Chapter 239: Chapter 209: Hunting Demons in the Wilderness, Leveraging a Local Power

Back in his cave abode at Broken River Castle, Lu Zhao closed the heavy stone door behind him. He walked to the stone meditation cushion but didn’t sit down right away. Instead, he stood quietly for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the cave that marked the beginning of his career as Commander.

"The undeveloped Wilderness is just full of good things..." a low voice murmured in the stone chamber, tinged with an undisguisable sigh of emotion.

Lu Zhao’s fingertips unconsciously rubbed his Storage Bag. The image of the Purple Sun Jade Heart Lotus—rooted in lava, its eight petals unfurled, shimmering with an inner purple-gold light—seemed to flash before his eyes.

’To think a seemingly ordinary hunt for a Tier Two Demon Beast could lead me to stumble upon such a rare Heaven and Earth Spirit Object! With this, the vague and distant Golden Core Dao is no longer an illusion, but a real glimmer of hope on the horizon.’ Lu Zhao thought.

The first solid cornerstone on the path to Core Formation had been laid. Even thinking about it now, Lu Zhao’s chest still swelled with an excitement that was hard to suppress.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his surging emotions, and sat down cross-legged.

Excitement was one thing, but he couldn’t forget the task at hand. With a flip of his wrist, the corpse of a Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird, its wingspan nearly thirty feet and its feathers as red as fire, appeared on the cold stone floor. The dense aura of a Fire Attribute Demon Beast instantly filled the air.

For Lu Zhao, processing a Demon Beast corpse was second nature. The cold glint of his Carving Knife flashed as he precisely stripped away the jet-black talons and sharp beak, both of which contained the Spirit-Breaking Attribute, and carefully stored them.

Next were the flame-like feathers, each one containing pure Fire Spiritual Power.

The remaining skeleton and muscles were also sorted and stored away; these were high-quality materials for crafting Fire Element Puppets.

After finishing, Lu Zhao pondered for a moment, and with a thought, a surge of Evil Qi rose in the cave abode. The thirty-foot-tall Strong Demon Ape Corpse Puppet, its body a uniform dark gold, appeared silently before him.

Lu Zhao took out a Jade Bottle containing the Essence Blood of the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird. He uncorked the bottle and slowly poured the warm Essence Blood into the ferocious mouth of the Demon Ape Corpse Puppet.

"ROAR..." A low, satisfied growl rumbled from the Corpse Puppet’s throat, like a parched land receiving a long-awaited rain. As it greedily drank the Essence Blood, the Blood Evil Qi flowing across its surface seemed to solidify slightly, and the crimson glow in its empty eye sockets burned a little brighter.

Only after the Essence Blood was completely absorbed did Lu Zhao recall it into the Corpse Nurturing Bag to be nourished.

"The Wilderness is truly full of treasures." A sharp glint flashed in Lu Zhao’s eyes. Gaining so much from a single hunt filled him with even greater expectations for the undeveloped depths of the Broken River Plains.

He needed more! More materials from Tier Two Demon Beasts, and more Heaven and Earth Spirit Objects that might be hidden away!

For the next three days, Lu Zhao didn’t leave his abode. He immersed his Heart Spirit in the Jade Scroll Map and various Demon Beast Atlases, repeatedly analyzing and shortlisting targets. Finally, his gaze locked onto an area on the map marked "Shadowy Forest."

Target: Cyan-Eyed Green-Heart Wolf—a Tier Two Lower Grade Demon Beast.

The reasons for choosing this beast were similar to those for the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird:

First, the Tier Two Puppet Atlas he had obtained from the Puppet Bead’s inheritance happened to include a puppet called the "Jade Shadow Wolf Puppet," whose core main material was precisely a Tier Two Demon Wolf.

Second, among Tier Two Lower Grade beasts, this wolf’s strength was on the lower end of average. Its primary attack methods were tearing with Wind Blades and pack ambushes, which weren’t especially difficult to deal with.

Third, intelligence indicated this wolf had a fixed territory deep within the Shadowy Forest and was the leader of a sizable local pack.

The only thing to be particularly wary of was the large number of Low Tier Wolf Demons under its command. However, this was no great concern for Lu Zhao; in fact, it would be a good opportunity to test the power of his Tier Two Array.

Soon, Lu Zhao’s figure appeared at the edge of the Shadowy Forest. Before him, ancient trees towered into the sky, their dense leaves obscuring the light. The air was filled with a faint, rank odor.

Lu Zhao’s Divine Sense spread out silently like an invisible tide, and he soon picked up the sound of wolf howls rising and falling from deep within the forest.

"This is the place." He didn’t go any deeper. Instead, on the outskirts of the wolf pack’s territory, he found a relatively open, low-lying area surrounded by stone on three sides.

With a slap of his Storage Bag, nine jet-black Array Banners embroidered with silver water-and-cloud patterns, along with a palm-sized, jade-like Array Disc, appeared in his hand. This was the Tier Two Lower Grade Trapping Array he had spent ten Great Merits to redeem from the Array Hall—the Nine Bends Lock River Formation!

Lu Zhao’s expression turned solemn. Following the Array Map, he began treading the Gang Step, his figure moving swiftly through the low-lying area like a butterfly flitting among flowers.

"Kan Position, Water-Calming!" With a low shout, the first Array Banner flew from his hand and accurately plunged into the ground beside a slippery green rock on the eastern side of the depression. The flagpole sank three inches into the earth, and the banner began to flutter on its own, emitting a faint blue light.

"Li Position, Locking Wind!" The second Array Banner shot out toward the gnarled roots of an old tree on the western side, and a blue light flashed before vanishing.

"Zhen Position, Thunder Suppression!" "Xun Position, Binding Wood!"...

Lu Zhao’s movements were swift and precise. Every step he took, every Array Banner he placed, caused the surrounding Spiritual Qi to ripple faintly.

The nine Array Banners, following the positions of the Nine Palaces, were planted in the eight directions and the center of the depression, vaguely forming an esoteric pattern.

Finally, he arrived at the center of the depression and gently placed the smooth Array Disc on the ground. He then embedded three Middle-Grade Spirit Stones into the three slots around the disc.

"Nine Bends Interlink, the River Locks the Cloudy Mountains! Array, activate!"

Following Lu Zhao’s sharp cry, the Array Disc suddenly erupted with a blinding blue light! All nine Array Banners hummed and trembled in unison. The water-and-cloud patterns on their surfaces seemed to come alive as threads of pale blue light shot out from the tips of the flags. Crisscrossing through the air, they instantly wove a massive net of light that covered a three-hundred-foot-wide area above the depression!

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