They were just a group of first-order demon beasts, and the fishing net was a mid-grade second-order magical tool. There was no need to worry about them breaking free.

Moments later, one arrowfish after another was hauled up from the sea along with the net.

“Only keep the head materials from the low-grade first-order ones; discard the rest!” Wang Hao ordered directly.

The arrowfish’s head spikes were excellent materials for artifact forging, and their skin could be used to make talisman paper. But who had the energy to skin them all? They could only abandon the numerous low-grade arrowfish. The high-grade and mid-grade ones could be tossed into the ship’s hold to be processed slowly; after all, the hold was still quite empty.

Everyone felt a pang of heartache, but they knew it had to be this way. Having a Foundation Establishment cultivator skin low-grade first-order demon beasts would be like using a cannon to kill a mosquito—a complete waste of resources.

It was better to save their energy and wait for second-order demon beasts. The value of a single low-grade second-order beast was equivalent to ten high-grade first-order ones, or hundreds of low-grade ones!

Suddenly, in the distance, the sea waves churned violently, drawing everyone’s attention.

“It’s a second-order demon beast!”

It turned out that as they kept discarding arrowfish corpses, the scent of blood had spread through the seawater, attracting a predator.

“Can anyone see what it is?”

Li Derong stared into the distance for a moment. “It looks like a Blue-Striped Seal. It’s too far away to see its exact rank clearly, but it’s definitely a second-order demon beast!”

“Then let’s wait for it to come to us!” Wang Hao laughed, pointing at a high-grade first-order arrowfish. “Throw that into the sea to lure the Blue-Striped Seal over!”

Sure enough, as the bloody scent grew stronger, the Blue-Striped Seal gradually closed the distance to the ship.

Everyone could now clearly see its strength—only low-grade second-order!

Wang Hao signaled for everyone to conceal their auras to avoid startling it.

When the distance was less than three hundred zhang, Wang Hao gave a nod. Wang Wenwu immediately understood and pulled the trigger on the heavy crossbow.

Instantly, an arrow shot from the bow of the ship straight toward the Blue-Striped Seal. As it neared the target, the arrowhead burst open, revealing itself to be a net.

The net glowed with spiritual light and neatly trapped the Blue-Striped Seal.

Whoosh, whoosh—

Two more arrows flew out. This time, they were lethal bolts. One was dodged by the thrashing seal, but the other struck it squarely on the back.

The arrowhead was barbed; no matter how the beast struggled, it couldn’t break free.

Both the net and the arrow were connected to ropes linked to the ship’s winch. After struggling for a while, the Blue-Striped Seal ran out of strength and was hauled aboard by Wang Wenwu.

“This crossbow mechanism is really useful! I never thought hunting second-order demon beasts could be this easy!”

“It can only deal with low-grade second-order demon beasts. If it were a mid-grade beast, there would be a risk of the net breaking!” Wang Hao shook his head. Compared to the value of a mid-grade second-order demon beast, damaging the expensive net would hardly be worth it.

A while later, as the ship passed by a small island, everyone noticed some sea snakes lying lazily on the beach, basking in the sun.

Li Derong took a look and said, “The sea snake leader is a mid-grade second-order demon beast!”

Everyone exchanged glances and silently agreed. They all flew out from the ship on their swords.

Against sea snakes on the beach, the ship’s naval weapons weren’t very effective. But with nine Foundation Establishment cultivators among them, they weren’t about to let this group go!

The sea snake leader was startled. It raised the front half of its body and hissed at the intruders, trying to scare them off with its imposing presence.

Seeing that the cultivators remained unmoved, the sea snake spat a blob of dark green liquid toward them.

“It’s venom! Dodge!”

Wang Hao shot out a talisman that exploded upon contact with the venom. Everyone scattered in time, and no one was hit.

The venom fell into the sea, instantly causing the water within a hundred-zhang radius to boil violently. Countless fish died instantly and floated belly-up on the surface.

Wang Hao ordered, “Wenmei and Wenwu, you two deal with the first-order sea snakes! Everyone else, follow me to hunt down their leader!”

He directly summoned his Chaos Earth Seal and hurled it at the upright serpent.

Feeling the fierce wind rushing toward it, the sea snake hissed and swung its tail violently at the Chaos Earth Seal as it came crashing down.

With a sharp crack, the Chaos Earth Seal was deflected toward a distant part of the beach. Wang Hao beckoned with his hand, calling the artifact back to himself.

Li Derong brandished her long silk ribbon, sending it snaking toward the sea snake, aiming to wrap around and trap it.

Li Dedao summoned his flying sword, sending it soaring through the air straight toward the serpent’s head. Wang Yanfeng and the others also joined the attack.

Facing so many opponents—especially experienced hunters like these—the serpent leader managed to dodge a few attacks but was ultimately struck on its ‘seven inches’ weak point by Wang Hao’s Chaos Earth Seal.

The sea snake immediately slowed down, as if under an immobilization spell.

Li Dedao’s flying sword flashed, transforming into an afterimage as it pierced straight through the serpent’s body. The immense pain caused it to roar, snapping out of its stupor.

Its body thrashed wildly across the beach. Moments later, it lay still, barely breathing.

Since this was a venomous snake, Wang Hao severed its head to avoid any accidents before allowing the others to approach and handle the remains.

After a brief discussion, Li Derong decided to set up a formation to hunt demons right here on the island. The location possessed a second-order spirit vein, perfect for powering the formation’s operation.

While the ship was convenient, dealing with groups of demons was easier on land using a formation. The ship only had two crossbow mechanisms; theoretically, handling two second-order demons simultaneously was its limit. Cultivators could fight too, but in the open ocean, demons found escaping far too easy.

Just these past few days, they’d witnessed several second-order demons slip away into the depths.

Another important point was cost: the ship required mid-grade Spirit Stones to operate, which was expensive!

They decided to leave three Foundation Establishment cultivators aboard to operate the vessel, patrol the surrounding waters, and provide assistance if needed.

The Five Elements Demon Trapping Array truly lived up to its name as a top-grade second-order formation. Not only could it trap demons with illusions, but the conjured five-element spells could also kill first-order demons outright—especially low-grade ones, which perished in a single hit, saving a lot of effort.

If faced with a group of first-order demons, they would simply wait a moment then go clean up afterward. Even groups led by several second-order demons posed little pressure given the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators present.

Wang Hao kept frying Demon Luring Grass almost nonstop.

Half a year later, they had cleared out the surrounding demons so thoroughly that they couldn’t lure a single one for days.

Here, they had hunted a total of over three thousand first-order demons and more than fifty second-order ones!

By now, most of the ship’s space was filled; only a small portion remained empty.

Everyone already felt like returning to rest. These goods were enough to sell for three hundred thousand Spirit Stones. After deducting consumed talismans and rental fees, the profit would be around two hundred thousand Spirit Stones. The Wang Family’s share would be one hundred thirty thousand, and the Li Family’s, seventy thousand.

Despite the protection of the ship and formation, everyone had sustained injuries multiple times while facing numerous demons. Fortunately, all were minor injuries requiring little recuperation.

After a discussion, Wang Hao finally spoke. “Since everyone wants to return, then let’s head back. We can also hunt some demons along the way using the ship.”

The ship slowly and leisurely began sailing in the direction of Canglan Marketplace.

Along the way, everyone took turns keeping watch on deck, hunting any encountered demons as they went. Even mosquitoes were meat. Everyone was accustomed to being poor, and since the ship still had some space, they naturally wanted to fill it completely.

Three days later, two second-order squid demons raced through the waves, pursued by a massive ship—none other than Wang Hao’s group.

“Two mid-grade demons are worth four or five thousand Spirit Stones! Don’t lose them!”

“Don’t worry! They are already injured; they definitely won’t escape!”

Just then, everyone felt the surroundings seem to shudder. The waves grew even fiercer.

“Something is wrong!” Wang Hao, observing the sea conditions, frowned. “There is no wind, so why are the waves so big?”

Li Derong hurried forward to check the situation. Cautiously, she said, “Could it be a demon tide? I’ve heard sea demon tides are unpredictable!”

Wang Yanfeng shook his head. “Impossible. If it were a demon tide, the sea demons should be agitated. But look around—are there any signs of agitation?”

For a moment, everyone was clueless.