A second-tier Demonic Beast charged toward them, and Wang Hong, wanting to test everyone's strength, stopped Ling Shuai, who was about to make a move.
Wang Hong took care of the other first-tier Demonic Beasts approaching them and left the second-tier Demonic Beast to charge towards the three squads with a roar.
Luo Zhongjie understood Wang Hong's intention and refrained from attacking, instead directing from the air.
This second-tier Stone Armor Beast was over twenty feet long, covered in thick stone armor all over its body. It didn't seem particularly fast and didn't appear to possess any innate Magical Arts abilities.
When they were about a hundred yards apart, Wang Hong's subordinates on their side began their attack.
Following Luo Zhongjie's command, over twenty short spears split into three groups and swiftly shot towards the head, neck, and chest of the Stone Armor Beast.
The Stone Armor Beast stood upright upon seeing the spears coming, swinging its two front legs to deflect most of the incoming short spears.
Only a few short spears hit its chest, knocking off a layer of stone armor.
Seeing this, Luo Zhongjie, who was flying in the air, gave another command, and the three squads dispersed, shooting from three different directions, targeting different parts of the beast.
The seven short spears in front no longer concentrated on a single point but instead targeted the head, chest, and front legs from the front, with the primary purpose of drawing the Demonic Beast's attention from the front.
The other two squads targeted the two hind legs from the front and side to limit its mobility.
As expected, the Stone Armor Beast stood upright again, waving its two front legs to sweep away the short spears coming from the front.
It didn't clearly sense that there were fewer short spears coming from the front this time, after all, it hadn't learned mathematics during its growth, so it was not sensitive to numbers.
As it brushed away the short spears from the front and was about to let out a triumphant roar, it suddenly felt intense pain in its hind legs.
Then, it roared and charged toward the squad that had shot its hind legs moments ago.
Luo Zhongjie had no intention of letting this squad face off against the second-tier Demonic Beast directly. Instead, he changed the formation.
They repositioned the squad to attract the Stone Armor Beast's attention from the front while simultaneously attacking it from the front and then retreating, maintaining a safe distance.
The remaining two squads continued to attack from the sides, primarily targeting its legs to restrict its mobility.
The commotion from this battle attracted more Stone Armor Beasts from the vicinity, but Wang Hong and Ling Shuai managed to hold them off.
Just at that moment, two more second-tier Stone Armor Beasts rushed out from the mountain cave, one of which turned out to be a high-quality second-tier Demonic Beast.
Wang Hong went to meet the high-quality second-tier Stone Armor Beast, simultaneously summoning his Binding Spirit Rope to entangle it.
The second-tier Stone Armor Beast was still running around cluelessly, not understanding what was happening, when it was securely bound by the Binding Spirit Rope.
After immobilizing the Demonic Beast, Wang Hong paid it no further attention and continued to watch the battle while clearing out the first-tier Demonic Beasts approaching them.
As a mid-stage Foundation Building cultivator, Ling Shuai only needed a few rounds to slay a first-tier lower-grade Demonic Beast that couldn't fly.
At this point, the second-tier Demonic Beast that had been surrounded by thirty people already had both of its hind legs broken.
Due to the Demonic Beast's habit of changing direction each time it was attacked, it hadn't even touched its opponents until now. This strategy was purely taking advantage of the low intelligence of the Demonic Beast.
At this point, both of its hind legs were broken, and it had no chance of catching up to its enemies. It could only slowly succumb to the continuous attacks.
Before long, this group of Demonic Beasts had been completely slaughtered, including three second-tier and around five hundred first-tier ones.
Valuable parts from the Demonic Beast corpses were collected, and the remaining carcasses were stored in several large Storage Bags by Wang Hong.
It was only now that the group had the time to thoroughly inspect the entire Mountain Valley. Everyone spread out, each going in a different direction to survey the entire area.
This Mountain Valley had a total area of over a thousand acres, with two small Spirit Veins running through it, converging at a Spirit Spring.
Due to the presence of Spirit Veins, there were some Spiritual Herbs growing in the Mountain Valley, although most of them were not mature, likely having been consumed by the group of Demonic Beasts.
Near the Spirit Spring, a few decent second-tier Spiritual Herbs grew, but they were also not yet mature.
On the edge of the Mountain Valley, there were three Mountain caves, likely the dwellings of three second-tier Demonic Beasts.
Wang Hong explored inside them and found a few pieces of second-tier Ore but nothing else of value.
Although this Mountain Valley had an area of over a thousand acres, not all of the land was suitable for cultivating spirit fields. To be suitable, it needed a sufficient supply of Spiritual Energy.
Furthermore, the quality of spirit fields depended on the concentration of Spiritual Energy. In the Cultivation World, spirit fields were categorized as first-tier, second-tier, third-tier, and so on.
First-tier spirit fields were suitable for planting first-tier Spiritual Objects, second-tier spirit fields for both first-tier and second-tier Spiritual Objects, and third-tier spirit fields for planting first-tier to third-tier Spiritual Objects, and so forth.
If one wanted to plant second-tier Spiritual Objects in a first-tier spirit field, it could be done, but it would require constant watering with Spirit Stone or Spirit Spring Water to replenish Spiritual Energy for the fields to support the growth of second-tier Spiritual Objects.
All the estates Wang Hong had purchased in Azure Void City had first-tier spirit fields. Even though his sect-allocated cave mansion had over forty acres of land, the combined second-tier spirit fields only amounted to a little over an acre.
Additionally, different types of soil in spirit fields were suitable for planting different Spiritual Objects.
After a thorough examination, it was determined that this Mountain Valley could be developed into spirit fields of over three hundred acres. Close to the Spirit Vein, they could potentially create over ten acres of second-tier spirit fields.
Since they had decided to develop spirit fields here, the group of over thirty people decided to temporarily settle down in this area.
Ling Shuai's daughter was entrusted to Xu Lun for care, and Wang Hong instructed him to return to Azure Void City first since he was needed there.
Wang Hong and his thirty-plus subordinates began working on cultivating the spirit fields, starting with leveling the ground.
The Mountain Valley was not entirely flat, with numerous large boulders scattered about. Aside from a few Spiritual Herbs growing on some of the rocks, most of them were unnecessary obstacles.
They had to dig out and remove these large stones first, then cut down all the trees that grew naturally in the area. Afterward, they would flatten the soil and divide the spirit fields into manageable plots for cultivation.
Once the spirit fields were properly prepared, they needed to construct houses. Since there would be a permanent presence here, it made sense to build the houses now.
For this group of people with immense strength, building houses was not a challenging task. They used the stones excavated while leveling the ground to construct sturdy foundations. Due to the lower terrain here, they built the foundations three feet above the ground.
Then they used the wood they had previously cut down to construct houses on top of these stone foundations.
[Read at /shanefreak, and heartfelt thankyou for your support!]