A petite, black-haired beauty stood in a large clearing surrounded by four large demonic beasts. Each one a sturdy and commanding boar-like creature around 1.5m in height, covered in a silver-gray thick fur. Protruding from each boar's snout were sizeable tusks, shining like polished silver and curving gracefully toward the sky.
The young woman's expression revealed no hint of worry, even as the boars prepared to charge. She held a snow-white straight sword, about 70 centimeters long. With practiced precision, she raised her sword and shouted, "Blazing Blade Dance!"
Her brown, leather-braided sandals dug into the silver-flecked soil as she spun. Yellow flames jetted out from the sword's tip, lashing out and striking three of the boars. Their metal hide melted into liquid metal as they collapsed, dead.
The remaining beast, enraged by the death of its companions, charged. Its speed was far greater than should be possible, given its size and weight.
The young woman ceased her attack, facing the beast emotionlessly.
She then brought the sword's hilt close to her chest, the blade standing vertically before her face. Her eyes focused through the steel as she said, "Iron Guard."
A dim gray aura rapidly gathered in front of her, morphing into the shape of a buckler.
Aura is the essence of vitality and energy that cultivators absorb and refine through cultivation. For example, 20 thousand years ago aura permeated the entire world, but for some unknown reason it disappeared. The residual aura seeped down deep into the earth and formed what came to be known as spirit stones.
The color of one's aura signified their major cultivation realm. When one was in the Neophyte Realm, their aura would be a dim gray and that dim gray would turn to silver when one stepped into the Earth Realm.
In an instant, the beast's silver tusks contacted the shield of aura. Instead of piercing through, shockingly, its six hundred pound body was sent flying away, carving a trench as its body slid across the earth, until it came to a stop ten meters away.
The beast's body remained still, never to rise again.
"A razorback boar killed by the repulsion force alone!"
Laine, still hidden behind the shrubbery, was shocked. While the razorback boar was only a 1st Stage demonic beast, most 2nd Stage Neophyte Realm cultivators would struggle to put a dent in its metal hide.
The woman's display of skill revealed her affluent background and her 5th Stage Neophyte Realm status. A cultivator could gauge another's minor realm based on their displayed skills, unless they used a skill or external source to mask their true power.
This young woman who tried to bully him yesterday had now come to the one place he hadn't expected—her or anyone else, for that matter.
"Her aura reservoir must be low, right?"
After ensuring the boars were dead, she swallowed a pearl-white pill. She then focused on the edge of the Black Ironwood forest. When nothing happened, disappointment flashed across her face. She withdrew four talismans from her robe, placed one on each of the boars, and then marched into the forest with her sword in hand.
Laine couldn't make heads or tails of her intentions. She stood still and focused on the edge of the Black Ironwood forest in front of her. When nothing happened, a look of disappointment flashed across her face. She reached into her blue robe and withdrew four talismans. She placed one on each of the razorback corpses' bellies, nodded, and then began to march onward into the forest, sword still in hand.
"Is she waiting for something?"
He grew curious about her actions, but before he followed after her, he had to receive the four gifts she left behind.
After waiting several minutes to ensure she wasn't lingering, he descended the hill, careful not to slip on the loose silver soil.
He approached the boar closest to him, which had left a trench in its wake. He examined the talisman on it and grinned. "Little miss entitled doesn't know you need to use your blood to activate a Talisman of Repulsion. She deserves praise for her ignorance."
Not only had she left him four hearts he needed for pill refining, she also left him four talismans that he could sell for five spirit stones each.
He gently peeled the talisman off of the boar's silver-furred corpse. In his hand now was a rectangular piece of weathered-yellow parchment inscribed with bold, crimson ink symbols. Placing it into his robe, he then pulled out a cloth sac filled with absorbent rags. Sticking out of the sac's opening was a hilt wrapped in frayed leather.
Laine gripped the hilt with his right hand and pulled. What revealed itself was an ordinary-looking dagger. It had a short, slightly curved blade with small nicks along the edge.
"Please don't break," he said as he kneeled down beside it.
Placing the tip of the dagger on its stomach, he pushed and pulled down smoothly, the blade easily piercing and passing through its body.
He breathed a sigh of relief and stuck his hand into the warm insides and located the heart. He grasped it gently and tugged it out. The heart was smaller than he had expected, being less than his palm in size.
Placing the heart in the sac he got up and repeated the process three more times as quickly as he could. He was worried about not being able to catch up with little miss entitled, but he was even more worried about the smell of blood attracting a powerful demonic beast.
After he finished, he ran over to the stream, rinsing his blood-soaked hands before quickly setting off into the Black Ironwood forest.
♦ ♦ ♦
Laine moved cautiously through the Black Ironwood forest, navigating around dense clusters of trees. The Black Ironwoods grew close together, their dark trunks pressing into one another. Between the clusters were clearings where sunlight filtered through the canopy.
The ground was soft and uneven, covered in a thick layer of moss and fallen leaves. His boots sank slightly with each step, muffled by the undergrowth.
As he persevered onward, the eerie silence wrapped around him, broken only by the faint crunch of leaves underfoot and the distant sounds of battle.
To his good fortune, she was loud and careless and in each clearing Laine came across, there would be more razorback boar corpses strewn about with Talismans of Repulsion inactivated on their bodies.
He had been following her tracks for over an hour already and had already acquired the spoils of 24 razorback boars. This was three times more than he had expected to gather today, and she still hadn't ceased her search. He hadn't expected her to be this wealthy or, more worryingly for him, this powerful. Even so, he had to risk it and plunder as much as he could. With just the talismans alone, he had made 120 spirit stones! More than he could make after several years of saving at his current rate.
Laine was certain now that she was attempting to lure in a demonic beast, and she wouldn't rest until it came. He had to respect her stubbornness and her inability to accept not getting her way.
ROAR!
The surrounding forest shook violently with the roar, causing the trees to tremble, the leaves to whirl, and the ground to quiver beneath him.
He had been frozen for several seconds before he regained clarity. A cold sweat ran across his back and his instincts told him to run, but he swallowed those fears and headed toward the sound. He estimated there was another clearing about half-a-mile forward.
It didn't take him long to see traces of the clearing as he snuck ever closer. Glancing up at a nearby cluster of Black Ironwoods, around 100 meters away from the clearing, he reached out and scaled the tree cluster. When he found a sturdy branch, he sat on it and settled into the dense foliage. The ashen leaves rustled softly over his robe. From his hidden vantage point, he peered through the gaps in the canopy and gasped.
"Razorback Boar King!"