Seven people, three spiritual beasts, and a broken mechanical tiger slowly approached, their clothes torn and bloodstained.

“What happened?” Fang Yun strode over.

The big rabbit immediately cried out as if it had seen a family member, as if it was complaining and lamenting.

Li Fanming limped over, laughing and scolding, “Anyone who doesn’t know would think it’s your master!”

The rabbit’s ears twitched, pretending not to hear.

One of them said to Fang Yun, “It’s okay. We encountered some Demon Barbarians and killed them. Among them, a wolf demon from the saint clan was the most troublesome, but luckily, the seven of us are not bad.”

“It’s good that you’re okay, come and rest.” Fang Yun said, helping Li Fanming.

Xun Ye and the others also came over. Han Shoulu waved his hand, and more than a dozen thick blankets appeared on the ground. He said, “You guys lie down and rest first, and tell us what happened.”

The seven thanked him and either sat or lay down on the blankets.

As soon as Li Fanming sat down, he said, “Fortunately, Brother Yuqing from the Hua family was here. He treated our severe injuries with medical books, otherwise, the wolf demon of the saint clan would never leave.”

Everyone looked at Hua Yuqing.

Hua Yuqing was only in his twenties, but he looked mature and seemed to be in his thirties. His skin was very dark. Although he was not injured, the fatigue in his eyes far exceeded everyone else’s.

Fang Yun said, “Thank you, Doctor Hua.”

“Healing others is also healing oneself, Brother Fang, you don’t have to be polite.” Hua Yuqing’s voice was low.

“Brother Hua, you go to rest first. Niu Shan, take Brother Hua to my place to rest.” Fang Yun said.

The Savage Cow immediately came over, extremely respectful.

The seven newcomers were both surprised and delighted to see that Fang Yun could command the barbarians. This meant that they were safer in the Holy Land.

However, Xun Ye immediately went over to help Hua Yuqing. Just as he was about to speak, Niu Shan kicked Xun Ye in the waist. Xun Ye’s body swayed, and he screamed as he fell a zhang away.

Niu Shan angrily said, “The Moon Emperor asked me to send him, what are you doing here? Believe it or not, I’ll kill you!” After speaking, he raised his big axe.

“You…” Xun Ye, as a member of the Sub-Sage Prominent Family, had never been hit like this before. Moreover, it was by a barbarian he looked down upon. But this was the Holy Land. He tightly held his Treasures of Literature and stared at Niu Shan’s big cow eyes. In the end, he snorted coldly, covered his waist, and turned to leave.

The newcomers all realized that the relationship between Fang Yun and Xun Ye had deteriorated.

Li Fanming immediately said, “Brother Hua, your medical skills are excellent but you are not good at literary battles. Fang Yun has the Moonlight and the barbarians. It is safer in the Holy Land.”

The rest were silent. Li Fanming was blatantly asking Hua Yuqing to choose sides.

Hua Yuqing hesitated for a moment, then said in the demon language, “Then I’ll have to trouble Brother Niu Barbarian.”

“Just call me Brother Niu.” Niu Shan raised his head proudly, took Hua Yuqing back to his tent, and then stood outside the tent to guard.

“How did you become the Moon Emperor? Did you really join the Barbarian Sect?” Li Fanming asked.

Fang Yun said, “Let’s not talk about me first, how many Demon Barbarians did you encounter?”

Li Fanming lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said, “More than eighty demon soldiers, twelve demon generals, and one saint clan demon general. As you know, according to strength, saint clan demon generals are actually treated as demon marshals, equivalent to us encountering an Imperial Scholar leading the team. These demon generals and demon soldiers are not ordinary members of the Demon Clan, not only were they born in the Demon Realm, but they are also the elites among them, otherwise, they would not be sent into the Holy Land.”

“It seems that the Demon Clan also attaches great importance to this Holy Land.” Han Shoulu said.

“How many of the Demon Clan are left?” Fang Yun asked.

The six showed a faint pride, and Li Fanming said, “All the demon soldiers are dead, six demon generals are left, and the saint clan demon general is seriously injured. Fortunately, Yuqing was there. The saint wolf demon general couldn’t figure out how long we could hold on, so he had to leave. Fortunately, he left. If the fight continued, we would all die from exhaustion, and only the saint wolf demon general could survive.”

“Good job!” Jia Jingan praised.

Fang Yun nodded. These people were all Presented Scholars who had practiced for many years. They also had various Treasures of Literature from the Semi-Saint Prominent Families, so they were not inferior to the elites of the Demon Realm. However, they were much worse than the saint clan Demon Barbarians. Only the Presented Scholars ranked in the top ten in the Holy Land had the qualifications to compete with the ordinary saint clan Demon Barbarians.

“But now that we’re here, we can rest assured. In the Holy Land, there is not a blood demon attack on the star demon village in a hundred years. Tonight we rest for a night, tomorrow let Hua Yuqing treat us. Then we all go to explore the Holy Land together, okay?” Li Fanming was excited.

The others nodded one after another, obviously not intimidated by the encounter with the Demon Clan.

Fang Yun said, “This is the north bank of the Dead Lake, but the terrain has changed.”

Han Shoulu suddenly said, “The most worthwhile places to explore within a hundred miles are the bottom of the Dead Lake, the Ten Mile Canyon, the You Shui River, and the Dragon Cliff. But the terrain changes, and new places may also appear. As for the Dragon Cliff, it’s a place where many people can go, but few people should not. It has always been a must-contend place for the Demon Barbarians of the Demon Realm. For the Blood Demons, the remains of the Dragon Clan are a great supplement, especially the remains of the True Dragons, which are no less than the Holy Blood and Holy Jade.”

Fang Yun suddenly remembered the traces of the Demon Clan that the Horned Tiger Demon King had discovered. Their direction was not far from the Dragon Cliff, so he said, “Let’s not think about the Dragon Cliff for now. As far as I know, a team of the Demon Clan has already gone there.”

Li Fanming laughed and said, “If Mo Shan or Sun Naiyong were here, we could go to the Dragon Cliff. One of them has a powerful mechanical beast, and the other has a powerful book of soldiers. Even if we encounter a large group of the Demon Clan and can’t beat them, escaping would not be a problem. But just relying on us, let’s forget it. What you and I are after is just a chance to hone our skills, and a single opportunity. As for the biggest secret in the Holy Land, it’s useless to think about it. It’s better to settle for the next best thing.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Except for a few people, others simply didn’t have the strength to search for the so-called big secret. Even the Kong Family, in nearly a thousand years, only one Kong Family Dragon has become the Son of the Holy Land.

“Tomorrow, let’s go to the bottom of the Dead Lake. It’s the closest to here. If the landscape changes, maybe it will turn the treasures at the bottom of the lake to the surface, hehe.” Someone laughed.

“I heard that someone once caught a fish in the Dead Lake. That fish not only extended his life by twenty years, but he also found a holy jade in the fish’s belly. It was extremely lucky. The Dead Lake is not comparable to the Dragon Cliff, but it is definitely a good place.” Li Fanming said.

Everyone was discussing and talking about the Dead Lake. After a long time, people started to leave and go to sleep.

In the end, only Fang Yun and Li Fanming were left, along with a sleepy rabbit.

The spirit leopard brought by Han Shoulu slowly approached.

Li Fanming said, “Thinking about the previous battle now, although it was scary, it was also very exciting. Do you know what method we used to hurt that Saint Clan Wolf Demon General?”

Fang Yun thought for a moment and said, “Apart from the Imperial Scholar’s Treasures of Literature, I can’t think of anything else. The body of the Saint Clan Wolf Demon General is very strong. And its reaction is extremely fast. There is nothing in the Presented Scholar’s War Poetry that can hurt it. The War Poetry you guys wrote certainly won’t work. The Saint Clan Wolf Demon is very rational. Since it didn’t severely injure you guys to establish an advantage at the beginning, it must have commanded from a distance and occasionally used demon techniques.”

Li Fanming looked at Fang Yun in surprise and said, “Have you fought with the Saint Clan Demon General? You talk as if you’ve seen it with your own eyes. You’ve only been practicing The Courage to Write for a few days, right? I’m afraid you haven’t read many books on military strategy other than the Semi-Saint’s.”

Fang Yun just smiled and didn’t say anything.

Li Fanming said, “Forget it. I’ll just assume you’ve read all the books. Indeed, at the beginning, the Saint Clan Wolf Demon General launched a surprise attack and even severely injured two people, but it was blocked by the mechanical tiger and finally saved by Hua Yuqing. After its surprise attack failed, it hid far away and commanded. We knew that we couldn’t leave without hurting it, so we prepared. First, we let Brother Liu’s war painting trap the Saint Clan Wolf Demon for a moment, and then the seven of us wrote the latest Talented Scholar War Poetry ‘Arrow in the Stone’. All seven arrows hit!”

Fang Yun was about to say something, but when he heard that it was ‘Arrow in the Stone’, he smiled slightly.

Li Fanming continued excitedly, “You probably haven’t learned ‘Arrow in the Stone’ yet, right? This war poem is really powerful. The line ‘Not in the stone edge’ is simply a stroke of genius, giving this war poem a particularly strong penetrating power. In the end, all seven arrows pierced the Saint Clan Wolf Demon General. The Presented Scholar’s War Poetry is strong, but none of them can compare in terms of penetrating power.”

“It didn’t die from that?” Fang Yun asked.

“Yeah, it avoided the vital parts at the last moment. If it were a slightly slower reacting Saint Clan Demon Barbarian, it would undoubtedly die. The author of ‘Arrow in the Stone’ saved our seven lives. On the way, we said that if he reveals his identity in the future, we will definitely thank him. I guess the author of ‘Arrow in the Stone’ is now a Presented Scholar or an Imperial Scholar.”

“Oh? What’s your basis for that?” Fang Yun asked.

“The Holy Academy announced that a mysterious Grand Academician revised his own poem from when he was a Talented Scholar, which made this poem famous. But we all know that they are protecting the real author. At first, some people even suspected that you wrote it.”

Fang Yun’s expression changed slightly. His breathing quickened a little, but he quickly calmed down using The Courage to Write.

Li Fanming continued, “Later, we calculated the time, and you had just become a Talented Scholar not long ago, so it was absolutely impossible. Then we thought that since he dared to offer ‘Arrow in the Stone’, he must already be a Presented Scholar or an Imperial Scholar. With a certain ability to protect himself, even if discovered by the Demon Barbarian, he wouldn’t be in too much danger.”

“That makes sense.” Fang Yun chuckled inwardly.

The two chatted for a while longer and were about to go to sleep in the tent when the spirit leopard that had come close suddenly pounced at Fang Yun. It opened its huge mouth, its sharp teeth aimed at Fang Yun’s throat, emitting a bone-chilling coldness under the moonlight.

Ordinary leopards are incredibly strong and agile, and spirit leopards, fed with various special foods, are no less than the strongest demon soldiers. Its speed had already far exceeded Fang Yun’s reaction limit.

Li Fanming only had time to shout subconsciously, while Fang Yun instinctively protected his neck, because he knew that biting the neck was the most proficient and terrifying hunting method of wild beasts.

However, the spirit leopard moved too fast, and Fang Yun was a step too slow.Just as the spirit leopard was about to pounce on Fang Yun, a massive white figure rushed over, slamming hard into the leopard’s body.

The spirit leopard was strong, but the spirit rabbit was no ordinary creature either.

The leopard lost its balance, unable to bite Fang Yun. However, it swiftly extended its left claw, the claw tip gleaming with a dark light, grazing Fang Yun’s chin and leaving three wounds.

The blood from the wounds quickly turned from red to black.

“Ah!” Niu Shan let out a loud cry, hurling his battle-axe at the spirit leopard, then charged at it in a fit of rage, his body surging with vital energy, his eyes bloodshot.

The spirit leopard hastily dodged, forced to put some distance between itself and Fang Yun. It then let out an angry roar, a Treasures of Literature suddenly appearing in its mouth. It activated the power of the Speed Poetry, darting away at an extremely fast speed, leaving a trail of afterimages on the ground.

“Fang Yun!” Li Fanming let out a heart-wrenching yell, rushing to support Fang Yun who was about to collapse. (To be continued.)