Chapter 229: Inner Mountain

Before Mo Hua entered the inner mountain, Elder Yu secretly gave him a demon hunting token.

"Take this. You are formally a demon hunter master now."

Mo Hua was stunned for a moment. "I can become a demon hunter master without going through the demon hunting ceremony?"

He had first guarded the spirit mine, then built the refining tools workshop and the refining pills workshop. After all these things, he was usually busy cultivating and drawing formations, so he missed this year's demon hunting ceremony.

Moreover, he was a spirit cultivator, and also an array master, basically never engaging in close combat with demonic beasts. Strictly speaking, he was not quite suitable to be a demon hunter master.

"Those are just empty rituals, it doesn't matter. Whether you are a demon hunter master is up to me. If I say you are, you are!" Elder Yu said righteously.

The Demon Hunting Hall only had him, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, so indeed it was up to him.

Elder Yu personally hung the demon hunting token around Mo Hua's neck. "This demon hunting token is the most crucial. With the demon hunting token, you are a genuine demon hunter master."

"Drip a drop of blood on it," Elder Yu said again.

Mo Hua was stunned for a moment.

Elder Yu saw Mo Hua's delicate and tender skin and thought for a moment, then said, "Forget it, I'll help you."

Elder Yu took Mo Hua's fair and small hand, condensed spiritual power into a fine needle, pricked Mo Hua's index finger, and a drop of blood dripped out, falling onto Mo Hua's demon hunting token.

Mo Hua held his finger, and after a while, the bleeding stopped.

At the same time, his divine sense slightly trembled, seeming to produce some resonance with the demon hunting token, creating a sense of intimacy, as if this bone token was no longer a dead object, but a part maintained by his divine sense.

"Is this dripping blood to recognize master?"

"You could say that, but this demon hunting token is not a spiritual tool with spiritual awareness. So saying it's dripping blood to recognize master is a bit forced. At most, it's... stamping your claim."

"Oh," Mo Hua nodded.

He immediately touched the demon hunting token and curiously asked, "Elder Yu, how exactly is this demon hunting token made?"

Elder Yu found a chair to sit down, poured himself a cup of tea, and said, "It's passed down from the ancestors of the demon hunter masters. They say the world grows many Bone Trees. This tree has the bloodline of ancient great demons; it can be considered both a demon and a tree. It grows like a tree, but the trunk is bone, the branches are bone, and even the leaves are all bone pieces."

"The demon hunting token is made from the bone wood of the Bone Tree. Once a demonic beast is killed, the bone token will have an induction and produce blood marks, counting as the demon hunter master's merit for hunting demonic beasts."

"The more blood marks and the denser they are, the higher the merit, and the more face you have when you go out and boast to people."

Mo Hua's small face was complex. "This is for boasting?"

"Mainly for displaying seniority. The demon hunting tokens of old hands and new hands are completely different. Of course, it's also very convenient for boasting."

Elder Yu raised his eyebrows and said to Mo Hua, "If you go out to boast and say how many demonic beasts you've killed in your lifetime, who will believe you without evidence? This demon hunting token is the evidence. You take it out, and if it's full of blood marks, then you'll have confidence when you boast."

Looking at Elder Yu's appearance, he had probably boasted to people quite a few times...

Mo Hua asked again, "Can we make this demon hunting token ourselves?"

Elder Yu shook his head. "No, this is made by the Dao Court and issued uniformly. Although they all look similar, the Dao Court actually has records of each demon hunting token, so it cannot be faked."

Mo Hua turned it over and over, but didn't find any mark, and didn't know how the court recorded it.

Could it be some special formation?

Elder Yu again secretly said to Mo Hua, "Yours is quite special. It's made from the bone wood at the center of the Bone Tree's annual rings. I hid it for several decades and couldn't bear to give it away."

Mo Hua suddenly felt this demon hunting token was heavy. "You didn't leave it for Uncle Yu and the others?"

Elder Yu hummed. "My stupid son, I'm too lazy to give it to him."

Mo Hua felt he didn't quite deserve it.

Elder Yu then said, "Actually, it's nothing. They all grew on one Bone Tree, whether branches or leaves, the effect is actually the same. It's just a little bit more particular. Don't take it to heart."

Mo Hua's heart relaxed a bit, and he nodded.

"Keep it safe and don't lose it, alright?" Elder Yu instructed.

"Okay!"

On Mo Hua's neck, in addition to the warm dan jade given by Old Mr. Feng, there was now a demon hunting token made of demon bone.

The next day, Mo Hua packed properly, then entered the inner mountain with Mo Shan.

The inner mountain had miasma and poisonous swamps, much more toxic than the outer mountain.

In the outer mountain, as long as you were careful, it was fine even without preparing pills, but in the inner mountain, pills were absolutely necessary.

Mo Hua's storage bag carried various medicine bottles, containing miasma dispelling pills, poison dispelling pills, heart clearing pills, blood stopping pills, and so on.

This large pack of pills was all prepared for him by Old Mr. Feng.

Besides that, there was also some dried meat, fermented wine, and pastries, prepared for him by his mother.

Thus, when the sky was just dimly lit, Mo Hua was fully equipped. He ate a little something and then entered the Great Black Mountain with Mo Shan.

They trekked all the way, passed through the outer mountain, and then arrived at the inner mountain.

Mo Hua took a miasma dispelling pill, then observed the environment of the inner mountain.

The inner mountain's terrain was more complex, the woods were denser, the mountain paths were more rugged, and it was also more difficult to recognize directions.

The miasma was thick, and the fog was sometimes thick, sometimes thin.

When the fog was heavy, you could barely see your hand when you reached out. After walking a few steps, it might all dissipate, and after walking a few more steps, the surroundings might be enveloped in thick fog again.

Quite strange.

Mo Shan said, "See far away, there's thick fog. Try to avoid it. If you can't avoid it, you must be extra careful. Don't walk on unfamiliar roads, it's better to stay put and wait for a while. Also, don't act rashly..."

"Otherwise, it's easy to lose direction, mistakenly enter the deep mountain forest, and encounter unknown dangers."

Mo Hua nodded.

The inner mountain was still much bigger than the outer mountain. Even Mo Shan, who had hunted demonic beasts in the inner mountain for so many years, had not once walked every corner.

So he could only lead Mo Hua, walk the main mountain path once, and get a bit familiar with the inner mountain's environment.

If they encountered danger, they would know where to run. If they got lost, they would know how to exit the mountain and how to go home.

The inner mountain's terrain was complex and rugged. The two of them walked a section, then rested for a while.

During the rest time, Mo Hua would take out the map and add and draw on it.

He had asked for this map from Elder Yu. Originally, it was very crude, only marking the mountain shapes and rough mountain paths, nothing else.

So Mo Hua wanted to perfect the map of the inner mountain a bit.

He had already done this in the outer mountain. Not only could it help him familiarize himself with the environment, but it was also convenient for collecting herbs, spices, and minerals. If he encountered urgent matters in the mountain, it would be much more convenient to compare with the map.

It probably took half a month, walking the main mountain path several times. Mo Hua was also roughly familiar with the environment of the inner mountain.

Many things had been drawn and added to his inner mountain map.

After that, what Mo Hua had to do was first place the Si Nan Zi Mu Fu Array properly.

Mo Hua was an array master. He wouldn't feel too at ease if he didn't place some arrays in the inner mountain.

With the Si Nan Zi Mu Fu Array, he could perceive spiritual power fluctuations, which was convenient for joining the fun, and also convenient for him to foresee in advance and run away early.

It was even more convenient for him to make demonic beasts bleed.

Mo Hua couldn't do this kind of thing alone, so he found some demon hunter uncles to help.

Yu Cheng Yi shouted for more than ten Qi Refining ninth-layer demon hunters to help Mo Hua place the stones with the Si Nan Zi Array drawn on them.

Because the inner mountain was very large, one Si Nan Mu Array compass could not cover the whole area, so Mo Hua drew two sets, divided into Jia and Yi compasses.

The Jia compass observed the south side, and the Yi compass observed the north side.

Moreover, he also made one set for Mo Shan and Yu Cheng Yi each, which was convenient for the demon hunters to act in the inner mountain.

Yu Cheng Yi was greatly delighted. With this set of array compasses, their actions in the inner mountain were much more secure.

Whether it was chasing and hunting demonic beasts, foreseeing dangers, or mutually providing aid, it was all much more convenient than before. There was no need to rely solely on the demon hunters' experience and feeling.