Beast Tide

While Yan Guang did feel a subtle sense of terror, he quickly overcame it. He knew he was going to have to fight to survive and to protect his new teammates.

Pushing his internal energy into his feet, he dashed towards the monster to deliver a punch straight to its gut.

While this would have winded a human foe, the monster simply shrugged it off and raised its arms, preparing to swipe away its opponent.

Luckily, it was quite slow, allowing Yan Guang to escape and reflect on his attack. The blunt force didn't seem to harm the monster at all, meaning he would have to change his strategy.

Despite the advice from his master to focus on the basics, he ended up reusing a move from his fight against Han Jing, forming a claw out of internal energy.

He also simultaneously activated his Rising Blood Breathing, causing his blood to boil and his body to shift into high gear.

He and his opponent stared at each other for a brief instant, before the fight continued. Yan Guang dashed upwards, clawing at the beast's eye. While the rest of its face seemed to only be minorly scratched, his claw seemed to have pierced through the thin skin of the eyelid.

Perfect! Now I just have to focus on its blind spots!, Yan Guang realized. Going for the eye was one of his preferred tactics against humongous beasts.

Yan Guang further reinforced his claws with more internal energy before attacking the werewolf-esque monster from its blinded side.

Although most of his strikes didn't seem to do much damage, the damage slowly accumulated.

The beast's two long arms served as barriers that Yan Guang had to constantly maneuver around. If he was hit by just one of the massive monster's attacks, he could be seriously injured, after all.

Any attempts to blind the beast's second eye were quickly shut down. It seemed to be more on guard than before, not wanting to lose the only vision it had left.

A few dozen exchanges passed in the next half-minute, amazing Kong Hao, whose eyes could barely keep up.

Yan Guang suddenly had a lucky break as a loud cracking sound rang out. His fist managed to leave a deep imprint on the monster, with its blood spilling out. He had fully gained the upper hand with one use of Bodily Harmony.

No matter how many times he achieved it, Yan Guang couldn't help but be impressed with the power he was able to generate with Bodily Harmony. Every repetition seemed to unify his mind with his body a little more, increasing the chances of triggering it again.

Yan Guang's second punch once again reverberated throughout his entire body, all of his muscles lining up for one of the strongest punches he had ever landed, causing the monster to cry out in pain.

His third punch ended its life with a powerful blow to the chest, breaking a few of its ribs.

In only a few minutes, Yan Guang had managed to dispatch the beast. This wasn't exactly rare, however. Fights between martial artists rarely went over 10 minutes in length unless they were exactly evenly matched.

[1 Wolfman defeated, 300P gained]

Yan Guang was taken aback by the sudden notification. It had been a while since he received a notification for killing a beast. Perhaps it was something to do with the massive amount of points these beasts gave relative to the others.

Realizing that this sudden beast invasion might actually be a treasure trove in disguise, Yan Guang quickly turned to Kong Hao, asking, "Where are the rest of the beasts?"

Although terrified, Kong Hao quickly replied, pointing towards his right, "The beasts came from that direction, Brother Yan!"

Utilizing his movement technique, Yan Guang seemed to blow through his surroundings, avoiding any obstructions with grace. Eventually, he reached the battlefield where he saw multiple students, mostly upperclassmen, fighting courageously against the wolfmen.

"Kid, get back right now! This is not a place you should be!", yelled one of the upperclassmen, warning Yan Guang.

"Don't worry, senior! I take my safety quite seriously!", Yan Guang yelled back before rushing into the frontlines of the battle.

Fighting in coordination with others was a new experience for Yan Guang, but he adjusted rather quickly, finding it much easier than fighting alone. There was always someone to back him up, take a few blows for him, and provide opportunities for attacking.

Quite a few of his blows triggered Bodily Harmony, which was quite surprising for Yan Guang. In only the span of a few days, he had already gone from a complete novice to an intermediate in terms of using this ability.

Notifications rang out repeatedly, appearing in his peripherals for a brief moment before disappearing.

By the end of all the chaos, Yan Guang seemed to almost be in a flow state. Almost a fourth of all his attacks triggered the Bodily Harmony state, making him a force of nature on the battlefield.

A final notification rang out.

[14 Wolfmen defeated, 4256P gained]

After fighting for what seemed to be hours, the wolfmen finally seemed to retreat. Corpses lay strewn around the battlefield, reminding everyone of the carnage that had just taken place, and reminding them of the precarious nature of humanity's place as the apex predator.

Not everyone was lucky enough to survive, however. Sadly, three students had passed away in the turmoil and nobody knew how many were injured.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from out of the woods, putting everyone on alert once again, only for them to realize it wasn't a wolfman. It was Shi Fang, the president, dragging a humongous corpse behind him.

"I have avenged the fallen! This is the corpse of that Wolfman pack's leader!", he announced, shocking all of the martial artists present.

Wolfmen were not the rarest creatures to meet in the forests. They usually lived in packs and had a strength around the 2nd-rate level. The pack's alpha was much stronger than the rest, reaching the 1st-rate level, which explained everyone's surprise.

Shi Fang, a student, had managed to take down a beast that normally took a team of 1st-rate martial artists to kill it. However, he did seem quite injured, bleeding from many wounds he had incurred. For a martial artist of his realm, that wasn't exactly life-threatening.

The crowd quickly broke into cheers, perhaps to dispel the gloomy atmosphere. The friends of the deceased celebrated with tears in their eyes, hoping they could see that they had been avenged.

Yan Guang wasn't sure how to feel; on one hand, they had won, but people had died. Celebrating felt odd, but it was just normal to the denizens of this world. Life and death were foreign to him, but to these warriors that danced on that precipice, it wasn't all that uncommon.

Kong Hao and Pei Yi quickly reunited with Yan Guang. He was glad to see that they were both relatively unharmed, although quite disturbed.

Looking at the faces of other newcomers, they realized that the club might lose a few members after this debacle.

"Everyone, due to unforeseen circumstances, we'll have to be leaving early! I, as the president, will take on all responsibility for everything that happened here!", Shi Fang announced, putting everyone at ease. No one wanted to stay here any longer than they had to.

The group of almost 50 martial artists quickly set off to return to the school, which didn't take too long.

By the time the sun had risen, they were already at the gates. Once the guards verified that it was the Wilderness Exploration Club that was returning, everyone was quickly allowed inside. 

To their surprise, quite a few elders and medical personnel were waiting for them, taking away the seriously injured for first aid.

"Shi Fang, you imbecile!", shouted one of the elders at a deafening volume. To be more specific, it was Mo Nan, the elder in charge of the club.

"You... YOU! How could you take first-years on an overnight expedition, you fool?! Three dead... one upperclassman and two first-years, do you understand the weight of your sins!"

"It's all my fault, Elder Mo!", Shi Fang quickly acquiesced.

"Good! Good! So you know it's your fault! Does that mean that those lives that were lost will return!"

Shi Fang's face was filled with agony, knowing that he was responsible for the death of his comrades.

"Elder Mo, all members of the club should have experience surviving in the harsh wilderness! I was only preparing-", Shi Feng tried to explain, but was cut off.

"Enough! I don't want to hear any excuses. For your wrongdoings, I hereby punish you to a seclusion of two months in the Soaring Wind Cliffs!", Elder Mo announced.

From the reactions of the rest of the club, it was clear that this punishment was not a casual one.

"I don't get it, President Shi Fang was only doing his job. Why does he deserve such a harsh punishment?", asked Yan Guang. He had quite a favorable impression of Shi Fang. Despite his mistakes, he had taken the initiative to correct them, even killing a first-rate savage beast to avenge the fallen.

Kong Hao, hearing the confusion in Yan Guang's voice, took the chance to explain, "Brother Yan, anything that threatens the lives of school members, especially first-years, is taken very seriously! The first-years are still novices and aren't supposed to be put in danger at all, and most of all, they're all from influential martial arts families! If these families found out that martial schools were putting their children in danger, admissions would drop!"

"So, it's like that...", Yan Guang sighed.

He just hoped that the club wouldn't be seriously impacted by this trouble since he still needed a source of beast blood.

So much drama... All I want to do right now is go home and hit the sack, Yan Guang thought.