This time when Gai Luo jumped the sand flew effortlessly and although he didn't manage to catch the branch, he still landed perfectly on his legs.
It was all because Xiao Sha was the one that was controlling the sand this time.
"Hmm... You were better this time around." Ye Xin nodded as he looked at Gai Luo in approval. He was impressed by his performance this time.
Gai Luo on the other hand had an awkward expression on his face "Ye Xin I don't think I did anything at all this time." He said.
"What do you mean?" Ye Xin asked with his brows raised, he could see that the control over the sand was pretty good this time around.
"Well, how should I put it, last time when Xiao Sha was not present, I could tell that I had some control over the sand, however after I summoned Xiao Sha, I felt like I was doing nothing and everything was done by him instead." Gai Luo said as he pointed at Xiao Sha the sand eater.
Ye Xin listened to him and turned silent. After a few minutes of thought, he nodded. "Xiao Sha's power is yours too, I think it would be better for you to be proficient in controlling sand with the help of Xiao Sha, than yourself."
"After all you will be more proficient with Xiao Sha and it will help you in the upcoming sect examination." Ye Xin said.
Gai Luo listened to him and nodded with a smile. "I think it would be smart to take help from Xiao Sha rather than increasing my power, as it would be faster and will help me get a higher rank in Sect Examination."
"Let's do it." This time try to climb that tree with the help of Xiao Sha.
Gai Luo nodded at his words and looked at the sand eater, and then he turned silent for a few seconds.
"What are you thinking?" Ye Xin asked as he saw Xiao Sha staring blankly.
Gai Luo looked at Ye Xin and took in a deep breath. "Ye Xin, I think I have a better idea."
"What Idea?" Ye Xin asked with his brows raised, he was confused.
Gai Luo gulped his saliva and moved toward Xiao Sha, "Let me show you, it would be better than telling." He said and jumped on Xiao Sha's back.
Ye Xin looked at Gai Luo's action with a frown on his face, he couldn't understand what Gai Luo wanted to do.
However, suddenly a shocked expression appeared on Ye Xin's face. His eyes widened and he stepped back.
"Xiao Sha, let's climb that tree!" Gai Luo ordered while sitting on the back of Xiao Sha as he pointed at the top of the three.
"Ahhhaaa!"
Xiao Sha roared and jumped towards the swamp, cluster of sand appeared below its four legs, wherever it stepped and it formed a staircase to the top of the tree.
Both Xiao Sha and Gai Luo were on the top of the tree in a few seconds. Xiao Sha was standing on a sand platform that was levitating just above the tree supporting their weights.
Ye Xin looked at them and gulped his saliva, he never thought that they would become so terrifying in just a few hours.
Taking in a deep breath, he summoned Hong Hai and then grabbed one of its arms he floated above the tree.
"You can fly! I am so jealous." Gai Luo saw Ye Xin flying with the help of his squid and said.
"Well, it's nothing much, let's focus on catching those Striped Boars first we can chat after." Ye Xin said. He didn't wanna talk to much now as he was still shocked by Gai Luo and Xiao Sha's performance.
He never thought that a giant beast like Xiao Sha would climb this tree so easily.
Gai Luo nodded at his words, however, he suddenly looked at Ye Xin and a mischievous smile appeared on his face.
"Ye Xin, how about we make it a competition, let's see who will catch the ten boars first?" Gai Luo said.
Ye Xin listened to his words, he guessed this was coming, no-one knew Gai Luo better than him and how much he loved competition.
Although Ye Xin was sure that Gai Luo would say something like this, he never thought that it would be so soon, he thought that it would take at least fifteen days of training before Gai Luo would dare challenge him.
'Seems like he is confident in his abilities.' Ye Xin thought and nodded, he then looked at Gai Luo, "Yes but remember that under no condition you should step out of this swamp and if you are in some sort of danger just yell loudly. I will be nearby" He said.
"Don't worry, you can trust me." Gai Luo nodded and then an affirming smile appeared on his face.
Ye Xin looked at his face for a few seconds and then took in a deep breath, he then nodded. "Ok, let's do it, let's see who can catch the boars first, but remember one thing don't come crying to me when you lose." Ye Xin said and finally laughed.
Gai Luo saw the smirk on Ye Xin's face and snorted. "Let's see who is the one that will cry, there is no way I will lose to you with my Xiao Sha." Gai Luo said and patted the sand eater.
Like a wind storm, both of them jumped towards the deeper part of the swamp leaving behind a gale of dust.
Ye Xin squinted his eyes and covered his mouth to protect himself from the onslaught of the sand, and for the moment he could only see two silhouettes disappearing in the distance with a dimming voice of laughter reverberating in the area.
"This guy! He did it on purpose!" Ye Xin coughed out the sand from his mouth and looked in the direction Gai Luo disappeared in with anger on his face. However he can't see anyone.
He then took in a deep breath and sighed. "I will beat him!" A determined expression appeared on his face and he looked at Hong Hai floating above him.
"Let's go, we can't lose to them." Ye Xin said.
Hong Hai spun and circled some of his arms around Ye Xin's body, after that it floated up, from the tree branch, lifting Ye Xin with him.
Flying both of them soon reached a spot where they could see two Striped Boars playing around in the mud.
Both Ye Xin and Hong Hai turned silent and landed on a tree branch nearby. Ye Xin knew just how sensitive these striped boars were to noises. He didn't wanna startel and lose them.
"Hong Hai, throw me towards the left one and you go catch the right one." Ye Xin said as he looked at his squid.
He could see that the Boar on the left-hand side was smaller and less aware of its surroundings, it was clear that it was just a child and beside it stood its mother. She was the vigilant one, both of them were playing with each other in the mud.
As if understanding his words Hong Hai nodded and moved towards the mother boar, he was silent and undetectable like sharp arrows.
As he closed in his arms quickly moved like pincers and before the mother boar could even know what was happening her whole body was wrapped up by Hong Hai's hundreds of arms.
Eek!
The mother boar screamed and whipped her body around in Hong Hai's arms to get free however she was far too weak, no matter how much she struggled she just couldn't free herself from Hong Hai's grip.
The little Boar on the other hand when saw that his mother was caught, growled and tried to attack Hong Hai, but before it could do anything, it was picked up in the air by a hand.
This hand belonged to none other than Ye Xin. Since Ye Xin has got the squid, his strength has been increasing steadily, so it was not hard for him to subdue the little boar.
Hong Hai didn't take long to end the struggle of the mother boar.
Ye Xin couldn't bring himself to kill the baby boar so he let him leave.
Soon they were again on the top of the tree with one boar hanging from Hong Hai's arm.
Ye Xin looked at the boar and sighed. He felt bad internally for killing the mother, but he knew that this world was cruel, if he wanted to survive he had to do stuff like this.
"I am feeling so bad..." Ye Xin sighed again, 'Looks like I have to be more careful in the future.' He thought and nodded.
He then looked at Hong Hai. "Let's go, we have to catch more."
Hong Hai's remaining arms moved in response and soon enough both of them were flying above the swamp.
In the next five hours, they managed to catch seven more of the boars, and most of them were relatively easy to catch.
Although Ye Xin could have already caught more than ten of those boars, however now he avoided catching the young ones and their mother. He didn't wanna feel bad again.
He currently had eight boars.
"Now I only have to catch two more." He thought and a determined expression appeared on his face.
"I wonder how many did Gai Luo manage to catch?" Ye Xin thought and took in a deep breath. He knew that Sand Eater was strong and Gai Luo wouldn't struggle too much with catching the Striped Boars.