Five Grade 4 Beasts remaining, two were getting finished by the Elders with the help of the youngsters' guardians, another two were slowly getting melted to death by Patriarch Yun using the Sky Snake King technique, and lastly, the last one was getting fended off by Patriarch Lei who was out of energy and trying to replenish it.
If there is another addition of a Grade 4 Beast then it will surely be their loss. Nobody knew if there will be another beast that will greet them if they retreated or not. After they killed these five remaining beasts, they have to camp and call some help. However, only if they survive, everything else is irrelevant.
Patriarch Yun was gritting his teeth while expending the last of his energy to melt the two beasts in the direction of the north. Against two Grade 4 Beasts, he should only be able to have a stalemate with them but in a battle, not everything depends on power. He took them by surprise. If he could continue this for a little more then it's his win without suffering injuries.
On the Elders' side, a screeching shrill was heard as one of the two dying Grade 4 Beasts completely lost its life. The Elders were exhausted and took intervals of attacking so that some could rest and at the same time, could still make the beast bound to their attacks. The guardians are already out of energy and were resting on the side. They could still move and hold their own weapons but a physical attack of a cultivator of an Earthly Realm wouldn't be that of much help even against a dying Grade 4 Beasts. They will only put themselves in risk.
The Elders looked senile but their movements were top notch. They don't look old at all when they move like they are doing acrobats, dodging while attacking, leaping from one ground to another. Some of them have an age of more than five hundred years, yet, they swung their sword stronger than the others. Their cultivation was higher after all.
"...Three left...", Mu whispered while her heart rapidly thumped. She held her chest and questioned herself, 'We are winning but it is still nerve-wracking.', she may show that she was tough on the outside but within, she was still anxious. Not only she but everyone there too was anxious. However, she did not know this. She thought that she was weak-spirited, 'I always submit to this pressure...', she bitterly said to herself but at that moment, her eyes widened as she realized something.
Immediately, she slowly went to the safest place of the group, near Brother Zhe and the other girl who was the top student beside Zhe. She sat down in a meditative posture and started to focus her energy based on the wavelength of her current heartbeats. At first, she could not concentrate at all due to all the noises and probably because of fear but after focusing only on her energy for a steady moment, she entered meditation. Mu's aura became placid after a short while. The others did notice her but they wouldn't think that she could enter meditation in that mess yet nobody interrupted her.
On the north, Patriarch Yun fell from the air and landed on the grassy ground far from the beasts and near the youngsters where he calmly sat and rested after successfully killing two Grade 4 Beasts as if he had done something normal. On his face was a smile instead of anything else. He remembered the time when he was young, striving to gain strength but struggled in front of a Grade 2 Beast. It was unexpected but the outcome of the encountering many Grade 4 Beasts brought a satisfying result for his life. If his past self saw him today, he would definitely worship himself.
Patriarch Yun was quite proud of himself at the moment. After reminiscing about the past for a minute, he deeply breathed and absorbed little energy from the surrounding to replenish his own even by a little. If he could, he would have gone for meditation for faster recovery but it needs peace and calmness to enter meditation. This is not a suitable environment for Patriarch Yun to do that, 'I need to help Patriarch Lei as fast as possible.', he thought as he stood up and walked with hardship.
His sight fell onto the youngsters who were looking at the battle even though he had his eyes closed as always. The children already saw Patriarch Yun but they didn't disturb him. Patriarch Yun noticed the worry and fear inside their eyes under their calm expression. Their breathings were rapid and hands were hidden because it was shivering in cold sweat.
Patriarch Yun nodded, 'Staying calm in front of danger. Very good, very good.', he looked at them with a satisfying expression on his face, 'Hm?!', until he noticed something strange. There should be 14 kids in total excluding the two top students brought by the Patriarchs, seven from each family. There are seven kids wearing white robes but there are only six kids who wore azure robes.
Patriarch Yun did not panicked but he knew how Patriarch Lei's fury would go pass the sky if he knew that one of his family members would go missing when they are successfully defending them from the Grade 4 Beasts. He went in front to ask the top student from the Lei Clan to see where that one kid had gone to.
The youngsters were surprised to see Patriarch Yun looking so well after they just saw him exhausted a minute ago.
The top student from the Yun Clan went to him, "Patriarch Yun...", she didn't know what to say. She just can't say that he did well or he should go rest first. It will sound like she was praising the Patriarch! Although at first there seemed nothing wrong with that but she had yet to have the status to even flatter the Patriarch personally. They are mere mortals, they thought.
Patriarch Yun nodded to this as a reply. He wanted to inquire about the missing kid from the Lei Clan but before he points his finger to Zhe, he immediately noticed that one kid was just sitting behind this two, 'So there was nothing to worry about.', Patriarch Yun smiled, 'But wait, how did I not notice her before?'
From these fifteen kids, he could clearly see their manifestation of energy surrounding them, in other words, their natural auras. However, although he could feel the natural aura from this little girl, it was hardly noticeable. The question was: Why is that? Shouldn't her aura be more noticeable as the others because of its unstable fluctuation due to fear, 'Hmmm....', he thought hard until one possible thought came to his head, 'Could this little girl be meditating?', he doubted himself but he went past the girl from the Yun Clan's main branch and Zhe to put his hand on top of Mu.
Mu's natural aura touch the very skin of Patriarch Yun's palm. Patriarch Yun faintly felt the aura and gone silent for a while.
The others looked at them with curious eyes. Wondering what was happening.
Patriarch Yun removed his hand and went to the beast the Elders were dealing with. He took out his sword and walked in front of the dying beast, 'Is it talent?', he thought as the Elders gave way to him, 'Or is it because she doesn't know fear?', the sword in his hand became streaks of light, slashing the beast from every direction, 'Is she too confident that we could handle this easily?', the beast clenched its claws in pain. It had no energy left to release a shrill after that mysterious static dark clouds disappeared. It knew that it has no chance of survival in front of this man, it already planned to escape. It crouched but before it could jump, 'I still have a long way to go.', Patriarch Yun's sword pierced the beast's leg and pinned into the ground, 'My state of mentality is not of a master yet...', the beast was forced to shrill one last time as Patriarch Yun took the sword and cleanly slashed through the beast's thick-skinned neck with sheer force.
Patriarch Yun exhaled and steadily walked to the direction of Patriarch Lei. The Elders followed him but was stopped when Patriarch Yun signaled them too. It was strange and unknown why he doesn't speak but the Elders respected his decision.
In the east from where they stopped, Patriarch Lei continued to fend off the last Grade 4 Beast with his sword. His clothes were dirty and sweat covered his face.
The beast that has a lion's head opened its mouth to roar but Patriarch Lei pushed his sword to its neck before it could. He was worried that its roar may call other beasts, which was the most worrisome. The sword that half-way pierced the beast's neck produced static electricity all over as it numbs the throat of the beast.
Patriarch Lei smiled at this opportunity, "This is the cause of you trying to roar in the middle of a battle.", at that moment, he noticed the presence of Patriarch Yun, "Patriarch Yun! Good timing. I was thinking that we need help after all.", he said as he pushed the sword through the beast's neck while parrying all the incoming beast's desperate struggle.
Patriarch Yun agreed with a nod when he saw that everything was going smoothly. He sat and leaned on a tree as he took out a strange paper out of his ring. The paper mysteriously floated in front of him when he released his grasp from it. Patriarch Yun then took out a pen and wrote on it while in front of him, Patriarch Lei took out the sword from the beast's throat and tried to finish it off with a slice but the beast had still power to defend its paralyzed neck.
By this time, Patriarch Yun took out a small yellow pearl and crushed it. A gentle yellow flame came out and swallowed the floating paper into ashes. The ashes then flew in the direction of south.
Patriarch Yun could finally sigh in ease as he stood up and decided to help Patriarch Lei.
"Great, let's finish this.", Patriarch Lei smiled after he retreated beside Patriarch Yun from the beast's attack.
.....