William Harper’s mind grew alert as he examined the corpses. They reeked of a foul stench—some had been here for a long time and were already rotting, while others had only recently been discarded. All of them were outer disciples of the The Harper Family clan.

These people had likely died after being drained of blood by a tree demon or some similar monster. A tree demon had made its nest here, and it was probably out hunting for food at the moment.

Tree demons were fairly common monsters in the World of Creation. William Harper had slain dozens, if not hundreds, of them. The demonic aura of this particular tree demon was far denser than that of an ordinary one.

William Harper prepared to hunt this tree demon. Since it was unclear when the demon would return, he could use this time to set up some traps.

When hunting prey, strength alone was not enough. Proper preparation and procedure were fundamental, and planning was the only guarantee of success.

William Harper pulled a vine over three meters long from the dense forest and gave it a tug—it was quite flexible. He walked up to a relatively sturdy tree, leapt to the top, tied one end of the vine to the treetop, then jumped down and pulled hard.

The tree slowly bent down, its top touching the ground and forming a curved bow shape. William Harper then secured the vine to the ground with a wooden stake. This created a simple trap: if any creature passed by and triggered it, the bent tree would snap upright, flinging the trapped creature into the air.

After finishing the simple trap, William Harper felled two large trees and used the wood to craft several makeshift giant crossbows, which he set up in the nearby trees. He then whittled the leftover scraps into thick, arm-length wooden spikes, each over three meters long.

William Harper grabbed the highly flexible vine strung on the giant crossbow and began to pull. The vine bowstring gradually stretched. He placed a wooden spike onto it and secured it with the vine. With just a slight trigger, these wooden crossbows could unleash tremendous force.

The surrounding forest was filled with traps. Near the dried corpses, William Harper found several broken iron swords. He picked them up, took out a cold iron scalpel from his soul ring, and used the long swords to carve twelve two-inch-long iron needles. He coated the needles with wind serpent venom, which was highly effective against plant-type monsters and was one of the essential items for The Harper Family disciples when clearing monsters in the World of Creation.

William Harper then gathered more materials and made a simple repeating hand crossbow capable of firing two iron needles in succession. He hid himself in the forest, dug a pit, and buried himself in the dirt, leaving only his eyes exposed. The soil could greatly mask William Harper’s presence.

Time ticked by. Countless vines, like snakes, slithered through the jungle, converging from all directions and coiling around the nearby branches, hanging down from them.

If a person or animal passed by, they would only see what looked like ordinary climbing vines. No one would suspect that these were actually tree demons in disguise. Once a creature entered their attack range, the vines would instantly entangle the target and drain their blood.

Monsters were born when all things in nature absorbed spiritual energy. Any animal or plant could potentially transform into a monster. Plant-type monsters like tree demons were natural-born ambushers.

One had to attack these vines first to lure out the tree demon’s true body!

William Harper crawled out from his hiding spot and slowly approached the vines. He picked up a stone from the ground, channeled his inner strength, and shot it out in a straight line. With a snap, it struck a vine, severing it.

The vines still hung quietly from the trees. William Harper kept attacking them with stones, trying to draw out the demon’s true form.

“It’s nearby,” William Harper muttered, drawing his longsword. His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings. He could smell a strong demonic aura—the tree demon’s true body was not far away!

Suddenly, a vine shot up from the ground, stabbing toward William Harper. As it neared, William Harper struck with his sword—a flash of blade, and the vine was sliced in two.

Another vine lashed out horizontally. William Harper rolled on the ground to dodge it, but before he could catch his breath, another vine appeared behind him, wrapping around his left foot and hoisting him into the air.

With a flex of his body, William Harper swung his longsword to sever the vine, flipped in midair, and landed silently on all fours like a cat.

At that moment, all the vines throughout the forest rapidly contracted, gathering into a mass that formed the shape of a tree demon, its body covered in countless vine-like tentacles. A dense demonic aura quickly spread out.

Smelling this aura, William Harper’s heart tightened. This tree demon was at least at the lower Xuan initial stage. Xuan-level tree demons were rare in the World of Creation. Plant-type monsters like tree demons had very low intelligence, and it often took thousands of years for one to evolve to the lower Xuan stage. With The Harper Family disciples constantly clearing monsters from the World of Creation, few tree demons ever reached the Xuan level.

After the Innate Realm, the strength of cultivators and monsters was divided into Lower Xuan, Middle Fu, Upper Yuan, and Tai Bai, with each level further split into initial, middle, and advanced stages. Lower Xuan, Middle Fu, and Upper Yuan were the ranks for cultivators. After reaching Tai Bai, one entered the realm of immortals as spoken of by mortals. Cultivation was a long process—even a single stage’s difference meant a vast gap in strength.