Supreme Emperor of Mist

"Bang! - Bang! - Bang!" fireworks deafen the Fu-Rong Town square as the senior and elderly residents preparing for the yearly ritual before participants leaving into the Western Demon Forest.

Crowds of people of all ages gathered around the square as they celebrated the festival with trinkets, food, and goods available for purchase.

A Treasure Master that's privately hired by the town committees turned up as the host and initiator for today's ritual. Each of the teams was also given a Qiankun Pouch to store all the loot they captured within.

About three hours later, the total number of 230 teams departed. That's around 1,100 participants altogether. But only a few of them from the four households in Fu-Rong Town can afford to reduce their trouble with the help of a Protective or Offensive Treasure.

"Qin Lan, you better be safe. I'll wait for you outside here a week later." Hu Jia said as she gave Qin Lan a look filled with a yearning for his recognition. It was something that never happened to Hu Jia before.

"Third brother, we'll go in first." Qin Qin, Qin Qi, Qin Huang, and Qin Hu politely informed Qin Lan, the eldest amongst them, before they left.

The others cupped their hand as they walked past Qin Lan's party.

"Young master, shall we go?" Lu Qing Yun asked. For their first day, Lu Yi and Huo Zunjie will be given the task as their vanguard for the day.

"Let's depart. We'll head straight to the eastern outskirt where the Yellowtail Fox Demon gathered." Qin Lan has already planned their route before the Annual Hunting Festival Started. Furthermore, now was the time they properly utilize the knowledge, experience, and maps they recorded so far.

...

...

"Mirage Chain Fist!"

"Profound Projection Fist!"

Lu Yi and Huo Zunjie's attack robbed the life of a demon beast wherever they passed. But like the entire Western Demon Forest is in havoc, more targets are steadily getting closer to their position like it was in a full alert.

"Young Master, we have three more Black Haired Rodent Demon Beast coming toward us." Lu Qing Yun pointed at their northeast direction.

"Qing Yun, you'll handle them. I will be around until all of you have returned." Qin Lan spread the paper-fan in his hand open and fanned himself.

"Qing Yun will come back quickly." Lu Qing Yun made her move. A few steps from her average-mastery Thousand Miles Travel in a Step movement art brought her twenty or more meters ahead.

The moment she encountered the two Black Haired Rodent Demon Beast in her sight, Lu Qing Yun stabbed her index finger into the chest of the Rodent Demon.

"Piercing Wave..."

**Duh!**

A hole appeared on the Rodent Demon as it collapsed onto the ground without twitching.

"Your turn," Lu Qing Yun shifted her attention on the second Black Haired Rodent Demon Beast. Her indifferent attitude shows how calm is her mental state, after putting in so much effort into cultivating the Clear Cloud Lotus Art.

"Roar!" the Rodent Demon struggled. But in the end, it turned into two dead corpses.

"Young Master, we're back." Lu Yi, Lu Qing Yun, and Huo Zunjie came back with eight corpses belonged to the demon beasts they hunted. In one of their backpack, it was filled with medicinal herbs that are useful for their seven days journey.

"Great. Let's continue. We'll have to make it to where the Yellowtail Fox Demon gathered before the sun sets." Qin Lan said. Checking the content of the Qiankun Pouch, he's satisfied with their current result of sixteen demon beast hunted. Twelve first-level of Flesh Refining and four second-level.

...

...

"Milady, we should look for a place to raise our camp soon." Hu Jia's servant came closer to Hu Jia and reported. From a bird's eye view, her current location is just about 25miles away north from Qin Lan.

As for the other team consisted of Qin family members, they're located at the far western side of the forest, about 150miles from Qin Lan's initial position.

Following behind them is a team from the Chu Household. Meanwhile, the Jiao Household's fifteen teams are those located frontmost, almost to the border between the outer and inner forest.

Bloodshed started the moment the sun finally sets.

Without the light from the sun, the demon beast became much more active compared to when the sun is above them. And since there are more nocturnal demon beasts residing in the outskirt section, a large scale of demon beast movement is finally happening.

The reason is likely due to the large presence of humans inside the Western Demon Forest itself.

"Demons! Demon Beast is launching their night attack!"

"Wake up! We're under attack!" it was a mess inside this forest with 1,100 human participants.

Without notice or signal of their attack, the Demon Beasts struck deep into their camp, intending to devour until no bones are left. It was only their first night, and there are close to twenty teams that are either eliminated or disqualified.

"Milady," Hu Jia's servants protected her in all four directions.

"Fourth sister, fifth sister," Qin Huang placed four pieces of Demonic Amulets on the trees around them to create a defensive barrier to protect themselves from this night raid.

"Let's do it," Chu Heng, Chu Yun, and Chu Qian Team prepared to fight to the death against the incoming wave of demon beasts.

Further ahead from them, the Jiao Household band together as they created a wide-scale formation to trap the demon beast as they fought against the demon beast swarm.

"The real challenge of this seven days of Annual Hunting Festival is finally here! Only the strongest remain! The weak shall become fodder and remain in the Western Demon Forest!" a same collective thought came into their mind as they accepted the trial.

At the same time...

"We're here, young master." Lu Yi and Qin Lan made a stop right before the hole leading to a burrow underground. Skeletons belonged to both human and animals are scattered all around the entrance, making this location seems eerie compared to the place the other participants is at.

"Start deploying the formation." Qin Lan ordered.

The three servants removed the rucksack on their back the moment Qin Lan gave them an order. When the content of the bag is taken out into plain sight, it turned out to be some horse knot chains with three talismans attached to it.

Next, Qin Lan withdrew a dozen bottles of Corpse Melting Solution from his wheelchair's spacious compartment to be distributed to the trio.

Their trained action quickly deployed a unique formation right above this mysterious burrow of a demon beast. And very soon, this place looked like a ceremony was just being held at this place.

"We're done, young master." Lu Qing Yun came to Qin Lan's side to report.

"Young master, what is this formation, and what is it for?" Huo Zunjie asked.

"Yes... I felt a very dangerous vibe outside of our spot here... Did something happened on the other part of the forest?" Lu Yi added.

"What we just did is deploying a formation known as Earth Small Shift Formation. This way, we will not be bothered by the others when we're hunting the demon beast resting inside the burrow." Qin Lan said.

"Is it not a Yellowtail Fox Demon Beast living inside?" Huo Zunjie asked.

"It is a Yellowtail Fox Demon. But not the kids." Qin Lan folds his paper fan back together and made a few steps forward. With the circulation force of a third-level Flesh Refining cultivator, he created a gust of wind using his spiritual energy to destroy the artistic entrance into the burrow.

But there was no reaction came from the burrow itself.

"I'll see how long can you hold before you're forced to come out." Qin Lan withdraws a ball of stinky medicinal concoction and throws it inside the burrow.

One after another, it takes five of them to cause a chain reaction from deep inside the burrow.

"ROAR!!!" the reaction was an intense one. Soon, the demon beast living within the burrow finally revealed itself to be a mature Yellowtail Fox. But instead of having a single tail, there are two tails on this fox demon. There is also a horn on its forehead, emitting a faint light.

"Young master! It's a third-level monster beast!" Lu Qing Yun wanted to move forward to where Qin Lan the moment she senses a hint of danger.

"Alright, all of you, come here and get ready to fight against this guy with me. It's a third-level demon beast, so it will yield quite some points for us." Qin Lan kept both his hands on his back and retreated.

"Roar!!!" the mature Yellowtail Fox Demon stands firmly on the ground protecting its burrow. It was at least two meters tall and close to five meters in length, with a pair of fluffy tails and steel hairs.

Qin Lan's retreat made the mature Yellowtail Fox chased him for a few meters before it regretted the decision. Taking the position on both left and right, Lu Yi and Huo Zunjie attacked with their most powerful blow.

"Mistral Core Long Fist!"

**Splurt!**

Two rows of fresh blood poured from the body of the mature Yellowtail Fox Demon. Qin Lan and Lu Qing Yun immediately collected the blood without spilling a drop on the ground.

But suddenly...

"ROAR!" the mature Yellowtail Fox Demon roared directly towards Lu Yi, creating a shockwave that throws him away like a projectile towards the nearest tree.

"I'm alright!" Lu Yi replied. Blood flows from an open wound on the side of his head as he came back on his feet. Without further ado, Lu Yi crushed a Flesh Mending Pill into powder and pressed it against his wound to stop the bleeding.

Lu Yi made his move again the moment the bleeding stopped. Using the Thousand Miles Travel in a Step movement art, he returned to the battle without disrupting their flow.

Suddenly, Qin Lan, who's standing neither far nor close from the fight, made his move.

Huo Zunjie Mirage Chain Fist landed nicely on the face of the mature Yellowtail Fox Demon. That attack created an opportunity for Huo Zunjie, but not Lu Yi and Lu Qing Yun, who was positioned on the opposite side from Huo Zunjie.

But to Qin Lan, such a flow could hardly disrupt his next move.

Spiritual Energy gathered between his index and middle finger, which imitates the shape of a thin blade. Quick and without hesitation, he made two cuts before returning to his initial position once again.

It was already too late when the mature Yellowtail Fox Demon noticed the attack. Falling down on its jaw first, the Yellowtail Fox Demon couldn't even howl in anguish because it's no longer capable of lifting his body up to make a sound.

"Qing Yun, deal the last blow." Qin Lan ordered.

**Zing!**

But again, an unforeseen incident always befell when one suspects the least!

A silver light charges straight at Lu Qing Yun's position with the power no weaker than a third-level Flesh Refining strength! If it was not because of Heaven's Strings protecting her, perhaps Lu Qing Yun would be one of those who fell on their first day!