My Daughter, She's Back!

Two silhouettes appeared in the horizon. Other than dust being kicked up by their trail, there was nothing else behind the two.

"Only two?"

As the silhouettes rapidly approached and became clearer, Shu Dashou's eyebrows furrowed. He knew what was to come.

Deep Sea Fox and Blaze Fur Fox—each other's mortal enemies.

However, Shu Dashou had never seen nor saw any traces of either of these beasts in the forests nearby. Why would they show up here?

He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to think about this. Judging from the distance, the sizes of these beasts were humongous, at least twice as tall as him.

Meanwhile, the other warriors gripped their weapons. The threat was becoming clear to them.

Shu Dashou took in a deep breath.

He opened his mouth and yelled.

"Attack!"

All of the warriors ran from their positions and charged towards the two enemies!

Soon enough, the warriors of the village reached the foxes!

Shu Dashou was the first to arrive. He jumped and swung his axe downward the Blaze Fur Fox!

The Blaze Fur Fox looked at Shu Dashou with eyes bloodshot red, startling the latter. With a vicious growl, the beast swiped its paw towards Shu Dashou, not caring about the axe's sharpness.

Ding!

Shu Dashou's arms numbed, the impact rushing through his whole body. The axe had hit the Blaze Fur Fox's paw with such high momentum, and yet it felt like he was hitting steel!

He was launched backwards, barely landing on his feet.

Shu Dashou looked at his axe with shock. There was a massive dent.

He looked at his companions, who attacked both the Blaze Fur Fox and the Deep Sea Fox, being launched left and right like flies.

"This is going to be a tough battle," Shu Dashou grimaced.

As soon as he regained feeling in his arms, he charged towards the enemies once more.

.....

The farther Shu Fanrong traveled from her master's hut, the more bothered she became.

Let alone stronger beasts, not even boars could be seen anywhere!

The quiet forest made her unsettled.

"Where did everything go?"

She halted her steps and looked around her, quietly extending her spiritual sense by a couple meters. The radius of her spiritual sense was still small as a result of her relatively low cultivation.

All of a sudden, she heard a rustling sound from behind her.

Shu Fanrong suppressed a shriek as she turned around and prepared to throw a punch. She stared at the vicious beast!

A pitch-black squirrel stared back at her, cramming a nut inside of its cheeks. After a few seconds, it leaped away at an unfathomable speed.

"Only a shadow squirrel..."

Shu Fanrong sighed, relieved on the inside. The presence of the shadow squirrel reassured her of the presence of beasts. If it was completely quiet, she would have panicked and ran back to her master.

She proceeded to travel further from the hut. Eventually, the ground started to slant downwards.

"I'm going down the big mountain already?"

She recalled that the mountain's descent was far from the hut, given that it took her and her master hours to travel by foot.

Impressed by her own speed, Shu Fanrong continued taking huge steps, avoiding the trees and bushes with agility.

As she went down the mountain, she arrived at the place with many burial mounds. She paused, kneeling and bowing to the many dead people.

"The sect was invaded, reduced to the ruins that you see now."

Recalling her master's words, Shu Fanrong felt a bit melancholic. She had only been here for 2 weeks so far, yet she already felt like she was part of the sect, due to her master's guidance and care.

As such, she started to harbor resentment towards the sect's invaders.

After that brief interlude, Shu Fanrong took another step.

.....

[Ding! Notice: A member of the sect has exited the barrier. This notice can be turned off in settings...]

"Zzzz... Zzzz..."

The system's alert fell onto deaf ears.

.....

Shu Fanrong furrowed her brows and looked behind her.

"Nothing but grass and trees."

She felt a bit strange, like she had just crossed a boundary.

That peculiar feeling subsided after a while, with Shu Fanrong shrugging it off and continuing downwards.

As she resumed running through the forest, she noticed the density of trees growing smaller. Sunlight pierced through the gaps in the leaves.

Unknowingly, she had made it to the edge of the forest.

"Eh? But how come? Where are the beasts?"

On the way here, boars and snakes, among other beasts, started to appear, giving Shu Fanrong hope that she was close to encountering a stronger opponent. Only that way could she test her strength.

However, now that she was out of the forest, there couldn't be any possibility of seeing a strong beast anymore.

That she believed, until.

"Grrrr!"

Shu Fanrong excitedly turned her head toward the direction of the growl.

However, the scene before her made her freeze.

It was her father, bloodied and battered, battling two giant foxes, blue and red.

A primal instinct exploded within herself.

She had always regarded her father as the strongest man she knew. Her heart shook with fear, and wanted to run away.

At the same time, as she saw her father with his life in peril, Shu Fanrong's mind blanked. Her instinct overcame her fear.

Her legs moved by themselves, launching her whole body towards the direction of the foxes.

.....

A few minutes earlier.

"Augh! Kahk!"

Shu Dashou watched as the despicable red fox felled another comrade of his with a swipe, launching through the air and leaving a trail of blood. The injuries would not allow him to stand up anytime soon.

The Blaze Fur Fox turned its attention to the only ones standing.

As compared to the couple dozen warriors that came out to guard vigorously earlier, the five or six that were left standing shivered in fright, not knowing how to react. Even if they did, the opponent was too strong for them to handle.

The strongest in the village, Shu Dashou, went flying after one paw swipe—how are we supposed to fight back?

Shu Dashou took in a deep breath.

"Everyone! Go back inside, and take the fallen with you! Remember the secondary plan we thought of earlier? Do it now!"

"B-but what about you?"

"I'll stall for as much time as possible! Now go!"

The warriors gritted their teeth. They couldn't waste time to argue with Shu Dashou. Besides, he was truly the only one who could stall for time. Against these foxes, everyone else was simply too weak.

With all of their might, the warriors carried everyone that collapsed back into the walls, not caring whether they were dead or simply passed out.

Meanwhile, Shu Dashou's shout attracted both of the foxes' attention. They attacked him without mercy.

The Deep Sea Fox opened its mouth, a stream of water jetting out.

Shu Dashou rolled to avoid it. He looked at the ground—there was a deep hole where the stream hit.

Before fear could rise within him, the Blaze Fur Fox's whole body started glowing, an intense heat emitting from its fur as it jumped towards Shu Dashou.

He narrowly dodged the two paws, but the flames burnt his face and some of his hair.

With a click of his tongue, Shu Dashou escaped from under the Blaze Fur Fox and swiped his heavy axe across its body.

Ding!

Shu Dashou felt the axe bounce against the fox's skin that was as hard as steel, leaving not even a scratch. His arms numbed again.

At the corner of his eye, he saw the Deep Sea Fox opening its mouth once more. With all of his willpower, Shu Dashou strafed to the right, his arms falling behind as he couldn't control them.

The stream of water hit the head of Shu Dashou's axe.

Strangely enough, Shu Dashou did not feel like something hit the axe. When he glanced at it, he discovered why.

The water did not bother pushing the axe as it directly penetrated through the steel like a laser. With a massive hole in the middle of its head, the heavy axe became much lighter.

"Against these two beasts, my axe is useless."

He quickly glanced around and saw that there was no one else left besides him, corpses or otherwise.

Shu Dashou faintly smiled before disposing of his happiness and began focusing on the foxes again.

.....

"Guh!" "Ack!" "Blegh!"

Shu Dashou clenched his stomach, blood dripping from his mouth.

His axe was long gone, as was the use of his right arm. Right now, it felt like useless luggage, thoroughly numb and aching from all the fighting.

Before he could stand properly, the Blaze Fur Fox prowled towards him with its fiery red claws out.

Shu Dashou dodged towards the right, but his legs ended up being scratched.

Tssss...

Shu Dashou bit his mouth to suppress his screaming as he felt a burning sensation. His legs collapsed from the pain, blood not even allowed to leak out as his wounds cauterized.

"I guess this is it, huh."

The two foxes stood beside each other, looking at Shu Dashou. The latter imagined the beasts to be impressed by his tenacity.

With a low growl, the Deep Sea Fox opened its mouth once more.

Shu Dashou thought of his wife and daughter as he closed his eyes.

"—Perfect Harmony Kick!"

Bam!

"Wuwu..."

The Deep Sea Fox whimpered in pain as it flew across the air before landing several meters away.

Shu Dashou quickly opened his eyes, and the scene before him sent waves through his heart.

A tear leaked out of his eye.

"My daughter, she's back!"