Chapter 8: Demon Hunter Squad

The greatly strengthened Lich Legion quickly began a new round of sweeping, expanding the sweep radius by one hundred and fifty li. The gloomy Cursed Valley ushered in a new wave of slaughter.

Different from the caution at the beginning, Hu Feng carried out a bloody suppression with great fanfare, driving the Ferrari Chariot to flatten the forces around the castle. He used the identity of Lich King Ovisis to act like a tiger eating a pig. All unconstrained forces either submitted like Saratos or were ruthlessly crushed, their souls devoured and their wealth plundered.

In just one short month, the power of the Lich Castle expanded sharply once again.

Although there were still no high-level Undead such as Liches and Dark Knights, the number of Skeleton Soldiers swelled to over twenty thousand, drowning the enemies one by one like a tide. The tactics of the Sea of Skeletons began to truly display astonishing power. Under the efforts of the Cave Dwellers led by Navia, the severely damaged buildings and city walls also began to slowly repair.

After quickly clearing out a buffer zone around the castle, Hu Feng finally let out a sigh of relief, no longer having to worry about enemy raids day and night. He handed over the tasks of city defense and sweeping to Yisu and others, and once again went into closed-door cultivation.

Compared with the old Skeleton Saratos who had cultivated for over a thousand years, Yisu was far inferior in both combat power and experience, but the talent she displayed in battle strategy made even Hu Feng sigh in admiration. After secretly observing for a period of time, he simply let Saratos take charge of internal affairs, while Yisu took full responsibility for external conquests.

Horizontally carve a knife from left to right, followed by a forceful stroke from top to bottom, carving a deep cross…

Hu Feng carved one profound rune after another, his movements becoming smoother and smoother. After pondering for a while, he vaguely felt that he seemed to have touched the origin of Magic, but that last thin layer of paper had yet to be pierced. Concentrating intensely, he unknowingly immersed himself in the world of cultivation. While carving a fire-element magic rune, he lost focus and his right hand shook, accidentally carving an extra stroke and ruining the entire rune. But unexpectedly, the magic was still successfully cast, only its power was greatly reduced.

“Huh? Could it be that the origin of Magic does not lie in the form of incantations and runes, but in the Magic Power and will of the caster?” Hu Feng exclaimed in surprise. Looking at the ruined rune, a thought suddenly struck him. He agitated the Magic Crystal and Soul Crystal within his body, visualized a raging fire, and holding the Dark Magic Pen, wrote a huge character for ‘Fire’ in the Void.

Whoosh…

A scorching flame suddenly appeared before him.

Without complicated and profound runes, without long and awkward incantations, a spell was successfully cast in accordance with his own will. Compared to before, the speed of casting magic was faster, but it consumed more Magic Power and Soul Power. Just casting this small spell nearly exhausted the Magic Power and Soul Power in his body, leaving him with an empty feeling inside.

“Based on surging Magic Power, guided by firm and powerful belief and will, instantly triggering the fluctuations of the vitality between heaven and earth, is this the true origin of Magic?” Looking at the scorching flame before him, Hu Feng was incredibly excited. He remembered the strand of intent sealed deep within the mind of the Skeleton King by Old Ancestor Bone Demon, and suddenly realized.

When one cultivated to a certain realm, a single ethereal strand of intent was a powerful magic, carrying the belief and will of a supreme Stronger!

Wind, fire, thunder, lightning, water…

After absorbing a large amount of Crystals to replenish his consumed Magic Power, Hu Feng cast the magic he mastered one by one. Slowly, he discovered that the runes inherited from Lich King Ovisis actually bore some resemblance to some ancient characters in the talismans he had seen before, no wonder they felt vaguely familiar. For some unknown reason, sometimes the same magic had greater power when cast using ancient characters. It seemed that the more strokes a character had, the more vividly the powerful Magic Power and belief were displayed, as if every stroke contained the secrets of heaven.

After discovering the mysteries of magic, Hu Feng cultivated thirstily and forgetfully.

…

This time in closed-door cultivation, Hu Feng cultivated for a full three months!

When he walked out of the Lich Great Hall, he once again gave Yisu and the others a completely different feeling. His whole person, from head to toe, every look in his eyes, every strand of hair revealed a powerful belief. There was no overwhelming Killing Intent, no earth-shattering roar, but the pressure he gave off only increased. Before him, it seemed not a single secret could be hidden.

Understanding the origin of Magic on his own, for Hu Feng, this moment was the true step onto the path of cultivation!

No matter how powerful the runes inherited from Ovisis were, they belonged to someone else. Only by creating a method unique to himself could one truly lay the foundation of a Stronger.

After clearing out the forces within a two hundred li radius of the castle, Hu Feng ordered to stop the expansion and increase internal construction. According to Ovisis’s memories, there were many powerful existences within the Cursed Valley. Before his own strength was powerful enough, he must not act rashly. With three capable assistants, Saratos, Arnold, and Yisu, he did not need to personally attend to many details and continued to cultivate with concentration.

“Sola Aoi, Ai Iijima, Ran Monbu…”

In his spare time from cultivation, Hu Feng found a completely black stone tablet and carved names that were once very familiar to him; with this tablet alone, he cherished the memory of his former wild days. On the red sandalwood table beside him lay a few cherry blossoms picked by Yisu from the wilderness, adding a bit of life to the gloomy hall.

Whether it was due to hard cultivation or exceptional talent, Yisu’s cultivation speed far exceeded that of ordinary Undead. Every time she went out to sweep, she devoured a large amount of Soul Fire. Slowly, the power of her Skeleton Arrows made even a high-level Magician like Saratos change color. She was cold and ruthless when leading the Undead Army in battle outside, but when accompanying Hu Feng in cultivation inside the hall, she often remained motionless like a stone statue, vastly different from ordinary Undead.

What is the sharpest thing in the world?

It is not swords, not spears, but the tip of a pen condensed with a person’s mental will!

The Dark Magic Pen left behind by Lich King Ovisis was made of unknown materials; the tip was hard and sharp, capable of easily piercing through a heavy armor claimed to be indestructible. With a light movement of his wrist, Hu Feng left deep, large characters on the hard stone tablet like flowing water. Just as he finished the last stroke, Arnold pushed open the doors of the Lich Great Hall and walked in quickly, “Lord, a team of human Demon Hunters has appeared outside the castle!”

“Oh, human Demon Hunters?”

Hu Feng turned to look at the murderous Arnold. With a casual wave of the Dark Magic Pen in the air, a clear scene emerged on the Magic Crystal before him. A team of human Demon Hunters appeared at the edge of the forest outside the castle, four women and one man. After resting for a moment, they walked towards the castle gate, oblivious to the danger.

The warrior in the lead wore a black battle robe and had an arrogant expression. Every time, he would only draw his sword at the very last moment to slay the intercepting Skeletons, walking forward with large, cold strides. His strength did not look like much, yet he put on a cool look of a peerless Stronger; one could tell at a glance he was a guy begging for a beating.

The four female Magicians following him had weak fluctuations of Magic Power within them, but their attacking power was not small, which actually made one’s eyes light up. Especially the White-robed Woman walking at the very end covering the rear, her low-level magic almost reached the realm of instant casting, and she had at least the strength of a Magician above the Sixth Step. She was tall and slender. Facing a surprise attack by a team of Zombie Warriors, she was unhurried, walking gracefully at the end of the team like a noble.

The group walked while talking from time to time, looking as relaxed and natural as if they were on an outing, indifferent to the low-level Undead that occasionally rushed out to intercept them. Getting closer and closer to the castle, they were completely unaware that they had already stepped into the gates of hell.

“Arnold, pass the order down. All guards retreat, let them in!” Looking at the clueless Demon Hunters, Hu Feng smiled faintly. With a wave of his sleeve, the scene on the Magic Crystal vanished into thin air.

Demons ran rampant on the Sunset Wasteland. Human warriors, hunters, Magicians, and adventurers who came out to hunt were collectively referred to as Demon Hunters, often forming teams to hunt on the Wasteland. Although he roughly understood the situation of the Wasteland through Ovisis’s memory fragments, after being in this strange world for so long, this was the first time he saw so-called Demon Hunters. Having been bored alone for too long, he might as well let these clueless Demon Hunters in for some fun!

Under Hu Feng’s command, the massive Lich Legion quietly disappeared into the depths of the castle, and one after another, profound Magic Arrays also hid themselves. The several Demon Hunters with relaxed expressions noticed nothing and stopped briefly under the city gate before striding in.

“Teacher Ophelia, look, this is just an ordinary castle. Only a few low-level Undead appear here; it has long been abandoned!” The warrior in the black battle robe walked in the lead. He looked at the cautious White-robed Woman behind him and continued, “The Sunset Wasteland is simply too big; who knows how many castles abandoned like this there are! The scale is not small, what a pity, it has turned into a ruin with only a few Undead!”

“Urbato, you really are amazing. It really is an abandoned castle. It looked quite scary from the outside, but inside it has long been abandoned!”

“I dare to bet that this is definitely an ancient city with five thousand years of history. Maybe, there are even many treasures buried inside!”

…

Several Demon Hunters walked while sizing up the majestic Lich Castle, sometimes shaking their heads in pity, sometimes letting out exclamations. Seeing no danger along the way, their vigilance became lower and lower as they chatted and laughed; only the White-robed Woman walking at the end, Ophelia, frowned lightly, vaguely sensing something was wrong.

“Ah…”

The group moved quickly and soon arrived at the majestic Lich Great Hall, pushing open the heavy doors with a ‘creak’. They were prepared to look for treasures but unexpectedly, as soon as they pushed open the doors, they saw Hu Feng’s motionless back. Caught off guard, even the warrior Urbato who had been acting cool could not help but let out a scream and instinctively retreated a few steps.

Who could have imagined that in an ancient city abandoned for thousands of years with only low-level Undead appearing, there would be a motionless person sitting in the gloomy hall?

Was this a person or a ghost?

A gust of gloomy wind blew past, and the hairs all over the uninvited guests’ bodies stood on end.