decent artist..." Wei Shizheng muttered, finding the meeting place he had agreed upon with Sun Ergou, a mountain stream to the northwest of Jietian Ridge. Nearby was a cave marked with a thick "十," indicating the presence of a dangerous monster.

The communication jade slips were long and thin, shaped like counting sticks, with a drop of Wei Rongniang's essence blood sealed inside. In an emergency, one only needed to crush the jade slip, and the owner of the essence blood would sense it and come to the rescue. This was a life-saving measure, and Wei Shizheng carefully stored it. He then practiced with the storage bag.

The storage bag was unique, used by the Qingyang Hall to store monster cores and bones. Although the internal space was not large, it could preserve the essence energy within the cores and bones to the greatest extent, making it extremely valuable.

The last item, the bone-removing dagger, was specially forged by the Zhuming Hall for the winter hunt. It was sharp enough to cut hair and had excellent resilience, making it highly efficient for skinning, bone removal, and meat cutting.

After a hearty meal and a good night's rest, Wei Shizheng bid farewell to Wei Rongniang and entered Jietian Ridge.

There was still plenty of time before the agreed meeting, so Wei Shizheng set out confidently, taking a detour to linger in areas where monsters appeared, searching for prey.

The monsters near Huzigou were not very strong, similar to the Jinwen Rat King. With Wei Shizheng's current strength, defeating them was not a problem, but the cores he obtained were small and contained insufficient essence energy, not meeting the Qingyang Hall's requirements.

Even so, Wei Shizheng did not disdain them. He kept the cores and stored the flesh in the Penglai Bag for future needs.

On his journey, Wei Shizheng diligently performed three tasks: hunting monsters, practicing the Xiaoyue Technique, and feeding the Penglai Bag.

After several hunts, he collected four monster cores, one large and three small. The largest came from a rare Golden Earth Bear, which was incredibly strong and had a body as hard as iron. He fought it for half a day, depleting his Earth Qi, before finally defeating it.

However, his progress in the Xiaoyue Technique was rapid during the battles. He found a secluded cave, ate the bear's flesh, and used the Sharp Metal Qi to impact his acquired acupoints. He managed to open the "Xuanzhu" and "Mingmen" acupoints in one go, and the "Yaoyangguan" acupoint was also loosened, soon to be fully opened.

The Penglai Bag continuously absorbed the souls of monsters, growing like a young beast reaching maturity. Ordinary souls could not satisfy it; only high-level monsters like the Human-faced Dove, Ice Silkworm, and Green Iron Bee King could make it grow. However, capturing souls was not easy. Small creatures like mountain chickens and wild rabbits were easy to capture, but for more advanced monsters, he had to fight them to near death and try multiple times to capture their souls in the Penglai Bag.

Thinking of the Alchemy Cauldron from the Xuanyuan Sword and the Purple Gold Gourd from the Immortal Sword, and the concept of grinding monsters and low health, he realized that if there were no restrictions, encountering a powerful monster like Qiluo, he could just activate the Penglai Bag to capture it, and the world would be peaceful. But then, what would be the point of his arduous cultivation? He could just walk around without a care.

This bag was so strange, capable of being "planted" in his body, absorbing flesh, and forcibly taking souls. He suspected that the Penglai Bag was not an ordinary storage bag but a magical treasure made from a monster's stomach.

The next time he met Ruan Jing, he would subtly inquire about it.

As he delved deeper into Jietian Ridge, the monsters became increasingly powerful. In fierce battles, Wei Shizheng began to suffer injuries. The Earth Qi continuously healed his wounds, and his body became increasingly resilient. "Breakthrough comes from battle, or you perish in battle. The path of body refinement is always forged through a pile of corpses." This warning from Xun Ye revealed the essence of body refinement. While strengthening his body, he also honed his character.

One day, Wei Shizheng was pursued by six Ironback Wolf monsters for over a hundred miles. After much dodging and turning, he finally escaped by jumping off a cliff. He came to a mountain stream, washed the blood off his body, and drank a bellyful of water. Looking around, he noticed a dark cave on the cliff, slowly emitting mist.

The stream, the cave, he took out the map and confirmed that this was the place he had agreed to meet Sun Ergou.