How Ye Qin slew the leader of that ninth-tier Red Water Demon Oxes remained quite unclear to the twenty-odd Golden Core cultivators below. The light from the Five Elements Artifacts was too intense, and Ye Qin's movements were far too swift. He tore through the torrent of water arrows, plunged downward, and in the blink of an eye, burst out from the midst of the demon beast horde again.
The cultivators had no time for further scrutiny. Having lost their leader, the Red Water Demon Ox herd descended into sheer, panicked chaos, even trampling one another, entirely devoid of their former surging might.
These were cultivators seasoned by years on the Blood Sea battlefield; they instantly recognized this as a golden opportunity to slay demons. They charged down, pressing their advantage while the herd was disordered, dedicating their full power to surrounding and annihilating these Red Water Demon Oxes.
In less time than it takes half an incense stick to burn, their group of twenty-odd Golden Core cultivators had routed the entire demon beast herd, leaving fifty or sixty Red Water Demon Oxes scattering wildly across the wilderness. Some cultivators peeled off to gather the slain beasts, while the rest pursued the fleeing ones.
However, their own magical power and talismans were heavily depleted, and several had even sustained injuries amidst the confusion.
At that moment, another wave of nearly a hundred demon beasts surged forth from the sea, and overhead, a considerable number of demonic birds were rapidly diving toward their location.
Ye Qin gazed toward the distant sea sky, frowning. Seeing that the situation had turned perilous and pressing on would likely result in significant personnel losses, he roared, "Retreat!" He immediately recalled his troops, pulling back toward Stone City.
......
Far out on the surface of the sea, several demon cultivator scouts skimmed low over the water, cautiously observing the battle unfolding on the island.
The death of a wave of demon beasts caused them not even the slightest flicker of concern.
In the vast, blood-red sea, demon beasts were countless. Driving mere throngs of beasts to attack a city or probe the strength of the Eastern Sea cultivators stationed there—such sacrifices were utterly insignificant. Such hordes of beasts were practically inexhaustible in the Blood Sea.
For the demon race, status was reserved only for those who reached the tenth tier of demonic cultivation, achieving transformation and unlocking true sentience and innate aptitude. Demonic beasts below the ninth tier possessed only muddled intelligence and held no standing whatsoever within demon society. Unless bound by close blood ties, demon cultivators would not regard common, low-tier beasts as kin.
This disparity was akin to how human cultivators do not consider monkeys as their own kind.
Moreover, the demon race comprised myriad different clans, and these beasts before them did not belong to the same lineage; their demise brought no emotional burden whatsoever.
After observing for a while, noting that the first wave of attacks yielded little result beyond luring out some Golden Core cultivators, they drove an even larger contingent of sea beasts ashore to continue assaulting the Stone City on the island.
Just as the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Eastern Sea were only interested in demon cultivators of the tenth tier and above, never bothering to hunt low-tier beasts, the demon cultivators, likewise, were solely interested in hunting Nascent Soul cultivators and rarely took the initiative to hunt Golden Core cultivators.
Until they had accurately gauged the strength of the cultivators inside this island's Stone City—specifically, how many Nascent Soul experts were present—they would not act rashly. They were currently calculating precisely how many demon cultivators would need to be mobilized to conquer the Stone City erected by these Eastern Sea cultivators.
......
Over the subsequent twenty-odd days, under the relentless battering of wave after wave of demon beasts, the defense of Stone City grew increasingly arduous. The entire island had become a battleground; the hundreds of Golden Core cultivators from the Purple Sword Palace and the Allied Palace fought fiercely against the demon hordes in the wilderness.
In one particular combat zone on the plains:
A large swarm of over a hundred Iron Feather Demon Eagles, under the fierce screech of their leader, unleashed barrages of wind blades and iron feather arrows, engaging the dozens of Golden Core cultivators who had formed Sword Formations mid-air. Eagles occasionally plummeted, injured cultivators retreated, and the two sides reached a stalemate.
Suddenly, a momentary gap appeared in the Iron Feather Demon Eagle swarm’s assault. A streak of azure light seized the opening, blasting directly into the heart of the eagle pack, its five-colored radiance flaring brilliantly.
The azure streak struck true, aiming directly for the Demon Eagle leader’s vital point, before immediately darting out of the avian cluster.
Seeing this supremely familiar sight, the gathered cultivators recognized the turning of the tide in their favor. Their spirits instantly lifted, and they pressed their attack with renewed vigor.
.......
“Elder Ye’s methods are too ferocious! In all my years fighting, I’ve never seen anyone dare to charge alone into a beast horde like that to slay the leader! Among the highest-ranked Golden Core stage eight and nine cultivators in both our Purple Sword Palace and your Immortal Palace, who would dare?”
“It’s easy enough to kill one demon beast, but a horde is always the hardest to deal with! Especially since the leader of any swarm is protected by a massive guard contingent and never acts alone. If you fail to kill the leader and get surrounded by the guards, you’re instantly trapped in layers of encirclement—certain death!”
“Exactly. If trapped by just a few high-tier beasts, even the Nascent Soul Ancestor stationed in the city wouldn't have time to intervene!”
“Doesn't Elder Ye fear being caught within the horde and unable to escape?”
“While this method yields swift victory, it is terribly risky. Grabbing an opportunity once or twice to pull this off is manageable, but doing it every time is nearly impossible. Just a few days ago, a captain from another squad tried to emulate Elder Ye’s tactic by entering the horde to kill the leader; alas, one misstep led to his death! That squad is still deeply shaken when the matter is mentioned; they've already gotten a new leader, but they dare not attempt such a reckless maneuver again.”
“Only Elder Ye possesses such courage and skill. It’s no wonder he became an elder of the Purple Sword Palace while others could not. If this Daoist possessed half his strength, I would have long since climbed into the top hundred, perhaps even the top ten, of the Demonic Beast Slaying Rankings for Golden Core cultivators.”
When the fighting was fierce, the cultivators had no leisure for lamentation. Only when the beast tide temporarily receded and the cultivators returned to the city walls to rest, tallying their spoils, did they discover that more than half of the strongest ninth-tier and eighth-tier beasts within the horde had perished by Ye Qin’s hand. Discussions were inevitable.
Not only did Ye Qin reap immense rewards, but his own squad also benefited significantly from the dramatic increase in successful beast horde defeats, seeing their spoils multiply by at least threefold compared to before.
Numerous other Golden Core cultivators even approached him humbly, seeking guidance on the secrets of hunting demon beasts.
Ye Qin offered no comment on the gossip, knowing the truth of his own situation.
The reason he dared to act this way was not because his courage surpassed that of the other Golden Core leaders.
In fact, the opposite was true; he was inherently cautious and would never engage in risky ventures lightly.
He dared because he possessed a shape-shifting Skeleton Demon as his bodyguard—a trump card for absolute self-preservation. If he charged into the horde and made a mistake, failing to kill the leader and becoming encircled, he could instantly release the Skeleton Demon to blast his way out of the siege without issue.
He had a hundred percent certainty of survival, backed by confidence and overwhelmingly powerful offensive means; naturally, he could proceed as he did.
Without the Skeleton Demon in hand, even with the formidable power of the Great Five Elements Sword Array, if his odds of survival were only slightly over fifty percent, he still would not risk charging into a horde to hunt its leader so frequently. For other cultivators at the same stage, even with seventy or eighty percent confidence, they might hesitate to do this so often. Because, if they failed even once in ten attempts, the outcome was outright death, with no possibility of luck intervening.
Naturally, Ye Qin would never reveal his true secrets—why he dared to assault the hordes and slay their leaders.
Ye Qin gathered the Golden Core cultivators under his command, finalized the accounting of their gains, distributed the demon cores and materials harvested from the various beasts, and then returned to his residence within the city to temporarily recuperate, restoring the magical power depleted in battle, preparing for the next engagement.
This wave of the beast tide persisted for nearly a month.
Over that month, Ye Qin hunted a total of thirteen ninth-tier demon beasts, twenty-seven eighth-tier beasts, and casually killed countless seventh-tier beasts along the way. He managed to slay several high-tier beasts almost daily. If the high-tier beasts hadn't operated in tight formations, the number he killed would certainly have been higher.
Even so, the sheer quantity of beasts Ye Qin had slain left the majority of the Golden Core cultivators in Stone City utterly awestruck. In the past several years, the number of beasts they had killed only amounted to a fraction of what Ye Qin had hunted in a single month.
Ye Qin submitted his acquired demon cores and the Flowing Shadow Mirror to the Heavenly Dao Alliance, receiving commensurate high-value material rewards and merit points.
The following month, the Golden Core Demonic Beast Slaying Rankings underwent a new round of tabulation and ranking adjustments.
“Ye Qin, Golden Core Stage Eight, Elder of the Purple Sword Palace. Ranked two hundred and thirteen. Slew thirteen ninth-tier demon beasts, twenty-seven eighth-tier demon beasts, and forty-five seventh-tier demon beasts.”
Zhou Yi, the Young Palace Master of the Purple Sword Palace, also managed to break into the top one thousand this month, surging directly to rank seven hundred and seventy-something. Had Ye Qin’s ranking not preceded his, such a record would certainly have been astonishing, making him famous throughout the Eastern Sea Cultivation World and marking him as an elite among Golden Core cultivators.
However, with Ye Qin’s ranking established first, Zhou Yi’s achievement seemed slightly overshadowed, attracting less attention than it deserved.
As soon as the latest Golden Core Demonic Beast Slaying Rankings were released, they caused a massive stir among the Golden Core cultivators participating in the beast tide defense within the Purple Sword Palace’s enormous island stronghold.
When Ye Qin first joined the fray, they hadn't fully grasped it, only noting his explosive combat power, the decisive and fierce nature of his attacks, and a level of audacity that left them stunned; the overall strength he displayed made the Golden Core cultivators of the Purple Sword Palace and their numerous allied Immortal Palaces somewhat incredulous.
Now, with the public release of the rankings, Ye Qin had leapt from the single-page listing to rank two hundred and twelve. With the detailed account of his kills made public, the hundreds of Golden Core cultivators in Stone City finally comprehended just how terrifying the strength Ye Qin had demonstrated truly was.
In reality, this was merely a portion of Ye Qin’s power that he allowed to be displayed; his true trump cards—including the shape-shifting Skeleton Demon, the Great Winged Warship, and even minor divine-ability artifacts—had never been revealed.
The power Ye Qin showcased was enough to completely win over the submission of the Golden Core cultivators from the Purple Sword Palace and all allied palaces, securing recognition for his status and capability. The previous cold remarks, sour envy, and jealousy vanished without a trace.
When a cultivator’s strength becomes so high that peers can only look up from afar, all that remains is reverence.
A Nascent Soul cultivator had once commented that Ye Qin, practicing the Great Five Elements Sword Array, at the peak of Golden Core Stage Nine, could roughly achieve half the combat power of an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. —This was already an extremely high evaluation, as cultivators capable of bridging half the chasm between the Golden Core and Nascent Soul realms were likely few and far between in the entire Eastern Sea Cultivation World.
Such battle results fully validated that assessment.
The various Nascent Soul cultivators who had been lurking both inside and outside the city, observing the battle, were mostly filled with profound astonishment and admiration.
The most uplifted, undoubtedly, were the cultivators of the Purple Sword Palace. Ye Qin practiced the Purple Sword Palace’s Great Five Elements Sword Array. The saying, "Invincible among Golden Core cultivators of the same tier," was proven true and not mere bragging. Regardless of anything else, this was an honor for the Purple Sword Palace.