Cultivation towards immortality, starting from being a fisherman

Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Dark Clouds Overwhelm the City, The City is on the Verge of Collapse!

Dark clouds pressed down upon the city, threatening its collapse.

As the warning bells rang out.

On the walls of Golden Sparrow City, large numbers of martial artists and the City Defense Army were moving as many crossbow cannons as possible up to the ramparts.

On several large platforms atop the walls.

Huge trebuchets were being assembled on the spot.

These massive war machines were difficult to maintain, so to save money, they were only set up and assembled in place when trouble arose.

As the density of war machinery increased, the soldiers looking at them grew more confident.

Yet, Su Ping knew that these weapons of war were merely a psychological comfort to the commoners within the city.

If the enemies were truly mature demon beasts equivalent to the late period of Qi Cultivation,

both crossbow bolts and stone projectiles would simply be too slow. If they couldn’t keep up with the enemy’s speed, their power would be useless.

Under normal circumstances, when the demon beasts laid siege, it would be up to the Loose Cultivators and martial artists to form a battle array and fight desperately.

All the current arrangements were merely to buy time for the households of greater means to hide when the moment came.

The demon beasts wouldn’t likely linger in one place for long; if one managed to run into a cellar in time, there was a chance of surviving.

“Why do these demon beasts want to come here? I never provoke you guys!”

“Earning merits for the Immortal Sect or something, I don’t need that right now!”

“But why, why do you still have to disturb my grand fishing business!”

Having inspected the city defenses, Su Ping’s mere presence greatly boosted morale. On the surface, he appeared calm and collected,

but through his constant connection with the Spiritual Rats, Little White and Grey, he had already detected the movements of the demon beasts.

These beasts, weaving through forests and rivers, had already set foot into the territory of Golden Sparrow City.

And judging from the positions where the scattered rats had detected their presence,

it was clear that the beasts, advancing in three separate groups, were not targeting the Nine Leaf Mountain Workshop but Golden Sparrow City and the estates outside, the Frost Moon Villa!

On one hand, Su Ping was irritated by the cowardice of these demon beasts, who chose not to attack the workshops populated by more cultivators but instead targeted him, a solitary Loose Cultivator of the Mortal World.

It was blatant bullying, a complete disregard for demon decency!

On the other hand, he felt somewhat fortunate for having contracted Little White and Grey.

Using their innate divine abilities to control a swarm of rats, they achieved a level of reconnaissance over the surrounding area that even a Foundation Establishment Cultivator might not be capable of!

Not only because rats were unobtrusive and common enough in most areas to cast a wide net, their sheer numbers compensating for individual weaknesses,

but more importantly, these controlled rats were being manipulated by the minds of Little White and Grey and did not emit any spiritual energy fluctuations!

This made them nearly invisible to both cultivators and demon beasts alike.

Even those Spirit Birds that could soar into the skies could not compete with this advantage.

Especially the invading demon beasts, which were more sensitive to demonic energy, would instinctively realize they had been spotted if a Spirit Bird appeared in the sky.

Little did they know that even if they crushed a controlled rat accidentally,

their tracks were already exposed to others!

“We can’t let a battle break out near Frost Moon Villa!”

“If Frost Moon Lake gets damaged and the Fishing Point ceases to function… it would be a terrible loss!”

“Although I’m not sure whether damage to the terrain after the formation of a Fishing Point will affect it, we must not take this risk for safety’s sake!”

“Even if I become curious about this question later, I’ll need to wait until I have more Fishing Points. Only then can I experiment with those less useful Fishing Points that yield no special fish.”

“The Red Blood Rainbow Carp is crucial for my Sacred Body; it can’t be compromised!”

Without wasting any more time, having boosted the morale, Su Ping headed straight towards one of the approaching demon beast groups.

Just in case, Su Ping exchanged for Life Spirit Medicine and Purification Spirit Medicine.

Hidden in his sleeves were Transmission Runes and both normal and strange tree species.

Confident that even if a Foundation Establishment Cultivator personally came, they wouldn’t be able to prevent his escape.

After all, which Foundation Establishment Cultivator could expect a mid-period Qi Cultivator like him to have so many life-saving trinkets ready in advance?

Boom!

In the forest about a kilometer from the official road, a thunderous noise echoed in the sky.

A six-meter-tall Long-Armed Giant Ape suddenly paused, a blossom of blood bursting from its chest as it plummeted from the high leap it had taken.

“Roar!”

The giant ape hit the ground and instantly rebounded,

its massive leg wounded, a gaping wound the size of a bowl now visible in the thick muscle.

“Despicable Human Clan!” the giant ape growled, its voice full of grievance and anger.

As a standout among late-period Qi Cultivation demon beasts,

the giant ape had actually noticed Su Ping hiding in the treetops.

Sensing Su Ping’s robust vitality, the ape had initially thought him to be a Martial Artist equal to its own strength.

Growing tired of slaughtering weaker beings, the giant ape’s blood had boiled with excitement.

It foolishly assumed Su Ping, a Body Cultivator, had come out alone to await it,

and surely desired a one-on-one, exhilarating, fair fight between Body Cultivators!

Instead!

The despicable human cultivator, taking advantage of the moment it closed the distance and leaped into the air where it was vulnerable, used a strange weapon to launch a sneak attack!

This was not at all the honorable clash of Body Cultivators it had expected!

In response to the giant ape’s anger, Su Ping said nothing, only raising his heavy sniper rifle from a hundred meters away, relentlessly pulling the trigger and firing without pause.

With its leg injured and facing bullets traveling at four times the speed of sound, and against Su Ping whose senses were not inferior to its own, the giant ape had no chance to dodge.

In a matter of seconds, it was struck multiple times in the head and chest and collapsed to the ground, seemingly lifeless.

Looking at the giant ape that didn’t get up, Su Ping hesitated for just a half second before firing again, blowing open the sizable head of the giant ape that had shown itself above ground.

The giant ape with its brain blasted open twitched all over, then gradually stopped trembling.

Only then did Su Ping breathe a sigh of relief:

“As expected, even the most impulsive of the demon beast species can be cunning and unpredictable.”

“Moreover, the vitality of these demon beasts is simply unbelievable. My shots just now must have completely shredded their hearts.”

Su Ping muttered to himself, yet he still didn’t put down his sniper rifle, as Little White and Grey whispered inaudibly from inside his sleeve.

In the woods, several large rats burrowed out of the ground and rushed over to the giant ape’s corpse, nibbling on the tough fur before following the advice to seek out its weak spots.

After waiting a minute, Su Ping was one hundred percent certain that the ape with the blown-open head was definitely dead.

He quickly approached, swiftly dissected the giant ape to store in several storage bags.

He placed a piece of dried demon beast meat into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed it to replenish his strength.

Then, closing his eyes, he surveyed the other demon beasts’ routes through the rats before setting off toward another group of beasts.

The second group of demon beasts, numbering two, had passed through a mountain village, where they conveniently solved their hunger issue.

By the time Su Ping arrived, the two beasts had just satisfied their craving and spotted each other.

These were two Wolf Demons, both over three meters tall and seven to eight meters long.

However, both their blood qi and Spiritual Power fluctuations were much weaker than the Long-Armed Giant Ape he had encountered alone earlier.

Su Ping suspected that the giant ape might have been the strongest among the attacking demon beasts this time.

But this did not make Su Ping lower his guard.

He had planned to repeat his previous tactic, waiting for the Wolf Demon to leap before opening fire.

But he discovered that his opponents didn’t play fair either, and they opened their mouths to spit out Wind Blades!

Su Ping scoffed and quickly retreated into the dense forest.

The Wind Blades struck the ground, carving out several trenches before dissipating.

With one-fifth of a Sacred Body, Su Ping’s speed of retreat made the two Wolf Demons chasing him suddenly halt in their tracks.

“So fast!”

“This human Body Cultivator is not simple!”

“The dense forest is tricky, don’t pursue further!”

The Wolf Demons, surprised, tacitly prepared to retreat.

Seeing the two Wolf Demons were unwilling to follow him into the forest, Su Ping sighed and raised an automatic rifle in each hand.

Think you’re safe just because you won’t enter the forest?

Heh! Naive. In fact, the moment I showed up, you were already within range of the firearms!

The forest erupted with the sound of rapid gunfire!

The Wolf Demons sensed danger, their hair standing on end as they leaped violently.

But Su Ping was waiting for just that moment.

His rifles repeatedly fired in succession, his hands and reactions keeping pace with the Wolf Demons.

The full-power bullets, capable of penetrating five millimeters of steel, struck the Wolf Demons in their bellies and lower legs.

Though the wounds weren’t deep, the bullets broke through their defenses, causing the beasts to howl in pain as they fell to the ground, then were hit by more bullets!

After emptying his magazines, Su Ping let the automatic rifles fall to the ground.

On the ground, Little White and Grey stood on their hind legs, skillfully catching the empty automatic rifles.

And just as the Wolf Demons fiercely watched Su Ping, thinking his strange weapons must be out of ammo by now,

they were dumbfounded to see the detestable Body Cultivator producing an even larger, black, metallic rod, and aiming it at them!

As a chill ran through the air, the severely injured Wolf Demons tried to flee,

Bang!

The sound of the heavy sniper rifle rang out.

Bang, bang!

One shot, then another!

Like a death knell, it signaled the end for the Wolf Demons and became the requiem for the ill-fated village they’d passed.

Brains blown open, then decapitated, and finally the carcasses were stored in bags as materials!

After collecting the Wolf Demon carcasses, Su Ping glanced at the lifeless village, shook his head lightly, memorized the location, and departed.

Now all he could do was report the spot to the City Lord Mansion of Golden Sparrow City when he returned, and let them arrange for people to come and handle the aftermath.

Hopefully, the belongings uninteresting to the Wolf Demons could be gathered and given to their survivors.

It was his second confrontation with the Late Period Qi Cultivation demon beasts.

Although relying on a bit of help from weaponry for an advantage,

Su Ping still keenly realized that his current physical abilities, in every aspect, were even faster and stronger than those of the demon beasts!

This was also a major reason he could exploit the advantage of weapons!

“Could it be that I’m already this powerful, that these Late Period Qi Cultivation demon beasts, which caused so much distress in the Mortal World and kept the Inspection Envoys constantly on the move, seemed… insignificant to me?”

Su Ping rushed to the bank of a small river.

Then, he transformed into a Fishing Man, prepared his fishing spot, and began to fish.

He was using a hook without bait.

The heavy sniper rifle, resting on his shoulder, made him appear harmless to people and animals alike.

In the river, the last group of demon beasts invading Golden Sparrow City, two Mountain Xiaos, were swimming upstream against the current.

The Mountain Xiaos resembled big, all-white monkeys, although a bit leaner, but with disproportionately large faces and noses.

When biting, they could open their mouths wide enough to swallow an adult’s head whole.

Thinking themselves cunningly secretive and a bit clever, they tried to use their ability to hold their breath to attempt an underwater ambush.

Little did they know that the moment they entered the water upstream, they were already spotted by the large rat nibbling on fruit by the side.

Assessing that their target was definitely himself at Frost Moon Lake, Su Ping simply ran back to the upstream bank of the lake and took on the guise of a Fishing Man to start fishing!