Spirit Fruits

"Spirit fruits?", Yan Guang remarked, confused. 

"Oh, spirit fruits are basically the fruits of a spiritual plant, such as the one we just killed. We were really lucky to find this one right when it was ready to bear fruit.", replied Kong Hao. His knowledge of various ingredients and panaceas was indeed quite useful at this moment.

"So, what should we do with these?", Yan Guang asked. He was tempted to eat them like one would a regular fruit, but was also afraid that it might be a waste of its effects.

Kong Hao spoke with great vigor, "Hmm... Well, there's a couple of ways we could go about dealing with these fruits. First, we could just eat them outright, which would provide us with a massive amount of spiritual energy we would have trouble absorbing, wasting some of the efficacy."

After a brief pause, he spoke once more.

"Or, we could extract its juice, simmer its flesh in some water, and slowly consume them in order to maximize our benefits."

The three boys looked at each other and silently came to a conclusion. Nobody was willing to waste spiritual energy so wantonly.

"Then, let's prepare these spiritual fruits after we return.", Pei Yi advised. Everybody agreed and held on to one fruit each, almost salivating while thinking about its worth.

These types of fortuitous encounters were exactly what made the Wilderness Exploration Club such an appealing prospect to students.

Still, I haven't achieved what I came here for in the first place, thought Yan Guang. He was still in need of fresh beast blood to continue his body-refining practice.

Looking up at the sky, Yan Guang could tell that there were still a few hours till sunset, which meant they had plenty of time before they had to return to Shi Fang's main group near the clearing they had entered from.

"Guys, we still have time. Let's start moving, we've probably attracted a lot of undesirable attention from the fire!", Yan Guang cautiously stated.

Heeding his advice, the team quickly went on their way, back into the dense and vibrant forest.

As the sky went from cyan to a deep orange, the team encountered many beasts. None of them were truly any trouble for a group of 3 martial artists, however, and Yan Guang was enough to easily dispatch them.

Kong Hao, despite seeming tired, no longer asked for breaks, seemingly traumatized by last time's events.

While the other two were slightly weirded out by Yan Guang's obsession with collecting blood, they assumed it was just to sell as a resource. Beast blood was valuable to create certain medicines after all, and nobody could have predicted Yan Guang was the type of maniac to bathe in it to advance his cultivation.

Luckily, apart from the few beasts, nothing else of note happened to the crew on their exploration.

The sky was already about to turn dark, and Yan Guang and the rest were on their way back.

The forest at night was a different beast from the day. With danger hiding in every shadow and predators that took advantage of the cover of night, not even a martial artist was truly safe here.

Suddenly, Pei Yi exclaimed, "I can see the smoke from here! We must be close to the base camp!"

Knowing they were close to civilization, everybody's morale rose. This was the last leg of their journey, at least for a while. 

The smoke signal was undoubtedly Shi Fang looking out for his juniors, guiding them back to safety. After all, there was no one else in this forest brave enough to announce their presence to the whole world with such a signal.

As the team drew closer and closer, they could smell the aroma of roasted meat. Their seniors were going to treat them to a meal!

Eventually, they walked out of the canopy of the forest into the clearing where the camp was situated, seeing the crude encampment Shi Fang and the upperclassmen had created.

For something assembled in less than a day, it was awesome, truly representative of the work efficiency of martial artists. One third-rate could do the work of five construction workers.

Looking around, the team quickly realized they weren't the first group to return to camp. In fact, most of them had already returned, partially because many of them were scared as this was their first time deep in the woods.

No matter how physically strong they were, everyone present was still quite young. While the age of a first-year could vary by a lot, none were older than 18 and most were around 16, just a little older than Yan Guang.

Especially as most of them came from rich martial arts families, hunting in the wild was way out of their comfort zone.

Yan Guang and the rest quickly found a rest area to sit down at with a whole carcass roasting above an open fire.

After rotating it so it was evenly cooked, everyone tore off pieces of meat and happily ate, gradually recovering from their fatigue.

"Mm, whoever seasoned this did a good job!", Yan Guang couldn't help but remark. The natural richness of the meat combined with even simple seasoning made a dish irresistible to his palate that was dominated by the cheap pleasures of modern society.

Any meat from a random animal in the Azure Spirit continent was equivalent to the best A5 Wagyu from Earth. Rather, it was even better due to the augmentation from the qi naturally present in the surroundings.

Truly, one of the joys of life is eating!, Yan Guang thought to himself. He wondered what he would do when he reached a point where he no longer needed to eat.

If I don't need to eat mortal food, then... I'll just eat immortal food instead!

There was not much that touched his bottom line, except for a few things. Those few things were sleep, food, and hygiene, the trifecta of well-adjusted living.

A voice rang throughout camp, silencing the chatter and bringing back the zoned-out Yan Guang to the present moment.

"Everyone, we will be staying at this camp for tonight! Now that you know what it means to explore, you must truly understand what it means to survive!", Shi Fang yelled.

"From now on, all resources till we return to the school will be provided for you all, by you all! Whether that be food, shelter, or clothing, make it yourself, or find someone who will make it for you!", he continued.

Many sighs could be heard around camp, especially from the girls. None of them wanted to stay overnight in such an undeveloped place.

Then again, survival training was absolutely an essential skill for martial artists. There was a reason the martial arts community was called the Jianghu!

Yan Guang was at an advantage already, having lived in the woods by himself for almost a month.

He quickly gathered some leaves and sticks, finding a flat surface to assemble a bed of leaves and a simple ceiling.

Seeing that this fellow teammates were struggling to make their own beds, Yan Guang graciously helped out Pei Yi and Kong Hao. Their expertise in their fields proved very useful to Yan Guang and although a bit immature, they seemed like good people.

"Well, good night everyone. See you all tomorrow.", Yan Guang announced before heading to his bed.

Settling into his uncomfortable living quarters, Yan Guang eventually coerced himself into sleep.

Next thing he knew, Yan Guang was being rustled around, slowly opening his eyes to a pitch-black sky.

"Who...?", he managed to mutter in his half-asleep state.

"Wake... Wake... Guang! Beast!" is all he managed to hear, although he sensed there were a few gaps in that sentence.

The word "beast" put him on high alert as all of his senses at once boosted themselves to full clarity.

"Beasts, where?!", Yan Guang yelled, as he realized who woke him up. It was Kong Hao, with tears in his eyes.

"Brother, beasts have attacked the camp! Shi Fang is fighting off the leader of the pack, but we need to run! Right now!", Kong Hao spoke, stressing the end to express the urgency.

Shit. I might have slept a little too soundly, Yan Guang noted. 

Revolving his internal energy around his body, all the rest of his dizziness quickly faded and he entered a combat-ready state.

Kong Hao, however had his eyes fixated on a point behind Yan Guang.

"What's wrong?", Yan Guang asked, right before looking behind him.

Emerging from the darkness lay a beast at least twice the size of any he had seen before.

It was a strangely shaped creature, covered by brown fur. Its arms stretched all the way down to the ground, and it was bipedal, standing on the stubs it had in place of feet. Its eyes were blood-red, instilling a sense of primal fear into those who dared stare into those misty globes.

"No way...", Yan Guang muttered, "IS THAT A WEREWOLF!?"