Wu Liuyun watched the beasts slowly surround him and his friends. He felt helpless. His friends, Hu Sang and Chu Yang wore expressions filled with hopelessness on their face. If he could see himself, Wu Liuyun was sure he had an expression that mirrored them.

Most of the beasts were in Qi Gathering Stage, apart from the leader, a huge gorilla. It was in Foundational Stage Layer 4. All three of them were Foundational Stage Layer 1. If it were only the leader, with their combined effort, they would be able to take it on. Even if they were unable to defeat the gorilla, they would be able to make their way out safely. But the problem was, the crowd of beasts. There were simply too many for them to take care of in a short amount of time. Moreover, they would have to watch out for the leader.

He cursed at himself inwardly. Why did he have to be so reckless? Why did he participate in the Hunt? For heaven’s sake, why did they separate themselves from the main group? They had thought there would be more chances of getting good rewards if they acted alone. In a bid to leap over the dragon’s gate, he was about to lose his life. How laughable!

If he could turn back time, he would never set foot in this godforsaken forest.

So what if they earned more world essence than usual on this day? So what if they had chances of acquiring a good innate trait? So what if they could get some heavenly treasures? What use would it be if he were to die here?

The beasts approached, their snarling fangs, dripping with saliva.

He quietly opened his status window in his head.

GENERAL

Name

Wu Liuyun

Age

18 years old

Cultivation Method

Heavenly Flame Art

Realm

Foundational 1

(1345/2000 Essence)

Lifeforce

372/410 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

Qi

403/670 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

60

Physique

41

Movement

53

Control

52

Soul

67

Comprehension

70

Charm

11

Fate

5

INNATE TRAITS

Fire Qi Meridian

QI SKILL LIST

Slot

Skill Name

Rating

Level

1.

Fire Burst

Uncommon

9/10

2.

Flame Sword

Rare

8/10

He still had more than half of his Qi. If he utilized with his sword, he would be able reduce his Qi usage to bare minimum.

Let’s go with that, he thought as he gripped his sword tightly.

He saw the eyes of his two friends. He could tell they had come to the same decision. He could see the resolve in their eyes.

“Let’s take as many of these darn beasts as we can with us,” he told his friends.

They nodded at him.

As they were about to make their move, Wu Liuyun suddenly felt the atmosphere become cold. He looked around and found the beasts that were slowly closing on him and his friends frozen in their track.

Before he could utter ‘Ah!’ in surprise, tiny light rays bloated the sky and hit the horde of beasts. Blood began to splatter from the bodies of the beasts. In a matter of seconds, all the beasts collapsed to the floor under the disbelieving eyes of the three friends. They were all obliterated. Even the Foundation Stage Gorilla was no exception. It was now a pile of corpse.

He gulped. He saw his friends do the same.

What the hell is happening? Wu Liuyun looked at his friends in confusion. His mind couldn’t wrap around the whole situation. His two friends looked as confused as him.

Rustling sounds came from one of the sides and a strange being, no, a young boy appeared from it. Wu Liuyun was not able to make much of the features of the boy since he was wholly covered in leaves. It was quite a strange sight.

The boy made his way to the Gorilla. “I have not eaten a gorilla yet. I wonder how it taste?” he muttered.

Wu Liuyun and his two friends watched the boy in silence. They didn’t dare interrupt. The boy only had a cultivation level of Qi Gathering Layer 6. Yet, there was something off about the boy. The boy was dangerous, his instincts were yelling at him with all their might. Even Chu Yang, who was prone to easy anger and reckless behavior stayed put.

The beasts. It must be the work of this wild boy.

“Hmm… it would nice if I could grill it, even roasting is fine.” Then suddenly, he turned towards the three of them and surveyed them with his eyes that were as dark as the new moon night. It was like those eyes could see through everything. “You.” He pointed at Wu Liuyun.

“Yes!” Wu Liuyun replied promptly. His voice came off stiff due to the terseness he felt.

“You seem to have some affinity with fire. Can you start a fire for me?”

“Yes!” It was the same reply he had given previously. But he failed to notice.

It was a surreal experience. Wu Liuyun was sure it was one of the strangest experiences he had ever been through.

“Eat up, eat up, no need to feel shy.” The wild boy, who had introduced himself as Su Ren, gestured towards Wu Liuyun, Hu Sang and Chu Yang to eat more. Meanwhile, the boy was stuffing the roasted meat nonstop into his mouth.

“This is the taste. Ah, it feels like I am in heaven.” The boy would constantly mutter to himself as he ate.

It was an incredulous scene.

The boy managed to finish off all the meat of the Gorilla by himself, except for the few pounds Wu Liuyun and his friends took. They shared that few pound of meat between them. It was enough for them. No. It was more than they could take. They became full as soon as they bit onto a bit of meat.

Wu Liuyun swallowed the last bit of meat. It was the most full he had ever been in his life.

You have consumed high quality meat.

Congratulations!

You have earned +1 in all six basic attributes.

Meat of Foundational Stage Beast, on top of the bonus offered by the day of Hunt, he was able to earn one point in all six attributes. He felt satisfied. If he could, he would have liked to eat tons and tons on this day. But he had reached his limits. Earning stat points was really difficult. In a way, he was envious of Su Ren’s capacity to eat. If he had the same capacity, he would be able to earn many stat points.

He wondered where all that food disappeared into in that tiny frame.

When they met him the first time, the boy gave off a detached aura. But that soon disappeared when Wu Liuyun started a fire and they started roasting meat. He became incredibly affable. He would go “Ah!” and “Oh!” as he looked at the savory meat roasting over the fire, his saliva almost dripping out of his mouth.

The boy brought another beast and started roasting it.

Are you not full yet? Wu Liuyun wanted to yell. It was like the boy was a bottomless pit. Wu Liuyun felt this was one of the most bizarre things he had ever seen. Of course he didn’t dare to voice it out. Although Su Ren was being incredibly friendly to them, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that the wild boy had a sleeping beast inside him, an incredibly dangerous one at that.

“Hey, do you guys happen to have some spare robes?” the boy who was still greasily from eating the beast asked. “This leaves, let’s just say, they are not really that comfortable.”

“Mistress, there is the news of a huge Qi eruption in the North.”

Mu Lanran looked at her servant and nodded. “Let’s go and check it out. I bet the others will all gather there, too.”

Including that wretched women, she thought inwardly.

Mu Clan and Yu Clan had always been at loggerheads since time immemorial. It wasn’t that difficult to understand. A mountain couldn’t hold two tigers. They had been tussling with each other for the control of Red Dawn City for years. Naturally, as the daughter of the Mu Clan and the current city lord, she hated that wench, Yu Chen’er.

As she neared the location, just as she expected, she found many young masters and mistresses of famous clans from Red Dawn City gathered there. She immediately found Yu Chen’er and got into a glaring competition with her.

“Lanran, you have come.” A handsome youth approached her, making her look look away from Yu Chen’er.

“Yang Chen, I don’t remember giving you permission to call me by my name,” she said in an icy tone. How could she not see it? She grew up in the City Lord Mansion where everyone, including servants dabbled in politics. She was very acute when it came to seeing people’s hidden intentions.

Yang Chen would always try to woo her with a gentle smile on his face. But who was to know what hid behind it?

Mu Lanran was clear about what she represented.

She was the only daughter of the City Lord of Red Dawn City as well as the only granddaughter of the Mu Clan Patriarch. Mu Clan Patriarch had sired only one son who in turn only had one daughter. Mu Clan only had a small number of people but they were extremely powerful.

In other words, if someone were able to get their hands on her, they would take a giant leap in power. Many people eyed the possibility she represented. This Yang Chen was also one of them.

There was no way she was going to be polite to a double-faced dog.

Yang Chen laughed awkwardly to cover his embarrassment. “My scouts just sent me a report saying that they found the presence of an Essence Flame ahead. At the moment, it is in a berserk state, therefore, it wouldn’t be wise to approach it.” He completely ignored the cold-shoulder Mu Lanran gave him. He had really thick skin.

An Essence Flame. Mu Lanran was surprised. It was one of the rare treasures of nature. One could only come across it by chance. Even with her position, in all sixteen years of her life, she hadn’t had the opportunity to lay her eyes on one of them. She had only read about it in records. To think, one would appear here.

Just what you would expect from the Day of Hunt. One would be able to stumble upon all sorts of incredible things on this day.

An Essence Flame would be a great help to pill concoction and weapon refining. If hearsay were to be believed, one would be able to acquire a powerful fire-related trait from it. She was unable to contain the traces of greed in her.

But she knew she didn’t have a chance at acquiring it at the moment. No. It would be accurate to say, nobody did. Not now at least. When the Essence Flame calmed down, that would be when everyone would scramble for it. Subduing an Essence Flame was a very difficult feat. Subduing a berserk Essence Flame, it was courting death.

She wondered if she should send a jade message to her father but dismissed it in the end. Her father was leading an important expedition at the moment. She didn’t want to disturb him, if possible.

“Whoa! What an adorable beast!” She was suddenly brought out of her reverie by Yu Chen’er’s loud exclamation. “Nobody fight for it with me. I want it!”

Mu Lanran looked in the direction everyone seemed to be looking and found a chubby white tiger cub with wings flying leisurely in the air. One look was enough to tell that the beast was extraordinary. It had already reached Foundational Stage at such a young age!

If she were able to get her hands on it, it would prove an incredible asset to her father and her clan. They could train it to be their guardian beast.

She could already see the servants of the other Houses making their move. Although Yu Chen’er had claimed the young tiger cub for herself, who would give up on such a delicious morsel?

“Capture it,” she commanded quietly to her six servants.

All six of them were in Core Formation Stage. The City Lord had arranged them to guard her during the Hunt since there were chances of the beasts going into frenzy due to the presence of the two Nascent Stage beasts. It was the same for others. Their clan had arranged Core Formation Stage servants to escort them.

Four of her six servants joined the fray, leaving two servants behind to protect her in case something unexpected happened.

“What are you doing?” An immature and panicked voice came from the little white tiger cub when it saw many people rushing towards.

It could talk? Just how high was its comprehension? Isn’t it supposed to be really hard for the beasts to raise their comprehension attribute? Everyone present at the scene had shocked expressions on their face. The competition to get the beast became fiercer.

“I will be fine. Go, grab the cub,” she urged the remaining two bodyguards. They had to get that beast, no matter what. A beast with high comprehension and a young one at that, it was a priceless treasure. She was ready to pull all stop.

The two servants hesitated for a moment but joined the other servants.

A huge scramble took place. Everyone was trying to get ahead while stopping others. In the whole mess, the little tiger cub suddenly transformed into a massive tiger and attacked back. It even managed to injure three Core Formation stage experts!

But unfortunately, there were too many Core Formation experts. It was soon subdued.

“The little white tiger cub now belongs to the Yu Clan!” Yu Chen’er laughed. In the tussle, the servants from Yu Clan had managed to come up on the top due to the early initiative they had taken. They had to pay some prices, of course. Two of the three servants injured by the white tiger cub had come from their clan. Moreover, another servant had gotten injured while preventing others from moving forward.

But it was worth paying the price. They had gotten their hands on the cub. Besides, a few pills would heal their injuries.

Mu Lanran looked at the white tiger cub that had shrunk to its normal size, locked in a cage. Seeing the gloating look on Yu Chen’er’s face, she gnashed her teeth. If she could, she would have liked to go on an all-out attack to snatch it. But she couldn’t. One of the rules of the Hunt stated: the treasure shall belong to the first one who gets it. In a way, the beast could be considered a treasure, too.

“Release me!” the white tiger cried. It looked really miserable.

“Don’t worry, little fellow. You will like your new home,” Yu Chen’er sweet-talked.

The cajoling voice almost made Mu Lanran sick. She wanted to pass some snide remarks but dismissed it in the end. It would only make her sound like a sore loser.

“No. I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to stay with father.”

“Take him to the clan,” Yu Chen’er ordered one of her servants, ignoring the beast cub.

“NOO! Father! FATHER!” The white tiger cub created a huge ruckus in the cage. Too bad, the cage was made from special alloys. It’s properties allowed the cage to restrict the strength of the beasts that was captured in it. No matter what it tried, the white tiger cub was unable to do anything against it.

The servant of Yu Clan picked up the cage and readied to go, taking the whimpering white tiger cub with him.

Just then, Mu Lanran felt a sudden chill. Why did it suddenly become cold in the middle of a hot day? She wondered.

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you moving?” Yu Chen’er asked her servant.

Mu Lanran belatedly found the Yu Clan servant, who was about to leave, frozen in his track. She could make out fear in his eyes. What happened? What was it that made a Core Formation Stage display fear like that?

They heard rustles coming from some part of the forest. It was approaching them at a really fast pace.

Mu Lanran recalled the ‘father’ that the white tiger cub repeatedly called out to. A chill ran down her spine. Could the parent of this beast be approaching them? Did they provoke a great danger?

But that seemed to be wrong.

A boy who looked between ten or eleven years old appeared from the woods. He wore oversized robes that somehow seemed too big for him. Cute and adorable. That description seemed to fit the boy perfectly.

The boy was only at Qi Gathering Layer 6 but she, as a Foundational Stage Cultivator was unable to see through him. She felt an aura of danger from him. It was unfathomable.

He made his way towards the servant carrying the cage. Under the stunned gaze of everyone, he broke the cage with a light tap. He took the whimpering cub out and cradled it gently in his arms. It happened so fast that everyone could only watch it as if they had fallen under a spell.

“Jeez! I told you not to wander off by yourself,” the boy said. Although his voice was boyish and immature, the tone he used was really mature. It was like a grownup was gently chiding a naughty kid.

“I am sorry, father. I won’t do that again.”

“As long as you understand.”

“Hey, what do you think you are doing? That beast belongs to Yu Clan.” Yu Chen’er seemed to have finally regained her wits.

The boy ignored her. “Tell me, who dared to bully my little Byakko?”

The little cub pointed at all the Core Formation Stage servants who had participated to capture it with its little paws.

“Hey!” Yu Chen’er yelled at the boy who was ignoring her.

Mu Lanran knew that Yu Chen’er held reservations towards the boy like she did. Otherwise, with her hotheaded personality, she would have already jumped at the boy rather than just yelling. Everyone at the scene grew up in huge clans. Their ability to gauge other people and their strength was really high. Otherwise, how would they survive in this strong eat weak world? And that ability at the moment was telling them that the boy who looked harmless was not to be trifled with.

“Now then.” The boy took in the people on the scene. With a swirl, his dark eyes turned yellow and slit-like. The temperature around them dropped drastically.

Mu Lanran finally knew the source of the cold she felt earlier.

Dozens of light arrows appeared in the air. With a simple wave of his sleeve, they flew and pierced the Core Formation servants.

The Core Formation Servants simply took the arrows with their body without resisting. No. It would be more accurate to say, they could do nothing to resist. For some reason, all of them were frozen in their track.

An eye trait with the ability to freeze? Mu Lanran analyzed in her head. Basilisk’s Eye? But how could it appear on a human. She was unable to wrap her mind around the whole thing.

All the servants, including her six servants who participated in the bid to capture the tiger cub collapsed.

“I won’t kill any of you today,” the boy said in a solemn voice. “I don’t want to create unnecessary bloodshed. But make no mistake, I will kill you if you cross me again.”

Giving them one final look, the boy walked into the woods with the little white tiger. “There are many delicious food waiting for us to eat.” Mu Lanran thought she heard the boy say that in an incredibly childish voice but she could be mistaken about it for all she knew.