“Long Di, I hate you and I hope you die!”

“Hm, I wonder if she knows my uncle? She sure does sound like him.”

****

“Put me down!” Xiannu Liang felt indignant at such rough treatment! Couldn’t this boy see that she was a beauty!? She didn’t compare to Shen Ling, but that level of beauty was practically alien!

Long Di released Shen Ling’s waist, allowing her to stand on the branch they were on by herself. The blush on her face was luckily hidden by the mist that enveloped her.

Xiannu Liang, on the other hand, was unceremoniously dropped on the branch like a sack of potatoes.

“Ouch! Don’t you know how to be gentle!?” Xiannu Liang rubbed her butt with a frown on her face.

Shen Ling looked over with concern on her face, “What kind of magical beast is that?”

Long Di didn’t answer. Obviously, he didn’t know either. However, when Xiannu Liang finally took a look, her expression changed, “That’s a Ravenous Hyena!”

“Ravenous Hyena?” Shen Ling asked with a confused expression.

It wasn’t weird for Shen Ling to be ignorant of the name of the magical beast. The elders were experts of a bygone forging clan. That was why they could name the ore that Long Di landed on when they met him.

As for being knowledgeable of the different magical beasts that roamed the lands, this was something that she remained ignorant about. Long Di, on the other hand, though he read the books and scrolls in his father’s library, there wasn’t that much on magical beasts. He would need to amass knowledge on this when he had time so as not to be caught off guard. Gosh, there was so much to do and they were back to back too.

“Yes, a Ravenous Hyena,” Xiannu Liang confirmed.

“They’re a peculiar type of magical beasts because of their voracious appetite. They can never be satisfied and they just keep eating and eating without regard. Because they’re plagued by this apparent hunger, their fighting style is laced with desperation and exaggerated viciousness. Are you sure you want to leave this to your friends?” She asked, directing this question at Long Di. “After all, this is a rank 2 magical beast, even if it’s three against one, this might not end well.”

“They need tempering,” Long Di advised. Even though they each killed a person before, it didn’t equate to combat prowess, and this could only be forged through battle.

“Grrrrr!!!” The Ravenous Hyena stared at them like the prey they were. Its pitch-black eyes only had them in its sight, and the drool that leaked out in a steady stream gave form to its intentions.

It slowly circled them as if to size them up properly. When it sensed their power, it revealed a vicious grin on its face. This Ravenous Hyena was way too expressive!

“Raargh!!” The Ravenous Hyena lunged at them without warning!

The three disciples all scattered in three directions! They learned from their brief altercation with the bandits. They didn’t look to Long Di to come to save them, since it was the three of them engaged in this fight, they could only count on each other.

They quickly took out their weapons, Feng Yu unsheathed her medium-grade yellow ranked secular sword. Jia Yan took out a low-grade yellow ranked axe! It had a weight to it, but he felt most comfortable with this. As expected, it was always the quiet ones that had the loudest actions.

Tie Lang, on the other hand, was unarmed. He was advised by Long Di during their return trip from the volcano that he had a special divine ability in his claws and that he should develop a fighting style centred around them. Because of his blind faith in Long Di, he agreed to it without hesitation.

However, the details of that moment weren’t all that clear to him, and he couldn’t quite grasp the feelings he felt at that time either. So he decided that he would try to get back to that place one way or another.

D-Dum!

Their cultivation bases exploded out forcing their cauldrons into existence! They circulated the somatic essence within their bodies to the maximum

Shu!

Feng Yu was the first to rush towards the Ravenous Hyena! As the eldest sister, she had to lead by example!

Swish!

She swung her sword at the Ravenous Hyena but was surprised to see that she hit nothing but air!

“Elder sister Feng Yu above you!” Feng Yu heard Tie Lang’s cry and looked upwards to where she could see the Ravenous Hyena descending towards her.

Her expression quickly changed, ‘So fast!’

She never thought that the Ravenous Hyena would have leapt upwards in the short span of time to dodge her attack! However, she wasn’t able to block a head-on strike from this beast!

“Aarrgh!”

Jia Yan came flying through with the axe in hand to land a strike on the Ravenous Hyena. However, the beast reacted much faster than expected before twisting its body in midair to clumsily dodge the attack of the young demon!

“Tch!” Jia Yan was upset that his attack missed.

“Stop shouting you idiot! If you’re gonna attack, then attack! What, did you think it was gonna hear you!? Now pay attention and don’t die!” Long Di’s scolding came from the distance causing Jia Yan’s cheek to blush red in embarrassment. However, the former’s last words caused him to focus on the situation before him.

Feng Yu was able to safely escape because of his interference, so his actions weren’t entirely wasted.

“Watch its movements and don’t let it catch you by surprise!” Long Di hated shouting, but he had to point out their mistakes so there would be minimal damage.

“Tie Lang, don’t just stand around. Work with the others and look for the best opportunity to strike!”

The Ravenous Hyena quickly recovered from its earlier stumble and made a mad dash towards Jia Yan! This demon nearly wounded it and its bloodthirst was ignited to rip him to shreds!

Bang!

Surprisingly, Jia Yan didn’t dodge it, but instead chose to block it! The axe was being used to forcefully keep the Ravenous Hyena’s teeth at bay!

Crack!

A Crack actually appeared on the surface of the axe! This goes to show the Ravenous Hyena’s insane jaw strength!

Plus Its open mouth gave off an intense stench that nearly made Jia Yan empty his bowels right then and there, but he held himself as best as he could.

“Yelp!”

The Ravenous Hyena gave a cry of pain as blood spurted from two wounds inflicted on it! Both Tie Lang and Feng Yu saw that Jia Yan chose to block it head on to give them a chance to land a clean strike and they didn’t intend to waste it!

However, this was really risky. A normal rank 2 magical beast might only be comparable to a Tan’tien Saturation realm expert in terms of aura, however, the physical strength and power of their bodies normally exceeded their realm!

This was where demons shine the most! They could use their own powerful bodies to fight these beasts. Even though their own power fell short somewhat in the same realm, it was much better than spiritual qi cultivators whose body was naturally weaker. If they suffered a head-on strike from a magical beast in the same realm, the shock from the jolt alone might be able to injure them greatly!

Because the Ravenous Hyena backed off due to its wounds, it now eyed the kids more warily.

The fastest one was Tie Lang, Feng Yu was the one with the most lethality and the one wielding the most destructive potential was Jia Yan. They realised this through battle wordlessly and meant to maximise these advantages.

Shu!

Tie Lang suddenly shot off towards the Ravenous Hyena. He brandished his claws as their cold glint flashed in the sunlight. Though it didn’t look like it did during his skirmish with the bandits, its power couldn’t be underestimated!

“Gragh!”

The Ravenous Hyena took a bite at Tie Lang’s head to kill him immediately, but it missed as Tie Lang dodged at the last second!

He slid under its huge body and began digging out its stomach in a violent frenzy!

“Roar!!!”

The Ravenous Hyena let loose a furious roar in response as it jumped to escape Tie Lang’s relentless attack!

However, before it could get too far above, a shadow appeared above it! This was Jia Yan who now saw the benefits of keeping one’s mouth shut during an attack.

Bang!

The large axe landed squarely on the Ravenous Hyena’s back, shattering a few of the bone spurs that jutted out!

The beast was sent to the ground in a resounding crash! The dust that kicked up sharply obscured their vision.

Feng Yu was the same, but like everyone else, she could still make out shapes to an extent!

Fwish!

A long whip-like weapon with a spiked head shot towards her! She used her sword to parry it but the blow still sent her flying!

Clang!

The whip-like weapon pursued her but it was blocked by Jia Yan who came over in a hurry! Because his vision was off and his movements still amateurish, the blow landed squarely at the side of the axe causing more cracks to cover its surface!

Jia Yan’s expression appeared pained when he saw this but he couldn’t bother to pay attention to this.

Cling! Clang! Clank!

“Raaarrgh!”

A roar of pain echoed out, and both Jia Yan and Feng Yu looked in the direction where a small shadow could be seen flitting around the Ravenous Hyena and landing claw strikes wherever it could.

Both disciples took to their feet in a hurry to provide backup! Those dodges being executed by Tie Lang weren’t perfect, a claw strike every now and again and occasional grazing of the teeth made by the Ravenous Hyena caused Tie Lang’s body to be riddled with wounds.

Far away, Long Di looked to be satisfied when he saw this. Though it appeared that the fight was close, he was constantly circulating his spiritual qi to attack, just in case to prevent any accidents.

Yet, the disciples exhibited a natural battle sense. Long Di wanted them to be able to take care of themselves just in case something were to happen to him.

Suddenly, his eye twitched and he took to his knees with no warning.

“Big brother Long!” Shen Ling held him as worry laced whatever features could be seen.

Dum!

The sky shook without reason as if the heavens were furious! Clouds rolled above and the land appeared to be struck by a massive hammer as it trembled, as if in fear of an omen’s coming!

A pressure descended that affected everyone. Even the Ravenous Hyena and the three disciples were immediately slowed down in their actions!

Shen Ling and Xiannu Liang looked all around in shock not knowing what was happening. It didn’t seem as if this phenomenon was isolated, it felt like all living beings were being affected by this ‘disaster.’

Shen Ling looked back to Long Di in worry. Wondering if he had any idea what was happening, but what she saw caused her to pale in astonishment.

For as long as she knew Long Di, and for as long as she saw him, she never saw him express his emotions! His expressions were usually none at all, his voice was apathetic even when he shouted, which was weird, but it came to be normal and expected of him.

However, as of now, Long Di finally displayed the slightest bit of emotion, and she was instantly alarmed and discomposed. She didn’t know what to do in the face of this. For the emotion that Long Di was fear!

A whisper was all that he uttered as sweat covered his forehead. Shen Ling leaned closer to hear him say.

“M-My wounds, they ache.”