Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

Chen Yi had seen a similar sight before. It was in the drawing in her grandmother's bedroom!

"Does that mean your grandmother has been here before?" Mo Fan asked, surprised.

Even though the Giant Purple Sacred Linden was stunning, it had long been dominated by demon creatures, especially flying species. There was no way a plane would have passed by the area, so not many people would know about the existence of the Giant Purple Sacred Linden. To his surprise, Chen Yi's grandmother had found out about the tree before the authorities of the Magic Association, the military, and the government!

The question was... if she knew about the Giant Purple Sacred Linden, why didn't she tell anyone? Even if it was just a piece of information, it would attract the attention of countless people to come and look for it!

"It seems like we're quite in luck. We somehow found the right place." Chen Yi was clueless about how her grandmother knew about the Giant Purple Sacred Linden. They would have to ask her grandmother some other time!

The group finally had a chance to catch their breath, hiding in Mo Fan's Shadow Magic. The place was deadly silent for the rest of the night. Perhaps it was because the Four-Lives Salamander Tiger was good at maintaining its territory, or most creatures living on the tree had strict routines. Despite trying to stay alert, they soon fell asleep, overwhelmed by fatigue.

------

A long drawbridge connected the inner and outer slopes of Mount Kunyu. The military had stationed soldiers to guard the drawbridge on one end.

Currently, thousands of people had gathered at the slope close to the drawbridge. They mainly consisted of Hunters planning to earn some quick money. The outer slopes of Mount Kunyu were known to have a lot of Giant Purple Lindens. If they were lucky enough to find a few of the trees, they could easily earn up to a million yuan. Even inexperienced Hunters had a chance to earn some money, so they could not wait to enter the outer slopes to search for the demon crests!

"Why aren't you letting us in? What are we waiting for? I've come all the way from Guangdong Province just to earn some money, and now you're stopping us from going in. What do you mean by this!?" a man yelled furiously.

The man had come to Yantai from Guangdong Province, which meant he had traveled across half of China just to come here. He thought he was going to make bank, but the government and the military were stopping people from crossing the bridge.

"He's right, why didn't you stop the Hunters that went in first? Why do we have to wait so long here!?"

"It's not fair!"

"Are you purposely keeping us here because they have bribed you!?"

Thousands of people were yelling angrily. The officials were having a hard time controlling the situation. Some Hunters at the front of the line were about to use violence after they were provoked by the others.

Things would gry out of control as soon as people started using magic. Even though it was rare to see independent Mages getting into a fight with the personnel of the Magic Association, the government, or the military, as the saying went, "stopping a man from earning money is like killing his parents". The Hunters were on the verge of losing their tempers!

"Who's causing a scene here!?"

An imperious voice exploded like a deafening thunderclap as the Hunters were about to lose control. The words echoed in everyone's ears like the chimes of a bell. The Mages immediately felt their ears ringing and their heads spinning. They could not even cast a single Spell in their current state!

"It's...it's Nie Lengshan!"

"My ears are hurting!"

It took a while for the sound affecting the people to disappear. The Hunters at the front saw a man in his thirties with wings on his back landing in front of the drawbridge. He was glaring coldly at the Hunters who were on the verge of losing control!

"Nie Lengshan, don't you dare use your identity and strength to put pressure on us. We just want to make some money, but these assh**** are blocking us here because they were bribed by the Hunters that went in first! They even came up with such a bad excuse..." the Hunter at the front of the queue snapped.

"Open your goddamn eyes and tell me what these are!" Nie Lengshan casually tossed a bag onto the ground.

The bag was tied very loosely. Something fell out of it as soon as it hit the ground.

The Hunters immediately looked at the bag and saw tusks covered in blood scattered across the ground. One of the Hunters went forward to empty the bag. He found the head of a Hillman inside!

"A huge number of Hillmen have shown up in the outer Mount Kunyu. They are using the demon crests as bait to hunt greedy idiots like you. More than two hundred people have died! These are the photos of the dead that some of the Hunters that returned gave to us. Take a look at them yourselves!" Nie Lengshan took out some photos to back up his claim and tossed them into the crowd of Hunters.

Most of the Hunters were convinced as soon as they saw the head and the tusks of a Hillman on the ground. However, their faces paled when they looked at the horrible corpses of the people that had been brutally killed by the Hillmen.

There were lots of photos, each displaying a horrible sight. Some relatively young Hunters among the crowd even vomited!

"If you still want to head inside, I won't stop you. We just happen to need a bunch of reliable Hunters to help us deal with the Hillmen. These brutal Hillmen torture humans to entertain themselves. The outer slopes of Mount Kunyu are too close to Yantai, we will not allow the Hillmen to set up their territory here!" Nie Lengshan declared. His voice was loud and clear to everyone.

"Hillmen...Hillmen are Warrior-level creatures, and they are good at working together, too. I think we'll pass," a middle-aged Hunter said.

"We only came to join in on the fun, so we'll pass too. Hehe!"

"We'll be going since it's so dangerous. We can find somewhere else to hunt demon creatures too. Am I right?"

Most Hunters did not have the courage to face the Hillmen. In just a few moments, the majority of the Hunters that were demanding to enter the outer Mount Kunyu left. The Hunters that stayed were either confident in their strength, or were part of a strong Hunter Group!

"Brother Nie, feel free to tell us if you need our help. Our Leopard Head Hunter Group might not be as reputable as you, but we won't show any mercy when it comes to killing demon creatures either," a bloke wearing a leopard head cap said.

"We do need your help to solve a serious problem. Commander Sun has already led his squad to the Valley of Yu Grass. I have come back here to request reinforcements," Nie Lengshan said.

"Everyone in our team is an Advanced Mage. If there really are Hillmen in there, as Mages of Yantai, we are more than willing to help," a mature woman in her thirties said.

"Very well, come with me."

Of the crowd of over three thousand Hunters, only around three hundred were willing to take on the Hillmen. That being said, everyone that chose to stay was an elite. Their help was much needed!

"What happened, exactly?" the leader of the Leopard Head Hunter Group asked.

"A strange phenomenon occurred. The Dandelion Grass in the mountain is all flying in the same direction, and that place turned out to be the perfect hunting ground for the Hillmen. Ninety percent of the Hunters that entered the mountain have made their way to the valley. We have no idea how many Hillmen are inside the Valley of Yu Grass. We have to kill the Hillmen as quickly as possible. Otherwise, almost eighty percent of the Hunters are going to die in there!" Nie Lengshan informed them.

"There should be at least four thousand Hunters who went onto the outer slopes. Are the Hillmen really that scary? Can they really kill thousands of Mages?"

"They could only kill a few hundred at most with some tricks, but that won't be the case if all the Hunters went into the sea of grass!"

------

The experienced Hunters did not believe the Hillmen could pose that much of a threat. However, they were astounded after they followed Nie Lengshan to the valley covered in grass higher than their heads!

They would completely lose track of anyone that walked into the grass. The Hillmen were able to conceal themselves perfectly within the grass. Even if the members of a team were sticking closely together, the Hillmen could still find a chance to attack those that were slightly separated from the team. They finally understood why Nie Lengshan was taking it so seriously!

"We've already sent out an emergency alert to summon every Sound Mage in Yantai and the nearby cities. We only managed to gather seven of them," Commander Sun Yi sighed.

"Only seven of them?" Nie Lengshan seemed disappointed.

It did not matter how strong they were once they went into the grass. Even a Super Mage could only kill a few Hillmen that were scouting in the valley...

Being strong enough was not the key to solving the problem. More importantly, they had to find a way to locate the Hillmen hiding in the sea of grass!

Nie Lengshan was a Sound Mage. He could easily locate the Hillmen in the sea of grass. As such, he was the main person in charge of the operation. However, it was impossible for him to do it alone. It would be ideal if every team had a Sound Mage. That way, the Hillmen would no longer be able to hide themselves here!

"Seven it is. We'll split into eight teams and enter the valley. Let's find the Hillmen's den and kill them all, to avenge those that have fallen!" Nie Lengshan stated.

The military, government, and Magic Association had dispatched a thousand elite Mages. There were around four hundred Hunters, too. They immediately split up into eight teams and went into the sea of grass to take on the Hillmen, under the lead of the Sound Mages!

"Sigh, if only there were more Sound Mages."

"We can't help it, the Sound Element is a kind of Dimensional Magic. It's very unlikely for people to Awaken it in the early levels!"

The situation clearly highlighted the importance of Sound Mages. As a matter of fact, there was always a high demand for Sound Mages due to their outstanding ability to sense danger for the team. They were good at avoiding danger, hunting down targets, disturbing the enemy, and suppressing fire...

Most Mages were basically blind when moving in the sea of grass. Having a huge army would not make any difference. Only the Sound Mages could extend their senses through the thick grass!