Psssht!
A blazing flare ascended in the sky and gleamed like a shining beacon, giving a position to the surroundings.
"Hold on, reinforcements are coming!
"Keep the line, don't show them your back if you want to live!"
"Use the terrain to slow them down!"
In a valley, below the flare's position, a band of cultivators were fighting against a herd of boars. Among the beasts was one peak-tier frenzy charging boar accompanied by a dozen high and mid-tier boars.
The cultivators used all kinds of battle skills, rendering the earth damp and difficult to move on, raising firm walls from the ground and in last resort when boars were able to breakthrough, defensive cultivators would move forth and endure the attacks for their companions.
The strategy was to slow the beasts down and gain time until other teams joined the fight to start the offensive.
Soon, two other groups of Liu clan members, amounting to thirteen cultivators together, jumped out of the woods and counterattacked.
"Kill, kill, kill! Kill all these bastard boars!"
"Healer, we have a heavily injured person here!"
The cries of the cultivators and the howls of the beasts resounded in the battlefield.
Everyone was bathed in blood, but they fought fiercely.
Liu clan members died here and there but the rate at which the frenzy charging boars were killed was greater!
At some point during the struggle, another team joined the fight and the tide of the battle definitely shifted for the Liu clan; boars quickly got slaughtered and soon, they all lay dead on the ground, their corpses a mess of flesh and blood.
The peak-tier boar was the most difficult to bring down, injuring and killing a lot of them before the common strength of the cultivators overwhelmed it.
"We did it! Who dares attack us now, come all of you damn animals, I'm not afraid!"
"As if some mere blood beasts could do anything against my Liu clan, preposterous!"
"Let's roast these pigs, they want to eat me? I will devour them instead!"
Liu clan members cheered, battles against blood beasts were always rude and life-threatening. They were happy to survive and their confidence rose as their experience grew!
They couldn't wait to recount their feats once they returned to the city.
Suddenly they felt tremors in the ground and the faint sound of pounding against the earth quickly rising.
The vibrations increased rapidly and the sounds became louder as it seemed to approach the survivors.
When it was even closer, innumerable shadows appeared in the woods beyond the valley.
Some trees broke down on their path and a cloud of dust was raised from their quake; it was a stampede!
More than a hundred frenzy charging boars rushed into the valley, among them nearly a dozen peak-tier blood beasts!
A monstrous cacophony of snarls, pounding hooves, and splintering earth bore down on them
When they noticed this band of humans clustered together, their furious bellow resounded as they immediately charged them.
"No... How can this be..."
"We're finished!"
"Why? There were no beasts in the surroundings when I investigated this place as I came..."
Some fell on their knees with a soulless gaze, resigned, others cried and rolled on the ground in despair, unable to face the reality in front of their eyes, a few ran away holding on to the false hope of their comrades attracting the beasts' attention long enough for them to escape.
They lost almost half of the cultivators present just fighting against a dozen boar before they could defeat them.
Most of their qi was expended and among the two healing members surviving, one had his dantian empty and was cultivating to recover while the other by himself was overwhelmed by the number of injuries to treat.
With more than a hundred boar charging towards them, the vision alone was enough to break all will to fight.
Several investigative cultivators were confused about this situation. Where do all these boars come from?
A moment ago they were joyful and full of fighting spirit and the next moment they fell in the abyss.
When the boars were close enough for their shadows to loom over the Liu clan members and they felt they were doomed, a figure descended, sword in hand, and hacked down.
Ironwood Sword battle skill.
In an instant, six boars were sliced up and fell on the ground while those around them had their skin cut open, wounding them and disrupting their course.
"Elder!" When they saw the man who appeared, the Liu clan members immediately shouted, shocked and overjoyed.
Their gloomy gaze turned radiant in an instant as they looked at the reliable back of their senior.
The elder had a long white robe that split down below the waist to reveal large, pale trousers. His long white hair moved wildly in the air, following the movements of the wind, and his blade was raised by his side, ready to draw blood at any instant.
"You won't pass me!" The elder slashed left and right. Everywhere his blade went, boars dropped dead.
However, the force of a stampede wasn't easily stopped, and the boars in the back pushed the one in the front, quickly overwhelming the elder.
The latter used a movement battle skill and twirled in the air, moving around the beasts and slashing around, giving it his utmost as he released all his mastery of the sword to bring death upon his enemies.
Minutes passed as blood and beasts' limbs flew, the elder fought fervently, attacking again and again while still moving around to avoid getting hit and stomped down by the boars. Nonetheless, he made sure none of them would be able to ignore him and attack his juniors of the Qi Gathering Realm.
After some time, the ground was littered with boar corpses, few in one piece, the herd was eradicated.
The elder breathed roughly, covered in sweat.
Although he was a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator and his strength was nothing like these juniors, fighting so many beasts at once was truly strenuous and his body was put under great pressure.
If he had peak-tier Yellow Class or Star Class battle skills, he could have gotten rid of the boars much more easily, but with only mid and a few high-tier Yellow Class arts, he couldn't exhibit the true strength of a cultivator of his level so it took more time and was much more difficult for him to get rid of the herd.
He could get to the end of it mostly thanks to the amplification of his liquid qi into his martial arts.
However, if there was one good side to this situation, it was that when using low-level skills as a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, only a small part of his qi was lost.
A portion of liquid qi is equal to ten portions of gaseous qi from a peak Qi Gathering Realm cultivator. If his body could hold out, the elder would be able to fight this way for hours before his qi should be depleted.
"Elder, you did it!" The Liu clan members ran towards their senior, cheerful and relieved.
"Don't worry, they are only rank 1 blood beasts, as long as us elders are around, nothing can happen to you lads." The man turned around with a smile, saying slowly with pride.
"Elder watch out!" One girl suddenly screamed, while the others that were running towards their savior a second ago instantly froze.
Near the same instant, a dark sting flew in the sky and struck down lightning fast, perforating the elder's back and leaving through his chest.
He didn't even understand what happened when, like a puppet, he was raised in the sky by the sting before being cleaved down by an enormous black pincer.
The body of the elder was chopped in two vertically as each part of his body fell on one side in a shower of blood.
"Rank 2 Amored Scorpion!" Someone yelled in terror.
Before them stood a gigantic black scorpion larger than a small house. It had small red eyes but the rest of its body was dark like coal, making it hard to notice details, as if it were covered by eerie dark armor and brought punishment on their poor souls.
Their emotions have been on a rollercoaster as the menaces kept escalating since they arrived in this place and they couldn't even react properly against this new unforeseen threat.
They felt they were in a true nightmare and hoped they would wake up near a bonfire the next instant with their team around patrolling the area and their elder still in the vicinity watching for them.
The one who screamed first, identifying the beast, raised the attention of the scorpion who brought his pincer down, turning the man into meat pulp.
"Run!" The healer shouted, however, it wasn't necessary as many already used their movement battle skill and ran for their lives.
At such a critical moment, they could no longer care about others.
The armored scorpion was intimidating and hissed fiercely as it went after them.
It was a rank 2 beast and moved much faster, the Liu clan members fled to the best of their abilities, but it quickly caught up and dismembered them with its pincers or used its tail like a whip, killing them one by one even before they could leave the valley.
This way, a herd of boars, three teams of juniors, and one elder of the Liu clan were exterminated.
"One less, there are only two now."
On a tree near the scene, a figure smiled as it observed the scene.
When the scorpion left, the figure jumped down and drew near, cleaning the battlefield of all the human corpses before it returned to the shadows.
Half an hour later in another part of the jungle...
Sprinting rapidly!
Ye Mo's hair was pushed back by the wind and its cries covered his ears as he pushed off with his legs, nimbly avoiding all the obstacles on his way.
His body was covered in a violent gale moving quickly around him, increasing his speed.
Yet, he was clear of the situation behind him as a pack of white eye lycans, angered on purpose, were rapidly catching up.
Particularly their leader, a rank 2 smoke lycan, which avoided all the trees on its way as if it glided on their surfaces, propelling itself even faster as it drew dangerously close to Ye Mo.
White eye lycans are blood beasts with the characteristics of wolves, but as their name implies, their eyes have no pupils, and they are blind from birth.
However, all things are balanced in life, and although they can't see, their smell and hearing are extremely developed, being able to sense someone through great distances.
It wasn't all though, since the white eye lycans are mainly known to release a flimsy smoke through their gray fur.
When it's just one, it's of no consequence, but white eye lycans hunt in packs and their territory is full of a dense fog, rendering the sight of intruders useless and disorienting while giving the lycans an enormous advantage.
The rank 2 smoke lycan was twice the size of ordinary white eye lycans and its fur exuded even more smoke, concealing its body when it stood in place.
Ye Mo saw he was going to get caught as the smoke lycan was right behind him when suddenly, his body turned into black water and disappeared on the ground.
The smoke lycan halted its steps in bewilderment and sniffed the area where its prey vanished, but the smell stopped here, it couldn't track him.
Ye Mo moved to a faraway place and then reappeared again.
The smoke lycan and its pack immediately caught his scent and turned towards him before engaging in another heated pursuit as it growled furiously.
Ye Mo smiled internally.
This situation repeated multiple times until he reached his destination before he merged with the shadows and vanished for good.
The smoke lycan and the others kept looking around but couldn't find him, however, they quickly found another target!
Not far from this place, a team of six Liu clan members fought against needle bees. The needle bees were all fist-sized with yellow and black stripes and they had a long and thin stinger like a needle.
Howl!
The white eye lycans entered the battlefield and engaged the group of cultivators, attacking without any restraint.
"This must be a joke!"
"Doesn't every pack of beasts have their own territory? What are these white eye lycans doing in this place?"
"And right when we're already fighting those bees, we're done for!"
"Hurry, send the distress flare!"
One Liu clan member injected his qi on a flare, which he shot out from his hand.
The tip of the flare started burning before it exploded midair, giving a bright red signal observable from a range of forty kilometers.
"This is pointless." Ye Mo appeared at the peak of a tree not far and observed the scene.
He has been infiltrating the territory of beasts to draw them out and lead them to the Liu clan members.
Under his scheme, these teams have been restricted and killed by beasts repeatedly, letting him reap the benefits of using their corpses for his own body refining cultivation and making him progress quickly.
Letting your enemies kill each other while you enjoy the spectacle from the sidelines—this was truly the most favorable of situations.
Compared to the last time with the boars and the armored scorpion, this time he directly brought out a rank 2 beast.
The terrain where the white eye lycans rested was immersed in a deep fog and even for him who possessed a stealth battle skill, it was very dangerous.
After all, he still had to cancel shadow walk at some point to appear in front of the beasts and make them chase him, but because the visibility was so bad he could have been ambushed anywhere at this moment without knowing.
But to get rid of his pursuers, he had to take risks himself and luckily, it didn't happen or he would have had to escape and try with another pack of beasts.
In addition, the situation of this team was already investigated by Ye Mo and he knew the other groups of the Liu clan were pretty far from their position so before they arrived, it would be too late.
As he predicted, the team of Liu clan members was quickly slaughtered, mostly by the smoke lycan.
After that, the white eye lycans and the needle bees briefly fought, but the insects were clearly not on par with the pack of wolves and quickly flew away when some of them were crushed under their teeth.
Some other teams that were on their way to help them were warned by their investigative member of the death of their allies and the presence of powerful beasts so they turned back, but one team had a less proficient investigator and approached too close.
The smoke lycan caught their scent, and the pack quickly pursued the cultivators, overtaking and killing them in a short time.
Ye Mo watched everything, amused, still perched in the distance. When the lycans left, he didn't forget to use the Nine Revolutions Fiend Body on the still-warm corpses of the Liu clan members, killing the few needle bees that lingered around.
They were only mid and high-tier rank 1 blood beasts, so he had no problem getting rid of them.
Yet, he could absorb the blood of only one team as the second one that was eliminated by the lycans had their corpses brought back to their lair to be devoured.
Rinse and repeat, the day was filled with cries of distress and the howls of blood beasts under the watchful eye of a cruel onlooker.