It was a long time after the red-haired woman, who was the manifestation of "Bloodthirsty," departed before the five puppets cautiously emerged from their hiding places.
The area had been thoroughly battered by the Nascent Soul demon earlier, leaving it in ruins with toppled peaks and rivers flowing backward. Only the mountain-sized corpse of the demon remained relatively intact.
The five puppets carefully approached the corpse and inspected it. Upon confirming it was truly dead, they lifted the body and quickly left the area.
The corpse was too large to fit into the storage bags equipped on the puppets.
Far from the battlefield, in a stone forest, Xiao Fei stored the demon's corpse in his spatial dimension, finally recovering some compensation.
This demon powerhouse had no magical treasures or weapons, but it possessed a considerable amount of spirit stones and various spiritual resources, likely ill-gotten gains plundered from the human cultivators of the Eastern Continent.
Confiscating these ill-gotten gains helped to recoup some of his losses.
His losses in this battle were significant; the Soul Stabilizing Rune he had nurtured for many years had shattered and needed to be re-condensed and nurtured.
His ultimate trump card, the "Bloodthirsty" evil blade, had transformed into a red-haired woman and escaped.
He dared not pursue it. It had devoured the Nascent Soul and its primordial spirit; he feared he would explode upon mere proximity.
For now, he could only hide far away, hoping this beauty would spend more time exploring demon territories and not seek him out.
Including this Nascent Soul level demon corpse, he had accumulated quite a number of demon corpses, all piled up in his spatial dimension. He expected to exchange them for some good items next time.
Deep within this stone forest, the Flying Sky Giant Boat was docked for repairs.
The flying boat had been repeatedly hammered by the Nascent Soul expert, and although the defensive formations had barely held, many internal structures were damaged.
As for the cultivators hidden within, more than half had been shaken to death, and the rest were all severely injured.
Only Huang Feifei was in better condition. The Seven-Colored Treasure Robe she wore had shielded her from most of the damage.
Coupled with her powerful wood-attribute innate healing ability, it was difficult to kill her unless it was a fatal blow.
When Xiao Fei finally appeared, she was the only one in the entire flying boat still capable of movement.
Huang Feifei was now casting spells to heal some of the cultivators.
While everyone was recuperating, Xiao Fei entered his spatial dimension to sort through the various spirit plants he had obtained from the Great Qin Dynasty's secret realm.
He prepared a potent poison using the 5,000-year-old Black Dragon Vine root.
This poison could be concealed within magical treasures and unleashed with spiritual energy during combat. Its toxicity was fierce, capable of quickly incapacitating enemies.
Additionally, he re-condensed a Soul Stabilizing Rune and stored it within his body for nurturing.
However, the newly condensed Soul Stabilizing Rune was only effective against Golden Core cultivators; it was useless against higher-level opponents.
Lower-level cultivators were easily crushed by him, rendering the rune unnecessary for them.
Three days later, the Flying Sky Giant Boat had quietly departed the stone forest.
On the flying boat, the several Nascent Soul ancestors had mostly recovered. The group reconvened in the main hall to discuss their next course of action.
However, Xiao Fei was conspicuously absent.
In Xiao Fei's absence, Huang Feifei unleashed her full aura, reverting to her status as the divine maiden of Meteor Island.
She now dominated the proceedings, planning their subsequent actions.
"Although this operation was thwarted and we suffered heavy losses, the battle with the demons has only just begun."
"We cannot possibly retreat after incurring some losses."
"The primary reasons for this failure were venturing too deep into demon territory and encountering a Nascent Soul expert."
"My plan is for us to operate along the fringes of the conflict between the demons and humans, providing support to human cultivators."
"Additionally, we can recruit some cultivators from the Eastern Continent's human population to replenish our combat losses."
Huang Feifei laid out her plans, and the others raised no objections.
Regarding prestige among the Meteor Island cultivators, Huang Feifei far surpassed Xiao Fei. After all, she had accumulated this wealth, and many Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators had been nurtured through her efforts.
Furthermore, Huang Feifei had already dispatched people back to Meteor Island to commence the construction of a second Flying Sky Giant Boat.
Its practicality had been thoroughly demonstrated in this battle.
The manpower and resources for building the Flying Sky Giant Boat could be scoured from the Eastern Continent amidst the ongoing war.
As the group was discussing, spiritual energy fluctuations of combat emanated from ahead.
"Prepare for battle..."
...
After bidding farewell to Huang Feifei and the others, Xiao Fei concealed his aura, found a deserted cave, and burrowed inside.
When he emerged again, he had transformed into the image of a black-scaled demon, carrying two heavy hammers.
Any demon he encountered along the way did not dare to suspect his identity.
Anyone who harbored suspicion was directly met with a hammer blow, their heads exploding. The methods of demons were as simple and crude as that.
He had left the group to travel alone, intending to go to a place called the Tai Ran Sect.
This sect was originally the foremost sect within the Great Qin Dynasty, boasting numerous Nascent Soul experts and enjoying the high regard of the Great Qin Dynasty.
During the demon's surprise attack on the Great Qin Dynasty, the Tai Ran Sect suddenly turned traitor, attacking the Great Qin Dynasty's army from behind.
The three Nascent Soul experts Xiao Fei had killed in the Xian City secret realm previously were all from the Tai Ran Sect.
The reason he was seeking them out now was that a complete set of spirit herbs for the Nascent Soul Pill formulation, originally in the secret realm, had had two plants removed by the Tai Ran Sect.
These two spirit herbs were the Hexagonal Red Phosphorus Fruit and the Celestial Vortex Flower, both primary ingredients for refining the Nascent Soul Pill. Without these two herbs, he could not refine his Nascent Soul Pill.
Therefore, he had no choice but to personally visit and demand them.
After walking through demon territory for several days, he finally reached the grand entrance of the Tai Ran Sect.
At the Tai Ran Sect's mountain gate, a human cultivator, seeing him, a demon powerhouse, approach, quickly stepped forward to greet him obsequiously.
"Summon your Sect Master to see me!"
Xiao Fei slammed his twin hammers heavily onto the ground and boisterously bellowed.
Since he was impersonating a demon, he had to adopt an arrogant demeanor.
"Very well, please wait a moment!"
The gatekeeping cultivators dared not delay. They had now pledged allegiance to the demons, and demon cultivators were like lords before them.
Xiao Fei was ushered into a well-appointed reception hall. After a brief wait, six Nascent Soul cultivators hurried over.
"An envoy has arrived; forgive us for not welcoming you sooner!"
The leader, the Tai Ran Sect Master Xiong Han, a white-haired elder, repeatedly apologized to Xiao Fei.
Xiao Fei looked at their subservient demeanor with disdain, thinking that they chose to be dogs for demons rather than decent human beings.
"Where are the others?
If my memory serves me correctly, your Tai Ran Sect has thirteen Nascent Soul cultivators. Why are only six of you here?
Do the other seven look down on me and not take me seriously?"
Xiao Fei showed no courtesy, directly questioning them.