Yun Ruoyan, Zhuo Yifeng, and Li Mo didn’t have much of a breather before another batch of magical beasts appeared in the forests in front of them. This time, it was a group of saber-toothed tigers.

Saber-toothed tigers were high-rank magical beasts, far stronger than the firehounds and red-eyed wolves that they’d seen, and none of the three of them dared to go against such a large group. Instead, they all jumped back up into one of the nearby trees.

There had to have been at least two hundred tigers, each one massive in size. The trees of the forest were broad and tall, but quite a few still fell to their sharp teeth.

Zhuo Yifeng glanced at the saber-toothed tigers, his mind contemplative. He had fewer than ten tiger-canine arrows left in his quiver, and despite the fact that he could reuse the arrowheads, his stock was still slowly but surely being depleted by battle.

They were so precious to Zhuo Yifeng that he wouldn’t even use them under regular circumstances. He had tried to procure some more saber-toothed tigers’ canines in the capital, but they were almost as rare as high-grade spiritual pills. 

This was likely the best opportunity he would ever have for getting more of their canines. Zhuo Yifeng promised himself that he would get at least a dozen, so he could have over a hundred tiger-canine arrows smelted for him!

Despite his plans, however, Zhuo Yifeng didn’t make a hasty move. Based on their skills, it would be relatively straightforward for them to deal with about a dozen tigers, but if they were to end up provoking all two hundred…

Zhuo Yifeng patiently waited for the tigers to run past them. Only as the last few stragglers were running off did Zhuo Yifeng finally take out a tiger-canine arrow and shoot it at one of the tigers, piercing its brain with a single blow. The tiger howled; although it hadn’t yet died, it fell to the ground, unable to get up.

Zhuo Yifeng was just about to shoot another of the tigers when Li Mo stopped him.

“What’s the matter?”

“Saber-toothed tigers are particularly loyal to their comrades, so you shouldn’t kill them unless they’re on their own,” Li Mo explained. “If you keep going like this, they’re going to take revenge on you.”

Although Zhuo Yifeng was a relatively skilled hunter, he wasn’t very familiar with such high-rank beasts, and he hadn’t heard of such a thing before.

As expected, just as Li Mo had predicted, the saber-toothed tigers right in front of the fallen one all stopped and surrounded the one that had been injured by Zhuo Yifeng’s arrow. One of the larger tigers raised its head, glancing at the tree in which the trio were hiding.

Zhuo Yifeng once again raised his bow, then pointed it at the tiger looking toward them. However, Li Mo grasped his hand firmly, then looked directly at the golden eyes of the tiger as he sketched a complicated diagram with his other hand.

That diagram, infused with a bright red spiritual energy, hovered in mid-air. Upon seeing the diagram, the saber-toothed tiger blinked a few times, then lowered its head toward Li Mo before bringing the other tigers away and leaving the injured one behind.

Only when the last of the tigers left did the three of them jump down from the tree, surrounding the injured saber-toothed tiger.

“Li Mo, what did you do just now to make them leave so suddenly?” Yun Ruoyan asked curiously.

“I sketched the diagram for a beastmaster’s pact,” Li Mo explained. “I infused the spiritual energy of a sword saint into it, and the saber-toothed tiger left after being deterred by that force.”

Yun Ruoyan had almost forgotten that Li Mo was a beastmaster. The first time she had seen him showcasing his talents and contracting a beast was with a soul-stealing bird in the forest of giant trees, Mo’er. This was the second time that she had seen his beastmaster talents in action.

“If only Mo’er could have come with us,” Yun Ruoyan sighed. Its voice was particularly effective against large groups of magical beasts. However, Yun Ruoyan had barely seen it at all after leaving the forest of giant trees, as though Li Mo had simply let it go. After all, Li Mo’s cultivation was high enough that he wouldn’t usually need its help, so he had almost entirely forgotten about it.

“Given that these saber-toothed tigers are high-rank beasts, Mo’er wouldn’t be able to handle them very well with its current cultivation,” Li Mo replied. He extended his hand and unsheathed a sword bathed with a green glow. The green aura extended the reach of the blade by about half again its length, and he thrust it into the tiger’s heart to end its pain.

Zhuo Yifeng took out his own spiritual sword, which he used to slice off the saber-toothed tiger’s two canines, then placed them in his bag of holding.

Subsequently, the three of them began walking back where they had come from, following the beasts’ path. The way back was quite clear: the ground was rough and pitted, strewn with tree trunks and all manner of sticks, boughs, and leaves that had fallen prey to the beast stampede.

The destructive power of a beast horde, even composed entirely of low-rank beasts, wasn’t to be underestimated.

“Where did these beasts come from, and where are they headed?” Zhuo Yifeng asked, looking at Li Mo and waiting for his response.

“I don’t know. We’ll investigate tomorrow.”

The three of them rested for the night. The next morning, after Yun Ruoyan and Zhuo Yifeng prepared sufficient drinking water for themselves, they headed back into the forest. This time, there were no beast stampedes, but they still encountered a large variety of beasts, both large and small.

Based on their current cultivation, as long as they didn’t encounter a legendary sage-grade beast, they would be able to deal with any beast in isolation.

Li Mo was a little worried by the beast stampedes that they had observed the prior day: if the students and instructors from the beastmaster institution had encountered such an event, many of them would likely have been injured or killed.

“There’s someone ahead!” Li Mo suddenly sensed an unfamiliar aura in his vicinity, and all three of them stopped moving. Yun Ruoyan and Zhuo Yifeng could sense the aura—in fact, multiple auras—as well.

Suddenly, with a whoosh, an arrow flew toward Li Mo’s head. Li Mo reached out and grabbed it in his hand. It was a spiritsteel arrow, one commonly employed by those from the beastmaster institution.

Before Li Mo could speak, a volley of arrows flew in their direction. Li Mo stayed put, shielding Yun Ruoyan and Zhuo Yifeng from the attack. His spiritual membrane glimmered in the sunlight, deflecting most of the arrows heading in their direction, and Yun Ruoyan and Zhuo Yifeng could easily handle the rest.

“Are you from the beastmaster institution? I’m Li Mo! Is Qin Feng, Master Qin with you?!” Li Mo yelled out, his voice infused with spiritual energy and echoing through the entire forest.

Arrows stopped flying toward them, and a booming male voice replied, “Li Mo! I’m Qin Feng.”

A tall, toned man, dressed entirely in beast hide, walked out from behind one of the trees in front of them, followed by about a dozen male and female students.

“Master Mo, Master Mo! It really is him!” one of the students shouted.

“Kongming Academy has finally sent people over to rescue us! Thank goodness!”

“I thought I might never be able to go home again…”

Qin Feng and the gathered students were all extremely agitated upon seeing Li Mo, Yun Ruoyan, and Zhuo Yifeng, and some of the girls even began to cry incessantly. Qin Feng walked over to Li Mo’s side, seeming almost like he was in shock—and then he laughed.

“It’s been three years, Li Mo.” The tall, muscular man looked at Li Mo, almost tearing up as he choked on his laughter. “I’ve been with this group of students in this damned place for three years before someone finally came for us.”

After a short conversation, Li Mo followed Qin Feng and his students to their current home: a simple, unadorned cave by a mountain. There were only a few beast hides laid on the barren ground, a few simple weapons, some firepits, and nothing more.

Yun Ruoyan, Zhuo Yifeng, and Li Mo were all somewhat surprised—given that they had been living in this utopia-like realm for so long, why were their living conditions so ascetic?

The students from the beastmaster institution surrounded the trio as they entered the cave.

“What’s Kongming Academy like now?”

“Is everyone else from the beastmaster institution alright?”

“What were our parents told about our disappearance?”

“Master Mo, when can you bring us back to Kongming Academy?”

Li Mo replied, “The all-seeing mirror’s currently scrying a certain valley in this realm, the one densest in spiritual energy. We need to find that valley and head there to make contact with the first elder.”

“The valley densest in spiritual energy… the Beast Spirit Valley?!” a female student exclaimed.

The moment she brought it up, the others’ faces all turned pale.

“What’s the matter? Is there something wrong with that valley?” Yun Ruoyan asked.

“The Beast Spirit Valley is… well, we don’t even dare step foot into it anymore,” Master Qin began.

“Why not?” Yun Ruoyan and Zhuo Yifeng asked simultaneously

The students all glanced at each other in worry and fright, none daring to speak up until Master Qin finally cleared his throat. “There’s a portal over there, and we don’t know where it leads. However, from time to time, things emerge from it.”

“Things? What things?” Yun Ruoyan pressed.

“Sometimes, huge waves of beasts, like the ones from yesterday. Whenever they appear, these beasts run amok and trample whatever they encounter,” a student explained.

“And sometimes, there are people, people from an alternate dimension,” the girl who had spoken up earlier continued, her voice trembling. “They’re all very strong, and they come here to kill magical beasts. If they catch sight of us, however, they’ll kill the men on the spot and take the women away…”

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