On an unnamed peak of the Qinling Mountains, two cultivators found themselves cornered against a boulder by a ferocious iron-armored bear, their situation perilous.
"It's all your fault!" one of them complained. "You had to insist on gathering that Blood Spirit Fruit! Now look where we are? A spirit medicine of this caliber must be guarded by a powerful beast!"
The bear remained unscathed, while both cultivators bore fresh wounds.
The other cultivator's face paled with fear. Is this truly our end here?
"Blood Spirit Fruit?" Qin Yang whispered from their hiding spot in the grass. "What's that?"
"A heaven-and-earth spirit fruit," Lou Mengyu answered. "At least third-order. Contains immense medicinal power - perfect for advancing a cultivator's cultivation."
Jin Wanshan licked his lips. He and Lou Mengyu desperately needed such a fruit!
"Ah." Qin Yang nodded, rising smoothly. He nocked an arrow and drew his bow.
In one fluid motion, a dragon's roar echoed through the air as the bear collapsed.
The two cultivators stared wide-eyed at each other, then turned toward the sound of the roar.
"Thank the heavens!" one shouted. "Which esteemed senior saved us? We'll offer you the Blood Spirit Fruit!"
"I'm no senior expert, but the Blood Spirit Fruit... Hand it over," Qin Yang said, materializing and walking over.
The two cultivators frowned at Qin Yang, surprised that their savior was also a participant in the assessment!
One of them began to wheedle, "So we're... classmates? Thank you for your timely rescue."
Qin Yang blinked. "Classmates don't need to give me Blood Spirit Fruits! You're the ones who insisted on offering them!"
The pair chuckled, trying to establish camaraderie. "Of course classmates should help each other. With your cultivation already so advanced, you don't need these spirit medicines. Let's reserve them for those who truly require them!"
"Shameless! How dare you renege on your word!" Lou Mengyu stepped forward, her anger palpable.
The two cultivators' eyes lit up. "Actually, we could still share the fruits," one suggested. "Why don't you join our group instead?"
Jin Wanshan snorted derisively. These two were cunning indeed - they wanted powerful combatants to protect them while keeping a beauty by their side. What a pipe dream!
"Fine, keep your fruits. We never expected payment for saving lives anyway." Qin Yang turned to leave, his brow furrowed. "Let's go."
Their eyes remained fixed on Lou Mengyu, their hearts burning with desire.
"Wait!" one of them shouted. "I know where there's more Blood Spirit Fruit! But I doubt you'll dare to go there!"
Qin Yang and his companions halted immediately.
The two men whispered among themselves before approaching. "Thirty li north lies a cliff where Blood Spirit Fruit grows. They're ripe now - at least a dozen should be there."
"Truly?" Qin Yang asked.
"Of course!"
"Then why haven't you harvested them?" Jin Wanshan demanded.
The men blushed. "Our strength isn't enough."
Qin Yang confirmed the direction and nodded. "Good. This won't be a wasted rescue. If the fruit's there, we'll share some with you after gathering."
Guided by the two men, they quickly reached the cliff's edge.
Peering down revealed a profusion of Blood Spirit Fruit below.
Though the cliff stood only thirty meters high, its base teemed with snakes slithering through crevices and grasses.
A snake den!
"Ready? Care to go down?"
The two men sneered from the side. "If you're scared, just give up. Prove you're unworthy of the Blood Spirit Fruit."
"Trying to provoke us?" Qin Yang, thoroughly annoyed by these two, retorted, "Fine, we're scared."
With that, he turned and walked away.
Jin Wanshan and Lou Mengyu exchanged glances before following.
The two men were left utterly dumbfounded by Qin Yang's blunt response.
"Qin Yang, you're not the type to back down from a challenge!" Jin Wanshan whispered.
Qin Yang chuckled. "Challenging? Not at all! But look over there!"
He pointed in a specific direction.
Jin Wanshan and Lou Mengyu turned to look, their eyes widening. Several figures were concealed in the shadows nearby!
"They're all waiting for us to fight each other so they can swoop in and take the prize. Let them play their game first." Qin Yang smiled, then pointed further into the distance. "Now look over there."
The pair followed his gaze, their scalps tingling with unease.
More beastfolk lurked in the shadows!
"This Blood Spirit Fruit is mine," Qin Yang declared. "But going down the cliff is clearly foolish. We have people watching us here and beastfolk waiting there. We're too exposed up here."
"So what do you suggest?" Jin Wanshan asked.
"We'll take the long way around," Qin Yang said. "We'll go straight through below."
"But there'll be more demonic beasts down there!" Jin Wanshan protested.
Qin Yang chuckled. "More? Isn't that better? We're here to hunt them anyway!"
Jin Wanshan scratched his head and grinned.
The trio left without looking back, leaving all the hidden observers utterly bewildered.
"Ugh! I thought you were powerful cultivators, but you're just cowards!" the two men from earlier shouted.
No matter how they yelled, Qin Yang and his companions refused to turn their heads.
"What should we do now? Should we try again?" one of the men suggested.
The two couldn't decide, but the hidden group in the distance couldn't contain themselves anymore. Several figures emerged from the shadows.
"So it was you two fools who stole a Blood Spirit Fruit and got chased by a berserk bear. Now that you've barely escaped with your lives, you still can't resist stealing again?"
The two groups immediately erupted into argument, both claiming the Blood Spirit Fruit as their own.
ROAR!
A beast's roar echoed as a demon-marked tiger slowly emerged from the darkness.
The Blood Spirit Fruit was what they wanted, but the sight of these other delicacies also whetted their appetite!
"Damn! Another high-level demonic beast!"
Both sides abandoned their quarrel and scattered. With the Demon Vein Tiger's appearance, more demonic beasts emerged.
A hunt and chase immediately unfolded. Some clever ones leaped onto trees, but the Demon Vein Tiger shattered the tree trunk they clung to with a single claw strike.
"Someone's harvesting Blood Spirit Fruits! It's those three from earlier!"
Those who had been guarding the Blood Spirit Fruits below the cliff now witnessed people directly battling the snake-like demonic beasts.
The leader, wielding a flashy longbow, pinned a snake demon to the ground with a single arrow.
"Despicable! Shameless! Taking advantage of our battle with the demonic beasts to steal our Blood Spirit Fruits!"
"Have some guts and reveal your names! I'll make sure to teach you a proper lesson later!"
From the cliff above came a chorus of curses.
Qin Yang focused on hunting the demonic beasts, while Jin Wanshan and Lou Mengyu carefully cleared the remaining creatures while harvesting the Blood Spirit Fruits. In no time, they had gathered over a dozen fruits.
Hearing the curses raining down from above, Qin Yang and his companions couldn't help but chuckle.
"We harvested the Blood Spirit Fruits through our own skills. What's this got to do with you? How can you call it stealing?" Qin Yang retorted loudly.
The two who had guided them earlier raged even more furiously. "We brought you here out of kindness, and this is how you repay your benefactors?"
Qin Yang frowned and loosed an arrow.
The pair jumped in fright. When they regained their composure, they found Qin Yang had already slain a demonic beast poised to ambush them. They were left speechless.
"This is ridiculous! If I hadn't saved you, you'd be dead by now! And earlier, you knew the dangers yet used provocation to make us harvest the Blood Spirit Fruits. You didn't care if we could handle it—you just wanted us to scout for you! Just now, I saved you again. Shouldn't that settle things?"
Qin Yang snorted coldly. "I'm Qin Yang. If you're not satisfied, come find me after you escape those beasts!"
"What? He's the top-ranked Qin Yang from the Monster Hunter Rankings?"
"That cheating Qin Yang?"
"But he doesn't seem to be cheating at all... He's genuinely that strong..."