Chapter 59: The Price for Survival
A loud boom resounded throughout the entire field, scaring the magical beasts and all the villagers, and they rushed to see what was happening.
A fire was spreading across the field, but in the middle of the conflagration the three humanoid magical beasts were kneeling, covered by a water prison like the one which had previously caught the Rong twins in this clearing within the magical forest.
While coughing and inflicted with smaller burns, the three beasts once more left the water prison, and Hui Yue noticed how the bird and the scaled woman both released their snow and water spirits respectively, and managed to put out the fire.
Looking at the three figures it was obvious that the three of them wanted to escape back to the forest, yet how could Hui Yue and the others not notice this?
Hui Yue gestured to the others to surround the three wounded beasts, and as they did so the three woman like beasts quickly started growling at the six youngsters. The bird-woman even tried to attack, only to be stopped by a Qi blade, which was being wielded by Rong Ming, only after that did she quickly calm down.
Looking at these beasts, Hui Yue saw that although they reacted as beasts, and they seemed unable to speak, it was obvious that there was intelligence within their eyes. It might be a bit lower than that of a human, but it was definitely superior to that of other beasts they had seen before.
“Can you understand what I am saying?” Hui Yue asked curiously, as his ice-blue eyes gleamed with excitement. The beasts did not show any signs of understanding, instead they kept hissing, acting nothing like humans but like the wild beasts they were.
Although they were humanoid their cultivation level was not high enough for them to be considered equal to humans, yet their strength was clearly superior as they did not rely on dantians but their beast cores. The beast core gave them special affinities from their birth, and they grew stronger and stronger as time went by.
‘Don’t trust them.’ Lan Feng said from within Hui Yue’s dantian cave. An expression of annoyance was evident on his face, as he hated the fact that they had needed to use some of his spiritual energy for the sake of capturing these three beasts.
“Listen up, I know you can understand me.” Hui Yue said with a firm voice, his killing intent once again spreading out, causing everyone within the area to shiver in fear. Even the previously proud beasts were covering in fear as they sensed the primal killing instinct enveloping them.
“I assume that you guys would love to survive.” Hui Yue stated, and the snake woman jerked her head, looking at the young boy with doubtful eyes. As a beast how would she not take any chance she had of survival?
“We arrived here to train for a month by killing some beasts of lower cultivation level than the three of you.” Hui Yue explained the situation slowly. “Currently you ladies have gotten a Saint ranked beast from within the Magical Forest to be on guard for us, not allowing us to enter the forest to train. This leads us to the two options we have right now.”
Hui Yue unsheathed Black Blood and started playing with it in his hand. The black dangerous dagger combined with his heavy killing intent, none of the three beasts dared move, not even a muscle. In a way this young man was even more terrifying than the aura Lan Feng had released previously.
“I will need you ladies to enter the forest and make sure that the Saint ranked beast does not interfere with our training, nor will you interfere with us. In return we will not enter your domains in the forest either.” Hui Yue paused slightly before he continued, “The second option is that we kill the three of you, and take your beast cores. Since we can no longer enter the forest we might as well get some higher grade cores out of it.”
Having said this, an eerie silence overtook the area, and a shocked expression appeared on the snake-woman’s face as she contemplated what to do. She did not for one moment doubt that this previously so naïve looking child would hesitate even the slightest when it came to killing her sisters and her.
Hui Yue did not rush the three beasts in front of him, instead he just waited patiently with his arms crossed over his chest and Black Blood tightly clenched in his hand. Six youngsters and three beautiful but savage humanoid beasts were locked in a tense atmosphere which was weighted down further by the dense killing aura.
Finally, the snake-woman sighed deeply, making her seem even more human, and then she nodded her head. She was one of the three sisters of this magical forest, and her honour and dignity was high, yet when it came to their survival she would give up every shred of dignity to live another day.
“We have a deal?” Hui Yue asked once more, and the beast nodded again clearly unhappy with the outcome but unable to think of anything else they could do.
“I don’t think this is a good idea.” Ma Kong suddenly broke in with furrowed brows. “How can we trust them?”
Hui Yue chuckled slightly as he tapped his storage memory stone and withdrew a couple of jade bottles containing medicinal pills.
“We cannot trust them.” He said as he shared the pills to his six friends. “But they cannot trust us either.” He continued and then tossed the medicinal pills to the beasts.
Although these beasts have never eaten medicinal pills they often eat medicinal plants and enjoyed the raw energy within them, so when they opened the jade bottle and the thick and rich fragrance emitted from within, their nostrils twitched and greed appeared in their eyes. These were definitely much more enjoyable to eat than raw herbs.
A feeling of doubt flashed inside the snake-woman as she looked questioningly at Hui Yue. Had he not just given these pills to his friends, then she would have thought he was about to poison her, yet now she believed that he truly held no more hostility towards them.
The dreadful killing intent which previously had enveloped the entire area had disappeared, and the white-haired boy now smiled to the beasts who were greedily eating the medicinal pills.
Finally, a low growl rung out and the snake woman started to make her way back to the forest where they lived. Her heart was filled with opposing and complicated emotions. In one way she severely feared this young boy, who wielded such strong and destructive power. The two of them had been evenly matched although she was suppose to be stronger, but as soon as he had unleashed the fireball, she was perfectly well aware that she was losing.
To admit defeat had been hard, but this young human had allowed for her to stay alive and even keep her dignity by promising not to enter into their domains again. Not to mention that they had just been given medicinal pills to heal the injuries which they suffered. No one could argue that the injuries were their own fault, as it had been the beasts who attacked the humans first.
Sighing, the snake-woman turned back, noticing that the white-haired boy was still looking at them, her heart clenched slightly and she was unsure whether she hated him or admired him.
‘What do we do now?’ The blue scaled woman growled to the Snake-woman who sighed at the question.
‘We do what we promised to do.’ She growled back, her eyes shining with a mysterious light. ‘Had we not agreed to this, then we would have died by now.” She said as she moved deeper into the forest itself.
‘But big sister.’ The blue scaled woman growled rather viciously, ‘they were the ones who entered into my territory. We can slay them the next time they step foot in the forest!’
‘I gave my word that I would allow for them to hunt for two months. They will not annoy us, and we will not annoy them. The enmity between the two of you was solved with the medicinal pills!’ The Snake-Woman roared back, finally getting angry. No one was going to get her to go back on her promise.
Also due to magical beasts having a beast core rather than dantians, they were much better at absorbing the essence within medicinal plants. It was an evolution which had happened throughout the ages, and now that they had been given a medicinal pills which contained a wide array of plants, all of the three sisters benefited greatly.
Back at camp, Hui Yue looked at the ground and sighed deeply. The entire field was marred by the fight which had occurred there. Some places were burnt, while others had many craters in the ground created by Deng Wu’s Dancing Qi Pillar and Ma Kong’s Qi Bombs.
Long cracks had been created by Rong Ming’s Slashing Qi, and multiple stab wounds had been made by the Qi Daggers belonging to Rong Xing.
At first the students had not looked much better themselves. Their clothes had been shredded by the beasts’ ferocious attacks and their skin was not much better. Rong Xing still had a gaping wound on her leg, but after all of them had consumed some of the medicinal pills, colour was returning to their bodies, and they all sat down cultivating.
This battle had allowed for all six youngsters to gain enlightenment in their respective attacks. While seated in their meditative stance, the essence from the heavens and the earth rushed towards these youngsters, as if it was eager to participate in the current breakthrough of their understanding.
Deng Wu was the first to open his eyes, and as he did a golden flash appeared in his pupils only to vanish again within a second. He looked at Hui Yue who was in a deep trance. The essence of this world was gathered around him, causing even the air to ripple with energy, as he absorbed and refined Qi while pondering about how to advance and evolve his Velocity Flow and Qi Guard skills.
Rong Xing was the next to open her eyes, and as she did she was completely quiet and she moved to the village where she started cooking food for the rest as they woke up.
The next who awoke was Gao Yan followed by Ma Kong, and both spent some time practicing their martial art skills before they moved into the village, tempted by the delicious smell of roasted meat.
Around an hour after Ma Kong and Gao Yan had awoken, Hui Yue opened his eyes and a deep understanding was visible within his eyes, yet what he comprehended was not enough for Hui Yue to instantly evolve his Velocity Flow.
Closing his eyes once more, Hui Yue understood that it was possible for him to evolve Velocity Flow; to make it much stronger than before by allowing the copy to no longer just be a copy, but an actual duplication of himself, yet he was missing a crucial aspect of it. No matter how hard Hui Yue thought about it, the final aspect of how to implementing the changes was always out of reach for him.
Looking at Rong Ming a smile appeared on Hui Yue’s lips as he saw how the other boy was surrounded by essence from the heavens and the earth, essence which was automatically drawn to this person who was cultivating. From this essence, Hui Yue could easily guess that Rong Ming was the one who had gained the most enlightenment of them all, and the white-haired boy could not wait to see just how far his first friend would grow.
A low chuckle escaped Hui Yue’s lips, as he thought back on all the days he had spent with Rong Ming and Rong Xing at this very field in the past. The good mood stayed and Hui Yue moved towards the village ready to eat some of Rong Xing’s delicious food, before starting to plan the remaining time of their training camp.