Qin, disturbing neither the demon bat king hanging from the ceiling nor his own lithe movements, retreated to the mouth of the cave. He withdrew to a cavern several dozen feet away from the main opening, settled cross-legged, grasped a spirit stone, and began meditating with his eyes closed. Two hours later, he had completely recovered all the magical power he had expended earlier.

During this respite, he repeatedly pondered his strategy.

In an open area, he would never dare provoke this second-tier flying demonic beast. Without the coordination of a squad of Qi Refining stage cultivators, slaying the demon bat king would be impossible.

However, the confines of the bat cave, with its many narrow passages that only permitted one person to pass through at a time, presented him with an opportunity. By exploiting the limitations of the cave's terrain and reinforcing it with a barricade of Fire Thorns, he stood a chance of hunting the demon bat king alone.

Ye Qin calculated every possible scenario.

Approximately twenty feet from the main cavern, in an extremely narrow spot, he scattered over twenty Fire Thorn seeds, establishing a dense, interwoven blockade of flame-wreathed vines. This net of Fire Thorns was composed of more than a hundred thick and thin branches wound together, sufficiently sturdy and resilient.

The demon bat's greatest asset was its agility and nimbleness; its offensive power and defense were unremarkable. He was confident that even with the bat king’s sharpest fangs and the mightiest beat of its wings, it would struggle to tear through this thicket in a short amount of time.

Ye Qin darted into the vicinity of the cavern entrance and unleashed a faint, reddish Wind Blade toward the snow-white demon bat king.

Perhaps the bat king had been undisturbed for too long, for it was sleeping soundly.

Yet, the sharp Wind Blade managed to rouse it. It abruptly snapped open its gleaming, dark eyes, and its snow-white wings flared open violently.

Thwump!

The snow-white silhouette vanished from the cave ceiling. It reappeared moments later, soaring in the center of the cavern space, its massive wings fully extended. Each wing spanned nearly ten feet, tipped with vicious claws. Its entire body measured over twenty feet long—undoubtedly a behemoth.

However, a small gash had opened on the fur above its forehead, releasing a trickle of pale blood. It had clearly failed to evade the rapid Wind Blade, but its fur was exceptionally tough, and the strike had resulted only in a minor cut.

The demon bat king opened its maw, baring its fangs, and hissed ominously. Its white, rodent-like face appeared particularly savage and enraged; no one had ever challenged its dominance.

Hoo, hoo!

With a powerful beat of its wings, radiating intimidating force, it swooped toward Ye Qin at the cave entrance. Its speed was terrifying.

Ye Qin, even exerting his full control over the Wind Control Art, could only leap about ten feet at a time, covering thirty to forty feet in a single breath. This demon bat king, however, utilized "Void Flash"—a single flap of its wings could transport it instantly over ten feet away.

Both were wind-based spells, yet the difference between them was vast.

The Wind Control Art required a measurable passage of time to travel from one point to another. The Void Flash, however, consumed no perceptible time, allowing the physical body to essentially teleport.

One was a low-level wind spell that nearly every cultivator knew; the other was an advanced wind spell achievable only after mastering wind magic to an extremely high degree. The gulf between them was glaringly obvious.

Ye Qin was unaware that the demon bat king possessed the Void Flash, but he had anticipated its extreme speed and was prepared, clutching an Earth Escape Talisman in his hand. Startled by the beast’s deployment of such a nearly monstrous, high-tier wind spell, he immediately crushed the talisman. With a flicker, his figure vanished underground, reappearing twenty feet beyond the hidden Fire Thorn barricade.

The demon bat king beat its wings twice, clawing at the space where Ye Qin had stood at the cave mouth, only to grasp empty air and shatter a piece of rock. It turned its head in confusion, scanning the various parts of the cavern, unable to comprehend where Ye Qin had gone.

Soon, the demon bat king noticed a faint, fiery glow in the distant tunnel opening, accompanied by a slight disturbance. Annoyed, it plunged into the stone passage, alternately flying and leaping forward. Its immense size prevented it from flying within the tunnel, which was only one to two feet high.

It quickly arrived before the dense wall of Fire Thorns that completely sealed the passage. The intruder who had attacked it was hiding just behind it.

Seeing that the beast had indeed followed him into the tunnel, Ye Qin was overjoyed. He rapidly formed the hand seals for the Wind Blade spell, summoning successive blades that shot through the gaps in the thorns, raining down upon the demon bat king.

In the narrow tunnel, the bat king had no room to evade. Several Wind Blades struck it squarely on the head—Ye Qin had aimed specifically for vital points: eyes, nose, and ears.

Its face was lacerated with numerous wounds, immediately enraging it. It violently attempted to unfurl its wings to activate the Void Flash and charge forward. The tunnel was so constricted that its wings could only open halfway.

CRACK!

The Void Flash was clumsily executed. But it was immediately blocked by the Fire Thorns barring its path. It slammed directly into the incredibly solid intercepting net woven from twenty Fire Thorns.

The meticulously placed Fire Thorn barrier Ye Qin had established was no mere decoration. Hundreds of fiery spikes viciously embedded themselves into its wings. Intense fire poison rapidly permeated its flesh at hundreds of points, seeping into its bones and blood, causing its blood to nearly boil. A surge of agony rushed toward its head.

Screeeech—!

The demon bat king wailed in agony. The fluid in its brain felt on the verge of boiling. Its eyes turned scarlet and frenzied, stripping it of all reason, plunging it into a state of madness. It now possessed no capacity for thought, merely biting, slashing, and frantically battering the Fire Thorn barrier, unleashing every spell it knew to destroy everything within its sight.

The incredibly sturdy interception net shook precariously under its frenzied assault.

Ye Qin’s face paled in horror. The crazed bat king, though irrational, possessed vastly increased offensive power. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out a handful of seeds and scattered them, reinforcing the existing net with ten more Fire Thorn shrubs. Then, he unleashed a volley of Wind Blades, hacking at the demon bat king’s head.

The bat king shrieked in pain. Its blood-soaked mouth gaped open, and a miniature hurricane erupted from deep within its throat, rolling toward Ye Qin behind the Fire Thorn barrier. The barrier failed to stop this insidious tempest.

Ye Qin had no time to react. It felt like being struck by a massive tidal wave. With a thunderous impact, he was thrown several feet away, slamming against the rock wall, spitting out a mouthful of thick, dark blood. His protective shield had also dimmed considerably.

Ye Qin tumbled to the ground, ignoring the deep, bone-aching pain, and looked up. His heart seized.

The Fire Thorn barrier had been shredded in several dozen places by the small hurricane, creating a large breach. The demon bat king was tearing and biting at the hole, trying to force its bulky body through the line of defense.

Ye Qin hastily retreated several dozen feet and, in a flurry, began setting up a second interception net to further block the beast’s advance.

He didn't finish in time.

The demon bat king burst through the first barrier and charged ferociously toward his position. Ye Qin saw escape was impossible. He had been forced into a desperate, close-quarters brawl with the demon bat king—it was a fight to the death.

A look of ruthless determination flashed in his eyes. He flipped his hand, producing the Palm Sword, and flung it forward fiercely. Simultaneously, he pushed off the ground with his feet and retreated backward to avoid being struck by the beast.

Thwack!

In its current state of frenzy, the demon bat king showed no instinct for evasion. The spiritual weapon, the Palm Sword, plunged directly into its head. Boiling hot brain matter erupted outward. The creature then convulsed and thrashed spasmodically. Judging by its movements, it would be nearly dead once the spasms subsided.

Ye Qin floated down to the ground and let out a long breath.

He muttered a word of sheer luck. Had the demon bat king not completely lost its mind, and had the tunnel not been so utterly narrow, that thrust would never have struck its head, let alone killed it.

The second-tier demon beast, the bat king, was finally "worn down" to death. While this method of dispatching it felt somewhat dishonorable, if it worked, it sufficed.

Meditating to restore his magical power, Ye Qin immediately flew past the corpse of the demon bat king and entered the large cavern at the rear. The pile of "Luminous Droppings" was still undisturbed in the center of the chamber.

No other demonic beasts would dare inhabit the roost of the demon bat king. Ye Qin approached with confidence. This Luminous Dropping was Spirit Sand, in no way comparable to ordinary bat dung. He successfully transferred the small pile of over a thousand pieces of crystalline Luminous Droppings into his Zi Fu.

After securing the spirit sand, Ye Qin meticulously searched the entire main cavern for any other treasures. To his utter astonishment and delight, several stalks of green spirit grass were growing in the cave. They had three scalloped leaves, slightly curled, and were rather unremarkable in appearance.

“Luminous Grass!”

Ye Qin instantly recognized it, gasping out the name. The mission scroll from the Azure Pill Sect mentioned this specific spiritual herb, and he was already intimately familiar with it. This herb often grew alongside Luminous Droppings and possessed properties that aided in warding off darkness and improving eyesight.

He let out a wry laugh. After all this effort—slaying a second-tier demon bat king and thousands of lesser bats—he had finally found the single item required for the Azure Pill Sect mission. This mission was truly excessive. Who in the entirety of Xian Yuan City could accomplish such a feat? Even a full squad of ninth-level Qi Refining cultivators charging into the bat cave would likely meet a collective demise.

Ye Qin harvested the Luminous Grass. Finding nothing else, he left the cavern and returned to the tunnel, stopping beside the corpse of the demon bat king. It lay completely still. Enduring the foul stench, he reached into the creature’s brain matter and retrieved his Palm Sword.

After a moment’s thought, he also severed a pair of the demon bat king’s massive wings and two of its long fangs, storing them in his Zi Fu. He planned to bring these raw materials—harvested from a second-tier demonic king—back to Xian Yuan City to see if they could be forged into spiritual artifacts, as such materials were rare there.