While the evolved beasts inside the secret world were enjoying their rewards, the Malirin Forest hunt was about to begin. Just as the humans wanted to use this opportunity to make money and gain resources, the evolved beasts were also excited for the chance to slaughter humans and raise their statuses among their factions.
The center of the forest would be relatively safe since even though the beast lord and one of the great beasts would be heading out to battle the strongest among the humans, one would stay behind. However, there were still many evolved beasts that left the safe area and returned to their territories to kill humans. After all, any strong beast would be tempered by many life or death situations and wouldn't be okay with simply watching the chaos unless they were incapable of battle.
Cin's pack of female wolves was anticipating the battle since they were relatively near to the edge of the forest. However, very few among them looked worried. Most of them were already beast spirits so they only needed to wary of groups of Earth Realm humans, but with the protection array that Shui had set up, they were assured by the fact that their home would always be safe.
A few days later, the hunt truly began. Sounds of battle became as common as the rustling of the leaves, and the scent of blood lingered in the air. In a northern section of the forest, Cleia and her group were fighting against rabid monkeys. However, only three of them were actually fighting.
Besides Cleia and Jade, the rest of their group was made of handsome young men who were Cleia's potential suitors. Although they saw each other as rivals, they worked well together while killing the rabid monkeys around them.
"Don't worry Cleia!"
"We'll handle this!"
Maybe in some specific situation she would be feeling thankful, but since she came here to get real fighting experience, they were only being annoying. Even so, Cleia kept a smile on her face despite the desire to slap the three of them.
"Are you okay, senior sister?" asked Jade.
As the closest person to her, it wasn't hard for Jade to see through her smile.
"Well, I suppose."
Recently, Cleia had stopped randomly staying up at night thinking about Shui. Some would say she was moving on, but she knew that she was just trying to lose hope of seeing him again.
Once the rabid monkeys were killed, they quickly searched them for beast cores before leaving as they couldn't afford to be hounded down by a group of rabid monkeys. So far, Cleia's group has gone through battles more than a few times so they were getting used to it. This didn't make them negligent, but it prevented them from becoming truly aware of the forest's danger because there was no life threatening experience. While no one could provide proof, it was well-known that a cultivator that had gone through many life or death situations would have a sharp sense that responded to lethal threats, but that warning signal didn't activate for any of them. Therefore, they were left in the dark about the chameleon tiger that was following the group.
In an eastern area of the forest, Lily and Ryan were walking side by side. Since the forest would be even more dangerous at a time like this, workers normally came in bigger groups, but the two of them believed that they would be fine.
As they walked, all that was heard was a slight rustle, but it was enough for Lily to be sure. She quickly took out her bow, nocked an arrow and swish, something fell. A couple steps later, they found a blue and pink bird. Due to its cute appearance, it seemed cruel to kill it without any provocation. However this bird, while cute and harmless on its own, would transform into a vicious predator once it called for its friends. In fact, several sect disciples from the five cities were killed by these birds every year.
Lily carefully retrieved her arrow, but instead of just wiping off the blood, she poured it into a jar since this bird's blood was poisonous to small critters so it might be useful later on. Right after she put back her arrow, an evolved beast was attracted by the smell of blood. It was a horned boar that came charging in.
Even so, neither of them were flustered. This was once an opponent that gave them trouble, but now they could look at it with indifference. Instead of Lily, it was Ryan who went to take care of it.
With his sword still in its sheath at his waist, Ryan raised his left hand and swept it across. This created an almost invisible arc of energy that flew through the horned boar without giving it a chance to resist. Soon after it appeared, the horned boar was now separated into a top half and a bottom half.
"You've improved," said Lily as she praised Ryan.
"Mhmm, it's thanks to what Shui taught me. I realized that I don't need any flashy spells as long as I can probably imagine myself as an extension of my sword."
Ryan made every effort to comprehend the insights Shui left him so though his sword skills hadn't made any massive improvements, he could sense the way of the sword more clearly. Even Shui would admit that this was his own strength, but he felt grateful to him for teaching him.
Besides Cleia and the brother and sister, there were two other people in the forest that Shui would be familiar with.
One had grown into a lovely young lady that showcased dignified beauty as she led her group of five. Unlike Cleia, she appeared aloof and without much compassion for the fellow disciples that followed her. However, none of them saw a problem with her behaviour. Just the chance to see her silky black hair that touched her back while in a pigtail, was enough to heal their hearts. Like her, the two men and two women who followed her wore silk coats with a thundercloud on their left chests, but while their coats were blue, hers was dark blue. This was proof that she was a core disciple while they were only inner sect disciples. This was another reason why they were willing to be subservient to her despite being older.
While leading the group, the young lady suddenly stopped and looked around her.
"What evolved beasts are supposed to be here?"
"White wolves." one of them answered.
"I see."
Even though they didn't sense anything, once they saw their senior sister take out a pair of red knives, they also took out their respective weapons. More than the fact that she was beautiful and had a higher status than them, it was her abilities that made them willing to follow her lead.
Soon after they prepared themselves, the four behind the young lady could detect a pack of white wolves blocking their path. With ten beast spirits staring at them with hungry eyes, the four inner sect disciples gulped, but by looking at the back of their senior sister, they could calm down.
"I'll draw their attention, support me."
The young lady dashed towards the pack fearlessly. Despite the fact that evolved beasts were normally stronger than humans at the same level, she had no fear. As she ran towards them, any wolves that were rash enough to try and bite her, received one quick stab through the head. After three of their comrades had been killed in a few moments, the pack backed away from the young lady, but her group attacked them while they were distracted. With their retreat unfeasible, the wolves decided to go all out. Their eyes glowed and their bodies became two times bigger. This was where the real fight began.
While the inner sect disciples worked together to fight three of the powered up wolves, the young lady had to face four by herself. Still, this wasn't enough to make her worried.
At this close range, most offensive spells in her arsenal couldn't be used. However, it was the few spells that were left that she used the most. The young lady poured energy into her knives, causing them to release a blue glow. All of the energy that subtly leaked from her body like any other cultivator, was now locked inside and circulated to give her full control over it.
This was the most she could do before the white wolves pounced at her with their claws ready to rip out her neck. It would be difficult for her to retaliate in this condition, so she quickly created a barrier that blocked two of the wolves and then expanded it fast enough to knock them away before dodging another wolf and stabbing down with her knife. This wolf barely managed to dodge the knife coming down but not the one that pierced through its left cheek and came out the other cheek. Then, all she had to do was twist and push the knife down to finish it off.
Within a short time she had already killed four of them, but this was still just a warm-up to her.