Chapter 65: The Fierce Man of Yunzhou

Ding Hao took out the three storage pouches and began to inventory the items inside.

Even before he started to count the items, Ding Hao was pleasantly surprised by the three storage pouches.

It turned out that the storage pouch belonging to the leading giant among the three was actually a high-grade storage pouch!

Even better, this high-grade storage pouch was made to look like a mid-grade one, making it impossible to tell from the outside that it was a high-grade storage pouch.

"Low-key, good stuff!"

A low-grade storage pouch had only two cubic meters of space, a mid-grade one had three to four cubic meters, while a high-grade storage pouch had as much as ten cubic meters!

Ten cubic meters was equivalent to a small room, which could hold quite a lot of things.

After emptying the contents of the storage pouches, the most numerous items were, of course, various beast heads. These beast heads were all hunted by the Three Beasts of Yunzhou that day, and among them were a few second-grade mutated mid-grade spirit beasts. Each of these spirit beasts was worth thirty points.

In addition, there were weapons. All three of them had weapons: a giant broadsword, a pair of hammers, and a pair of finger guards. None of these were particularly good, as the strength of body cultivators mainly resided in their own bodies, and they did not invest much in external items.

Therefore, the most numerous items were various body cultivation pills.

However, most of these pills were of no use to Ding Hao. He also found a book called the *Xuanpin Zhenjing*. After flipping through it, he discovered that this was the immortal root cultivation technique practiced by the Three Beasts of Yunzhou.

Ding Hao was not a body cultivator, so this technique was of no use to him.

But Ding Hao thought of Da Huang.

Da Huang's situation was rather special. If you said he was a demon, it didn't seem to be the case, at least he could move freely in the will of heaven. Therefore, from the beginning, Ding Hao never intended to raise Da Huang as a demon, so he had always wanted to find a human cultivation technique for Da Huang to practice.

"Da Huang, take this book and read it. If there's anything you don't understand, come to me." Ding Hao threw the *Xuanpin Zhenjing* to Da Huang.

Recently, he had started teaching Da Huang to read, and he believed Da Huang could understand it.

As for the body cultivation pills, except for the ones Ding Hao could use himself, the rest were given to Da Huang.

"Okay." Da Huang responded, squatting in a corner to read the cultivation technique.

Ding Hao had high hopes for Da Huang. What would this dog become if he practiced a human body cultivation technique? Would he be considered a beast pet or a demon?

Ding Hao couldn't figure it out either. He then gathered the wealth of the three people, totaling 1200 yuan stones and several million silver notes. It seemed these three had killed many people and seized much treasure.

After finishing these tasks, Ding Hao hung the high-grade storage pouch on his waist, put all the beast heads in a separate storage pouch, and left the Star Absorption Stone.

On the morning of the second day of the autumn hunt, nothing particularly significant happened. Everyone was focusing on hunting monsters. Ding Hao suppressed his cultivation to the Seventh Stage of Innate, found the first referee in the forest, and handed over all the beast heads.

The referee took out his badge and touched it to Ding Hao's badge. 180 points were transferred to Ding Hao's badge. Looking at the bright numbers on the back of his badge, Ding Hao couldn't help but ask, "Senior, 180 points, what rank is that now?"

The referee took out a jade token and said, "This jade token can show the top twenty, and you're not among them."

Ding Hao thought to himself, there are really a lot of strong people. I killed three people and got 180 points, and I'm not even in the top twenty?

Despite his frustration, the competition was indeed filled with many strong people, including over a dozen who had reached the Great Perfection of Innate. There were also the children of noble families, who came in groups of dozens, and all the spirit beasts they hunted were counted under one person's name, naturally increasing their numbers!

While Ding Hao was inquiring about his rank, in another part of the mountain range, Prince Chai was also handing over beast heads and asked, "What rank am I now?"

The referees were all arranged by the Chai family, so they naturally flattered Prince Chai. The referee quickly smiled and said, "Prince Chai, you are currently in fourth place."

Prince Chai was furious, "How is that possible? How can I be in fourth place? Who are the top four?"

The referee said, "The first place is Mao Changhai from Yunzhou."

"That's the fierce man," Prince Chai's face turned cold.

Mao Changhai was quite famous in Yunzhou for his ferocity. If you talked about cruelty, even demons and devils would be left in the dust. He was at the Great Perfection of Innate but had been unable to enter the Qi Condensation stage for many years. Of course, although he was cruel, he mainly targeted demons and devils, so the righteous path could not criticize him much.

The referee said, "Mao Changhai is a fierce man, and he currently has 330 points. I estimate that he hasn't been killing spirit beasts at all, but has been robbing points. Otherwise, it would be impossible to have such a high score."

"Indeed..." Prince Chai thought, in this era, killing people is better than killing beasts. He worked hard to kill spirit beasts, while others just needed to rob someone to get more points.

Prince Chai also wanted to kill people and rob points, but as a noble family's disciple, with many people under him, it wouldn't be good if this kind of thing got out.

The referee said, "Prince Chai, don't worry. Mao Changhai's high score at the beginning was because he was robbing low-level disciples. As the competition progresses, only the strong will remain, making it increasingly difficult for Mao Changhai to rob points. You will eventually surpass him."

"Very well." Prince Chai nodded and asked, "Can you check where Ding Hao is ranked?"

The referee said, "I can only see the top twenty, and there's no one surnamed Ding."

Hearing this, Prince Chai's face showed intense disdain, "The Crown Prince of the Tang family said that Ding Hao is utterly useless! He actually wants to compete with me, what a joke!"

After saying this, he waved his hand, "Let's go."

Another person who was concerned about Ding Hao was the young prince, but his concern was not about the points.

In a thatched cottage somewhere in the mountains, the young prince was sitting inside, while his subordinates, led by Ding Juncai, were killing a group of mutated blue-furred wolves. These wolves were not of high rank, each worth only twenty points. However, there were many of them, and this batch might have over a hundred. If they all were killed, the young prince would gain a significant number of points.

The young prince stood in the thatched cottage, drinking tea, while Du Huo gave a brief report.

"Didn't find him, he ran away?" The young prince frowned, wanting to curse the bamboo demon tribe's immortal master. But thinking about it, the bamboo demon tribe had sent a Fifth Stage Qi Condensation immortal master, which was quite a strong effort.

"It seems this little waste has some means we don't know about," the young prince, who was quite shrewd and cunning, immediately thought that Ding Hao might have some secret means.

Du Huo said, "I suspect it's not a means, but that he has someone backing him."

"Someone backing him?" The young prince's eyes flashed with a fierce light.

"Indeed," Du Huo said, "Today, an immortal master from the bamboo demon tribe went missing! And Elder Miao said that a bamboo demon he had painstakingly cultivated also died!"

"Indeed..." The young prince fell into deep thought, asking, "What is the cultivation level of the missing immortal master?"

"Third Stage Qi Condensation."

The young prince also felt a headache. He was a relative of the Tang Emperor, one of the three emperors of the Nine Provinces. If others found out he was colluding with the bamboo demon tribe, it would be troublesome.

Du Huo added, "Elder Miao has sworn to find Ding Hao and avenge his bamboo demon."

"Indeed..." The young prince's brows furrowed again.

He vaguely felt that things were getting out of his control. Although he very much wanted to kill Ding Hao, he did not want others to know he was colluding with the bamboo demon tribe. If the demon immortal masters went too far and really alarmed Tang Yuanhao, it would be a big problem.

Tang Yuanhao was a man who looked down on everyone, even the Tang Emperor. If he decided to act, he would definitely make it public.

The young prince felt it was inappropriate to let Elder Miao and the others return. First, he was unwilling, and second, Elder Miao would not leave. After some thought, he said, "Go and remind them to be careful! Tang Yuanhao is on the mountain top, and he is at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation. Killing them would only require a finger movement. If we really alarm Tang Yuanhao, I can't protect them."

Du Huo said, "Understood."

The young prince added, "Pass my words to Elder Miao verbatim, not a single word less."

Du Huo said, "Understood," and then turned to leave.

After he left, the young prince began to think again, "What kind of person could be backing that little brat Ding Hao?"

The bamboo demon tribe was searching for their missing companion, but the body had already been sent to the mountain top, to a quiet room.

Four people were gathered around the body: Tang Yuanhao, Chai Jin, Han Feixing, and Ling Yunxiao.

Tang Yuanhao glanced at the body and said, "Third Stage Qi Condensation, killed by a flying sword. It seems the person who killed him was an acquaintance, striking suddenly and catching him off guard! Look, he didn't even resist!"

Tang Yuanhao, who considered himself unparalleled, spoke with authority in the Nine Provinces. However, he didn't know that the black-clothed person didn't resist not because it was an acquaintance, but because they were controlled by a super-strong mental force and had no chance to act. Even with Tang Yuanhao's strength, he couldn't see that the person's soul had been taken after death.

Of course, the other old men around him couldn't see it either.

Chai Jin said, "I didn't expect that the autumn hunt of our two states would alarm the demon immortal masters. Our disciples are in danger!" As he spoke, he looked at Tang Yuanhao, hoping he would say, "I'll go."

However, Tang Yuanhao, who had cultivated to such a high level, had long regarded people as mere grass. Even if all the unknown disciples died, he wouldn't care.

"Since it was an acquaintance who did it, it means this is an internal conflict within the bamboo demon tribe, not directly related to our autumn hunt." Tang Yuanhao casually made an excuse and walked out.

Since Tang Yuanhao said this, the three people present could only think positively. After all, the dead person was at the Third Stage of Qi Condensation, and the one who killed him must have been even stronger. Ling Yunxiao and the others were also at the Third Stage of Qi Condensation, and if they rushed into the mountains now, they might be killed instead.

Han Feixing said, "For now, we should continue to observe the situation. If anything else happens, we will terminate the autumn hunt."

Ling Yunxiao also agreed.

Chai Jin said, "Let's observe for a while. I will have all the referees warn all the disciples. If anyone reports seeing a demon immortal master, we will terminate the hunt!"