THE AMBUSH

Beasts are creatures that can cultivate and are divided into 9 tiers based on their strength. The higher the tier, the stronger the Beast. Each tier corresponds to the cultivation Realm of human cultivators. At the 2nd tier, a Beast becomes conscious and intelligent, and at the 4th tier, it can form a human body. A Beast at the 4th tier, with a human body, can give birth to a Beast with a human body from birth.

Beasts transform into human bodies because a human body is better for cultivation. However, because a Beast's body is stronger than a human's, Beasts are stronger than their human counterparts in the equivalent Realm.

The Beast Darsh was tasked to kill was at the 1st tier initial stage. 

After three long days of travel, Darsh finally arrived at his destination. Upon reaching the village, he inquired of the locals.

"When did this Beast first appear in your village?"

"It... It was first sighted by us at the valley behind that mountain when... when we were gathering herbs." Some young men said with a trembling voice.

"And how does this Beast look like?" Darsh asked them.

"It... It... looked like an Orfin."

Orfin resembled a bull with a gigantic body of 3 meters.

"Okay. Thanks for your cooperation." Darsh replied.

After his inquiry finished, Darsh went straight to the valley. In Darsh's opinion, he could easily defeat that Orfin. 

Seeing him go to the valley, all the villagers started gossiping.

"What do you think about that kid?"

"What is even there to think about? That kid is a reckless runt who doesn't know a thing."

"You're right. He doesn't know a thing about the real world. I bet he is the son of a rich noble or the heir of a big family."

While the locals of the village were having a conversation a black figure passed the village like a bolt of lightning. That black figure was the man sent by Elder Drake.

Darsh slowly went deeper into the mountain and closely searched in his proximity. Suddenly he saw the Orfin he was searching for quite a while. He planned an ambush on the Orfin and like a flash of lightning he charged at the Orfin.

With an expression of cold determination, he struck without hesitation. His fist slammed into the Orfin's skull with bone-crushing force, the impact reverberating through the creature's entire frame. The Orfin's eyes, wide with terror, barely had time to blink before it was already too late. Darsh didn't pause—didn't give it the luxury of a breath. In one fluid motion, he pivoted, his body coiled like a predator, unleashing a brutal roundhouse kick to its back.

The force was monstrous, the sound of cracking bones echoed through the air as the Orfin's spine buckled under the sheer power of the blow. The creature collapsed instantly, crumpling to the ground as if it were nothing more than a rag doll.

Just as Darsh was celebrating his first victory against a real Beast, out of the blue someone attacked him. Thanks to his sharp senses Darsh managed to block the opponent's attack but that attack numbed his hands for a moment. Darsh looked at his unexpected attacker and asked him: "Who are you and why are you attacking me?"

"Dead people don't need answers."

That mysterious attacker said this and charged at Darsh with full might. Darsh dodged his attack by a hair's length and started to run away. He knew that he had no chance of winning against his opponent. His only way to survive now was to run, as fast as he could. 

He ran desperately for his survival, oblivious to the passing time. After a while, he found himself at the edge of a ravine. Before he could think of something, that man attacked him from behind.

"Now, die!!! You scum!"

Because of the impact of the hit, Darsh fell into the ravine.

"Aahhhh..."

Darsh was going to die once again just like this. He finally had everything he had dreamt of in this life. Will he be reborn again? Or will he die forever?

As these thoughts came to Darsh's mind, he closed his eyes. His whole life including his previous one as well started flashing before his eyes. It did not happen the last time he died. This was probably because of all the misery that he had experienced. But whatever the case, it didn't help. Suddenly, some images flashed into his mind. He saw a big pond full of blood and a coffin in the middle of the pond. Then he saw a corpse of someone but this image was too blurry for him to understand.

In a flash, a sound echoed in the ravine in which Darsh had fallen. That sound was of Darsh's body colliding with the ground.

But shockingly, Darsh was still alive. He didn't have a single scratch on his body. Only his clothes had gotten messed up.

After dusting off his clothes, Darsh started examining the place.

There was a broken sword on the ground which caught Darsh's eyes. He inspected the sword from a distance. He had an uneasy feeling seeing that sword. But out of curiosity, he picked up the sword.

The instant he took hold of the sword, a white flash hit his forehead. That light had come out of the broken sword in Darsh's hand.