Hunting Demonic Beasts

The following days, the two continued their hunt.

Being the outer area of the forest, the number of beasts present here was rather small.

Those present here were mostly early Rank-one demonic beasts. The mid-rank one beasts chose to have their dwelling deeper in the mountain as the spiritual energy was denser there.

On the fourth day, they encountered a Sabertooth Lynx.

It was extraordinarily agile and had sharp claws.

Tianlong again battled it with only his battle skills and physical body, not using his weapons at all.

The Lynx might be fast, but it was severely lacking in physical strength and defence compared to him.

He could easily follow its movements with his sharp eyes and evade its attacks. With only five punches, he had broken its ribcage.

On the ninth day, he encountered a Waterhorn Buffalo. It was the very same type of beast that the bear had killed.

Tianlong finished the fight with a few bruises, something that the Irontooth bear wasn't capable of doing.

"While your wind blades are very powerful, they lack explosive power" Qingxue commented.

"I'm well aware of it. The reason the bear had an easy time against one of these buffaloes was due to his sharp fangs that easily pierced its defence... I should've used my blade."

He also knew that this problem of not having an explosive battle skill will be solved once he learns to use lightning.

On the fifteenth day, they encountered a Blazing python guarding a Fire element spiritual herb.

Knowing that wind may not have the desired effects, he chose to use the Thunder Spirit Blade for the first time.

Every time the blade connected with the python, it would zap the serpent and make it incapable of motion.

At the end of the fight, the entire body of the beast was completely numb due to being repeatedly electrocuted. It also emitted a smell of roasted meat that he found quite appetizing.

However, he neither claimed the beast nor the spiritual grass it was protecting.

Both of them went to Qingxue who was an alchemist and thus needed to exercise flame arts on daily basis.

The corpse of fire element beasts would be much more beneficial for her than him. Thus he wouldn't claim them even if he was the one who had killed it.

The two continued to hunt beasts and search for herbs.

They would stay away from beast hordes, but whenever there were beasts in pair, she would intervene and handle one of them, while he took care of the other one.

On the seventeenth day, he encountered his first real challenge. It was a Green-Horned Caribou.

It was over three meters tall and could shoot spikes from its antlers. Also, its body emitted thick wood qi.

It was many times faster and stronger than the Irontooth bear who didn't even have an inherent skill.

Even though it was a relatively powerful beast, Tianlong didn't shy away. Qingxue was there to support him anyway.

Although the Caribou could be defeated by using pure bloodline suppression, Tianlong didn't want to use it as it would defeat the purpose of tempering. Also, he couldn't be sure if stronger beasts would be attracted due to it.

As he battled with the Green-horned Caribou, Tianlong always kept a distance from the beast looking for gaps in its defence. Once close enough, he used the Thunder spirit blade along with the wind blades.

The wind blades lacerated its entire body. Under the intense pain, murderous rage could be seen welling up inside its eyes as it continued to shoot spikes from its antlers.

With a display of extraordinary footwork, Tianlong's body flickered and shifted away, leaving behind only a gust of wind.

Seeing its target getting away so easily, the caribou changed its strategy and chose to combat him in close quarters instead.

At this moment, Tianlong was incomparably calm. His eyes shone with a cold glint that didn't match the casual smile he wore on his face. All the blood in his body started to churn as he sent his spiritual energy to the Thunder Spirit blade.

Feeling an immense sense of crisis, the Green Horned caribou roared and charged towards him. Its antlers forming an arsenal of spears that shot projectiles while also threatening to impale him.

Just when the beast was only a few meters away, Tianlong sprang in the air and used the Thunder spirit blade on the already weakened beast.

The caribou was forced to close its eyes due to the blinding light before its eardrums registered the thunderous rumbling of the lightning. It was the last thing it heard before it died.

"It makes too much noise! I just hope it didn't attract unwarranted attention." He cursed in a low voice.

Instead of being happy at his victory, he was unsatisfied with the noise produced by the blade.

He was a person who was rarely satisfied with any of his actions. However, this was what drove him to seek perfection.

Taking the beast's carcass, the two quickly moved away from the place.

…

After absorbing the Caribou's essence, Tianlong felt faint traces of Qi condensing towards his Cyclic gate acupuncture point in the Liver Meridian.

"I'll soon reach Qi condensation stage too… I wonder if it's due to the caribou having wood qi in its blood which stimulated that thing."

Tianlong could feel the vine wrapped around his heart like usual. The only movement on its part was when he practised the wind arts to separate the wind into different components according to his sense. At that time, the grey petal would gently move away from the bud as if trying to bloom.

Tainlong would immediately stop whenever it showed signs of movement and study how the energy in his body responded to it.

As the days passed by, his battle strength grew more polished due to continuous fighting. The slightly killing aura that he had accumulated after executing hundreds of prisoners, was getting more and more refined.

While Qingxue didn't get many chances to fight, the few she participated in further strengthened her foundation.

She had already opened up 96 acupoints and was thus just a step away from reaching the fourth stage of the Qi condensation realm. The flesh from the beasts also helped her strengthen her physique.

Also, she had found quite a few herbs for herself which although not rare, were quite abundant in quantity.

On the twenty-fifth day, they encountered a Snag Bison.

Unlike normal Bison, this beast was an omnivore and extremely vicious. With a height over five meters and weighing over three tons, it could impale any creature with its horns which were akin to spears.

Its body was completely covered up with Tree bark which gave it an impregnable defence. The most frightening thing was that it could regenerate. So, even if one manages to damage its body, it would heal in an instant.

If it didn't possess the wood attribute and a relatively pure bloodline, Tianlong wouldn't have bothered to fight it.

"Do you need my help?" She asked.

"Most likely." Unsheathing the blade, he charged towards the Snag Bison.

However, Tianlong soon realized that be it agility or defence, the beast outclassed him in both. Its cultivation base was also only a step away from attaining the mid-stage of rank one.

The only edge he had over the bison was its lack of magical skills. It could only attack in close range with its horns and superior strength.

After five minutes of futile struggle, he was already spent due to using the wind blades and the Thunder Spirit blade.

"Attacking it this way is futile. Its skin seems to be able to fend off my lightning attacks, the wind blades have almost no effect. The fastest way to kill it would be to use poison but that would make the body unusable." He thought while dodging the enraged bull.

"Looks like someone needs my help!"

Tianlong shook his head and looked at her. "A little help will be appreciated."

Qingxue smiled and closed upon him while conjuring a flame in her palm. Besides being an alchemist the bloodline of the Long Clan also helped her in cultivating fire-related arts.

The two started a pincer attack on it. He would occasionally send wind blades towards its face while she would throw fiery palm strikes on the rest of its body.

But soon, he realized a big problem.

"Stop attacking it with flames! It'll light up its skin, which will only make the fight even harder …even the trees may catch fire."

"Then what should we do?" Qingxue stopped using her flame attacks.

"Its whole body has an impenetrable defence, leaving only a few parts that can be exploited. If I want to attack its eyes, I'll be in direct attack range. This leaves me with only one more choice… " He said while running towards the bison, his blade glowing brighter and brighter as he channelled more and more of his qi in it.

"And what's that?"

Tianlong didn't answer but just as the bull was closing in on him, he circled and got behind it.

"You can't be serious…" Her mouth went as realization struck her.

With a calm expression, he used the Thunder spirit blade to send a thunderbolt as thick as his arm inside the Snag Bison's only weak spot – its butt.

This method of fighting was incredibly unrefined and dirty. However, he didn't believe in the beauty of combat. Only life and death mattered.

The beast gave a strange growl as it breathed its last, its corpse fell motionlessly on the ground.

"…"

"I'm full of sweat and dirt, I need to take a bath."

Before she could say anything, he collected the corpse and ran off.

Sighing, she sat on top of a boulder But soon, she could hear the sounds of few people nearby.