Daiyu couldn't see what was behind her but heard its haunting voice, it sounded as if a demon form hell had risen to take her offer and was now holding a blade to her skin, she may not have seen it but Hu Balin clearly had judging from how he looked as if he had seen his own death and fallen on his as along with his two goons
Feeling the ropes that had bound her cut away she felt a small sense of relief but it was immediately swallowed by a feeling of dread for the deal she had just made and pure primal rage a she looked at the three that had been about to defile her.
"kekeke aaaaaalll Yooouuurs" the monster whispered in her ears, giving her a shiver of fear as she on its hand pushed her back, it was hard and clawed as if covered in scales, its creepy laughter echoing in her ears and stoking the feeling of rage that she felt as she stared into the eyes of Hu
Then it was gone… as if it was nothing but a phantom
There was no spiritual pressure, no Chi fluctuation, no incantation it was gone as if it had never existed she was even struggling to remember how it had sounded.
Hidden Intent!
She couldn't help but tremble a little, judging from the spiritual pressure the creature was likely only a Class 4 Wild Beast yet it had already understood something one of their sect elders had spent nearly 100 years to master. No! even the sect elders Hidden Intent could not warp another's mind, making them harder to remember!
Tying up Hu and his goons and dumping them in a pile she sat on the remains of her belongings and began to think
As she thought about it more and more, she realized something… something that terrified her.
It was only a Wild Beast, but it could speak?
Normally a beast didn't gain any form of coherent thought until it had become a shifter and even then, most had the mental maturity of a toddler!
This Beast…
She wanted it!
If she could gain its trust or at least its cooperation she would posses a familiar with more potential than any other she had seen or heard of aside from Beasts of legend.
Dismissing the thought for now she turned her gaze towards the tied up trio and began to wonder what she should do with or to them
Feeling a curious gaze on here she smirked, admittedly a little pleased that whatever it was it hadn't just left her alone. "maybe I should put on a show?" she muttered and an idea popped into her head of what she should show them
A demonstration
*****
The Ghoul's grasp was one of the basic level martial techniques given by the sect and it revolved around two principles Chi manipulation and an understanding of the whereabouts cultivators spiritual core
Now once a cultivator reached rank three and became a fully-fledged cultivator their core would shift to somewhere within the body meaning this technique became basically useless.
However, neither her or them had even reached past stage 5 of the second rank, making this a perfect weapon thanks to her having completely mastered it, lining the terrified and now begging cultivators on their knees she walk a few steps away and prepared to strike
Getting in the stance, both feet planted on the ground, knees slightly bent and hands forward in the poses of claws she struck forwards with one and up with the other. As she did this, she manipulated her chi into the sinus area and pituitary pinpoints of her fingers and thumb.
As she moved a black chi rose from her body out of her pores releasing a screaming sound much like the ghoul after which the technique gained its name and formed into three large, clawed hands that shot towards her targets and sunk into their chests
Not caring for their screams, she repeated the same movement in reverse this time, causing the hands to return to her holding the gleaming red cores of the boys leaving them dead with large holes in each of their chests
Giving a satisfied smile she looked up to the higher branches that she had felt the gaze coming from for some form of approval but instead was greeted by a sizzling sound from behind her, swinging around she saw the three red core glowing brighter and cracking, a tell-tale sign of what was to come
Daiyu threw herself away from them but was still caught in the blast, her back felt as if it were on fire and she couldn't help but let out a scream of pain as she felt her skin sear.
Laying on the ground groaning she felt as an ox had kicked her in the head, looking around she saw the devastation where she had once been standing, the ground had a molten crater in it due to the extreme heat
Damn it! how was she supposed to survive if she had people trying to kill her the whole time, had it been just the forest on its own she could have survived with the use of guerrilla warfare and hiding from things that were too strong for her, but now?
"Sigh I hate to ask for any more help… but do you have a place for me to stay?!" she yelled up into the tree above her, hating herself for being weak but placing her pride to the side as she called for help.
"Yeeeeeeessssss" she heard the sound echoed around her and a thump behind her, pushing aside any hesitation she slowly turned around and took in the monster that had saved her.
It was big
Standing at nearly 9 feet tall {A.N he grew during his evolution} it had the lower body of a bug, black and covered in what appeared to be some form of Chitin, it appeared to have wings, as she took in its upper body she was shocked
It had the waist and torso of a human! The skin was grey like ash, its torso was muscled and clearly that of a man. Out of its shoulders sprung its four arms two of which looked human despite them being covered in scaly segments of Chitin
However its head and other set of arms directly clued her into what type of insect it was, a creature already one of the rarest in the entire Blood Forest but also one that had never been recorded to reach above 2nd Class
A Black Mantis!
Normally a cultivators dream but, in this case, likely their new nightmare
She Wanted it!!