Zhao Fan woke up with his head buzzing like a bee. He opened his eyes and found that he was leaning against a tree. Before he could examine his situation, he heard a voice.
"What happened to the sect disciples?" Liu Zhong was standing not far away from Zhao Fan with the rest of the group who were all discussing the chain of events.
"Weird, maybe the purple-robed youth who suddenly attacked us took them away?" Zhou Da said hesitantly. She was injured previously but after Zhao Fan fed her some elixirs.
"Right! Maybe he was someone bearing a grudge against them, so he took the opportunity while their group was weakened." Gong Yu agreed. Suddenly, he saw something in the corner of his eye.
"Brother Fan, you are awake? How are you feeling?" Gong Yu hurried to Zhao Fan and helped him stand.
"I'm fine, just that my head hurts like crazy" He stood up slowly while clutching his temple. Surprisingly, his body felt fine, more than fine actually, it felt much stronger than before.
"Why did he not kill me?" Zhao Fan wondered to himself.
"After you collapsed, I waited until you fully absorbed the beast and then controlled your body to lie down near a tree, making it look like you got knocked out," Hei Long explained. He didn't seem to know why Qi Weisheng left without killing him either.
"Maybe he assumed I died to the wolf?" Zhao Fan was already extremely weak when he entered the cave so the conclusion was plausible.
Hei Long just scoffed but offered no other explanation. Someone as calculative as Qi Weisheng definitely wouldn't leave without personally seeing or even destroying the body.
Zhao Fan chose to stop ruminating and joined the group in their discussion.
"What should we do now, continue hunting or go back?" Huo Long asked.
"While it's true that our supplies are a bit low, we didn't suffer any deadly injuries and if we return now, wouldn't the whole trip be for nothing?" Jia Shuren spoke out. She was not rich and even if she did gain experience, she still needed to make an income for her family and for her own cultivation.
"What about the beast in the cave? Shall we finish it off?" Gong Yu suddenly remembered.
With this question everyone realized that they forgot the original reason they were out here. The beast could definitely not recover from such grave wounds without precious medication especially in such a short time, so it would be no problem to finish it off. Without wasting any more time, the group got into formation and headed to the cave.
"Does anyone have any torches?" Gong Yu stopped just as the group walked into the cave.
"Huh? Why do you need a torch, can't we see just fine in the dark anyways?" Zhou Da was puzzled. Cultivators already had a good sense of vision, furthermore there was no need to be scared of an injured beast.
"I got a bad feeling about this, what if the beast leads us into a trap hidden in the dark somewhere?" Gong Yu did not let the topic drop.
"Could it be that you are scared of the dark?" Zhou Da suddenly laughed.
"No, I am not a child! But as a sage once said, 'The future depends on what we do in the present!'" Gong Yu argued.
"What kind of sage are you quoting? We don't have any torches anyways. Here, I will take the lead and you guard the center with Zhao Fan." Huo Long sighed. At the back, Zhou Da started giggling which made Gong Yu feel embarrassed.
Gong Yu didn't argue anymore and the group finally went in the entrance. As they walked in further, it began to be difficult to see. Gong Yu who was walking next to Zhao Fan started trembling a bit. The latter had an urge to laugh, for such a strong guy, Gong Yu was scared of such a childish thing.
Gong Yu felt a shiver run down his spine as he felt something touch his back.
"AAAHH!" A scream resounded and everyone turned around to face Gong Yu.
"Stop being so childish Zhou Da!" Jia Shuren stopped ignoring the conflict and took Gong Yu's side. Everyone looked behind Gong Yu and saw Zhou Da retrieving her staff while laughing.
"It's just a small prank, stop being so serious" Zhou Da replied while holding her sides in laughter. Seeing that nothing serious happened, the group continued moving forward.
Gong Yu once more started trembling. A shiver ran down his spine once more as he felt something touch him again. He looked to his side and saw Jia Shuren holding his hand while looking ahead. His expression changed multiple times in the span of a short moment. Zhao Fan who walked behind them observed all of this with a smile on his face.
"It seems we were too late," Huo Long turned around and told everyone. They all gathered around him and saw a skeleton of a wolf laying on the ground as if it was a fossil.
"It seems that guy didn't leave us anything" Zhao Fan was confused as well.
He obviously already knew that the wolf was dead but usually when he absorbed the beast essence of beasts, the whole body would not just disappear. Not only that, the beast was placed much deeper in the cave than where Zhao Fan killed it. He felt that something was fishy about what happened after he was knocked out.
"Let's go out and find another tier 6 beast" Huo Long led the group out of the cave. Gong Yu frowned as Jia Shuren retreated to the back, letting go of his hand.
The group headed deeper into the forest and searched for a while before finding another lone tier 6 beast.
Without a word being said, everyone naturally got into formation and the assault on the wolf began.
"Lightning Destruction Claw!" Huo Long's spear grew in size and became akin to a bolt of lightning. He was a level 7 Qi Gathering cultivator and his reserves of qi were now even larger than before, meaning that he could resort to large moves like this one.
The wolf howled at him and raised its paw. Suddenly a pillar of flame shot straight at Huo Long, wanting to incinerate him into pieces!
"TAKE THIS!" Huo Long yelled and hurled the thunderbolt in his hand straight at the pillar of flames. The wolf snickered as if it was disdaining the human for trying to block its attack.
A flash of light covered the surroundings as the two forces collided, producing a large sound. The lightning bolt smoothly passed through the pillar of flame without dimming substantially. It continued flying at nearly the same speed and pierced the paw of the wolf as if a hot knife through butter.
"WOOF!" The wolf cried as its body was continuously electrocuted by the remaining lightning.
"Darkwind Severing!"
"Wind Crescent!"
Two horrifyingly sharp attacks shot at the wolf's head while it was immobilized. The wolf tried to shift its neck but found a strong force gripping it. It looked down and saw a figure of a youth with a smile on his face holding his neck and preventing it from moving. What was even more shocking was that he was firmly gripping the wolf which meant that the lightning was also coursing through his body! A normal human would definitely die if they tried to receive such a shock with their body, this meant that the youth in front of him had a body equal to a demonic beast!
Helpless, the wolf could only try to unleash a last ditch attack. It slightly shifted its paw and shot another pillar of flame at Huo Long who was now weaponless.
Gong Yu stepped in between the attack and Huo Long and quickly raised his shield, easily blocking the attack. The wolf could only give up its hope facing such terrifying opponents who didn't even give it a chance. Liu Zhong and Jia Shuren finally finished forming their abilities and sent them out. With a splatter, the wolf's head which was minced by the attacks rained down on the ground and the wolf's lifeless body crashed down.