Swoosh... swoosh...
Draven's arrows continued to rain down, killing the rabbit demons one by one until the rest of them vanished into their burrows, leaving the grassland empty.
Draven once again fired an arrow in Edward's direction. It struck the big tree beside him.
Edward looked toward Draven and nodded. Without wasting any time, he ran toward the grassland and began collecting the rabbit demon corpses in special white containers he took from his storage ring.
Meanwhile, Draven watched the surroundings from the treetop, his bow drawn and ready to kill any rabbit demon that dared to launch a sneak attack. Fortunately, collecting the bodies went smoothly. All the remaining rabbit demons were worried about the invisible enemy who had killed the strongest adults in their group, so none of them came out of their burrows.
After storing all the bodies in his storage ring, Edward retreated. A moment later, Draven also climbed down from the treetop.
"How is it, Senior? The hides are mostly intact, right?" Draven asked Edward with a light smile.
"Quit calling me Senior just because I am that brat's father. You can call me Big Brother from now on," Edward laughed. "As for the hides, every one was killed by a single arrow to the head, so there is no damage. I count forty fifth-stage rabbit demon corpses. I will take all of them at the agreed price."
Draven nodded. "Let's go to the arapaima's location next. If there is still time left we can hunt for some other animals, if big brother is interested in buying them from me at the market price."
Edward nodded. "Of course I am interested. Even though the customers for second tier meat are not many in the 36th stronghold, I still have connections outside the 36th stronghold where I can sell them at high prices, not to mention the demon core and other materials."
As the deal settled, both of them left towards the next location on their mounts. On the way they were attacked by a pack of ascendant realm wind wolves with their leader at the peak of the third stage of the ascendant realm.
This time Draven did not make a move himself. His vital chi transformed into six Asura avatars holding bows in their hands and shot down all 62 wolves as though they were mere shooting targets.
It was fortunate that as a wealthy businessman in the 36th stronghold, Edward had enough storage artifacts on hand. Otherwise storing such a massive number of beasts the size of cows would have been difficult.
Draven also noticed this problem. It seems in the future he should also have to carry enough storage artifacts when he goes hunting. Otherwise if there is an unexpected windfall like this time, it would be hard to carry the corpses back.
About one hour later, both of them reached a large pond at a secluded part of the forest. There were also some first stage mortal realm seven colored deer drinking water from the pond, but Draven did not choose to hunt them since they are relatively gentle creatures and the milk he liked the most comes from them.
Releasing a sliver of his killing intent he scared the deer away, clearing the place.
"How am I supposed to locate that arapaima inside this giant pond?" Draven asked Edward speechlessly.
Edward smiled awkwardly. "This, I don't know either. One of my men accidentally noticed the beast when he was fishing here. We also confirmed its existence later by observing the pond for days, but the exact time at which it will come to the surface is not fixed."
Draven's mouth twitched. He dismounted from the one horned horse and took off his white shirt, revealing his flawless body. His seventh sense did not throb this time, so he decided to enter the water himself to see if he could find this fish.
But he suddenly thought of something and waved his hand. A paper cutout in the shape of a sword appeared in Draven's hand and with a flick of his finger, the paper cutout flew towards the golden sword on Edward's back.
"I am going to enter the water. Until I come out your protection will be up to you. I have cast a spell on your golden sword. If the situation is out of your hands, just release the sword. It will protect you to some degree on its own," Draven said to Edward before he jumped inside the pond.
Due to his Ultimate Demon Physique, Draven did not need to worry about not being able to breathe under water, since his body did not rely on normal body functions to maintain his vital chi. Instead, it was maintained by the vital chi constantly circulating through his 360 acupoints.
His enhanced vision also allowed him to see clearly under water even though it was pitch dark after he reached a depth of two meters. But to reach the full depth of the pond he had to swim more than twelve meters.
After looking around Draven decided to swim just above the water weeds on the bottom so that he could still see the arapaima if it was hiding among the weeds.
Swoosh!
Just then, Draven's seventh sense throbbed and with lightning speed a spear appeared in his hand and he thrust it downward piercing the head of a one meter long first stage ascendant realm water snake.
Draven frowned. Water snakes were among the most poisonous breeds, regardless of their specific name. Even though he hadn't seen this particular tiger-striped variety before, he knew one thing for certain: they always hunted in groups.
As if confirming Draven's suspicion, his seventh sense throbbed violently even though he did not see any snake around him.
Without wasting any time Draven stored the water snake in his storage ring and bolted away from the place with all the speed he could muster. Fortunately the sense of danger soon vanished after he left the place.
Continuing his search, he came across many types of rare fish at the mortal realm and ascendant realm which he hunted and stored their bodies in his storage ring. But until then he did not even spot a single arapaima fish.
Prawns, crabs, water snakes, different varieties of fish. Draven came across many types of beasts, but there was no sign of any arapaima even after searching for close to two hours.
Just then, Draven sensed the paper soul he left behind in Edward's sword activate through the vital chi connection between them. Abandoning the search, Draven swam upwards towards the surface with all his might.
........
On the surface, Edward was facing off against a fourth stage ascendant realm four armed gorilla with claws like black daggers. Edward had cast a water barrier around him to shield himself from the attack. There was also a large shield on his hand which he kept in front of him with a serious look on his face.
Clang... clang...
Edward's golden sword was floating in mid air as though it was wielded by an invisible man, constantly clashing against the four armed gorilla's claws making it unable to close in towards Edward.
Swoosh!
Just then, the water surface rippled and a spear flew out of the water surface and pierced the four armed gorilla's head in an instant. The beast paused for a moment before it fell to the ground with a thud.
Edward's expression relaxed as he smiled towards Draven who appeared on the surface of the pond, but his face soon stiffened as he yelled out in horror. "Watch out!"
Draven's seventh sense also throbbed. Without any hesitation he dove right into the water, narrowly avoiding the tail strike of a three meter long arapaima with lightning flashing around its body.
Even the water around it was filled with strong lightning current, making a few fish die on the spot from electric shock even though the beast had not targeted them.
Draven hurriedly activated his Chaos Divine Ape bloodline. A layer of red lightning made of chaos energy formed around his body, protecting him from the lightning produced by the arapaima fish.
"An eighth stage arapaima?" Draven frowned as he hurriedly swam towards the fish which began swimming away after its attack failed.
His initial deal was to hunt a seventh stage arapaima, but what he now met was either a different one or the seventh stage beast might have evolved into the next stage. Either way Draven gave chase. If he missed it this time catching it again would be difficult in this large pond.
As he approached the fish, Draven grabbed its tail. A strong lightning came crashing towards his hand, but due to the chaos energy around his body Draven was not affected. With a backward pull of his hand he stabbed his spear towards the fish's eye.
Effortlessly, the spear went through the fish's eye and came out the other side. Although the fish tried to swim away by shaking its body vigorously, Draven coiled around its body with his Serpent Coil Style and activated his Shadow World Behemoth bloodline.
As soon as the bloodline was activated, the dark elemental chi around him turned into small snakes that burrowed into the arapaima's body. The arapaima's movements grew slower and slower as time passed, until the massive fish became completely motionless, as though paralyzed.
With the beast's struggle ceased, Draven swam upwards with one hand on his spear dragging the massive fish out of the water onto the banks of the pond.
The moment Draven dragged the beast onto the bank, he deactivated his bloodline. Freed from the paralyzing energy, the arapaima suddenly came to its senses and thrashed violently, throwing lightning sparks in all directions.
"It's an eighth stage arapaima, not the seventh stage one you asked for. Is it okay with you?" Draven asked as he dried himself with a towel before he changed his wet clothes to dry ones.
Edward looked at the struggling arapaima with a huge grin. "The stronger the better. I will take it at eight second tier essence coins."
Draven nodded. "By the way, I also hunted a few more beasts inside. Are you interested in taking them?"
Edward nodded.
Draven took out all the beasts he had hunted inside the pond from his storage ring and piled it in front of Edward.
Edward's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Before him was piled a small mountain of Ascendant Realm fish and other aquatic beasts, with a few Mortal Realm creatures mixed in.
"I am not sure if I can take out enough money to buy all of these right now. But if it is okay with you I can arrange the money in a week's time. What do you think?" Edward asked with a serious face.
Draven smiled. "Big brother, William and I are very close friends. So you do not have to be so formal when doing business with me. Just pay the rest when you have it."