Chapter 203: Demonic Beast Hunter
A few days later, Little Fatty was summoned by Daoist HuoLong. When Little Fatty met him and wanted to pay his respects, Daoist HuoLong waved his hands instead, asking him to sit down.
Following which, Daoist HuoLong went straight to the point and said, “Little Fatty, today I called you here to tell you about the punishment for killing the 3 metal brothers!”
“Ah!” As Little Fatty heard that, he smiled, “Please say, I’m listening! Hehe, how many years are you going to lock me up for? Anything! I don’t really care!”
Hearing Little Fatty say so, Daoist HuoLong laughed bitterly and said, “There have been some changes, so we are not going to lock you up!”
“Eh?” As Little Fatty heard that, he immediately replied with shock, “Oi oi, don’t tell me you are really going to listen to Mister First and Mister Second to cripple me?”
“Of course not!” Daoist HuoLong shook his head and said, “Since I promised senior brother Hong to take care of you, how could I cripple you!”
After hearing that, Little Fatty relaxed and said with a smile, “Hehe, as long as you don’t cripple me, I will accept any kind of punishment! It wouldn’t be much!”
“Hehe, that’s right, it isn’t much!” Daoist HuoLong suddenly replied with an awkward smile.
With Little Fatty being astute, he could immediately tell that something was wrong with Daoist HuoLong’s expression and hurriedly asked, “Sect master, what exactly is my punishment?”
“It actually isn’t much. We are just sending you to the Eastern Ocean for a period of time!” Daoist HuoLong answered while rubbing his palms together.
But when Little Fatty heard that, he replied with shock, “Ah? Eastern Ocean? Don’t tell me you want me to become a Demonic Beast Hunter?”
“Hehe, that’s right!” Daoist HuoLong replied awkwardly.
“Goodness, sect master, do you know what kind of a place that is? It is called the cultivator’s graveyard! Less than 30% of the people who go there would return alive!” Little Fatty could not help but say in frustration, “This is obviously sending me to my death!”
In the eastern portion of the Vast Mountains, there existed a vast ocean called the Eastern Ocean. There were plenty of Water-type demonic beasts living there, to the point it was uncountable. Of the many demonic beasts, there were even 6th or 7th-grade demonic beasts able to take the form of humans.
These demonic beasts have profound cultivation bases and lived on an island deep in the Eastern Ocean, rarely revealing themselves. In addition, there were a large amount of middle and low-grade demonic beasts who lived on the thousands of islands in the Eastern Ocean. These islands were near the Vast Mountains, and the demonic beasts could easily cross the ocean to get there.
The reproductive capabilities of the demonic beasts were beyond belief. Adding on to their huge appetites, this resulted in a scarcity of food throughout the entire Eastern Ocean region.
These middle and low-grade demonic beasts were not very intellectual. Faced with the problem of starvation, they would consume any live beings. Sometimes, they even resorted to cannibalism. Thus, the problem of scarce resources caused internal strife to abound.
However, the high leveled demonic beasts were not willing to see their kin massacre each other. Hence when that happened, they would take the initiative to lead the middle and low-grade demonic beasts towards the Boundless Mountain situated closest to them, allowing them to pillage and consume everything in their wake.
As such, the cultivators who reside in Boundless Mountain suffered the most. However sturdy the gates of the mountain pass were built, it was all proved useless to the incoming waves of demonic beasts. When this disastrous tide first came about, many sects were totally wiped out. That even included major Sects with over a millennium worth of history.
Of course, the cultivators were no fools. After being on the losing end for a few times, they came out with a master plan and that was to slaughter the multitude of middle and low-grade beasts before their population reached an unsustainable point. This ensured that the quantity of food in the Eastern Ocean remained at a sustainable amount, so the beasts would not attack them.
The only problem was that to kill such a large number of demonic beasts, just relying on a single Sect would be nigh impossible. Thus, all the Sects residing in Boundless Mountain, be it righteous or demonic sects, all banded together to send out a batch of disciples every year. All the disciples would form a team called Eastern Ocean Alliance, and their responsibility was to hunt down the demonic beasts. Hence, they were titled Demonic Beast Hunters.
These Demonic Beast Hunters needed to slaughter copious amount of demonic beasts in order to complete their task. In the process, it was inevitable that some of them would get injured. Especially since there were more than ten thousand different species of beasts living in Eastern Ocean. These beasts lived as a group on a small island, hence it was impossible to extinguish them without any sacrifices made. In every Demonic Beast Hunter’s term of office, which lasted 50 years, the danger was an everyday occurrence. Only roughly thirty percent would survive their term of office, with the rest dying in the battlefield.
Therefore, whenever an ordinary cultivator was to talk about the Demonic Beast Hunters, they would all sigh in admiration. It was too dangerous a task, and practically no one would be willing to be the scapegoat. Thus the dispatch of disciples every 10 years had to be done through the drawing of lots.
However, Little Fatty remembered that the last lot-drawing was done only a year ago. At that time, he was still in closed-door cultivation with ShuiJing and thus had skipped the calamity. How could he allow himself to be on the losing end?
Realising this, Little Fatty could not help but ask in a weird tone: “Sect Master, the drawing of lots has already passed, what does it have to do with me?”
“Cough cough!” Daoist HuoLong could only cough and force out a smile, saying, “Your circumstances are special. Who told you to kill all three of the Metal Brothers in one go? Mister First and Second are already itching to cripple you, and even I am helpless about this matter! Sending you to the Eastern Ocean, isn’t it better than crippling your cultivation base?”
“Surely they can’t veto your decision?” Little Fatty could not help but express his unwillingness.
“Then do you want me to cripple you instead?” Daoist HuoLong glowered at him.
“No need, no need for that!” Little Fatty immediately waved his hands in panic. If he were to be crippled, that would be worse than death. He could only try to wriggle his way out by saying: “Sect Master, didn’t you previously say that you would only lock me up for ten odd years? Why did you suddenly change your mind?”
“Hai, you can’t blame me for this!” Daoist HuoLong could only let out a bitter laugh: “Us three elders have bickered over your offence for god knows how many rounds these few days. No matter how I try to negotiate, the two fellows will not budge on their stand. I had no choice but to look for my senior sister Celestial MeiHua, which is ShuiJing’s master, to solve the problem. I originally thought that, through your relationship with ShuiJing, senior sister would be more lenient with you. But who knew that she would actually send you to the Eastern Ocean! I say, did you ever offend her?”
“Nope, I have yet to catch a glimpse of her!” Little Fatty could only bemoan.
“That means you have offended ShuiJing!” Daoist HuoLong confidently declared.
“That’s not possible, we had been in closed-door cultivation for the past three years. Without my help, she couldn’t have broken to the mid-foundational stage in one go!” Little Fatty moaned in grievance, “How is this considered a crime?”
“F**k, you darn fatty. You’re fooling with my house’s ZiRong, and yet you still keep thinking about ShuiJing. This already makes me want to chop you to bits, let alone my biased and overprotective senior sister!” Daoist HuoLong could not help but lash out. “Alright, this matter of you going to the Eastern Ocean has already been set in stone. Good news is that you probably only need to stay there for 20 years since you’re only serving a penal sentence!”
“20 years?” Little Fatty blanched when he heard that: “Oh god, can I even return alive?”
“The odds of death is 70 percent if you stay there for 50 years. For 20 years, the odds should be 50-50. It was because of this that us three elders finally had a unanimous decision. In short, whether you’re willing or not, you still have to go!” Daoist HuoLong shrugged his shoulders and said: “This is the last attempt at diplomacy, are you taking it?”
“What happens if I don’t?” Little Fatty asked feebly.
“You will be crippled!” The former only replied with a straight face.
“That means I don’t get to choose?” Little Fatty asked helplessly.
“That’s right!” Daoist HuoLong nodded his head. Heaving a sigh, he continued: “Hai, don’t be too disheartened. Although the Eastern Ocean is dangerous, it is not without merits. The natural resources there are bountiful, and the materials for cultivation are even more plentiful as compared to where we reside. Furthermore, all of them are cheap beyond measure! In addition, combat is surely the fastest way to develop your strength. So, sending you there is actually not that disadvantageous. For all we know, you might come back 20 years later with a huge increase in strength. Wouldn’t that be killing two birds with a stone then?”
“If I end up being buried in a foreign land, then Mister First and Second would also think it’s killing two birds with a stone!” Little Fatty said in resentment.
In actual fact, Little Fatty was unwilling to go to such a dangerous place. He did not lack money, the treasures in his natal artifact were more than enough for him to use for cultivation. There was simply no need for him to risk his life to attain more treasures! He definitely did not think that he was unbeatable and invincible. Let’s not even talk about Foundational Cultivators, even YuanYing cultivators have met with unsavoury ends in the Eastern Ocean. This kind of sh*tty place, was definitely not for humans to live in.
Very quickly, the people in Mystical Sky Yard all knew that the darn fatty was going to be banished to be a Demonic Beast Hunter. There was a myriad of emotions; some were happy, some sorrowful. Some felt ambivalence.
Undoubtedly, Mister First and Second’s entourage were deriving joy from his calamity, while those elderly in Mystical Sky Yard were all full of pity for Little Fatty. Han LingFeng burst into tears upon hearing this news. Monkey also ran over to find Little Fatty and insisted on going with him to the Eastern Ocean. Hearing this statement, Han LingFeng’s eyes suddenly gleamed, and also insisted on accompanying Little Fatty.
How would Little Fatty allow them to take the risk? He could only bitterly dissuade them, saying that the Eastern Ocean was a place of danger, and that any cultivators below the foundational stage would be seeking their deaths there, and that they would only be burdens.
Hearing so, both Monkey and Han LingFeng were rendered speechless. They were not afraid of death, but to be burdens to Little Fatty ran opposite to their desires. Under such a scenario, they could only listen to Little Fatty and stay within the Mystical Sky Yard to cultivate bitterly. They decided that only when they reached the foundational cultivator stage, they would then look for Little Fatty.
Hearing so, Little Fatty was obviously touched beyond words and readily agreed. He then gave the two of them a huge present each, with some Five Elements Lotus seeds within the package. However, Little Fatty warned them repeatedly that, before one reached the foundational stage, they must not ingest the lotus seeds, or else what awaited them was death.
As Little Fatty was placating the two of them, ShuiJing also appeared looking for Little Fatty. She went directly to the point and requested a private conversation with him.
Both Han LingFeng and Monkey were extremely tactful, they immediately got up and left the premises, allowing them to have their private space.
When the room was only left with the two of them, ShuiJing first took a deep breath before saying resolutely: “Senior Brother Song, this little sister would like to follow you to the Eastern Ocean!”
Hearing such, Little Fatty first felt joy in his heart, but was quickly quashed down as he bitterly said: “Please don’t joke around, how is that possible?”
“How can this not be possible?” ShuiJing replied, clearly annoyed. “Don’t tell me that Senior Brother has no faith in ShuiJing’s sincerity?”
“No, no, I don’t mean that!” Little Fatty could only hurry and explain: “What I’m trying to say is, with the two spiritual artifacts which are the Yard’s treasures on yourself, do you think that Daoist HuoLong, as well as Mister First and Second, would allow you to bring them to such a place like the Eastern Ocean? What would happen if you lost it?”
“Enough of this foolish talk!” Little Fatty only forced out a smile. “Those two items are aids to your augury. Without their assistance, you would not be able to predict the opponent’s moves in a flash, am I right?”
“You saw through it?” ShuiJing asked in surprise.
“Ah, ah, I’m not exactly stupid. Just a few conjectures here and there would allow one to come to this conclusion. Just based on your strength, how would you be able to calculate with such precision and speed? If one could do that at your level, I’m afraid all those learning this formula would be unbeatable under heaven!” Little Fatty smiled as he explained.
“Hmph, you obviously took reference from my master’s strength when she was young, that’s how you came out with this conclusion, right?” ShuiJing suddenly smiled as she spoke.
“Hehe, that’s right. I happened to chance upon the records for the inner court's competition, and I especially noted the records of said master. I found out that although she was strong during her youth, she was nowhere as exaggerated as your aptitude. At least for her, if she wanted to triumph over someone with the same strength as her, she had to be prepared to sacrifice an arm and a leg, and would still need some deception to pull it off. She was totally unlike you who could win and still look natural and unrestrained.”
Little Fatty smiled as he divulged: “Thus this got me to guess, that the reason she was unable to match up to your strength wasn’t because her talents weren’t enough, but rather she did not possess those 2 spiritual artifacts that would help with her augury at that time. Am I right?”
“I’ll count it as you found the answer while being blindfolded!” ShuiJing casually said. “I admit that without the help of the spiritual artifacts, I can only deduce the next step of an opponent, and not their artifacts, weakness and other trump cards. Even so, you can’t look down on ShuiJing! I can at least help you predict your fortune before any battle!”
“Let’s just forget about it!” Little Fatty stretched his hands out to hold onto her shoulders, and solemnly said: “Junior Sister ShuiJing, it’s not that I look down on you, but rather that I cannot bear to put you in danger! This problem was created by me, and it naturally has to be handled by me. If I see you get into danger because of my crimes, then how can I, Song Zhong, still be considered a righteous man?”
“Senior Brother Song!” Hearing his heartfelt words, ShuiJing’s eyes started to suffuse with tears.
Both of them sat there quietly facing each other, as their faces got closer. Finally, their lips touched, followed by their tongues entwining together. Both of them only felt an explosion go off in their heads, following which both of them entered a mysterious realm of mental state. In there, they saw a dusky mass of primal chaos floating around appearing intermittently, at times a moon water mirror, all of which appeared immeasurably profound. In short, the both of them had entered a totally new state of dual cultivation, based on their divine sense.