Red-horned boar slowly moved around the 'trap bushes' attracted by the smell of blood. Both Alister and Arin watched with bated breaths.
The boar eventually triggered the trap and fell down the pit with a thud, its cries echoing as it was pricked by sharpened stakes below. The blood-sucking flower was continuously working since the boar came within its range.
The boar was injured due to several sharp objects placed on the pits further increasing the rate at which the blood-sucking flower worked.
Upon seeing the flower and sensing the danger, the boar tried to desperately climb the pit and run away. After a great struggle, it finally came near the surface when Alister slammed it down the hole with a well-timed punch, wincing as pain shot through his hand.
'Ow, ow, ow, why is this body so bloody weak?' Ali felt pain but he pretended to be fine outside.
Ali looked through the memory of the body to find that the previous owner had only practiced Yin techniques despite having a Pure Yang physique. 'What a wastrel!'
After some time, the boar again struggled to the surface in an attempt to escape when Arin delivered a powerful punch and knocked it to death.
Arin jumped with joy and teary eyes, "Brother Ali, I finally managed to kill a vicious beast!"
But Ali was frustrated at his own body's strength. 'Dammit! Even Arin is far stronger than me. I need to fix this body and quickly increase my cultivation.'
'Otherwise, a mighty expert of a generation will be a joke if I can't even handle a vicious beast easily.'
He carefully gathered the blood-sucking flowers similar to when he captured them at first, deftly lifting them by their roots in his hands. The plant retracted its petals which stopped the blood fragrance from spreading. He put them together in a separate pit and buried them with soil.
Alister suggested, "Let's go back and cook some food for you."
Arin nodded picking up the corpse on the ground and prepared to head back to the village gates together with Ali. As they walked, a faint, chilling whisper— "H…e…l…p"—drifted through the miasma.
Hearing the faint unknown voice, Ali asked Arin, "Did you hear something?"
Arin shook his head but became alert, "Are there more vicious beasts around here?"
Ali said sheepishly, brushing it off. "Might be my imagination, then."
But he looked deep into the miasma and asked in his head. 'Hey, system. Did you hear something before?'
[Yes, it was a faint voice whispering 'Help'.]
The faint whisper amidst the eerie silence in the deeper parts of the swamp filled Alister with a sense of unease. So, he decided against investigating in the dangerous land for now and returned with Arin in tow.
Both of them were unaware of a small shadowy rat that was looking at their actions from the top of a tree.
Seeing them returning, one of the guards taunted, "Back already? Glad that you decided to give up today."
But his mocking expression fell when he saw the corpse of the vicious beast on Arin's back.
The other guard laughed, "Haha, looks like you finally grew up to be able to hunt on your own, eh?"
Arin smiled at them proudly and went inside after they opened the gates.
"Let's go to the elder who purifies the meat first," Alister suggested.
Arin nodded and guided him to a grand two-story stone house that easily stood out among the simple village huts. It was bigger and more sophisticatedly built than other houses in the village.
Looking at the vicious beast carried by Arin nobody felt it was weird. A butler came from the house and asked, "Would you like to purify this vicious beast's meat?"
Arin nodded, and a group of workers in bloodstained dress came and took the beast's body from Arin.
"Please wait here. Elder will be here very shortly," the butler pointed to an open room.
They went and sat on the stone chairs. Ali searched the house with his eyes but he was focused on the butler and the guards who were as strong as village gate guards. They had intricate tattoos on their bodies and radiated raw strength, comparable to a Foundation Establishment stage or even a Core Formation stage cultivator.
He started wondering about the people in this village who don't cultivate in the normal ways but are unusually strong.
'The power seems to come from their tattoos,' he thought.
He had doubts if they were walking the path of body cultivators since he had very little information about body cultivation which was already extinct in the times where he came from. But, the more he looked at the tattoos on the bodies of these strong guards, the more it reminded him of a unique type of cultivator.
'Body devils!' he exclaimed in his heart.
He had a deep impression of body devils who invaded his world several times in his era. A single body devil needed several cultivators of the same realm to defeat them.
They had similar tattoos on their bodies which glowed when they attacked. Some of them had even trained their bodies to become as strong as magical weapons.
'But, why do I feel these people are not devils?' he wondered.
He had fought several times with devils in his times that he could easily identify them.
'Maybe my limited cultivation is affecting my perception,' he sighed internally.
His musings were interrupted as a middle-aged-looking elder with sleek black hair and an odd-shaped white goatee appeared, exuding an aura of wisdom. The contrast between the black hair and striking white beard looked weird on the same face.
Everyone except Alister bowed. "First Elder!" they greeted respectfully.
The First Elder looked at Arin with an amiable smile. "I remember you. You came that day with the hunting group to save a friend's life."
He then turned to Alister and said, "You're that poisoned guy, right? I remember treating you before. How're you feeling?"
Alister bowed in gratitude, "Thank you for treating me. I feel much better now."
The elder's eyes turned a bit serious, "How did you come near our village in such a poisoned state?"
Alister replied without batting an eye, "I went into the forest to gather some medicinal herbs to sell but I got poisoned when I mistakenly touched a poisonous herb. I tried to return to my town but felt dizzy when crossing a bridge and fell into the river."
He had already made up a story in his mind to explain the poison and his drowning.
"Thankfully, Arin and the hunting group were there to save me," he added looking at Arin.
The elder didn't continue further and turned to Arin. "I heard you brought a vicious beast to purify. Did you hunt it yourself?"
Arin said with a bit of a shame. "This time I was lucky and was able to hunt a vicious beast thanks to brother Alister."
The butler returned with a large plate containing the vicious beast that was cleaned, skinned with all claws and horns removed, and was ready to cook.
"Good, good! It's always better to have more hands who earn food in the village," the elder said in a happy tone.
The elder touched the beast's meat and a faint purple light can be seen coming out of the meat entering the elder's hand.
"It's purified now. You can prepare a good meal at your home using it," the elder said in a slightly exhausted tone.
Alister, however, was stunned.
'This elder's definitely a devil!' he exclaimed in his heart. Despite his act of exhaustion, Alister had guessed that this elder had a high cultivation of at least a Martial King. But the way with which he easily absorbed the poisonous qi shocked Alister.
'Even a Martial Saint wouldn't dare to absorb poisonous qi every day even if it's a simple version from a vicious beast,' he had suspicion in his heart.
The butler quickly packaged the meat and gave it to Arin.
"What about the 10% payment?" Alister asked.
"It has already been taken when the meat was prepared," the butler replied.
Though Alister was impressed by the efficiency of the butler and the workers, he felt the people were cheated when the precious parts like horns and claws were also kept by the elder. Since Arin felt it was normal, he decided to ask him afterward.
They were prepared to head back when another person arrived.
"Elder Liu!" everyone except Alister and the first elder bowed to greet this newly arrived elder.
He had both white hair and a flowing white beard showing his declining age.
He stared at the packaged meat in Arin's hand and smiled with a happy face.
"Did you just return after hunting?" Elder Liu asked.
Arin replied with a proud tone, "Yes, I hunted a vicious beast today."
But the smug on his face turned to sorrow when Elder Liu reached out and snatched the package.
"This must be for me, right? Good lad, you still remembered that you owned me a vicious beast's meat," Elder Liu chuckled while stroking the package like a pervert.