Supreme Emperor of Mist

"Move around!" Huo Zunjie barely repelled a claw attack that came from a limb as wide as his physical body.

The other two responded to his warning silently by moving towards the rear of the demon beast. Using his strength of a third-level Flesh Refining Cultivator, Lu Yi attacked first.

"Mistral Core Long Fist!" the Spiritual Energy gathered around Lu Yi's right arm shook for a moment as it exploded upon contact with the demon beast. It was an exceptional blow from Lu Yi, which is comparable to the strength of a fourth-level.

Lu Qing Yun doesn't lose too much either.

Armed with only the heirloom dagger given by Qin Lan, her job was to reveal the weaker points of this demon beast that's protected by its neatly arranged scales.

"Back leg!" Lu Qing Yun scrapes the dagger along the demon beast's body that's about three meters long. The sound created from her action quickly caught the retaliation of the demon beast as it turned to Lu Qing Yun angrily.

(ROAR!)

A breath attack came towards her, bringing along a hint of pungent air. But the agile Lu Qing Yun dodged aside without losing her momentum. Aided with the Thousand Miles Travel in a Step movement art, Lu Qing Yun disappeared and appeared on the other side of the demon beast in a flash.

"Take this! Mirage Chain Fist!" Huo Zunjie added another punch on the demon beast's cheek. The teamwork of the three can be said to complement one another as they hunt this Yao Beast.

"Careful. The Yao Beast is preparing for something big." Qin Lan's warning came into their sense of hearing. The trio nodded at one another and retreated without hesitation.

(ROAR!!! - ROAR!!!)

Just as Qin Lan said, the Yao Beast is preparing for a deadly move. Spiritual Energy within its body blew outward in multiple jets of steam that's hot enough to deliver burning wounds even to a fourth-level cultivator.

"What a deadly attack. Worthy of being named as the Flameless Lizard Demon Beast," Lu Qing Yun shivered as she stays away from the reach of the boiling jets of steam.

"Get back down there and finish this fight. We've wasted quite some time against this Yao Beast." Qin Lan ordered. Qin Lan fired a projectile aiming at the Flameless Lizard Demon Beast's eyes when he finished his sentence.

(Roar!!!)

The Yao Beast rolled on the ground in pain as one of its eyes was blinded by Qin Lan's sneak attack. Added with the firepower from his three followers, they quickly dispose of the Flameless Lizard Demon Beast.

"Collect everything valuable here. We'll be leaving after an incense stick of time." Qin Lan appeared from one of the trees around them.

With a swift movement from his hand, Qin Lan stored the corpse into the Qiankun Bag as he moved around on his wheelchair. He then came to a stop before the thickest tree around them.

"Golden Yew Tree's Spiritual Sap. No wonder the Flameless Lizard Demon Beast unwilling to leave." Qin Lan directed his Spiritual Energy to scoop the ten or so drops of golden liquid from the gap and carefully placed it inside a liquid container.

"Young master, we're done here." Lu Yi, Lu Qing Yun, and Huo Zunjie came to Qin Lan's side after they have done ransacking for valuable ingredients around them. Since it was a competition, there's no reason for them to leave anything untouched for others to benefit from their effort.

With this area now cleared, their group's only option is to explore further towards the west from where they are.

"There's a team coming closer to our direction. From the way they're moving, something is chasing them from behind." Lu Qing Yun whispered by the side of Qin Lan's ear about five miles westward. It was a frantic Spiritual Energy undulation, weakened and afraid.

"Lu Yi, Huo Zunjie, went forward to have a look. Qing Yun, we'll standby here and act accordingly." Qin Lan pointed his finger forward as he gave them an instruction to follow.

About ten minutes later, a team of three members ran past the spot Qin Lan and Lu Qing Yun stayed earlier without looking back. Chasing in pursuit is a pack of Fanged Demon Boars.

"Fanged Demon Boar... Did they mess with their nest?" Qin Lan chuckled. But since no rules prohibiting them from killing off what their fellow competitors couldn't, Qin Lan decided to lend them a hand.

"Let's help them." Qin Lan left his wheelchair and removed his azure-colored clothing that could easily expose his identity as the young master of the Qin Household. With the mask covering his face, he charged into the pack of Fanged Demon Boars with a completely different set of martial skills.

"Golden Lord Holy Fist!" Qin Lan's subpar imitation martial art blast open the brain of a second-level Fanged Demon Boar the moment he struck.

"There's an expert!" the running team of three stopped on their track and turned their head around. One of them falls on the ground instantly as he turned, perhaps due to his injury on the waist.

Qin Lan, who was in disguise, then pointed two of his fingers at a group of Fanged Demon Boars. That gave Lu Yi and Huo Zunjie, who's following the team from behind, enough hint on what they have to do.

As for Lu Qing Yun, she sneaked behind the team of three and disarmed them.

It was an easy task for Qin Lan's team to defeat the pack of fifteen Fanged Demon Boars. After he's done collecting the spoil from the battle, Qin Lan approached the three and questioned them.

"Explain in detail. What happened?" Qin Lan controlled the muscle on his throat and adjusted his tone. This way, he won't be sound like a youngster.

Furthermore, the team of three before him is all donned with the garment of the Jiao Household servants. Not killing them immediately to get rid of the threat to the Qin Household can be counted as a mercy from Qin Lan to them.

"We - We're under our young master's order to scout ahead. But two of our teammates messed up and disturbed a young Fanged Demon Boar, so the situation ended up like what fellow cultivator have seen." one of them answered.

Qin Lan scanned their facial expression while he was given an explanation. One of them failed to control his emotion after he listened to his teammate's reply.

"Take this. Since you've replied to my question, it's a must for me to show you a hint of appreciation." Qin Lan opened the medicinal bottle in his hand a poured a pellet of Flesh Mending Pill out in front of them.

"Thank you, fellow cultivator!" the Jiao Household servant immediately took the Flesh Mending Pill and directed his spiritual energy to hasten up the healing process. The other two could only look at him with a slight hint of jealousy.

(Why aren't two of you taking the bait? Keep it up and tell me what's in your mind...)

Qin Lan baited them as he took his own sweet time to tighten the cork on the medicinal bottle. He even gave the bottle a light shake to show that there are more pellets within the bottle.

"Fellow cultivator, may I add something my colleague missed?" one of them added quickly before Qin Lan leaves them here.

"Oh? There's more?" this time, Qin Lan's tone changed. The way he speaks made the two remaining servants from Jiao Household felt a hint of moodiness from him.

"There's a Golden Spiritual Vine in the middle of their nest!" the Jiao Household servant with an injury on his waist answered. His reply made the other two stare intensely at him, blaming him in their mind for exposing the secret.

(Great... Keep it up...)

Qin Lan secretly smirks as he noticed that the team started to have their own internal disagreement. For him, nothing is better than allowing the enemy of his household to break apart internally on their own.

Of course, the news about the Golden Spiritual Vine is indeed shocking to Qin Lan. The plant might be mediocre during his peak as the sect leader of the Kuangshan Lu Sect. But in this place, it can be said to be one of the top grade treasures in the realm of Precelestial.

(Golden Yew Tree's Spiritual Sap, Golden Spiritual Vine, and the Spiritual Serenity Grass... All of these treasures keep popping up around me...)

Qin Lan took another bottle out from his waistbelt. Pouring one pellet from the two containers, he gave both of them to the Jiao Household servant with an injury on his waist.

"Let's go." Qin Lan turned around and get ready to leave.

"Fellow cultivator, please wait." the last one amongst the team of three begged Qin Lan to stay.

"Do you have anything to add?" Qin Lan pitied him as he turned around to look at him.

"My.. Young master is there. Be careful." unexpected to Qin Lan, this servant actually used the final bit of his hope to sow a cycle of karma between him and Qin Lan. Perhaps his conscience wasn't as corrupt as the other two.

"I will. You should leave the forest before I start to make a mess." Qin Lan said. After he's done talking, Qin Lan vanished from his spot, bringing his three followers along with him.

They remained quiet for close to half an incense stick of time before one of them started to speak.

"You're a dead man. Stay right there until I recover, and I'll send you to the afterlife. Don't worry about your family as I'll make sure to take care of your two younger sisters until I'm tired of screwing them." the one who received Qin Lan's Flesh Mending Pill said.

"What a fool. You should just think of something instead of talking about our young master." the one with an injury on his waist added.

"Let's hope we won't meet again." the third servant turned around and left as Qin Lan advised. What he did not know is that it will be the most accurate decision he had ever made in his life.

A full incense stick of time later, when both servants recovered, they immediately gave chase to the servant that left their team. A hint of euphoria came to them as they felt that they're getting closer to breaking through to the next level of Flesh Refining Layer.

But at the same time, it dulled all their sense.

The two eventually stumble across a pack of demon beast that's hunting for the delicious smell and end up as a pile of bones.