Chapter 50: Flame Rat

Song Qingming pondered for a moment and ultimately decided to participate in the operation, agreeing to Old Ghost Feng's proposal.

Seeing his agreement, Old Ghost Feng told him to wait there for a while and walked out of the tent in high spirits. He sent out a transmission talisman, and shortly after, a man in white dressed in scholar's robes entered the tent.

The man in white was named Jia Sixing. In his thirties, he had not been a member of the Feiyun Guard for much longer than Song Qingming. He and Old Ghost Feng had known each other for many years in Guiyun Market, and it was through Old Ghost Feng's introduction that he had joined the Feiyun Guard.

Jia Sixing was somewhat surprised to see another person in Old Ghost Feng's tent. After nodding a greeting to Song Qingming, he spoke to Old Ghost Feng: "I was wondering why Brother Feng was in such a hurry to harvest that spirit herb right after coming out of seclusion. It turns out you've found another helper. It seems you are determined to see this through this time, Brother Feng."

Old Ghost Feng nodded with a smile and said, "Fellow Daoist Song and I share some friendship, and he has just agreed to act together. With one more person, our chances of success this time will be greater. Regardless, after the matter is settled, I only want the White Jade Flower; all the materials from the slain demon beast belong to you two."

Jia Sixing nodded and said, "In that case, let's settle it beforehand. I don't care about other things, but the fur of the Flame Rat must belong to me. I want to commission someone to refine a high-grade magical tool, and this will be of great use to me. If Fellow Daoist Song agrees, then I have no issues."

A demon beast like the Flame Rat did not have many valuable parts; the best was its pelt. The fur of a high-tier Flame Rat was an excellent material for refining magical tools, with a value higher than all its other parts combined. Jia Sixing's statement was clearly an attempt to gain an advantage.

"Fine, it's a deal. You take the Flame Rat's fur, and the remaining demon beast materials belong to me."

Although Song Qingming knew he was taking a slight loss, he did not argue with Jia Sixing. He knew that although the three of them were at the same cultivation level, these two had been at the sixth level of Qi Refinement for many years, so their combat capabilities should be higher than his. As a newcomer to the Feiyun Guard, being too calculative might instead cause resentment.

Regarding the Flame Rat they were to face, Song Qingming had learned from Old Ghost Feng that this particular rat had a cultivation level of at most the seventh or eighth level of Qi Refinement. Although it was a high-tier demon beast, among the many high-tier beasts in the Qi Refinement stage, the Flame Rat's divine abilities were mediocre and it was not considered particularly difficult to deal with.

Otherwise, if they were facing those troublesome high-tier demon beasts, even if Old Ghost Feng could use his silver tongue to demand an astronomical price, Song Qingming could only offer his sympathies. After all, while spirit stones were good, one needed to stay alive to spend them. If things didn't work out, he could simply go to the market to inquire about news regarding White Dragon Mountain; as long as one was willing to invest time, there would always be a way.

While this operation against a high-tier demon beast carried significant risk, as long as he could obtain half of the demon beast materials, he could earn twenty to thirty spirit stones and save a few talismans. Furthermore, it would allow him to get acquainted with his two teammates and understand their divine abilities. For Song Qingming, the math worked out well; one had to experience such risks when venturing out for training.

***

The location of the White Jade Flower was only about fifty miles from the camp. After the three of them made their arrangements, they left the camp one after another early the next morning.

The higher-ups generally did not press the Feiyun Guard too hard regarding the timing or speed of mission completion, and rewards were distributed based on the quality of each individual's task. As long as they did not bring disaster upon the camp, Lu Yunfei couldn't be bothered to care where they went.

After meeting at the foot of the mountain, the three of them traveled for about half an hour under Old Ghost Feng's lead until they reached a small hill filled with rocky outcrops.

"The Flame Rat is in the cave ahead. This beast has an incredibly sensitive nose; as soon as someone approaches the cave, the creature will attack immediately. Even invisibility talismans won't work," Old Ghost Feng said to Jia and Song, pointing toward a small rocky cave dozens of yards ahead.

"We will follow the plan we discussed on the road. Brother Feng, use the puppet to lure the beast out first. Once it emerges, Fellow Daoist Song will block its retreat to prevent it from fleeing back into the cave," Jia Sixing repeated the action plan they had studied the previous day.

Subsequently, Old Ghost Feng tapped the storage bag at his waist, and a white puppet beast about three inches in size was released. With a flash of golden light, the puppet quickly transformed into a seven-foot-tall white tiger. The tiger was radiant with spiritual light, looking quite majestic.

Old Ghost Feng performed a series of hand seals, and a flash of spiritual light erupted from the white tiger puppet. Its eyes glowed with white light as it charged rapidly toward the cave where the Flame Rat was hiding.

When it was still four or five yards from the cave entrance, the white tiger puppet opened its mouth wide, instantly spitting out a bolt of lightning. Following a loud explosion, rocks flew everywhere, and the cave entrance, which was about half a person high, was nearly completely buried by the blasted debris.

Watching the white tiger puppet, Song Qingming's eyes lit up. Old Ghost Feng's mid-grade white tiger puppet was actually a relatively rare type of puppet beast capable of using lightning-attribute spells.

Puppet beasts of the first level were not particularly rare; many large sects had such legacies, and even the Xiaoyao Sect of the State of Wei had many cultivators capable of refining first-level puppets. However, second-level puppets and those above the Foundation Establishment stage were extremely rare. No one in the entire State of Wei could refine them; it was estimated that even if all the Golden Core cultivators in the state combined their possessions, they might not have many.

Among the many elemental attributes, lightning-attribute spells had always possessed the most powerful offensive capabilities. If used properly, Old Ghost Feng's white tiger puppet could rival a cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Refinement.

Generally, a puppet beast only possessed about half the power of a cultivator or demon beast of the same rank. An average cultivator could control at most one or two puppets of the same rank; any more, and they would be unable to exert the puppet's full strength.

Only cultivators who practiced special cultivation methods and possessed exceptionally strong divine sense could control a larger number of puppet beasts.

In the western part of the East Phoenix Immortal Province, there was the Zijin Kingdom, which was several times larger than the State of Wei. Within the Zijin Kingdom, there was a large sect specializing in puppet arts called the Golden Puppet Sect.

The Golden Puppet Sect possessed a secret technique specifically for cultivating a practitioner's divine sense, which allowed those who practiced it to have a divine sense several times stronger than their peers. Powerful cultivators had even appeared within the Golden Puppet Sect who could control over a dozen puppets simultaneously.

Relying on the assistance of numerous puppet beasts, disciples of the Golden Puppet Sect often held the upper hand in combat against cultivators of the same rank. Consequently, when Golden Puppet Sect cultivators traveled abroad, they were always viewed with a degree of wariness by members of other sects.

Although the Golden Puppet Sect only had three Nascent Soul cultivators, they had dominated the cultivation world of the Zijin Kingdom for thousands of years by relying on several Nascent Soul-level puppets passed down through generations. While other major Nascent Soul sects in the Zijin Kingdom rose and fell, only the Golden Puppet Sect had remained standing for millennia, sustained by their mastery of puppet arts.

As Old Ghost Feng was operating the white tiger puppet to launch another attack, a rumbling sound suddenly erupted from the debris at the cave entrance. Following a strange squeaking noise, a three-foot-long crimson demon rat scurried out from the pile of rocks.

(End of Chapter)