Stealing the Heavens.

Chapter 16 Self-reliance
Three days later, the Demon-Slaying Division returned in triumph, each member strutting around arrogantly, especially Feng Qingwu, who went to the front of the Purple East Cave to show off her power:
"Zi Dong, lead the Demon Hunter Team to join the Demon Extermination Division. I, the Chief Commander, hereby appoint you as a Division Commander!"

"What 'Commander-in-Chief' and 'Commander'? Are you trying to play tongue twisters with me, the commander?!" Zi Dong glared angrily at Feng Qingwu.

"The Chief Commander is the chief commander of the Demon Extermination Bureau, not some tongue twister!" Feng Qingwu was even more annoyed that Zi Dong was mocking the title she had finally come up with.

"What commander-in-chief? Only a commander-in-chief with strict orders is truly impressive!" Zi Dong immediately flattered.

"Commander-in-Chief?!" Feng Qingwu stared at Zi Dong and muttered, thinking it wasn't a bad idea: "If you change it to Commander-in-Chief, will you lead the Demon Hunter Corps to join the Demon Extermination Division?"

"The Demon Hunter Corps is a legion-level organization; how could the Demon Extermination Division be up to par!" Zi Dong curled his lip in disdain and turned to walk back into his cave.

"Hmph, what legion? Sooner or later you'll be begging me!" Feng Qingwu stomped her foot angrily, snorted coldly, and left immediately.

After Feng Qingwu disappeared, Zi Dong left the cave again and headed straight for the Hall of Affairs. He wanted to discuss the Demon Hunting Team's first operation with Elder Yuan Chen.

But they hadn't gone far when they saw Zhou Xinyu rushing over and stopping Zi Dong, who had just met Elder Yuanchen.

"You mean Elder Yuanchen wants us to find the demons' hideout ourselves?!" Zi Dong looked at Zhou Xinyu in surprise.

"What, you're too scared to go?!" Zhou Xinyu glanced at Zi Dong nonchalantly and plopped down on his futon.

"There must be elders guarding the demons' hideout. Are we sure we can go there on our own?!" Zi Dong frowned.

“We’re not going to take direct action. We’ll find the demons’ hideout and return immediately. What’s there to worry about?” Zhou Xinyu got up and walked outside.

"The elders' divine sense is incredibly powerful. Before we even discovered the demons' hideout, the demon elders had already found us!"

Zi Dong stood still. What a joke! He only had the luck of a second-grade demon. In front of those demon elders, he didn't even have a chance to escape.

"Don't worry, I've got everything covered!" Zhou Xinyu stepped forward, grabbed Zi Dong's arm, and pulled him along.

"You're only at the Innate Realm, how could you kill those demon elders?!" Zi Dong couldn't believe it; going with Zhou Xinyu would be suicide.

“I was born with a strong divine sense, which my mother said was no weaker than that of a Void Breaking Realm cultivator. Before those demon elders discovered us, I was able to pinpoint the demons’ location.”

As Zhou Xinyu explained, she continued to pull Zi Dong away. She was a Void Breaking Realm cultivator, and although her cultivation was sealed, it was enough to save their lives.

"How did Feng Qingwu find the demons' hideout?" Zi Dong grabbed Zhou Xinyu's arm, still believing that they shouldn't take the risk.

“Feng Yuntian is the vice sect leader and a Void Breaking Realm cultivator. How do you think Feng Qingwu found him?!” Zhou Xinyu retorted angrily.

"Junior Sister Xinyu, have you forgotten about your father?" Zidong quickly reminded her, "It would be a waste not to work hard with a father like that."

"That old man doesn't care!" Zhou Xinyu was even more annoyed. Zhou Yunting told Elder Yuanchen that the Demon Hunter Group should be self-reliant.

"Junior Sister Xinyu, are you the sect leader's biological daughter?!" Zi Dong asked boldly.

"I'll ask my mom when I get back!" Zhou Xinyu glared angrily at Zi Dong and forcibly dragged him out of the cave.

Of course she wasn't Zhou Yunting's biological daughter. Why would she suddenly decide to impersonate his daughter? Why not impersonate his sister?

As the two walked down the mountain together, Zhou Xinyu finally found the answer: how could she possibly be the younger sister of an old man? She wouldn't even be a junior sister!

Zi Dong kept dawdling along the way, even considering asking Zhou Yunting for help himself, since he was the sect leader's personal disciple.

"I guarantee I'll bring you back to the sect safe and sound, and I'll definitely find the demons' hideout!"

Zhou Xinyu repeatedly assured him, practically swearing an oath to the heavens, before Zi Dong reluctantly followed her towards the outer edge of the Azure Dragon Mountains. Because demonic cultivators practiced devouring techniques, their auras were far more malevolent and violent compared to the righteous and peaceful Daoist cultivators.

Naturally, it could not escape the detection of the Daoist cultivators' divine sense. Even if they tried to conceal it, they could not block the divine sense of a great cultivator like Zhou Xinyu who had broken through the Void Realm.

Moreover, unlike the demon race and the witch race, the demon race does not like mountains and forests and usually hides in villages and towns.

Although Zhou Xinyu is a Void Breaking Realm cultivator, she is still a novice in terms of experience, though she is better than Zi Dong.

There are also many demons in the Central Continent, and Zhou Xinyu's master only managed to enter the Central Continent after fighting against the demon, monster, and witch races.

Zhou Xinyu not only learned cultivation techniques from her master, but also gained a lot of valuable experience, especially in dealing with the demon, monster, and witch races.

The two waited in a grove of trees until nightfall, and in the faint starlight and moonlight swaying in the night breeze, they slowly approached a village.

Zi Dong never acted alone; he could only listen to Zhou Xinyu, who had come to Yuntian Sect to find her father on her own.

Moreover, he even replaced the villagers of Baijia Village with himself as a hostage to the demons. Just for that courage, one can't help but admire Zi Dong.

After leaving Yuntian Peak, Zhou Xinyu began to use her divine sense to explore, and finally found the village on the outskirts of the Qinglong Mountain Range.

A cultivator at the Void Breaking Realm can use their divine sense to cover several villages at once, making it easy to detect subtle fluctuations in aura.

Even at night, cultivators from affiliated sects would patrol the outer perimeter of the Azure Dragon Mountains to guard against a large-scale invasion by the demon, monster, and witch races.

However, the cultivators on patrol were not highly skilled and could not detect the concealed demonic aura.

The demons of today are no longer just mindless brutes who only know how to devour; in their battles with the Taoist sects, they have also learned formations and talismans.

However, the demons' flames are not stable enough to refine pills or weapons, so they can only steal them from Taoist cultivators.

"Found them." When she saw the village entrance in the distance, Zhou Xinyu raised her hand to stop Zi Dong, confirming that there were demon cultivators in the village.

"Wow, your divine sense can detect that far?!" Zi Dong's divine sense couldn't even reach the village entrance, yet Zhou Xinyu had already detected the entire village.

"Would I dare bring you here?!" Zhou Xinyu said smugly, then gestured for Zi Dong to return to the sect.

The reason for bringing Zi Dong along is that investigating the demons' hideout is also a mission of the Merit Hall, and Zi Dong can obtain a lot of rewards.

Furthermore, Master and Zhou Yunting also hoped that Zidong would train alongside Zhou Xinyu and grow up as soon as possible.

But just as the two turned around, preparing to return to the grove and fly back to their sect on their swords, a pair of patrolling cultivators suddenly flew over and rushed straight towards the village.

"What are they trying to do?!" Zhou Xinyu was furious. She had just found a place where the demons had settled down, and these guys came to cause trouble.

"Why don't we go back and gather our forces and make our move tonight!" Zi Dong was decisive. No matter what the purpose of these patrolling cultivators was, they would definitely alert the enemy. So he led the Demon Hunter Team to take action immediately.

"By the time we get back and gather our forces, these demon cultivators will have already fled!" Zhou Xinyu disagreed and pulled Zi Dong towards the village.

"What are you doing?!" Zi Dong was startled. Wasn't this courting death? There must be a demon elder in the village.

"There's only one demon elder at the Star Refining Realm in the village, and there's also a Star Refining Realm elder among the patrolling cultivators. They should be able to wipe out this group of demon cultivators!"

Zhou Xinyu has made a decision to act alongside the patrolling cultivators from these affiliated sects; the two of them will represent the Demon Hunter Squad.

(End of this chapter)