Chapter 34 - 34 Before Leaving
Lu Qingshan naturally had no idea that after an exquisite analysis, the two Tower Masters of Yuanshan Tower had already labeled him as a Nascent Soul Cultivator with a deep hatred for the Netherworld.
Of course, even if he had known, he wouldn’t have admitted it, but he wouldn’t have denied it either.
...
At this moment, Lu Qingshan was located in the busiest street of Yuanshan City.
Across the street, Lu Qingshan gazed at the building bearing the Demon Hunter’s League sign.
The Demon Hunter’s League, an organization both vast and loosely structured.
Its vastness lay in the fact that, similar to Great Xia Commercial Firm and Zhi Shou Tower, it was present in nearly every major city of the Human Race.
The loose structure was reflected in the fact that Scattered Cultivators Tower did not belong to any single power. Its administrators were formed through negotiations among multiple forces.
The Demon Hunter’s League was initially founded by several powerful Loose Cultivators, with the aim of integrating the numerous Loose Cultivators together.
Indeed, among Human Cultivators, Loose Cultivators made up the largest proportion of individuals, and yet they were the least conspicuous.
Without the support of Sect powers, Loose Cultivators often risked their lives to obtain cultivation resources, sometimes in vain.
Hunting Demon Beasts has always been an extremely important way for Loose Cultivators to acquire cultivation resources.
However, due to the lack of resources, Loose Cultivators generally have lower combat power.
And Demon Beasts, relying on their powerful physical bodies and various innate divine abilities, can match several Loose Cultivators of the same level.
This results in many Loose Cultivators falling victim to Demon Beasts during hunts, meeting their end on the spot.
A significant part of the high death rate among Loose Cultivators can be attributed to Demon Beasts.
Yet despite this, Loose Cultivators continue to charge at Demon Beasts, one after another.
The reason is simple, without taking risks, where would resourceless Loose Cultivators find the means for cultivation?
In such a situation, Loose Cultivators forming teams to hunt Demons became a very good method.
But then the problem arises, how do previously unacquainted Loose Cultivators form teams?
And how can they ensure that the Loose Cultivators they team up with are trustworthy, and won’t stab them in the back?
It’s well-known that in the world of Cultivators, oftentimes humans can be more terrifying than demons and monsters.
Those few powerful Loose Cultivators deeply understood the hardship of Loose Cultivators’ lives, so they came together and established the Demon Hunter’s League.
Cultivators could issue team formation tasks through the Demon Hunter’s League to find suitable Loose Cultivators and hunt Demon Beasts together.
For every completed Demon Hunt task, a certain number of contribution points would be rewarded, and the completed tasks would be recorded in one’s history.
When Cultivators look for teammates, all they need to do is glance through someone’s history to know if they can be trusted.
Every day, tens of thousands of Cultivators use the Demon Hunter’s League to find tasks suitable for them.
The Demon Hunter’s League is open to all Cultivators of the Human Race, whether Loose Cultivators or Sect disciples, and they can all issue and accept tasks through the league.
For these reasons, the Demon Hunter’s League gradually grew stronger.
What led to a qualitative change for the Scattered Cultivators Alliance was that the Great Xia Imperial Clan felt that the Demon Hunter’s League’s model greatly benefited the overall combat power level of Human Cultivators, so they intervened and vigorously supported the development of the Demon Hunter’s League.
With the support of the Great Xia Imperial Clan, the Demon Hunter’s League rapidly branched out in the cities of the Human Race, quickly becoming a colossal entity.
Until now, the Demon Hunter’s League has expanded beyond just issuing team hunting tasks; it now encompasses tasks related to all aspects of a Cultivator’s life.
Whether it’s searching for Spiritual Medicines, Spirit Materials, or wanting to form a team to explore ruins, all such tasks can be issued within the Demon Hunter’s League.
Of course, having developed to this extent, the Demon Hunter’s League could no longer belong to just a few Cultivators.
Today, the Demon Hunter’s League is controlled jointly by influential Loose Cultivators, local Cultivator families, and Sects, each checking and balancing the other.
The Great Xia Imperial Clan, as the highest ruler of the Demon Hunter’s League, does not participate in its management.
...
Amidst a whirlwind of thoughts, Lu Qingshan had already crossed the street and entered the hall of the Demon Hunters League opposite.
There weren’t many people in the hall at the moment.
That was normal.
Cultivators had exceptionally long lifespans, so their concept of time was also stretched out over longer spans.
A month’s time, to a cultivator, often felt no different from a day to ordinary people.
Therefore, most of the time, the Demon Hunters League in a small prefecture city like Yuanshan was quite deserted.
Lu Qingshan needed to first register an identity as a demon hunter.
To become a demon hunter, one didn’t need to meet any requirements or undergo any sort of strength evaluation.
—Cultivators were the most insecure and suspicious group, so how could they be willing to casually reveal their strengths to others?
Becoming a demon hunter required only the payment of ten First Grade Spirit Stones.
The wealthy Lu Qingshan naturally didn’t care about this small amount of money.
After honestly paying the ten First Grade Spirit Stones and registering his basic information, Lu Qingshan took a Spirit Seal representing the identity of a demon hunter from the hands of the young female cultivator at the reception.
This was a Spirit Seal made out of Spirit Jade, which would record all of Lu Qingshan’s history within the Demon Hunters League.
Lu Qingshan probed into it with his Divine Sense.
Lu Qingshan (First Grade Demon Hunter)
Points: Zero
History: None
A First Grade Demon Hunter was the lowest level in the Demon Hunters League.
The level of demon hunters was determined entirely by the number and quality of the tasks they completed, unrelated to the hunter’s strength.
After completing each task, hunters would receive a certain amount of points based on the difficulty of the task.
After accumulating a certain number of points, demon hunters could advance to the next level.
For example, to advance to a Second Grade Demon Hunter, one needed one hundred points.
Foundation Establishment Cultivators who were diligent could become Second Grade Demon Hunters without much difficulty.
Even Qi Refining Realm cultivators who had gathered enough points for promotion to Second Grade were numerous.
The higher the level of the demon hunter, the higher the corresponding privileges.
The higher-paying tasks often had requirements for the demon hunter’s level.
"Do you have any tasks available that I can take, with a destination in Zhenjiang City?" Lu Qingshan inquired.
The beautiful receptionist was quite polite and, following Lu Qingshan’s request, started searching through the complex array of task Jade Slips for one that met his criteria.
"Found one!" The receptionist let out a light exclamation, picked up a Jade Slip, and handed it to Lu Qingshan.
Lu Qingshan felt a surge of joy in his heart.
Zhenjiang City was a thousand miles away from Yuanshan City, and tasks with Zhenjiang City as the destination generally had a higher ranking, not something that he, a First Grade Demon Hunter, would normally be able to take on.
He didn’t have the time to raise his demon hunter level to Second Grade.
He was only trying his luck with the inquiry, not expecting to actually find one.
Lu Qingshan took the Jade Slip.
"Task details: The Lin Family needs to transport a batch of goods to Zhenjiang City to ensure safety on the road. Ten demon hunters are now needed to assist in the escort.
Reward: Thirty First Grade Spirit Stones.
Rating: Simple (Completing will earn ten points reward)."