Shirong was currently resting in one of the caves nearby and was cultivating calmly. He had gained a lot of benefits today and his physique had gone massive changes. He needed to learn more about it and thus was focused on it.

Formations had already been set up around the cave so as to prevent the beasts from coming near them. Though tonight the beasts were acting rather strangely. Unlike before no growls or roars of the beasts could be heard and it was as if they had all gone silent for some reason.

Lin Wu was intrigued by this too and decided to contact his two servant beasts. He activated the communication function from the beast servant section and the connection was made.

"Master? I was just about to contact you to report about my findings." The mole beast said.

"Oh? Okay, go ahead." Lin Wu replied wanting to know his side first.

"The Twin Light Liger King is angry because someone slaughtered a lot of his subordinates. They think that it was caused by another ruler of the forest but the area that they were killed in has become too dangerous to go.

As for the Olive viper king, he is still resting and recovering in his nest. Also around half of the territories of the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle have already been occupied by the other rulers." The mole beast spoke.

"Ah, I see… I wanted to ask why is the forest so quiet tonight? Did the rulers do something?" Lin Wu questioned.

"It is not the rulers but rather the humans, master." The mole beast replied.

"Humans? There are humans this deep in the forest?" Lin Wu questioned.

"Yes, a group of human cultivators was found roaming around in the fifth ring. The rulers don't want them interfering in their battle for territory and thus issued orders to hunt and kill those humans. Some think that they were also the ones that killed the subordinates of the Twin Light Liger king." The mole beast answered.

Hearing that there were humans in the fifth ring made Lin Wu feel intrigued. He wondered which part they came from as according to what he knew; he was currently at the border of several kingdoms. They could have come from any of the five kingdoms.

"Alright, that will be all for now." Lin Wu said before dismissing the mole beast.

Next, he contacted the beetle beast wanting to hear what happened from here. Since she was the subordinate of one of the rulers of the forest, Lin Wu reckoned that she must know a bit more than the mole beast.

"Greetings master," The beetle beast said but her voice sounded rather tired.

"Hmm, you don't seem to be well?" Lin Wu asked.

"Yes master, we had to fight a group of humans that we discovered near the territory today. Oh? So they came to the split thorn horn beetle king's territory." Lin Wu said.

"You know about the humans master?" The beetle beast asked.

"Yes, the mole beast just told me a minute ago." Lin Wu replied.

"Ah, I see. The humans were apparently doing something to the weaker beasts, and we drove them away when we found that out." The beetle beast informed.

"Oh, what were they doing? And how many of them were there?" Lin Wu questioned.

"There were about five of them and they were spreading some kind of a powder among the herds of some beasts. We thought that it was poison, so we fought them, but the powder turned out to be a beast inciting powder." The beetle beast answered.

This was the first time Lin Wu had heard about something called Beast inciting powder and wondered what it was.

"System, do you have information on beast inciting powder?" Lin Wu questioned.

~Ding~

——

ANSWER: The beast inciting powder is an alchemical product made from chiefly: fuming fungus, three petals fiery lily and mind numbing root. There are multiple variants of this substance, and different plants and herbs can be used to substitute it as well.

The beast inciting powder is an illegal alchemical powder in the entire Long Continent and is prohibited in any form of use. The powder acts on the beast's instincts and provokes them into fighting. The beasts lose all sense of reason and fear, only attacking and consuming the creatures they deem to be a prey.

Beast inciting powder can be used to enrage the beasts into causing a beast wave. There have been historical records about certain powers using the beast inciting powder to attack other powers. If anyone is found to have used beast inciting powder, their punishment is death.

——

Lin Wu instantly understood what must have happened before.

'The Hard eared Limber mice, they were acting under the effects of the beast inciting powder, huh? Looks like I need to check these humans and see what they are exactly doing here. If that army of Hard eared Limber mice left the forest, they would have definitely massacred a lot of people.' Lin Wu thought to himself.

"What happened to the beasts on which the beast inciting powder was used?" Lin Wu questioned.

"We were lucky that we noticed it quickly. We killed the beasts that were affected by it and wanted to kill the humans too, but they were strong and thus escaped." The beetle beast answered.

"Alright, inform me when you see those humans again, or if any news about them is heard." Lin Wu ordered.

"As you command, master." The beetle beast said before Lin Wu closed the communication link.

'Hmm… seems like certain schemes are underway. Though the question is who is scheming against whom?' Lin Wu wondered to himself.

He looked at Shirong, who was fully engrossed in cultivation and thought that this would be the right time to leave. Lin Wu asked the system to create a virtual interface for the formations and also an alarm if Shirong woke up, before leaving the cave.

"Let's finish up what we started before…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.