Origin Beast

After the first day of hunting down the Fire Foxes, the group only managed to kill a little over forty of the beasts. Luckily, in the latter half of the day the group managed to get used to killing the beasts. So far, there had been no accidents or missteps that were a threat to the group's wellbeing.

After going back to the camp for a nights rest, the group continued the hunting the next day. Although they had to kill more Fire Foxes than the day before, they were confident that they would be able to achieve the goal.

"Just making sure, no one has any doubts about finishing them off today, right?"

The group affirmed Qing Shan's question in unison, everyone showing their excitement. After the fruitful hunting experience the day prior, no one had any more doubts about finishing behind schedule.

Sure enough, the hunt continued as it had the day before. The main difference was that everyone was now used to their roles, which caused the group to be as proficient as a well-oiled machine. Because everyone was now used to their roles, the beasts could be lured multiple times faster, and be killed even more efficiently.

The hunt went quickly, and an hour before nightfall there was only a few Fire Foxes remaining. Most of the beasts were finished off quickly, and the last one was lured over to the group. This fox seemed to be a bit larger in size than the others, but the group did not think much of this. However, the group realized the difference between this fox and the other ones once they got close to it. This last Fire Fox was an Origin Beast!

'Shit! Why didn't I notice sooner?'

It seemed as though the beast had broken through fairly recently, as it's aura was more reminiscent of a Peak Formation Beast than an Origin Beast. Fortunately, it seemed that had not completely broken through as of yet. Once could say that it was at Half-Step Origin Soul level.

By the time that Qing Shan had noticed this difference in the beast, it had already been lured into the group's formation.

"Qing Shan, In front of you!"

Qing Shan's head whipped upwards just in time to see the fangs of the fox glinting in front of his head. He quickly utilized Micro Shift to move his head backwards, while tensing the muscles. In his arms and legs. Qing Shan thrusted his spear through the bottom of the Beast's jaw, and through its mouth.

'Good! It seems that has not yet created its Origin Body, and has only broken through in terms of control of Qi.'

"This is a Half-Step! Be careful. If we play this right, we can kill this thing!"

"W-what? A Half-Step!"

Just as Ming Bai finished her verbal response to Qing Shan, The Fox let out an earth-shaking growl. As it did so, the flames upon its hide grew stronger, and spread wider.

"ouch, that's hot!"

Qian Zhen jumped away from the Fire Fox. With the heat that was now radiating from the fox, there was absolutely no way that he would be able to continue attacking with his disks. After all, the Fire was now strong enough to burn anyone that comes within two and a half feet of it.

Even though Qian Zhen had backed away, the giant fox did not seem to notice the new opening, as it threw itself sideways, straight at Ming Bai. The girl jumped backwards, relatively unscathed. Unfortunately, one of the barbed ends of her whip got stuck in the side of the huge Fire Fox, and her weapon was ripped out of her hands. Both Qing Shan and Qian Zhen were caught off guard by this sudden movement, and by the time they regained their composure the Fire Fox was a good distance away, staring at the group with a predatorial glint in its eye.

The Fire Fox turned and ran away.

'I have a feeling we'll be seeing that thing again…'

Although this thought slowly drifted across Qing Shan's mind, he felt that if they did see the fox again, the encounter would be much more dangerous. Just now was probably the best time to kill that damn fox. It was on the cusp of becoming a true Origin Beast, and was alone. Foxes are renowned for their cunning, not their fighting, which made Qing Shan worried. Unfortunately, only he and Qian Yong, the two with effective weapons, would be able be of any help; even then, just two people would not be enough to kill that Fire Fox.

"Alright. What's done… well you know the drill. Let's loot the corpses and head back to camp. I'm thinking we are going to want two guards tonight, so we will switch in groups of two every two hours."

'That should tide us over for the night…'

Everyone agreed to the plan, and tried to get some sleep.

Unfortunately, although the fox had not appeared, it was messing with them in its own way. Because everyone was worried about being hunted by a Half-Step Origin Beast, no one was able to sleep, and even Qing Shan flinched at the slightest noise. Not many things were worse than being hunted by a cunning opponent; especially when you knew you were being hunted.

In the morning, everyone cleaned up the campsite, their eyes drooping. No one had slept a wink the last night.

"Let's just grab the loot and get out of here. We can just give something else and say it was one hundred. There is no way we are going to kill that damn fox right now."

Qian Zhen spoke up.

"Why the hell is our luck for there to be exactly one hundred foxes in the area? We could go to another place, but that would extend the trip by at least a week."

Surprisingly, Ming Bai cut in.

"Although I don't like lying to the sect, I don't think they have any way to confirm if we are telling the truth. This is definitely the most logical choice of action."

With that matter resolved, the group quickly looted the beasts before heading back in the direction of the Fallen Sky sect.

"Luckily the walk only takes a day… I don't like knowing that we are being hunted, especially without the sect as a safety net."

Although no one said anything, everyone agreed with Qian Yong's words. They could each feel the presence of the fox, but had no clue of its location.

After three more hours of walking, and an hour break, the group resumed their travels. Throughout this four hours, the presence of the Fire Fox had not weakened at all. It had actually become even stronger! The presence was so strong that the group felt as though they were being suffocated by the aura of the fox. There was now no doubt in their minds.

'The Fox had become an Origin Beast!'

The group had kept their guard up for the whole journey, but they could not find the Fox. However, after four hours they were certain that the fox was waiting for something.

Just as they group was starting to grow tired once more, the large Fire Fox appeared in the middle of the group. No one saw how it entered. It was as though it had materialized out of mid-air. It had certainly not been invisible, or else it would have been discovered. Just how had it managed to sneak up on them?

"Run!"

Qing Shan looked around at the terrain, taking full advantage of his speed of thought to think up a plan of action. The area that the group had been passing through was a valley, with two tall mountains on each side and trees covering the side of the pathway. The group had been close to exiting the valley, so Qing Shan could see the trees branch out to both sides past the mountains. The distance was no more than seventy meters!

"Go into the trees past the mountain on the left! We may be able to lose him in there!"

"Got it!"

Everyone shifted directions towards where Qing Shan directed. Now was certainly not the time to be doubting the group leader.

The group quickly ran through the seventy meters, the fox literally scorching their tails. Once they entered the trees, Qing Shan pointed up at the mountain on their right side, before yelling.

"Scatter!"

Everyone ran in different directions, but kept the same destination in mind.

The Fox faltered for a second, before pursuing Qing Shan.

"Why is it following me!?"

As he ran, Qing Shan realized that he would not be able to outrun this beast for long. Just staying in front of it while weaving through the trees had caused him to consume a huge amount of Qi.

'If I cannot outrun it or kill it, might as well wound it!'

Qing Shan turned around, swinging his spear to his side, before thrusting it forward. By relying on his perception of time, as well as his Spring Motion and Flowing Breeze techniques, Qing Shan was able to shove his spear deep into the fox's eye, before circling around and cutting into its chest with his hand.

Unfortunately, Qing Shan's goal of destroying its heart would be impossible. He was barely able to penetrate a knuckle into the beast's chest, so there was no way he'd be able to reach the heart. Qing Shan turned to look at his spear, but realized that there was not time to take it from the fox's eye.

Qing Shan clasped his hands as he was running, giving a silent thanks to the spear, for all it had helped him with up to this point. Although he had not had it long, it was the first spear that Qing Shan owned, as well as the first weapon he forged for himself.

'Thank you, my companion.'

Qing Shan focused on running forward toward the mountain. He needed to regroup and hide from the Fox. Once it reoriented itself, it would surely come after them.

After a few minutes of running, Qing Shan found the group standing next to the tallest tree that could be seen from within the forest. It was definitely a perfect meeting point.

*Gasp*

"Ha- Ah, damn, I managed to run tie up the Fire Fox for a couple seconds and ran off, but there is a strong possibility that we are still being followed. We need to get away from here and back to the sect as fast as possible."

Qian Yong stepped forward, and nodded at the two others before turning to Qing Shan.

"We were thinking the same thing, but I have an idea of where we can hide. Don't you think that this tree is abnormally wide for this area? It is almost as though it is hiding something…"

Qing Shan started to fell impatient. What was she getting at?

"Well, we found an entrance into the tree! There are some strange figures in the shape of a door, and we have confirmed that the tree is hollow. Maybe we can hide inside of it?"

Qing Shan's impatience was immediately erased after hearing Qian Yong's explanation.

'Strange figures? Could it be…?'

"Show me."

'Sure enough…'

Just as Qing Shan had suspected, the figures were remarkably similar to those of the trash trial before. It was a large possibility that this was either another trial, or maybe even a burial ground!

Qing Shan placed his hand in the center of the door-shaped arrangement of figures, and looped Qi in his arm.

*Rumble*

A loud sound traveled throughout the forest as the outlined section of the tree sank inwards, reveling a black hole in the tree. It was as if the tree was filled with empty space, not touched by anything.

As Qing Shan stared in awe at the inside of the tree, he suddenly felt the aura of the Fire Fox approach the area. That rumble had signaled their location to the whole forest!

"Quickly! Enter before the Fire Fox arrives! We do not have enough time to be doubting this!"

On Qing Shan's orders, everyone jumped into the empty space within the tree.