"Keep your voice down, or you'll alert the Iron-Armored Bulls!"
Ingrid Cui shot an annoyed glare at the hunter who'd spoken up, scolding him in a low voice.
Embarrassment flashed across the hunter's face, and he immediately shut his mouth.
"Brother Song, what do we do next?"
Toren Tong asked Ian Song in a low voice.
"Wait here for now. I'll go set up the Illusion Trial Formation and trap them!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ian shot forward. The moment he landed in midair, dozens of formation disks flew from his hands. Instantly, the entire wilderness seemed to twist for a brief moment before returning to normal.
"All right, you can come over now!"
Standing out on the wild plain, Ian waved to Toren and the others.
Right beside Ian stood two Iron-Armored Bulls, but the pair seemed oblivious to both his presence and his voice, still munching grass as if nothing had happened.
"You finished setting up the formation that fast?"
Toren Tong, Ingrid Cui and the others were all extremely surprised. Only now did Toren realize that when Ian Song said he ‘knew a bit about formations,’ he was just being modest. To set up an Illusion Trial Formation in the span of a few breaths—only a true formation master could pull that off.
Next, Toren led the squad hunters cautiously over to Ian’s side. All around them, the Iron-Armored Bulls treated them as if they didn’t exist, calmly munching on spirit grass without a care.
Toren asked again, "Brother Ian, what should we do next...?"
Ian replied, "Just start killing. These Black-Armored Bulls are already trapped in the illusion formation—they won’t fight back!"
At those words, Toren and the others looked utterly shocked. Even though Black-Armored Bulls aren’t very smart, affecting over ten thousand Iron-Armored Bulls with an illusion formation is no easy feat.
"Slash! Slash slash slash!"
Blood sprayed everywhere as the squad members easily cut down Iron-Armored Bulls with their blades, while the surrounding bulls seemed completely oblivious.
"This is insane!"
"This illusion formation is absolutely overpowered!"
At that moment, most of the hunters felt a surge of worship for Ian Song.
Since the Iron-Armored Bulls didn’t resist at all, the squad’s killing speed kept accelerating. In less than half an hour, every bull in the wilderness was dead, and each hunter’s storage ring was piled high with carcasses.
After tallying, they’d killed a total of 12,235 Black-Armored Bulls. At thirty lower-grade immortal stones per beast, that was more than three hundred thousand stones.
Three hundred thousand immortal stones—normally, their squad couldn’t earn that much in a year, but this time, they’d gotten it in a single hunt.
For a moment, Toren felt proud of his decision to recruit Ian Song into the squad.
"Brother Ian, should we head back now?"
"What, Toren, you’re satisfied already? There are another twenty thousand immortal beasts not far ahead. Interested?" Ian asked with a smile.
"Are you confident?" Toren asked.
Ian nodded.
"Alright, let’s keep hunting!"
The group carefully crossed over a hill and saw a valley blanketed in green grass and dotted with all kinds of immortal herbs. Inside, there were no fewer than twenty thousand immortal beasts of several species.
"Those are Green-Horned Goats, worth thirty-five immortal stones each!"
"Those are Fire Spirit Rabbits, worth sixty immortal stones apiece!"
"And over a thousand Fire Phoenixes—those rare immortal birds go for two hundred stones each!"
Seeing all the immortal beasts in the valley, the hunters couldn’t help but whisper excitedly.
"Same deal as before—I’ll set up the formation, then you guys come in!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ian dashed into the valley, moving so fast he was a blur. He planted formation disks at key spots, and in just a few breaths, the illusion formation was complete. Ian waved Toren and the others over.
Over two hundred hunters rushed in, unable to wait any longer—after all, the beasts in this valley were worth over a million immortal stones.
After more than an hour of hunting, every one of the twenty thousand-plus immortal beasts in the valley was dead. Toren did a rough calculation: this batch was worth over 1.2 million, and combined with the earlier haul, their total profit reached about 1.6 million immortal stones.
Such an enormous haul was beyond Toren’s wildest dreams—his face flushed bright red from excitement.
All the squad members were the same—eyes shining with excitement, mentally calculating how many stones they’d get this time. If they got enough, they’d head to the Immortalization Pool to condense an immortal body, rewriting their own futures.
But everyone knew that all these gains were thanks to Ian Song, so their gazes toward him grew even more reverent and admiring.
"Let’s go! Time to head out!"
Ian said.
"Alright!"
Toren nodded. Right now, he was basically following Ian’s lead in everything.
On the way back, every hunter wore a huge smile, as if they could already see a better life waving at them from just ahead.
As soon as they got back to Giantwild Village, a young early-stage Human Immortal ran up. "Hey, Captain Toren, how come you’re back so soon? Did you fail the hunt? By the way, Captain Mara Zhou just came back with her squad, and they reportedly bagged more than five hundred immortal beasts!"
Mara Zhou was a female Immortal, also a hunting captain in Giantwild Village. Her squad was the strongest, boasting fifteen late-stage Human Immortals under her command—sixteen if you counted Mara herself, double Toren’s team.
Normally, if they heard Mara’s squad had killed over five hundred immortal beasts, everyone would’ve been jealous.
But now, after killing over thirty thousand beasts themselves, five hundred seemed like nothing.
Coincidentally, not far away, a fiery red-haired beauty in leather armor was leading her squad over. The chatty young man hurried over to greet her with nods and bows.
The woman nodded with pride and strode forward, her gaze landing on Toren. "Heard you went out hunting. Back so soon? Don’t tell me you came back empty-handed?"
Normally, Toren would’ve been furious at Mara’s taunt, but this time he just said, expressionless, "That’s none of your business!"
"Hmph, stubborn as ever!"
Mara sneered, then turned to Ian, her lips curling into a charming smile. "You’re Ian Song, right? I’ve heard you’re quite strong. Why not join my squad? Following Toren is a dead end!"
Toren’s face darkened at her words, his gaze turning unfriendly.
Seeing Toren’s expression, Mara snorted. "What? Did I say something wrong?" Then she continued to Ian, "Ian, I can promise you that if you join my team, you’ll make at least eighty immortal stones a month. Stick with me for a few years, and you’ll have enough to enter an Immortalization Pool and condense an immortal body!"
After hearing about Ian’s bandit-slaying exploits, Mara was shocked to learn he’d joined Toren’s squad. She regretted not recruiting him first, and now she was determined to poach him, no matter the cost.