Wang Hao carefully observed the situation in the field, thinking to himself that he would steer clear of any Lei Family cultivators from a distance and only support cultivators from other families.

There were originally just over fifty second-order demon beasts left. When everyone charged out of the grand formation, they instantly killed several that were directly in front, leaving only a little over forty. Each Foundation Establishment cultivator basically had to face two, while the remaining few were entangled by Qi Refining cultivators using simple formations.

Naturally, Wang Hao would first choose to support Wang Longyou, who was facing two second-order mid-grade demon beasts.

Wang Hao took on one of the Thunder Monkeys. Its entire body was surging with spiritual power, emitting white lightning.

If this kind of Thunder Monkey could grow to the third-order, it would become extremely troublesome; even Golden Core cultivators would have to give it a wide berth. But for now, it was only second-order, with limited demonic power, unable to unleash lightning attacks many times. Judging by its aura, it had clearly already used several attacks on Wang Longyou and couldn’t launch another against Wang Hao in a short time.

Wang Hao performed a hand seal, and immediately a row of earthen spikes erupted from the ground beneath the Thunder Monkey’s feet. The Thunder Monkey leaped violently to avoid the spikes. Before its body could land, Wang Hao directly summoned the Chaos Earth Seal to suppress the space above the Thunder Monkey’s head.

The Thunder Monkey shrieked in great alarm, hurriedly releasing a bolt of lightning from the surface of its body, striking the Chaos Earth Seal.

But how could a hastily gathered bolt of lightning break the Chaos Earth Seal? The Thunder Monkey was still suppressed in place by the seal, unable to move.

Wang Hao summoned the Ash Calamity Sword, striking its body and leaving a shallow cut. The Thunder Monkey’s defense wasn’t as strong as an Earth Armor Pig’s, but second-order mid-grade demon beasts inherently possessed powerful physical bodies.

Wang Hao couldn’t help but complain again about the Ash Calamity Sword’s garbage attack power. He then summoned Red Lotus True Fire to burn the Thunder Monkey. Moments later, Wang Hao obtained a demon core shimmering with lightning.

“A profit! A thunder-attribute demon core. This thing can sell for at least three thousand Spirit Stones!”

Items with special attributes usually commanded prices several times higher than those with the five elemental attributes. Wang Hao smiled and stored away the demon core.

But Lei Liheng’s voice came again, instantly darkening his expression.

“Young Friend Wang, impressive… ah, careful!”

“Am I fucking never going to be done with this?”

Wang Hao was furious while simultaneously feeling a surge of alarm. A sense of impending danger washed over him like a sudden premonition. He quickly shifted several body lengths away and slapped a stack of spirit talismans in front of himself.

Just then, a phantom claw attack swept through—exactly the Kui Wood Wolf’s technique! Lei Liheng, you bastard!

Puff puff puff!

Over a dozen spirit talismans instantly burned up. Finally, even Wang Hao’s protective spiritual light was torn apart, and the attack landed on his chest. Wang Hao staggered back several steps. Looking at the black inner armor revealed through his torn robe, he exclaimed at his luck.

With a dark expression, Wang Hao glared fiercely at Lei Liheng. Lei Liheng turned his head away as if he hadn’t seen it.

He really wanted to give him a sword strike right then. But with a formidable enemy present, now wasn’t the time to turn hostile. Wang Hao suppressed this anger and began helping Wang Longyou deal with the demon beast.

With two people joining forces, the opposing demon beast naturally wasn’t a match. In moments, it was beheaded by Wang Longyou’s thread-like spiritual artifact. This time, Lei Liheng didn’t dare speak up again. If he really continued like this, Wang Hao would definitely have words with him.

Wang Hao and Wang Longyou exchanged a glance. They first helped their family’s Qi Refining cultivators resolve their fight against a second-order demon beast, then began assisting Li Yaozu. With two fresh combatants joining in, they quickly dealt with the two demon beasts besieging Li Yaozu as well.

In less than two quarters of an hour, Wang Hao had resolved or participated in resolving seven second-order demon beasts. The scales of victory began tipping toward humanity.

While helping another Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Zhao Family deal with their opposing demon beast, Wang Longyou sent a voice transmission to Wang Hao. “Hao’er, the beast horde’s defeat is certain now. I think we can move to deal with the Kui Wood Wolf!”

Wang Hao was naturally willing and responded, “Granduncle, wait until I finish this platypus beast before heading over to form up near the Kui Wood Wolf and seize the chance to activate my Talisman Treasure. But can we claim its demon core? We shouldn’t do all this work only for others to reap the reward!”

“This battle has been so smooth largely thanks to you, Hao’er. At worst we can concede some of the second-order beast corpses; they wouldn’t dare say anything!” In terms of merit, Wang Hao had indeed played key roles several times. Moreover, The Wang Family’s strength wasn’t weak now, and they had The Li Family as in-laws; it shouldn’t be a big problem.

Boom!

The platypus beast before them was sent flying by a palm strike from the Zhao Family cultivator. Seeing victory was assured, Wang Hao quietly withdrew from the combat circle, swallowed some pills, and began meditating to refine them and recover some spiritual power while Wang Longyou stood guard nearby.

The Zhao Family cultivator shot them both a grateful look. The distribution rule among family cultivators was that whoever killed something kept it. For Wang Hao to withdraw at this moment and concede the platypus beast corpse—how could one not feel grateful!

Wang Hao waited until his internal True Essence recovered seventy or eighty percent before rising again. He nodded at Wang Longyou and flew toward where Lei Liheng and two others were locked in fierce battle with the Kui Wood Wolf.

“Ahahahaha! Young friend has arrived!” Lei Liheng laughed wildly like someone deranged despite blood at the corner of his mouth, shouting at the Kui Wood Wolf, “Vile beast! Don’t even think about leaving alive today!”

Wang Hao really wanted to say, “I won’t disturb you all; I’m leaving now!”

This guy was simply insane! He had originally wanted to ambush the Kui Wood Wolf; now everything was exposed.

Actually, Lei Liheng had no choice either; the three of them were no match for the Kui Wood Wolf at all—just during this brief exchange, all three had sustained significant injuries. Such an exaggerated performance was merely meant to intimidate it; best if it could make it flee.

The Kui Wood Wolf glanced at Wang Hao and roared furiously—it had long since set its sights on him. If not for this human brat, they wouldn’t have been defeated so quickly. It spat out several blade-like attacks toward him.

Since things were exposed, there was no point hiding anymore for him either—so he directly ran further away while shouting, “Fellow Daoists, please cover me!”

As he ran, he took out his golden sword Talisman Treasure and began channeling spiritual power into it. This type required massive amounts from cultivators for activation—if at late-stage Qi Refining, one might need to pour all their spiritual power into it, requiring a very long activation time indeed.

As an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator whose True Essence was dozens of times denser than the ninth-layer Qi Refining level, he still needed a dozen-plus breaths’ worth of time to activate it fully, though.

Seeing the extraordinary nature of the spirit talisman within his hands gave them hope for victory—all three immediately moved to block attacks on his behalf. Lei Liheng indeed had some skills under his belt—several flying discs met incoming assaults head-on. Though the discs were knocked aside, the attacks were neutralized nonetheless.

“Prototype Magic Treasure?” Wang Hao squinted, staring intently at those flying discs whose might surpassed top-grade spiritual artifacts yet fell short of actual magic treasures—very likely prototypes indeed.

Prototype Magic Treasures could be upgraded into full-fledged ones. During forging, due to lacking certain materials insufficient to qualify for making proper ones, craftsmen left interfaces so later finding said materials allowed upgrading. Alternatively, Golden Core cultivators nurturing them within their dantian for a few decades could also upgrade them eventually.

Lei Liheng’s confidence in facing a third-order demon beast relied precisely upon this treasure, apparently indicating the Lei Family inheritance included at least third-order artifact forging knowledge.

“Young Friend Wang, please hurry up a bit more! If we let the vile creature escape today, it will become a great calamity in the future!”

Damn right, I didn’t need you to say it, I know already! Wang Hao accelerated channeling True Essence into the Talisman Treasure.

Moments later, the golden sword atop the talisman flashed brightly and vibrated slightly, prompting an immediate warning shout: “Everyone quickly dodge away!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the golden sword erupted with dazzling sword radiance after activation, transforming into an incredibly brilliant blade ray chasing after the target like pursuing stars chasing the moon.

The Golden Sword Talisman Treasure expanded mid-air, forming a hundreds-zhang-long blade ray emanating sharp sword energy, making people feel the immense power contained within even from afar, instantly crossing several li distance and arriving before the Kui Wood Wolf.

The Kui Wood Wolf let out a fearful low growl and hurriedly unleashed numerous means to counterattack, yet in an instant, the golden blade ray shattered through its defenses, tore apart its protective spiritual light, and finally left a deep sword scar upon its flesh before exhausting its remaining might.