When independent cultivators go to the Floating Cloud Mountains to hunt monsters, they will basically choose to first accept the task at the Guiyunfang Monster Hunting List. After selecting the target and making preparations, they will go there.
All the bounty-bearing monster missions they received were first investigated by Song Qingming and other Feiyun Guards, and then summarized and released.
In those unknown areas that Feiyunwei has not explored yet, the monsters here have not been published on the monster hunting list. Naturally, no one will receive the task of hunting the monsters here and come to these places specifically.
The Feiyun Guard was formed by the Jindan cultivators of the Xiaoyao Sect who were stationed in Guiyunfang for hundreds of years in order to better deal with the monsters in the Floating Cloud Mountains.
For hundreds of years, the area of Floating Cloud Mountains near Wei State, although tens of thousands of miles in radius, has been explored several times by Feiyunwei.
However, after Feiyunwei explores an area, it will take at least a hundred years before exploring it again.
Over the past hundred years, the monsters on the monster hunting list will gradually be killed by the monks who take on the task, and new monsters will slowly migrate to this area.
After a few decades, the monsters here have basically been replaced. Without the monster missions on the Monster Hunting List, naturally no cultivators will come here specifically to hunt monsters.
This area will gradually become a new unknown area. Until a hundred years later, when Feiyunwei has explored this place again, more cultivators will come here.
Yang Wuqi and his group of demonic cultivators took advantage of this loophole and hid in an unknown area. Over the years, they have evaded several waves of cultivators sent by Guiyunfang to search for them.
Until half a month ago, Lu Yunfei and his team of Feiyun Guards were assigned the task of exploring this area and came here.
The Feiyun Guard who was killed by Yang Wuqi before was named Luo Ping. He had joined the Feiyun Guard for several years. Nothing major had ever happened while carrying out his missions. He was considered a relatively mature cultivator.
He was unlucky this time. The place he was assigned to explore happened to be near Yang Wuqi's cave.
It was previously known that a foundation-building cultivator had scanned the air and received information that there were fewer second-level monsters in this area. He thought it was a relatively safe unknown area, but he did not expect that there was a group of demon cultivators hiding in this deep mountain.
Luo Ping, who was not aware of the situation, rushed in unknowingly. When he discovered Yang Wuqi and his group of demon cultivators, he wanted to hide there and wait for the demon cultivators to complete the ritual and leave, and then quietly go back to report the news. However, he did not expect that there was also a demon cultivator with a high level of foundation-building skills hiding among them.
Although he was already cautious, he encountered Yang Wuqi, whose cultivation was far superior to his, and accidentally exposed his whereabouts, resulting in his death in vain.
Feiyunwei usually explores the area in secret, and Yang Wuqi and his gang of demon cultivators were unaware of this situation. After Gu Liangshan and his men discovered that the fire rat had been killed, although they were a little suspicious, they also thought that it was done by a nearby monster hunting team. They also didn't know that a large number of Feiyunwei had arrived near their cave.
It was not until after killing Luo Ping that the cautious Yang Wuqi felt something was amiss. If the person who suddenly broke in here was really the Feiyun Guard from Guiyunfang, their cave would surely be exposed sooner or later.
Yang Wuqi, who had been in Weiguo for many years, had naturally heard of the Feiyun Guards in Guiyunfang, and knew that the Feiyun Guards were specifically responsible for exploring the information of monsters in the Fuyun Mountains for Guiyunfang.
"A cultivator has already discovered this place today. I'm afraid it's not very safe here. Let Liangshan and the others hurry up and prepare for the ritual. After this ritual is completed, we need to find another cave."
Yang Wuqi, who was sitting in the cave, thought for a while, and seemed to have made up his mind. He spoke a few instructions to several disciples standing below.
In a dense forest several miles away from the altar, a monk with a somewhat panicked look on his face spoke hurriedly to the people in the forest.
"Captain, we've found the place where Fellow Daoist Luo sent the distress talisman. It's at the foot of the mountain ahead. We've also discovered an altar there, with a group of people on it, seemingly preparing to perform some kind of ceremony. It looks like Fellow Daoist Luo is in trouble."
"Altar, blood sacrifice, could this group of people be demonic cultivators?" Lu Yunfei said in shock after hearing this.
"What? The ones who killed Fellow Daoist Luo were actually demon cultivators. How could there be demon cultivators here?" When everyone heard that there was a group of demon cultivators in front of them, their faces changed.
The evil cultivators have always been brutal in their actions. Many of the cultivators present knew very well that if Luo Ping fell into the hands of the evil cultivators, he would definitely be in great danger.
Song Qingming, who was already somewhat uneasy, was also very surprised when he heard the news about the demon cultivator. The demon cultivators were cruel and had many strange skills. They were much more difficult to deal with than ordinary monsters. If they started to attack him later, he must be careful.
"How many people are there and how strong are they?" Lu Yunfei thought for a moment and asked again.
"There are about five or six people, all of whom are practicing Qi. Two of them are already in the late stage of Qi training. Their strength is probably not weaker than the captain. The others are not very skilled, and are only in the middle stage of Qi training." The person who reported the news answered quickly.
Lu Yunfei looked at the dozen or so monks beside him and made a secret decision in his heart.
"Fellow Daoists, since we have encountered this group of demonic cultivators, regardless of whether Fellow Daoist Luo lives or dies, we all have the obligation to eliminate demons and defend the Dao. We don't need to be afraid. The ones ahead are just a group of Qi-refining demonic cultivators, and their strength is not strong. Follow me to eliminate the demons and avenge Fellow Daoist Luo."
Gu Liangshan and his companions were on the altar at this time, anxiously preparing various sacrificial materials. Several monks who were in a coma had already been tied to the pillars around the altar.
To refine this magic sword, not only the spirit of the monk is needed, but also many other materials and some complicated rituals.
"Junior brothers, hurry up! The blood sacrifice will begin soon. Master has just given us instructions to guard the altar well. Ninth Junior Brother, go to the mountain pass and guard it first. A cultivator has already broken in here. We should be careful to avoid affecting Master's magic knife refining."
A middle-aged demon cultivator was stunned for a moment, bowed to Gu Liangshan somewhat unwillingly, and slowly walked out of the mountain.
The relationship between demon cultivators is more cruel than that between righteous cultivators. When carrying out missions, they never care about the life or death of the other party.
This unfortunate demon cultivator had just walked half a mile when suddenly a flash of spiritual light appeared and magic weapons flew all over the sky. More than a dozen cultivators from both sides rushed out at the same time. When the demon cultivator saw the dozen magic weapons flying around him, his face was filled with disbelief and horror.
A desperate scream was heard. The demon cultivator's cultivation level was not high to begin with, only at the sixth level of Qi Refining. He was attacked by more than a dozen cultivators with higher cultivation levels than him. Before he could even take out his magic weapon, he was beaten to death by Song Qingming and others.
"Oh no! Someone's attacking! Brothers, quickly stop them together! We must not let them destroy the altar. Brother Li, go and inform Master immediately."
Gu Liangshan saw a large number of cultivators attacking from a distance, and hurriedly asked someone to notify Yang Wuqi first. Then he took several demon cultivators under the altar and went up bravely.
"My fellow Daoists, these demonic creatures are indeed carrying out a blood sacrifice. Don't hold back. I will report this to the sect to any Daoist who can kill the demonic cultivators, and I will definitely not miss out on any benefits for you."
Seeing that there were only four or five people in Gu Liangshan's group, Lu Yunfei took the lead and rushed towards the altar.
"Kill to avenge Fellow Daoist Luo."
After hearing Gu Liangshan's words, several masters in the late Qi Refining stage who were eager to make achievements also rushed forward, shouting loudly that they wanted to kill these evil cultivators and avenge Luo Ping.
Seeing that there were indeed only a few demon cultivators on the opposite side, everyone felt more confident. Their number was more than twice that of the opposite side. If nothing unexpected happened, these demon cultivators would be stepping stones for them to achieve merit.