The students naturally wanted to take one or two beasts back. A strong one would become a capable supporter in the future. They needed them more than other students due to their background.
This seemed impossible now. Even an Eternal ran for his life; they had no chance of capturing the stronger beasts. Stealing an egg or kidnapping a baby weren’t good ideas either, potentially a suicidal endeavor.
“This is too difficult, let’s just go back.” One of them said, losing the prior enthusiasm.
“We can’t take them with us even after winning.” Another smiled bitterly.
Zhou Qiushi managed to defeat a boar earlier but it wouldn’t follow him.
“It’s not impossible, you just need to sever.” Li Qiye said.
He raised his finger and light started gathering at the tip. The strands rotating looked like tiny galaxies - extremely beautiful and impossible to fathom.
“Rumble!” Suddenly, deafening noises blasted from all directions, coming from the sacred beasts rushing towards them. The young ones became confused.
White rhinoceros, crimson king, fire crane, sage ape, golden pig…Various beasts converged in their area.
Each was powerful with an intimidating aura. They also had a bright glow that kept on jumping around, seemingly excited due to seeing something good.
They lay down in front of Li Qiye in a docile manner. The rhinoceros and others started rubbing their head against pants, showing their affection.
Meanwhile, the young ones became astounded with their eyes wide open. This seemed like a dream.
Capturing just one sacred beast was hard enough but all Li Qiye did was raise one finger and so many came to pay their respect. He looked like the lord of beasts. Millions of creatures would come to him, treating it as a pilgrimage.
“Pop!” He touched the head of the rhinoceros and pulled back with a shimmering light law in his hand.
“This is severing. Of course, you have to tame them first before severing.” He spread his palm to reveal the jumping law that seems to be alive.
For some reason, this light law was clearly holy but in the eyes of the students, they thought that it looked like a parasite.
“Raaa!” With the law gone, the rhino’s violent instinct instantly returned. It thrust its horn straight at his chest.
“Down.” Li Qiye flicked his finger and the rhino immediately dropped to the ground due to his suppression.
“And after the severing, if your light is strong enough, you can also take the beast away just like that director.” Li Qiye smiled.
“Buzz.” Radiance emerged from his chest. The strands were holy enough to make the students want to prostrate and worship him.
The sacred beasts nearby did the same too, completely won over.
“See? This is taming.” He concluded.
The students couldn’t be more shocked and took a deep breath. In the beginning, they thought that taming a sacred beast required using force to convince it of one’s superiority. Now, Li Qiye didn’t need to fight yet he was still able to tame so many at one time. This was too heaven-defying.
Li Qiye dispersed his light and flicked his finger again with a smile: “Go now.”
“Buzz.” The dispersing light poured down golden particles and fell on the beasts.
They looked as if they had just woken up from a long slumber and ran for dear life, disappearing into the mountains.
The only one staying behind was the rhino with its light law taken away. It continued to play next to Li Qiye, rubbing its head against his leg.
“Go too, I have released your shackles, you can leave now.” Li Qiye raised his finger, causing the rhino to float into the air then fall back down.
The rhino took a quick glance at Li Qiye before galloping away.
“This is a great technique, only those at Young Noble Li’s level can do it. Don’t try to copy this.” Wenrui smiled and told the students.
“I’m not teaching them how to tame sacred beasts, only showing them the real essence here. Light is also a chain. It can lock the head of these sacred beasts along with the neck of people, that’s all.”
“Your fellow students might start questioning life if it keeps going like this.” Du Wenrui didn’t know what to do.
“The light isn’t bad, but it is idiotic to follow it blindly.” Li Qiye looked at him.
Du Wenrui wanted to say something else but refrained himself after sighing. Ultimately, they had conflicting standpoints and perspectives.
“Rumble!” Another group of men arrived while the students were still confused.
They immediately halted in an orderly manner. This was a cavalry, wait, no…
They were a type of hybrid - man on top and horse on the bottom. Their weapon of choice was bow and arrow.
“Centaurs…” One student quietly said. [1]
“It should be this place with all the beasts gathering, thousands of them.” One of them stated.
“Right.” A middle-aged man breathed in the air. He had a crest made of golden leaves woven together.
“My name is Yang Chengli. Did anything out of the ordinary happen here just now? Like a gathering of sacred beasts?” He asked the students with a serious tone.
The students turned towards Li Qiye and Du Wenrui.
“Ah, Centaur God of Archery from Divine Beast Legion. It is my pleasure.” Wenrui laughed.
“Dean Du.” The middle-aged man recognized Du Wenrui, furrowing his brows.
“You’re that Li Qiye.” He then focused on the sword behind Li Qiye’s back, his eyes turned cold.
“That’s my name.” Li Qiye smiled.
The man had a murderous glint in his eyes before speaking to Du Wenrui: “Dean Du, we know the rules of Academy of Light but our members can’t die for no reason. We need a proper answer in order to report back to Her Majesty.”
Yang Chengli was a centaur with the title of Centaur God of Archery. He was also part of True Dragon Court under the banner of Violet Dragon Empress and a member of Divine Beast Legion.
Wu Ke and the others killed by Li Qiye made up a small group under his battalion.
“They can only blame themselves for lacking skills.” Li Qiye smiled.
Du Wenrui didn’t need to speak since Li Qiye had personally taken charge.
“Young man, don’t be arrogant. Make a formal report of the issue for the empress. If you were in the right, we will not pursue this any further. If you killed my men wantonly, then a life for a life, no pardon.” The centaur god glared at him in response.
“There’s nothing to say, you can ask other people if you want to know what happened. But, I killed them so feel free to try and avenge them.” Li Qiye leisurely said.
1. I normally refrain from using Greek terms for similar creatures but I think this case is fine. I usually don’t do it when the term itself invokes a particular image or has a deep historical root/background