Chapter 4: 4. Chapter 4: Getting the First Blood

Chapter 4: Drawing First Blood

Wind-Thunder Tower.

An Zhi sat cross-legged with her eyes tightly shut. Her entire body swayed, appearing as if it might lose its support at any moment. As the halo above her head vanished, she jolted awake, her eyes snapping open. She stared blankly for a long time before slowly lifting her head to look at the tower behind her.

"Quick, go back immediately. It’s almost the hour of Mao (5:00 AM)." Before the Spirit Snake could say another word, it leaped onto An Zhi’s shoulder and urged her to return to the Sanqing Blessed Land quickly, as dawn was approaching and the morning training was about to begin.

As she ran, An Zhi recalled her meeting with Meng Hong: "I... I saw the Grandmaster. I actually saw him."

"Haha, see? You should have listened to me. He even gifted you a surge of spiritual energy and the Demon-Capturing Sword Technique just now." The Spirit Snake hopped left and right on An Zhi’s shoulder. "You two are truly fated. Fated to meet in a dream, hahahaha."

Upon hearing this, An Zhi muttered excitedly, "I know the Demon-Capturing Sword Technique! Haha, I know the Demon-Capturing Sword Technique!"

The Demon-Capturing Sword Technique was an introductory sword style for five-coin demon hunters at the Sanqing Palace. For someone who was only at the Spirit Controller level, it was something she wouldn't have dared to even imagine, let alone for a disciple like An Zhi, who wasn't even a one-coin Spirit Controller yet.

After sprinting all the way to the back gate of the Blessed Land, the Sanqing disciples had already begun their morning training in the eighteen varieties of martial arts. In the distance, the great mountains were beginning to break dawn, and the two large roosters in the courtyard stood on tree branches, crowing with all their might.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, An Zhi climbed a tree by the wall, jumped into the courtyard, and then scrambled frantically up to the scripture pavilion.

"Do not complain that morning training is bitter; it is the path for you to see the world."

Suddenly, Fan Jin’s aged voice drifted over, scaring An Zhi into standing at attention immediately. The Spirit Snake nimbly darted into a scripture book.

When she slowly turned her head, she realized that Old Man Fan hadn't even glanced at her, but was instead walking toward the outside of the courtyard with his cane.

"Pfft~~~~" An Zhi curled her lip before tiptoeing toward the pavilion.

Standing once again on the balcony of the pavilion, looking down at her fellow disciples training in the courtyard, An Zhi fell into deep thought.

As a one-coin Spirit Controller, it was impossible for her to train with this group of fellow disciples who were about to advance from four-coin Spirit Controllers to five-coin demon hunters. She wasn't qualified. A sense of loss was written all over her face.

"Don't be discouraged." Seeing that no one was around, the Spirit Snake emerged from a scripture book again, jumped onto An Zhi’s shoulder, and looked at the Sanqing disciples training in the courtyard. "Come on, let's go do some morning training too."

"Ah!" An Zhi felt as if she had been injected with adrenaline, staring excitedly at the Spirit Snake that had already jumped onto the windowsill.

The Spirit Snake slithered back and forth on the windowsill. "Old Man Fan just went to the Sanqing Palace; he probably won't be back until the afternoon."

"What do you want to do?" An Zhi asked expectantly.

The Spirit Snake straightened its back. "Let's go play in the back mountain."

"Ah! That’s not good, is it? There... there are demons there." An Zhi said "no" with her mouth, but her heart was very honest; she was itching to try out the Demon-Capturing Sword Technique. "The sect's... the sect's demon-hunting competition hasn't ended yet."

The Spirit Snake explained, "Exactly because it hasn't ended, we should go train and help them collect a few demon spirits."

An Zhi was a little thrilled and nodded repeatedly. "Yo, hehe, then let's get to it."

Knowing for certain that Old Man Fan would not be back for a while, An Zhi, led by the Spirit Snake, boldly crawled out through the dog hole in the back courtyard of the Blessed Land and headed toward the back mountain of the Sanqing Palace.

The back mountain of the Sanqing Palace was densely vegetated and rich in spiritual energy. Furthermore, it contained various caves, stone ledges, and more importantly, the layout of the back mountain was designed like a Bagua maze. Therefore, the sect would release some low-level demon spirits into the back mountain for disciples to practice their demon-capturing techniques.

These past few days happened to be the Sanqing Palace’s demon-hunting competition. In the previous days, An Zhi hadn't managed to obtain a single demon spirit seal during the competition.

"I wonder how many demon spirits they released today." An Zhi held a peach-wood sword and walked cautiously into the depths of the forest. Thinking that today's competition hadn't started yet, there must be at least ten demon spirits of various levels released.

"See that? That tree!" The Spirit Snake, coiled on An Zhi’s shoulder, suddenly warned.

Following the direction the Spirit Snake indicated, she saw a paulownia tree blocking a fork in the road. It looked like nothing special. "Ah, a tree. I see it. What about it?"

Seeing that An Zhi was being dense, the Spirit Snake reminded her again, "The Grandmaster gave you a surge of spiritual power, how... how can you still not see it?"

An Zhi furrowed her brows and began to focus her energy. She felt a force surge from the soles of her feet into her brain, and her eyes began to glow green.

Finally, she saw it—this was a paulownia tree demon spirit. From the aura it emitted, she estimated it to be a second-tier demon spirit.

Demon spirits were also graded.

Primary demon spirits were the smallest demon race, possessing only basic spirituality and simple magic.

Once a demon spirit reached the fourth level, it upgraded to a "demon," possessing stronger magic and intelligence, and could change its form at will.

After primary demons upgraded to intermediate and then reached the advanced level, they became "Demon Sovereigns." These were the peak versions of demons—extremely fierce, capable of absorbing natural elements at will, and possessing the dominance to control heaven and earth.

After a Demon Sovereign advanced, it became a supreme ruler, a "Demon Emperor." They held absolute power among the demon race, could influence the fate of the demon clan, and could even challenge the human race.

Facing the camouflaged paulownia tree demon, An Zhi gathered her spiritual energy into the peach-wood sword and struck at the right moment. Unexpectedly, the tree demon dodged it.

Facing the attack, the paulownia tree demon knew it couldn't escape today. It extended its tentacles to entangle An Zhi, and its transformed branches stabbed sharply toward her.

At the critical moment, An Zhi channeled her spiritual energy to create a barrier, blocking the sharp branches. Then, with a backhand strike, she slashed down. The paulownia tree demon was immediately split in two, then vanished, leaving behind two demon spirit seals.

"Seals! Seals!" An Zhi happily picked up the two demon spirit seals from the ground, feeling incredibly excited. In the last competition, it was because she didn't have a single seal that her life had become a tragedy. Today, she actually got two at once!

The promotion for demon hunters was very strict: collect one hundred demon spirit seals to upgrade to a five-coin demon hunter, fifty demon seals to upgrade to a demon exterminator, and twenty Demon Sovereign seals to upgrade to a demon slayer.

As far as the current Sanqing Mountain was concerned, only the current sect leader, Daoist Yuxu, was a nine-coin demon exterminator.

Just as An Zhi wanted to further show off her skills in the back mountain, a group of Sanqing disciples participating in the competition assessment walked toward the back mountain with arrogant strides. This forced An Zhi to stop and return to the Blessed Land through the dog hole.

An Zhi wiped the demon spirit seals in her hand over and over again. After cultivating in Sanqing Mountain for over a year, she had finally drawn her first blood.

"Digest them, and your cultivation will increase greatly," the Spirit Snake said.

An Zhi immediately sat cross-legged on the ground, her hands slightly raised, with one demon spirit seal in each palm. She then channeled her energy to digest the seals. Under the erosion of her spiritual energy, the seals slowly disappeared into her palms.

"Do you want to cultivate with the Grandmaster?" The Spirit Snake jumped down from the scripture book.

"Yes!" An Zhi nodded firmly.

The Spirit Snake began to channel its power again.

Soon, An Zhi felt drowsy, and finally, she met the demon slayer Meng Hong in her dream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where is my little junior sister? Don't tell me she's slacking off today."

I don't know how much time had passed when a sharp voice appeared below the pavilion. An Zhi opened her eyes instantly, the haze in her eyes not yet dissipated, and the Spirit Snake darted into a corner of the room.

"You... what are you afraid of?" An Zhi asked, lying on the floor and looking at the Spirit Snake curled up under the cabinet.

Spirit Snake: "It's not fear. The fewer people who know of my existence, the better. It's best if no one knows I exist. You understand."

An Zhi suddenly realized. Spirit demons with spiritual power were rare items in Sanqing Mountain; everyone wanted to catch one as their own pet. Thinking of the leopard cat she had tamed before, An Zhi became even more afraid to reveal the existence of the Spirit Snake.

Patting the dust off her body, An Zhi pretended to be calm and went downstairs.

At this moment, Luo Ling was looking for something in the scripture pavilion. Her hands were stroking the leopard cat, the spirit demon baby that once belonged to her.

"What are you here for?" An Zhi asked abruptly.

Luo Ling looked at An Zhi, who was covered in dust and dirt, and couldn't help herself: "Hahahaha, I came to see if you were slacking off. You're covered in mud and filthy. Did you crawl through the dog hole? You have no image at all."

An Zhi’s heart skipped a beat. Had she been discovered?

Before An Zhi could react, Luo Ling continued her verbal assault: "Look at how much dust there is in this scripture pavilion. Is it because Fan Jin isn't here that you were slacking off and sleeping upstairs just now? No wonder you're so pathetic."

Facing Luo Ling’s provocation, An Zhi chose to endure it for the time being. She forced a smile and admitted her fault: "Yes, yes, Senior Sister is right to lecture me. I... I will clean it up immediately, immediately."

After saying this, An Zhi began to wipe the dust off the scriptures with a rag.