บท 14: Blood Essence Rose
The beast tide soon became the only topic of conversation on and around Heavenly path Mountain. No matter where you visited within the sect, so long as there were people within earshot, you would overhear talk of this ongoing calamity. With so many big changes occurring on a daily basis, this was only natural though.
The Northern outer sect was completely rebuilt. Each village became a station post for the sect members to return to and head out from as they battled the beasts in the Northern wilderness. Large, sturdy walls were erected around every village, with trenches and other simple traps laying around the outer perimeters Although these measures were fairly basic, even a simple advantageous alteration to the terrain could turn the tides of battle against the beasts.
There were two types of groups battling in this beast tide: The stronger and the weaker. The weaker groups like Yaan's were led by True Yuan Qi realm core disciples or inner sect Elders. These groups ventured into the wilderness to hunt down the beasts before they could reach the outer sect.
The stronger groups were led by Qi Temple or Spirit Core realm Elders. These groups stayed put within the outer sect villages, patrolling the walls and killing any beasts that slipped through the net. Like this, the many groups working together in unison were able to prevent the beasts from breaking past the outer sect and into the main sect further up Heavenly Path Mountain.
The outer sect had never seen this sort of energetic atmosphere before now. Unexpectedly, even the outer sect members benefited from this arrangement. They were able to gain favour with Qi masters and even receive cultivation techniques or other resources for their work.
Yaan found himself put in the spot light yet again. His group was led by Boln, the strongest True Yuan Qi realm disciple, so it was natural that their group was also the strongest of the hunting teams.
After a single month, a leaderboard was deployed, listing the total accumulation of merit points by each group. This leader board could be found within any of the station posts in the outer sect villages, and also at various locations within the inner and core sect.
Apparently, this leaderboard's operation was based on a refined formation. Formations, constructs created by Qi masters, utilised spiritual energy and Yuan Qi through mysterious and intricate pathways. By studying formations extensively and learning the intricacies behind this art, it was possible to create formations capable of producing almost any desired effect! Certain cultivators mastered and focussed on formations, allowing them to develop anything from this simple leaderboard formation, to massive sect protecting defence systems.
Naturally, it was Yaan's group that had accumulated the most merit points and stood at the top of the leaderboard. This was almost entirely thanks to Boln and Kaila though, so Yaan didn't feel much about it.
During the past month, the intensity of the beast tide gradually grew stronger. Whilst the beasts were slowly being whittled down by the human Qi masters, the humans also experienced their own fair share of casualties.
Groups unlucky enough to encounter the uncommon Rank 3 beasts sometimes found themselves in a severely dangerous predicament. In three separate cases now, the entire group had been completely wiped out by a lone Rank 3 beast.
This was the nature of a beast tide and of this world. Safety could never be guaranteed, even if one was a sheltered genius of a great sect. This world was fraught with danger, something that the oldest Elders understood all too well.
The resistance groups were no longer forced to participate in the ongoing war against the seemingly endless tide of beasts, but the social pressure to do one's duty and to protect the sect led to very few people dropping out.
Along with this pressure, there were also the rewards. Merit points could be exchanged for almost anything that the sect was able to produce, from techniques, to treasures, to medicinal pills. These sorts of rewards would usually be unobtainable for ordinary inner sect disciples, so they wouldn't waste this opportunity by cowering in fear.
Of course, to the core sect disciples who were under the tutorage of a core sect Elder, these rewards weren't so tempting. They were more concerned with their own prestige and reputation within the sect.
Yaan didn't care much for prestige and neither did he need any of the resources that he could afford, but he at least valued the experience gained from fighting against beasts and exploring the wilderness. Rui had drilled into him the notion that he couldn't rely on the sect, and that eventually, he would need to leave. Because of this, he was of course glad that he could learn more about survival in the wilderness.
Which plants were safe and which were poisonous? How could beasts be tracked and hunted, or hidden from and avoided? How to find food, water and shelter?
All of these things were vital to surviving on his own, but would never be taught by a sect that assumed its members would forever stay with them.
And so, Yaan continued to follow Boln's lead, treating this as an opportunity rather than a forced task. His battle strength continually rose as he honed his sword arts against a variety of Rank 1 beasts.
Yaan wasn't the only one to improve.
Chi!
Elia slipped forwards quickly, stabbing her sword into the eye of a Rank 1 dire wolf.
"Graah!"
The wolf growled in anger and pain, shaking its head from side to side and spewing blood across the ground. Elia's palms were sweaty, but she steeled her nerves and kept her eyes on the beast. She gripped her hand tightly around her weapon's handle, so tightly that her hand and forearm began to ache quite badly.
As the beast writhed about in pain, she suddenly leapt forwards again, stabbing it into the exact same location. She grit her teeth and forced herself to drive the blade in deep, determined to slay the mutt with this final attack.
Chi! Thud!
The wolf's brain was penetrated and it dropped to the floor, dead.
"Good job Elia, you improved so much in this last month!" Boln complemented her, satisfied with her performance. He almost felt like her teacher, guiding her and helping her too improve her battle technique.
Elia gigged slightly, then subtly glanced towards Yaan to gauge his reaction. Seeing that look of expectancy, Yaan was forced to respond. He smiled slightly and nodded towards her, uttering a quick 'well done'. He felt bewildered when he saw her face light up happily after hearing his praise.
"Yaan, there's a blood essence rose thirty feet to your right, this flower can help me to recover a small bit of my strength."
"Eh?"
Hearing Rui's voice in his mind, he quickly looked to the side. He couldn't see anything, so knew that he would need to move closer if he wanted to find what she had mentioned. Rui was able to spread out her spirit sense to locate things out of sight, but Yaan obviously did not possess this mysterious ability.
He glanced at the group that was moving further ahead as they continued to compliment Elia, then quickly made up his mind.
Swoosh…
Yaan ran off to the right at his fastest speed, hurriedly following Rui's instructions towards the flower. He soon turned past a wide tree, then laid his eyes upon a strange, small rose. Oddly enough, this flower was releasing a subtle red glow.
"Aura of death…" Yaan was quite sensitive to this aura and recognised it on the flower right away.
"Quickly, cut the stalk at the bottom."
Yaan did as Rui instructed, then watched as she immediately emerged from the stone ring and grasped the flower with her glowing white hand.
The flower rapidly wilted, its red radiance spreading into Rui's body and disappearing within her glowing form. Her soul actually became slightly more solid, shimmering even more splendidly than before.
"Yaan, above!" She suddenly narrowed her eyes and jolted her head upwards. After absorbing the essence in that flower, the range of her spirit sense had enlarged and she detected a serious danger from above. She vanished into the ring in an instant, but kept her spirit sense stretched out, monitoring the situation closely.
Yaan clutched his sword and looked up, barely able to react in time. A massive figure was hurtling down towards him at a terrifying speed, he had no doubt that he would be crushed to death if he didn't move! He quickly jumped backwards, nearly falling over as he stumbled over some twisted vines.
Boom!
A cloud of dust was swept up into the air and a powerful aura exploded out from within. As the dust settled, Yaan felt chilled, seeing the red eyes of a massive gorilla staring back. The beast was so large that he needed to crane his neck upwards to see its face, and when his eyes met with the tyrannical ape's own, Yaan trembled, taking a step back as his heart palpitated wildly.
"Rank 2 steel back gorilla, Yaan, run." Rui's voice remained calm as always, but there was a clear hint of urgency in her tone.
Yaan didn't need to be told twice. He was powerful for a Qi Gathering realm child, also cultivating his body to the Peak 1-Star level, but he knew that he had no hope against this monstrous ape!
Transcending ranks to fight against stronger opponents was possible within one's own realm, but fighting those at a higher realm was something else entirely.
There was a qualitative difference between Rank 1 and Rank 2 beasts. Whilst Yaan could fight on even footing against Rank 1 beasts, the aura alone from a Rank 2 beast was enough to suppress his battle power by one third. His only hope of defeating a Rank 2 beast was by using a powerful treasure, or maybe it would be possible if he carefully planned out a scheme and lured it into a trap.
However, Yaan could do neither of these things right now, so he ran.
Perhaps if this was a newly ascended Rank 2 beast then he might have been able to escape, but this was a Mid Rank 2 beast, something with a speed far surpassing his own. Yaan just hoped that he could reach his group before the gorilla caught up to him. Alas, his hopes always seemed to transform into disasters…
Bang!
"Ugh!"
He found himself flying through the air as a heavy fist slammed into his back. The world was spinning all around him, his sense of direction completely lost. He landed painfully, bouncing off the ground twice and rolling through the dirt before finally coming to a stop. Despite having stopped moving, Yaan still felt as if he was rolling across the ground, resulting in his steadiness suffering as he leapt to his feet.
His entire body ached, he was sure that he had at least broke one or two ribs. The only thing driving him now was fear and adrenaline, the extreme and overpowering desire to survive which drowned out all else! Unfortunately, Yaan was quite badly injured right now, he couldn't even hear Rui's instructions for all the blood that was circulating chaotically within his body.
Yaan urged his Yuan Qi to fill his legs, allowing him to reach even greater speeds than before. He was running randomly, with no clue as to where he or his group was currently located. That last strike to his back had badly jolted his head, he was dizzy and disoriented, his sense of direction in shatters.
The trees and greenery blurred as he ran, he payed no attention to his injuries or the surroundings. Somehow, he was able to maintain a speed not much less than the gorilla's own, but Yaan was able to hear the giant ape slowly drawing in closer.
He didn't want to turn back, for he knew that he would be met with the terrifying visual of a near twelve feet tall shimmering gorilla destroying the foliage in its path as it stormed towards him.
His lungs were burning and his Yuan Qi rapidly depleting, but Yaan kept running. Nothing else mattered, this pain didn't matter, he just needed to live…
He ran through parts of the wilderness he had not reached before, until he unexpectedly broke out of the forest line, startled as the mid-day sun suddenly beat down on his face. Yaan screwed his eyes up as he ran, blinking rapidly and trying to adjust to the bright daylight.
That is, until he felt his body suddenly drop. He desperately thrashed about in a subconscious attempt to plant down his feet, but the ground was nowhere to be found.
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