Chapter 68: Chapter 66: Yang Lie When the dust settled, the entire herd of beasts had been vanquished. "Haha, that was really tough!" Chu River laughed heartily as he put away his magical artifact. The battle had lasted too long, and the hammer-shaped artifact he wielded was cumbersome. His divine sense was extremely fatigued, and his magical power was nearly depleted. If the battle didn’t end soon, he would be in danger. The other members of the squad weren’t faring much better. The Ape King’s combat power exceeded expectations by far, and Wood Element Demon Beasts were notoriously resilient, making victory incredibly challenging. "No need to rush in extracting the demon beast essence blood. Qiuyue and I will stand guard while the rest of you quickly regain your magical power." Chen Moxuan shouted. This was the realm of the Ape Demons, and other demon beasts dared not venture here. As long as no other demon hunting squads passed by, all the spirit medicines across Cangyun Ridge belonged to them. Restoring magical power now meant that they would not be afraid of any demon hunting squads passing by to seize resources. Ji An’s magical power was also almost exhausted. Unable to worry about the dirt, he sat cross-legged on the ground, clutching a spirit stone to quickly regain his power, while the Spirit-Seeking Rat obediently ran over to keep watch for its master. The spiritual power contained in the spirit stone was rather turbulent, causing a slight swelling pain in his immortal vein, lacking the refreshing sensation experienced in normal cultivation. After exhausting a spirit stone completely, Ji An had only recovered about thirty percent of his magical power due to the interference of the Stone Turtle. He became secretly vigilant, deciding to stock up on more talismans in the future and learn to conserve magical power as much as possible. The presence of the Stone Turtle greatly reduced his endurance in long battles. When he opened his eyes, he saw Chen Moxuan and Jiang Qiuyue already starting to absorb power from their spirit stones. Tian Yulei was on guard duty, while Chu River was picking Jade Spirit Fruits. Hearing noises nearby, Tian Yulei turned with a kind smile. This was the second time he had followed the squad to such a bountiful harvest. Opportunities like this only came about once every few years. Half of this rich reward was due to their newly joined senior brother. When Ji An approached, he suppressed his joy and said softly: "Senior brother, you come and keep watch, I’ll go handle the demon beasts. Hehe, what a big haul! I think our storage bags might not be enough; we’ll have to pick only the most valuable items to take." "Alright." Ji An agreed, then took out a Beast Taming Token and instructed the Spirit-Seeking Rat to search for spiritual objects nearby. The Spirit-Seeking Rat squeaked and darted into the underbrush. After a quarter of an hour, Chen Moxuan and the others also woke up, and everyone began cleaning up the battlefield. The essence blood and hide of the Ape Demons were all in high demand; the Wood Element Demon Beast meat was exceptionally nutritious, but they certainly couldn’t take it all. "Junior Brother Ji, come with me. Let’s see if there are any treasures in the Ape Demons’ lair, while the others continue to clear the battlefield but remain vigilant." Chen Moxuan was in a great mood. Since Mo Ya Mountain opened, many cultivators had eyed this group of Ape Demons, and quite a few lost their lives because of it. Demon beasts with higher spiritual wisdom often had the habit of collecting spoils. The cave where the Ape Demons resided was close to the Jade Spirit Fruit Tree, with a peach tree at the entrance, although it was not a Spirit Fruit Tree. Ji An activated the Stone Turtle Shield and entered the cave first, surrounded by twelve earth-hued armor plates infused with yellow spirit light. Chen Moxuan nodded approvingly, gripping a defense talisman in his hand as he followed closely behind into the cave. While there shouldn’t be any enemies lurking in the cave, one could never be too careful. No one knew what unexpected events might occur during demon hunting. Apart from a slightly fishy odor, Ji An found the cave unexpectedly tidy, with a pile of white bones, some magical artifacts, and several storage bags scattered at the far end. Chen Moxuan sighed upon entering: "Cultivators hunt demons, only to be hunted in return. Such is the cycle of the Celestial Dao." Feeling a sense of sorrow for his own kind, he lamented the many white bones on the path of cultivation, wondering whether he too would share the same fate one day. He quickly adjusted his mood and shifted the conversation: "We must carry on the legacy of our peers, and strive to walk further on the path of cultivation." The two advanced to gather things, with Chen Moxuan shaking his head repeatedly. "This magical artifact has long been devoid of spiritual qi nourishment; it’s beyond repair and can only be sold for materials." "This storage bag was forcibly torn by the Cyan Wood Ape and can’t be used. What a pity." After searching the cave thoroughly, Chen Moxuan gnashed his teeth: "Damn, not a single usable storage bag! Only eleven damaged magical artifacts and two relatively intact ones." "That’s quite good; there were also forty-five spirit stones, which I didn’t expect." Just as Ji An finished speaking, urgent whistling sounded outside the cave. Chen Moxuan’s face darkened, and he immediately rushed out: "Someone’s coming, follow me." The whistling was their prearranged signal, indicating they had encountered other cultivators. Ji An raised his Stone Turtle Shield and grabbed a few talismans, quickly following after casting the Wind Control Technique. Rushing out of the cave, he saw four Talisman Birds approaching in the distance. Chen Moxuan shouted softly, "They do not come with good intentions, prepare for battle!" As Ji An drew closer, his vision cleared, revealing the leader as a bald cultivator clad in only a short vest, with brawny, muscular arms covered in knotted, robust muscles, and bronze skin glistening with a metallic sheen. He felt that he had seen this person somewhere before, a feeling of familiarity. "That bald man is Yang Lie, a body refining disciple from the sect." Jiang Qiuyue’s pupils contracted slightly. Yang Lie was well-known among demon hunting disciples, strong and among the top tier. The other team members were also very capable, each with Ninth-Layer Qi Refining cultivation. While no notorious deeds had been heard of, a powerful squad approaching without following the unspoken rules inherently represented a threat. The sect strictly prohibited disciples from killing each other, but in the wilderness, who knew how many actually upheld this rule? Sufficient profit could drive many to become as demons themselves. Four of them landed about thirty feet from the squad. Yang Lie tilted his head and whispered with his teammates for a bit, then casually walked forward a few more paces and stopped: "So it’s Junior Brother Chen, eh? Didn’t expect you guys to beat us to it. Our squad has been eyeing this group of Ape Demons for a while, ready to go all out. Looks like we won’t even get a taste." He patted his waist, where four storage bags dangled. Chen Moxuan cupped his hands and replied, "Senior brother indeed came late, but there’s still a good amount of demon beast meat here. We can offer it to you; it wouldn’t be a wasted trip." Demon beast meat wasn’t something they could take all of, so they took a step back to see the opponent’s reaction. "Haha, my appetite is big, a bit of demon beast meat won’t satisfy me." Yang Lie grinned, tossing out three storage bags: "If you were loose cultivators, you wouldn’t leave here without leaving something. But since we’re all sect disciples, not uniting outside makes us no different from loose cultivators, does it? Your squad has impressive combat power, let’s fight side by side in the future. The items are lent to you, return them later." Yang Lie turned around, signaling his squad members to ride the Talisman Birds and fly away. Chen Moxuan shouted: "Thank you, Senior Brother! Let’s have a drink together later." "The liquor should be strong, and the meat plenty!" Laughter rolled into the sky.