Early in the morning, Yang Bin stood outside with his father; both were carrying a backpack.
"Are you ready? Do you have everything you need? " Yang Gang asked.
Yang Bin nervously nodded his head. "I've double checked."
"Good. Since this is your first expedition, we won't be going anywhere that's too far or dangerous." Yang Gang said. "We'll be exploring the outskirts of the nearby forest. It mostly consists of initial and intermediate rank 1 demon beasts. Anything higher than that is rarely seen, unless you decide to advance deeper. The deeper into the forest you travel, the stronger the demon beast gets. Follow me."
The two set off.
Last night, Yang Bin was barely able to convince his parents to agree to his plan. The one who was most against it was Li Jing.
Overhearing Yang Bin's words, Li Jing asked incredulously, "You want to hunt demon beast!?"
"Yes." Yang Bin nodded his head seriously.
"Absolutely not!" Li Jing vehemently rejected him. "Did you already forget how severely injured you were the last time you tried that? You could have died!"
"But mom-"
"No."
"Honey, I think our son has a plan. Let's first hear what he has in mind first, before we reject him." Yang Gang gently coaxed her, to which Li Jing hesitantly nodded.
Yang Bin took a deep breath. "The academy entrance exam is coming up in less than four months. To be able to compete for a position I would need to be at least at the eighth rank of body tempering, and even then my chances aren't very high. My cultivation speed isn't fast enough to get to the ninth rank in this short amount of time, so I need a lot of resources. I don't want to always rely on you; I wish to also earn money myself."
"I know that this could be dangerous, but I'm confident I could break into the sixth rank of body tempering tonight. Once that happens, the initial and intermediate stage rank 1 demon beasts won't be a match for me." Yang Bin finished.
Pondering, Yang Gang rubbed his chin and asked, "What if you meet an advanced stage demon beast? What will you do then?"
"Then I'll use a speed talisman and retreat." Yang Bin replied confidently.
Slowly nodding, Yang Gang thought for a bit. Finally, he gave his verdict. "If you really are able to reach the sixth rank of body tempering tonight, I'll permit it. Pack your daily necessities and meet me in front of our house tomorrow morning. I'll guide and watch over you until I determine you are ready."
Hearing that, a grin broke out on Yang Bin's face. "I won't let you down!"
****
After sprinting for several minutes, the duo arrived at another location.
"We'll start here." Yang Gang stopped. "Firstly, do you know the way back?"
Looking around, Yang Bin took in his surroundings. There were trees on all sides and no eye-catching landmarks. It would be easy to get lost, if not for the faint footprints they left behind. "Follow the footprints?" Yang Bin answered, unsure.
Yang Gang nodded. "That is one way. Since the weather is fair and the soil isn't dry, footprints are somewhat visible and could last a few hours. An experienced hunter would know his carnal directions and use the sun or stars to navigate. Of course, I don't expect this from you. A much easier method would be creating landmarks yourself, for example, marking a tree, or piling some stones."
"Do you know any ways to track or find beasts?" Yang Gang asked.
Remembering how he and Yang Mengyao were able to find the Wolf King, Yang Bin replied, "Get to a high altitude and scout."
"That is a good method, but you cannot use that." Yang Gang dismissed the idea. "Unlike scouts, assassins, or spies, you don't have any techniques to conceal your presence. So if you try that, you'll become a target for any flying demon beasts, and flying demon beasts tend to be more dangerous than land ones. It was fine during the event, since it was a closed area, and no demon beasts could get in, but that's not the case here."
"Oh." Being reprimanded by Yang Gang, Yang Bin wasn't sure how to reply.
Noticing Yang Bin's cluelessness, Yang Gang sighed. "You look for any tracks that demon beasts leave behind. Let me show an example, what do you notice about the area ahead of us."
Yang Bin studied the area intently. There were trees, grass, and leaves; all common occurrences in forest areas. "It's very green?" He isn't quite sure what Yang Gang wanted him to look out for.
Yang Gang smacked the back of his head. "Look down."
Yang Bin did as he was told and looked at the ground. Grass. A lot of grass.
"What do you see?" Yang Gang questioned.
"Uh, grass?" Yang Bin answered.
"Yes, but what do you notice about the grass?" Yang Gang asked, impatience creeping into his voice.
"I see…" Yang Bin's voice trailed off, as he activated his Mystic Pupil to study every fine detail of the blades of grass in front of him. They were luscious and green. Most of them stood tall and rigid, but among them were some blades that were crushed and flattened. Suddenly, it dawned on him. "Oh! Some of the grass is flattened! Something must have walked past here!"
"You finally realize." Yang Gang said exasperatedly. "When tracking beasts, you must look for signs like these, discrepancies in nature. It could be as simple as fur on branches to missing clumps of grass."
He pointed to an area where the grass was much shorter and uneven. "This animal is most likely a deer. It was grazing on the grass here. Go follow the tracks."
Excited, Yang Bin ran off.
Behind him, Yang Gang facepalmed. "You're going the wrong way!"
"Oh. Hehe." Yang Bin awkwardly scratched the back of his head. He turned around and ran the other way.
As he followed the footprints, he realized that they changed. The distance between each got longer and they were heavier. This discovery made Yang Bin pause for a moment.
Smiling, Yang Gang asked, "Do you see a difference?"
Yang Bin nodded. "The difference between the footprints got a lot longer. I'm guessing the beast started running?"
"You are correct. These signs show that this deer was sprinting. The reason would probably be due to a predator." Yang Gang deduced.
Just as Yang Gang had predicted, there was a predator. After traveling a couple meters, Yang Bin found many sets of tracks. They were slightly bigger, and from the way it sank into the ground, it was also more powerful.
"Judging by these tracks, it's probably just a pack of wolves. Wolves are very common in these areas. They tend to travel in packs of five or so." Yang Gang commented.
"Five!?" Yang Bin's eyes widened. Even if all five were normal beasts, he will still have a difficult time. "How am I supposed to defeat so many?"
"You aren't supposed to." Yang Gang told him with a straight face. "Why else do you think I'm here?"
"Oh. Oh right." Yang Bin blinked.
"In the future, you'll need to form a party of three or five, but for now I'm enough. Continue following the tracks." Yang Gang said.
A few seconds later, they found the carcass, or the skeleton of the carcass; most of the flesh had been devoured, and insects were eating up what remained. There was blood all around it, and a rancid smell was in the air.
"Ugh." Yang Bin cringed.
"Get used to it. If you really intend on hunting demon beasts, this won't be a rare occurrence. It's important for you to not get distracted and keep your eyes on the target." Yang Gang pointed at the ground. Amidst all the paw prints on the ground, a trail of blood glimmered.
"Wolves rest after they finish a meal. Chase after them while their guards are lowered." Yang Gang commanded.
The pack wasn't far off. There were a total of five wolves, and they were all under a tree. All of them were laying on the grass, and some were napping.
"You are pretty unlucky. There are two only initial rank 1 wolves and the other four are ordinary beasts." Yang Gang observed.
"Huh? I only count five wolves though?" Yang Bin questioned.
Yang Gang shook his head. "You can take care of the two initial stage demon beasts by yourself right? I'll suppress the other wolves."
Yang Bin nodded and walked forward.
When the wolves saw him, they immediately became alert. Growling at him, the two initial stage wolves stood in front of the rest of the pack.
Without hesitating, Yang Bin charged forth.
The pack responded in kind, but right when they were about to leap, the four ordinary wolves were forcefully shoved down.
Yang Gang had made his move, and now, it was Yang Bin versus the two initial stage demon beasts.