《Holy Beast Saintess》 1 Prologue 1 Within a seemingly endless chain of mountain ranges, there was a large black building that towered under the vast oceans of clouds. The building itself showed to be inhabited for many years and the surrounding lifeforms and plantlife seemed to have long since died or left. Inside was especially dark and gloomy as the only room was lit up by a small lantern with a pale green flame. In this room the light of the green flame fell upon the figure ofa woman that sat there with her arms and legs chained up with black metal chains with runes engraved into them. She looked at the corner of the room with a gaze full of hate and disgust at where stood a pale looking figure clothed in black robes who hid in the shade with a sinister look on his face. The woman was incredibly beautiful, it could be said that her appearance was simply unrivaled throughout the world and could attract kings, emperors and gods alike. Her golden eyes contained a unique attractiveness and wisdom to them which could draw a persons soul in now showed her helplessness and anger. She had long black hair with a length that reached her lower back which now covered part of her tall and curvy body from the view of others. Her beautiful skin had become incredibly pale and her red lips had become dry from being imprisoned for days. Despite her peerless beauty she looks quite pitiful as she sat on the cold and dirty ground unable to see a way to escape. The womans name was Reiny, Direct Desciple of the Holy Sect which is a highly influential organisation in the world of immortals and could be considered the number one medical sect skilled in the art of healing. In the world of immortals where martial artists are many, fights can happen for the tiniest reason so those who are the victors are kings and those who lose most of them lose their life or are heavily injured. There are however many martial artists who have made it through life and death experiences and reached the peak to become godlike existances. The details regarding Reiny were relatively known to everyone. Before she entered the sect she was an orphan who struggled from young on her own to survive in a harsh environment until the sect leader of the Holy Sect passed by and saw her to have a strong affinity for the light based cultivation method they use and took her in to be her personal desciple. After she was accepted into the sect she gained lots of knowledge and strength thanks to the resources available to her. Even with all the high grade medicinal pills, cultivation methods and martial skills available to her, it was her hard work and perserverence that lead her to break through to the immortal realm of cultivation and further. Unfortunately her master went missing and following that her sect recieved pressure from rival influences because of their resources and power. A decision was made by the elders after the Nine Heavens Sect offered assistance with the promise of being joined by marriage, being loyal to her sect she ended up being a sacrificial pawn so others could escape a troublesome situation¡­ However things did not go as planned as on meeting her betrothed she was poisoned as she entered the room and waited. She awoke to find herself weak and restrained by black chains with runes engraved on them in a poorly lit dungeon. 2 Prologue 2 A cold voice came from the poorly lit corner "Reiny despite being so talented and with such great strength above my own your achievements and reputation I can only help but acknowledge you. Unfortunately your dear sect gave you up so they could survive, sadly there are few who can keep them from being destroyed now that you are going to die." The man in the shadows gloated while his body radiated a bloodlust that would cause people to tremble in fear. "Perhaps if you were given more time you may of been a help to them but it is their own stupidity that has led to their own decision and trapped you here." But Reiny''s face remained confused and filled with hate as she stared back at the man. Her beautiful long robes were covered with dirt and dust from being held in such a place. "Why?! What have we done to deserve such treatment? Who are you?" Her slender lips quivered as the words left her mouth. Laughing hysterically the man spoke with ridicule "Who am I? Of course how rude of me!" He stepped into the light revealing a pale but handsome man who had a warm smile on his face coupled with a pair of eyes which had a vicious and cunning side to them. "Your betrothed of course, Nine Heavens disciple Darius Quinn! KEKEKEKEKE! Actually I don''t even remember my true name as I am merely a number, one of many who have infiltrated all major influences." "I could say we are a forgotten hidden influence, we use a forbidden cultivation technique which devours souls to promote our cultivation base. Sadly it has minor side effects on our temperament as we are influenced by the souls we eat. Their resentment, fear, anger... all of their negative emotions stay with us and influence us after being devoured. However there is a way to fix the problem!" The man licked his lips and looked at the woman as if he never once noticed her incredible beauty but instead as if she was a valuable resource. "The Holy Sect is the sect which is like a delicacy for us, because they use a method using light to purify their souls in their cultivation method. By devouring souls we currupt our own and gain power but you are the oppisite with such clean souls, if we devour yours it is actually beneficial for us don''t you think?" The woman''s body shook and her face full of disbelief "You were originally like this the whole time?! To even go as far as amassing cultivators to learn such a wicked method which kind of influence could be capable of this?" She paused before being filled with fear. "Infiltrated¡­ Which means there is someone inside my Sect too but won''t they wonder where I disappeared to!?" "We already have many on the inside of your sect, even one of the elders is working with us, soon they will all be, and then comes the fun part. The sect will survive and become a primary food source us, we shall let them fatten up ready for slaughter!" The man put on a sorrowful face that looked very pitiful "Hah!¡­ My dear wife¡­ Oh how I could not see her before we were to be wed! So sorrowful, so hateful that she abandoned the agreement and my heart and fled. OH THE PAIN! Kekeke." The woman had a pained look on her face, with no way out of this situation she stared at the floor at a loss as she felt the breath of the man against her ear as he whispered. "Your beloved master, or should I say your adoptive mother." He paused for a moment before revealing a huge grin. "My boss sends his compliments for such a rich soul to your Holy Sect!" Reiny face went white as she looked up to see the man touch his space ring on his finger and a long thin sword appeared, he smiled gleefully. "To live is to be devoured, the strongest eat the weak. You may have been stronger but I was smarter and so here we are. Farewell and you shall become a part of me soon enough!" He thrust his sword into her heart and watched the life drain from her beautiful face with an excited look on his face trying to savour every moment. As her body lost all life her body went limp and softly fell to the floor, a see through figure slowly rose from the woman''s body which looked exactly like her but emitted a white and pure aura. The figure was Reiny''s immortal soul which she formed and nurtured since becoming an immortal cultivator, it opened its eyes and looked at the man with killing intent. However she quickly reached her hand down to her bodies necklace which had a space ring hidden on it. 3 Prologue 3 Watching her actions the man let out a sneer as he watched her last struggles which would be in vain. "Useless! You cannot escape, this place has a barrier formation set up and you can''t beat me in this form. Come and accept your death!" He slowly walked towards her with a cold look on his face as a black mist slowly began to gather around his sword. He struck out his sword and sent a cloud of black mist toward Reiny''s soul, seeing the situation Reiny did not hesitate and took out a small black tablet from her ring and crushed it. Instantly space ruptured around her and began swallowing the space around her as she entered it began to close. The man however grew panicked at seeing what happened and used all of his reserved power to deliver a strike with the black mist as it collided with the defenseless soul knocking the soul off course from her original destination and fell into a gap in space between filled with spacial fissures and chaotic energy. "No!! That hateful woman actually had a space talisman¡­ no matter, in that state her soul will be destroyed by the journey as no soul can survive in such an environment¡­ even if she manages to escape my corrosive dark energy will slowly kill her." The man chewed on his finger until it bled with a wild look on his face. "How disappointing! I guess I will have to have you compensate me for your soul with 100 of your fellow young apprentices." He then slapped his head as if come to remember something important and laughed to himself. "Not that I was planning on sparing them anyways silly me!" The turned around and walked out of the roomand began skipping down a long corridor filled with numerous screams and mournful howls coming from the nearby rooms with an appearance of a child who just recieved a big pile of new toys. Inside the space crack was a single soul in the midst of a very vast and dark environment, chaotic energies gradually weakening her soul with attacks as she was trying her hardest to defend with her energy and suppress the corrosive black energy invading and consuming her. She originally used her only spacial escape talisman since it was a life and death situation, which she recieved after helping a inscription expert. However when she was hit, instead of arriving at a random location far away she was knocked off course and fell into the space between the mortal and immortal worlds. She grit her teeth and endured the pain and her eyes held a resolute glow, she used her energy to search for an exit but came upon a small light in the space. Her soul was already greatly weakened and her strength already rapidly falling as her consciousness was drifting, she decided to risk the remaining power she had on this tiny light in the vast darkness. A milky white glow surrounded her arm as it began to swell up exhausting her of her last drop of energy and she sent out a punch filled with everything as she opening the small light a little wider as her soul grew smaller and feeble fell through the small pathway she managed to force her way through. Fang Mortal World Year Holy Era year 1 In a small mortal world which is one of many hundred mortal worlds a shocking event took place which alarmed many mortals and martial cultivators, some speculated this event as a birth of a peerless treasure and sent their best men to search for it, others saw it as a start of a prosperous new era while others saw it as a bad omen. On that same year children were born in different parts of the world and named as holy children blessed with a great future and destined to lead those under them to a prosperous life. This world is named after the biggest imperial family which has held the most dominence for thousands of years and is largely populated by humans and spirit beasts. All in this mortal world who witnessed it were in awe as the skies were illuminated by a milky white glow and had an overbearing aura which made the experts of the world quiver in fear. Time slowly passed and no signs of the light was found after it appeared, the world slowly started to go back to normal affairs and thus began a new era. Several months later in a small mountain top filled with caves, grass and a small lake which was filled with numerous beasts. Groans of pain enveloped the mountain as a few new lives came into the world, the newborns were welcomed by the loving stares of affection from their mother and the stern gaze of their father. The mother had dark brown eyes and hair and had a skinny but elegant appearance while the father had black eyes and dark grey hair and looked quite tough and masculine. He had antlers on his head while the mother didn''t and both had 4 legs with hooves a small furry tail and long body and face. They greeted 3 newly birthed children into the world as a small family of deer race beasts which are technically a low class beast and are treated as cattle in most parts of the world. 4 A family of 5 Little noises could be heard from the 3 newborns as they nuzzled up close to their mother for comfort within a poorly lit cave. There was 2 females and a male, the male deer had short and messy brown hair, black eyes, black hooves and black antlers and although newly born he was the first to begin walking and stood near his sisters to keep them safe. The first female deer was a small version of her mother in looks but had grey hair, brown hooves and no horns which is common for female deer spirit beasts, she was also the second to stand on her four hooves and stuck by her mothers side and began to be groomed by her mom. However unlike her brother and sister the final female deer did not move from her spot and looked a lot different from her family, she had pale white hair, a pinkish nose, golden eyes, grey hooves, surprisingly she had a pair of white antlers on her head and a little black birthmark on her forehead the shape of a crescent moon. The little white deer sat on the ground in a daze as her large golden eyes were filled with confusion, as her brother approached and urged her onto her feet she woke up and became quite timid. After some time she finally stood up but sensed an aura from her father which let her feel overwhelmed so she hid behind her brother looking quite pitiful. Seeing this action the usually stern looking father named ''Old Grey'' had his eyes flicker with confusion but his expression gradually softened and joined the mother and kids for some time before departing the cave. On the mountain named Ever-Reach Mountain, outside the cave there were different species of spirit beast families, some live on the mountain top all their lives while others use their lives to grow strong through battle venturing down the mountain fighting off enemy spirit beasts and collecting spiritual herbs and fruit to promote their strength. Upon leaving the cave the father was greeted with congratulations from many different types of spirit beasts who lived on the mountain top with him. They held great interest towards the newborns and showed respect to him due to his position within the community and his individual strength. Gifted with a couple of spiritual herbs and fruits Old Grey returned to the cave with a thoughtful look on his face. What greeted him were 3 pairs of eyes glowing inside the dark cave, each showing serious, welcoming and timid expressions as the 3 little deer sat by their sleeping mother. Suddenly the timid deer ''little white'' had a puzzled expression on her face as she sniffed the air of the cave which was filled with the scent of the spiritual herbs and fruits and she grew excited. Noticing her actions her father was doubtful why she was acting out of character but dismissed it as he went to the back of the cave near a big boulder and pushed it aside, revealing a small hole In the wall with a few of his treasures. After storing away the gifts ''old grey'' joined his wife and kids and snuggled up to them with a tired expression and fell into a deep sleep. The next day in the morning the cave was filled with panic as ''little white'' somehow disappeared only to be found by the boulder sleeping peacefully. Lured by the smells she made many attempts to push the Boulder but with her weak and newborn body she exhausted herself and fell asleep right by her dads treasures, which would be the only place she would rest in the coming years. Her father no longer brushed her actions off as a coincidence and decided to pay attention to her as she grows, hopefully she may have a special talent for training or a unique skill. 5 Growth, family and friendship Three days later, the boss of the mountain the monkey king summoned old grey and wife for a meeting and also specially told them to bring the children along as well. There the family was given additional gifts and a discussion made towards their future path. Usually the males are more suited towards training while the females stay at the mountains unless they had talent for training too. If they were of a smaller race they wouldn''t get the chance to train as the resources would be wasted on them. As deer, their combat power was somewhat below ordinary beasts their size but because of their fathers individual strength and his rare lightening spirit energy he had earned his position. No matter what was said, everyone was able to see that the king had given old grey those resources due to his achievements despite his lower race and this matter let the hopes be placed on the newborns for their future burdens. Whether they also would be useful in the future depended on their own hard work and luck but the old monkey liked to gamble on the possibility. One year later... Apparently, some matters where occurring in ways that people never predicted. The son''s growth was pretty good but it was only that, it wasn''t the same as what everyone thought was going to happen. According to certain people''s'' guesses the son would be the most talented but little grey was equally talented, after training their bodies and fighting for a year the little brown had strong brute force while little grey was a little weaker but had faster speed. Unfortunately little white had been too timid to take part in the training and fighting during this time so more attention was beginning to be placed on her brother and sister. "Old grey, I am worried about little white." A gentle voice passed through old greys ears in beast language as they both looked at their one year old children and said while feeling somewhat worried. This voice belonged to their mother, who she was speaking to was her husband, old grey who was currently frowning. "I''m not sure, I have tried to teach train her like the others but it seems she has no talent for it¡­ At first I was hopeful after watching her as she does have keen sense of her surroundings and a good sense of smell but her personality is too timid so I think it would be best if we put our focus on the other two." Old grey sighed. Due to her lack of body training the resources she would receive would be wasted on her as she would not be able to absorb the energy properly from the herbs after eating them, so it would be better to be given to others. If so she was destined to have a slow growth and a lack of resources, so she would spend most of her time with the weaker beasts on the mountain most of her life. Naturally she would be safe there but her parents would wish for their children to be strong enough to survive in this world where the strong reign over the weak and lives are lost daily. Two years later, the children were now three years old.¡­ Little grey and brown were making great progress in their training and grew a little taller and were a little more powerful, giving the minimum requirement after training their bodies they were allowed to begin gathering spirit energy into their beast cores. Although they could be considered geniuses since most start cultivating their beast core at the age of three to five years old, the process could take some time even with the assistance of herbs so each were given a spirit grass each as a reward for their hard work. With the assistance they should be able to break through to rank 1 spirit gathering within the next year or two without any problems. Little white however still made no progress, although she grew a little taller and fattened up a little she did not have that much progress like the others so she often stayed out of training and spent her time alongside her mother. Not like any of this seemed to affect her as she was the same as ever towards her surroundings, however sometimes she would go missing and cause trouble¡­ Turning up in others caves, most frequently she would be chased out of the monkey kings cave after she tried to take a sip of his spirit wine made specially from different spiritual fruits. She almost succeeded the first time but after that he became more vigilant and made sure to hide it away, but she still found it each time leaving him helpless so all he could do was chase her away and tell her parents. Obviously old grey and his wife were quite flustered over all the complaints they felt it was time to keep a closer eye on her as she was bound to get hurt sooner or later. Plus it wasn''t good for old greys reputation¡­ He couldn''t help but sigh from time to time. 2 years later, the children were 5 years old... After little grey and brown finished refining their spirit grass they made great progress and began consolidating their spirit power after reaching rank 1, slowly building a foundation and progressing at a steady speed. Upon reaching rank 1 it was found out that little greys spirit energy was wind attribute while little brown was earth unlike their father who has lightening attributed spirit energy which is very rare. The average person or beast with an attribute only possesses one type of attribute which are fire, Earth, water, wind and a smaller amount would have a rare attribute like ice, light, darkness, lightning. The type of innate attribute a person possesses, determines the type of spirit skills and abilities they can use which greatly affects their future growth and value. Putting it simply, a fire attribute martial artist would learn martial art skills that would compliment towards destructive power, while wind would be suited to sharp and fast attacks, earth would be better suited to defensive and blunt attacks. It is said that, an attribute has basically already been determined at birth and would never change, regardless of what one attempted. Of course that doesn''t mean everyone has an attribute, actually even possessing a common attribute would be quite rare so having 3 in a small family of beasts could be called a miracle since their mother was born without an attribute. Little white showed no improvements as she grew but her body grew much taller and looked quite adorable to others, her horns grew a lot longer and pointing to the left and right of the top of her head. After all the trouble she had caused and lack of improvement besides staying with her mother, she was forced to stay in a small area with the younger generation of the weaker and smaller beasts. Despite her situation she showed little interest in her surroundings and did not join in with the others activities, surprisingly that did have much affect on one individual. On a daily basis she would find that she was unable to get rid of a small white rabbit with red eyes that sat on her head or back. This little rabbit had quite a bad temperament and often picked fights with the others but always stayed close to little white perhaps due to her usually being so quiet and always on her own, after a year together it became a regular thing for them to sit, sleep and travel together. 6 A troubling situation arises On the 7th year in the nearby forests began to grow restless, the attacks on Ever Reach Mountain grew from beasts moving out of their territory. After losing numerous lives, more focus was put on training the younger generation and talents even if it meant putting them into the conflicts to help them grow faster. Both little grey and brown had trained hard and experienced battle tempering themselves many times leading them to reach 3rd rank of spirit gathering. From their accomplishments in this part of the world it would be praise worthy, typically humanmartial schools begin accepting children at the age of 6 to begin learning a cultivation manual, unless the family possesses a manual of their own they would not be able to practice. Possessing a manual and training at a young age can be helpful towards entering a school but noble and merchant families often have more cultivation resources and better training manuals, martial skills and weapons. Of course talent and hard work can overcome this in time but the younger years are the best time to train and build a firm foundation, beginning at a later age often the non nobles would suffer losses in competitions to gain resources due to their lower cultivation and connections slowing their cultivation speed and burying their talents. Is it fair? Of course not but the world rule is the strong rule over the weak and often everyday to climb to the peak of strength requires facing struggles, hardship and life and death situations on a daily basis. So it can be imagined that 2 low ranked beasts achieved this feat despite their lower ranks within the spirit beast species, perhaps their talents came from their innate attributes like their father and consuming the beasts cores of their kills. Unlike humans who kill for vanity, possessions, love, lust, hatred, territory, justice or glory¡­ Beasts are quite simple, they possess no wisdom until they reach 1st rank of spirit gathering and after unlocking their spiritual wisdom they are quite straight forward. So territory issues can happen if invaded by humans or other beasts leading to some of them to attack Ever Reach Mountain, after that it is a simple rule of survival of the fittest. They died only to have their cultivation in their beast cores consumed helping to promote the growth speed of the new generation of the mountain. Currently there were 5 promising youngsters gaining popularity, 2 being the deer siblings, 3rd rank at 7 years old. At 4th rank a 9 year old brown female fox with a white tipped tail who had a fire attributed spirit energy, an 11 year old wind attribute 5th rank male spotted black Panther and a young monkey who was also rank 5 at the age of 9. As for the others who were younger or below age 25 not many managed to reach such a cultivation realm, some unable to cultivate and others stuck at rank 1-3 for many years making no progress. Among those who made barely any progress was little white and the little white rabbit, little white made no progress all these years but grew up healthy and well fed while the rabbit experienced many fights with the younger generation around him due to his bad temperament¡­ Leading him to step into the first rank of spirit gathering after finally refining his spirit grass he found himself. Down the mountain is the desolate forest and beyond a country ruled by the Moonlight royal family having both Snow and Dream noble families acting as their left and right arms. After the current King was crowned he married 1 daughter of each of the 2 families establishing a close connection throughout the last ten years giving birth to new heirs which started the disputes over who would be the next King. There are also more than ten other existing noble families, in the past there were more but conflicts happened leading to their destruction leading them to be more cautious and some have difficulty siding between the 2 factions. Because of this tension was at an all time high within the country, leading to increased entries into the sole martial school. Youths competing for cultivation resources and training like crazy, more and more students entering into the forest area to search for spirit herbs and fight spirit beasts. It could be said that a single event can have a huge ripple effects even in far away places. A Royal family and 2 factions to decide the future of their future ruler leading to increased hunting on spirit beast territory, those stray spirit beast groups fighting amongst themselves and pushing others into the mountain area. The blood shed in the past 2 years has been a lot, 3 noble families have already been purged in this internal war and causing mass confusion. Where is the King in all of this mess? He is just sitting on his throne sighing! 7 Deer family descends the mountain On the 11th year the scale of the attacks on Ever Reach Mountain only grew more and the rate death tole kept rising. Facing this situation the leaders grew restless¡­ Leopard Family A large black leopard growled at his son with an arrogant look on his face "With how things are leading under that old fools leadership we will be wiped out at this rate! I just need more time and I am sure to break through to rank 9 then that old ape will have no choice but to step down! In the mean time you keep training, those damn brats you cannot fall behind as you are a crucial part of my plans to hold them off." A light growl came from a delicate looking leopard to her mate "But what about that old fox and deer won''t they be a problem?" "That fox is quite cunning, he does not get involved with power struggles to avoid punishment incase he backs the loser, plus he gains nothing from either of us being the victor so won''t interfere." He snorted "Son we are expecting another attack soon and that deer family will be descending the mountain very soon to search for more resources, although I can easily beat that old grey in a straight up fight he does have some survival skills which is why he is so valued for gathering resources and we are running low right now so he is taking the whole family with them." A low growl came from the son as he raised his head with a questioning look. "Yes father I will train hard! So they are taking that troublesome trashy daughter with them too¡­ For what reason? Won''t she simply die out there?" The large black panther sighed "It is true that little one will face danger for the first time¡­ But it is required right now. We are getting more desperate and if we are defeated, the weak will perish with us. All we can do is grow stronger, let the young experience battle and dangers before they come upon us¡­ Even the weak have their uses." "Father is wise!" The young leopard bowed his head and left the cave. Deer Family Inside Old Greys cave the whole family was preparing to set off, old grey looked at his family and sighed heavily. "Wife I hope this decision isn''t wrong, this may be our last opportunity before we are attacked again. Hopefully this will help increase our families strength, right now I just achieved rank 6 and you at rank 3¡­. Two of our kids have made great improvements with little grey and brown are now rank 4. However little white has yet to experience battle and will suffer in the future if she keeps being sheltered." The female deer shook her head and sighed "You are not wrong at all, it is something all beasts must face sooner or later. Her nature is too timid and if we are not around I fear she will not last very long." Old grey nodded "True it''s just I wish I could shield them forever but even now I have to rely on my own kids to defend our family home. The day they surpass me, I can finally retire haha." "You old softy, come kids let''s set out" his wife giggled. Little white stared and slowly followed by her mothers side "¡­" She had a slim build, her antlers had grown much longer but he body did not seem to possess much strength. A younger male voice came from a tough looking sturdy deer with large antlers "Don''t fall behind you girls" he teased. A female voice replied as a slim and agile looking deer as she snorted at her brother "hmph! Who is falling behind? I am faster than you! Stupid brother." The family began their journey down the mountain and into the forest as others watched on, upon a large tree overlooking them hung an old monkey and younger version of him. The old monkey sighed to himself "I hope they don''t run into any trouble, those I can rely on lately are getting less and less. Let''s hope they can bring back some good stuff." The young monkey mischievously grinned "What''s so good about that family? Aren''t they just a lower race?" They old monkey slapped his son on the head and groaned "What do you know? That old grey is one of my old pals! Although deers and other races have a limited potential he clawed his way up through risking his life numerous times, plus that lightening energy is no joke¡­ It can temporarily paralyse enemies equal strength or below which is very useful to our fights, along with his experience and tactics I trust him more than anyone to go collecting supplies." "Then what about the others?" The young monkey scratched his head. "Those 2 were born with an attribute, although not a rare one like their father. They definitely possess their own individual talents and with their dads training, battle experience and cultivation resources they should surpass their father in achievements. As for that other daughter¡­ Not so simple." The old monkey looked in thought as he placed his hand on his chin. "You mean that weak looking thing? You must be joking!" The young monkey laughed. The old monkey frowned and shook his head "All you focus on is strength so what would you know? That little girl may be weak but very unusual, I remember before she got put with the weaker beasts because she caused me so much stress! A tiny little thing and yet she always kept trying to steal my monkey wine no matter where I hid it and whenever I was about to return she fled my cave before she could be trapped." "So she has a good sense of smell so what?" The young ape tilted his head. "From this and her previous actions that caused a stir leading to her family receiving numerous complaints back then and her timely escapes each time unharmed it can be deducted that she could identify and find cultivation resources and most importantly she seems able to identify when a threat is nearby which are very useful to us if she could be nurtured but she showed no talent towards training from the beginning" The old monkey sighed. He continued "This outing for them could be beneficial to take her with them I hope, if it doesn''t help her grow stronger at least it may still help our situation if she really has such abilities." "I see what you mean" the young monkey nodded. "At present keep watch over the surroundings for attacks while they are out, they have their job we have ours and there needs to be a place for them to return to." The old monkey ordered. "Yes father!" The young monkey saluted and disappeared into nearby trees. The old monkey stood as the wind blew onto his lonely figure sighed. "All I can do is place my hopes on those talents, all these years and suddenly 5 promising youths are born all close in age and already on their way to surpassing us old fellows¡­ Perhaps it may be my time soon to join you soon my wife. I promised I would protect our son but keeping him in this place under my protection may in fact be limiting his growth." He suddenly disappeared from sight and went back to his cave to calm his nerves. 8 Cunning little wolf At the bottom of the mountain, leading into a dark forest filled with lots of towering trees blocking out most sunlight the family entered together. Old grey took the lead while his wife stayed behind with little white, little grey and little brown watched the back as they travelled taking short breaks. Rarely encountering any beasts on their way, suddenly appeared a small wolf cub as it approached the group from a small bush that concealed its presence. The little wolf had a glow of brutality in its eyes as it snarled and displayed its sharp teeth letting out a howl. Facing such an opponent old grey barely spared it a glance and released an intimidating aura causing the wolf to let out a shriek as its legs gave out underneath it. Seeing the wolf cub fleeing back into the forest, the family made their way onward and found a spirit grass, sometimes encountering one or two level 2-4 spirit beasts which little grey and brown took care of alone under their fathers watchful gaze. Little white showed no enthusiasm towards fighting at all, not even with the ordinary beasts which the others could only sigh at. A day passed after an exhausting travel and having their senses kept vigilant at all times old grey kept watch over night as the others settled down to sleep. Although little white kept occasionally sniffing the air with her head raised high as her large golden eyes shining in the dark forest now which was filled with an eerie silence. Close by a crouched little figure disappeared from a small nearby bush and ran at full speed back into a large pack of wolves. He lost the before vicious look and put on a pitiful and pleading look as he looked towards the pack leader and growled. "Father! I found a small group of deer spirit beasts! Those lowly things actually bullied me as I found them please avenge your sons grievance." The pack leader was a dark black wolf like the others but he had a scar over his right eye which looked to be damaged in a previous fight, his presence was overpowering as he snorted at his son. "Useless thing, such beasts can only be prey to we the wolves clan¡­ You actually come back here to tell me you encountered them to come back with your tail between your legs! How shameful." "But father there were five of them and the oldest was strong, and 2 others seemed to be about as half as strong, perhaps more. However I managed to track them to where they set up for the night, if we use this chance to attack we can enjoy a good hunt and they seem to have a spirit herb which could help strengthen the pack." The little wold howled with a vicious gleam in its eyes which quickly looked pitiful before his father. The father pondered for some time before nodding his head. "Hmm¡­ Indeed we are low on food and herbs. Very well everyone gather up and follow my son, remember to all attack together and don''t leave them any route for escape!." The pack leader strolled in the direction of the deer family followed by 5 wolves a little smaller in size to him but 2 were at 3 spirit gathering while the other 3 were at 2 spirit gathering and his son walked beside him at 1st spirit gathering. Back at the camp the brother, sister and mother slept soundly as old grey kept watch and little white was still curiously sniffing the air until suddenly she suddenly began to shiver in fright. She suddenly got up from the ground and sprinted to her fathers side in a panic nudging him with her antlers. Old grey was stunned by this sudden action but he grew increasingly vigilant and nudged the others awake quietly when suddenly¡­ A ''snap'' sounded quietly nearby from a branch being stepped on and shortly after followed rustling and footsteps in all directions. The family was suddenly surrounded by wolves and the pack leader which revealed an aura of 5 spirit gathering pounced straight at old grey clashing his front claws against old greys antlers. 9 Awakening Followed by the clash of the 2 leaders, a small group of 2 each clashed and began an assault onto little grey and brown disrupting their defensive position allowing a 2 spirit gathering wolf the opportunity to penetrate through to get through to the mother and little white. Technically this assault would have been perfect if they has the element of surprise but thanks to little white the family had already become alert. Old greys wife did her best to hold them off as she tried her best to avoid taking fatal strikes from the wolves claws and teeth, little greys feet were surrounded by an azure wind aura as she used her faster speed to avoid attacks and sent out a few kicks when she had the opportunity to since she was outnumbered. Little brown mainly attacked and defended using his horns and stood his ground against the group of two, his antlers had an earthly brown aura as he clashed with the bites and slashes, despite having elemental spirit energy the 2 siblings found it difficult to find an opportunity for victory dealing with a team of two 2 & 3 spirit gathering wolves teaming up together. Stalking from the outside the cunning little wolf grinned viciously as he saw an opportunity, he pounced into the centre of the group to be briefly stopped by a kick from the mother deer as he almost bit onto little whites throat, upon seeing this the other wolf used this opportunity to scratch her luckily the wound was not too serious. Scared by the sudden attack little white stumbled in fright and fled from the group with her eyes closed and shivering while running at full speed, only being led by her fear and her nose. Crashing into a nearby tree stump while running she fell forwards, opening her eyes she found herself all alone and frightened but found herself being drawn towards a nearby tree. The smell which had lead her here felt very familiar and soothing to her which drew her towards this direction. Under the tree was a single purple herb named ''Soul Rejuvenating Grass'' growing from the ground and seemed to have a soothing and inviting scent which left little white with one thought¡­. Eat! The small wolf recovered from the kick and looked quite disgruntled as his previous clean appearance was now bloodied and dirty. He soon noticed the missing little white and tracked her nearby where he saw her little body by a nearby tree and began nibbling on a small leaf in delight! His body crouched down stalking around the little deer with a mocking expression on his face, he was sure to make this kill as he leaped into the air with his mouth wide open revealing his sharp teeth ready to bite onto her neck. Meanwhile a mysterious change was happening within little whites body, what would seem to be the cause of her usual confused or dazed expression was actually being born with a wisp of soul that merged into her original soul creating a problem for her mind and body. The combination of 2 souls in a body usually only results in one being destroyed while the other remains but in little whites case they joined together due to special circumstances like little whites soul still developing in the womb and being joined to an injured and dying soul. After the two combined the final result of the soul was that it was greatly damaged, little white mainly relied on her instincts to get by. The medicinal properties began to take effect and her soul which seemed to be like a cracked fragile ball began to repair and strengthen! The originally dull eyes of little white began to shine brightly and the usual confusion changed to a cunning look which possessed profound wisdom and experience that she had never shown before. "What is going on?" Little white checked her body and frowned, letting out a sigh she quickly searched through her short memories of the recent events and gazed down at her slender body. ''I am alive... but not human. On the plus side I have a family but they are in danger right now...'' Her thoughts were interrupted as she sensed someone nearby and frowned dodging a fatal bite from the small wolf which looked angry after missing the target. "Annoying...'' 10 Little White vs Little Wolf The little wolf snarled at little white as he circled again "you should have just accepted that fatal blow earlier little thing, now I am mad! See how you will suffer slowly in pain as I feast on your flesh!" Little white looked down upon this little wolf as she was a little taller and clicked her tongue. "Tch! Only a few year old pup and you dare make threats against me. Hmph¡­" "Wha¡­what! Y¡­you! I''ll kill you!" The wolf snarled as his claws were surrounded by a clear spirit energy as he leapt closer to little white and began an assault of slashes. "That''s news to me, weren''t you already going to kill me. It''s not like you just decided to do it now idiot." Little white snorted as she began dodging the attacks the best she could but took a few light slashes to her skin. ''Urg¡­ This body is too weak and I''m not used to combat in this form.'' She frowned while thinking. Scanning the surroundings she continued to evade and move about the trees as she used her antlers to knock the wolf back whenever he had an advantage. The wolf seeing he was not able to land a fatal blow began to get more and more frustrated and growled. "Dead! Dead! Dead! Dead! Just die already! Aaaah!" Seeing he was losing his focus in the fight and going berserk a cunning smirk appeared on little whites face as she positioned herself. "Come little pup kill me! So useless¡­ Can''t even kill little me ahahaha!" "Aaaaaaaaaah!" The little wolf was thoroughly enraged and leapt into the air to deliver the final death blow, he opened his mouth and his eyes focussed on little whites neck as he was approaching his target he began to let out an excited howl. As he was to bite down, little whites body seemed to precisely turn and her antler was bitten onto and firmly held onto by the wolf. Using the momentum of the mid air wolf on her antler she forced her body to turn and slammed the wolf down into the nearby tree. A sharp tree branch pierced through the wolfs side and began losing lots of blood stuck in place. The wolf began to whine and cry out in pain as a look on doubt and shock was on his face. " w..wh.. Why did I lose, damnit!" "Simple." Little white overlooked his sorry figure feeling no sympathy nor pride. "You were spared by my father when we first met, but instead of showing gratitude and learning from your experience you decided to lead an attack on my family. Your own vicious nature led to your own demise and most likely your pack." "You are lying! There is no way your family is still alive under that attack, just you watch hahaha! My pack will avenge me! Cough cough!" The wolf howled as his eyes were growing dim. "Sorry but accoording to my calculations the first to die would be your pack leader to my father, after that he will support the others even if they aren''t struggling the fight is our win." Little white spoke with certainty as she raised her hind legs and sent out several kicks to his head killing him. After killing him she began to drag the body and bite into the wound, pulling out a small sphere shaped crystal which was a spirit beast core filled with the wolves cultivation of 1st spirit gathering. Little white pondered for a while before shrugging and taking the core with her, headed towards her families direction. ''Hmm.. I may have died as a human with a desire for revenge but now I have a family and friends that I never had so I should cherish it. The recent attacks are putting everyone in more danger and I have been so helpless¡­if I want to be of help I need strength!'' She carried the core in her mouth with a resolute look in her eyes, her steps became more and more steady as she made her way back to her family. 11 Wolf Pack vs Deer Family Back at the camp everyone was still being slightly pressured by the wolves and growing increasingly anxious because oflittle whites disappearance. Old grey used his horns to constantly defend against the fierce assault of the pack leader and constantly pushed him back. The wolf overlooked the situation and smirked. "Good! That should be one down already, next attack the weakest one, that old girl there looks tasty." He licked his lips in delight "Yes sir!" The 2 lower rank wolves switched targets from little grey and joined the assault on their mother instead. "Get back here!" The siblings cried as they sent attacks to them, completely catching them off guard and knocking them to the ground where they should have a hard time recovering immediately. The 3 spirit gathering beasts frenzied at seeing their brothers wounded and attacked on this opening. Wind enveloped little greys body as she skilfully dodged the bite and delivered a kick to the wolfs head in mid air. Earth gathered around little browns body as it was bitten by the wolf, however the bite mark failed to break through the skin. Little brown shook off the wolf taking advantage of its fall and used his antlers to hit the wolf towards the ground delivering a fatal blow crushing its internal organs. The siblings now claimed a victory and injured one each while their mother was locked in a defensive fight and taking damage. "Hmm.. You kids seem to be doing a lot better, I guess it''s time to finish things up and go find little white... I can smell blood nearby." Old grey approved of his kids good judgment in a critical situation but also showed slight worry on his face. "A mere slab of meat dares to think he can finish me? Hmph¡­ See how I render you unable to move, watch as I eat your loved ones and then you will beg me to end your life too! Ahaha" The pack leader grew angry at his allies being defeated so he grew more cruel towards his opponent, what was originally a quick snack was now taken seriously. "Hmm.. Render you unable to move, I like that." Old grey grinned as lighting sparked around his antlers as he clashed against the wolfs attack again. "But it shall be you!" "Wh..whaaa" The old wolf was shocked, no really.. he was really shocked by the lighting paralysing his body as a barrage of hits kept clashing with his body as he let out a grieved howl. The leader struggled to stay standing as he took more hits until his fur was burnt and his figure covered in wounds and blood. After a little time his breathe slowed down and he collapsed with his eyes closed, old grey delivered a final blow to his head and quickly turned to the others. The siblings had already finished off the lower rank wolves and helped their mother with her opponent leading to a one sided victory. The mother was somewhat wounded and the siblings had a light wounds but none of that mattered right now as they had to quickly regroup and find little white. But as they gathered they all turned their sights towards a small form approaching and stood in shock, a small and cute looking white deer with large bright golden eyes was bathed in blood and carrying a small beast core in her mouth nonchalantly. She silently approached, casually swallowed the beast core and showed a cute little grin full of emotion. "Hi everyone I''m back!" The rest of the family were completely dumbfounded. 12 Family Reunited "Uhm.. What''s wrong with all your faces?" Little white had a puzzled look on her face as she looked at her families shocked faces. "Ehhhhhh she is speaking!" The family was utterly thrown into confusion, it was quite understandable since she had not yet become a 1st spirit gathering spirit beast and unlocked her spirit wisdom¡­. And she seemed so nonchalant about the what just happened. ''Weren''t we just under attack and you are walking like you are casually going on a stroll after being attacked by the little wolf that was a spirit beast while she was an ordinary beast!'' They began to think to themselves in frustration. "Oh that! Right right, when I ran away I ate a plant and all of a sudden I got a lot smarter." Little white smiled as she lied to her family ''Of course I cannot tell them everything as they would not understand, even most humans wouldn''t believe me..'' Old grey was a little doubtful but sighed deeply. "So what happened to the wolf that went after you?" "Oh the pup¡­ That fellow was very annoying so I sent him away." She blinked her eyes innocently. "Uhm sis where did you send him?" Little grey asked cautiously as the others looked serious. "Well of course he got sent to his death." She blinked again. The family were trying to catch up on this new information, their previous timid and silly daughter was now casually chatting about herself killing a wolf stronger than herself like it was no big deal. Little white surveyed the camp, stamped her feet like a proud little leader and began praising everyone. "Oooo well done everyone, I knew you would beat those silly wolves." "Thanks?" The others were feeling a little depressed now. "No need for thanks, we are all family right? Let''s hurry and collect their cores and head back to the mountain tonight! The smell of blood will reach the other beasts soon and it will only get more dangerous here." Little white spoke sniffing the air and observed the surroundings. "She''s right, we should get going." While feeling a little depressed old grey found his little daughter quite funny but she seemed to have a good grasp on the current situation so could only agree. The family began to make their way back while little white chatted happily to her sister, while her brother silently watched over. Her mother looked at her filled with love and care while receiving support from old grey on the journey. Old grey smiled happily gazing into the starry night through a gap in the tree tops and spoke to his wife. "The kids have grown up finally" His wife had a tear in the corner of her eyes began to smile. "I''m so glad we took this trip, look at them now. I don''t think we need to worry any longer." 13 Schemes in Moonligh While the family headed back home¡­ In Moonlight Country the fight for the throne was taking its toll and due to various circumstances the young prince of the Snow family had made excellent progress in his cultivation, not to mention his calm temperament and rational thinking earned praises from the King. While the prince gained more popularity his little sister was very loved by the kings mother, gaining more support towards the princes claim to the throne. She however was born unable to cultivate, suffered from frequent illness. The king, his mother and the prince made great efforts to recruit as many alchemists and medicine experts in order to find a cure but none were able to find a solution. Over the years the young princess has declined in health and it was estimated she would not live past the age of 20. Meanwhile the prince of the Dream family was a mystery to all, he never revealed his strength and did not appear often in public. Dream family mansion In poorly lit room 2 old men were seated at a table full of documents ranging from maps to financial documents. One was dressed in a dark robe while the other in animal skin clothing, the both of their faces wrinkled as they both frowned looking over the documents. The animal skin old man spoke with a sigh. "It is to be expected that things turned out this way, we held back on our advances for the throne during the past year, concerning our strength we should not be at a disadvantage right now while the Snow family went on an all out attack and is attracting a terrible public opinion." The black robe old man trembled. "So does this mean we have to bow to the Snow family? I would sooner die family head!" "That''s where you are wrong, wars aren''t always won in these simple little quarrels and even if that prince has gained complete assurance for the throne, that is the moment when he will be at his most vulnerable." A vicious grin appeared on the dream family leaders face. The man in black gasped. "You¡­ You don''t mean to kill the prince right?!" The leader frowned slightly. "Who says we will do it? Don''t forget that''s what we trained our secret forces for? Killing a smug little child would be easy work for them. Plus our little prince is just keeping his head down and training diligently so nobody would suspect his involvement. Also with our approach towards the public fight, our stance of withdrawing shows our lack of interest in pushing him to the crown at all costs¡­ Casting suspicion away from us." "I see, so we have a chance!" The black robed man grinned. "Don''t get too happy too soon, we need to begin making plans! It must be perfect, otherwise if a mistake is made we could be revealed to the enemy. Make plans for the attack, think of further backup plans just in case and don''t let a word of this leak to the outside!" The leader became serious as he commanded. The leader fell into deep thought, opened his eyes which had a sharp glint in them. "Start from the princess, the prince always keeps her close and is always actively looking for someone to help cure her. This is their most obvious weakness, so we can start there to lure them out into the open." "Yes sir! I will begin immediately." The black robed man left in a hurry. The country was beginning to quiet down a bit more but in secret places forces began to start planning their next move. 14 The girl that became a Shadow Arriving back at the mountain the family were finally safe, unfortunately due to the unexpected large attack they only managed to gather a single spirit grass but collected many spirit beast cores. From previous times the supplies found would be more than what they had brought back so sharing it among the others would be difficult. The situation was getting more tense because of the increasing need for resources with the increasing attacks. The family silently retreated back to their cave, deciding to keep the matter of little white a secret after some discussion. Little white silently sat in the cave with her eyes closed and began to go through her memories. She began to see her younger self, a young girl with no name starving for food in the immortal world, with no parents she grew in an orphanage. Growing up without anyone to support her she had to resort to theft to live at times, she gradually grew used to such a life, living cautiously and knowing when to take risks. She was a quick learner and quickly got her first job in a local inn serving food and cleaning. After some effort she was taught more and given more responsibilities earning the bosses praise. After the boss checked her innate aptitude it was discovered she had a grade 9 talent and suited to practicing a light based cultivation method.. Ones talent determines ones cultivation speed and comprehension level, the lowest is grade 1 talent and the highest grade 9. The boss felt they found a suitable person to invest in and bought a suitable immortal cultivation method and began training her. After a few years she built a stable foundation after training and learned basic knowledge on different herbs and cooking recipes. Unfortunately one day the inn offended a power they could not afford to while she was back at the orphanage. The whole inn was burned down, the staff and boss all slaughtered within one night. After losing her support she became increasingly cautious and rarely showed her talents during her journeys. Why did she do this? Most people want to be in the spotlight and boast of their achievements but she didn''t. The reason was quite simple, being in such a place only creates more jealousy from those around you leading to them stepping on you when you fall, it did happen many times too. Many promising youths who had great achievements were met with a tough opponent and were injured heavily, afterward those around did not pay that person any attention, others mocked while others resorted to violence. A person of great strength can be admired but also be someone to envy, when they become useless it doesn''t mean their deeds will be remembered, because in reality they are no longer useful to others. Human nature can often be like that in the martial arts world, it''s survival of the fittest, a cruel environment full of danger. By the age of 17 the young girl had grew more powerful, she grew proficient her martial techniques she had managed to acquire with her own hard work. Her nature was still quiet, rarely speaking however her beauty began to show with her growth so she had to cover her face and wear loose fitting black robes. Her nature was like that of a shadow, wherever she appeared nobody seemed to notice her existence, she followed behind others and quietly supported them if she was part of a group. Whatever rewards she took were neither too little or large, she made no friends during the years but she also rarely made enemies. Despite her efforts to go unnoticed, during exploring an experts tomb she was spotted using light attribute spirit energy by the sect leader who wished to recruit her into the Holy Sect. At first she would have strongly declined but up against a large sect and the chance to gain a powerful backing she considered it. Testing her talent the sect master became her personal teacher, giving her the opportunity to be the next sect master in the future if she proves herself. Acquiring a new name she became the successor to the leader of the holy sect, she had access to a great deal of martial arts manuals, resources and information. As time passed she got even more powerful, no longer a shadow but a bright figure for all to see. Her master not only treated her as a student but like a daughter leading to the girl becoming more open to others and talkative. However being in such a situation where she was treated well, protected and given everything she needed only served to weaken vigilence and suspicion towards others. Finally having somewhere to call home, she was eventually sacrificed for the sake of others and fell into a trap leading to her death all alone. 15 Ten Thousand Beast Book After recalling all of the events the young little deer sat in contemplation. A lot of the questions came up about how to get stronger fast, compared to other beasts she was at a disadvantage in a battle so growing through combat and defeating other beasts eating their cores would difficult. ''Beasts do not cultivate like humans do, they exercise their bodies and absorb spirit energy naturally but at a very low rate, of course they can replenish their energy slowly but don''t have the know how. Although all beasts cultivation talent are the same upon birth, their race often determines their future achievements unlike humans.'' However some big spirit beast clans have the ability to hunt for beast cores to nurture their young to help them achieve a fast growth.. "Using a cultivation method should be possible it has to be!" Her eyes lit up as she began to contemplate some more There is a difference in cultivation for beasts and humans which create issues for beasts using human techniques, humans begin cultivation to absorb spirit energy and open 12 meridians in their body, surpassing their bodies limits breaking into their next realm while spirit beasts absorb energy from what they devour until their core absorbs enough energy transforming their beast core and then improving their bodies toughness. Another difference is that spirit beasts spirit energy is a little chaotic due to not being refined while humans use a cultivation method to carefully refine their spirit energy leading to easier breakthroughs and stronger attacks than those with less pure energy. But could a beast take the same starting path as humans? Combining the spirit beasts best parts in cultivation and humans way of cultivating into one? Definitely not, because beasts do not have the intelligence to do so and understand the human methods. Even if they did, their bodies are not compatible with the methods because of their different meridian placements and body shape¡­. Would a human go out their way to research how to cultivate beasts? Probably not, even beast companions get their faster growth due to accompanying their master and being given the cultivation resources they no longer need. After searching through her memories, her ability to memorise things she had only seen once, a vast amount of manuals during her previous lifetime and her improved intelligence she saw a ray of hope! ''If I had been part of any other sect I would not have had any hope but the Holy Sects main ability is in its medical treatment. Using light element spirit energy to treat not only humans but also beasts so everyone must learn the anatomy of both humans and many types of beasts.'' Little white giggled to herself in the back of a small cave. ''There is one such book which has the most detailed knowledge on beasts, the Ten Thousand Beast Book.'' She thought as she skimmed her memories on the subject. After sometime she became knowledgable about different animals, their body types, meridian and acupoint locations, spirit energy circulation , body movements, habits and so on. The information collected was quite detailed and was very carefully written, clearly the person who made this had done a lot of research. A rumour was that the author was a lover of spirit beasts and did a vast amount of research in his lifetime but in truth this book was compiled of his own research with the help of others before him. There was a part which stuck out for little white about deer spirit beasts, she began to make her preparations. 16 Bloodline & Attributes Little white was aware of another positive detail about beasts! Little white was born a little different from her parents, which could only be described as a variation. Variation spirit beasts unlike other beasts have a much higher success rate in evolving their bloodline, if they find a suitable bloodline their body would undergo a complete transformation. For example a tiger race variation could improve their bloodline and body undergoes a change to look more like the beast he got the bloodline from, however that beast must possess a higher rank of bloodline and has to be of the tiger race or possess a trace of the tiger races bloodline. But the deer race themselves are a weaker race compared to most, but as stated in the book there is a suitable candidate! The qilin is a beast with a scaled body resembling a dragons, a body shape of a deers and have long antlers, they are very beautiful beasts that have the bloodline of dragons and are known for their fast speed and strong bodies. Little white came to a halt and thought to herself happily. ''If I could encounter a qilin and improve my body and bloodline¡­I could even be able to go a step further in the future!'' Qilin are normally used by the highest of noble or royal families to ride or pull carriagesso the chances of encountering one would not be low in the future. So after reading the book and making her decision she began to scan through all of the higher ranked cultivation manuals in her memories. There were many different types each as powerful as the rest, also odd ones too¡­ Pure Yin manuals to maintain purity while cultivation storing up a ladies yin energy to assist cultivation, while males had a pure yang manual. There were also many types like severing emotions to focus on the path to cultivation manuals, alluring body cultivation, taboo manuals focussing on the dark path of martial arts. Checking the energy in her core she found 2 seperate sources of energy within, one of light and the other darkness. Perhaps this was the result of her immortal soul possessing light energy battling against the dark energy dissipating his soul when the two souls combined creating a mutation in her beast core. Despite having two attributes she could not train and use them at the same time because they are conflicting elements, if used together they could cause problems to her weak body and gathering and refining each element requires a seperate cultivation manual. "That''s it, I have decided! If I use what my master taught me in my previous life I may even surpass my previous achievements in the future!" She thought to herself. "Perhaps one day I can avenge you.." The Holy Scripture is an ancient and very high ranked cultivation method exclusive to the leader of the holy sect and their students, the other teachers and students use a simplified and lower ranked cultivation manual which is based off it. She had to switch cultivation manuals after joining the sect so she did not gain its full benefits. However she wished to begin training a darkness based cultivation manual as a priority, dark martial artists are more secretive and elusive suiting her current personality. Art of the Abyss was founded by a dark immortal who gained many insights into pure darkness as he fell into a deep chasm surrounded by nothing but pure darkness. The darkness swallowed him up, took his sight away and he could no longer hear any sounds deep within the chasm, as time went on his body began to deteriorate and if he did not make such progress in his martial arts he would have died. He however turned a great misfortune into a blessing, surviving and then went on to create this cultivation manual and passed it onto his students. Those who practice the cultivation technique have a huge advantage in battle during the night or in dark environments like forest areas which she would be part of in the future. ''This one has the most potential.'' She nodded to herself. ''I pick you!'' After a day passed, the family grew quite worried as their daughter spent her time in silence after her previous experiences and occasionally mumbled to herself. Her mother was most concerned and wanted to check on her when she heard a cute giggle from the back of the cave so she hurried to inspect, her daughter sat on the floor mumbling to herself and seemed to be in celebration. "Mother I did it!" Little white grinned at her mother with her eyes sparkling. "Did what exactly?" The mother questioned her daughter with a look of confusion and doubt. "Just you wait, and I shall show my prowess to everyone! Nobody will look down on little me anymore" little white giggled. ''Although I am small and weak right now its not that I do not possess great potential.'' "Uhm¡­ That''s good I guess? Work hard my child" Her mother hard even more doubtful but decided to give her some encouragement and headed back to her spot in the cave while thinking to herself. ''What a strange child, killing one wolf and she is already boasting of how she is going to shock everyone¡­ Well it would be nice if I was proved wrong though.'' ''Finally I completed it! I managed to alter the Holy Scripture and Art of the Abyss so I can begin cultivating!'' Little white nodded to herself in delight. She gradually calmed down and got into a seated position closing her eyes and looking serious. Not long after circulating the manual, almost all of the built up energy she had unconsciously absorbed since birth and the energy from the beast core eaten earlier flowed through her body to her beast core towards the dark energy source. As the energy made its way into the core it was being refined at a very fast pace, the chaotic energy gradually becoming a little more stable and pure as time passed and her dark energy flowed through her body slowly nourishing and strengthening her muscles, tendons, bones and skin. The first ever beast cultivation manual in history was created this day and was successful! 17 Friendship Little white circulated her cultivation technique while being completely immersed in the process for the night until the next day. Although she had not yet gathered and refined enough energy to break through she was at the very edge of doing so, she still had improved in strength since the day before, her body was now a little tougher and her weak and pale looking body had changed. Her pale white body had become a pure white, her thin and weak body became a little more full of energy and her powerless and timid aura had transformed into one of an aura which showed her unyielding spirit and confidence. She made her way to her usual spot and a small rabbit hopped rapidly landing on little whites back with a gentle and relaxed smile. "You are back!" Upon closer inspection little white nodded in response and began to ponder. ''From his appearance he closely with resembles the blood eyed rabbit spirit beast, his spirit energy seems to be at the first stage of spirit gathering with ice attribute.'' The little white rabbit closed its eyes and went to sleep on top of little whites back as if it had become a natural thing in his life, however he noticed that his friend had become a lot more comfortable and had a nice scent which made him feel at ease. ''Hmm¡­ Although I want to keep my current situation a secret I guess I could trust him, we have been friends since young and I can''t always fight alone like my previous life¡­" Little white contemplated while watching the little rabbit sleeping happily. Her thoughts weren''t wrong, if she wished to get revenge then she would have to deal with a secret organisation in the future and she could not destroy it alone. Not just that, she was now a spirit beast which have a lower population than humans and not nearly as many powerful experts. Unlike humans who unite together not many different beast clans ever work together so humans have the superiority in the immortal world. Although superior in physical body strength and toughness, beasts will still be hunted by groups of human cultivators simply to test their strength, use their meat for cooking or use some body parts as materials for weapon and armor crafting. As for other beasts, simply consuming her flesh, blood and beast core they could increase their own strength so although she was surrounded by friends on this mountain there is still always a threat from other beasts becoming enemies with her in the future. Having made up her mind after facing some conflicting thoughts brought on from her previous life''s betrayal from her sect and the person who she had resolved to marry she began to put her memories to use for her small friend. She had already decided to bet on her friend to stay by her side, hoping he would be able to help her in the future so she did not hold back and began to think of a suitable Ice cultivation manual for him. Although her thoughts were like a humans, she had a very high intelligence and suspicion towards others but beasts themselves are quite simple in their thought process so her actions towards the little rabbit would definitely gain his support. A helpful action towards a beast would earn their trust, a dishonest or harmful action would be met with hostility. However a helpful action towards a human would not be so simple to gain their complete trust, they would have such thoughts as ''what do they gain from helping me'', ''is this a trick to make me lower my guard towards them'' and so on. Perhaps the memories and feelings of her as a beast before she healed her soul played a big part towards putting her trust in her friend, although he is temperamental and fights the other beasts he would always be especially close to her. The Red Eyed Ice Art finally completed a lot faster compared to when she had for herself due to her experience working out any flaws the previous time, she had completely committed the whole manual to memory. Little white turned her head once again towards the little rabbit as her eyes turned gentle, she gazed upon his little body sleeping soundly, nudged him awake and whispered quietly so only he could hear. "Wake up I have something for you." The rabbit rubbed his eyes as his long ears stood straight listening intently. "What is it?" He let out a little yawn as he stretched his little body. Little whites gaze turned serious for a moment as she looked at his eyes while examining his reaction. "Do you want to get stronger? Do you want to surpass those on this mountain? Do you wish to leave and see new places and things in this world?" 18 Red Eyed Rabbits Wish The little rabbits red eyes seemed to be set ablaze by the first question and only seemed to grow more determined as each question was asked because he¡­ A small spirit beast under the protection of others could actually be able to do such things. He could of been suspicious towards those words but his friend who he had known for years had spoke full of absolute confidence as she spoke every word of it! He began to nod his head repeatedly as he looked at little white determined to face whatever she would ask of him. Little white could only smile as she gazed upon his tiny figure. "Very well, from now on I will be teaching you how to get stronger and you will join me in training. No matter how hard it will be you must not give up." She began with passing on the basics of the Red Eyed Ice Art to help him take his first step forward. She also pointed out the locations on his body to help him accurately locate his first meridian since he had enough energy in his beast core to break through but the rabbit looked as if he was about to immediately break through so she warned him. "Don''t be in such a hurry to break through, although you can do it right away does not mean it is as you should do. Spend your time refining your energy in your core until it is as pure as it can possibly be, not only will it make your spirit energy more stable and powerful but it also helps you build a firm foundation for later training." The little rabbits eyes became excited and immediately began refining his energy like a madman possessed, he would never move from his position or come out of this state until it was time to head back home where he would train even more. Little white looked surprised at him. ''This little fellow sure seems determined!'' She thought as she closed her eyes and began to focus on her own training. The day passed as both of them went home to continue their training she had made a little progress on her Holy Scripture during the daytime so her little light spirit energy was slowly growing and being refined. The rabbit returned to his small little home under the ground and immediately began his training again. After first attempting this cultivation manual he began to get more and more skilled using it, the more he realised how amazing it was! What little white did not know was that although she was his friend, she had just earned a companion who would die for her to achieve her goals this day. The little rabbit was born around the same time as little white but his experiences were very hard on him as a young beast. He lost his parents at a very young age and was left with barely anything but a single spirit grass which must of been gathered in secret for him by his parents upon his birth. As a small and powerless little beast with no family his future was determined within the mountain at an early age. The other beasts looked down upon him with eyes of pity or saw him as useless and he despaired because of it. Because of those experiences he quickly became agitated and attacked other beasts who looked at him in such ways, every time he was beaten he grew more determined to grow stronger. After meeting little white, he found that she never looked at him like the others did. Although she had her own unique sides to her she would never look down upon him, she was weak like he was and she had a timid nature but other times she was quite the trouble maker. He quickly grew fond of her and they spent a lot of time together. Time passed and he managed to absorb the spirit grass completely and broke through to the first stage of spirit gathering becoming a spirit beast. His spirit beast wisdom was unlocked upon doing so and he began to learn more about his surroundings. He found out about little whites family, her siblings talent and more about little whites situation. Although her situation could not compare to his, he still recognised her situation as being somewhat just as bad. He had no parents and wished to be strong and respected but was met with cold gazes but little white did have family but her poor talent was definitely compared to her siblings on a regular occasion. She had parents who wished for her to be like her siblings, her siblings who attracted attention and were almost out of reach with no way to catch up. Then there was everyone else¡­ Others looked upon little white with similar eyes as they did to him! They pitied that she did not have her siblings talent, they looked down upon her weak strength and saw most of her actions as a bother. Although he had broke through and did not have too much strength, he had ice attributed spirit energy which was rare so he assumed he might have a little talent after all despite his small body. He decided to focus more on his training and fought more and more against stronger opponents all on his own. Perhaps the only time he came out of his solitude mindset was when he was with little white and he felt at ease. Somewhere deep inside he wished he could protect her but despite those gazes little white seemed unaffected and she never fought or was injured. Years passed and he grew closer and closer to little white, his mind had completely matured and he became more focussed on his training becoming close to the second stage of spirit gathering after finding another spirit grass within the mountain range. The family left the mountain, he spent his time worrying about his friend and he felt a little lonely. However when she returned not only did he feel extreme happiness, he noticed there was a change in his friend. Although she may have changed, she was the same beast he had known for a long time so when she spoke those words he felt like lightening had struck his body. He had long decided he would protect her when she was weak, and now she probably wished to leave this mountain and adventure into the outside world facing many dangers so it gave him a desire to follow. His sole wish in his life to stay and protect his friend had been transformed into joining alongside his best friend wherever she may go fighting shoulder to shoulder for whatever dream she may be chasing. His little body circulated his energy and as if he had found a break through in his mentality his body began to go cold. His body which emitted a cold aura began to grow even colder as he refined his energy throughout the night. 19 Breakthroughs A week passed by rather peacefully, after passing on a cultivation manual suited to her family members and guiding them in the process the family closed up inside the cave during their cultivation. Although they had no break through in their cultivation the purity in their spirit energy had vastly improved but they still needed time because they had a higher rank than little white. Little white managed to refine most of the energy from the beast core and made progress on both of her cultivation manuals but found that the surrounding spiritual energy in the surrounding area was very low. The energy in the immortal world is of high quality and quantity, a mortal world could not compare but even so the spirit energy in the forest was somewhat lacking. After constantly absorbing and refining energy she finally managed to absorb enough energy into her beast core which completely transformed. Her beast core underwent a transformation becoming tougher and showing two flickering balls of energy within her beast core which represented her attribute. The black energy was somewhat bigger in size compared to the white energy, showing that the black energy broke through to the first spirit gathering stage. One little ball of energy was creamy white while the other was a a very dark black showing that the energy was in its near purest form. She could only use one at a time after some experimenting unless she tried to combine the attributes together however at the moment of contact they instantly repelled one another. Little white could only sigh at the situation but the idea of being able to switch between energy attribute in different situations may be useful at times. In fact displaying her weaker light energy she could decieve an enemy into thinking she was weaker and use it to her advantage. Most of the techniques little white practiced in her previous life were suited to her light attribute but although she knew of dark attribute martial techniques she had never practiced them. Adjusting to her new body and utilising her light attribute techniques would take some getting used to but she would have to start from scratch when learning dark attribute techniques. After adjusting her mind she began to circulate her cultivation manual sending her spirit energy flooding through her body and clashing into an obstruction. That obstruction was the first closed meridian to break through, met with such a tough task she did not hold back her energy and fiercely clashed with little resistance due to her spirit energy being so pure and stable. Her body underwent yet another change, showing signs of what happens to humans when they step into cultivation. Her body began to discharge its impurities and left a layer of black sludge, she had become very dirty and smelled terrible. This raised a commotion within the cave forcing her out to bathe in the nearby river, those who smelled the stench coming from her body felt like vomiting so they could only wonder what happened to the little deer from a safe distance. After washing her whole body clean her skin and hair seemed to have become almost like a newborn babies, it looked to be soft, clean and without imperfections. Her previous light injuries that had healed however seemed to have vanished as if she had never received them in the first place. "Impressive, the changes are beyond my expectations! Even if I fight beasts above my current rank I think I can still beat them if I continue to strengthen my body. I guess training with the little rabbit will have to begin tomorrow." Little white seemed to be very satisfied with the results as she made her way back home and spent some time with her family and making plans for the future. A few days before after purifying his ice attribute spirit energy the little rabbit took the same step as little white. Although it took him some time to break through the first meridian he continued to gather and refine as much energy as possible. The same night little white broke through he had finally stepped into the 2nd rank of spirit gathering. He decided to push himself ever further that night, cultivating like he was possessed until morning when he broke through the second meridian after several failed attempts. His body had completely changed from when he first received little whites guidance, just like little white, his fur had become like a newborns and he now had an extremely ice cold aura radiating from his body when he activated his spirit energy. Not just that, as he practiced hopping around he found that his overall speed had greatly increased along with his strength. Although his bodies toughness could not compare to other beasts, his speed and small flexible body help him move freely to avoid attacks easier. Even stronger beasts may not be able to kill him unless they are able to actually catch him. While things were peaceful for the small family and the rabbit¡­ The forest was becoming increasingly restless and showing signs of more conflicts among the beast clans and within the small country nearby others began to move forward with their plans. 20 Limit Training The night passed and the two friends were reunited, they both were very happy to be together again. Little white was deeply impressed at the rabbits improvement! Although he may have been close to the second rank, he had managed to break through in a short time and opened two blocked meridians. Not only had his strength increased but by doing so the rate of his energy absorption increased when using his cultivation manual and his body got rid of its impurities. Little white stretched her body as she inspected the rabbit giving him a look of approval, she thought to herself. ''Not bad, he seems determined and talented enough to keep up with the training plans for the next few weeks.'' Little white began collecting lots of rocks varying in sizes and weights placing them in front of the rabbit and began to talk. "For the first task, we will begin with picking up these rocks and carrying the maximum weight possible without using any spirit energy. Then we proceed to carry that rock down and back up the mountain. There is no limit in how many times we will do so, the point of this training is improving our physical bodies stamina and strength." "Yes!" The rabbit was shocked at first but upon realising the benefits he quickly became determined to give it a try. "Good, although this training is as mentioned there is another part of this training and other parts which I will mention¡­ When facing life and death the potential of the body is often brought out in such moments, leading to passing the limitations of your mortal body. For example your determination will play a big role in this training, when you feel as if you cannot take another step and feel as if there is a big barrier in your way find the reserves of your strength you never had and push forward." Little white smiled as she began to test out each rock with her antlers pushing them aside one by one until she found a suitable one and the rabbit joined her in doing so. She finished up with her speech and began to push the rock in the direction leading to a steep pathway leading down the mountain radiating a dignified aura. "This exercise will also teach you control and mastery over your bodies movements as well as your environment so make sure to find a way to not lose your rock on the way down the mountain. Martial cultivators must go through tempering of the body, spirit and the heart to achieve greater heights whether it be through fighting other cultivators, facing poor environmental conditions and always being in a state of mind of reaching greater heights!" After some time passed little white had made some progress and managed to make her way back up the mountain once despite almost collapsing multiple times due to her previously poor physique. Her body was full of sweat as she finally collapsed completely exhausted, she clearly had shown signs of collapsing long ago but kept pushing herself further and further, if she didn''t then she would lose control of the large rock she was was pushing which would fall back to the bottom of the mountain. Then she would have to go back down and restart from the bottom again, the rabbit however had a smaller body so it took him more effort to push his rock because he could only take small steps at a time. Although his speed is greater than little white right now, his overall bodies power and stamina wasn''t, controlling the rock while using his speed would affect not just his awareness but also put the rock out of his control. After a few stumbles he lost control over the rock which rolled down the mountain where he had to search for it again. The more he failed, the more determined he grew as the words of little white remained in his heart as he mumbled to himself. "Greater heights, greater heights¡­pant pant pant." Although he never made it up the mountain he had already pushed passed what he was previously capable of and kept at his attempts until he lost consciousness. At the top of the mountain little white began cultivating while waiting for her friend, her previous exhausted body began to feel more vigorous. Every muscle which had been put to use and put under heavy stress was now being nourished with energy, as she kept at it for a while she finally recovered completely. Testing out her strength a moment on the rock she used, she found it was a little lighter for her than she felt it was before. This was a clear sign that her physical body had improved, although the change wasn''t large it showed that this was the right direction to take. She made her way down the mountain to check on her friend and found him unconscious. Although he was sleeping, his breathing was heavy showing clear signs of completely exhausting all his stamina and still kept on going until he finally collapsed. Little white could only gently smile at her friend as she carried him back to the top of the mountain. Returning home shortly after she pushed the boulder aside and stole a few medicinal herbs from her fathers stash while the family were still deep in training. Her father awoke from his cultivating after finally making progress in refining his large amount of spirit energy. Looking around the room he noticed that his two children and wife had already began attempting to open up their first meridian when he noticed his stash had been raided. "Who moved the Boulder? Who took my herbs?! Thief! There is a thief on the mountain!" He completely exploded and began yelling inside the cave waking up his family from cultivation and alarming those living nearby. Little white brought her little friend to a pond of suitable size for several large animals to bathe in as she placed her friend in a shallow part, meanwhile back at her home her father began an strict search through the nearby caves in an attempt to capture the herb thief. 21 Family Name ‘Ever-Reach’ By the pond little white began to put together the different herbs in a safe location completely unaware of the result of her actions. After searching the mountain she found a few old items left behind by humans, some tools, broken vials for storing pills and medicine and other things. Luckily she found a few vials in good condition and went back to the herbs. She placed the herbs on a flat rock and began to use one of her hooves to slowly grind the herbs until they had completely turned into a pile of powder. She proceeded to gently put the powder into the jars as cautiously as possible, holding the jar in her mouth at the end of the rock as she used her front hoof to push small amounts into the vials each time. After some time and effort she had filled several jars with a mixture of the powdered herbs and nodded in satisfaction. "Man that was tough without hands! Being a beast is tough for doing such precise actions. Perhaps the only beasts on this mountain that could manage creating things for me would be those monkeys." "Oh well, although the powder I made should be helpful it would not compare to most body tempering medicinal bath solutions." She could only sigh in regret. She knew of the better recipes for making medicinal baths to assist cultivation, body tempering and healing but she lacked the necessary ingredients so she could only settle for a low grade recipe which has lesser effects. If her father knew her thoughts he could be angered to death! Those herbs were collected from his life''s travels and gifts from others that he had been storing up for a very long time¡­ If the nobles in the kingdom knew her thoughts they would go crazy! If they had such a recipe perhaps they could raise their clan to greater heights and here she is complaining it''s not as good as you would wish it to be¡­ Can you not be so luxurious??! "Oh well, time to get started." Little white opened one of the vials and emptied a small amount into the pond. The pond began to hiss and change colour slightly turning a little green. The little rabbits previous pale complexion began to become a little rosy as his body was beginning to feel the effects of the bath. Little white joined him in the pond and nudged him awake, they both submerged into the pool completely and began cultivation. During cultivating their insides and outsides felt as if they were being bitten by thousands of tiny insects. Waves of pain washed through their bodies as they endured gritting their teeth and cultivated their cultivation manual ignoring the pain in their bodies. Hours passed as they cultivated, eventually the green colour disappeared completely within the pond and became transparent after little white and the rabbit had absorbed all of the medicinal effects. Before night came they spent the rest of the day sparring with one another testing out their new strength, little white would occasionally tell stories of powerful cultivators in legends to get the rabbit to be more enthusiastic towards training. Of their powerful strength, their life''s journeys and legendary actions which made them so famous. Of course she did not glorify the martial cultivation world as being all good, she also told stories of corruption, betrayal and other dark things in the world. If he were to enter the outside world, he would have to have a clear view of how things work, if he was naive about such things perhaps he would be tricked one day leading to his death. "When travelling and achieving greater accomplishments we should keep pushing forward but we should never forgot ones roots. If we forget such things we could very well begin to look down on mortals and those below our strength as ants like other cultivators do." She shook her head and sighed. "One must not be too arrogant and respect life, while cultivators gain strength for their own purposes it should not be used for the slaughter of mortals and those weaker than you unless they provoke you first." "And so if I remember correctly this mountain where we live is called Ever Reaching Mountain¡­" She lightly smiled and began to look at the rabbit in thought. "When we wish for others to hear our stories of our own accomplishments we shall have our own names go through the world so we should carry our roots with us where we go." "You will be named Korah Ever-Reach, First name Korah and second name Ever-Reach while I have decided to call myself Shadow Ever-Reach." She suggested to the little rabbit as she finally reached a decision. The little white rabbit looked at his friend and began to get excited. "Thank you Shadow!" His little eyes turned upwards like crescent moons. Although the name Shadow could be a word to describe her in her youthful days in the previous life, in this life it represented a different meaning. She would no longer be the shadow hiding behind others going unnoticed, she would be a shadow that lurks in the darkness until her enemies show weakness. This name was her firm determination to build up her strength and protect her family from the shadows while also returning to the immortal world one day. Hiding the vials nearby the pond she made her way home, receiving a light scolding from her parents after she calmed them down and told them she took the herbs. Calming down, they settled down to cultivate during the night as her siblings began to break through their first meridian. Back at the rabbits home he bounced around happily as he tested his speed, using light kicks to the air occasionally while practicing his combat skills. "I have a name¡­ Korah Ever-Reach¡­ I will cherish this name for the rest of my life!" Perhaps Shadow was not aware of how happy this name made Korah the rabbit but it was not surprising since most beasts naming sense are terrible. Most beasts would be named after their characteristics and rather simply, even some larger groups of beasts use numbers to name them or not putting much thought into naming their young. The rabbit did not have a name because of losing his family at a young age and seeing how much thought she put into giving him a name he was very grateful and happy with it. 22 Proposal Several weeks passed by, the mountain received several small attacks which were dealt with swiftly however the death toll only seemed to keep rising. Seeing everything happening around them, Shadow and Korah focussed on their training with even more effort. Her family all broke through their meridian points and began cultivating further to push towards the next rank, especially her brother and sister who decided to join her training after they had succeeded. Her father was focussed on making his next break through, after acquiring the wolf pack leaders beast core he decided he would use it to promote his strength. Her mother who was the least talented of the group showed the slowest progress, she also decided to use one of the third spirit gathering beast cores to achieve a break through. The rest were set aside for the kids to help with their training seeing as they were making so much effort and improving their combat skills too. After receiving the beast cores little white absorbed the 3 rank 2 spirit gathering beast cores while she gifted the remaining rank 3 SG beast core to Korah to assist him breaking through his third meridian point and 3rd spirit gathering. Back at the pool sat four figures soaking in a green sizzling liquid as they happily chatted. "Hey sis how come the rabbit keeps calling you Shadow? He does know your name right?" A teasing voice came from a female deer who was covered in soft grey hair which covered her slender figure. "Yeah I have been meaning to ask too." A light harrumph was let out by the male deer who had skinny brown hair which covered his even more muscular figure. "It''s her cultivator name!" An excited voice voice came from a small white rabbit, although he didn''t look too much different it was clear he had grown much stronger during his training. "Cultivator name?" The two asked looking puzzled. Shadow let out a light sigh as she explained. "The names Korah and Shadow are our first names I thought up, as we gain more strength we may need to leave home to journey else where to gain more strength. So often having a more human name that is recognisable will be helpful to blend into those new places and as we make a name for ourselves we need a name for them to remember us by. However within certain clans, sects or other organisations in the world, every member a part of them would carry the same family name with them. So I decided if I was to leave here I would take the name Ever-Reach with me, whether it will be known as my own name, perhaps my own clan or organisation would be born and carry this name in the future." "Maybe these things may not happen in the future but I think it is better to set a goal for myself to reach in the future. Not just for myself but those who choose to join me of their own will." Shadow smiled as she spoke. "Eh no fair sis I want one too!" Little Grey protested unhappily. "You can give me one if you want, if not it doesn''t matter" little brown''s eyes shone but he tried his best to remain cool. Shadow smirked upon she saw her brothers reaction. "Fine fine, I guess I have no choice! Sis how about you take the name Zephyr and brother take the name Jared. It''s up to you whether you wish to use the name Ever-Reach." "Humph I guess it will do, Jared Ever-Reach not bad at all." He still tried his best to hide his happiness but it did not go unnoticed by his sisters. "Hehe look at bro trying to act all cool he clearly loves his new name, hmm¡­ I will use it too! Zephyr Ever-Reach, I like it." Giggled the grey female deer. "Humph" The brown deer turned his head and had a light blush on his face from embarrassment. "Mm, I decided to pick your names as having a close relation to your attributes and temperaments, bro has a tough attitude like the earth while sis is quite free spirited like the wind so I thought they would suit you. Though it is up to you how you use your new names, it would be nice if the four of us can pursue our goals together. It would be nice for Ever Reaching Mountain to be able to brag about their Shadow, Wind, Earth and Ice spirit beasts who have such big names in the world yeah hehe?" The little white deer explained casually while trying her best to try plant a seed of ambition in her siblings, she had grown to the same height and her skinny body had become similar slender figure like her sisters, although she seemed to have grown in strength she seemed to have improved her bodies flexibility too. It was clear they had some talent, if trained properly and taken to a better environment for training they would definitely achieve lots in the future but if they lacked ambition their talent would be wasted and their current progress would eventually slow down and come to a stop. As they were having this discussion Shadow turned her head towards a large tree which was far away from them and shouted. "You can come out now I think you have heard enough right?" "Who!?" The three shouted and began to take a defensive stance as they stood from the pond. "Hehe I guess I was found out huh?" A figure appeared as it dropped and landed below the tree revealing an old monkey who had a mischievous look on his face. "But if you would would be so kind, could you tell me when you noticed my presence?" "From the very beginning" Shadow smirked as she tilted her head. "You sure do have a bad hobby of spying on others..." The monkey scratched his head bashfully. "I see, so I guess I am not as skilful as I was in my youth¡­ These old bones ain''t what they used to be hehe. Well I only passed by chance today and happened to see you kids training so I took an interest." "No, like I said¡­ From the very beginning I noticed you observing us, not just today but since you noticed our movements when my brother and sister joined our training. So please do stop lying, it was expected someone would begin to notice our movements as our group got bigger." Shadow frowned as her eyes set their sights on the monkeys every movement. "So what is it you want?" "What a scary little girl you are, Shadow was it? Hehe! You have been speaking of some interesting things but first we have to deal with our current crisis. Tell me, would you be interested if I entrusted my sons future to you kids?" The monkey leaned against the tree lazily as he stroked his chin. "That kid is quite talented, more than his old man. Perhaps he would be a good addition to your little group?" 23 One Sided Negotiations "I am sorry monkey king, I will not be taking in anyone else right now. During this time of constant invasion everyone is restless and if this continues we might face conflicts from within. It''s not that I don''t see that there are a lot with good potential on this mountain, actually those in the new generation could easily turn this whole forest area into their domain if they worked together and had enough time to grow." Shadow sighed with regret. "It''s not that I do not trust you and your son or fear betrayal, I just do not know others well enough to involve them with my plans and training. There are too many uncertain factors, within this mountain are 3 powerful influences which are the fox, Panther and monkey families. Now there is also another rising influence which has began to creep up and slowly showing its presence more, tell me? Would everyone sit still and allow it? And if so, would the deer family have to submit under one of the three families or simply be forced to their deaths because of fear of them taking over the leaders position?" Shadow''s presence became even more fearful as her gaze rested on the monkey king, he even began to avoid eye contact as his back become covered in sweat as he was pieced by the little girls cold gaze as he was being lectured. "Little girl you sure do think of everything don''t you?" The old monkey looked depressed as he hung his head. "If I did not then how could I stay alive long enough to protect my family? Sure you may be sincere but monkeys are innately playful and crafty by nature so I can not trust your words right away even if you are sincere, even more so for the other families and their children." Shadow continued. She also gave a few hints as she gave the monkey a stern look after finishing her cultivation and stepping out of the pool shaking her body dry. "The fox family are intelligent and quite cunning, because of their intelligence it would be difficult to pull them to a side unless it had a huge benefit to them without a huge risk while the panther family innately have a ruthless and arrogant nature so trusting them in times like this may be good in peaceful times, if things are getting worse I would be sure to keep a watchful eye on them as they may be dissatisfied with how things are going." The old monkeys gaze turned serious as he heard this. "What do you mean kid?" "Let''s just imagine, what I have said and include our current situation. Constant invasions, more and more deaths and injured beasts. The other powerful families will begin to feel dissatisfaction towards those in leadership, mainly you and your family for not doing a better job. Then we have those families who come up with an idea of ''I could do a better job if I was in charge.'' And then after that begins a possible war within the mountain which will only weaken our current power further. Possibly leading to our ruin at the worst case scenario." Shadow pondered as she spoke, becoming even more serious as she was reaching her conclusion. "Hey, wait wait wait wait!" The monkey was on the verge of tears as he thought. ''Damn this little girls mind is fearful, even that old fox could not come close to her in terms of ability¡­ And at such a young age too, what a little genius!'' He coughed as he straightened his body, no longer the lazy old monkey as he looked before as his gaze became more intense as it rested on the little white deer. "So do you have a solution?" A crafty smirk showed on Shadows face as she brushed off his gaze casually. "I do, but I have already given you enough free information, not only do you ask for your son to join me without any real reward for myself but you also wish to gain all of my knowledge too? Where is your sincerity?" ''Damn! This kid isn''t easy to deal with at all! Bring back the trouble making little fellow, although she was a little troublesome at times at least I could deal with her¡­ Now I can''t even seem to intimidate the brat! Damnit it''s like I am facing some kind of old monster.'' The old monkey began to seethe with rage inwardly as he listened to the girl lecturing him. "Fine, speak what is it that you want?" "What I need are resources, any spare beast cores, herbs, weapons or tools you may have collected over the years." She spoke but suddenly stopped as she had a look as if she had come up with a great idea and continued to speak with more force in her voice. "Oh yeah, I remembered something great! Remember all those years ago, I''m sure I kept smelling some good wine in your cave, mind giving me a few flasks full?" "Sure, a lot of the stuff I have collected is of no use to me right now and my son has no need for it too¡­. Wait! You little brat! You bring that up now!? You sure are ruthless!" The old monkey started off trying to calmly negotiate but was suddenly hit in his sore spot so began to curse at the girl. In response she could only laugh as she saw the old monkey grow more agitated. "Well, in the end the decision is yours to make. If you agree meet here tomorrow with the things I asked for." Finishing up, she began to walk home as her brother and sister looked astonished at her for some time. Even though they did not say a word they secretly made eye contact with one another as if silently saying. ''You saw that too right?'' The little rabbit was looking especially proudest he thought to himself. ''As expected of the person I chose to follow.'' As he was left watching them get further away and out of sight, the old monkeys figure collapsed as his body trembled. ''Damnit, here I thought I could get some gains from watching those kids current movements given how they had suddenly increased their strength so fast and yet I have had too many surprises today.'' ''Ever since I first began building up trust and loyalty after I settled on this mountain over 30 years ago I have never come across such a fearful existence as that girl, not even on my travels before I arrived here.'' He began to be very deep in thought as if making a big decision. ''What is most fearful is although I am stronger I felt intimidated by her, a young and inexperienced kid¡­ It was as if she could see through my every thought and intentions no matter how hard I tried to conceal it. Damn I have truly lost!'' ''The only way I can gain relations with such a person is if I treat her with sincerity, she is open to trading information for things she needs so she has given me an opening to test if she can trust me and by doing so she is also helping me while doing so.'' The old monkey got back up and looked a little more positive as he jumped back into the tree and began to leap from branch to branch on his way back to his cave. ''I guess I can only accept this loss today and put aside my pride, it seems that the new generation will far outshine the old.'' The old monkey returned to his cave and passed by his son sleeping on the nearby tree branch. As his gaze went towards his monkey wine he immediately was reminded of his feelings of rage when he was teased by the little girl. His rage turned towards his son who became the target of his bad mood. "Damn brat! What are you doing sleeping in the middle of the day?!" As the young monkey was still feeling sleepy and had his eyes barely open he felt his body be hit heavily as he was knocked from his tree branch and he heavily hit the floor and screamed in pain. "Which bastard hit me?!" "You dare talk back to me?!" A brutal rain of punches fell upon his sons body as he wailed in agony. "What the hell father? Aren''t you taking things a bit too far?" The young monkey was very displeased as he was finally released from his fathers assault and could only whine in protest. "Hahahahahaha! Who cares! Listen son from now on I will be putting you through more stressful training and you aren''t allowed to give up otherwise you will get another beating like that one! Got it?" The old monkey stared down the young ape as he made threatening gestures while making punching movements in the air. ''Damnit what the hell has gotten into that old timer?'' The young monkey wanted to immediately run away but he feared if he did he would only face more fearful treatment. "Oh yeah, try and build relations with the deer family children and that white rabbit in the future. If you aren''t sincere then don''t bother, don''t go around provoking them or others during this time too. Right now we cannot afford to make any enemies because of a few rash actions." The old monkey left those word of advice before going deep into his cave. What followed was sounds of clattering items being thrown into a big pile as he began to take out all the things he had hoarded through his many years. His son was left shocked, his previous lonely and dejected father seemed to have changed within a day''s time to come back full of energy and purpose, and wasn''t he just laughing? He had never seen his father laugh since his mother passed away! 24 Black Fox Family Back at the cave of the deer family, plans were being drawn in Shadow''s mind while her family sat in cultivation until they finally drifted off to sleep. After her confrontation with the monkey king, she was not yet convinced if he was a danger to her or not for certain. Although her father was a good deterrent towards the monkey making a move on her, she had also used the current situation in the mountain to show she was needed if he was to stay on top of the current situation. Offering up information at first then using the rest to trade for resources was also a way she could test him while gaining some things to boost the speed of her current cultivation. Although her cultivation manual was of the best rank, in a poor environment she gathered very little spirit energy since training so she would have to rely on consuming beast cores and herbs for now. She had not used herbs to boost her cultivation like the others because of the herbs side effects, although beasts can eat spiritual herbs unlike humans they will still be left with the unused herb residue which builds up in the body which can be harmful to her health and cultivation foundation affecting her future limits and potential. Humans cannot eat the herbs but they can be made into pills by Alchemists who use their fire spirit energy control and a cauldron to break down the herbs, mix them together and form a pill of different uses or grades depending on their skill in the profession. That did not mean that she could not make other things to help herself¡­ With the knowledge at her disposal so long as she had the materials she could make medical pastes, fluids. At a lone cave out of the way from the fox families main caves On a large rock sat a black fox who had very intelligent eyes, she lifted her head as she gazed at the moon with a deep sigh. She turned to see a small figure return home looking quite spirited and a gentle look appeared on her face as she stroked the little foxes head. "Where have you been little one?" Her gaze was met with a pair of innocent eyes. "Mom I''m back! I was just catching some fish for you!" As she saw her daughter she wanted to dote on her some more but stopped herself as she turned serious. "Child you went down the mountain alone again didn''t you?" "I did¡­" The little fox avoided eye contact from her mother as she knew she was in trouble. "But¡­ But I am strong! I can take care of myself now." The black fox had a pained look on her face as she patted the little foxes head. "Please don''t go on your own next time, you don''t know enough about the world to be acting so recklessly. I know you wanted to cheer me up and I am grateful but if anything were happen to you I will be left on my own." The little foxes head faced downwards as she began to tear up. "I''m sorry mom." "I know you have grown strong, but the world isn''t as simple as you think so I hope you will grow more cautious. We are in constant attack over the years without signs of ending anytime soon. I hope you will try and gain some others you can put your trust in, then I will feel at ease letting you do as you wish." The black fox gazed up back at the moon with another deep sigh. "Go back and sleep, I will join you soon." "I will try¡­" The little fox was lost in thought as she went into the cave disappearing from her mothers sight. "Sigh" A lone fox gazing up at the moon during a very dark night as the stars and moonlight shone upon her figure, she began to remember a fond memory of her past. ''Honey, where did you go to? Where did you come from? You left me with a daughter, do you know she is doing well? That night I met you it was also a full moon as beautiful as tonight, I hope you see it too.'' The foxes mood wasn''t very good but as she lowered her head she found that there was several fish placed at the bottom of the rock a smile appeared on her face. "Maybe I am being too greedy¡­ I do have a good child." A female black fox appeared in her sight that sniggered. "Still hung up on that outsider? He is not coming back, he either doesn''t care or he is most likely dead and yet you still sit here ignoring all of the fox families wishes! How long are you going to be a fool?" The mother fox turned vicious as she looked on the the intruder with disgust. "Don''t think I don''t know your game, you just want to use me as a mate for your brother to expand on the families numbers and power. Although the family does not care what happens on this mountain and look down upon the other beasts because of their lower intelligence I refuse to stand by such narrow minded views. Let me guess¡­ The old ancestor is waiting for a power struggle to begin between the other families and to watch the fun and make a clean sweep of the winners forces, those who pledge loyalty to the black fox family will be spared right?" The black fox showed great hatred in her eyes as she grit her teeth. "Stupid girl, we could be in complete control of this mountain since a long time ago but the old ancestor showed a lot of favour towards you! If he didn''t then my brother would not have to search for other mates outside which had been made to submit to me and my brother. We may have built up our numbers over the years but it was very hard to produce one with any talent!" "What does that have to do with me? The ancestor values me for my wisdom but also my strength, the only person who could make me do something would be him but he knows by doing so I would begin to resent him and the family. Still blaming me because I didn''t wish to satisfy your brothers lust and ambitions? Ha what a joke¡­ From what you said, you took in mates by force and produced lots of little foxes to help the old ancestors dreams of ruling this small area but you are so stupid it is funny." The mother fox looked upon the other fox mockingly. "You bitch! Who is stupid?" The other foxes claws gripped tightly into the ground as she was clearly infuriated and wished to attack. The mother fox laughed to herself before continuing. "You are of course, sacrificing yourselves for an old mans ambitions and not for yourselves. You think yourself above others but you are merely pawns of the old ancestor, it''s quite funny really. Tell me, after all the sacrifice and it''s all over¡­ Will you all be happy? All your hard work and plans to be ordered around by the ancestor until he dies? Tell me then, who will die first? Will it be him of old age or will you all be worked to death by his schemes? Ahaha" "You.. You¡­ Don''t think I don''t know what you are trying to do! You are clearly trying to cause conflicts among us!" The other fox snorted. "Do I really need to use such childish tricks? Go play your games elsewhere and don''t come to see me again, if you do anything else to involve me and my child in the families schemes I will not be lenient towards you and your brother this time." She spoke in a threatening tone, her eyes locked onto the other fox with murderous intent as she swiped her claws in the air near her neck making a threatening gesture. "Humph fine, I won''t accompany you any longer then you ungrateful bitch. You say all these things but we are all of the same big family, what a shame you threw it aside for an outsider that soon grew bored with you and left." The black fox left while leaving her final words. "Even if he did toss me away, it was my own decision to make and I still do not regret it for a moment." She replied softly, nobody could hear her voice as she picked up the fishes and ate them happily. Her previous vicious appearance had turned gentle again as she joined her daughter to sleep. The moon shone brightly upon the mountain as it looked very beautiful and peaceful but hidden within were unsettling dangers that could erupt at any moment. 25 The Plan The next day after limit training with the usual group, Shadow sat alone in cultivation until she noticed a nearby presence. She looked towards the figure that appeared silently. "So you have come." "Mm.." The old monkey replied as he carried a large sack full of items on his shoulder. "Okay then let''s get to work, I wonder what you have brought me?" Shadow asked with carefully hiding her excitement. The monkey opened the bag and took out everything revealing lots of weapons, beast cores, a few herbs and fruits. "I don''t know what some of the items are to be used for so I brought them too. I don''t know if they will be of use though." "Mm good" Shadows eyes scanned through everything and landed on a couple of items which sparked her interest. ''So he actually has some storage bags, it seems this monkey has run into some humans in his past but didn''t know the use of these items.'' She glanced at the monkey. With the combination of item making and inscriptions, a bag or ring can be made to store items within a much larger space making it easier for martial artists to carry lots of items with them on their travels. Although rings are considered rare in this world, storage bags are quite commonly used by those that can afford to purchase one, the owner drops their blood into the inscription connecting themselves to it until either their death or they remove their connection. After dropping the blood onto the inscription, the owner can freely take out or store items instantly. Shadow pondered for a little while more. ''These bags aren''t connected to an owner so my guess is that they have already died since this monkey didn''t know what they were.'' "Okay we have a deal." Shadow nodded as she turned to the monkey again, kicking aside a large pole arm and long flexible spear. "Pack up everything besides these weapons and attach the bag to my horns for now." The monkey was puzzled why she took everything but the two weapons but decided to proceed as instructed. "So you said there will be trouble soon?" "Yes, although you hold influence here as of now that can change at any moment. You may have high strength on your own but I believe you have an old injury yes? Not to mention it is just you and your son, when out against the numbers of the other two clans can you say for sure you can beat them all without losing the life of your son and even your own?" Shadow began to ask. "I¡­ No I don''t think I could handle them all on my own." The monkey looked agitated as he clenched his fists. "I''m glad you understand, the main problem is when such a thing would happen. You can stay on guard as much as you want but by the time it happens you may have not made enough preparations. So I have a suggestion¡­ Why don''t we create a chance for to push their plans into motion?" Shadow smiled playfully as she looked towards the more populated part of the mountain. The eyes of the old monkey focussed as he began to grow interested. "And how would we do that exactly?" "There is a human tradition or rite of passage for martial cultivator families, they gather up their younger generation between a set age limit to compete in a competition every few months or years. Some have competitions among themselves but others send their young into the beasts domain and test their strength through life and death." She looked at the monkey. "These things may seem silly but it is good at identifying who will shoulder their families future and their future accomplishments through their merits. For example their survival in an unknown environment, use of resources and people around them, how many beasts they can kill and what resources they can gather." "I can see what you are getting at but what do you mean exactly?" The monkey scratched his head. "Once the younger generation leave, the adults must stay behind and not interfere. Meaning there are no rules stating you cannot kill or rob the others who take part, to be the winner some parties may resort to such means to bring back the most achievements, it may seem cruel but often the winner is king in this world." She sighed as she continued to speak. "If we announce a competition like this, since we are constantly invaded we can use this to temper the younger generation against the beasts outside the mountain with the temptation of a prize of some sort." "So what''s the point in this exactly?" The monkey stroked his chin in thought. "If someone wanted to strike at your child and anyone who could opposed them¡­ they would not let that opportunity slip during this competition, they may even use this chance to seize your position. Not only do we draw out any traitors but we also have an opportunity to strengthen ourselves." She spoke profoundly. "As your child is away from the adults, it is more beneficial if they attack you during this event too. If you are busy defending your child from attacks, you cannot display your full strength leading to your defeat." The old monkey gazed upon the deer as he was deeply conflicted. "So you are telling me to put my sons future in your hands?" "If you put your trust in me, I will do the same for you. If you do decide to go ahead with the plan please set it for a month from now." Shadow turned her back to the monkey as she spoke once more before leaving. "This is a fight for survival but also a chance so do remember that this pressure we face can also push us all to temper and strengthen ourselves further. Tell me? If we weren''t under threat of invasion how else would the younger generation have produced so many talents? Under times of peace perhaps those talents would not have had such accomplishments." A yell followed shortly after from the direction she left. "Almost forgot! Take a vial of the powder for training your son, those two weapons I left should come in handy too! Familiarise yourselves with them as they may work better against other beasts better than brute force!" The monkey sat in contemplation for a while until he finally came to an understanding. ''Smelly brat, here I was panicking over the idea of such a thing happening and you had already made such big plans.'' As he picked up the weapons and a small vial of powder he smiled to himself. "Pressure huh? Well we certainly have a difficult task on our hands! I will have to put my trust in you, don''t let me down brat." As he returned home he immediately beat up his son once again when he noticed him sleeping again. "Brat you best get up now! Your training is being doubled! No, tripled and don''t you dare think of getting out of it!" The little monkey whined in pain as he complained. "What did I do this time?!" "Humph you useless son, all you know is sleeping unless there is some sort of crisis. From today onwards you need to put more effort into your training, things will be getting dangerous very soon so you need to have enough strength to survive what is coming." He sent another punch toward his son before throwing a large halberd to his son. "What is this for?" The son looked puzzled. "I want you to gain experience in using this weapon during this month, there will be an important announcement tomorrow so during this month you need to make great improvements." The old monkey picked up the spear as he began making straight thrusts into the air over and over. "Mm¡­ What a very flexible and sharp piercing tool. Although it should take some time to got the hang of it, it will definitely come in handy if I am in trouble. Kid do your best!" The little monkey frowned as he picked up halberd. "This is heavy!" The night went by as the father practiced his spear thrusts and his son began adjusting to his new weapon with every thrust and slash. 26 Announcement and Preparations The next day arrived, as the sun rose the monkey king called everyone for an important meeting. Like planned he announced the competitions requirements, those who had reached adulthood were not to take part and stay behind on the mountain as the others leave to fight with the beasts of the forest and bring back any cultivation resources they could find. Everyone had a months time to prepare their young to take part, if their young had not broke through to the first spirit gathering stage they were free to not take part if they wished to. Some beast clans can let their young work together or others may go solo, and there weren''t many rules so everyone was free to do as they wished. With nobody observing them anything could happen during the time so some beasts felt uneasy or confused why this event was suddenly brought up, the panther family agreed to the proposal immediately while the fox family remained indifferent. Panther Family After the announcement all of the Panthers gathered together in discussion over what their plans were. An older looking panther looked down at his family members as his domineering gaze demanded absolute obedience from everyone present. "I''m sure you already know of what has happened today, I don''t know what that monkey is playing at but this is also a chance for us." "Yes elder." They all spoke in unison. "But Elder, what does this all mean? It can''t be that we are moving our plans forward because of this?" The only one that spoke out was the young genius panther who was doted on most by the elder. "Humph, we have no choice. It looks like that monkey caught onto our plans, not like it will do him any good. We just have to make some extra arrangements during this month. Kid I want you to take a few of our strongest into the forest and begin negotiations with those living there, pressure them with force if you have to. If we can use this chance to wipe out our opponents with a borrowed hand, we can keep our own hands clean. There is no use in wasting our strength on a few kids, if you run into enemies during this event make sure their numbers are less than yours." The old panther focussed onto the little panther as he gave the orders. "What about when it has ended and the monkey notices we have taken care of the others?" The little panther asked with worry. "You don''t need to concern yourself with that, just focus on your job and I will on mine." The old panther snorted. "Yes elder" all the panthers bow their heads and spoke in unison before leaving. The elder sat in contemplation for some time before he smiled viciously. "It''s been a long time since I have felt such a rush, this will definitely be an interesting ''competition''. The main supporters of the monkey right now is that old deer, although he is tough to deal with he also cannot move freely. His wife is weaker so is vulnerable to be attacked if he joins into the fight, so he won''t leave her side even if we make a move on the monkey. We just need to apply enough pressure to make him stay out of the fight when we make our move." As the panther grew more excited he looked even more scary as his body leaked out a bloodthirsty killing intent. Fox Family The old fox called everyone but the young mother and her child for their meeting. "I''m sure all of you are aware of what is happening right now." The female black fox nodded her head as she lead her children to greet the old ancestor acting innocently "Yes ancestor! The monkey king and the panther family will use this opportunity to strike at each other. What do you wish of us? I tried to bring back sister to the family but she would not return." The nearby male black fox looked over as he snorted. "Why do you continue to show her such patience towards an outcast?" "Silence! Leave her be, I know her temper all too well. If you continue to bother her it will only cause more trouble, it was obvious from the start she disliked you but you kept insisting to make me use my position to force her. Useless fool." The old fox looked coldly upon the the male fox. The male black fox immediately bowed his head. "I''m sorry ancestor, I spoke thoughtlessly." ''Humph, this lad is ruled by his lust and desires¡­ What a disappointment.'' The old fox thought, he gazed upon everyone as he ordered. "We will use this opportunity to sit on the sidelines and watch the battle take place, take any measures you wish to train those who will join this competition. Be sure to remind them to keep out of the fighting until one side has achieved victory, if things are favourable for us we shall strike! You may leave now." "Yes ancestor!" They all spoke as they left. After everyone left the old fox was lost in his thoughts. ''Quite a bold move indeed, I was not expecting something like this¡­ Interesting. Was it him who thought up this plan? No, it doesn''t seem to be his style.. Then who is it? I seem to be missing something.'' The old fox who was very intelligent was feeling excited over the current events, it had been a long time since he had tested out his strategies against a worthy opponent. Deer Family As they sat in their cave, Shadow began to act like a little leader as she made her own plans. The little white rabbit sat on her back. "Alright everyone, things will be getting very tough soon so we need to work even harder! There won''t just be this event, there will be threats from the other clans during the competition too so we need to increase our strength and combat experience during this month." ''Aren''t I supposed the be the one giving the orders here?'' Old grey felt depressed. "So what do we have to look out for?" "The only thing you and mom need to worry about is helping mom increase her strength, right now she is your weakness if something happens while we are away." Shadow stared at her father before turning to her mother. "I know it''s harsh of me to ask you to join in the training too but if you are too weak, father will need to protect you against any threats. During that time many enemies may attack him, while protecting you he cannot use his full strength and he will be stuck close to you so the enemy could use this opportunity to attack the monkey king." ''She sure has grown during this short time.'' The mother deer sighed softly as she gazed lovingly at her daughter. "I will do my best child, you just focus on what you need to do. Although I don''t have much talent, I will work hard so I don''t let everyone down." "For the competition I will have Korah accompany me and bro and sis will work together. If possible try to team up with the monkey kings son, or stay close to him. If he is under attack help him out." Shadow spoke softly. "If possible, try to gain some more fighting experience during this month and I will see if there is anything that can help us improve further." "Got it sis!" Zephyr spoke excitedly as she ran from the cave at a fast speed. "Hmm¡­ Very well." Jared nodded his head before immediately returning to his training even more determined to strengthen himself. "Although I do not have any high rank beast cores to assist bro, sis and fathers cultivation it should be enough to boost mother, Korah and my own cultivation during this month. Bro and sis will have to rely on themselves and a bit of luck." She looked at her father and mother for a while feeling conflicted. "Mother, father I will be leaving with Korah now. I''m sure you know where we have been training so go join bro and sis when you are ready." Shadow left her mother and father alone in the cave, she felt the enormous pressure which had been placed on her shoulders. Not only the risk of losing her life existed but losing her loved ones was a possibility too. She was no longer only looking out for herself but those around her which only served as a greater pressure to motivate herself. The worst endings she could think of happening in her mind, the more she grew determined to grow powerful enough to change her fate and of those around her. As her mother saw daughters figure leaving she sighed. "Honey, I feel so useless¡­ Our daughter is so young but I feel I cannot be of much help to our family during this time." "Do not worry about that, just do what you can do. That is all our daughter asked of you, although it may of been a bit blunt of her but she is clearly worried about you. She burdens herself too much with the responsibilities I should be handling, this old man feels equally as helpless towards this situation but I cannot just abandon an old friend who is in need of help." Old grey sighed as he sat close to his lover. "I just hope we can get through this difficult situation together, it seems she left you a few suitable beast cores to help your strength rise so use it when you get used to your training." "Mm¡­ I understand. We should start training right away. I can''t just be sitting here while everyone else is working so hard." The mother deer smiled as she snapped out of her previous gloomy mood. The couple left the cave immediately to start their months training. 27 Alchemy Pills After leaving, Shadow immediately went to a secluded area where she hid everything the monkey king gave her. Ignoring a lot of the items, she focussed on the three storage bags. Her eyes fell upon a small metal needle which she picked up between her teeth. ''I think this should work nicely!'' Applying a little pressure she slowly stabbed the needle into her front leg, small droplets of blood began to leak from her wound. She began to drop the blood onto the storage bags one by one, emptying a bag and then removing her connection before moving to the next until she reached the final bag. After searching through the final bag she emptied everything so she could look at all of the spoils of her deal. She changed her spirit energy to light attribute for a short time as she sent her energy through her body until it reached her injured leg. A white glow appeared on the tiny wound and the blood stopped leaking followed by the wound healing up completely, not even leaving a scar. ''Hmm¡­ A couple of herbs, beast cores of a higher rank and a few pills are what stand out the most. These bags must of belonged to a noble from the nearby country.'' She began to grow excited as her eyes rested on the pills and began identifying them. ''Hmm¡­ Three low grade injury pills, useful for light internal injuries, perhaps I could give one to the monkey as thanks. It won''t be enough to completely cure his injury but it should be helpful" She smiled as she glanced at the other pills. ''2 meridian tempering pills, useful for widening the meridians channels and strengthening them. I will use one while I will give the other to Korah, although the effect is minor it should improve our spirit energy circulation and control.'' She passed a pill towards the white rabbit and warned. "Only consume small amounts at a time, this pills medicinal effects are very strong and you have a smaller body so you may not be able to handle its full effects." "Thank you! I will do as you asked." Korah replied very excited as he took a small bite of the pill, his little body began to heat up as he began to cultivate. ''Hmm¡­ This pill is a low grade spirit gathering pill, useful for increasing spirit energy in the body at spirit gathering stage. Although it loses its effects at the later stages of cultivation, it is helpful in the early stages. I am close to a break through so consuming this should guarantee a smooth increase in strength, but not until I use the meridian tempering pill.'' She finished looking around before storing everything into her storage bag which she fastened around her neck. Besides those pills she also noticed a few energy pills to help restore depleted energy during combat and a few blood clot pills to help close up light flesh wounds. After sitting down in a comfortable position she swallowed the pill, a wave of heat spread through her body as she circulated her energy according to her cultivation manual. As the medicinal effects began to take effect the energy constantly expanded violently forcing the meridian channels to widen, each time damaging them but as it was happening the pills effects took effect quickly restoring any small injuries to normal. After a long process of cultivation, Shadow inspected her bodies condition as she noticed no problems she sighed with relief. As she noticed her changes after cultivating for a short time she smiled. "After repeated damage and healing my meridian channels have toughened up quite a bit, my cultivation seemed a lot smoother too after they had widened." "Hmm.. such a waste to leave such useful pills." She smirked as she began to laugh at the persons misfortune, what would of been of great assistance to some stranger had assisted her instead. She looked over to see the little rabbit still determined to persist through the pain as he cultivated diligently. Upon seeing this her heart softened, she was once again reminded that it was not just her who had been working hard. Close to a break through, she consumed the spirit gathering pill and began to cultivate. She sat in silence, her body relaxed as she felt she had become one with her environment. Entering a completely serene state of mind, as she only focussed on her cultivation which had also increased in speed a little. Perhaps her worries were restricting her somewhat, but as she noticed her friend her frame of mind changed for the better as she felt as though she was a lot lighter and broke free from the shackles holding her back. 28 3rd Spirit Gathering As the spirit gathering pill took effect, an abundant amount of energy was stored within her beast core. As she refining the energy it started out as quite violent and wild but quickly became more stable as time passed. Sensing that she had achieved enough energy to break through she began to circulate her energy toward her third meridian point. As the spirit energy violently clashed against the final wall of resistance, the third meridian point opened up smoothly. After breaking through, Shadow felt her bodies limits being surpassed once more. Her body grew stronger every second as she spread her spirit energy through her body nourishing every part possible. Now she felt more confident in being able to fight other beasts with equal or a little more powerful strength than herself. As she was training her dark attribute, she would not use her light attribute unless it was to heal her injuries because her light spirit energy was now only at 2nd spirit gathering thanks to the excess energy from the beast cores and the pill used. Truthfully speaking dark attribute suited to her current environment, the dark forest was a perfect place for her to use her abilities. At a higher mastery of their dark attribute cultivator can leave behind an after image or doppelg?nger of themselves when used with a movement technique. There are also techniques that allow the dark energy to envelope other types of spirit energy attacks upon clashing, as they clash the energy is absorbed by the dark energy and serves to strengthen the cultivator so long as their opponent is not too high of a cultivation above them. Dark spirit cultivators must use their concealment and sneak attacks to gain the advantage at the start of a battle, once the opponent has been injured their focus would be on trying to expel the dark energy from their bodies leading to them not focussing on the fight or they don''t and they slowly weaken as they try to take down the dark cultivator¡­ Both are fatal in a life and death battle. As she came out of cultivation she laughed happily. "Now I am a quarter of the way through the spirit gathering stage, not only has my cultivation speed increased after opening three meridian points, my body has improved by so much. Fighting tougher opponents should not be a problem, not to mention if I run into a human they would need to be even stronger or be lots of them of the same rank or above to pose a threat to me." As she stretched her body she began to take steps towards a tough looking tree, a black energy wrapped around her antlers as she charged and landed a fierce attack onto the tree. As parts of the tree was shattered, wisps of the black energy lingered on the tree. "Hmm¡­ Not bad! I can finally use my energy freely when fighting. However my body is not yet suitable for training a movement technique¡­ Oh well I can think of that later." She nodded her head as she was very pleased with her improvements. ''Hmm¡­ It seems he has finally made some progress too, I don''t think it will be long until he breaks through also!'' She gazed at the little rabbit with happiness. ''I have plenty of things to help with cultivation in the mean time so it should really not be an issue progressing further¡­ But I best increase my training this month and adjust to my current strength as I should not rush myself.'' "Oh crap! I almost forgot about my attack¡­" She turned her head back to the tree in shock. The previous tree that was full of life despite receiving a heavy attack had began to be corrupted by the dark spirit energy. The spot where she had hit seemed to slowly corrode from being in contact with the dark energy. Shadow swallowed her saliva as she stared at the tree. "I need to be careful who I use this energy on¡­ Although I can remove its effects, if I am careless I could cause some real trouble." She placed her antlers over the tree as they began to be surrounded by a white glow of light. She used her full concentration as she guided the light energy onto the tree locating the traces of dark energy. After a short time the dark energy dissipated and the tree began to show signs of improvement. As she continued, sweat began to roll down her face as she was deep in concentration. The tree slowly began to be filled with life once more and the damage inflicted began to heal slightly. "Damn! I can really use my light element to heal others but it severely drains my spirit energy and spiritual perception." She was thinking deeply how she would use this to her advantage in the future. Most light spirit cultivaters are not able to use their energy to treat others until they can properly control their energy around the origin realm. Shadow however has years of experience and knowledge so can perform such feats with her current strength and she had the use of her spiritual perception to assist her. 29 The real training begins! As she had been born with spiritual perception her mental abilities allowed her to detect anything within a short distance and investigate others strength so long as they aren''t a whole realm above her. Spiritual perception is achieved a little before the immortal soul is formed when breaking through the immortal rank in cultivation. As immortals grow stronger their range of detection and their soul strength grows too, after her dying immortal soul and the deers souls fused they gained a small portion of spiritual perception as a result. Although it cannot be used to attack an enemy it can still be helpful for detecting threats and is also helpful in various professions too. After being mentally exhausted, she felt a little weak so began to cultivate until the fatigue went away. "Mm¡­" Korah woke up and stretched his body. "I finished the pill, that stuff was painful but I got through it." "Good job, it is something that you will have to get used to. The road to cultivation is filled with many hardships we may have to face in the future." "I will work hard!" Korah however remained firm on his goals after knowing he would have to suffer bitter times in the future. "A strong mentality and open mind are needed to progress to higher realms, those who can endure hardships often make remarkable cultivators. Use your own eyes to see the world around you, as you learn more you will find that things aren''t always so simple as on the surface." Shadow looked up to the sky and sighed. "Come, we will take a trip from the mountain. You should be closer to a break through now so it would be best you get some actual battle experience." "I thought that I have gained some battle experience?" Korah looked at her in confusion. "No, that was just sparring¡­ What I mean is fighting to kill. This time we will not be restraining our strength and attacking vital spots during combat. Oh yeah, you will have to deal with the enemies killing intent." Shadows body took up a battle stance as she looked down at the little rabbit. Her eyes turned vicious as she stared at him ferociously, a fearsome murderous pressure enveloped Korah''s body which could only make him shudder in fright. He felt as though an asura of death had appeared before him and was powerless to do a thing, all he could do was wait for deaths embrace. "After experiencing killing many times, you will develop a killing intent which you use to pressure others mentally. However you also need to learn how to stand up against others killing intent, faltering when met with someone who wishes to kill you, you have already lost the fight mentally before the actual real battle begins." She took back her killing intent and looked completely tranquil as she spoke. "The killing intent I released should be more than enough for you to endure but I doubt you will meet anything as scary out there. So just remember that feeling of pressure and the next time you are faced with something similar don''t falter in the face of it. Keep a cool mind, make smart decisions and kill those who wish to kill you!" "I will try hard¡­" The little rabbit was still very frightened by his friends previous appearance but seeing her back to normal and more approachable he sighed with relief. "Alright, then let''s go!" Shadow began to make her way down the mountain with the little rabbit on her back. "You sure are lazy. Humph!" "Hey, it''s comfortable up here!" The little rabbit cried out. "Fine but you have to use your time to cultivate diligently! Otherwise it will be a waste of effort to carry you." Shadow snorted as she replied. Although she grew used to her friends habits she still couldn''t help but frown, since he had her carry him most of the time the least he could do was put his effort into cultivating during that time so no more sleeping on her back. "Okay¡­ Can''t I even have a little nap?" The little rabbit was disheartened as his ears flopped downwards. "No! From now on use every opportunity to cultivate and train, of course you can sleep the minimum hours during the night but spend the rest in cultivation. Once you break through a higher realm you won''t even need sleep or food anymore." She continued to order him. "Really?" The little rabbits eyes were full of anticipation. Shadow nodded her head as she smiled. "Yes, so just work hard so you don''t fall behind me in cultivation. I have already caught up so in the future you may need to work hard if you wish to be of help to me." 30 Training the senses After making their way down the mountain Shadow made use of her spiritual perception to avoid any big threats as they made their way deeper into the forest. "Your hearing should be better than most animals, this should help you a lot in sensing incoming enemies. From now on it is up to you." Shadow suddenly dropped a lot of responsibility onto the little rabbit. "Um.. okay!" Korah listened intently to the sounds of the forest picking up on slight changes and signs of movement. It was his first time he was able to pick up sounds coming from different directions when his ear twitched. "Crap!" In a nearby bush a brown blur shot towards both of them at a fast speed before arriving towards Shadow with its fangs ready to bite at her. "Humph, you are seeking your death!" Shadow turns her body precisely as she lifted her back legs and sent out a fierce kick coated with black spirit energy. The blurred figure crashed into her attack unable to put up much of a resistance and was sent flying backwards. As it flew through the air, blood scattered in different directions until it finally hit the floor no longer moving. "Good try but you need to notice any slight changes nearby, whether it be a broken twig or rustling leaves, sounds of footsteps, breathing and so on. Try your best to detect them and respond to them but at least you managed to notice we were under attack." Shadow proceeded to dig a beast core from the lifeless beasts body and then stored the body and core within her storage bag. "The next step is responding to ambushes effectively, that snake was poisonous so if we were bitten it would be difficult to dispel if I was not around so try to remember I may not always be around so don''t rely on me all the time." "Mm.." Korah nodded his head as he grew more determined as he thought to himself. ''It seems she already has a lot of experience already in this from the way she handled that snake, if I was alone I would probably be dead from the first attack if I got poisoned. She is using her own time to help me learn these things so I have to work hard not to disappoint her!'' They both spent the full day together as it got dark, they had encountered many ambushes during their travels. As time went by and the sun went down, the little white rabbit grew more alert as he tried to search his surroundings for dangers. A light sound was heard by the rabbit as his ear twitched. A figure emerged from the dark environment at a fast speed, Shadow stood still as she smirked at the approaching danger. Before the figure could reach her a small figure leaped off her back and bounced onto the ground. As he hit the ground he hopped once more sending his small body hurdling towards the approaching enemies side. Before it could turn and face the threat the beast let out a roar, trying their best tot urn their body to meet Korahs attack. A layer of cold energy surrounded Korahs feet as he delivered a kick towards the beasts stomach and used the force to leap away back to a safe position where he could deliver another attack. "Good, keep at it! That attack should of done a lot of damage and the ice energy will be spreading through their body slowing their movements." Shadow could help but praise his progress. "Roar! Don''t look down on me!" The enraged beast was of the same cultivation as them and felt as if his dignity had been challenged. "I will not lose to this little pest!" "Ho¡­ Did you hear that? He called you a pest." Shadow giggled as she mocked the beast. Hearing the insults Korah frowned as he focussed on the beast wearily, the beast began to look increasingly bloodthirsty as it looked down upon him. If it was Korah before today, perhaps he would have cowered in fear or lost his reason due to anger but now he did not show any fear or anger towards such an opponent. While keeping alert he focussed on his surroundings and on his foe, he began to smirk also. ''I understand.'' The nearby shadow caught onto his thinking and nodded her head. "Don''t worry, just focus on the fight." Shortly after emerged another figure who shot towards the rabbit at a faster speed than the previous beast. "Where do you think you are going?" Shadow emerged by his side silently, if she had not spoken perhaps he would not have noticed her presence approaching at all. Her body was covered in a thin layer of dark energy as she quickly used her antler to knock the beast away. The beasts were both jackals and while one was at the 3rd spirit gathering stage, the other was at 5th spirit gathering stage. Their plans were to ambush other beasts weaker than them however they had not been prepared to deal with such tricky opponents. The weaker jackal saw the other jackal be hit hard as he was sent flying in the air, clearly he had taken a heavy hit just then. Perhaps he may even suffer from a heavy injury, who would have thought that a small rabbit and deer could beat the both of them! "Uncle!" The weaker jackal cried out as he saw his uncle land on the ground and struggle to get back and his feet with great difficulty. 31 Submission As the jackals thoughts turned chaotic he grew more and more panicked. ''Me and uncle are going to die! How could we be so unlucky.'' His gaze turned resolute as he charged towards the rabbit preparing to pounce risking his life. "Stop!" A thunderous voice woke him up and made him come to a stop. The stronger jackal had finally found his way to his feet, he steadied himself as he lowered his posture and head towards the ground facing Shadow. "Please spare us and we will call you master!" "Why should I? I am sure you would not have spared us if you had the chance." Shadow snorted but waited patiently for his response. "He is the last of my brothers bloodline, everyone else is already dead and all we have done is to ensure our own survival. If we have a chance to live we would gladly serve you. Please!" He lowered his head further towards the ground as he begged. "But uncle!" The younger jackal cried out as he saw his uncle take up such a posture before another beast. The jackal family were once a proud and stubborn race of beasts, they refused to mix with other beasts and would never submit to anyone. However now, their homes were destroyed and they were the only two remaining alive. What pride they had before was laughable in the face of extinction so they could only use this chance to overcome their struggles. "Shut up! We either put aside this shame and serve faithfully or we die! We are the last of our family, they all died in hopes that you could live on and create a future for our jackal family once more!" The older jackal scolded. "Yes uncle." The younger jackal lowered his head to the ground in a submissive stance. "Swear an oath that you will follow my orders and never betray me. I will not treat you unjustly, there may even be benefits if you are loyal." Shadow decided to give them a chance if they were being sincere. "We swear that we will faithfully serve you and never betray you." As they both declared in a submissive stance. "Very well, I don''t need much from you right now but information. I need to know of the beast clans in the area, their numbers and strength. Even little things like their alliances or their enemies, anything I can use." Shadow nodded as she got closer to the stronger jackal, she removed the dark energy from his body before healing him and his nephew with her light spirit energy. She began to cultivate under the watchful eyes of Korah and the two jackals as she gained back her depleted energy from healing them. "Follow me in secret from now on but don''t show yourselves unless I tell you to come out. When I return home you cannot follow but we will meet at a secret location so you can update me on what is happening within the forest." She nodded towards them signalling they may leave. Spirit beasts who submit to a master remain loyal all of their lives and follow no one else unless that person dies so Shadow had just gained 2 followers who would never betray her. If beaten in combat they may still hold some resentment which was why Shadow decided to test their loyalty a little allowing them a slight opening to attack when cultivating and healing them. If she were to involve them in her future plans she would need them to hold no resentment towards her as they submitted so they could work efficiently. Because they were both very skilled at stalking their prey they had very good experience at hiding themselves and they had clearly lived in this forest for a long time making them suitable candidates for gathering information on the other beast clans. "Yes master! We shall obey your orders." The elder jackal bowed his head as he signalled towards the younger jackal with his eyes. "Let''s go!" "Thank you master for sparing us." The younger jackal bowed his head before following his uncle. The jackals continued to stay within a safe distance while staying hidden close enough for Shadow to sense their presence and so they could keep close to Shadow and Korah. After a few more kills, Shadow continued to collect the beast cores while lost in thought. ''We have collected lots of 1st to 5th spirit gathering beast cores, it should be very beneficial towards my future plans. Today we gained two allies but I hope we can gain more soon!'' "Alright Korah, let''s go home. You two find a place to rest and we will continue tomorrow. Here is a 4th spirit gathering beast core for your nephew, once he consumes it he should be able to make a break through soon." Shadow instructed as she placed the beast core onto the ground and began to head back home. "If you can find any stray beasts who are down on their luck, try to make contact with them and keep me informed." She turned to head back home, a white blur jumped up onto her back, Korah''s white fur had been dyed red after all of his fighting. After landing on her back he immediately started cultivating like she had told him earlier. 32 Little foxes crisis As Shadow began to head back towards the mountain, nearby the bottom of the mountain by a small river sat a lone little fox. The fox looked extremely focussed on the river for the slightest changes, a sudden ripple in the water appeared within her view. Noticing this change her little arms flashed out into the water at a fast speed, as she removed her armsher claws were holding onto a fish which flailed around trying to escape. She held firmly onto the fish bashing it onto a nearby rock, swiftly killing it without any resistance. Placing the fish on to a small stack of fish, she nodded in approval. ''I think this should be enough to cheer mom up.'' She looked up at the sky and was shocked. "Ah, it''s late! I have been out too long!" As a fifth spirit gathering beast she felt that she could safely enter the forest on her own as much as she liked but never encountered such a late night. She quickly began panicking about being scolded by her mother. She sharply turned her body towards a nearby dark area where she heard a sound. "Who?!" "Hehe little kid so you noticed us!" A large figure emerged from the darkness revealing a large white wolf with the cultivation of 5th spirit gathering. From several other locations appeared 3 more white wolves, each of them at 4th spirit gathering. As they surrounded the small fox they released a bloodthirsty killing intent upon her. While being outnumbered and pressured by their killing intent the little foxes body shivered with fright. She had been pampered since birth, she rarely faced combat unless it was to help deal with the attacks on the mountain and even then did she face such an opponent as the adults dealt with the tougher enemies. However a thought struck her awake. ''No! I have to make my way back home to mom.'' Her gaze turned serious looking at her surroundings, because of her smaller size she could not beat the leader immediately. Especially since she was outnumbered, she had been cornered and had no escape. Her only option was to find an opportunity to slip through an opening when they get careless. "Ho, so you got some fighting spirit back but it''s all useless!" The leader pounced towards the little fox opening his mouth wide ready to devour her. The other wolves remained in place watching over the fight which would take place, they had a lot of confidence in their leader. The little fox took in all of the information around her and tried her best to think up a solution but was constantly met with more problems. She immediately acted upon her impulses to survive and spread her fire spirit energy through her body. A layer of red and hot energy wrapped around her feet as she began to use every effort to dodge the attack. She barely dodged the attack aiming her right claw towards the wolves eye. The attack hit its mark and the wolf let out a howl of pain. "Aaah! My eye! My eye! Aaaaah! Kill her! Rip her to pieces!" His leg swung out instinctively after he was hit by the attack, he managed to deal some damage to the little fox as she was kicked backwards towards the river. She fell down and coughed up a mouthful of blood, looking at the wolf she saw his eye had been completely burned by her attack. "So now he only has use of one eye, I guess that gamble payed off." The other wolves grew enraged at seeing their leader injured, at first they thought they were not needed but in an instant the little fox had managed to gain the upper hand on their boss. "Get her!" The wolves moved out of position and charged towards the little fox a small opening appeared in the last moment. The wolves reached her as tried to swipe her with their claws, she nimbly dodged their attacks and slipped through an opening in their blockade. She began to flee from all of the wolves that tried to catch her, it was clear they would not give up until they had caught her because she had humiliated their boss. Time passed and her energy began to empty at a faster rate, although she was not too far from the mountain she did not have enough energy to climb it while being chased by these wolves. She could not think of a solution, her body was injured from the attack of the leader and running out of energy she began to feel despair. Her breath grew heavier as she reached the bottom of the mountain, the wolves were not too far behind her when she suddenly saw a figure casually approaching the mountain. 34 Little foxes decision As Shadow saw the body parts shatter into tiny pieces she could only sigh. "What a mess we have made here." "Then what should we do?" The rabbit who was basking in his previous victory turned around to face Shadow and asked. "Well, no harm done so long as the beast core remains¡­ That is all we really need right now. I will place the bodies in storage until we find a use for the leftover parts." Shadow responded and then turned towards the little fox who had just defeated the wolf. "Umm¡­ Thanks for the help I guess? Who are you?" The little fox looked somewhat surprised to see that it was actually just a deer and rabbit who were weaker than her in terms of cultivation had saved her from a terrible situation. "No need for thanks. You did warn us of those pests coming so I figured I could lend you a hand." Shadow smiled towards the little fox looking very cheerful and innocent, if others saw her they may not believe that she killed any of those wolves. "Right, you look like you have had a long day. I know of a place if you wish to clean your bodies." The little fox quickly thought of something to repay them as she saw their appearance. The rabbit was covered in blood,shadow remained untouched by the blood during combat but still had a little blood on her back that had come from the rabbit sitting on her back. "Fine lead the way." Shadow nodded as she gestured for the fox to go ahead. As the three of them reached the water, a small pile of fish were still there so the fox hurried to count them to see if any went missing before sighing with relief. "I''m guessing this is your place?" Shadow figured that the little fox must have been here previously before encountering the wolves. "Mm¡­ I use this place to catch fish for my mom." The little fox dipped her body into the water and began to wash herself. "I see." Shadow looked a little conflicted as she joined her. ''This girl is a fox, I would be a little less cautious towards her but with the black fox family may be a future danger. Although she is not a black fox, I have not seen whether they have any children with brown fur. Could this be the fox who is as talented as my bro and sis? But she does not seem so bad, I guess I could help her this once.'' As she made a decision she gave an injury pill to the little fox before heading back up to the mountain. Mother foxes cave After returning home to greet her mother, the little fox did her best to look as pitiful and cute as possible to avoid being scolded. However her mother was furious as she scolded. "You are too reckless! I should just keep you inside the cave for the rest of your life then I would not need to worry anymore!" "No mom! I will be more careful in the future, oh yeah I met some amazing beasts! They were the ones who helped me!" The little fox tried her best to plead to her mother. "Explain¡­" The mother fox gazed upon the little fox intently, if her daughter told a single lie she would be able to notice. As the little fox told the entire story from start to finish not leaving out a detail and her mother listened while occasionally nodding her head. "I see, you were quite lucky this time indeed." The mother fox nodded her head again before sighing. "Yes mother¡­" The little fox lowered her head in embarrassment. "From what you have told me, those who you met can only match their description would be the troublesome child of the deer family and the rabbit who is always picking fights with the other weaker beasts. If I am right, then it should be impossible for them to suddenly have such a fast increase in strength so it is hard to believe. If so you need to come to a decision, the family have exiled us here¡­ With the upcoming event they will be wary of any future threats and if they both did have a sudden increase in power they may be eliminated if found out by the family." The mother fox began to stare deeply at the little fox as she patted her head. "What do you mean mom?" The little fox was quite puzzled. "If there was a fight to break out in the future, the black fox family will be sure to have their own plans to take advantage. If there are any inconveniences they would be dealt with. Now that you have met with the young white deer do you wish to inform the fox family of today''s events or do you wish to protect them?" The mother fox gently rubbed her daughters head and proceeded to tidy up her appearance. "I won''t tell them a thing, they have not done anything for us since you were exiled and I won''t betray someone who saved my life and helped heal my injuries." The little foxes gaze turned resolute as she lifted her head to look at her mother showing her determination. "Very good, I did not raise an ungrateful daughter. I am going to sleep." The mother fox looked upon her daughter lovingly before picking up the fish and entering her cave. ''I keep telling my daughter to make friends and it looks like she has finally made a little progress towards that. I hope she can make some further progress in the future, I can''t let the clan interfere with this.'' If anyone was to question her priorities she would always choose her daughter first, she doted on her heavily and spoiled her rotten but also taught her what she needed to know and how to act towards others. Anything involving her daughter would take priority, if the families wishes conflicted with her daughters wellbeing then she would choose her daughter over her family. So now that her daughter had made a new friend, if the family wished to destroy that then she would not sit idly by and do nothing! 35 Ever-Reach Clan’s First Assignmen A week passed by smoothly without any troubles, the deer family focussed on their limit training and in their free time Korah and Shadow went to gain more experience in the forest. When dealing with their opponents they both were able to develop their own style of fighting. Shadow made use of her antlers and strong legs to deal fatal and heavy blows to her enemies, heavily injuring them or even instantly killing them. Korah however made use of his light and fast body to attack the enemies muscles and joints, the enemies movements will be affected by his ice spirit energy leading them to have more openings to exploit. After a week of fighting several beasts were subdued and began to follow Shadows every order. After securing a small secluded area near the bottom of the mountain, she set up this spot for the beasts to stay and train. Although some were weak, she started to gift them with suitable beast cores and train them daily. Although not all of the beasts had great strength they could still be nurtured if they were loyal to her, if they were loyal she would receive more benefits. Although her forces could not compare to others right now, they still had a lot of time to grow in size and power. A lot of these beasts had been sole survivors of their clans, lone wanderers or groups without homes so after submitting in order to continue living they were given a new home, cultivation resources and a chance to grow stronger not only individually but as a group. After their life experiences within the hostile forest area they saw hope, those who they would never think to fight beside all fighting together under the same goal. Their leader was looking towards a goal far beyond what they could see and that only served to ignite their enthusiasm towards this new life of theirs. As the beasts grew excited Shadow stood before them and let out a light cough. "Welcome everyone, since our numbers have grown and will continue to do so in the future I ask that everyone be patient and greet any new beasts warmly. Within this influence there will be the same treatment for all no matter where you came from or what kind of beast you are. What I care about is that you are loyal, can work together and achieve results. If you cannot get along with the others and go deciding things for yourselves I don''t need you. Those who make great achievements will be awarded for doing so." As the 12 beasts heard that they looked at each other and buried the words into their hearts. "Yes master!" "Those who do well will be rewarded, those who disobey will be punished. Nobody is to receive special treatment unless they deserve it and abuse of their ranks to do as they please will be met with their rights and rank stripped from them. From now on you are part of the Ever-Reach Clan, you will all hold the name Ever-Reach as your family name from now on and carry it as your pride." Shadow nodded her head as she had a dominant role when standing before her followers. "Master we will not let you down!" The small group of beasts nodded their heads repeatedly as they grew more excited, meanwhile one beast showed a look of interest. "As this clans influence grows I will begin to set up different roles and so on for to assign everyone to a suitable group. Some may work in teams, others may have the role of pack leaders, scouts, information gatherers, assassins and so on. Certain roles have more risk while others focus on team unity and a beasts individual traits to suit their situation." She continued to speak proudly. "Do not try to expand too quickly, what is important right now is to become familiar with those around you, so have there been ant problems in the forest?" The two jackals came forward and reported. "There have been no movements within the other clans that could be a threat to us, there was one troubling thing that had happened recently. A youngster of the tiger clan got into a fight with someone from a stronger clan in the area and injured them, enraged by this the clan demanded compensation but negotiations didn''t go well." "I see, go on." Shadow showed some interest towards this information. Shadow began to ponder to herself. ''These tigers may indeed prove to be useful if I can gain their support. If I wish to build a formidable army in the future the tigers would definitely fit into that role.'' "That clan has grown restless after the failed negotiations, they had started applying more pressure to the tiger clan and not allowing them to leave their territory. It will not be long until a fight breaks out between them but the old ancestor of the tiger clan is on his death bed so they are at a disadvantage." The jackals finished up telling Shadow their collected information. "Very well, this will be our first task. Move towards the tiger clan and follow my every order! We will help the tiger clan survive this and use this opportunity to gain their support." Shadow declared in a powerful tone of voice which made the other beasts grow excited. After training during the time they had submitted to Shadow, they felt their strength and their bodies had become much more powerful, now they had the opportunity to test how much they had improved! "Let''s head out!" Shadow ordered as she nodded to the jackals to lead the way there. "Yes master!" The jackals hurried to lead the way and the other beasts followed behind. 36 White Wolf Clan prepares for war! After a long time of preparation and travel the group arrived nearby the tiger clans territory. The territory was on guard against enemies so the group had to stay out of sight to avoid provoking a conflict. Not only did they have to hide from the tiger clan beasts but those who were wandering outside. As they settled down in their new location, Shadow began to instruct them. "Be sure to stay here and try not to be seen or start any conflicts. I will go investigate the area alone, I will send out a signal if I need help." After that she disappeared into the forest and hid her presence as she silently headed towards the tiger clans inner territory. White Wolf clan An imposing looking white wolf stood before his clan members with a smaller white wolf by his side. The clan members looked upon the wolf with great respect and awe as they greeted him. The imposing wolf let out a snort as he grit his teeth in anger. "Those tigers are getting more and more arrogant! Just because they have that old fellow to protect them they think they can do as they please. Continue to suppress them and don''t let them leave their territory!" One of the elderly wolves frowned as he spoke up. "Don''t you think that this is a little rash? Do you mean to start a war over a kids fight? It''s not like anyone was killed." "Silence! Their child injured my son and that is a total provocation towards me, they dare to shame my bloodline? I will slaughter their whole clan!" The white wolf became increasingly bloodthirsty. "I don''t think it would be wise that we make any movements right now, although the old tiger is close to death I am feeling anxious about this situation. Your brother and his followers have not returned for a week now, I fear something may have happened." The elder wolf argued back. "Humph¡­ Don''t remind me of that useless brother of mine. Even without him, why should I fear a small clan like them? Our white wolf clan has survived for hundreds of years in our territory, we have faced countless enemies and won. What is there to fear?!" The imposing wolf shouted at the elder as he grew even more agitated. "Fine then do as you wish but please act with the clans best interests in mind before you make your decision." The elder sighed as he spoke. "Everyone, we will move out and attack the tiger clans territory as the sun goes down so make preparations!" He ordered and then turned to his son. "You will stay by my side at all times during this attack." The son looked extremely happy as he thought of finally getting revenge. "Yes father! Please leave that brat alive, I want to see him suffer as he loses his loved ones and make him suffer some more before he dies." "Very well son." The father petted his sons head as he praised himself. ''If he does not get over this defeat he will suffer more losses in the future, it''s best I take this course of action to get his confidence back.'' As the elder gazed upon the father and son pair he grew distressed as he saw all of his clans spirit beasts preparing to leave, if it was years ago he could have stopped something like this from happening as he was the clan leader and held a lot of influence. Sadly as times change, his sons had grown up and gained more followers while increasing their strength, slowly growing their own influence. As more time passed his words began to fall on deaf ears, he had to give up his position to the one of the sons while the other son frequently left the clan to hunt. While it was true that the clan had survived for a long time and been through many battles, it was also true that they had lost many of their elite fighters during the many years. The elder had tried to voice his opinion because the clan had grown weaker after losing so many and now the leader wishes to start up a war between clans. His other son had not returned so he was naturally worried too, he held some influence within the clan and without him here during the war the chances of victory would be lower. However the clan leader did not care, in fact he had seen it as an opportunity to bring those who favoured his brother to come under his influence. Tiger clan Within a dark cave lay an elderly tiger with black stripes marked on his body, he looked incredibly weak and lacking in vitality. A young pair of tigers entered the cave, one was the male tiger who injured the white wolf in a friendly duel and the other was his twin sister. The male had grown strong through constant harsh training and battle reaching spirit gathering 3rd stage while his sister remained at the 1st stage for a long time because of her gentle nature. The brother had a brave and daring personality while his sister was more calm and intelligent. The brother lowered his body before the elder as he spoke. "Elder I acted without thinking again I am sorry that I have brought this situation upon the clan." The sister frowned as she scolded. "Sure you may have injured him but so what? Everyone who witnessed that fight saw you win in a fair duel, if he did not sneak attack you when you turned your back it could have been you that was injured or even died! It was lucky that you responded quickly and fended him off, he was lucky to get away with his life for that." "Silence." The old tiger groaned. "Yes elder." They both awaited their punishments. "I asked you here today because if the situation turns unfavourable I want our bloodline to live on. So you will not participate in the clan war, even if I have to exhaust the last of my strength I have to let the both of you escape." The old tiger sighed as his eyes contained sadness. ''I feel so useless in my old age, if I wasn''t so close to death those wolves wouldn''t be so arrogant!'' "But elder I want to fight alongside our clan!" The brother showed his heroic spirit. "No elder, I don''t want to lose my family members!" The sister despaired as she could only accept the elders ordered. ''I am too weak, if I was stronger I could protect them.'' "I''m sorry children but this is all I can do for you so listen to my orders. grandson, it''s good to be brave but it is also foolish to charge to your own death so learn to know when to retreat. Little girl, learn from this experience and grow stronger¡­ We tigers grow best in the face of brutal and ferocious battles, I admire your gentle nature but your enemies will not show mercy to you unless you have enough strength to protect yourself." The old tiger let out a hoarse cough as a few drops of blood came out. "Elder are you okay?" The twins grew worried at seeing the elder cough up blood. "I am fine, you both may leave now. I hope you take my words to heart." The elder tiger began to feel a little weaker so ended his lecture and sent them away. The twins looked quite upset as they left the cave leaving the elder tiger on his own as he lay there in frustration. Suddenly a gentle female voice travelled into his ears and he became alert. "Hehe elder you sure do treasure your young ones. Say would you like to make a deal with me?" 37 Bet with the Elderly Tiger "Who is there?! State your purpose!" The elder grew increasingly agitated as he could not sense where the voice came from. A figure appeared within his sight, Shadow no longer concealed herself when hiding by the entrance to the cave. The deer spoke respectfully towards the elder. "Shadow Ever-Reach is very pleased to meet you elder." The elder gazed upon the intruder with shock, he coughed a few times before calming down. "Why have you intruded upon my clans territory?" Shadow smiled as she spoke softly towards the elder. "I have come to make a deal with elder here today, I wonder if elder is interested in listening?" "Speak." The elders voice became soft as he realised the beast was not here to harm him. "Very well, I am aware of your situation and what you face. I am in the process of building up my own forces and happened to hear about what happened so i wish to use this to test those who have followed me." Shadow stood before the elder as she explained. "Lets make a deal, if you have any surviving clan members after the battle then they will join my clan and work for me in the future." "You sure are honest young one." The elder spoke in a tone of displeasure. "Of course, if I used words of trickery how could I gain your trust? I have stated the terms of helping your clan survive this crisis. Not only will those who survive be treated well, they will become a lot stronger after undergoing training." Shadow seemed unfazed by the elders displeasure and continued to speak of the benefits. "Not only do you gain an ally and save many lives but those that live will gain opportunities to grow stronger to protect themselves." "Humph, it wasn''t even that long ago that some panthers showed up and tried to speak a bunch of promises towards me and my clan, what makes you think I would accept your proposal?" The elder showed disdain towards Shadow as he spoke. "I see, then how about we make a bet? If I can help annihilate the white wolf clan then your tiger clan must swear complete loyalty to me alone. If I fail to do so then that may be the end of the tiger clan and I would probably suffer some setbacks. Regardless of win or loss I will be putting the lives of my clan on the line too, this is me showing my sincerity." Shadow smirked as she gazed upon the elder with a profound look. ''It looks like the Panther clan has already begun making preparations for the competition and pulling in outside clans to take advantage of the event to wipe out several of the younger generation.'' "Why would you help us?" The elder was quite puzzled. "I had run into some of their clan members a few days ago and it quickly turned to a fight so naturally I have some enmity with them. Most importantly I wish to build up a clan of my own that is different from what the spirit beast clans are used to. Most beasts live with their own race and keep out or kill other beasts which creates disunity within the forest, if they worked together under one clan wouldn''t their potential be brought out? Try imagining it, beasts working together instead of clashing with eachother constantly." Shadow sighed as she spoke. "So do you want to bet?" The elder gazed upon the young deer and was lost in thought. "Fine, you sure have some ambition kid. I will be expecting you to keep the kids safe if things don''t work out." "Of course I will." Shadow smiled gently as she turned her body towards the cave entrance. Her body was again covered in a layer of dark spirit energy helping to conceal herself better and left the cave silently. The elderly tiger lay on the spot and let out a groan as he thought to himself. ''Such big plans for a young one, she may look young but has such a difficult goal. Unfortunately she will face a lot of troubling situations on the road to such a dream, it is a shame I will not be able to see if she succeeds or not.'' He raised his voice so that those outside his cave could hear him. "Give out my order! All clan members prepare for war and be on the alert for intruders, any wolves caught in our territory kill without hesitation! If there are any beasts that are not a threat leave them to do as they please, our focus is our enemy the white wolf clan!" "Yes elder, as you wish!" A voice yelled back towards the elder, shortly after followed a loud and fierce roar which could be heard by all of the beasts in the territory. Those clan members that heard it began to move towards the location the roar came from while other beasts paled in fright as they quickly left the territory. The elderly tiger closed his eyes and began to sleep as he did his best to conserve his remaining energy and life force. A fierce looking male tiger accompanied by a graceful looking female tiger stood before the clan members. They were the twins parents who ruled over the tiger clan in the elders absence, as they gazed upon their family members they grew more determined, the father roared. "Today we will go to war with the White wolf clan, since they wish to force us into such a situation we will show no mercy! If there are any white wolves in our territory kill them without hesitation!" As he spoke the clan members began to show a fierce look on their faces, it had been so long since their last serious battle of this scale and this time they could lose their entire clan to this war. 39 Battle Plans Shadow made her way back to her group with the father and son, she stood before them and spoke proudly. "I captured their leader and their son, this is our best chance to weaken the enemy forces as they have split into smaller groups and began their attack." The group nodded their heads as they felt very excited towards the upcoming battle. "I will lead one group and Korah will lead the other, since they have split into groups and spread out our best chances of a successful attack is using our numbers and a well balanced two teams to strike at their individual teams one by one. During this time the tiger clan will be on the defensive so we can use this to attack them from behind as the wolves are focussed on their enemy in front of them." Shadow nodded towards Korah as she placed the burden of leader on his shoulders. "Korah this will be a test for you too, if you can lead a team well and get them to follow your commands you should be successful. Make use of your individual strengths, the environment and situation of the battlefield." Korah''s red eyes glowed with excitement and determination as he nodded his head. "I will do my best to be successful." "Good, the better leadership and teamwork within a group leads to less deaths, if you don''t follow his orders I will take it as you ignoring my orders too." Shadow snorted as she reminded the others of the importance of this mission. ''If they cannot follow orders and get themselves and others killed I don''t need them.'' Having loyalty was a good thing, but if individuals had their own thoughts and ruined her plans then they would just be a waste of her efforts helping them grow stronger. In the end, if they make a stupid mistake all their time spent nurturing would be for nothing. Although it had not been long, they had all been given beast cores and experienced harsh training, in the future they could be given a cultivation manual to suit them if they worked hard. As a group their strength had grown a lot but if they constantly make fatal mistakes the consequences could lead to many deaths, she needed to trust that they would not be reckless and focus on strengthening the group without increasing the rate of death. Fortunately this was a perfect situation to test out her group, the circumstances made it so her group could not suffer many casualties. One was that the enemy did not know of their existence so never thought of the idea of being attacked by another enemy. The enemy being attacked from the front then has their escape route cut off from the back leading them to panic during the battle. The element of surprise worked well in removing their leader earlier, now Korah and Shadow could also make use of that again. While the wolves are fast and have sharp attacks, Shadow and Korahs groups had more variety to make use of. The smaller beasts had an easier time avoiding attacks and make use of their small bodies to attack the enemy when they show openings. The faster and stronger beasts could make use of their traits to deal deadly blows while the tougher beasts could battle at the front because they are harder to injure and can hold off their enemies attacks while the others provide support. "Alright everyone, someone from each group take one of these wolves with you for extra leverage. Simply mentioning that their leader and future leader are captured they will have their morale weakened but some may be doubtful towards your claims." Shadow walked over towards the cowering little wolf who had a look of fear and unwillingness in his eyes. "I do not care if they live or die as a result, think carefully on how to use them to influence the battle to our victory!" After raising her voice she sent four kicks towards the small wolf and four snapping sounds followed with a shriek of pain. After trying to endure the pain of his broken legs the little wolfs eyes dimmed as he passed out. "Let''s go!" She ordered as she left with her group and Korah lead his group in a different direction, each group dragging a heavily injured white wolf. 40 Fierceness of the tiger clan Meanwhile in the tiger clans territory, the tigers split up into small groups of two. Coming from a small populated clan, the tiger clan did not possess the resources and numbers that could compare to the wolf clan plus their younger generation were just newborns besides the leaders children. They had their elder who had enough strength to deter any threats and their own individual strengths were at an acceptable level. One tiger alone could take down multiple enemies of the same cultivation before dying, even inflict injuries in their last moments if the enemy was not careful. One group encountered a pack of wolves, it was precisely the leader and his mate of the tiger clan who met with a group of wolves. The pack was formed by the 5th rank wolf followed by a 3rd rank and three 2nd rank wolves. Following behind the three 2nd rank wolves felt a little intimidated as they gazed upon the leader and his mate. The leader was at 5th rank and his mate was at 4th rank, they both stood close together prepared to kill as many wolves as possible before their deaths. Their clan was about to disappear from the world but they still held their own pride and resolute attitude even in the face of death. They would rather die than be humiliated, if anyone wishes to do so then those who did would have to pay a price for their actions. Even the leader of the wolf pack was shocked as he gazed at the pair of lovers however he quickly changed his attitude after analysing the situation. He looked mockingly at the pair as he lowered his body into a battle stance ready to charge at the couple. "Go, tear them to shreds." The pair of tigers took a battle stance as they faced towards different directions watching each others backs. The wolves began to circle the couple and wait for an opening to attack. One of the weaker wolves was too eager and pounced towards the female tiger. This followed with a clash between the female tiger and the weaker wolf which turned out to be a one sided fight. The wolf was slower and weaker than her, as his claws approached her body she swiftly responded with a swipe of her own claws. As they clashed the wolf felt he was losing in the first exchange so planned to retreat as viciousness was shown on his face. Just as he planned to retreat another strike came from her as her other claw descended onto the side of his body leaving a large wound and sending him flying backwards. Responding to the foolish decision of their companion, the pack was indifferent towards his mistake. In fact they took pleasure in the fact that he had been so foolish to be the first to attack and let them take advantage of the openings he had created. This was the difference in the two clans, the tiger clan fight alone or in groups and when they fight together they watch their partners backs to ensure their survival while the wolf clan are ruthless towards their enemies and own clansmen. The tiger clan achieve victory through teamwork while the wolf clan uses dirty and ruthless methods to survive. The group of wolves grew bloodthirsty as they charged towards the couple, the 5th rank wolf took the chance to hold off the male tiger as the other wolves targeted the weaker female tiger. The group of wolves pounced from different directions after the weaker wolf was hit by the female tiger, as she did not have enough time to respond they quickly arrived before her. As she tried to take back her front paws to the ground the 3rd rank wolf had already pounced onto her neck and sunk his teeth into her flesh holding on as long as he could. Her body lost balance as she was hit by the attack, followed by the weaker wolves attacking her legs biting into them. She had been wounded on her neck but the teeth marks were not deep enough to be fatal, the wolf was still holding onto her neck within his mouth as he swiped his claws at her body leaving behind more wounds. The other wolves used their time to injure her other legs leaving her completely helpless and losing strength to stay standing. The male tiger grew enraged as he gazed behind him, the wolf he was fighting was unwavering as he continued to attack without regard for his safety to delay him. Every injury the wolf was given he would do his best to leave an injury on the male tiger as he held him off keeping him from protecting his mate. The female tiger lay on the ground in a defensive stance, anyone that came close she would ignore her injuries and grab one of the wolves to keep them from fighting her lover. She shook her body until the stronger wolf let go of her neck, blood came from the wounds on her neck and legs. Before the pack could release her legs and get away she used the rest of her strength on her legs to move the 2nd rank wolf closer towards her mouth as it bit onto her front leg. The wolf was pulled closer it grew frightened as it tried to release its teeth from the tigers leg but it was already too late. The female tiger grabbed ahold of the wolf between her jaws and held on tightly sinking her teeth deeper into the wolfs body. After a second passed sounds of bones being broken came from the wolfs body as blood poured from his body which was being crushed in her jaws, the scene looked extremely brutal and terrifying to the wolves who watched on in horror. Fortunately they got away in time or it would have been them that had died so horribly, even the 5th rank wolf who fought the male tiger grew more cautious as he witnessed this scene. He looked upon the situation and saw the female tiger could no longer move but was still dangerous if approached so ordered. "Everyone help me take down this one here! The other cannot help him now so leave them for now and focus on taking this one down with me!" He backed off and regrouped the the remaining wolves left alive. The pack had now lost one life and one of the weaker wolves had been dealt a heavy blow injuring them enough to affect their fighting capabilities. The enemy had the weakest of the pair injured heavily and unable to assist her partner, all that remained was to take down the leader with their remaining numbers. 41 Despair! The leader of the group snickered as he gazed upon the tiger from afar after he retreated. His body was covered in light injuries after clashing with the tiger during his time keeping him busy. He was the most experienced in combat and knew when to attack and retreat. Against this opponent he was sure that after taking down his mate the battles outcome had shifted in his favour. He smirked revealing his sharp teeth as he nodded towards his group. "This one should be easy, nothing should be sweeter than the taste of despair of this couple as their lover is killed before their very eyes." The group charged from different directions and the tiger became enraged upon hearing his words but remained vigilant. He sent a swipe of his claw towards the 3rd rank wolf while the leader had not yet approached. Blood sprayed from the body of the wolf who disregarded his injury as he grabbed onto the tigers front leg and bit down heavily. The other wolves had taken this chance to grab onto his back legs and inflict some light injuries. The tiger was struggling fiercely to be released from their grasp, as he flung his front leg the stronger wolf was sent flying backwards into a tree and let out a groan of pain. During this instant the leader had already moved in for the kill, he opened his jaws and was ready to bite down onto the tigers exposed throat. As he grew closer he felt his blood boiling and more excited until something flew past his face stopping his advances. He grew confused and a complicated look was on his face as he watched the direction the object flew when suddenly a figure appeared in his blind spot. Completely distracted in that moment he did not notice anyone''s approach, a heavy hit landed onto his body shattering several bones and damaging his internal organs. His body took a tumble and he heard a voice suddenly. "Ah, sorry! Sorry! I interrupted your little fight but it''s so much fun to see the despair on the faces of those who think they have won a battle to have the situation completely change. Especially guys like you who would take pleasure in such terrible hobbies. Too bad, hey wolves look over there!" The wolves were shocked as they quickly retreated from the tiger after seeing their leader heavily injured, the leader and the other wolves looked towards the direction the figure had looked towards. The object that had attracted their leaders eyes that distracted him in the moment of his defeat had all fallen upon their eyes as light fell down upon the object making it even more clear. The wolves began to shake, their eyes turned red and shrieked as they gazed upon the object. "Clan Leader!" The object was precisely a severed head of their clan leader, they would recognise him at a glance! The wolves began to feel deep panic within their hearts, their leader who they had all respected and looked towards had been killed in such a tragic way. Wasn''t their only enemy the tiger clan? Wasn''t this supposed to be an easy victory with not many losses? Who is this new enemy? Their leader had been taken down in one hit! They felt really uneasy, they should have never started this war in the first place! It was only started over a small kids duel, how did things come to this? Numerous thoughts popped up in their heads as they began to hesitate and panic, their leader was down and could not instruct them or help. The figure that had revealed themselves had appeared before their eyes was a white deer that didn''t look as strong as their leader. Their hope began to grow upon seeing the intruder was only a deer, their confidence began to return and the leader spoke. "What could you possibly do to change the result of this war? Foolish deer do not interfere in what does not concern you." Until the deer spoke again. "Hey wolves, I''m sure you had some fun here earlier at the thought of tormenting those tigers. Looking at your faces, you think you still have some hope!" The deer looked at them with disdain. "The rest of you wolves aren''t even fit for me to act personally. Kill them." She turned her body towards the wounded tigers, completely ignoring the surrounding wolves that were considering whether to attack and smiled. "Acting tiger clan leader and his companion I have heard very much about your brave and prideful spirit. Nice to finally meet you!" Out from different directions a large group of different species of beasts charged towards the wounded wolves that had been in hesitating continue their assault. The wolves fell into further despair after witnessing the strength and numbers of their new enemy. The beasts numbers greatly outnumbered the wolves and the wolves had been injured and weakened after their battle. Their enemies were all stronger than 2nd spirit gathering and the wolves had already been seperated during their previous fight. It did not take long before the wolves were killed, they could only curse their lack of strength and wonder¡­. Who in the hell did we offend?!?! 42 A last stand In another location in the tigers territory another group clashed, the second group of wolves circled their prey with a hungry look in their eyes. The two tigers took up a defensive stance by each other and prepared for battle. They were not as strong as the acting clan leader but they were not weak at all, they stood proudly in front of the wolves who wished to kill them. They had the cultivation of 3rd & 4th spirit gathering while the wolves were equally as strong but had numerous 2nd spirit gathering wolves assisting them. The wolves began their assault, diving from all directions and clashing with the tigers. The 4th spirit gathering wolf and tiger clashed as did the 3rd spirit gathering wolf and tiger. As they did the tigers power was greater and had the advantage but the wolves were never aiming for a contest in strength. Viciousness was shown within the eyes of the wolves during the clash as they swiped his claws ferociously the tigers faces and swiftly retreated leaving behind claw marks dripping blood down the side of the two tigers faces. As the wounds were afflicted in sync to each other anyone could see that this group had experienced many battles together. Just as the tigers felt the pain on their faces they roared angrily and aimed towards the retreating wolves who attacked them. In that moment the weaker wolves took this chance to leap on to their backs and bit heavily into their skin. The tigers grit their teeth in pain and tried their best to shake them off but this only lead to the wolves holding on firmer and digging their claws further into their flesh. Just as they turned their attention towards the weaker wolves the stronger wolves resumed their attacks. The weaker tiger had a harder time, the weight of the wolves on his back heavily affected his speed and usage of his bodies strength. He received several wounds on his body as the wolf stalked him and swiftly dealt damage to his body before retreating to a safe distance. Meanwhile the stronger tiger was doing his best to resist the attacks, after being hit again he grew enraged. His eyes lit up with a trace of unwillingness as he gazed at his partner being slowly dealt with. He charged towards a nearby tree and flung his body at it heavily. Just as his body hit the tree the wolf that had been holding onto his back had been crushed between himself and the tree let out a shriek as it let go of his body. Seeing the stronger tigers actions the weaker tiger wished to copy him but as he got closer strong force grasped around his neck. The stronger tiger had been distracted for a moment because of freeing himself the stronger wolf instead charged towards the weaker tiger and bit down heavily onto its neck. In a moment of panic the weaker tiger clawed towards the body of the wolf and dealt a heavy injury on its body but it was all in vain. The other wolves used this chance to jump onto the weakened tigers body and bit chunks of flesh from its neck and blood flowed at a fast rate. The tigers eyes were dimming and growing lifeless after every bite and slash from the wolves. When the tiger had all but given up hope he remembered his comrade who had to face the same humiliation and pain. His eyes were filled with resolve as he used his claws to slash in a ferocious manner, completely ignoring inflicting wounds on himself. If he could inflict a heavy wound onto the wolves to give his comrade a chance to live he would pay the price. The stronger tiger pounced towards the wolves in madness, he had completely lost all of his rationality and sense for battle after seeing his comrade on the verge of death. The stronger wolf had taken a few heavy blows from the stronger and weaker tigers and the other wolves injuries weren''t light either but they could still fight. In their eyes the victory was theirs! The tiger ignored any wounds inflicted as the wolves used a similar tactic to bring him down but it was not working. When they attacked he would avoid dodging or being attacked and focus on only one target. His body became mangled, blood flowing out of his many wounds and he looked terrifying. He charged and finally grabbed the 3rd spirit gathering wolf within his jaws. He stood proudly with his bloody body as he lifted the wolf into the air and slammed him into the ground. His comrade had already died, he felt sorrowful and guilty but he had a duty to kill as many of these wolves as he could before his life ended. The wolves kept their attacks going after he killed the wolf not giving him a moment to rest but in their hearts they truly began to fear the tigers strength. 43 Shattered Plans The wolves quickly pulled themselves back into focussing on their sole target, so long as they finished off this tiger their task would be completed. After that they would only have to assist the other groups to hunt down the weaker members of the tiger clan. Their gazes turned serious as they circled the weakened tiger preparing for another attack. The wolves got closer and closer until the remaining weaker wolves pounced onto the Tigers back and held on until the tiger finally felt weak and collapsed. Completely weak from blood loss and his body no longer able to feel any reserves of energy to fight back he felt the hopelessness of his final struggles. Perhaps his last struggles had bought enough time for their younger generation to escape. The stronger wolf arrogantly approached the tiger and revealed a vicious smile. The tiger could do nothing but watch as the figure in front of him slowly grew closer, the closer the figure got the more he felt his life was coming to an end. Seeing the tiger no longer could put up any resistance the wolf prepared to deliver the final blow as its claws aimed for the tigers neck. A loud shriek came from the side of them as a small figure crawled towards the pack of wolves letting out a cry. "Rescue me! Rescue me! They captured me and father! Hurry up and save me you fools!" The wolves were dumbfounded by the scene. What they saw was a little wolf who had blood flowing from his legs where the broken bones were showing from his wounds. His legs could no longer walk so he did his best to use his body and head to crawl at his fastest speed towards those who could save his life. He felt cold, as he used his energy more frantically the coldness spread and his movements became slower as time passed. Just as the stronger wolf was about to move to help the young wolf he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He looked down to see the defeated tiger had bit down onto his leg when he was distracted! He was going to finish off the tiger who would not let go when he heard the sound of shattering. The little wolf who had tried his best to escape wailed in despair. "No¡­n¡­nooooo!" The coldness spread through his body and every part of his muscles, skin, bones and blood froze. Until a crack formed on his despair filled face which had become frozen. The crack spread throughout his body until parts of his body fell to the ground and shattered into many pieces of bloody broken ice. During the time of the first distraction a small figure hopped into the battle alone and showed a fearless look on his face. Completely distracted enemies, his fast speed and his training from Shadow the small white rabbit began his attack on the weaker wolves. The first attack was on the wolves on the tigers back, he jumped up and struck them lightly before jumping to the next leaving behind a trace of his ice spirit energy in their bodies. The attacks were done silently and could be considered as unnoticeable for those attacked, they would only feel a slight chill and would not hurt their bodies from the physical attack. However as time went on the ice energy would spread through their bodies unless they expelled it from their bodies. Unfortunately not realising they had been attacked the wolves felt nothing was wrong. The stronger wolf had been distracted the second time witnessed the younger wolf shatter into many pieces had become increasingly shocked at the scene. The other wolves let out groans as their bodies shivered and a light kick landed onto the back of the neck of the stronger wolf. Alerted by the sudden attack he turned his body towards the figure and his eyes locked onto a small white figure that had attacked him. The little white rabbits red eyes were showing a look full of mockery as he stood apart from the wolf. Enraged by the rabbit the wolf was ready to pounce and tear this rude little pest into pieces! Only then did he remember he could not move as the tiger was still holding on to his leg and would not leg go. The little rabbit let out a light chuckle as he spoke. "Go." Appearing from different directions a pair of jackals and other spirit beasts appeared ready for battle. The wolves grew anxious but they only had one way out of this mess, they had to risk everything to run away and inform the others! A chill was slowly spreading through the weaker wolves bodies and soon they would not be able to put up much of a resistance, much less escape. The only one aware of the ice spirit energy in their bodies was the stronger wolf but were the enemy going to give him time to remove it? Definitely not! 44 Lynx’ charge! The two jackals immediately charged towards the stronger wolf who was trapped by the tigers last struggles. After joining Shadow and Korah and spending their time increasing their strength, they had been with them for the longest time while the other beasts joined a little later. So it was only natural that they showed no hesitation and immediately attacked upon Korahs order. The other beasts were a little weaker than the jackals but seeing others advancing to battle they could only follow. Everyone knew that the little rabbit did not talk much and was cold towards others but was close to their leader so they had to listen to his orders. Some beasts thought they should deserve his position next to the lady boss but upon seeing his skilful display earlier they were deeply moved. He had made use of the stronger wolf being distracted to deliver light attacks to the wolves on the first distraction so he could attack and go unnoticed leaving behind his ice spirit energy on their bodies. The enemy did not notice the attack as it only felt like a light tap, when trying to hold the tiger down on the ground why would they take the time to investigate something so insignificant? During the second distraction he attacked the wolf successfully and made the whole situation change in a short amount of time. Their gazes towards the little rabbit had completely changed to respect as they were aware he had completely handled the situation alone and prepared the stage for them to make their move. A Lynx was the first to charge forward at a fast speed, she had completely surpassed the jackals just as they got close to the stronger wolf. The other beasts followed behind and tried their best to catch up. It was clear who would have the most accomplishments today due to their displays, sadly the Lynx was a little too eager as she jumped in alone before the others to help her. Without any plans or help she leapt into the air and bit heavily onto one of the weaker wolves neck which had been biting into the tiger to make it let go of their leader. As she did that the wolf shrieked and let go of the tiger and fell down onto the ground. After enduring the fall she quickly got back up to attack again. The wolf was injured from the fall and blood flowed from the bite marks on his neck, he was completely enraged at the sudden attack. He looked up and saw the figure quickly leap up from the ground and relentlessly pursue him as he tried to roll his body so that he could get back onto his feet as he landed on his back during the fall. Wasting no time at all her teeth arrived at the wolfs neck once again and sunk deeper into his flesh and bit down hard. With a few tugs she ripped some flesh from his neck leaving behind a fatal heavy wound which blood flowed from endlessly. The wolf had been in a complete panic as he endured the pain, with every little struggle he felt his limbs growing colder but before he knew it he felt all of his vitality slipping away after the Lynx'' fierce attack. He tried his best to hold on but his body grew limp on the floor and his breathing stopped. The Lynx did not stop to look at his now lifeless eyes as she had already been locked onto a new target. The remaining wolves became more alert upon witnessing her attack and had entirely focussed on her. From behind the remaining beasts pounced onto them and began to bite and claw at their flesh in a frenzy of attacks. The Lynx looked towards the little rabbit expectantly, only to see his cold red eyes overlooking the area with his long ears pointed upwards listening for any changes. She smiled playfully as she knew the little boss was watching out for them, meaning they could attack freely and he would let them know if there is any trouble. On their first meeting she believed he would be a tasty meal but after a quick exchange she felt the little rabbit was quite interesting. He may not be strong but he was very quick, nimble and his ice spirit energy was troublesome to his enemies. After a few exchanges she gave up fighting him, in the beginning she went easy on him but quickly she had to take him a little more seriously after seeing his unpredictable movements and his serious looking gaze. She quickly joined the group voluntarily because she had a good feeling this small group may encounter many exciting things and the deer and rabbit duo seemed reliable allies. As she looked upon the rabbit she felt that he was very trustworthy. She had been the forth member to join the group of beasts so she was not ranked higher than the jackals and a small snake but from what she had been told by Shadow was that those who contribute are valued. If she can achieve something big then she is positive that her place in the group will get better. Her thinking was not wrong but she forgot that it was a group battle, if she rushed out like this in the future she would have nobody to back her up if the enemy was tougher to deal with. It was just lucky that this battle was merely a test in Shadows eyes, she was not expecting any deaths on her side. 45 No Mercy The stronger wolf was still bleeding from his leg as the tiger was beginning to lose his strength and loosened his grip a little. The two jackals snarled as they attacked before the wolf could get free, the younger jackal attacked from the left side of the wolf as the older jackal attacked the right. The wolfs body could not position itself to face the attacks as he was still trapped, he was completely furious at this turn of events. A few moments ago he was gloating and savouring his victory as he hoped to burn his image into the tigers mind causing him to be fearful and beg for his life. After a short time he had been attacked by a rabbit and a cold feeling ran through his body and he couldn''t help but shiver. One of his group had been removed from the back of the tiger before the pair of jackals attacked his sides. Suffering scratch marks on his left and a bite on his right, he fiercely struggled to get loose from the tigers grip. The tiger took his final breaths and closed his eyes. He struggled to free himself some more as he was injured once again by the jackals, one bite wound on his stomach and another on his back. Clearly the pair of jackals had worked on their coordinated attacks, whenever one attacked the other would attack from the opposite location to confuse the enemy. The wolfs leg finally came loose from the tigers death grip, he became excited and his gaze quickly turned murderous towards the jackals who had injured him! He prepared to attack and get his revenge when a figure pounced onto the the wolf at a fast speed and bit onto the back of his his neck ruthlessly. His body lost his strength as he had felt the jaws of the beast grip around the back of his neck and the body weight of the beast added towards his legs weakening to support his body to stand. Especially after injuring his legs and suffering several attacks he felt he could no longer stand. He grew increasingly resentful as he wailed in pain, looking towards his last trace of hope he saw a scene which terrified him. The remaining wolves were powerless to resist so many beasts attacking together, their bodies became bloody and full of wounds. Several beasts clung onto their bodies on their back forcing them to lose strength in their legs to keep standing. After falling the beasts made use of the opening to bite and scratch at the wolves stomach and neck quickly killing them. "No¡­noooo.. Please do.." The stronger wolf saw that there was no hope in surviving if he continued to fight, his eyes glowed with cunning. If he could live through this by tricking them to think he would no longer be a threat towards them, he swore he would do anything to get revenge, even sell himself to his most hated enemies if they helped him kill all those present today! Before he could finish speaking he was delivered a death blow by the older jackal. The older jackal was more aware of their bosses views towards this battle. The wolves were so ruthless to want to exterminate the tiger clan over a small matter, if they were to let any of them off now then wolves would definitely want revenge. In this fight there would be no mercy, after seeing the look in the wolfs eyes as he pleaded for his life the jackal could tell that the wolf was plotting something. Not wanting to risk the lives of his group he decided to swiftly end the wolfs life. Watching this scene the little rabbit nodded his head in approval towards the jackals actions as he thought to himself. ''If an enemy begged for their life in front of the wolf, he would not spare them so why should we show him mercy.'' In another location the smell of blood lingered in the air. Numerous corpses were laying on the ground and two figures stood over them panting heavily trying to catch their breath and their bodies had several scratch marks. The larger figure straightened his body as he looked towards the direction where the other battles were happening and frowned. He was the elderly wolf who had been struggling for power within the wolf clan who had lead his group and killed another two tigers sacrificing several of his own during the battle. He frowned and ordered the other wolf. "Something does not feel right, we should go and meet up with the closest group and finish off the rest of the tiger clan before they escape. They are desperate in trying to hold us back so they can let the young and weak escape, we must catch them before they get away¡­we have already been delayed enough." With his age and experience he quickly arrived at the conclusion, he had seen many similar situations where his enemy acted in such a desperate manner. The two wolves set off on their journey to meet up with the remaining wolf pack who had already dealt with their pair of tigers. Their group did not lose as many life''s as the older wolfs group leaving four alive. They sent out a howl to let the others know they had completed their task. The elderly wolf heard the howl and knew they were not too far away so quickly ran to join them. Korah heard the howl as his group gathered around him after killing the wolves, collecting their beast cores from the dead bodies and he frowned towards the direction of the howl. "Let''s go." Shadow heard the howl and looked over towards the tiger clan leader and his mate. "You both are injured, stay here and collect the beast cores then you can rest up and recover. I will go deal with the rest, it seems that the wolves have succeeded in their attacks in the other locations." "Please save our children and we swear we will do anything you ask." The pair of lovers nodded their heads with an expectant look in their eyes as they thought. ''If anyone can save the rest of the clan it would definitely be this group of beasts.'' 46 Escape! In the inner part of the tiger clans territory a small group of young cubs were gathered together, some newborn and others without any spirit energy and a couple of older tigers. Some of the older Tigers had not yet become spirit beasts while a couple had reached spirit gathering 1st and 2nd rank. They were accompanied by the young tiger twins, the brother had a proud and resolute appearance while the sister had noble and elegant aura surrounding her. They all gathered by the old tigers home as they gathered everyone together to escape while the wolves are distracted. Some of the older tigers walked up to pick up the tiger cubs to bring on their journey, leaving behind their precious treasures and anything of value. Anything that they wished to bring with them they would have to leave behind as it would only slow them down and lower their chances of survival. "Bro will we really be okay? What about mom and dad will they be safe?" The sister asked with a trembling voice. The brother shrugged as he gazed towards where his mother and father left and said resolutely. "I don''t know but I promised father that we will escape no matter what happens so we have to continue on no matter what happens next." The sisters body trembled as her head lowered and she sighed helplessly. ''If only I was strong enough to help the clan, I feel so useless!'' The sister had a gentle temperament and disliked fighting from a young age, she most liked cleanliness and had no interest in staining her fur with blood. Due to this she made no progress in the growth of her strength and combat abilities while her brother quickly became the pride of the clan advancing quickly in his strength. Faced with this crisis she could only mock her past self, what good would such things do for her now that her clan is facing extinction. The cruel rule of the world had been shown to the young female tiger, strength decides everything and the strong freely control the lives of the weak as if they were crushing ants. In the human cities a mortal man or cultivator could spend their early life training to be a scholar, chef or other common professions and build up their reputation and position within the city. All that had been built up from the hard work could be erased in an instant, one bad argument with someone unknown or accidentally offending someone from a powerful family or a powerful cultivator and their lives would be over. In the world of martial cultivation humans and beasts lives are insignificant in the eyes of a superior existence, nobody wished to offend the powerful and those from a powerful background otherwise everything they worked towards could be destroyed, stolen or they could lose their lives or freedom. Even some famous and arrogant cultivators who specialise in alchemy and weapon forging are forcefully made to submit and work for powerful influences like a slave because they do not possess the strength to resist. The only way to control ones own life was to grow stronger to protect themselves and what is precious to them. The same goes for beasts, the weaker beasts will be killed by the stronger beasts and have their flesh and beast cores devoured by them, their whole families slaughtered on a whim or chance encounter. In order to protect oneself and their loved ones they must strive to strengthen themselves and fight in order to grow stronger and survive. The little sister had been living a sheltered life within the clan and had not suffered any hardships from birth while her brother struggled in life and death situations under the strict protection of the clan. The little sister looked up to see the determined spirit of her brother and realised how foolish she had been these years. So what if she is covered in blood? So what if she has to hurt others? So what if she suffers injuries? So what if she has to kill? So what if she has to devour her enemies? In order to live on and protect those who have looked over her all her life, she must be merciless! She looked towards her brother once more before picking up a newborn by the scruff of its neck and began to follow the group. "Let''s go brother." "Mm" The brother nodded his head in approval as he noticed his sisters change in temperament. Travelling further out of the clans territory the group encountered a couple of weak beasts which the adults and brother dealt with swiftly. The encounters slowed down their pace and some grew a little tired after keeping the young safe and trying to escape at their quickest speed. The sounds of wolf howls were growing closer over time and the group began to grow restless. The picked up their pace and continued forward. Not too far behind a large group of wolves were moving in their direction as the elderly wolf sniffed the air and spoke slowly. "Their scent is coming from in front of us, they should not be too far away now." Just as he spoke the other wolves revealed an excited look on their faces full of blood thirst. The group of wolves had arrived at the inner territory of the tiger clan and found no one there and became enraged. Fortunately the elderly wolf had experience in tracking enemies by their scent and lead them all to hunt the remaining tigers down. 47 Run! The tigers fled to the best of their capabilities, making sure to not leave anyone behind. If anyone was separated from the group it would be like a death sentence, they would have nobody to look out for them and facing the wolf pack chasing them they would be killed one by one until none remained. At least if they stuck together there was some hope of finding a solution to their problem, even if it meant using all of their lives to take down some of the wolves with them. The sister and the cubs were up front while the older tigers were following by the sides and behind to keep guard and the brother kept watch at the back. The brother smelt a bloody scent in the air and looked back to see several figures approaching from behind he spoke in a panicked voice. "They have caught up, we have to speed up no matter what or they will catch us very soon." His words sent the cubs into a panic as fear took hold of their bodies. The older tigers grew more determined and had no choice but to quickly use force to snap them out of their daze, if they gave in now there would be no chance of survival. It did not take long for the wolves figures to get closer and be within the tigers sights as they glanced behind them. Their heartbeats quickened and the adrenaline made them forget about their depleting energy. The only thoughts on their minds was "Run!" The wolves were sent into a frenzy as they edged closer and closer to their prey. The old wolfs gaze grew serious with every passing moment, he felt something amiss in his heart but could not figure out what was wrong so he ordered. "Be careful when you get close, don''t just jump in alone." He was particularly warning the weaker wolves that survived the previous fights but also gave a hint towards the stronger wolves in the group not to let down their guard. Some of the wolves were followers of the clan leader so they snorted in contempt, not taking his words seriously as they thought. ''Why should I follow your orders?'' The wolves were on the tigers tails within a short time and began to try to target those closest to the back when a figure jumped out at them. "Keep going!" A powerful roar was unleashed from the new arrival, it was precisely the elderly tiger who had met with Shadow in the cave. His life force was depleting so he entered a deep sleep until the time was right for him to enter the battle. Saving his energy he rested up and then headed out in the direction the cubs were taken. It did not take long to catch up and he arrived before the wolves did, being an experienced fighter he kept himself hidden until the wolves were to harm his remaining clan members. Thinking of his children and grandchildren killed without mercy by these wolves he erupted with strength of 7th spirit gathering. He charged towards the closest wolf and mercilessly slashed its throat with a swipe of his claws. The wolf let out a short shriek before collapsing on the floor lifelessly as blood flowed from its throat. The old wolf revealed a shocked expression and then his gaze turned serious as he berated the others. "Didn''t I just say to be careful?!" The old wolf and the stronger wolves adjusted their bodies to a stop and got ready for any attacks from the elderly tiger. They gazed upon his battle worn and elderly body which seemed to be at the very end of his life yet on his pale face showed a pair of blood red eyes full of malice and brimming with power. "We will have to delay our chase for now, everyone focus on this old tiger. He is at the end of his life, we just need to tire him out so don''t be reckless." The wolves felt quite threatened at first but after the old wolfs reminder they calmed down. The group of tigers lengthened the distance they had from the wolves in a short time thanks to the old tigers intervention. Their eyes were filled with shame and others were filled with worship. Those filled with shame were disappointed in their lack of strength and their inability to be of any help. While those filled with worship deeply respected their elder and knew that he not only saved them just now but this would be his final fight. Unlike the wolf clans elder, the whole tiger clan idolised the elderly tiger because of his strength and his careful nurturing of the clan. He was strict and harsh at times but there were also times when he was gentle and caring. He loved to tell tales of his adventures during his youth of exploring different places, his battles and his meeting with his deceased lover. Of course the clan members never grew tired of the stories and began to seek to strengthen themselves to the best of their abilities so that they could one day satisfy their adventurous spirits. 48 The Brothers Decision The group of tigers escaped from the wolves and continued to run until they were no longer in sight, some of them had tears in their eyes and others looked extremely resentful. "I am going back." Spoke the brother as he glanced towards the others. The sister let out a shriek. "No! You can''t go! You will die¡­ Elder told us to run!" The brother sighed before shaking his head with a determined look. "The elder is at the end of his life so I don''t think he can last too long on his own against a pack of wolves even with his strength. At least if I am there it will hold them off just a little longer. Use that time to get as far away as possible." "Why? Why must you be the one to go?" The little sister did not want to lose her brother too, she was sure her mother and father had already been killed so what would she do if she lost her brother too? "I''m sorry, it has to be me. This mess started with me and I will be the one to make sure it ends with me." The brother blamed himself heavily for what was happening. He kneeled before his clan members looking deeply ashamed of himself. "I''m so sorry everyone, please take care of my sister on my behalf. I will be going now." His figure stood back up and turned around running back towards where the battle was happening without looking back. "No! Nooooo! Don''t leave! Wuwuwu¡­." The sister began to try chase after him but was pulled back by the clan members. She clawed at the ground to pull herself in his direction but something hit the back of her neck knocking her unconscious. One of the older tigers sighed as he placed her onto another tigers back and gazed at her sorry figure, her glistening tears dripping from her face as she lay there peacefully. The elderly tiger was deeply enraged when facing the group of wolves, he charged giving them no time to make any plans. He targeted the old wolf with a swipe of his claws but the attack barely missed its target, the old wolf grew even more cautious towards the tiger upon just barely escaping death. The other wolves began their attacks trying similar tactics to what they did to the other tigers and the weaker wolves jumped onto the tigers back. Watching their attacks the tiger snorted in contempt. "Think these tricks will work on me huh?" He shifted his body weight, placing his front paw onto the ground and kicked his back legs forcing the older wolf to retreat further. He quickly turned back towards one of the weaker wolves and grabbed it within his jaws. He held the body within his mouth as he sunk his teeth into its body and it let out a shriek. He threw the body towards the other weaker wolf who had also tried to jump onto his back. The wolf dodged the body that landed right by his feet, the stronger wolves continued their assault. A few wounds were placed onto the tigers body as he was growing tired, the wolves had suffered a few injuries themselves but luckily it was nothing life threatening. One of the stronger wolves had been circling around the old tiger with caution, a rustling sound came from behind him. There lay a smaller tiger behind a tall tree who had arrived back in time to help out. He waited for an opportunity, since the wolves were so focussed on the old tiger he waited behind the tree and kept himself hidden. When the wolf got close as it was circling the old tiger, the younger tiger began his ambush. He jumped out from his cover and jumped onto the back of the wolf and bit down on the back of its neck. The wolf let out a shriek as he felt the jaws locked around his neck did his best to keep his body from falling to the ground. He knew if he fell his life would be in the tigers grasp. Shifting his body weight forward, the tiger fell off his body and took a big bite of flesh from him during his fall. At the back of the wolfs neck revealed bone, blood and flesh after the tiger fell to the ground. This wound was quite serious and a moment of carelessness almost cost him his life. He was deeply enraged! This brat almost took his life, the wolfs eyes turned blood red as he charged at the fallen tiger who quickly stood back up. The little tiger watched his opponent approach and he became more focussed and serious. He had failed to kill his opponent and now he could only try his best to buy his elder some time to deal with the other wolves. 49 Sacrifice Facing the wolf who recklessly charged towards him, the little tiger dodged the strike of the wolfs claws but a scratch mark was left on his face. Blood came out of the small wound above his left eye and began to drip down onto his left eye affecting his vision slightly. He would not let this affect his chance to strike at an opening left by his opponent, he quickly got close and bit down onto the wolfs throat. "Foolish child." The elderly tiger sighed to himself as he was very upset that the young tiger had returned. However he could not have time to be upset right now, he still had to deal with the enemies in front of him. A few minutes of travel, the tiger clan survivors had picked up their pace and escaped further. They began to feel hopeful that they could escape now, perhaps there was a slither of chance that they could live through this ordeal. Just as they were feeling hopeful those at the front stopped in their tracks. The others had to stop to see what was wrong but they saw in front of them a large group of figures in the distance that had could barely be made out. As the figures approached closer, the tigers hopes were crushed to pieces, their escape route had been sealed off and there was no turning back now. Their small group was full of weaker beasts right now and their small clan did not have many allies within the forest. Back at the fight between the remaining wolves and the old and young tigers, the atmosphere was tense. The elderly wolf had not expected this brat to suddenly come back, their efforts to use numbers and tricks to wear down the elderly tiger of his remaining stamina relied upon being careful during this fight. So it was not within his calculations that the young tiger would return, he thought at such a young age the young tiger would cling onto his life at any opportunity so escaping was his best option. Yet he had returned, the old wolf forgot to include one thing into his reasoning. The young tiger felt responsible for what was happening to his clan members, his guilt and sense of responsibility lead him back here. His fight with the young wolf lead to his clan members being slaughtered, if anyone blamed him he did not know. Judging from how the wolves attacked so suddenly with the smallest reason it could be said anyone or anything could of sparked such events, if nothing happened now perhaps something may have happened in the future. After all beasts coveted others territories and resources, even devouring a spirit beasts flesh, blood and beast core would be beneficial towards increasing their strength. Perhaps it was better that they were experiencing this battle right now because their elder was still alive which gave them hope to survive. After the elderly tiger passed away, one of the beast clans would take notice of the tiger clan and wish to attack them after their main source of protection was lost, perhaps the first to attack would have been the white wolf clan. The old wolf assessed the situation, the old tiger was low on energy and would not hold on for long. His speed was dropping at a fast rate and his strikes were becoming weaker, so all the wolf needed was time to change the battle. Just as the old tiger turned his full attention onto the remaining two wolves in front of him the old wolf locked onto the young tiger who clung onto the other wolf as he used his body to bring the wolf to the ground. The old wolf believed if he dealt the young tiger a serious blow it should change the flow of the battle into their favour once more. The young tiger had been unaware of the old wolfs plans as he was fiercely struggling against his opponent. The old wolf grew excited as he ran towards his prey, as he got closer it was as if time stood still. He raised his claw and he leapt towards the vulnerable young tiger, his claws grew closer at every passing second. A tall figure appeared to block the path of the strike, diverting the claw away from the young tiger. The old wolf used his momentum to bite down onto the figure of the old tiger who desperately tried to protect the young tiger. From the side the remaining wolf used this opening to jump onto the side of the old tiger and bit down with his teeth into his back and their nails dug into his flesh. The old tiger lost his balance in his weakened state and began to fall towards the ground, with a final swipe of his paw he left a long claw wound on the old wolf who held onto his body. The young tiger who had been awoken by the sudden noises and splashes of blood nearby turned his sights towards the figure he looked up to from his birth who stood proud and tall falling to the ground in front of his very eyes. Tears fell from his eyes and he bit down onto the wolf even stronger and ripping off the flesh on its throat. The flesh and blood dropped from his mouth as he cried out. "Elder!" 50 battle is in who’s favour? The elderly tiger felt his body grow weak and unable to put up anymore resistance against the wolves. In his last efforts he blocked the attack which was intended to kill one of his own bloodline. Not only was the young tiger his grandchild but also the hope of his clan rising from the ashes and becoming a mighty existence once more. No way was he going to let him die! Exerting the last of his strength he did succeed in injuring the old wolf, now everything else that happened next would rely on luck and the young tigers strength. The young tiger was furious at the sight of his elder fall before him, he let out a loud and terrifying roar. He charged towards the wolf on the elderly tiger and intended to take a risk to kill him while he was wounded. Noticing his attack the wolf backed off from the the elderly tigers and turned to face the young tiger who was charging towards him. The fight turned into a defensive battle for the surviving wolves, the old wolf had just recovered from the attack of the elderly tiger and assessed the situation. Letting out a loud howl towards the sky he then turned towards the remaining wolf. "Keep the brat busy, I will join the fight immediately. We just need to wait for reinforcements and the other groups should be searching for us by now. They should find us soon!" His words were within reason, their clan members should have finished killing the remaining tigers and be searching for the next prey. They only needed to locate them from the elders howl and join in the fight. Victory would be theirs, they just needed to buy some time and not take anymore risks! Today had been full of surprises, first was the elderly tigers final fight as he was believed to be unable to do so thanks to him being on his death bed. Second was the return of the young tiger which possessed enough strength to interrupt their plans. Third and finally was the elderly tigers sacrifice and inflicting a heavy wound on the old wolf decreasing his fighting ability. Unbeknownst to the old wolf¡­much more surprises were in store which had completely gone unnoticed. Inflicted with injuries from their previous battles and their next fight with the elderly tiger, their spirit energy was running low and their blood loss was becoming a problem. Their injuries were also affecting their movement, their bodies could not perform to their full capabilities thus they began to show much more flaws during their fight with the young tiger. In a few short exchanges the young tiger gained a few injuries on his body, mostly heavy scratch wounds and a bite mark, he was also very tired from escaping with the others and then returning to fight. The remaining wolf and old wolf were covered in wounds and had lost quite a lot of blood but held on and kept up their exchange of attacks. Despite the young tigers advantage he was too young and inexperienced, facing to opponents he swept his claws towards the wolf but his attack fell on an empty target. The wolf dodged his attack at the last moment and used his body to slam into the side of the little tiger exerting the remaining strength he could muster. The old wolf slammed his body towards the young tigers exposed chest area as he sent the tigers body flying backwards which fell to the ground. The body of the tiger hit the ground heavily and twitched as it curled up into a ball defensively. The blow dealt the tiger a lot of damage and broke some of his bones and damaged his internal organs luckily he was still alive and breathing. At this point resistance was futile¡­ Whatever advantages the young tiger held were thrown away in a moment of carelessness. The flow of the battle changed once again and the wolves were to be victorious once more. Perhaps if he was more careful and planned better he could have bought more time and escaped¡­.even won this hopeless battle. Sadly he was too young and experienced and let his emotions cloud his judgement because of his elders defeat. The two wolves panted heavily as sweat dropped from their white fur, the old wolf took a deep breathe as he turned towards the young tigers direction and smirked. "Today sure has been a surprise for my old bones, on several times I have been delayed during this little distraction. Never mind¡­ The battle has turned in our favour once more. The remaining tigers will be hunted by the rest of the pack when they arrive so rest up while I deal with the brat." His gaze turned vicious as he thought about how much time he had been delayed, not only that¡­ He was too injured and lacking energy to chase the remaining pests of the tiger clan. If he waited for the others they would surely snatch the achievements and his reputation would be at further risk within the clan! He walked towards the injured tiger that had curled into a ball, as he got closer the angrier he became. Such a small and young child had caused him a powerful and cunning old wolf to be in such a weak state! His gaze only focussed on the young tiger as his murderous aura locked onto the small and vulnerable body that shivered after sensing his approaching death. "Ah." A small noise was let out from behind him as he heard the noise and looked towards the recuperating wolf. To his shock he saw a large cat on the wolfs body which now lay lifelessly. The large cat was the lynx who had rushed ahead of everyone else! After searching for the locations of the survivors, Shadow and Korah''s groups met up with remaining survivors. At first they were fearful of the group but upon hearing they arrived to help they dropped their guard and showed them which way to find where the remaining wolves were. Unfortunately the wolf howl intended to call for allies had also given away the wolfs location to unknown enemies! The first to arrive was the lynx who took advantage of the old wolfs lack of awareness towards his surroundings and killed the recuperating injured wolf. After the old wolf looked upon the corpse of his comrade who he just went through a difficult life and death experience with he felt a sense of loss and rage. He thought back to his previous words in a mocking manner. ''The battle is in our favour? Ha! This battle is who''s favour? I don''t even know any more! What the hell is happening!'' He lifted his head towards the sound of footsteps coming towards his direction, a large group of beasts lead by a white deer that had a small white rabbit sat on its back. The old wolf was filled with despair as he lost the power over his body after he saw the surviving tigers following behind. ''They managed to get help. Then what about the other wolf packs? If they ran into this group of beasts they would have trouble dealing with them split up!'' The old wolf fell into a panic. A cold voice came from the white deer that gazed indifferently upon the old wolf. "Pin him down." Very qiockly the lynx appeared over the old wolfs body with a playful smirk on her face. She jumped onto his back and used her body weight to push his weakened body to the ground while grabbing the scruff of his neck with her teeth. The old wolfs face was filled with shame and disbelief! This lynx has equal strength to himself when he was at in his prime condition¡­ No, she is even stronger! This large cat was a 7th spirit gathering beast! 51 The Old Pass On Noticing the outcome of the final battle Shadow let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps if she came a moment later a young talent may have lost his life, she could also sense a faint flickering life force within the old tigers body. She moved quickly to his side and sat by him placing her hooves onto his body, her hoof radiated a bright white glow which entered into the old tigers body. The old tigers pale face gained a bit of colour and his wounds began to slowly close up. Opening his eyes full of shock he looked upon the figure which had a look of deep concentration and let out a soft voice. "Thank you." "No need for thanks, this is all I can do for you. You do not have much time left so use it as you see fit." Shadow nodded towards him and spoke in a neither arrogant nor servile manner. He gazed upon the several beasts and the surviving family members including his son and his mate and their children, his eyes became misty as his body began to tremble. He let out a large grin and bowed his head towards Shadow as he lay on the ground before everyone. "Thank you for saving their lives! If there is anything I can do mention it." "We had already made a bet and I intend to collect on it but you do not have to worry about their safety. After today the tiger clan will be dismissed and enter into my territory. If they stay here they will only face attacks from other beast clans now that they have lost so many of their strongest fighters." Shadow tried her best to reassure the old tiger that her plans were in his clans best interests. The old tiger thought for a while before nodding his head. "Indeed I did lose but please promise me to treat my clan members fairly and do not mistreat them." "You do not have to worry about that, I am not going to say that they won''t encounter danger in the future but if they work hard they will see many new sights and experience lots of things. Some may die in the process but I assure you they will grow strong and brave facing whatever challenges they face in the future." Shadow did not wish to sugarcoat the truth in front of the old tiger so she spoke honestly. The tiger clan had become so weak right now, what they needed was a place to strengthen themselves and she offered that but in the future there may be a lot of dangerous encounters and lives may be lost. The old tiger let out a light sigh and understood what she meant. He looked upon his clan members and gave his final order. "After everything is done here please leave with those who saved you today. The tiger clan is now disbanded and you will be part of a new clan, times may be tough in the future but I ask you all to face whatever you encounter with a brave spirit that does not disgrace our tiger clans pride. These are my final orders!" The old tiger had a comforting smile on his face and closed his eyes and relaxed his body. "Take care of them¡­." His final sentence became quieter after every word until silence filled the surroundings. Cries of the tiger clan broke the silence as tears fell from their eyes. In their eyes their hero of worship had finally passed on and his figure was as glorious as ever. His peaceful death surrounded by his family and allies was a sight which was branded into their hearts forever and they would never forget his final words. Not only did Shadow give them a few more moments with the old tiger before his death but let him die in one piece rather than dying covered in wounds. It showed respect towards the old tigers final moments and their clan which further increased their loyalty towards going with Shadow in the future. "Let me go!" The old wolf screamed at the lynx on top of his body. Shadow was drawn towards his voice and walked over to him. In her eyes contained a chilling and piercing stare which shot towards his body which could not help but shiver. "Do not think anyone will be coming to save you, your clan leader has already been dealt with. The other wolf groups are dead, nobody is coming and as of today the wolf and tiger clans will disappear from the world." "W..what do you mean?!" The old wolf was feeling regretful as he began to figure out the meaning behind the words. "You were ruthless enough to hunt down and kill every last male and female of the tiger clan. It did not matter if they were young, elderly or even newborns you were happy to slaughter them all. So tell me why should I spare any of your clan? If word ever got out what happened today towards the young of your clan one day and they came seeking revenge on me or those involved then how could I forgive myself if I was too soft on you all and it harmed others." She looked down at the old wolf as if he was an idiot. "It''s better to weed by the roots of the trouble than to leave potential dangers lurking don''t you think so?" "No¡­ Please. Please spare them! They are innocent!" The old wolf pleaded in a desperate voice as he tried to move his body towards Shadow but it was of no use. Shadow turned a deaf ear towards his pleas as she walked away from him and her voice sounded out. "Innocent? Sure there may be a couple of them who are innocent but they will soon be influenced by those left in your clan who have learned from your clans ugly behaviour. Soon they will learn from their elders to be vicious and ruthless towards not only their enemies but their own clan members." "You are only capable of being deceitful and vicious, even now as you plead for your clan members lives you still look towards me with the intent to kill. Although you tried to hide it do you think I would not notice? Kill him." A blur appeared before the old wolfs eyes as the two front paws wrapped around his neck and dug their nails into his throat and applied a lot of pressure. A ripping sound followed as his throat had its flesh torn off, a look of shock and unwillingness was on his face. He wanted vengeance but he was powerless to do a thing about it, he wished his clan members that were still alive could avenge him! However his hope had been crushed by Shadows words¡­ Nobody could avenge him if they were dead! He could only curse the tiger clan and this group of beasts from his grave. The old tigers death was met with tears of mourning and a sense of loss coupled with a burning desire for the clan to not let his efforts be in vain. The old wolfs death was the opposite as nobody was there to mourn him, the surrounding beasts looked down upon his dead body with hate and disgust. 52 Reaping the benefits The battle was over and the tiger clan was given some time to mourn the deaths of their family members. After taking the beast cores from the dead bodies, their blood, meat and skin were collected and stored within Shadow''s storage bag. The remains of the corpses were buried within the earth to become nutrients for the soil and plants. The remaining tigers brought all of their treasures they had hoarded for over a hundred years which Shadow also stored away. With a growing clan what she needed most was resources and wealth to feed all of their mouths and strengthen them so she did not waste a single thing before leaving their territory. She was limited by her deer body which restricted her from doing delicate and more complex jobs which would be beneficial towards increasing her strength. She could crush medicinal plants and mix them together to make a powder useful for helping temper the body when mixed with water but the effects were nothing compared to the effects of medicinal fluids and pills made by alchemists or with tools. Fortunately beasts often collect their spoils of war and after encountering many humans they would have collected their storage bags which may contain pills and other useful items. She could allow the beasts to eat the meat of the dead beasts bodies but after the supply ran out they would have to rely on eating ordinary plants and fruits which would not be as beneficial to their training. She could not create weapons or write inscriptions to help with the fighting capabilities without human hands so she had to rely on whatever she had found within the tiger clan and wolf clans territory. Although weapons and inscriptions were useless to beasts they still were useful to the monkey father and son. After burying the dead everyone moved towards the wolf clan territory, under Shadows orders all of the wolves were killed swiftly in a single fatal strike as ordered. As there were young wolves there too it was better to not let them suffer from any trauma or form of torture before their deaths so every beast swept the wolf clan clean in the night time. Under the cover of night the infiltrators could easily ambush the wolf clan and end their lives quickly and without too much pain. It could be said to be cruel of Shadow and the group to completely wipe out the wolf clan including the young, old and newborns but leaving them alive was too risky but also cruel to the surviving wolf clan members in a way. The survivors would wish to seek revenge once they heard their family had been killed, even going to great lengths to do so. It was not that Shadow feared them or their potential to do so but she was careful about the other influences within the forest. After two clans clashed and one was left vulnerable the other clans would begin to target the wolf clan very quickly and the wolf clan survivors would either be killed or kept as captives. Some would sell themselves to their enemies to get revenge and would give all the information on what they knew to the other clans. Some may be tortured to reveal information while others may be kept as playthings for the other clans beasts. So killing them was the best option for both the wolf clan survivors and Shadows groups future. Why didn''t Shadow take them in? The answer was simple, they were not her responsibility and she would not help a potential enemy. It was best to stay away from the other clans notice right now as they lacked enough strength to protect themselves against them so both clans disappearing during the night was the best option. Returning back to the hideout at the bottom of the mountain everyone settled down in their new environment as the beasts got to know each other. Shadow went over her spoils of war with great interest. There were a total of over 10 storage bags, 5 spirit fruits, many different types of medicinal plants and a couple of weapons. The 5 fruits were fire spirit fruits which were beneficial towards tempering and nourishing of the body and spirit energy but were most beneficial towards fire attribute cultivators and beasts increasing their cultivation by one stage. They can only be consumed once as they lose their effect if consumed again but are very beneficial towards creating a stable foundation for a spirit gathering cultivator or beast. The harvest of beast cores in this short time had become more than what was needed. After counting Shadow found that she had more than twenty 1st, seventeen 2nd, twelve 3rd, nine 4th, five 5th, three 6th and two 7th spirit gathering cores. All of these were collected within a week of hunting in the forest and during this war between the two clans. Not only did Shadow collect a lot of resources but she also gained more than a dozen followers and after the clan war she had gained more than a dozen more! Even the numbers and strength of the group could rival those of a small to medium sized clan, though if they wished to fight one right now there were still have those who suffer heavy injuries or even die. What was needed now was to properly make plans and stay out of sight while they all work on strengthening themselves with the remaining time left before the month is over! 53 Animal Skin Map Feeling the pressure of the approaching family competition and the threat of the panther and fox families individual motives, Shadow began to empty all of the storage bags after returning home. Sitting at the back of the cave she began to arrange her new treasures while her family were silently using their cultivation manuals to refine spirit energy. Her mother had made significant progress during this time, increasing one rank and stabilising her cultivation while her brother and sister were nearing a breakthrough with the assistance of beast core provided by Shadow. Her father had made a lot of progress in his cultivation too and would soon see results in a few days time. Her eyes glanced towards her family members and her gaze turned gentle. In her previous life she grew up with no family members and the only thing she owned was a small patterned broach, she spent her early years in an orphanage but had to depend on herself to gather food to survive. Now she had been blessed with a second life with a family which she had once yearned for, perhaps she could have wished for a peaceful and ordinary life with her family and forget her previous life''s wish for revenge¡­ However the world is never so easy to live in, if she does not step onto the road of cultivation once more then she will have to helplessly watch as she loses what she loves disappear from the world. With every item in her sight she nodded with satisfaction. "Let''s see¡­ 7 spirit gathering pills, 2 bone tempering pill, 2 meridian tempering pills and more than a dozen injury pills. These will definitely come in useful!" Ignoring the stack of herbs, different spirit fruits and weapons her eyes fell upon a square shaped piece of animal skin which had caught her eye. She showed great interest as she picked it up and glanced at the front of the animal skin. The animal skin looked to be very old and had had a couple of holes in it and was quite dirty, possibly the previous owner had found it hidden somewhere and kept it for themselves. Drawn on the animal skin was a map of an unknown forest area she had not seen or heard of before and it had 5 X marks in different locations on the map. Although she held no interest at first towards finding the treasures as it could be a waste of time if someone had already found it previously but the humans writing below the map had greatly increased her interest as she read. "Greetings and may fate shine on you for finding this map I have left behind. First I will introduce myself, I am James Moonlight, formerly a child of a family that owned an auction house and catered to many wealthy and powerful influences on a daily basis. Unfortunately we got our hands on some rare items which were beyond our range of expertise, within our city everyone took part in the auction and even outside forces came to take part. Sadly not everyone would sit back and wait for the auction day to come and the strong influences invaded the auction house starting a bloodbath and stole the treasures. Left with a ruined business and our strongest cultivators crippled or dead we were in a hopeless situation. Our family sold the business quickly and placed all of our wealth, treasures and resources into five storage bags and buried them in five different locations. What followed was the other families in the city confronting our remaining family members to hand over our fortune, they declined and were killed! By law the families were not allowed to harm those who had not reached origin realm in their cultivation, those below origin realm were sent to this prison¡­ To avoid slaughtering of entire family we had no other option as other families would fear one of us coming back to take revenge in the future so everyone was sent here. This whole piece of land is within one big formation array which traps everyone inside and provides everyone who live here with a poor cultivation environment which is why the spirit energy is so poor. They said if someone breaks through origin realm that is the key to exiting this vile prison and I will walk the path of endless struggles to get out of this place and one day get revenge! The rest of my family gave up a long time ago and took over these lands living the fantasy of being royalty within their own country but I see things for how they really are! They are nothing but rulers of a bunch of prisoners! Even if it takes my whole life to reach origin realm I will train so that the future of my family can live beyond this prison and be great once more. This desolate forest is merely a part of the forest area that is between the prison and city I once lived in, I have tried to escape but the rumours are true¡­ I once found myself on the edge of the formation but a barrier blocked me from going any further. If I have failed in my dream I hope that I can give hope to a fellow prisoner to break free from this cage, I leave my families treasures to you should you succeed! My last request is if my descendants are still alive take them out of this place! James Moonlight" Shadow read over everything carefully and let out a sigh and was lost in thought. ''If this is true then the barrier set up must be a large scale trapping formation array, it is limited to holding mortals, spirit gathering cultivators and beasts. Which means in order to leave I must reach origin realm before I can cultivate in a better environment with better resources.'' She grew even more determined after reading this animal skin map and was looking forward to seeing the outside world. The treasures left behind also sparked her interest, a family who owned an auction house would have to have a lot of things helpful towards her cultivation and towards the other beasts! Setting goals is a positive thing to do as a cultivator with every small goal they set they can strive to improve themselves at a faster rate and push themselves further. Right now Shadow had a very long term goal which was survive in this world for as long as possible, perhaps one day she can make her way back to the immortal world and find out who was the main culprit behind her death. Unfortunately it had been ten years since then and many lives may have already been lost so perhaps she may not make it in time before the sect is completely taken over which only made her slightly helpless and pressured which was bad for her state of mind. Fortunately she had short term goals to distract her right now! One was the upcoming competition, next escaping from the formation array and after that looking for the treasure if it is still where it was buried! What comes after that¡­ she will have to figure it out when the time comes. 54 Lilith the Lynx Returning to the group of beasts Shadow nodded in satisfaction as she went over the information from the previous battle and the new members. Most of the beasts had already been taught how to properly train by themselves but had yet to be given a cultivation method. The only one of the group that had caught Shadows interest for now was the Lynx who was already strong without assistance. The lynx had been watching the newly forming group with interest but Shadow had yet to fully trust her. From the Lynx mischievous nature it would make things difficult for working with others and this was proven during the last battles. However she had paid special attention to her surroundings when she did attack alone, she was not being reckless according to Korahs observations. Her actions ended the enemies lives quickly and reduced the burdens of those on her team, her actions also drew the attention of the enemy making things easier for the weaker beasts. Facing stronger opponents she may have suffered a loss with such tactics but Shadow let it go since it was their first official battle. In the future mistakes would be made and they would be corrected. Sometimes suffering a loss can promote growth and help identify ones flaws. "Come." Shadow nodded towards the Lynx and beckoned her to follow. The Lynx smiled mischievously and followed behind until they came to a stop where the two of them stood facing each other with nobody around. "Oya boss what did you call me out here to say?" Seeing the lack of seriousness on the large cats face Shadow could only sigh helplessly. "You did well on the last battle which earned you the right to a name and cultivation manual. However the other beasts will be granted manuals suited towards their own bodies and attribute, I was wondering if you would like to be the first to test the effects of an unorthodox method since you do not have an attribute to assist you." "Hmm¡­.a name! I like.. But that would depend on whether it is something fun or not! Is there anything like that?" The Lynx blinked her eyes and tilted her head to the side as her body trembled with excitement. Previously she had heard Shadow mention different human cultivators and what to expect in the future. In the stories some of the martial cultivators had unique abilities to assist them in battle or to assist their cultivation speed. A lot of the manuals they practiced were different from ordinary non attribute or attributed cultivation methods. Some were even classified as taboo or forbidden methods! Taboo cultivation manuals can help increase the speed a martial cultivator increases their strength but they often have drawbacks which can affect their foundation and future achievements or even be harmful to the body if not practiced correctly. Because of those reasons most righteous martial cultivators look down on such cultivators who destroy their futures for immediate gains. Forbidden techniques are classified as evil or demonic cultivation manuals that cause great calamities by martial cultivators who grow obsessed with power or become insane from using them without restraint. An example would be the technique that Shadow had encountered before her death, her captor cultivated a forbidden soul method. By killing others and capturing their immortal souls he can refine them to improve his talent and power! Typically after someone dies the soul should enter the cycle of reincarnation even if an immortal cultivators soul had been destroyed but after such a method has been used the soul will no longer be able to reincarnate! The very existence of such a cultivation method itself was forbidden and it was supposed to be destroyed, anyone who cultivated it would be slaughtered without mercy because they destroy the very balance of the world. Unfortunately as time passed it had resurfaced in the immortal world and had harmed Shadow and her sect. "Yes there is a variety of different ones¡­ However if you want something fun then maybe there would be one that may suit you. I will get to work on making it for you and teach you soon." Shadow coughed as she began to think about the possibilities of the Lynx before her. Clearly she would not of wanted a regular method like the others so went ahead and decided to ask her to confirm her suspicions. "Great! I wonder what you have in mind?" The Lynx smirked as she grew more interested. She thought back to her many years alone after her mother passed away leaving her as the remaining lynx race in the forest, she fought alone and gained her current strength but she hit a wall. To grow in strength she had to consume a beast core stronger than her but she was now strongest of the beasts in the forest that weren''t part of a clan, if she killed someone from a clan then she would become the whole clans enemy and be hunted down so her options were limited. She could become a mate of a strong clans leader to gain benefits and a backing but she was the only one remaining of her bloodline, she would never submit to another but one of her own race so eventually she wandered and met lots of beasts. She fought to survive and grew bored with it, eventually it became a game where she would test their will to survive as they fought a stronger opponent to briefly relieve her boredom. Sometimes she would give them openings to exploit if she was feeling generous¡­. Some opponents would disappoint her as they fled which she chased down and killed, those who fought bravely would be allowed to live. Those who interested her would be allowed to live and those who disappointed her expectations would be shown no mercy. That is until she met Shadow, Korah and the group. She was surprised at the little rabbits sneaky fighting methods and his bravery when they fought. He seemed to be very young and not too strong but his fighting abilities were beyond what she had first thought. As she stopped fighting she noticed how the deer did not wish to help the rabbit with the fight too, she came to a realisation! She who usually had control over the lives of weaker beasts was being used to improve the little rabbits fighting experience¡­. Depression hit her fast and she decided not to bother attacking anymore, the small group had caught her interest so she decided she would stick around. Most of all she noticed how the deer looked quite intelligent from her observations and possessed a unique charm that drew others to follow her. Surely something exciting was bound to happen around these beasts she had met. "I will tell you later when I have decided." Shadow looked deep in thought about the cultivation method and grinned towards the Lynx with a cunning smile. "Lilith Ever-Reach will be your name how about it?" "Hmm¡­ Does it have to be ever-reach? Oya can''t I get a special name?" The Lynx playfully teased. "No, we are of the same clan now and we all share the same family name. I am sure you can live with it." Shadow smirked at the Lynx as she thought. ''Hmph you are part of the family now, you dare back out now? You won''t escape!'' In truth Shadow had some appreciation towards the Lynx'' strength and talents but could not completely control her actions because shadow could not yet defeat the Lynx in a fight yet without using despicable means... "Well then Lily you can head back now and I will teach you the cultivation method the next time we meet." Shadow nodded towards her with a blank face not exposing any flaws. As she thought of the cultivation manuals that would suit the Lynx she remembered one that uses flowers and spirit herbs to transform their spirit energy. So she decided on the name Lilith because it could be shortened to Lily a name of a flower. Lilith the Lynx left without any suspicions, had she known the reason for the choice of name perhaps she would have given shadow a scolding like¡­ ''How dare you name my great self after a flower! I am a fierce Lynx! A proud feline!'' Unfortunately she was a spirit beast, how could she know the names of different flowers? 55 Bewitching Lynx Ar After Lilith left, Shadow sat down with her eyes closed. She searched her memories for some time and came across numerous cultivation methods that would be suitable for Lilith. Upon searching she found one which was not regularly used openly. The Bewitching Fragrance Art was mainly used in female entertainment establishments to enhance their charm and attract male customers. The females who use this method change the quality of their spirit energy with the help of the cultivation method and certain herbs. It not only enhances the females pheromones but also when the female uses their spirit energy those near them will be sent into a dazed, lustful state or even fall in love them. Of course this does not mean that female martial cultivators did not use this technique. There were many stories of those who use this method to interrupt their enemies concentration during battle and even recruit followers to help with their goals. Some were talented individuals with great beauty and were successful in their lifetime while other fell to misfortune from using it on the wrong person and provoking them. Just like taboo and forbidden methods the cultivation method itself was a double edged sword if used incorrectly. Some females were killed for influencing a large population under their control with the help of their spirit energy, others tried to use their spirit energy to charm an expert beyond their power or with a strong will and was killed for it or worse¡­ Others used the incorrect herbs to use with the method and harmed their own bodies in the process. Thinking of the pros and cons of this technique Shadow decided on it, although Lilith had a playful side she was also smart enough not to abuse the power she had been given or provoke a powerful enemy. She had survived in the forest for a long time and while she was strong she knew where her limits lied. Upon deciding to use the Bewitching Fragrance Art she began to reorganise it to the lynx'' body structure. Time passed by peacefully and Shadows eyes finally opened with an excited glow. "Let''s test it out!" Shadow ran towards where Lilith had left and continued to run back towards the camp. On the way she checked her storage bag around her neck which was full of different herbs and found a small pile of herbs. Different herbs would have different effects and after effects on the enemy, if Lilith fought someone but did not wish to harm them then using a poisonous plant would not be beneficial both for herself and her enemy as she would have to absorb the herb into her body and combine it with her spirit energy. From the range of herbs within her storage bag she decided upon using 10 year old violet jasmine. Violet Jasmine is a popular spiritual herb, beloved not only because of its fragrance but also has numerous uses. The fresh herbs are distilled to produce perfume and essential oil, the dried flowers lend color and scent to herbal teas. While this herb has no effect towards promoting a martial artists cultivation it is a popular herb used by females to attract males and a common herb used in aphrodisiac based pills and fluids. Some use it in their herbal baths too, the older age or higher quality of the herb promotes the herbs fragrance and effects. It is a common herb so is it easy to find but also the after effects only include headaches and vomiting so it was a good choice to use and not harmful towards those who use it. Arriving in front of the camp she spotted the large cat sitting on her own who turned her head. Both of their eyes met and the lynx nodded towards the deer who nodded back in response. Shadow spoke up finally after a short moment of silence. "This cultivating method I will be teaching you will be very different from those others have learnt up until now. So I have a few restrictions I would like to bring up with you before we proceed." Lilith thought for a moment before nodding her head in approval, her eyes shone with excitement and showed a trace of impatience. "I will agree so long as it is not anything unreasonable." "Very well¡­ First will be that you do not attack others unless they attack first, if they intend to kill you then you may kill them. This will include the use of your spirit energy on the innocent or those we have no conflicts with." Shadow spoke again after a short pause. "Second is that you do not act without orders unless the lives of our clansmen are at risk. Acting before an order is given may disrupt our future plans or provoke an enemy we cannot yet handle." "Seems reasonable." Lilith was smart enough to know the rules were set for certain reasons. "Third and finally will be that you are banned from using your spirit energy on your own clansmen. Exceptions can be made during sparring but do not use your ability all of the time or you will neglect your fighting experience and become reliant on your ability. If you do so and encounter another female in combat or a male who can resist your ability then you have to rely on your own strength." Shadow gave a warning towards Lilith in a serious tone. "The name of the cultivation method I will be teaching you is called ''Bewitching Lynx Art'', I hope you will work hard on it in the future." Lilith''s face turned serious and nodded her head again. "I will listen to your words." 56 Laune’s Determination Shadow proceeded to instruct Lilith on her cultivation method while she set up a wooden bath of water and plucked the petals of the violet jasmine herbs. The storage bags she had collected contained many useful items which could be used for little tasks like storing water, wooden baths and other tools. When petals were added to the water it began to give off an pleasant and enchanting smell while the water also turned a little purple. Lilith entered into the pool to begin her cultivation, a moment after she began her eyes snapped back open after remembering something. "I almost forgot, the young lady of the tiger clan is asking to speak to you." "Thank you, I will go see her now." Shadow nodded and proceeded to go see what she was needed for. Seeing the figure leaving Lilith shut her eyes once more and focussed on cultivation. She slowly began to absorb the effects of the violet jasmine petals in the water which began to infiltrate her body. Her body turned a little flushed at first under the effects of the herbs effects but grit her teeth and focussed on her cultivation. As she had been warned by shadow, if she lost focus during cultivation she would suffer from after effects that would cause damage to her body. Not only damage would be caused but she would fail the first part of the cultivation manual, as she absorbs the effects and integrates the effects into her body and spirit energy she will become immune to the effects herself after mastery. Although she was not taught a cultivation manual she had been diligent in refining and tempering her spirit energy to be very pure and stable with Shadows instructions. She circulated her spirit energy through her body and entered her beast core as it travelled back out it left tiny traces of the violet jasmine within the beast core. If cultivated diligently the spirit energy in her beast core will gradually integrate with those traces and become purple spirit energy with their own unique characteristics. Arriving back at the camp Shadow stood before the large group of tigers and was greeted by the new leader of the tigers and his wife. The leader politely greeted Shadow as she appeared before him. "Thanks for coming, the children have been begging to speak to you." "No problem, bring her to me and I will see what she needs." Shadow nodded her head and waited patiently. A short amount of time passed before a small but graceful looking female tiger appeared and blinked its eyes before setting them onto the figure before her. Her nose twitched as she began to show hesitation but shortly afterwards her gaze turned firm and focussed on Shadow after coming to a decision. Observing the actions of the little tiger Shadow could not help but approve of this brave little child. Clearly the young tiger had strengthened her mind after facing the threat of her clan being exterminated, she was weak but fled along with several of her clan members but did not possess the strength to do anything to change the situation. She did not care for fighting and the pursuit of strength but now she craved it more than anyone and her only hope to push herself further would be with Shadows help. Shadow walked to a secluded space where they could talk and the tiger silently followed behind. "Speak." "I have heard that you have taught many beasts to become stronger in a short amount of time, but after experiencing my clan almost being destroyed I have realised how weak and powerless I am. I want strength to protect my clan members from danger so I must surpass them if I wish to do so." The tiger bowed her head before Shadow and grit her teeth. She was the pride of her clan, beautiful, graceful and did not see much of the brutal side of how the world really is. Not only that but tigers are naturally proud and arrogant creatures because of their noble bloodline being similar to that of a divine beast the white tiger so naturally it showed how much it meant for the little tiger to bow her head before another. However what good was keeping ones dignity before survival? No matter what existence it is, in the face of death they would choose whatever choice they were given in hopes of survival. Now that Shadow saved the clan in their moment of despair she would resolutely follow Shadows wishes and put in every effort to be of help to her. After a few moments of silence Shadow spoke up. "Since you have shown your sincerity I will ask you some questions so answer me honestly." "I will do my best!" The tiger nodded. "In the pursuit of strength will you slaughter innocents and the weak to gain power? Will you use your new strength you gained to harm others on a whim?" Shadow had a feeling she already knew of how the cub would answer after collecting information about the tiger cub twins. She was very interested in the female cub because of her calm and gentle nature, although she could of been as talented as her brother she did not take the path of bloodshed but now she grew determined after experiencing her powerlessness. She would definitely make an excellent and loyal follower if trained properly, she already had several ideas on how to improve her strength quickly. Normally she would take the normal route of cultivation methods but she felt that it would be a waste with the tiger cubs nature. The cub was smart but not impulsive, she was gentle but had a desire to protect her family, if she practiced a taboo cultivation technique she would follow strict orders and not act recklessly leading to the harm of herself and those around her. "No, I only wish to protect my clan! Once I know they will be safe I will serve you forever, no matter what you ask of me I will do it but I will not do that¡­ I know now from experience how horrible it is to be slaughtered on a whim by others so I will not be the same as them." The tiger cub trembled as she suppressed her tears thinking back to that time of despair. "Then if one day if protecting the clan meant betraying me would you or would you follow my words until your final breathe?" Shadow glared down at the little tiger with an intimidating glance for a moment but quickly withdrew her pressure from the young cub. "I would follow." The cub was shaken at first but she was not dumb, she clearly understood the meaning behind the words, if Shadow lead the clan and she betrayed her in the future that would mean betraying her own family too. "Why?" Shadow questioned. "I do not think that you would betray our trust towards you and I am sure you will have some way to overcome the situation if we run into any trouble." The little tiger looked into Shadows eyes and declared truthfully. "And why would you think so?" Shadow asked while watching the tigers every subtle change of expression and body language. "I just feel that I should place my trust in you¡­ Uh..Um¡­ Can I ask something?" The little tiger cub answered with a determined look on her face before looking a little nervous. Shadow inspected the nervous looking tiger cub with interest. "Speak¡­" C..can you please give me and my brother a name?" Her face blushed a little, she had heard few beasts had been given a name if they made a great contribution towards the clan or caught Shadows interest. After thinking for some time Shadow spoke. "I think Laune suits you and for your brother ________" "Thank you" Laune grinned happily as she was very happy to be given a name. Most beasts are given simple names depending on their looks, traits or their birth order within the clans if they even do recieve one so receiving a name after joining the newly formed clan had given her a sense of belonging towards her new environment. "Laune I am giving you a chance to improve yourself but remember that your goal is to protect, so unless I say so do not attack others without me telling you to do so¡­ If you listen well your clan members will one day be in a position of safety and you will stay by my side. If you don''t I cannot keep my promise to you, I only need your obedience and have no need for wild beasts who can''t follow orders." Shadow warned her in a strict tone. "I will listen to your words." Laune nodded her head with a determined expression on her face. "Then follow me, the next step is crucial towards your future development." Shadow headed towards the location where Lilith was focussing on cultivating. Laune remained silent and obediently followed behind. Gaining followers had become easy for Shadow when dealing with beasts, what mattered was ones strength and what she could offer them. However her end goal was not just in this small mortal realm, one day she would ascend back to the immortal realm she previously lived in. Building a strong influence behind her was only a temporary plan to help build her families strength and to give them a stable and safe environment to live. When she felt her family could live safely, she would be free from worry and ascend to the immortal realm when she became strong enough. So far those close enough to Shadow was only Korah the rabbit and her family, although Shadow had developed a dislike for men because of her death she did not show any rejection towards the rabbit because of their close relationship from a young age. Another factor was that the person who killed her was a male human cultivator while those she was currently surrounded her were spirit beasts which have simple personalities compared to humans. The smartest spirit beasts would be monkey and fox races which have a higher intelligence than most beasts and can be rather crafty and deceitful which was why her guard up against the monkey king and his son. Soon after establishing a relationship with them and their goals aligned she had lessened her guard towards them 57 Bloody Tiger Ar As for potential followers or friends to travel with in the future she already had some ideas on where to put her efforts. If she could gain the monkey kings sons loyalty she could have someone with potential to manage the clan while she was not there, with her help and his knowledge passed down from his father he would definitely make a great leader. The fox clan would also be a good candidate to help with dealing with clan management but right now she did not fully understand the fox clans intentions¡­ Lilith was very fast, dexterous and ruthless but also had a mischievous nature which Shadow quite liked. Although she was mischievous and playful a lot of the time, when things were serious she could be relied upon in a crisis so she decided to help her develop her strength. Laune and Elija were also within Shadows future plans, Elija caught her eye during his self sacrifice to give the others more time to escape and help his elder in battle. His quick growth, potential, bravery and loyalty were what set him out from the rest, although his actions were somewhat reckless and would of lead to his death. Fortunately his life was saved by his grandfather, from now on hopefully under strict training he will grow a little wiser and adapt to certain situations. He definitely has the capabilities to be a good leader in combat but right now he is far too young and inexperienced! Shadow had already decided he would be the protector while Laune takes a different path of offense. Laune came to a decision on her own that she no longer wished to live under the protection of her clan and wished to serve as a weapon to protect her loved ones from their enemies. After a short time within the new environment she had quickly investigated information about the growth of the beasts who had recently joined which showed her resourcefulness and wisdom. Meeting Shadow today showed that she wished to confront her weak self and tread on a new path for her clan, even if she were to do things she once disliked doing. Confronted with those questioned she again began to question herself and realised she although her views had changed she in her heart could not cross a certain line in order to gain power. This made Shadow smile as she thought about the young tiger, the tiger was young and decisive but had her own values she would stick to. She would walk a path of bloodshed in the future but would not become a mindless killer as she had her own sense of self and views which could not be destroyed easily. Thinking about Launes future path Shadow contemplated for some time before coming to a decision. Blood based cultivation manuals are classified as taboo/forbidden cultivation methods depending on how they are used. These type of manuals help the user assist their cultivation speed with the help of the vitality from cultivators blood. After cultivators begin to absorb spirit energy their bodies are nourished by it and their vitality is greatly increased with every breakthrough, those who are of a higher rank can live a very long life healthily. Those who train to a certain point can live past their bodies limitations and live for another 100 years or even longer depending on their cultivation realm. Just like how medicinal herbs, pills and beast cores assist spirit energy cultivation speed, using a blood cultivation method can help absorb vitality to assist their cultivation. Those that practice this technique usually have a heavy bloody smell on their bodies when they use their spirit energy after using it for a long time but have a quick growth rate beyond what they are capable of. However it is recognised as a taboo cultivation method because of the fact that the cultivator has to drain bodies of their blood to absorb¡­ Those obsessed with strength would go and slaughter many innocents just to obtain a breakthrough in their cultivation. Originally the method was used to train inside of a large pool of blood but there were cultivators who found that if they directly consumed the blood while using the cultivation method they would have faster progress. However as they practiced the same way for a long time and consumed more blood they became very reliant on it and their bodies deeply craved blood if they did not drink it often enough. Due to the craving for blood most lost their sanity and began to slaughter anyone and anything near them, their friends, their family, their loved ones and even their children. This is the reason why the method was also a forbidden technique, depending on the user the results would be entirely different. Those that could show restraint with this method could train at a faster speed than others, cultivators often make enemies on their path forward so there is no need to go looking for fresh bodies and slaughter innocents. Those without restraint would fall into a vicious cycle of slaughter, eventually someone will take notice and hunt them down without mercy! Even if they survive¡­ If they stepped onto the forbidden path they would only be destroying themselves and become an enemy of everyone in the world. However judging from Launes determination and firm answers to her questions, Shadow began to reconsider this method. Naturally tigers and other beasts eat meat so they would also have blood of other beasts enter their bodies but that would be broken down in their stomach and then leave their bodies so long as Laune did not absorb it during training the cultivation method. So long as she followed Shadows commands she would not practice the forbidden part of the method. After training in the forest and the war between the wolf and tiger clans, Shadow had collected a lot of blood from many spirit beasts of different strength which were preserved inside a storage bag. She had found little use the blood right now but the meat collected went towards feeding the clan members who could only eat meat. Although she had little use for the meat herself because she could only eat fruits and herbs¡­ Fortunately the blood could be used in this way to help Laune train faster and there were lots of different enemies killed recently with different strength so a training plan was already forming within Shadows mind. After arriving at the location and spotting the Lynx deep in cultivation with her body sat down in the wooden medicinal bath with her eyes closed, Shadow had already revised the method so it was suitable for Laune to train in. This was the birth of the Bloody Tiger Art, Laune the tigers future bloody path in the pursuit of power to protect the clan from any threat. 58 57.5 – Daily life of the little white deer side story The first thoughts of the deer followed with a sigh of relief. "I survived somehow!" After close inspection of her body and sorting through her memories her body stiffened up. "I now am no longer a human but a spirit beast.. But among the many of different kind of beasts I had to be reborn as a deer! For human hunters the easiest prey to catch are deer, rabbits, boars, chickens and other rodents and yet I had to be reborn as a deer." After experiencing several hundred years of cultivating spirit energy and research into different professions she had began to have a profound understanding of spirit energy cultivation and ways to improve herself! Creating a unique cultivation manual for herself, she greatly enhanced her bodies strength and her toughness to be able to fight with other spirit beasts. Also born with soul power or mental energy she is able to sense everything around her within a certain distance which is unique to those close to immortal rank cultivation or practicing a special cultivation method to improve mental energy. Unlocking her dual attributes enhanced her fighting capabilities further, opposing elements of darkness and light which can only be used individually right now unless she wishes to cause harm to herself. Unfortunately though¡­ Most of her knowledge had been useless¡­ Every medicinal paste recipe she knew, she could not make it even if she had the ingredients, why is that? She has no hands¡­but hooves! Drawing inscriptions was useless¡­ Using a weapon? Ha! Only if she holds a sword in her mouth¡­ Got to rely on the antlers then! Weapon making? How can you do that with hooves? Who knows never tried it. Delicate work like making clothing? No chance! Creating tools or other useful items? Nope¡­ Becoming a songstress or an honourable scholar? Try playing an instrument or writing with hooves. Preparing a good meal perhaps? Creating a fire to cook a meal? No wait¡­ The worst part for her¡­ She could no longer eat her favourite meals ever again! A Deers diet consists of plants, grass, leaves, nuts, fruits, corn and fungi¡­.which means no meat ;_; While carnivorous beasts devour their prey and benefit a little from the spirit energy that had been strengthening their bodies¡­ She also missed out on that part too since she was reborn as a deer. She could only eat the beast core then¡­ The rest of the bodies were useless to her. So in conclusion¡­being a deer is tough! And so the main character pushes forward to the next challenge and hopefully you will still be reading as she continues her journey followed by her pets¡­ Ahem I mean friends. 59 Aftermath Shadow spent some time teaching Laune her cultivation method before leaving. After Shadow left Laune alone with Lilith, the tiger sat before a wooden bath of blood before her and contemplated the reality before her. She looked at the Lynx that bathed in a fragrant bath of flower petals and then at her own bath before she heard a giggle from the Lynx. "Heh, just don''t think about it and just get in. It''s too late to go back now." Laune looked into the lynx'' clear eyes which seemed to see through her hesitation with a playful smirk on her lips. She looked towards the blood pool made from several 1st spirit gathering beasts and nodded her head. "I know." Laune steeled her will and took a step into the blood pond dirtying her flawlessly clean coat of fur and began cultivating in silence. Lilith looked towards the little tiger and gave an approving look before continuing her cultivation as she thought. ''This child isn''t half bad!'' And so the two cats began to take their own individual paths from that night. While the Ever-Reach clan was adjusting to their changes and teaching the new beasts how to cultivate¡­ Within the forest all of the beast clans had been sent into a panic! Other beasts came across the lands of the tiger clan and the wolf clan but were met with no resistance at all which was unusual since they attacked those who intruded. Investigating further there was no one to be seen in both clans! The larger clans got hold of the information sooner than most, not a single tiger or wolf remained in their territory but there were signs of a battle taking place. Normally there would be dead bodies but they had long since been buried so the clans could not find them, almost as if both clans had vanished within a short few days of their notice. It was well known how arrogant the wolf clan had gotten over the years so they expected them to start a war with one of the weaker clans. Some clans even made their own plans to attack the wolf clan after they lose some of their stronger fighters during the battle and reap the spoils of war. They kept their eyes on the other clans movements so who was it that intervened in the war between the tigers and wolves?! What scared them the most was that this attack was done by someone unknown to them and could possibly be a threat to them! Their imaginations ran wild thinking of the powerful beasts that could wipe out two clans within a short amount of time and then just disappear. Did the Lord of the forest wake up from his slumber? Is there a new threat that has kept hidden and has been biding it''s time to strike? Never would they have thought that the sole beast behind these events was a harmless looking white deer! If they did they would not believe it unless they saw it for themselves. And so the forest area has become highly vigilant and restless for every beast living there. The date for the hunting competition had approached and during that time Shadow cultivated in seclusion while leaving clan matters to Lilith. During the time spent the clan had kept quiet and hidden, any beasts who discovered their location would be killed or be forced into submission. So the clans strength only kept growing on its own, many beasts achieved breakthroughs while the newcomers adapted to their new environments. Shadows family had achieved an increase in strength, especially her mother. The monkey king had successfully been healed by Shadows treatment and while he had no breakthrough in strength he had improvements in his spear techniques with pointers from Shadow. His son had also improved his halberd technique with Shadows help and was approaching a breakthrough soon. All of the clans on ever reaching mountain had made their preparations for the upcoming event and began to head out from their homes to meet up. The monkey king sat on a large tree branch with his son by his side who was hanging upside down with his tail wrapped around the branch. They both overlooked the gathered clans of the deer family, panther family and the black fox family and the other cluttered beasts who had taken refuge on the mountain over the long years and let out a sigh. How many years had it been since the monkey king sheltered everyone from threats with his own strength when they were too weak to protect themselves? He saw many familiar faces but they did not look at him with the same respect as before, under his leadership they were strong together but now they were divided and each had their own motives for taking part in this event. The panther clan had become too prideful and arrogant after many years of accomplishments and started to ignore his orders. The fox clan had always been more reserved towards conflicts but lately their actions suggested they had been acting in secret and gathering their power for something. The deer clan were always loyal but lacked enough strength and numbers to help the situation. The other beasts were too weak or few in number in their groups to have a say or put up a fight against the others so they would only follow others lead, a lot of them were cowardly and would not intervene if a fight broke out. The monkey king sat on his branch overlooking everyone with a touch of pain showing on his expression as he gave another look at the faces in the crowd. His eyes landed on the harmless looking white deer stood by her family and being heavily doted on by her mother, the father and son standing by them like a steady and unmovable mountain and the sister who looked very excitable towards the events which will unfold. Looking at the warm family display he felt his pain disappear and looked upon the faces of the other clans. Jealousy, hate, confusion, disappointment, murderous and harmful intent and many other feelings he felt within their eyes which they tried to hide. Growing used to reading the emotions of those around him he already knew long ago when the adoration, reverence and respect in their eyes had changed. He stood up and looked down on the beasts below, straightened his back and finally spoke. "Everyone, today is the day of the hunting competition. The rules are simple and are for the good of the mountains future! Those from a young age that are capable of hunting to those below 30 years may take part in the hunt. Everyone can group up or go alone, the objective is to collect as many beast cores and herbs as possible. Those that collect the most will win, those representing the clans have the advantage in numbers so several groups can represent their clan.." Clearing his throat he spoke again. "I hope that you can put survival first over collecting the items stated so you will lose a point for every life lost in your group. I am here to announce that I will be in charge of the fairness of this hunt. Everyone will be checked before leaving the mountain in case of cheating! Finally¡­ The winning group has the right to nominate a new leader of the mountain." He once more looked towards Shadow with a look of expectation. ''Although this is highly disadvantageous for you I hope you can give me some surprises.'' 60 Beginning of the competition Many different beasts began to group together for survival while others joined one of the clans groups. Since the major clans on the mountain always contributed more they always received most of the rewards while the other beasts had to fend for themselves or work under one of the clans orders to be able to receive benefits. Unfortunately most of the resources in the deer family had been used to nurture Shadows siblings and with them being a newly emerging clan within the mountain they had very little to support outsiders. The deer family stood at the path leading down the mountain, old grey stood proud and tall before his children and spoke resolutely. "Since you have decided to join this event I can only support you all since you have all outgrown my protection. Look out for each other and come back alive that is all I ask of you." Their mother had a tear in her eyes as she lowered her head catching a few last glimpses of her children''s faces before seeking old grey for comfort. "Just come back safely." The brother looked at his father with determination and nodded. "I will make sure we come back in one piece." The sister giggled mischievously. "No need to be so serious bro." "Hmph" The brother snorted in embarrassment. Close by Shadow smiled at her family members. "Don''t worry about us, just make sure that we have somewhere to come back to." The parents both nodded their heads and stood to watch the departing figures of their children with a hint of nostalgia in their eyes. Not too long ago they gave birth to 3 children which came with hopes and fears. After time passed they were overjoyed with the brother and sisters potential which meant that they would not have to rely on them for long, more time passed and they faced dangers and grew even stronger and protecting those on the mountain. Sadly Shadow/little white did not seem to have the same fate as her brother and sister, she was destined to be protected and lacked the will to fight for survival like most beasts with her timid personality. Growing up she became a little unusual and mischievous which caused friction between the other clans¡­ From there she was sent to daily life with the other beasts of the mountain during the daytime so that she would be out of trouble and make some friends. Her family were filled with worry about her future until the day she suddenly became a spirit beast after her first life and death experience with the young wolf. Strangely enough, her change not only brought about hope for her family but others around her and in the troubling times where the clans were showing discontent with the leadership she stood up and pushed herself beyond her limits daily to escape the current crisis. Her father and mother began to take her very seriously, her knowledge and intelligence far surpassed them. If they had to guess they could be sure that she was smarter than those devious foxes so they began to treat her as an equal within their family. Meanwhile in the panther clan prepared to leave, they were sent off by their clan leader. He stood before them proudly with his chin facing upwards. "All of you must not lose this opportunity to prove ourselves! Today is the day that the leadership of the mountain falls into our clans claws!" All of the younger panthers stood before their leader displaying their undying loyalty. "Clan leader we will carve out a path for our future!" "Yes father." The young genius of the panther clan looked at the others in contempt as he thought to himself. ''One day the clan will be passed to me once I surpass fathers strength and then you will all bow before me and all will belong to me!'' "Very well¡­ When you arrive at the bottom of the mountain remember that there aren''t any rules against killing other participants or stealing their spoils." The clan leaders gaze turned sharp and ruthless. "Go and show the strength of the mighty panther clan!" The group of 20 panthers left as they followed behind their future clan leader, if someone was to get close to them they would be able to feel their strong murderous intent. The clan leader stood waiting for the incoming good news as if he already was aware of the final outcome. ''Hmph, old monkey just you wait until I remove you from your position!'' The young fox sat before her mother with a pleading look in her eyes as she begged. "Please mom I really must go!" "You aren''t strong enough to go on your own child there are far too many dangers for you to face." The mother fox shook her head with a hint of sorrow. "No! I want to be strong to protect mother from harm, I know the clan is mean to mother and you try to keep these things from me! I can''t keep being protected by you forever." Tears began to fall from the little foxes eyes. "Mom I want friends! I want strength! I want to see new places! I want to find my father and beat him up for leaving us behind! Please I must go¡­ Wu wu wu¡­" The mother fox looked at her daughter who she raised alone and was filled with anxiety and defeat before she let out a sigh. "Fine. You may go but protect yourself and do not take any risks, try to find someone you can trust. Whatever decisions you may make I will respect it daughter so long as you come back to me alive." "Thanks mom you are the best" The little fox quickly dived into her mothers embrace. The mother fox looked lovingly at her daughter and gently stroked her head and then gave her light push to leave. "Go my child." "En" the little fox nodded her head as she quickly left her mother. The mother sat looking towards the sky lost in her memories. ''I wonder where you are now¡­ Do you know she is just as adventurous and stubborn as you? I have tried my best to keep her out of the clans affairs for her own protection so that she does not suffer¡­ But at the same time I have excluded her from the outside world and now she does not have a close friend to rely on.'' She let out a sigh. "Was I wrong?" "No that does not matter now¡­" Her gaze turned ruthless. ''No matter what games the clan or anyone else have planned, if they try to harm my daughter I will slaughter them all!'' 61 beginning of the competition 2 The monkey king rubbed his sons head with a smile on his face. "You are my only son, my heir. Unfortunately there is not much I can pass onto you and I have to send you to take part in this competition among the clans¡­" "Do not apologise, growing up I did not work so hard to grow strong just to inherit your position. I just saw that slowly the mountain has begun to change as I have grown¡­ Everyone used to trust in your leadership without any doubts but the distrust towards you kept spreading without reason. All I could do was push myself to get stronger fast so I could be of help." The young monkey quickly interrupted his father, he stood straight looking up to him while gripping tightly onto his halberd. The monkey ing felt his heart grow warm hearing his sons words. "I do not know for sure who started this or when it begun but there are some I suspect. I just have no proof so it''s best we deal with it in a direct manner, if you encounter anyone from the mountain who are hostile don''t hesitate to kill them." "Yes father but what about the deer clan?" The young monkey asked. The monkey king thought for some time before replying. "The son and daughter should be of some support to our plans and have some hope for survival. The white deer is an unpredictable part in this battle, I just can''t determine if she will be able to help or not. Though she has helped us greatly with her sharing of knowledge and luring out the traitors." The young monkey scratched his head. "Didn''t she just become a spirit beast recently after 10 years? Compared to her brother and sisters talents she should not be able to compare right?" The monkey king shook his head with a frown on his face. "One possibility is she has been deeply concealing herself all this time to avoid catching unwanted attention, the other as everyone sees¡­ She recently became a spirit beast and is low on strength. However there is something in my instincts that is telling me to trust what I have seen, she has always been timid and weak with something unusual about her¡­ As for her current strength? I am quite curious myself." "Isn''t there a rabbit that is always by her? What about his strength?" The young monkey grew more interested in the subject. "This has also escaped my attention, he must of had a lucky encounter to help become a spirit beast as non clan members rarely get spirit herbs and beast cores given to them unless from their parents who go hunting. His parents passed away a long time ago so I am sure he would not have received any without a bit of luck. His current strength? A complete mystery but since he has been close to the white deer I would say if her strength has indeed grown at a fast rate perhaps his has too." The monkey king smirked. "I hope they can bring some surprises, I will be going now father." The young monkey turned around and walked away with his halberd resting on his shoulder. "Stay safe brat." The monkey king let out a snort. ''All these years I held my position I kept my end of the deal and delivered their clans my monkey wine. They benefitted from the alliance and grew stronger together but it seems they got a little too greedy, the panther clan is already showing signs of aggression towards me and the fox clan I suspect is behind this." "Can''t trust anyone these days." He let out a laugh. ''But who says I haven''t been busy too?'' Deep within the forest barely any light made its way through the trees leaving the surrounding area in darkness. The sounds of breathing could be heard, often roars and grunts followed by the sound of footsteps and snapping twigs as numerous different types of beasts wandered freely. Some beasts encountered other beasts on their journey which resulted in confrontations while other weaker beasts fled, it was a normal day within the deep parts of the desolate forest. A figure walked calmly forward without stopping until they arrived at their destination. The figure was precisely Shadow who carried a small rabbit on her back. "It seems that the information we have collected was correct." Shadow smirked as she looked ahead. "Boss, what are we going to do here?" The little rabbit raised his head and his ears perked up. Shadow lowered her body to avoid being spotted and looked upon the land which had many wolves grouped together. "Although we have collected many beasts cores and herbs during our time training I still feel uneasy so we needed a target which could increase our supply without targeting one of the larger clans within the forest. Luckily I have a grudge with this group of wolves family so they will become our target." After her family were attacked by a wolf pack she had encountered danger for the first time in this life but also regained her memories. Information came back about the surrounding clans and the wolf group which attacked and were killed were once part of this clan. The clan has many smaller branch families within the forest which have been increasingly tyrannical and unruly the past few years, some branches have grown increasingly troublesome to even the medium sized clans within the forest. If all those clans were to come together under the main branches leadership it could cause big problems for everyone! 62 Hidden Division Shadows eyes turned cold as she ordered. "Korah begin to dig tunnels underground near the entrance as soon as possible. Make sure to go as deep as possible." The little rabbits ears twitched slightly in response. "Understood." Korah quickly leaped off of Shadows back and began to burrow a hole into the ground quickly disappearing from sight. Upon seeing this Shadow grinned to herself. ''It''s good to have someone so loyal by my side.'' Born an orphan she never had the chance to trust someone truly as everyone has their own interests and goals, those she became friends with in the orphanage left to join a family or try to enter a sect or school while she chose to rely on her own efforts. Without status or power not many would stick around for long, as she entered the sect she was surrounded by enemies who were dissatisfied with her becoming the disciple of the sect master. Through many trials and tribulations she increased her strength earning others admiration but even when others became close to her she still felt alone. What they were interested in was not her but the gains they would get from being associated with her if she took over as the next sect leader one day. The day of the meeting of the elders was a good example of how fickle those friendships were, some came to give half hearted farewells while most did not show up at all. As far as they were concerned without the sect leader present she no longer held any powerful backing and now was to be used as a sacrificial pawn so others could live on. While being lost in thought about her past experiences she felt how her previous self was actually quite a lonely person who rarely acted on her own impulses. She helped those who she knew with her ability to treat their wounds in order to survive with the idea of equal exchange and then after joining the sect she did so as instructed by the elders and from missions to earn resources. She never saved anyone in front of her and never started a fight or killed anyone impulsively, perhaps it was her way of self preservation. Treating or saving someone in need can sometimes provoke the enemies of that person to look towards herself so she could not help anyone thoughtlessly, she was no saint who would risk her life for a stranger. Killing or harming someone with a powerful backing could be even worse, being hunted down by a powerful family would not end well. ''Perhaps I need to think on what type of person I wish to be in the future'' she thought to herself. ''I know I could not watch as my family is slaughtered, I also helped the tiger clan in a time of need and have given a home to many weaker beasts who were on their own.'' ''The previous wolf clan was completely slaughtered in order to avoid future troubles, there is also this wolf clan which is a bigger threat. I need to be ruthless in order to survive¡­ That guys words still repeat at the back of my mind, although there is some truth to it I will not walk down a path like that.'' She shook her head. ''Strangely enough being reborn as a spirit beast pushes me towards a similar growth style, killing and devouring others to gain strength¡­'' ''But who says I have to become a monster in order to survive and protect those I want from harm, beasts kill beasts, humans kill humans, beasts kill humans, humans kill beasts. It goes on and on endlessly and has done so since the beginning, where there are wars or conflicts there will be profits to gain and where hunting beasts happens there will be those who purchase the beast cores.'' Shadow began to smile to herself. ''My return to the place of humans may take some time but that does not mean I cannot make some preparations in the future and any other enemies in the future in the forest will be dealt with like the others before them. Without mercy, not one bit of their resources will go to waste too.'' Shadow was indeed a very resourceful person and hated to waste what could be put to use so whatever she gained previously had been put to use during the past month. Spirit beast blood had been a big help towards Launes training, the meat was given to the more carnivorous beasts, the cores were given to beasts who made efforts to grow stronger, the skin and bones were kept to sell in the future. Even the weaker beasts who did not have many combat abilities were given smaller tasks such as information gathering, maintaining the habitat and gathering herbs. Shadow looked at a nearby bush where a small green serpents body rested between the branches and leaves. "Go back and tell Laune to come and assist in the next battle, the rest will be left to Lilith to defend our territory from invaders. If my brother, sister or the monkey kings son happen to enter then welcome them and do not hurt them. If they become hostile subdue them without doing too much harm, I cannot have any information leak out to the fox clan so be extra careful during this time and do not be noticed." "Yes boss I will go right away." The green serpent quickly slithered away into the forest between the greenery going unnoticed by most of the beasts on his way back. The green serpent was from a small family of green tree snakes, they look harmless but have the ability to blend in with forest environments well because of their green scales and they only hunt smaller animals because compared to other snake species their venom is not as deadly. However Shadow had already killed numerous kinds of smaller animals and collected some deadly herbs which could be of help. Extracting the venom from their bodies and making mild poisons from the herbs she could put them to effective use! Combining the green tree snakes natural ability to go unnoticed when in such situations and a powerful venom they could be a great help towards her goals so Shadow thought of a way to train them. There were very few different poison based cultivation methods because those that do not practice a perfect one usually die from the effects of the poisons in their body unless they build up a strong immunity. Those perfect manuals however perfected the art, transforming their spirit energy and nurturing it with different poisons while building up their bodies resistance to poisons. One of which was the thousand poisons art, it focuses on training the body to become immune to many different kinds of poisons while also turning their spirit energy into a potent poison. So using this method after being made suitable for the green tree snakes, their venom and spirit energy became more deadly during this time. The snake that had just left was the family leader Martis who had showed the most progress and talent in training with the cultivation method so was appointed a position as head of the hidden division of the Ever-Reach beasts and loyally hid close enough to Shadow at all times awaiting orders. 63 sMiracle Doctors Shadow looked at her surroundings again, knowing nobody was nearby she focussed on cultivating while she waited for Korah and Martis to complete their tasks. Meanwhile in the Moonlight country the prince was attending at the martial academy and keeping up appearances. He walked towards the training grounds and heard many whispers of rumors and praise about himself, while he began to feel smug but hid his emotions from those around him. His appearance looked very cold and distant from others but everyone saw how hardworking he was. Blessed with a big family background he got resources and teaching from a young age which others could only wish for but what put him ahead of everyone was his own efforts. Followed by his side holding his hand was his younger sister who was rumoured to be unable to cultivate from a young age and suffered from an unknown illness. She had pale looking skin, red hair, big black eyes and small and weak looking body but that did not ruin her beauty, in fact it made others wish to care for her more. This was one of the reasons the queen mother heavily dotes on her but because of this she became a prop for her brother to show on a daily occasion to boost his public image and gain support from his grandmother in the fight for the throne. She looked up at her brothers tall and clean appearance, black hair like her father, sharp black eyes which show indifference towards everything as if nothing can catch his interest. Shaking her head she thought to herself. ''Perhaps this is my fate, I have been born to help my brother succeed the throne. I am not allowed to speak when I am with him, just a sickly doll to show off until I die.'' She had thoughts like this often as she waited for her illness to take her life, the feeling of her body erupting with heat had been happening more and more often lately and she could no longer stand the pain. Despairing her fate she still endured with the encouragement from her grandmother but when faced with the cold and calculating brother of hers she could only feel helpless. Several whispers she heard often. ''The prince is wonderful taking care of the useless and sick princess'', ''Poor child is still living and bringing trouble to her family'', ''Although she looks a little beautiful it is a waste''. Listening to everyones whispers and knowing her brothers reasons for treating her well in public her heart was beginning to close off from getting close to others, if someone offered her a hand to save her she would have trouble believing in them. Once a bright and happy child her surroundings and her illness had completely turned her personality to one without hope, whatever fate had in store for her she would have to accept it because she was without power to change anything. As the brother walked into the training grounds there was a discussion happening among some of the students who had taken a break from training. "No seriously I am not lying, he showed up a month ago from another land. A travelling miracle doctor who boasted being able to solve any problem." "Who would believe that?!" "Seriously I am not joking, he has set up shop near the forest! He was selling lots of unknown herbs and fruits I have never seen before and has been treating people without any problems for a while now." "So how did the news only reach here now then?" "Who knows, the guy seems to have something against showing his face and is very mysterious. When he set up shop some nobles asked him to visit their homes but he refused so he only treats those who come to him." Hearing the whispers the prince glanced their way briefly before letting go of his sisters hand to go train. He stopped for a moment and thought to himself. ''If there is a slither of hope to treat sisters illness then I will be rewarded by father and grandmother but I can not act in public for something like this. Brothers family will surely use something like this to deal with me, it would be best I go with sister and take a few trusted guards with me.'' After finishing his training he looked over to his sister who sat without a glimmer of hope in her eyes but then walked towards one of his guards who followed him and the princess every day. "Gather a few trusted men, gather information on this ''miracle doctor'' quickly and get a few horses and black clothing ready." "Yes your highness." The guard quickly ran away leaving the prince and princess with one person guarding them now. 64 Injured Four of the guards suffered from a stab wound to their chest or abdomen from the first ambush while the head guard tried to hold off the others sustaining small injuries. The attacks were done by low rank cultivators and mortals so it was no surprise that their attacks did not kill the guards. However because of them being much lower in strength the guards had ignored them as they were no threat to them but in such a crowded space with poor visibility the chances of picking someone out of the crowd would be difficult. If it was a higher ranked cultivator mixed in within the crowd then the guards would of noticed sooner there was a problem. Even a cultivator can be killed by the blade of an ordinary person if they let down their guard. The prince was surprised by the sudden attack, he would never think that he would be targeted at this moment. His thoughts had been on how much money he would spend on curing his sister and what he would gain from doing so. Although the guards kept a tight formation around the prince and princess the sudden attack was mostly aimed towards the guards. In response the four guards grabbed onto the wrist of those holding the blades in their body with one hand and with the other punched towards their heads killing them instantly. The head guard suffered the least damage grabbed the remaining man who attacked and held him down. "Who sent you!?" The sudden events of the attack and counter attack caught the eyes of some in the crowd and some began to push and panic. The guards drew out their swords from their waist as did the head guard. "Back off!" The head guard shouted as he spotted something wrong, the crowd of people were in chaos and bumping into eachother and he noticed more people heading towards his location. The crowd however grew more flustered at the sight of blood and the dead bodies. Some people fell and were stepped on by those trying to get away. Others began to shout at the top of their lungs and scream. "Murder! Murder!" The head guard grew restless and looked at the man who attacked him. "Not going to answer then fine!" He cut off the mans head with one swing of his sword. "Hurry and remove the blades from your bodies and cover up the wounds right away, there are more coming!" Removing the blades from their bodies, blood began to come from their wounds while the knife wounds were not too deep for 3 of them they could only use some cloth to bandage themselves instead of closing the wound. The remaining person removed the sword from his stomach while gritting his teeth because of the pain. The short sword had stabbed deep into his stomach and left a large wound much bigger and deeper than the others which was very fatal to him if left alone for too long. Even more fatal now that he could not get treated immediately because of the current situation and the increasing blood loss. The guards covered their wounds and walked quickly through the dispersing and chaotic crowd. The head guard kept an eye out for those he had spotted earlier, making sure to keep a distance from anyone who could be a threat. The princess who had a weak body fell to the ground due to the excessive movement and unfamiliar environment. "Ah!" The prince halted and pulled her back up to her feet with a little force due to his annoyance. "Your highness we have to keep moving forward, if we head back now we could be caught up in the busy crowd again. We cannot protect you with so many people around us." The head guard was quite flustered at the sight of the group having to stop. The prince looked at him with a frown. "I know, just hurry and get us to safety. Once I am back home I will find out who dared to plan an attack on this prince and I will execute their entire family!" 65 One Arrow The group with the prince were nearing their destination when they left the crowd completely. The run down shop that the miracle doctor lived in was within their reach but they still had to deal with those chasing them. "There is a path over there where nobody seems to be, lets fight them." The prince ordered spotting a dark and narrow path. "But sir if we step in then if there is anyone at the other side of the path then we will be trapped." The guard stated his thoughts. "Four of you are injured, we are being chased by at least 5 others with strength of at least 3rd to 5th spirit gathering. We need a narrow path to keep our formation so we can deal with what comes at us. If we fight in the open they will try to seperate us and take the the chance to attack me and my sister." The prince ordered the guards. Truthfully the prince cared most about his own safety, although he had the strength of a 5th spirit gathering in his 30''s he was often pampered and had little life and death experiences. He had sparred with others, even injured them during training but because he never truly fought against anyone who had aimed at his life he was not dealing with the current situation well. He would much rather leave the fighting to his guards, he had to also keep his sister from harm because he would be the one to blame if she got hurt. The guards strength was around his own strength and the head guard was 7th spirit gathering stage but because of the other four guards being injured they could not fight for long. They quickly ran into the narrow path and set up a formation around the prince protecting him tightly waiting for those who were chasing to catch up. The attackers looked upon the guards and the prince with cold and empty eyes, these people were clearly trained assassins who kill without mercy unlike the previous clumsy and weak group. Four of them clashed swords, while the strongest of the group stood back and watched with emotionless eyes. One of the guards had suffered from a sword wound and had become very tired, he was pale from the loss of so much blood so he could not be of much help to the prince at this time. The leader of the assassins took a bow and fired an arrow during the battle straight towards the injured guard and hit his head killing him. He always took out the weak links first in his line of work, helping reduce the enemies numbers as fast as possible to gain the advantage. It wasn''t that the guard was a huge threat to him but those on the verge of death have nothing to lose and are often very dangerous when they know they are going to die. They no longer care about their own lives and risk their very last breaths on taking an enemy down with them to help those who still have hope of living. Especially guards who have been brought up since birth to be loyal towards protecting the royal family, all of their guards are always ready to put their lives on the line. Four guards, five assassins, one cowardly prince and a weak princess left alive. One guard dead suffering a heavy wound from a short sword and an arrow to his head. 66 Ruthless Upon witnessing his conrade die so suddenly the head guard grit his teeth in anger and roared. "DIE!" His fighting style switched from defensive to offensive and applied more pressure to his attacker. Another clash of swords the opponents strength was beginning to weaken, another strike knocked his sword from his hands and then a final blow took off his head. As the head guard cleaved the assassins head off he quickly calmed himself down. He was the eldest guard in his mid 60''s, experienced in fighting spirit beasts, humans and had encountered many dangerous situations. Usually when he would erupt with all of his strength with determination to kill them there would be a peroid after the kill where most people would let their guard down. An experienced veteran as he was he would not show such a weakness. An arrow flew again towards him from the leader of the assassins, upon reaching the head guard he lifted his sword and blocked the arrow accurately. When dealing with assassins the best way to determine where they would attack would be most fatal spots on the body. Having dealt with situations like this before allowed him to accurately determine where the arrow would be aimed. A look of surprise showed on the head assassins face before aiming again at one of the other guards. This time he aimed low, letting the arrow go through the gap between one of the other assassins legs. The arrow passed through and pierced through one of the guards knee. The head guard glared at the head assassin in response after witnessing another one of his men hurt. The assassin took action because of the opportunity granted to him and stabbed the falling guard in the heart. In response to another death the head guard wanted to kill that very assassin, with a swing of his sword he cut off the assassins arm which held onto the blade still pierced into the other guards heart. Another arrow came towards the head guard again, this time hitting him on his shoulder. This time was not a fatal wound, a skilled assassin must learn to adapt to any situation and learn their opponents habits. The guard had his defenses up against him even while fighting but their were slight openings which he could still exploit. They were all humans with emotions, seeing those they had trained and fought together with for many years die so suddenly would provoke their anger and lead to making slight mistakes. Although the head guard was not as emotionally unstable as the others he still chose to attack the assassin in response to at least lessen their numbers and threat. The habit developed against the head assassin was to be ready to stop any blow which was aimed towards his throat, head and chest. The assassin had already switched his habits to allow him to gain an advantage in the fight rather than immediately kill the head guard. If the head guard closed the distance between them then he could easily use the opening to fire at the prince or princess. So the head guard was stuck in place to not only defend the prince and princess but also to support his men while under fire from arrows. Although the guards had been trained in swordsmanship they lacked any training in archery unlike the assassins. Noticing his mistake the head guard stabbed neck of the armless assassin to end his life quicly before the head assassin could fire another arrow. Another arrow flew towards another of his allies hitting them in the waist, this time instead of being killed the guard saw the blade going towards his heart without fear. He knew he would die because he could not stop this attack after being wounded twice so he gave up resisting and instead charged forward into the embrace of death. In his final moments his sword pierced through the assassins ribcage and came out of their back just as the blade of the assassin pieced his heart. Sometimes in the face of death some show their true faces, those truly loyal would embrace their deaths to allow the others to have hope in the future. Those disloyal or cowardly would chose to avoid the situation or cower in the face of it. The guards were trained to be loyal from birth and to die for to keep their masters but of course they had to believe themselves that they served the right master to be able to risk their own lives for them. The assassins embraced death because they had no choice, they were trained to be ruthless killers in harsh conditions to cut off their human emotions and become beasts that only know how to kill for their owner. The difference between the both of them would be their own free will, the guards had their own and acted on it while the assassins acted on their objective which had to be completed or they would be killed anyway. Another arrow pierced the shoulder of an assassin which confused the head guard, he had not expected the head assassin to be so ruthless to his own men. The guards were loyal to eachother while the assassins were trained to be lone wolves, they could only look out for themselves. To achieve the objective even their own allies were dispensible so long as they could live. The guard fighting the assassin was also taken aback by the sudden situation and paused a moment. However during this opening another arrow was already fired into the guards chest piercing his lungs. The injured assassin ignored his pain and stabbed the guard right after the arrow pierced him accurately stabbing his throat. [One guard, two assassins, one cowardly prince and a weak princess left alive.] 67 Stalling The head guard saw his men die before him and felt great pain. The prince who was calm because of his protection was now becoming increasingly nervous. The princess fell to the ground as her legs weakened, being exposed to death for the first time she who had given up on life long ago had become fearful of death again. When illness was claiming her life she had to accept what little time she had left but now in this situation where she would be killed before her natural time of death she began to feel how unfair the world truly was. Her death surrounded by her family as she took her last breaths had been replaced with dying in a place far away from her loved ones. She did not want to die. ''Not yet.'' The princess thought as she hit her legs to stop the fear from controlling her, if she gave up now she may never see her grandmothers face again. The guard took his sword and stabbed the assassin who had just finished killing one of his men. Another arrow flew in the direction of the prince this time. The sword was removed from the assassins chest and immediately deflected the arrow in the last moment. The guard looked upon the head assassin studying him. ''So he finally has a chance to get to the prince, but he is being too cautious.'' When the final guard was the only one left alive the assassin could have taken a risk to kill the head guard but instead chose to fire upon the prince. The arrow would not kill the prince but slow him down and the arrow had been within the guards range to stop. Another arrow flew towards the prince. The guards sword stopped the arrow again. He looked upon the assassin again. ''He is too calm.'' He thought. Another arrow headed towards the prince. The guard stopped it again. The guard looked at the assassin who showed no signs of anxiety. ''He is stopping me from approaching him by firing upon the prince, he knows I can stop the prince from being harmed...'' ''If that is so, then he cannot kill anyone else but is holding us in place.'' The guard became aware of the situation. "Prince hurry and take the princess away right away!" The prince looked upon the situation and understood his meaning. "What can we do?" The head guard thought for a moment blocking another arrow. "The only option is for you to leave with the princess and run to the end of the path. Run and hide away from anyone suspicious and do not trust anyone!" "But..." The prince did not know what to say to this. It was true in this area there were no allies around him, even a kind old man who would usually help someone in trouble had a price where they would betray someone. In the poorer parts of the Moonlight country some are going hungry, struggling to support their families and can be easily influenced by those in power. All it takes is a few coins to buy his location or even have many people try to take his life for the bounty placed on his head in secret. The guard backed away further down the path giving him and the princess the opportunity to escape. The assassin began to use his arrows a little more recklessly to try to stop their escape, he was now running low on supplies and would have to fight face to face if he ran out. His final objective was to kill the prince, it did not specify how to do it. Now all the assassins around him were dead, meaning he was at a disadvantage. All he could do is stall for time so that those who came could assist in killing the prince, he knows all too well that the master always has a backup plan in case of failure. The biggest problem was that the head guard was in the way. He was old, experienced and a took notice of the smallest details which made him a difficult person to deal with. The assassin began to feel nervous upon seeing the prince and princess draw closer towards the end of the path. He could also hear the sound of footsteps nearing his position, backup would arrive very soon. Another arrow flew towards the head guard which was again deflected. The guard widened his eyes upon the scene in front of him, the assassin used his last arrow and took out a sword. The next moment three more men came behind the assassin, they took out their swords and began to try close the distance between them. "Go!" The guard pushed the prince who now held the princess in his arms out of the path into the deserted road. The prince held the princess and continued to run through unfamiliar roads and dark alleys, evading the sight of others and trying to find a place to hide. The princess fainted because of her weak body and the traumatic experience. The head guard chose to stay behind to block the narrow path to give the prince a chance to escape. 68 Final Struggle While the prince made his escape with the princess... The guard blocked the path as the remaining assassins got closer. His pride as a guard would not allow anyone to get past him! The backup group were smaller in size and weaker in strength compared to the group he had just faced with his men. Now he no longer had anyone to protect behind him, he could finally put his whole focus on the assassins. The head assassin attacked first, with the head guard being injured from the arrow earlier he could not make full use of his strength. He mustered enough strength tobarely push the assassin back with the clash of swords The other assassins followed with a coordinated attack striking together. The head guard responded by sweeping his sword in front of him. His sword did cut through the first assassin but only knocked the sword from the second assassins hands. The third assassin escaped the blow luckily thanks to being the last one to be hit by the swing of the sword. The first assassins death helped to delay the swing of the sword, the second assassin losing his sword did also granting enough time for the third to avoid death. Thanks to this opening created the third assassin saw an opening in the guards defenses at that moment. He pierced his sword through the guards waist, feeling that he had succeeded in stopping the guard. The guard who was pierced suppressed his pain, grabbing onto the man. Just as the head assassin attacked again the third assassin was pushed in front of the blade. The third assassin was pierced by the head assassin, a look of shock was on the head assassins face. Removing his sword from the assassin he looked upon the pale looking old guard and could not help but admire him for a moment. Even with the odds against him he still found ways to delay them, unfortunately they had no time to waist on him. The prince was out of sight and they had to find him or they would fail the mission which means death! "Pick up your sword!" He ordered the secondassassin. The first assassin had already died from heavy blood loss from his wound, the third had also from being pierced by his own ally. The head guards vision was becoming a little blurry because of his blood loss after removing the sword from his waist. Suddenly the second assassin came forward and began to attack again but was pushed back by the swing of the guards sword. However in the moment the assassin was pushed back he suddenly stopped. A look of shock and pain emerged on his face suddenly and he fell towards the guard. The guard did not have the strength to stop this sudden unexpected situation, about to deliver a blow to the second assassin something else happened.... The assassins face showed great pain, blood came from his mouth as he coughed and suddenly a long blade pierced through his body. As his body fell onto the guard the sword also pierced into the chest of the head guard. His body fell back and barely was able to hold himself up. Unstable due to enduring such heavy wounds to his body and the increasing blood loss, he began to loose grip of his sword. He fell to his knees powerless without a weapon in hand, completely defensless and dying. The assassin noticed the guard no longer had strength to fight and was so close to death, he no longer could block his path and he could go kill the prince. Walking past the guard he gave him a final look. ''Yes his breath is very weak and his life is fading rapidly, I need to catch up to the prince... too much time has been wasted and too many deaths have been caused just to kill one man.'' Looking at the scattered dead bodies of the guards once more he passed the head guard to continue the mission. However during this time within the guards mind he saw several images flashing before his death. Loved ones, family, friends, the men he trained together with, the king and his children growing up he saw them all. His heart was at peace for a moment but then he remembered the scene of the corpses and his dead men. He remembered he had not completed his final duty yet. There was still one more person left within the assassins and he was the most dangerous and a serious threat towards the prince! He remembered the men who sacrificed their lives to gain more time for the prince to escape. His brothers, they were all dead! Rage and bloodthirst pushed him back to his senses for a moment, he opened his eyes and saw what lay on the ground. He picked it up and saw nobody in front of him but could hear the footsteps that began to walk away from his direction towards the prince. Not willing! He was not willing to die yet unless he drags that assassin with him! Almost like igniting the last remaining sparks of strength in his body, he lifted himself from the ground and charged towards the assassin who was very close by. The assassin who assumed the guard would be no longer a threat did not notice the changes. Suddenly an arrow was thrust through his back piercing through his heart. He turned around in disbelief to see the bloody and pale guard who looked like a spirit of vengeance. "You..." The assassin could not finish his words when he saw the guards face turn peaceful and his body fell to the ground. The assassin only had a few moments before dying in regret. He had completed many missions, killed many people but today he died because of his own carelessness. 69 Dream and Snow Some time later After the deaths of the guards and assassins, the bodies had been discovered by someone passing by. Quickly news of this event spread through the whole country and made its way to those in power. Dream Family Mansion The animal skin old man sat in thought in his room as he secluded himself from others after hearing what had happened. ''After so much preparation the plan failed, if the brats of the snow family live through this then the moonlight family will begin doubting our loyalty.'' Suddenly there was a knock on the door, the animal skin old man spoke. "Come in." When the door opened the black robe old man stepped in and closed the door behind him. "I have sent people out to scout the situation, the prince and princess escaped the assassination at the cost of their guards lives. If the prince is smart enough he would of come to the conclusion that our family is behind this sudden attack, knowing this he will not try to get back to the moonlight family or the snow family until he feels safe." The animal skin old man nodded his head in response. "It would be an obvious move for us to get rid of all traces of being involved so the prince and princess must die. The prince may be strong and talented for his age but he still has to sleep somewhere and gather food so he will have to show his face, he also has the princess with him which will become a big burdon. Get the allied families to keep a blockade to stop them from returning to the snow or moonlight family and let their scouts search for any signs of the prince and princess." "Yes, I will inform them right away but why do you think the prince will not return immediately?" The black robe old man responded. "He is an arrogant fool but he is not completely stupid. After being attacked by low level martial artists and regular civilians his distrust towards others will greatly increase. If he wishes to return so soon with his sister in one piece then he needs to be constantly on guard against everyone. Imagine it... one sighting by a child, man, woman or an elderly person and that could be the fatal cost of his life. Someone matching his description will be passed down to identify him, when we find him we can send more men to kill him this time. Meaning he will find somewhere to hide with his sister and only appear when we let down our guard, to maintain this he will have to make trips to gather food and head back into hiding. This will be our opportunity!" The animal skin old man grinned but then came to another conclusion. "Also be on the look out for them in places where the death count begins to rise suddenly, if forced into such a situation the prince may resort to killing anyone suspicious. Maybe not at first but after being identified once he may begin to kill anyone who is could potentially expose his position." The black robe old manleft the room to perform his duties while the animal skin old man had a look of annoyance on his face. He had worked hard to raise those assassins in secret for many years, made promises towards the those who participated in the first ambush to make sure their families were well provided for after their deaths, sent one of his own nurtured doctors away in secret to begin gaining attention and helped towards spreading rumours to catch the princes attention. All of his efforts ended in failure, his goal to help their pawn to inherit the title of king and lead the country in the name of the Dream family. Once the child who was born from both the Dream and Moonlight family takes their place as king then all of the other families will be under the complete control of the Dream family and will no longer oppose them. After that happens then there will be no more trouble from the Snow family and their allies, if they still refuse to bow their heads then they will all die as an example to others! Within the Moonlight palace Seated upon his throne the king looked very tired as he looked down upon the leader of the Snow family. "You may speak." The leader of the Snow family bowed before the king. "Thank you your majesty, there has been no word of the prince and princess since their disappearance. All we know is that there was a rumor about a ''Miracle Doctor'' and the prince privately took the princess the see them. However according to our investigation the doctor has completely vanished and anyone involved in the assassination are all dead. The guards that went missing with the prince are all found dead but there are no signs of the prince and the princess." "So they escaped the assassination attempt and went into hiding... We have no information on who is behind the assassination or where the prince is hiding." The king frowned. "Yes your majesty, I suspect the Dream family is behind this sudden incident. They have been unusually quiet lately and are highly ambitious, the Snow family have lost many men during previous conflicts with them since the princes were born. Although both families have had a grudge with eachother for decades, the birth of the princes from each family has only served to ignite our conflicts further. We of the Snow family have been loyal subjects to the Moonlight family for a long time and served faithfully but the Dream family are very ambitious. I fear this is just the beginning of their plot to push the Dream families prince to succeed the throne." The Snow family leader looked increasingly distressed as he explained. The king frowned upon hearing this. "As much as I trust you as an advisor, I must remain neutral in the succession for the throne. That is until there is suspected foul play, the princes are to have enough strength to be able to keep the throne and the wisdom to lead those around them to make the country run smoothly. My plan was to have the two princes hone their skills as they compete against eachother but if the Dream family have interfered then they will be punished accordingly." "Then shall I begin to gather the family and our allies tocapture the the Dream family right away?" The Snow family leader looked hopeful. "No, we have no proof of their involvement. We cannot freely act on our own speculations without any proof, especially during this time. It will cause others to think I am being biased towards the Snow family which will cause dissatisfaction among those within the country. Others could say that we are using the missing prince as an excuse to go against the Dream family... what if we act too soon and the prince reappears? What if it wasn''t the Dream family behind this attack? Then we had not only accused the wrong people without any proof but also harmed them in the process." The king sighed "What should we do then my king?" The Snow family leader frowned. "For now put all our efforts into finding the prince before anyone else and investigate the anything related to the assassination. This event has not only taken the lives of five of the Moonlight families guards but also been targeted towards members of the royal family. I hope there will be results soon!" The king ordered. "You may leave." "I will get my men to look into it immediately my king." The Snow family leader bowed before leaving the palace. Getting up from his throne the king threw his cup to the ground shattering it into tiny pieces in frustration. "That fool! How could he just take a trip so far away from the palace without telling anyone? Even taking the princess with him... If they live through this then I will definately punish him for his stupid actions." While the king was unable to respond to the sudden assassination attempt, the Snow and Moonlight families resources were put towards finding the prince and princess to keep them alive while the Dream families resources were put towards making sure they never come back alive. The Dream family were increasingly showing their ambitions to swallow the whole Moonlight family to make it their own, at least they still had their prince alive to succeed the throne. The Snow family were extremely loyal towards the Moonlight family and trusted by the king but now that the prince and princess went missing and could possibly die at any moment their position they have held for so long is beginning to crumble. 70 Royal Pawn Dream princes royal study Seated at a table stacked with various books and scrolls, the prince focussed their eyes on the information before them very seriously. The prince turned the page once more very carefully and once more looked towards the next page. A sudden interruption from a knock on the door made the prince lift their head, carefully closing the book. "You may enter." An elderly woman entered the room and closed the door. "You have been working hard my grandchild, you should really come outside more often rather than hiding in your room all the time." "I am fine here, it is nice and quiet. So grandmother why have you come?" The prince showed a pained look on their face. "Well, I cannot force you child. There is some news that you should know, your brother and sister were almost assassinated and are now missing." The elderly woman carefully looked at the prince as she spoke. The prince was shocked at the sudden information. "Is this true? Who would dare to target a member of the royal family?" The elderly woman sighed. "We have no information but if the prince does not return I believe that there will be an increase in conflicts between Snow and Dream famiies. Although there is no proof the Snow family has already begun to suspect that the Dream family is behind this." "I understand grandmother. How is father coping with the situation?" The prince showed concern for their father, knowing he would be having a hard time right now. "He is trying to resolve the situation as soon as possible, unfortunately being the king puts him in a difficult position. He cannot show too much bias towards any of the families or others will begin to question his leadership. If the prince and princess do not return then he may be unable to stop the conflict between the two families, if it continues to get out of hand he will be forced to pick a side for the greater good of the country. With one surviving heir he would be forced to discard the Snow family, this would be the worst case scenario. If the prince and princess survive and make it back perhaps we can resolve this before it gets out of hand." The elderly woman explained while looking conflicted. "Even if the prince and princess were to make it back alive it would be hard to say if they will come back with anything that will be of help towards the investigation." The prince frowned in response. "What a terrible situation, is there anything I can do to help?" "It is very kind of you child but I just hope you can safely stay within the royal palace during this time and grow stronger. Then I will be at ease when you are able to protect yourself and stand on your own two feet." She gently patted the prince on the shoulder before leaving the room. The prince sat down before their books once more with a look of distress. "How can I stand on my two feet when I am just a pawn of the Dream family. Even if I do not want to fight for the throne, the old men will force the situation even if I do not agree." The prince of the Snow family actively looked for praise and approval from the king and his grandmother in the fight for the throne. Although his family were loyal, he himself worked hard for to gain as much strength as possible to take the throne for himself. His lack of judgement and experience was his overall downfall. Unlike the prince of the Snow family... The prince of the Dream family was unwilling to actively fight for the throne so chose to hide away. Destined as the pawn of the Dream family and born not as talented as their brother at martial cultivation they still worked hard in silence. In fact they worked even harder than their brother day and night without any praise, not for approval or for the Dream families goals but for to escape the shackles of their family. Although this did not put them on par with the prince of the Snow family in strength, the prince actively spent their spare time increasing their intelligence. One prince talented in martial cultivation while neglecting his studies, actively aiming for the throne... their location unknown. One princess loved by her father and grandmother, suffering from an unknown illness, wishing she could return to her loved ones to spend her final moments with them... missing with the prince. Lastly a prince who is unwilling to become a chess piece for their families goals, although not as talented as their brother they found ways to make up for their weaknesses... Still cannot escape their fate because the Dream family have already set everything in motion. 71 Launes change Desolate Forest Within a small valley the preparations were finished for the upcoming battle. Shadow stood before the valley entrance leading into the wolfs home, a little rabbit jumped out of a small hole in the ground. "Boss, I have done what you asked." "Good." Shadow nodded before turning her head to see the approaching figure. "So you finally made it." Laune stepped towards Shadow, unlike some time ago she no longer looked like her weak self. After bathing in blood during cultivation and constant combat training she had left behind her noble and graceful temperament. Now she gave off a more reserved and restrained feeling which showed how she had trained hard to restrain her emotions and her races ferocious nature. Her body no longer looked as weak as it once was, constant limit training and regular healthy meals had helped greatly to improve her stamina and strength. In fact her body seemed to contain a lot more vitality than an ordinary spirit beast thanks to the cultivation manual she had been using. Laune bowed her head towards the deer infront of her. "Yes master I have arrived." "Good, then we should begin. Martis you may speak now." Shadow looked towards a nearby bush where the small grass snake was hidden. The small snake slithered down the branches on the bush and approached. "Yes milady, the scouts have explored the valley. The clan of wolves are small in size, their numbers should be 13 in total. The leader is an old wolf, out of the 13 beasts only 7 of them have become spirit beasts which could become a potential threat at this time. They have 2 spirit beast wolves keeping lookout within the valley, at the end of the valley is where the rest of the wolves live." "Very good, with this we have a good idea of our enemy. 7 are capable of putting up a fight, a favourable environment for battle and with our preparations we could easily use many things to gain a quick end to the fight. Ambushes, use of the valley, poison attacks but this time is not about gaining victory. This is a test for Laune, we have laid down the preparations and I trust that with her training she can make use of everything to be able to fight alone." Shadow looked towards Laune as she spoke. The wolves had been scouted, their lack of vigilence could easily be used to let the hidden division ambush and poison them before they could put up a fight. Although many beasts had been in combat and killed others, Laune had lead a sheltered life. She had no real combat experience and had never truly been in any real danger until her clan was nearly wiped out. After she swore loyalty to Shadow she chose to become a weapon for to use in order to ensure her clans survival and the revival in the name of the Ever-Reach clan. She now had enough strength and combat experience from constant training but she still lacked real life and death experiences and had yet to kill another beast. "Master I will do as you say." Laune looked up towards the valley. "I will allow you to cooperate with Korah but he will not be fighting in this battle. I hope you understand." Shadow looked at the little rabbit. "Okay boss, no fighting for me..." The little rabbit frowned. "You will have lots of opportunities to fight in the future so do not worry, in this battle remember to make use of your intelligence as well as strength to win against the enemy. Do not just blindly rush ahead into a battle or you will be at a disadvantage. You need to learn when to attack, when to defend and when to run to be able to stay alive." Shadow thought for a moment before whispering to the snake. "Martis monitor the battle, if she is close to death then have Korah interfere... Although this is training it would be useless if she dies from her first real battle. Report back her actions and any mistakes after the battle is over." "Yes milady, I will do as you ask." The snake slithered back into the long grass near the entrance to the valley. "Master I will not disappoint you." Laune looked very determined to complete her task. Shadow began to walk away leaving behind her final order. "Your determination is good but do not forget to value your own life. Try not to be too reckless, learn from your mistakes and reflect on them after every battle." "Yes!" The tiger began to think carefully on how to deal with the wolf clan ahead. A little time passed within the valley, two wolves stood side by side within the middle of the valley carefully looking for intruders. One of the wolves looked a little sleepy as their eyes began to feel heavy, as they began to find a comfortable position to rest the other wolf looked towards him with a frown. "You have not finished guarding the valley, wait until someone comes to replace you then you can go back and sleep." "So noisy... it has been quiet for days, even if we have been attacked in the past they were weak or low in numbers." The sleepy wolf frowned. "Maybe so but if the clan leader hears of you slacking on your task you will be punished again." The other wolf glared at the sleepy wolf. Suddenly there was a noise from behind the wolf, the sleepy wolf opened his eyes again to see a large blurry figure stalking behind the other wolf. "Careful!" 72 First Lives Taken Some moments before the wolves noticed an intruder. Laune rolled around in the dirt to mask her scent from the wolves, a lot of spirit beasts have their own enhanced senses. Wolves in particular have a much higher sense of smell compared to most beasts, in previous battles Shadow and the others made use of various herbs when hunting while others rolled around in the grass and dirt to cover their scent. Afterwards she looked upon the valley, on both sides there was a large rocky area which made it difficult to climb on thanks to some parts which had previously fallen down into the valley. [1] Thanks to her smaller body compared to those of her clan she climbed through the fallen debris and hid behind the larger rocks. Making her way through the valley under the cover of the fallen debris she carefully and silently approached the middle of the valley. She peeked around the large rock she hid behind and saw the wolves on guard, careful to quickly move into the next sign of cover when they are not looking her way. Closer and closer she noticed one of them was beginning to slack off, the other wolf was distracted by their ally and began to scold the sleepy wolf. Noticing one wolf with his back to her and the other which had its eyes half closed she stepped out from the rocks and entered the middle of the valley. Her steps silent, her body low as she stalked her prey. Closer and closer, her breathing became calm and her eyesight focussed on the wolfs back. Her heartbeat became quicker as she finally reached behind her target, this would be her first kill. ''Calm... keep calm... first deal with the two, if I fail I will have to face all of the wolves if they call for help.'' "Careful!" She heard the sleepy wolf call out but it was already too late. She jumped towards the back of the wolf, her jaws firmly held onto the wolfs neck quickly crushing it. The wolf let out a shriek before dying, his companion silently gasped in shock at the sudden wake up call he had recieved. Trying to pull his body up from his resting position, he could hear his allies final breaths. Pushing his body up, he lifted his head and saw a pair of amber eyes looking at him very seriously. The wolf paused suddenly as he gazed at the eyes of the tiger, the enemy had already killed his companion and as he was able to stand the enemy had already arrived before him. During his pause the tiger lowered its body and pounced onto the wolf. Her teeth bit into the wolfs throat, the wolf tried to resist by raising their front legs to scratch the tiger. Unfortunately their actions were too late to have any effect on the battle, the tigers jaws gripped tighter crushing the wolfs throat. Blood fell from the wolfs throat rapidly to the ground, his eyes rolled backwards and his legs grew weaker. Seeing the wolf become lifeless, Laune released the throat of the wolf letting its body fall to the ground. Looking at the scene of the two dead wolves, Laune let some of the blood drain from the bodies and then stored them within her storage bag that was secured around her neck. "My first two kills, although it was quite easy because they were a lot weaker than myself and distracted the next battle will be harder." Although she had a large supply of blood from the Ever-Reach clan during their time hunting, she had full access to it thanks to being the only one using a blood based cultivation manual. Her current achievements could not be from her own efforts though, her strength had grew rapidly but it came from the blood supplied by others. Now she felt a sense of accomplishment after killing the two wolves, she collected the beast cores storing them away and stored the dead bodies keeping them for later. The cores could be given towards the clan and although the vitality from the two wolves blood would not have a great effect on increasing her strength it had been the first cultivation resources she had gathered for herself. "Korah, I have completed the first task." Laune looked towards the rabbit who had silently followed behind her. The rabbit hopped from the top of the rock, his ears pointed upwards as he listened for any changes. "Good, I cannot hear any changes since the fight started so the wolf clan has not noticed they are under attack. So what is the next plan?" "As master mentioned before the wolf clan have a very strong sense of smell, now that blood has fallen to the ground it will not take long for the scent of blood to reach the noses of the wolf clan." Laune pondered for a moment. "We can make use of this if possible in the next battle, so if possible I would like you to take part in the next plan." "Sounds fun, so what you want me to do? Remember I am not to fight but other than that I can be part of whatever you ask." Korah looked to be quite interested. Thetiger and rabbit began their discussion on how to deal with the remaining 5 wolves who were a threat. The tiger discussed the plan with a very serious expression on her face. The rabbit shook his head in disapproval, a frown formed on his little face. "That will not work." The tiger began to revise the plan again very seriously and tell the rabbit her ideas. The rabbit had a frown on his face. "Isn''t this plan a little despicable?" The tiger did not seem offended by his statement and replied very seriously. "Master said we have to use whatever we have in order to survive, there are certain limitations but when facing an enemy we do not need to show any mercy." The rabbit showed a look of approval but then sighed. "Fine, I approve of the plan." "Thank you, I will go back now." The tiger quickly ran back towards the entrance of the valley leaving the rabbit behind. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=valley+rock&client=firefox-b-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwik6oKTivXgAhVwAWMBHZoNBd4Q_AUIDygC&biw=1536&bih=750#imgrc=f1TCzXIovVNz4M: 73 Korahs Provocation While the two intruders had begun to put their plan into action, within the valley the wolves were living out their ordinary lives. The pack leader called for their best fighters for a meeting. "I have called you all here because I have something important to say. It has probably been noticed by some of you that there has been a visitor coming to our territory." One of the wolves nodded their head in response. "Yes, they are of the same bloodline as our pack but I have not met any of our kind outside of the valley. So why now?" "This is true, many many years ago we were part of a much larger and powerful pack which became too arrogant. We provoked far too many and our clan suffered a crushing defeat, the strongest of the survivors decided to split up and went into hiding. Some took their mates with them while a select few joined a new pack to continue their bloodline there, through the many years we have been rebuilding our pack through various means." The pack leader sighed. "So what does this mean for us?" Another wolf looked at the leader with doubt. "The visitor is from the strongest pack, it seems that they have been in contact with the other remaining packs with the same bloodline. It would seem that it will soon be time for the packs to become one again, since our clan is one of the weakest in strength and size we have no choice but to follow." The pack leader sighed again. "So we have to follow someone else?!" Another wolf shouted in anger. "Although I am responsible for all of you, after we become part of the pack I will no longer be your pack leader but I will still fight by your side. We have some time before then to collect everything we have to bring with us to our new home." The pack leader looked quite upset at the thought of leaving the valley where they had lived for so long. "So what is the goal of the future pack?" Asked another wolf. "If my guess is correct... it would be to take revenge on those who previously attacked us so many years ago... huh? What is that?" The pack leader paused suddenly. The pack leader lifted his head and began to take in a familiar smell into his nose. "This... who..." "Leader what is it?" All of the wolves became alert. The pack leader looked completely enraged. "Its the blood of our own kind, someone has harmed our clan. Who dares?!" The pack leader ran into the valley towards the location where the two wolves were on guarding duties and the others followed behind. Was it some strong beast? A large group attack? What greeted their eyes what completely out of their expectations.... Almost unsulting to the wolves... A small white rabbit with red eyes. Its white hair soaked with the blood of their pack members. The rabbit looked at the wolves infront of himself without fear. He shook his body to try to shake off some of the blood from his body with a look of disgust on his face. "Urk, how disgusting... how troublesome." Upon seeing this sight the wolves stopped their footsteps in confusion, the clan leader looked down at the rabbit before him and spoke. "Intruder, who are you? Why do you have the blood of our pack on you? Where are the two of our pack who were on guard?!" "Hmph! Stupid mutt, do you have a bad nose? Or are your eyes just as bad? They are dead you old fool." The rabbit looked at him as if he were looking at an idiot. "What did you say?!" The leader grit his teeth in anger and snarled. "Who killed them? Tell me now and perhaps I can spare your life." "You are not qualified to know." The rabbit turned his body around and began to hop away. The pack leader was angered further by the rabbits actions and ordered the others. "Capture that rabbit! He knows what happened here, we do not know if the two on guard here died or were just injured so we need to capture the rabbit alive to find out what happened here." Even though there were signs of blood on the ground where the two wolves stood their bodies were nowhere to be found, from the surrounding evidence infront of him the pack leader came to the conclusion that the two wolves were either heavily injured or dead. Without signs of their dead bodies he still had some hope that they were still alive, the rabbit was also covered in the blood of the wolves which proved that he was either a witness to the attack or involved in it. So killing the only beast that had information on what happened would further decrease their chances of finding the wolves before they die if they are in fact still alive. So their only option was to capture the rabbit alive and to make him talk with force if needed. Judging from the rabbits actions towards the wolves, the rabbit was not fearful of them. In fact he looked down upon them which confused the pack leader, while he was angered by the insults the lives of his pack were most important right now but he still wondered how the rabbit could be so confident in front of them. Usually towards a beast he would have attacked immediately in this situation but the small rabbit barely seemed to pose any real threat to any of them, to the wolves a small rabbit provoking a pack of wolves would be taken as some sort of joke. Almost like a small bug ignorantly flying into a web of a spider, they were first fearless but once they got caught they were too weak to escape and at the mercy of the spider. This was not the case for this rabbit, he did not seem to be ignorant and was covered in the blood of their pack members. Not only was this a complete provocation towards their pack but his attitude made them more cautious towards the rabbit. His attitude, his current appearance covered in blood, his small size, he would never be a threat towards the clan by his appearance, the evidence from the surrounding valley after the fight, the two missing wolves all came together to create a situation where the pack leader had to be somewhat cautious but also forced him to act immediately. With not a lot of time left to act before the rabbit escapes he began to order his strongest to capture the rabbit immediately. Due to the current events he decided to follow behind at a distance to keep a lookout for anything strange while the other wolves capture the rabbit. 74 Collapse The wolves began to chase the rabbit, at first they began to feel that this rabbit was a lot faster than any rabbit they had met before.... The wolf pack ran together as a group, acting under the leaders intructions. Unlike the previous wolf pack this group of wolves worked together a lot better, perhaps the previous wolf pack would have been the rare exception because of their internal struggles. With the leader being forced to step down few supported him anymore, the brothers fought among themselves for power which created conflicts within the pack. By the time the brother went missing the current pack leader had tried his best to put the other wolves under his leadership but the pack had already reached a point where it would either destroy itself from within or split apart sooner or later. So during the battle against the tiger clan they fought recklessly and did not care much for their companions safety. This pack acted like most others would, those who could not fight were left behind while the strongest in the pack went to battle. The wolves began to take orders as the leader was not too far behind them. "Try to corner him before he escapes the valley, if you have the chance to hit him do not use your claws or teeth. We still need him alive to question him!" "Yes!" The wolves slowly got closer to the rabbit. They met the rabbit half way through the valley and now after running there was only one quarter of the way left until the exit. Seeing that they were still behind the rabbit who was getting closer to escaping they became increasingly nervous. Increasing their speed they continued their chase. While the wolves were running at their fastest speed the rabbit looked behind himself for a moment before hopping towards the exit with a playful grin on his face. Closer towards the exit/entrance to the valley the leader began to grow increasinly restless and uneasy. This was not an ordinary rabbit! He had never met a rabbit with high enough strength to be able to outrun a wolf ever... The odds of a rabbit surviving in the desolate forest were very small but the odds for killing other beasts and eating their cores? Impossible! Maybe if he killed some smaller animals but there would be a limit to the strength he could gain from that. After all the strongest in the forest are either part of a large clan or born as a more superior race of beasts. But a small weak creature like a rabbit? What can it do even after gaining enough strength comparable to themselves? Bite me? Maybe can break the skin but can it really do anything harmful... Kick me? Did you do something there I did not notice. Scratch me? Go ahead I am feeling quite itchy. Has he been eating special herbs or fruits to gain his strength? Why was he so confident when confronting us earlier? Caught up in his thoughts he forgot to focus on his surroundings, he saw the rabbit pass through the last obstacle successfully escaping the valley. The next thing shocked him... The rabbit stopped running. He turned around, sat on the ground and looked at the wolves. "Huh?" The leader began to frown. "Grrrrr!" The wolves began to growl as they began to get closer. They had been insulted time and time again and this rabbit was mocking them again! Meanwhile Korah watched the show with an expectant look on his face. 3 2 1 He counted in his mind... He saw the wolves beginning to leave the valley, they all came out together while the leader was cautiously still following behind. Then it happened... The ground beneath the pack of wolves began to give way as they stepped on it. The combined weight of the wolves was enough for them to trigger his ''trap''. Watching the wolves who fell into a large hole in the ground, Korah looked at the leader opposite the hole in the ground and smirked at him. "Idiots." 75 Fear Earlier when Koran began to dig deep underground he spent a lot of time digging out lots of tunnels. Each tunnel was spaced out enough so that they were stable enough that if something light stepped above it would not collapse. However for a pack of wolves it would be a different story, their combined weight set off the ''trap'' and all of thin tunnels began to collapse beneath their feet one by one. Finally resulting in all of the wolves falling into a large hole while the surrounding dirt, mud and rocks continued to fall in with them and cover their fallen bodies. During the confusion a look of anger surfaced on the leader wolfs face. "Y.. you!" The rabbit ignored the wolf which only served to fuel the wolf''s rage. During this short time a figure came out of hiding behind a large rock, during the time that the wolves were chasing Koran they had failed to noticethat they had passed by someone hidden nearby. Laune stepped onto the path quietly, each step lightly touched the ground and her breathing became more calm and steady. Unknown to the wolf she had arrived behind him just as his focus was entirely on the rabbit opposite the trap. She lowered her body ready to leap onto her prey while trying to calm her accelerating heart beat. The rabbit looked at the scene, his eyes remained on the wolf and mocked him. "Come! What''s wrong? Want to kill me?" The provocation helped to keep the wolf''s focus locked on him, the wolf itself was a rank higher than Laune and had an adult build so fighting one on one would be difficult, especially with her lack of combat experience. Seeing that it was working he began to laugh at the foolish wolf in his mind, finally he saw the figure of Laune leap into the air behind the wolf and firmly grab the wolf by the back of its neck. Her teeth sunk into the neck of wolf while her jaw firmly held on tightly and began to start applying more pressure. Her front claws dug into the top of the wolf''s front legs ripping at the muscle causing the wolf to be unstable and unable to bear the weight on top of it. Her body weight shifted and her back paws hit the ground as the wolf began to fall, her eyes stayed on her enemies movements. The wolf had been caught unprepared and fell to the ground began to think of how to escape. He tried to use his bodies strength of roll out of the grip of the attacker but his front legs could not exert their full strength because of the the ripped muscles and tendons. He could only rely on his back legs, trying to kick himself into a position more favourable. However his body had already been pinned to the ground and unable to move because of the unfavourable position and his injuries. Seeing his struggle a murderous look appeared in Laune''s eyes, the wolf had his throat completely exposed. She stopped one of her front claws front tearing the at the wolf''s legs and the other dug into his skin holding him in position. The next moment her nails went deep into the wolf''s throat, shortly after the wolf leader stopped his struggle and became silent. His howls of pain during this short time woke up his companions nearby who were still dazed from their fall. The wolves remaining in the large hole in the ground began to climb to their feet again one by one. The hole they fell in did not have a stable way to escape so their clumsy movements caused the surrounding mud and dirt to collapse and fall into the hole too. They began to crawl back out of the hole slowly one by one but their leaders howls of pain planted a brief seed of fear in their hearts. They climbed their way out until the howling stopped, the first one to reach near the top saw a pair of amber eyes looking down at them. The fear they had begun to feel began to multiply, their leader was their pack leader, their alpha, their idol but the sounds of their leaders final howls now only served to point out how bad the enemy was. The enemy took out their tactical and spiritual support from taking out the leader, put them into a place hard to escape and even if they do get out the enemy is waiting for them patiently. The worst parts were that the enemy had the high ground and the wolves wasted a lot of energy chasing the rabbit earlier and the rest was being used to escape from the hole in the ground. Their teamwork was shattered, their escape routes were all blocked, the only route available was through the enemy but the current situation only allowed one to escape at a time so fighting alone was too risky. There was also the unknown, they did not know their enemy at all.. Their numbers and strength were a complete mystery, they had witnessed the rabbit and just now noticed the tiger after their leaders death so they could not help but think their were more enemies above them. 76 One path to survival Laune looked down at the wolves observing their futile efforts to escape from the hole in the ground. The wolves who had been worn down from chasing the rabbit and then their efforts to escape from the hole began to panic further. One wolf came up with his own thoughts since the leader was believed to be dead. "If we continue to climb out then we will be easy targets for the enemy, we could just stay here and wait it out until they lose interest." If the wolves stayed there then the enemy would have to come to them and give them the advantage or the enemy would leave after getting bored. The other wolves paused a moment before nodding in response. Unfortunately for them... Laune watched them with emotionless eyes, noticing that they decided to stay where they were there was no trace of surprise or anger towards their actions. Almost as if she had already expected this to happen. She began to speak as her voice sounded very calm and relaxed. "If you want to see who can wait longer I have more patience than you. You can not last long before you will start to need food or water." The wolves bodies froze in place after hearing her words, she was correct. If the wolves became hungry while trapped the only way to overcome their hunger would be to eat one another. Doing so would decrease their numbers just to stall for time, would they still be able to hold out until the enemy gave up. The enemy sounded well prepared so there were chances that they brought food with them before encountering them. Seeing that her words were working she continued. "The longer you stay down there the easier it will be to kill all of your pack. I am sure some will come soon after noticing something is wrong, there is only one way in and out of the valley and they are now trapped. The longer you wait to climb out of there the more lives I take and the larger my food supplies are." This was a completely shameless threat towards them but Laune spoke calmly without a trace of shame on her face. Now the wolves began to know why the tiger above them was so calm, this whole plan that was executed was done in order to split the alpha from the pack, use the hole in the ground to trap the strongest wolves that had any ability to fight. The next part of the plan relied heavily on Laune maintaining the high ground and fighting the escaping wolves one on one. So if the wolves did not try to escape then she would have to motivate them into doing so, with the lives of their pack that could not defend themselves. There was nothing stopping her from killing them at any time, any of the remaining wolves without any fighting ability could wander close by. While they would starve if they waited she could solve her hunger with their pack members, even if they eat one of themselves when they get hungry it would make no difference. All creatures have the will to preserve their own lives, there are exceptions that involve others sacrificing their lives to save another because of love or friendship. The wolf pack had always been a close family so of course they would want to save the others, preserving their own lives also came into their minds briefly but the situation would not allow them to do anything but what the enemy wanted. The enemy was basically taunting them like ''I can kill you anytime, want to protect your family then fight! Want to stay down there, no problem I can wait but your family will not last long.'' Facing this crisis they could only grit their teeth in anger, one of the wolves finally spoke up after a long period of silence. "There is only one chance to survive now, I hate to admit it but we have no hope of survival if we stay where we are. I will go up first and try to delay the tiger, hopefully they are only fighting alone. If I can survive long enough then more of us can get out and help me to take the tiger down." The other wolves thought it over for a moment before agreeing with the plan and began to act on it. The wolf began to slowly and carefully climb up again and approached the top. Just as his front paws touched the top of the hole and were placed on the ground a pair of nails pierced through the top of his paws holding them in place. With a struggle the wolf tried to free themselves but it was a useless act as their lower body was still trying to climb up still. The wolf tried to pull his head closer towards the pair of paws pinning him in place to take a bite out of them. Unfortunately the tiger watched her preys every movement and did not allow him to free himself or cause herself any harm. She lowered her head and bit into the top of the wolfs head increasing her jaw strength, releasing one of the wolfs paws she turned the wolf onto its side and let go of the wolfs head. She then bit into the wolfs neck and dragged the wolfup out of the hole before increasing her jaw strength to crush the wolfs windpipe. [1] Shortly after confirming her kill she went back to perform the same actions on the others who tried to escape. The last ones who tried seemed to put up less of a fight when they got caught because of witnessing the same scene happening one after another to their companions. Every one of them died tragic deaths, leaving a lone tiger overlooking their dead bodies. [1] Throat clamp is method of subduing often seen in predatory felids and occasionally canids and hyaenids. It involves the predator grasping the throat of the prey and clamping tight so that the windpipe is either crushed or blocked. Cats use this to kill prey while dogs and hyenas use this to weaken the prey before eating it, generally alive. It''s more often used than the muzzle clamp and is generally safer, though slower. It is usually and most effective when positioned as near to the mandible as the carnivore can get. Between the larynx and the jaw, the windpipe is surrounded with less cartilage and is more malleable, while lower down, near the chest, the passageway would be increasingly harder to collapse, so the throat clamp is usually positioned high up on the animal''s neck. 77 Survival of the fittes A conflicted look appeared on her face briefly before shaking her head and sighing. The rabbit caught this show of emotion on the tigers face and decided to offer some advice. "There is no need to feel bad about their deaths, in this desolate forest there are no rules but the survival of the fittest. This time you are stronger than your enemy, if they had been left alive they would have become part of the larger wolf clans that have been coming together lately. Not only would they show no hesitation towards killing you and your loved ones at the orders of their alpha but they would be a larger threat if not killed today. The larger the wolf clan grows the harder our chances of survival will be, taking out some weaker packs right will cause a heavy blow to their plans." Laune thought it over for a moment before nodding in response. "Master is very thoughtful." Korah scoffed in response. "Of course she is, she is our boss! You were the one who came forward with the wish to grow stronger, look how carefully she has been training you and even prepared a good opportunity to get some experience." Laune looked at the rabbit and blushed. "You are right, I will go and finish off the rest." She quickly stored the dead bodies within her pouch before heading towards the valley again. The rabbit looked at her retreating figure and shook his head. "Hmph I didn''t even have a chance to fight, well she did a good job." Soon after the tiger entered the valley and proceeded to slaughter the weak and defenseless wolves from young to old. There was a trace of emotion in the tigers eyes because this reminded her of the past experience of being forced into extermination in the last conflict. Back then she was powerless and at the mercy of others and now she was the one who was in power. "He is right saying this is survival of the fittest, only by becoming even stronger can I survive and be able to protect my loved ones." Her eyes became firm once and calmed her emotions before finishing the last of the wolves she found in hiding. Storing all of the dead bodies she collected in her pouch, she checked over the whole environment including small hiding places between rocks and in the grass just in case she missed anything before leaving. Returning to the entrance/exit of the valley she was greeted by the small rabbit who had a bored look on his face. He had his long ears pointed upwards while he continued to listen for any unexpected intruders, not noticing anyone approaching but Laune he relaxed his vigilance. "Are you finished?" "Yes, I made sure to check for any hiding before I left. Every wolf was defeated and none remain." Laune spoke calmly while informing Korah that she had completed her task. "Good, today is not over yet so lets go join the others, you got a lot of blood for yourself to increase your strength and lots of wolf meat to feed the clan. Use this opportunity to increase your strength once more." The rabbit spoke again as he took a nibble on a herb. "So did you collect everything else you could find?" "I took what I could store within the pouch, I will give them to master when I see her. I do not know the uses for such things so its best left for master to figure out." Laune replied after thinking for a moment. She had indeed come across a few items, herbs and fruits but she did not know what they were or what their effects but Shadow did indeed seem to have knowldge of such things so anything that was found would be given to Shadow. Of course she got to keep the blood after draining the dead bodies to increase her strength since she was the sole blood cultivating spirit beast within the clan while the beast cores and meat would be distributed appropriately. Korah nodded with a bored look on his face before letting out a yawn, he hopped towards the tiger. Jumping onto the tigers back he resumed perked up his ears once more before resuming his cultivation. Laune on the other hand could feel a chill go down her spine as soon as the rabbit began circulating his cultivation method. ''How can master carry this rabbit while he cultivates, his body becomes so cold!'' Unknown to her, Shadow did not mind the cold ice energy coming from Korah''s body as he cultivated. In fact she took it as a way to temper her own energy, while using her own dark spirit energy to defend against the cold ice energy that came into contact with her body. Everytime she fought off the unfamiliar energy her control of her own spirit energy improved and the quality also increased after repeated attempts. Unfortunately Korah was unaware to this deciding to cultivate on Launes back and Laune did not know of a method to defend against the cold so could only keep quiet until she returned back to the clan. Had Shadow known that Korah was riding on another beasts back she would probably acuse him of being fickle. Not out of jealousy but as a joke of course, Shadow has lived a very long life during her past life and not had any interest towards matters of love. Even in the current life she had no interest after encountering her death which was the result of an arranged marriage. Though she had indeed become good friends with Korah both before and after she regained her memories. Korah on the other hand thought nothing of his actions, his actions were done in order to spend more time on cultivating during any spare time which he had become used to. During his time with Shadow he would cultivate on her back to increase the time spent cultivting between journeys while keeping a look out for enemies by listening with his long ears. So he instinctively jumped on to Launes back to do the same thing without thought for anything else. 78 Human & Spirit beast conflic Not too long after leaving Laune and Korah to their task, Shadow began to explore the desolate forest while keeping her scent hidden. Her movements were light and without a sound as she made use of her surroundingsto avoid any beasts on her travels. With her current strength she had confidence to travel alone within the desolate forest, if she came across an enemy she could not defeat she knew she had a high success rate in escaping. Wandering and exploring for some time she came to a sudden halt. "Human!!!" Roared a nearby spirit beast filled with rage. Unfortunately the human paid no attention to the roar of the beast and fired another arrow towards the beast. Coming to witness this scene Shadow decided to observe for a while. The spirit beast was a young sun bear with black, short and sleek fur and a crescent-shaped pale cream patch on its chest. The sun bears sickle like claws dug into the tree which it had climbed up and had already made its way towards a spirit fruit hanging high up in the tree. Unfortunately he had been spotted by a human and shot with an arrow in his bottom... After the human fired a second arrow he let go of the tree and fell down to the ground barely avoiding it. The human male looked very experienced when exploring the forest, Shadow could tell that he had used a similar method as her to hide her scent. He also wore messy and dirty clothes showing that he had not returned home for some time. Judging from his attire he must work for a clan of humans in gathering supplies and scouting the forest, although dirty the fabrics used would not be able to be bought by the average person. The man let out a sigh upon seeing his second arrow miss the target, he had to admit his archery skills were not the best. Thinking of where he hit the bear with his first arrow he blushed with shame, he put away his bow and took out a sword and pointed it towards the sun bear. His eyes flashed with greed and happiness upon seeing that the bear was unsuccessful upon obtaining the spirit fruit. The sun bear however recovered from its fall and looked at the human with caution, he could not detect the human until he was hit by the arrow so he did not look down on the human. Watching the bear Shadow showed a look of appreciation. ''This bear is good, he is very cautious and quick to avoid danger however if his opponent had been more skilled in archery he may have died from the first arrow with his back exposed. Although he was too distracted by the spirit fruit to notice the humans presence he did manage to avoid any fatal injuries or death by choosing to abandon his plans to get the fruit.'' Both bear and man were not too far away from each other, both eyes locked onto their enemy. Neither willing to make the first move but after some time the bear grew bored and snorted. He withdrew his body closer to the tree closely guarding the path to the fruit with a smug look on his face. Seeing this Shadow smirked. ''So he noticed the man was after the fruit.'' The bear continued to monitor the man but he quickly gave up and withdrew his sword staring at the bear with anger. Letting out a humph he began to back away. His mission was to scout the forest and mark on a map the locations of different fruits and herbs available in the forest. He also recorded any other information he found out, for example herb located at x guarded by lion spirit beast estimated 5th spirit gathering. Luckily he came across the spirit fruit but it was found first by the sun bear... 79 Unexpected gains His usual practice would be to collect any herbs or fruits that he could easily get too safely. Seeing that he could take advantage of the distracted sun bear he believed he could kill it and quickly climb upto get the fruit before the scent of blood attracts other beasts. Unfortunately he failed on his first try, his second chance missed and the stare down resulted in further wasted time. If he continued to stay or fight he would soon attract the attention of nearby beasts, he could leave and come back for the fruit later but the bear had become highly alert after being attacked. Either the bear would be quick to eat the spirit fruit while he is away or would stay on guard until it was sure nobody was to be around. The first would need him to leave and watch from afar in case the bear does decide to get the fruit further wasting time. The second option would result in having more patience than the bear unfortunately he did not have much time to waste here for a single spirit fruit. The man glared at the sun bear once more before letting out a sigh. He backed off before disappearing from the bears sight as the bear remained on guard even after seeing him leave. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Not too far away leaning against a tree the man spoke quietly to himself. "Another failure." He then took out his notes and wrote down. [unidentified Spirit fruit, guarded by Sun bear 6th spirit gathering, chances of retrieving 2%, marking 24] He then took out a map and marked out the location on the map with 24 before putting them away. Completely unknown to him there was a figure who had been watching his deeds from behind. Just as he pushed himself off the tree to stabilise his body the figure appeared behind him. Shadows antlers collided with the back of the mans neck with enough force to knock him unconscious. Shadow pondered for some time while looking at the mans appearance, he did not look like someone of noble birth but judging from his attire he could afford some luxuries others could not. Most likely he is a low ranked cultivator who had no choice but to do this kind of work and sell on the information to others to earn enough to support himself. Judging from his actions he acted upon a time when he could gain something to increase his strength but upon failure he did not take the extra risk so it showed his ambition but also that he also valued his life highly. Shadow thought to herself for some time before coming to a decision. ''He can be used.'' Placing her hoof on the mans head as soon as both came into contact Shadow manipulated her soul power to form a seal within the mans soul. The seal that was placed upon the man was a slave seal, it will remain there until either he dies or Shadow dies. The seal makes the person obedient towards the owner of the seal, if they have any thoughts of betrayal towards their master then the master will be aware of it and activate the seal hurting them or even killing them. Those that are connected through a slave seal have their souls connected to their masters and can receive messages or orders through the connection. Of course there are different levels or seals depending on their complexity, the simplest seal would allow the owner to detect their slave close by and cause them pain upon failing to obey orders but Shadow''s seals were of a higher grade. Usually only immortals are able to use their soul power to place seals like this however Shadow may not be an immortal but she still possesses some soul power. Although weak in soul power she still has many years of experience and skill of using it so placing such a seal on an unconscious man who is weaker than her is not too of a difficult task. 80 Negotiations & Orders After being the first successful spirit beast to enslave a human using such methods in history, Shadow dragged the unconscious man to the next location. Back at the tree the sun bear stood by the tree looking out to see if the man would return. He heard a sound of something approaching until a white deer appeared dragging the mantowards his direction. Seeing that the man was not moving but still breathing the sun bear was confused. "Do not come any closer." The deer stopped and released the man leaving him lying on the ground, she looked up at the sun bear and spoke. "No need to be so on guard, go ahead and get the fruit. I will watch the human." The bear thought for some time before nodding his head. "Thanks!" He then began climbing the tree with his back towards Shadow. "..." Meanwhile Shadow began to feel a little sorry for the sun bear. ''He is too simple! If I had bad intentions towards him then it would only take a few words to let him drop his guard. I don''t know whether to pity him or feel guilty for having other intentions since he is so trusting.'' Shadow shook her head. ''Oh well, this bear is lucky he met me and not someone else otherwise he would not survive much longer.'' While Shadow was busy on lookout and thinking to herself the sun bear climbed the tree finally reaching towards the spirit fruit. Reaching out and removing it from the tree he climbed back down the tree. Seeing Shadow still standing there after he retrieved the fruit he let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks!" Shadow saw that he got the fruit and studied it from afar. "What do you need that spirit fruit for?" The sun bear looked flustered. "For my elder, he was heavily injured and I have been looking for things to help him get better." "I see, if he is injured then the fruit will not help them." Shadow replied. "I could take a look at him, perhaps I could help." "Hmm... then I will bring you to my clan." The bear looked excited while throwing the fruit towards Shadow. "I do not need this then, you take it!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "..." Shadow was speechless upon how easily he trusted her but nodded. The sun bear happily turned around and slowly walked back to his clan while Shadow picked up the spirit fruit storing it away. She then picked up the man and threw his body onto her back before following being the bear. ''One human slave who may come in useful later, one lightening attribute spirit fruit and an introduction to one of the major clans within the desolate forest. What a lucky encounter..." A little time later the man awoke from his dreams with a feeling of pain to the back of his neck and had a large headache. His body was able to move freely but feeling that he was being moved around he did not move in case of alerting those who had captured him. A slight frown was on his face while he tried to assess his current situation as he lay motionless with his eyes closed. He thought back on his life and how he got here, perhaps he will not be able to make it home to visit his mothers grave once more. Suddenly as the pain wore off in his head an immature girls voice spoke within the depths of his soul that carried a special charm and authority over him which he could not ignore. "So you finally woke up. Stay still like that for now until I say so and then I will have some things to say to you. If you do not obey my instructions there will be severe consequences." The girls voice was tender and calm as if spoken by a young girl below the age of 13 which would make it difficult for the man to obey her words but when she spoke the man could sense from his soul that the girl spoke the truth and she held a certain power over him which he could not comprehend. Anyone would feel weird suddenly hearing a voice in their head which nobody could hear, it was definitely a new, strange and scary experience for him but he had no choice but to believe the words spoken. The man lay there with his eyes closed and his breathing returned to normal from his initial panic as he listened to his surroundings during his journey while lying on a strange creatures back. 81 Captives origin Over 20 years ago there was a woman named Lana Smith, she was a rogue cultivator who accepted many jobs joining friends to hunt spirit beasts in the desolate forest and collect spirit fruits and herbs to earn money and improve her way of life. Using the cultivation manual she discovered on a market when young she began her journey on he road of martial arts. Unfortunately the road of martial arts is always full of its difficulties and trials and so began her harsh path towards gaining more strength and pursuing enough wealth to live a long and happy life. The salesman who sold the cultivation manual was going hungry and needed to feed his family so sold anything he could find, perhaps his grandfather or someone in his family line was a cultivator and passed the manual down for later generations but the desperate situation required money so he sold it to the young girl for very little money not knowing its true worth. One could say she gained a lot of experience and she was just as talented as those of the higher noble families in terms of martial arts even without their resources and background thanks to her hard work and efforts. Others would attribute her efforts to luck of finding many special spirit herbs and fruits to boost her cultivation but she ignored those people and remained proud of her achievements. For some commoners she would be a bright light that proved that if one worked hard enough they could escape from their days of hunger and poverty, she even became friends with the family of seller of the cultivation manual and instructed them on how to cultivate and sent them money when possible. To those from the noble families she was merely someone who rose up from nothing, if she married into one of their families then her strength would become under their control, if not then she would be a hindrance to them. One day on the job board in the moonlight country she found a well paid request, assisting members of the Jackson clan into the desolate forest to collect herbs and assist their clan leaders heir in hunting spirit beasts. The journey to the forest was a simple and smooth job, she even assisted in surveying their surroundings during the journey and fighting some spirit beasts with those that took on the job and with the help of the clans guards. The rewards reaped by the young master of the clan wasn''t just the several spirit beast corpses but a spirit fruit to boost his strength to help further solidify his position as clan head in the future. Unfortunately the young master was not satisfied with his current achievements as his lecherous eyes watched Lana, so began his plan to subdue the arrogant woman and let her know her place. During a celebration at the camp before returning to moonlight country they began their feast and began drinking fine wines. Lana who had never been used to the luxurious things of the nobles also began to treat herself to some of the wine, although she did not drink much her body became powerless unable to use her spirit energy for some time. During this time the young master ordered her to be sent to him and forced himself onto her, refusing his advances so much and trying to fight back the young masterbeat her,crippled her cultivation and then had his way with her before leaving her in the first to die. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The young master and his guards left with those who had also taken the job, paying them extra to keep their mouths shut about the incident and if anyone asked later the woman died during the trip. The woman however overcame her weakness and used her experience and knowledge of the forest area to slowly but safely make it back home to treat her injuries. After some investigation of the clan she found out that although they seem like an ordinary clan on he surface they have heavy involvement in the underground businesses involving slavery, prostitution, smuggling, gambling and assassination. The young master also had a cruel side and tortured and killed many innocent people, Lana wondered how she did not notice it before when she first saw him. Of course he hid it very well from others and appeared kind and caring on the outside but vicious and cruel on the inside. Without any spirit energy after having her dantian[1] crippled she despaired at the thought of not being able to get revenge on him and those who helped to hurt her. She lacked a background to contend with her enemies, no strength and now she had to be extra careful to avoid the eyes of the clan in case they send someone to capture or kill her to silence her. Tormented by nightmares of the man and hiding out at home her health and mental state rapidly declined day by day until she began to feel symptoms of pregnancy. After learning she was pregnant she thought of killing the child by dying with her as if killing one of the bloodline of the man she would die satisfied but she could not kill her own child as it was innocent. She could not bare to harm the child that shares the same blood as her even if the other half of it comes from a vile existence. So began her long pregnancy as she tried her best to nurse her injuries and raise her child. She kept in touch with the family still during that time as they visited often trying to keep her company to raise her spirits. Knowing that she did not have much time left she made preparations with the family, giving them back the cultivation manual and every bit of money and things she had collected over the years in exchange for raising her child. The day came when she gave birth to a son, a week after she passed away giving her son the name Noah Smith. He was raised by the family alongside their little daughter of the same age, Noah inherited his mothers cautious nature and talent in cultivation and began cultivating at an earlier age than she did so made better progress but he was not as courageous as his mother when faced with life and death situations especially after learning of what happened to his mother at the age of 18. His mothers story was like a warning to him not to overly trust others that he does not know everything about, the dangers of turning his back to someone holding a knife and blinding trusting them not to thrust it into him without knowing their true nature would be stupid. So he began his journey into the desolate forest aloneseveral times, increasing his strength and avoiding any serious dangers. He never took on any jobs on the job board in case of encountering a situation like his mother, anything he ran into in the forest he began taking note of it and found that selling the information would earn him a lot of money. He remained cautious using random people to handle the information to exchange for the money as a middleman to avoid the eyes of the nobles giving them a small amount of the overall earnings. Successfully earning a living while avoiding the eyesight of the noble families he looked in the direction of the Jackson clan with hatred. Still he supported himself and the family until the elders passed away leaving only him and the daughter. The daughter was a little less talented in cultivation than him but not by too much however she never joined him in the forest, so he continued his journey solo until the day he met a sun bear during the age of 23... His chance came and he was to be one step closer to getting justice for his mother if he could sell the spirit fruit then he could purchase a spirit pill to increase his strength. He gave up instead of risking his life after his initial failure and decided to sell the information just in case it remained there, he was not in a hurry but still a little disappointed over his loss. As long as he was living there would be hope! And then...pain. And darkness. [1] Dantian, dan t''ian, dan tien or tan t''ien is loosely translated as "elixir field", "sea of qi", or simply "energy center". Dantian are the "qi focus flow centers", important focal points for meditative and exercise techniques such as qigong, martial arts such as t''ai chi ch''uan, and in traditional Chinese medicine 82 Treatmen Sun bear territory Upon arrival Shadow looked around and saw that the population of the sun bearswere around fifty, they lived near by a lake which they had access to fish when they grew hungry. As a large clan that had many strong spirit beasts their survival in the desolate forest was secured thanks to their thick hides giving them much tougher bodies than most other spirit beasts. Most of the sun bears spirit attribute was earth which was very suitable for their physique boosting their already high defensive capabilities so they could fight their enemies without worrying about becoming injured unless they were up against someone with a much higher rank or possessed a strong enough body to penetrate their thick hide. Shadow saw their potential at a glance as she did in the tiger clan, while the tiger clan would fight well in an all out bloodthirsty attack charging through their enemies the bear clan were more suited to more defensive strategies to wear down their opponents strength. For example in the wolf attack against the tigers, they limited their potential because they had to split up to cover a large area to stop the wolves allowing the others to escape. If it was the bears in the same situation they would not need to care too much as they could draw out the battle with the wolves when outnumbered and cause them to become tired before finishing them off while the tigers situation would have been better if they worked solo or in teams to stalk and catch the wolves by surprise instead of being out in the open waiting for the enemy to approach. Shadow followed the bear into their territory and a lot of the bears stared at her with vigilance ready to attack at a moments notice while others didn''t seem to put this deer in their eyes. As an intruder into their lands Shadow naturally understood their thoughts and continued to follow behind the sun bear with a human ''sleeping'' on her back. Just as some sun bears were about to approach the sun bear leading Shadow ordered. "Step back this friend is here to see the clan leader go back to what you were doing." Relaxing their vigilance some bears returned to sparring while a few others began catching fish in the lake. Seeing this Shadow understood the one leading her has a high position among the sun bears meaning he is probably the son of the clan leader judging from his strength. Upon reaching the clan leader Shadows eyes fell upon a large bears figure, the bear looked almost identical to the bear beside her but he was the eldest and strongest bear within the clan. He had a deep scar on his right eye leaving him unable to see from it, he also had numerous scars and injuries on his front and back from past battles in addition to a newly formed injury close to his heart. Shadow observed the injury and confirmed that the wound was not heavily serious but the wound had become infected and the bear had become weak and sick after his injury. A weak voice came from the elder bear. "This is not the smell of my clan, who are you? Why have you come?" "Hello elder, my name is Shadow I am a deer spirit beast part of the Ever-reach clan that is located on the ever-reaching mountain. I encountered your clansmen who was searching for a way to heal you of your wounds, he encountered a human and was injured so I stepped in. After hearing about your injury I offered my help in hopes that this can help to improve the relationship between our two clans." Shadow began to explain. "I see, thank you for bringing my stupid son back home. I do not think that you will be able to help me, the human pierced their weapon deep into me and the wound has not healed well. I can feel that I may not have much time left." He spoke as his voice was becoming weaker as he spoke each word. "You still have enough time left living for me to prove you wrong. Then I hope we can talk properly." Shadow walked towards him inspecting his wound further. The sun bear beside her asked. "Can he be healed?" "Yes but he has lost too much blood and his wound is infected so I suggest that he be knocked out during the treatment." Shadow replied while touching her storage bag and placing some clean tools and materials on a cloth by the bear. She walked over close to the large bear and hit him hard enough to make him unconscious before taking another look at his wound. During the healing process the wound had come into contact with the dirt and become infected during the healing process. Any diseases or bacteria got into the wound and entered his blood stream as the wound began to close up, with a large amount of blood loss the already weakened bear could not fight off the illness and would soon head closer towards his death. Shadow however picked up a knife between her teeth and used all of her concentration while cutting around the scabbed and infected area. After separating infected area she began to place her hoof on the bears body injecting her light spirit energy into his body pushing and guiding any foreign matter out of his bloodstream while protecting his heart until some black blood came from the wound in the bears chest from where the cut was made. After releasing all of the black blood Shadow began cleaning the wound before placing her hoof above it. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Her light spirit energy hovered over the open wound and began to accelerate the healing speed, after a short time the wound began to close up leaving a large scab over where the wound had been. Shadow picked up a 50 year old blood ginseng which she took from her storage bag and handed it to the bear standing dazed beside her. "Wha.." The bear woke up from his confusion and looked at the deer giving him a flower. "What did you do?" "I treated him. Give him this to eat when he wakes up, it should help with his blood loss." Shadow found the bears reaction funny but still decided to inform him seriously. "If you have any herbs like this one within your clan then they would be helpful with his recovery." How could Shadow not find the dumbfounded bear amusing after watching her treatment? Humans had long improved their techniques and experimented in various ways to improve various professions with the use of spirit energy. The bears may have met a light attribute spirit beast before but they would never be capable of what Shadow had done because of their lack of knowledge on their own and others body structure and how to properly apply their spirit energy. Shadow however came from the Holy Sect in the immortal world who were famous for their treatments which could save lives from the brink of death. Of course not everyone from the sect could be said to be perfect in their treatment but after Shadow joined she soaked every bit of knowledge she could until she gained enough experience to earn the right to be the next sect leader. She could be considered their best student within the past ten thousand years but sadly the sect lost her because of their poor judgement, now she is in a mortal world which the humans in this world could not possess even ten percent of her knowledge in medical treatment and knowledge of herbs and poisons. So how could ordinary spirit beasts know a thing about what just happened before their eyes, it could only be described as a miracle. 83 Promise The elder bear woke up and did not feel as powerless as before so he tried to sit up until a voice stopped him. "Do not get up until your body is fully recovered, right now you need to recuperate and regain your strength." The bear looked up and saw the deer standing by his son. "The pain is no longer there but I still feel itchy on my wound. How did you heal me?" He looked down and saw that the infected wound skin around his wound were no longer there and the cleaned wound had already began to scab over, in time it would leave behind another scar on his body. "You have suffered many wounds from many battles, during the healing process your body also has to fight off infection and illness. Every injury and loss of blood adds up to worsen your overall condition, then there is your age... if you were younger you may have been able to fight off the infection but as you are now you became greatly weakened. Your wound became rotten and infected further from not being properly treated after a long time. I had to remove the rotten flesh, force out the infected blood from your body and speed up the healing process." Shadow spoke nonchalantly. "I do not fully understand everything you said but thank you." The elder bear replied while further inspecting his wound clearly impressed. The sun bear beside Shadow walked over and placed a plant next to the elder. "Eat this, it should help with your recovery." The elder bear looked at the plant, looked at his son and then Shadow and back at the plant again. "Okay." His emotions inside were quite complicated, he knew his son well... His son seemed simple on the surface and too trusting but he was not completely hopeless. His son would never get involved with anyone who had harmful thoughts towards his family or himself. If someone was sincere towards him he would be accepting of them, judging from how he trusted in Shadows words proved that even if she had any thoughts towards their clan it would be in their benefit too. Since she had already cured him he should keep his end of the deal. "You said you come from the mountain, is that old monkey still alive?" The elder bear let out a sigh. "Yes he is but his current situation is not favourable right now but I am working on changing that." Shadow spoke with confidence. "The clans he allied with in the past are on the verge of a revolt so there will soon be a large battle. So I need allies not just for the survival of those I wish to stay alive but also for my future ambition." "Ambition?" The elder bear looked towards her with interest. "I want to leave this small world in which we are trapped and see the much larger world but right now we are blocked from doing so until we break through the barrier that traps us inside. This place we live in is a prison, we all believe we are born free but do not realise the truth. We see our limits in strength in this small world but what we do not realise is that in the outside world we are merely ants in the eyes of those who live in this outside world. So I need allies to grow strong together, to explore new lands, to face new enemies. I need your clan and many others to overcome these hardships." Shadow spoke again while revealing the cold harsh truth of this world and then promised. "My promise to you is that I will find the way to escape from this barrier, take you all with me and let you experience a new world while you will face hardships I will also be there to face them with you." During the time they were talking Shadow began to remove the arrow from the sun bears bottom and began treatment until she finally finished and waited for the elder bears response. "I see, this is a lot to take in all at once. I will discuss this with my son and let you know my reply." The elder bear was very surprised in his heart. "Son first escort the young lady out of our territory safely." "Yes father!" The sun bear quickly followed his fathers orders. "I will send a messenger to your clan to keep in contact, so have your clan keep an eye out for any intruders outside your territory. I will send over a green coloured snake, to avoid confusion the password he will carry with him will be ''the arrow flies towards the sun'' so you will know I sent them." Shadow smirked while her eyes fell onto the sun bears wounded behind after she had removed the arrow and healed the wound for him. "Thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you soon." Seeing the figure of Shadow disappear from his sight he began to think about her proposal. After some time he began to feel youthful and energetic compared to his dispirited and old self, he felt alive again. The elder bear who had long grown tired and bored had his fire reignited this day. He experience many battles, explored the whole desolate forest, encountered humans, explored towards the humans territory unable to enter and being attacked until he was driven away. Eventually he had to give up on his old ways to be there and ensure the survival of his clansmen but Shadows words ignited his adventurous spirit once more. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Once you find out you are a frog in a well, you will have the desire to explore the outside to see what you were missing out on and expand your view. As Shadow had said, the limits which he knew were nothing to others in the outside world. Then if he supported Shadow with the clan they would also be able to grow enough to be able to break through the limits he once knew and compete with hose on the outside world one day. "It seems we have found an interesting ally." The elder bear calmed himself down before closing his eyes to try to sleep. Sadly the elder bear would not sleep well this night because of his over excitement until he finally fell asleep the next day and did not wake up for another 2 days. This small episode caused the sun bear clan to be quite alarmed and worried because of the elders sudden long nap but afterwards they heard about his treatment and recovery from his son, the sun bears expressed their happiness towards his recovery and gratitude towards his saviour. Not even 5 days would pass after the sun bear clans fateful meeting, the entire clan listened to their elders words and followed his orders faithfully towards their future path. After the whole clan was under the complete control of the elder and his son they could begin to talk with Shadow through the green snake which arrived at their clan shortly after she left. The agreement was settled and Shadow gained new powerful allies, the sun bear clan gained new challenges and an exciting future. 84 Noah ‘Jackson’ Not too far from the human territory where they live within the walls which keep the spirit beasts from getting to them, Shadow brought Noah back safely. Letting him get down from her back he sat on the ground with a bewildered look on his face. "So are you going to let me live?" There was no change on the deers face as she looked at him, she responded to him as her childlike voice sounded in his head. "There is no reason to kill you, in fact we can be of help to one another. Think of this as a deal, you gain the chance to grow stronger and accomplish your dreams while you occasionally listen to my requests or orders. I will not ask anything beyond your power or means but there will be danger to your life at times." "It''s not like I have a choice do I?" Noah sighed. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "I picked you because you seem smart enough to understand the situation and act accordingly. You want to survive in this world you will eventually have to give something up in order to get what you wish, be it love, friendship, family, status, money, health. In your case you lose your freedom but you will also gain a great deal of things in return. I am sure whatever future plans you have may come back to harm your loved ones so I suggest sending them to me for safe keeping." Shadows voice spoke calmly but almost tempting in Noah''s mind. "Why should I trust you?" Noah looked at Shadow with a look of distrust. The deer let out a sigh in his mind and spoke again. "You have no choice, I already know your next course of actions and your past. The enemy you face is a ruthless character, if he cannot control you then he will look into your past and use your loved ones to make you submit to him. Even if you are his son I do not think he would show any kind of mercy." "How do you know who I am?" He had a shocked look on his face. "I have already placed a seal on you, I briefly looked into your memories so I know your past and from that I can guess what kind of ideas you have towards avenging your mother." The voice calmly explained. "Fine I accept your conditions, what is it you want?" He finally gave up and decided to accept his fate. "Publicly announce your birthright as his heir and infiltrate his family. Publicly he will not be able to touch you but beware of assassination attempts, poisoned food and drink or means of seduction. All carry dangers in their own way and these may be the ways he will deal with you in the dark, while he maintains his bright and upright status to everyone else he will privately be trying to apply pressure to you or get rid of you. What I need are spirit beast cores, humans have hunted spirit beast cores for many years so they will have a large supply so acquire as many as possible, preferably high level ones. As for the family business try to get access to their slave trading operation, bring the slaves out of the walls to me. They are destined to be abused and used by others, most will die early so it may be better if I can put them to use. If I take any with me I will trade for spirit herbs or weapons, as for the leftover slaves you can make use of them as your subordinates to infiltrate other families homes." The voice spoke again. "You do realise that in order to accomplish something like this it will take a lot of work." His voice sounded worried. "That is why there can be no mistakes and you must be without any weaknesses. You must also be able to enter his family without him finding out your true goal." The girlish voice spoke again. "Sometimes truth mixed with lies will work best to relax an enemies guard against you, mask your true emotions with a smile and never let your enemy see your true end goal until it has been completed by masking your true intent with small actions which lead to a different goal. If you understand what I mean?" "Yes I do." He struggled with his thoughts for sometime before finally coming to a decision. "Fine, I will bring the others out of the walls soon after informing them about of the danger they may face." "Good" Shadow nodded her head to Noah before passing on parts of information into his mind. "You will be exposed to many dangers so the ''Myriad Poison Art'' will be most suitable for your physique, it helps build up resistance and immunity to different poisons and venom. In fact if you consume poisons in the future they will act more as a tonic to increase your strength once you gain a higher mastery of it. There is also a hidden weapon manual and a movement technique which should suit you, study them seriously as they may save your life one day." Noah nodded his head before heading towards the city gates and entering the human territory once more. Shadow passed onto him the martial arts of an old thief of the immortal realm, the old man could freely enter into most large families territories, steal some valuables before escaping without being noticed. He was also attribute less like Noah but was able to roam about freely and offend a great many people because of his deeds. Unfortunately not too long after he was reported to have been captured after the families staged a trap for him to walk into leading to his death. Shadow''s sect once helped to heal his injuries once and gained his cultivation manual and movement technique as payment, although they kept them in storage and never used at least now someone could use his techniques and pass them on to later generations. The extra information on hidden weapons Shadow added because she believed they would compliment the movement and cultivation techniques when used by Noah. Shortly after Noah returned with his friend and her family and they had no choice but to follow his request to follow Shadow much to their confusion. After seeing his loved ones off Noah returned to the human territory and walked towards a large gate which belonged to the Jackson family. He paused before the gate and gazed beyond it, his eyes turned red with rage and hate. After his small leak of emotions he remembered Shadows advice, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath calming himself. His lips curved upwards to display a fox-like grin, making others unable to guess whether he held animosity or goodwill towards them. Knocking on the gate he spoke loudly so that all those passing by were able to hear him. "Noah Jackson reporting to return home as the Jackson clan heads son. Please inform the clan head of my existence and my intentions to enter the clan officially." Shortly after word spread throughout the Moonlight Country to every corner, a public blood testing ceremony was held for all to see. Confirming the clan heads blood resonated with Noah''s blood during the ceremony everyone congratulated the clan head on gaining an heir, meanwhile he the clan head was indeed incredibly suspicious and unhappy as predicted. 85 Old Grudges A short while after everyone left the mountain... Jaguar Clan Territory In a medium sized clan of jaguar sat a group of panthers, if Shadow was here she would recognise them! The clan leader of the jaguar clan looked at them with greed in his eyes. "So you are the younger generation of that old panther, does he intend to keep his promise?" The son of the panther clan head spoke with confidence. "Yes, our clan wishes to welcome you to the mountain and join the panther clan and help us take over the Ever Reaching Mountain. Our power has grown and with your help we can rule over the mountain and those that live on it." The jaguar snorted. "It has taken you a lot of time to come back to see me, its almost as if you forgot about me and your promise." The young panther pretended to be offended by his words and replied in anger. "How could you doubt our clan? Haven''t our clan heads known eachother for a long time? During the many years that scheming monkey has been watchful over our clan and the fox clan has been pushing us to fight to our deaths before we are sure we can even win. However an opportunity has presented itself." "Oh? Do tell." The jaguar had a look of interest. "We also had to include the deer clan into our plans because there are a brother and sister who are rising in strength as fast as myself and the exiled black foxes daughter. we have had no opportunities to wipe them out until now however an opportunity has presented itself. Many of the younger generation have gone hunting down the mountain and this is a perfect opportunity to remove them to avoid future threats. Once we have dealt with them then the next big problem would be killing the monkey king and dealing with the many black foxes. Of course we can also use this opportunity to kill the kings son as he has also joined the hunt." The young panther spoke with confidence with a look of killing intent in his eyes. "Hmph so you need my help to kill them all, are you certain with our help you will be able to keep your promise after its all over?" The old jaguar questioned with a look of distrust. "Our clans have been old friends for hundreds of years, of course we would not abandon eachother in our time of need. We will keep our promise." The young panther nodded his head. "Okay you may leave, wait outside I will prepare our clan and send some of them to you soon." The old jaguar finally agreed to help. "Thank you." Bowing his head in grattitude the young panther quickly left. After the panthers left his presence the others from the jaguar clan were summoned along with the jaguar clan heads son. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. He quickly told the jaguar clan of his plans so they left to prepare for a war, after they left he sat alone and laughed to himself. "Hahahaha finally the day has come! Many years ago you denied my clans entry onto the mountain and to be part of your alliance. You old monkey, you knew the panther clan and jaguar clan wished to join together to take over your rule so you only accepted one clan to keep the balance of the clans on the mountain back then. Too bad for you that I will personally eat your flesh, drink your blood and devour your core! My grudge is deep, being stuck in this place struggling to survive among the stronger clans with this poor territory. If my clan wasn''t strong enough we would have no way to survive, hmph I could have informed the other clans of the alliance and the territory belonging to that old monkey long ago but then I would lose out myself!" "And when that is settled....hehehehehe old panther you just wait... don''t think you can use me and my clan so freely at your own convenience. I will have the last laugh!" He had a look on his face that was a mixture of greed and bloodthirst. Nobody knew the hardships that the jaguar clan went through while the panther clan joined the Ever Reaching Mountain back then but it was clear that the jaguar clan had less of a friendship with the panther clan now. In fact ever since they were abandoned they began to resent the panther clan and called them traitors. The most resentful was the clan leader who held onto the thought of killing the monkey king, the panthers clan head, the fox clan head personally while also wiping out their bloodline. What about this new deer clan though? What does he care for them, they would just be appetisers for his main meal so he never spent even a thought on them. Meanwhile during the desolate forest hunt... A group of black foxes began to fight against a larger beast using their larger numbers, the beast was a large bull spirit beast . The bull was now covered in many claw marks and bite wounds, losing blood rapidly their strength was greatly dropping. The bull began to charge towards the leader of the fox group, the daughter of the fox who taunted the young brown foxes mother. Seeing this sight the young black fox grinned, during this time she had been hiding her strength while directing her clansmen to weaken the bull. This lead to the bull thinking that the leader was weak, however when the bull reached her she easily dodged the strike as a black energy wrapped around her claws. Her first attacks were towards the back of the bulls hind legs after it was forced to stop after missing its target. The bull collapsed and as ordered the other black foxes began to pounce onto the bulls vital parts scratching and biting until it finally gave up its struggles. The young black fox let out a light yawn. "How boring." After digging up the beast core from the bulls body it showed the energy of5th spirit gathering, the core was quickly placed before the female black fox. "Young miss how many have we collected?" One of the older foxes asked, although he was much more experienced and equal in strength to the female fox he spoke in reverence towards her. "We have collected 4 lower grade cores with energy of 1 to 4 spirit gathering, 2 medium grade with energy of 5 to 8 spirit gathering and 1 spirit herb." The female fox counted the items they had collected so far. [1] "Young miss, thanks to your planning we have been killing very efficiently and have not lost a single life." The older fox began to praise her. "Of course, the only ones who can compete with us are the panther clan. However I am sure they are getting in touch with some old friends now." The young female fox began to analyze the current affairs. "How does young miss know?" The older fox asked. "My grandparents once taught me about the panther clans past, if they would want to make a move then they would do it soon which is why we took this time to hunt. If we come back alive and win this competition then our clan will become the rulers with the least casualties so long as we stick to the plan. The winner gets to assign the new ruler which means we just need to follow the rules, then the old monkey will have no choice to step down and have no choice but to serve our family. This way we gain everything without spending much effort and spilling too much blood from within the alliance ourselves." The female fox answered. "So what do we do now miss? Aren''t we also targets for the panther clan?" The older fox looked excited, surely his young miss would have a solution. "We hide. Since we already know they are coming we hide for some time, this way we avoid the bloodshed but I feel something is missing..." The young female fox began to be lost in thought. The young female fox had been personally cultivated by her grandparents care, given the best teaching on the history of the desolate forest, their clans, their strength and also taught various tactics to defeat her enemies. Her strength had been kept hidden while she quietly gained enough strength without even her own clan members knowing her true strength, until today she had barely appeared in the public eye. Todays event was the best strategic time to unveil herself to the world, creating a chance to improve her influence on her clan and gain more experience. She was the complete opposite of the young female brown fox who openly fought on the mountain against invaders, displaying her strength to everyone around her. The brown foxes personality was usually kind and caring while ruthless to her enemies but also somewhat impulsive at times while the young black foxes personality was cold, calculating and liked to hide her strengths and weaknesses until she knew she could come out as the victor. One was an exile of the clan walking her own path while the other was enjoying the riches of the clan while growing more dangerous every day in secret. [1] Spirit gathering stage has 1 to 12 stages before stepping into origin stage. As spirit beasts their cores are referred to grade/rank 1 cores. They are seperated into 1-4 Low grade, 5-8 Medium grade, 9-12 high grade cores. (After origin stage it is only 1 to 9 stages so its low (1-3), medium (4-6), high (7-9)) 86 Chaos Incoming Rustle Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Nearby the group of foxes a sound suddenly put them on alert, the female fox however seemed to be unfazed as she looked towards the direction with a look of clarity. "I have an idea but first let us deal with the intruder." "Yes missy." The other foxes quickly ran towards the direction of the sound. Some time after they returned pulling a corpse, the older fox handed another beast core to the female fox. "Missy what should we do now?" She quickly replied. "Tear apart the two beasts bodies and carry them with you for now, its time to create some chaos." Not too far away Shadow''s brother and sister continued their hunt, the brother walked through the forest keeping a lookout for any enemies while the sister stayed behind keeping him within her vision while trying to hide herself. Their detection abilities could not compare to Korah and Shadow''s so they could only use this tactic. Jared stopped and a brown energy wrapped around his body while he took up a defensive stance. Not too long after came an ambush from behind, just as the beast was about to reach him Zephyr ran behind it to push its body away. During this brief opening during combat, Jared turned his body towards the beast and began to focus most of his energy into his antlers as he turned to hit the beast which had not yet stabilised from its fall. The beast tried to get back to its feet but Jared''s antlers pinned it to the ground, Zephyr appeared by its head coating her front hooves with her wind spirit energy increasing their sharpness. Zephyr lifted her front legs upwards and then brought them back down upon the head of the beast, then continued to attack again until it stopped its struggle and lay there lifelessly.. Since it had died Jared released the beast and they both began to dig into the body of the beast and then take out the beast core. "Brother we got another one, you make such great bait! But how about we switch roles this time? Pleeeease? You can protect me this time!" Zephyr spoke excitedly while looking upon another medium grade 1 beast core. "No." Jared said with a stern look on his face. "Just once!" Zephyr looked teary eyed at her brother. "No!" Jared enforced his words again. "So mean! Why?!" Zephyr whined. "Dangerous." Jared warned. "Hmph." Zephyr snorted. Zephyr began to walk off until Jared spoke again. "Come back." "What is wrong now?" Zephyr began to walk by his side. "Problem nearby. Fighting." Jared looked towards the sounds of some beasts fighting eachother. 87 Chaos begins 1 In another location there stood a large buffalo, its head was low as it was focussed on eating grass. Unaware to surroundings as it continued to eat it did not notice that a smaller figure was approaching behind it. The small figures light steps approached carefully trying not to be noticed by the larger beast, luckily it was distracted which provided the opportunity to get closer. Reaching the hind legs of the buffalo the figure swiped its paws at the back of its hind legs with a red coloured energy coating its nails. The buffalo panicked upon noticing the enemy already prepared to deliver a blow but it was already too late to avoid the strike. Losing strength to stand on one leg it became flustered, another strike to its other leg it could no longer hold its own weight and collapsed to the ground and fell on its side helplessly. Trying to flail its front legs and head in the hopes of rolling over and crushing its enemy were useless and the enemy had already moved away. The buffalo let out a moan of pain as blood continued to pour from the back of its hind legs, the tears and dirt in its eyes were beginning to blurr its sight so it began to lose sight of their enemy. A figure jumped decisively onto an opening that presented itself, a young brown fox appeared by the buffalos belly and began to swipe furiously at it until she had dug a very deep series of wounds into the buffalos body. Screams echoed from the buffalos mouth until the wimpers quietened down, its last strength was spent on trying to roll its body one last time to try to crush the small fox under its body after its death. Unfortunately the fox was not too distracted by landing a flurry of swipes to its stomach not to notice its intentions. She remained alert and patient until the buffalo would be dead, avoiding its attempts by jumping away from the buffalo. Taking its final breath the buffalo failed to kill the fox and finally passed away. The fox still waited patiently for a few seconds to determine that the buffalo was definately dead before digging into its body to retrieve its beast core. Holding the core in its paw inspecting it seriously the fox nodded its head. "My first medium grade 1 beast core. If only I had others who I could trust then things would be much more efficient." While the other beasts larger numbers to fight more efficiently and help with holding on to what they collected during the journey she did not. She had to kill alone so she had to kill by landing the fight blow before the enemy could notice her and also hide the cores she collected in a secret location. Luckily she was smart enough to use this option otherwise she would suffer carrying around the cores with her when fighting all on her own. Especially if she encountered multiple enemies, she may have to drop the cores in order to escape. Of course there are exceptions to this as the brother and sister of Shadow had been gifted a space pouch to store their treasures inside, so long as it was nor damaged they could focus on working as a team to hunt together. She put the core between her teeth and ran towards the location where she hid her spoils of the competition. By a tree she began to dig into the ground until the cores were revealed, placing the new core with them she quickly counted them. She had been hunting not too far from the location of the hidden cores, this way she would not have to search for enemies so long as they come into her territory. This way she can detect any intruders and begin her hunt, get back to the tree and hide the cores before beginning again. Unfortunately the decisive flaw with this strategy would be the dead bodies and the bloody smell attracting enemies to her location. While it could also be used to increase the rate she encounters enemies luring them with the smell of blood it could go horribly wrong if it attracts a larger group of beasts because then she would have to run away. "Not bad, I have collected 1 medium and 3 low grade cores. If this keeps up then I should at least be able to collect enough to compete with the others or at least not lose too terribly. However the bloody smell is becoming stronger after every kill I make... I need to pick my targets better." The brown fox began to think of how to improve the rate of medium grade cores, the chances of encountering a high grade beast in this location was very low but that did not leave out the possibility of encountering a group. "The chances of encountering a pack in this location should also be low... I couldn''t be that unlucky right?" She shook her head and let out a sigh. She quickly covered the cores in dirt burying them before stalking around her territory quietly looking out for new intruders. Unfortunately for her she had already been spotted by someone quite some time ago and had already been reported to their leader. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Indeed... someone had been monitoring her actions this whole time and was waiting for their opportunity! 88 Chaos part 2 Collecting one more beast core the brown fox made her way back to bury it with the rest. "Huh?" The brown fox looked down into the dug up dirt in confusion. The location where she had placed all of the cores had been dug up completely and not a single one was left. "Damn! I have been noticed..." She held the beast core in her mouth and grit her teeth in frustration, leaving a small crack on the beast core. "I guess I have no choice..." Looking around her to see if she was still being monitored, the fox let out a sigh before climbing up a tree. Taking a little effort she finally sat on a stable branch looking below where her treasures had been stolen, her eyes showed a decisive glow as she swallowed the remaining beast core. In the wild where many beasts live, if a beast swallows a beast core with the intention to break through to the next stage they will definitely take risks of being attacked while absorbing the energy in their body. If interrupted suddenly when refining the energy it can cause the beast to lose control of the energy and risk failure to a breakthrough or damage to the body. The fox chose to swallow her remaining beast core on the tree branch to avoid any incoming dangers during her breakthrough. Refining the beast core inside her body, it began to break down and crack apart before dissolving. As this was happening the fox showed a great deal of concentration guiding and controlling the energy in her body left from the core and guided a small part of it towards her own beast core. Little by little small wisps of energy began to merge with her beast core when she began to smell the bloody smell was a lot heavier than before. "I am such a fool, I should have just left and given up instead of trying my luck! If they target me once they will continue to do so until I am dead. Even though we are from the same family how could they treat me like this!" Of course she knew who was behind the theft but what could she do about it? Her mother and her are outsiders to the clan, even with her strength she is alone while they have many. They could steal her hard earned beast cores but could she prove it? So she chose to improve her strength further and seek a chance to turn her situation around. If she had enough strength who could bully her and her mother? Sadly she forgot that certain individuals just would not let her go whether she fought back or not because she is merely a thorn in their side. Gritting her teeth angrily the brown fox glared menacingly with red eyes. ''Bitch, if you want me dead then so be it! Come face me you coward!'' Growing up she worked hard to gain the clans acknowledgement, she quickly became recognised as one of the young geniuses on the mountain. She hoped to see the look of praise, recognition and love on the faces of the fox clan but instead met with jealousy, contempt and calculation. Jealousy from how fast she had grown, contempt because she was not recognised as a family member of the fox clan anymore, calculation because the clan elder had been trying to keep his ace hidden and pushing her forward to be a big target would benefit the clan greatly. Naive in her youth she proudly contributed towards the clan but their gazes towards her never changed. A year ago her mother told her to no longer have any interaction with the clan and informed her about why she would not return too. A battle was coming on the mountain and the clan was pushing her onto the front lines to sacrifice herself for the family, how could her mother let that happen? Enraged her mother stormed into the clan and warned the elders of the fox clan to keep away from her daughter or she would kill them all! Later her mother told her to keep an eye out for a certain fox within the fox clan, it seemed like the main goal was to push her to the front to catch the attention of the old monkey king so that he would not notice the fox that they was were raising in secret. Sadly the fox was very narrow minded, seeing the brown fox shining so brightly enjoying recognition from those on the mountain her jealousy and hatred grew until she would begin to try to harm her in secret. Now she had an opportunity to steal from the brown fox, she took it. Given the chance to end her life once and for all, she took it decisively. Anger erupted within the brown fox causing her to lose control of her energy for a moment resulting in a backlash. Coughing up blood she closed her eyes and grit her teeth to suppress the pain she was feeling and began to gain control of the energy once more. Gaining control once again she heard a loud noise not too far from herself causing her to feel uneasy... "Roar!!" 89 Chaos part 3 Sounds of fighting erupted nearby as the bloody smell in the air continued to grow even stronger. The brown fox further increased her focus on absorbing the energy into her beast core as fast as possible hoping that she would not be found. A total of seven beasts began to fight over the corpses littering the ground further attracting more beasts that watch on from a distance. The area where the brown fox had been hunting quickly became chaotic, luckily she chose to hide up the tree so she had not been noticed by any of the beasts yet. After a short time passed one of the smaller and weaker beasts began to pant heavily while covered in blood. A look of panic in its eyes as it gazed at the other six beasts, decisively choosing the path of living it gave up on the prey and fled. None of the beasts began to chase but as the beast began to feel he was safe a creepy feeling crept up its spine. Ambushed after being unprepared they did not have much time to fight back as a few black figures decisively clawed and bit into its body. A female voice spoke filled with disgust. "So useless!" "Miss what should we do now? Should we give up?" One black figure questioned with a voice filled with worry. "Never! That bitch has to die today! Idiot, since you spoke up first you will be the one to make sure the gathered beasts find where she is hiding. Go!" The female black fox flicked her tail in anger and hit the ground with her tiny paw. "Young miss please spare me!" The black figure lowed his body towards the female fox. "Hmph, whether you live or not has nothing to do with me. If you can survive it''s your luck or do you want me to go back and tell the clan you disobeyed an order from this miss?" The female fox looked down coldly at the black fox who begged for forgiveness. ''Dare to talk back to me? Don''t even think of living through this!'' A small noise nearby alerted the black fox group. "The rest of you quickly check the surroundings." The female black fox ordered. "Yes miss!" The others quickly complied with her wish while silently offering a look of sympathy towards the fox who had been sentenced to death by their young miss. "Miss please! Spare me... spare me miss! I will listen, I will be obedient please spare me!" The sacrificial fox began to wail in grief and fear. "Shut up!" The female fox had a murderous look in her eyes. "Or do you want to die here? If you die here and do not complete your task then I have no choice but to report this back to the clan, then your brothers back home will not end well." Despair crept onto the sacrificial foxes face before lowering his head. "As you ordered young miss." "On second thought, before you begin hurry and send one other fox who can travel alone to find carry out a task in secret." The female fox spoke again before putting her mouth close to his ear silently whispering so no one could hear but the sacrificial fox. "Pass on my order quickly and do not let anyone else find out about it or else! Hmph!" Seeing him leaving she gazed onto the far away tree branch with a look of hatred and muttered. "She cannot be allowed to grow stronger... she must die today." Not too far away a figure hung on a tree branch and leapt to another tree before concealing himself up high. "So close! They almost spotted me..." The young monkey let out a snort. "So my fathers suspicions were correct, no wonder he has been feeling uneasy. If I didn''t just witness it we would never of known that such a monster was being secretly raised. It seems the fox clan are an even greater threat than we thought." Deep in thought with a frown on his face he stroked the fluff on his chin. "Do we really have to rely on Shadow to counter the fox clan?" Letting out a sigh he jumped down the tree before leaving decisively. He quickly arrived back at his own hiding spot not far away... Picking up his halberd from a nearby bush and looking at the glistening beast cores he had hidden he had a glow in his eyes. The look in his eyes showed his resolution and determination to further improve not only his personal strength and experience but also his mind. Before he could live as the young heir of the mountain, as the young genius of the family with a set in stone future. The deer family was loyal, the panthers were aggressive and the fox clan were patient and full of calculations. He believed his father could handle everything until he grew into the role of the ruler but lately he had ran into too many variables. The useless white deer suddenly became mysterious and difficult to see through. Although the brown fox was a good rival he never sensed any malice from her, the young panther genius was not a huge threat to him so long as me remained vigilant. Now he had discovered another formidable rival who could cause great harm to his home. Although his growth was fast thanks to his fathers sole nurturing it also resulted in his lazy nature. The series of events he had witnessed woke something inside of himself! Pressure to survive. True rivals to challenge himself. But... He chose differently. Casting his gaze away from the beast cores he carried his halberd and left to continue his hunt! Right now he could not be in a vulnerable position or his father would be harmed! So he could not take time to eat a beast core to increase his strength because he knew the dangers after what was happening to the brown fox! All he could do right now was to play the game according to the rules. Hunt, hunt and hunt some more and avoid any danger. If he encounters others that can solve the current situation then he may be able to help the brown fox but for now he would be risking his own life and be unable to make much of a difference. This was the first time in his life he had ever been so helpless...