"What the h.e.l.l is going on? Why haven't they returned yet?" said one of the two with agitation. Among the five, he was the second in command and commanded the Yellow Scorpion and the Redhead Centipede.

"Let's go and see." Without waiting for a second, the leader of the group ordered to go and investigate what happened to their companions.

Following the nose of the barbarian lion, they arrived at the place, and all they could found was nothing but signs of combat all around. The soil had been soaked with blood at various points, and there were traces of organs scattered here and there. However, there was no trace of the bodies.

"So, can you feel anything?" Asked the man to his Barbarian Lion.

The mighty beast shook its head. Although they had followed the smell up here, there were no scents traceable elsewhere. It was as if suddenly the bodies had disappeared into thin air.

"Eldest brother, what do we do now? Our a.s.sumptions were wrong. Those two brats asked for reinforcement and got rid of the others."

"No, calm down, second brother. If you think about it with a cool mind, that's not the case. Look at the ground. There are signs of hooves and other non-human footprints."

"Are you saying that the enemy is a beast tamer like us?"

"Exactly, and I also think I know who he is."

"And who would it be? Tell me. I will make him pay dear for what he did to our brothers."

"It is the goal of elimination entrusted to us by the Bubble Sect. In the Forest Kingdom, the number of beast tamers with spirit beasts as strong as ours are few, and they are all beyond the age to be categorized as younger generation. All but one. The young genius beast tamer of the Flower Sect. If you think about it, it is logical. We have killed several of their disciples. Therefore, it is normal that they have sent a big piece of the younger generation. It is also said that a girl of the same age always accompanies him."

'But their presence here also means that the Flowers Sect has no intention of relying on them for the opening of the Secret Dimension. Otherwise, they would have entrusted them with such a dangerous mission. However, the thing that worries me is another. They have taken so much care to eliminate any trace of their smell or where they were headed. Yet, they have left footprints on the ground attributable to their ident.i.ty. Is it to prevent us from running away? Indeed, if they had asked for reinforcements, it would have been problematic for me. However, if they are the only ones, even with that albino buffalo on their side, I have nothing to fear.'

After he finished thinking, the owner of the Barbarian Lion and the Mountain Gorilla said. "We return."

"Return? At the camp? "

"Yes, those brats believe they can defeat us like they did our other brothers. They won't call the city reinforcements. At the moment, they are hiding to regain their strength, but there is also the risk of an ambush. Therefore, the most practical choice is not play their game. If they want to come to us, let them do so. We will wholeheartedly welcome them, and at that moment, we will give them a lesson."

Without another word, the man turned his spirit beasts around to return to the camp. Behind him, his companion could do nothing but follow him by commanding his scorpion and his centipede. He could only hope that his eldest brother was right.

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As they returned, in a tree nearby, a small silhouette emerged from the leaves and headed in another direction.

*

Buzz buzz buzz

In the cave, Mi was quickly making a report on the last two enemy beast tamers. Upon hearing this, Hei was surprised by their reaction. He didn't expect them to repress their anger and choose to return to their camp. But if they weren't going to fight, it was okay for him. He would have used this time to recover their energy.

"All right, since it seems there will be no attacks in the near future, I say we could eat to regain our strength."

'Yup! Yay!' Ye and Xing exclaimed together. Even though they had eaten at the tavern, they were still hungry because of the energy spent in the fight.

"But first we must collect the necessary. Gather dry firewood and drinkable water. If you find fruits, bring those too. Be careful, though. In any case, Mi will fly up to warn of possible dangers."

Lian, Ye, Xing, Shui, and Mi came out of the cave. Fortunately, the moon shone bright enough to illuminate the surrounding area.

Meanwhile, Hei asked his mother to release the bodies of the killed spirit beasts. Then, he began to skin them one by one, dividing the skin from the meat. Although a long time had pa.s.sed, in his mind, Hei still perfectly remembered Lei Bai's teachings on how to cut carca.s.ses.

'My little one, what are you going to do with the corpses of those two men?'

At one point, his mother asked him while he had momentarily hung the carca.s.ses out of the cave to remove the blood inside them.

"Well, if they were enemies fighting for an understandable purpose, I would have planted them like I did with that woman. But their purpose was solely to feed their thirst for power at the expense of the lives of others. So, I decided to fulfill their wish partially. Therefore, we will feed them to the spirit beasts of the forest as compensation."

Hearing his son's words, Bao Bei smiled to herself and pulled out the bodies of the three men. Hei, therefore, proceeded to remove the blood present in their bodies. He would treat them the same way as their spirit beasts.

When the others returned from the gathering session, they didn't ask questions at the sight of Hei, who was dissecting the bodies of the beast tamers and their spirit beasts. On the contrary, they helped him in their work.

Ye, Xing, Shui, and Mi were spirit beasts. They had no moral restrictions like human beings, and for them, what Hei was doing wasn't right or wrong. Lian, on the other hand, had long ago decided to abandon her 'humanity.' If that was the price to pay for her to stay near Hei and the others, she was more than happy to pay it.

In the end, after great efforts, Hei cooked the meat of his prey. As promised long ago to his mother, they would have eaten only the bodies of the spirit beasts. The cut and cooked flesh of the three humans were scattered around the forest for its inhabitants.

"Ye, Xing, wait. Eat this with the meat."

Hei handed his two little sisters the spirit cores of the Arctic Wolf and the Salt.w.a.ter Crocodile. As spirit beasts, they were able to become stronger by eating the spirit cores of other spirit beasts.

"Mi, you come too. For you, there is the spirit core of the Imperial Crow and the Royale Eagle. However, given that you are still small, I will keep that of the Royal Eagle. It isn't good for you to eat too strong spirit cores in succession."

Mi made a few complaints to Hei's words, but in the end, she settled for the spirit core of the crow.

"I'm sorry, Shui. Your part will still have to wait. But I promise you that the Mountain Gorilla and the Barbarian Lion's spirit cores will go to you so that you can advance to the next level."

Shui nodded his head, saying that it was okay. But his eyes couldn't hide a hint of excitement at the feeling that he could advance. Then, he went back to eating the gra.s.s they had gathered nearby. Being a buffalo, even though he had awakened his spirit power, he didn't eat meat, preferring the flavor of the herb or other plants instead.

Thus, the happy family spent a very lively dinner before going to sleep. Usually, they would have set up surveillance s.h.i.+fts, but with Bao Bei on their side, they could rest without worries.

*

The following morning, the temporary residents of the cave woke up at dawn. Thanks to the generous meal and the peaceful sleep, they had gotten their fill of strength, recovering what they had lost with yesterday's battle.

Making sure that everyone was in perfect condition, Hei started walking in the direction of the camp where the remaining two members of the beast tamers' group were.

His plan had so far proceeded smoothly; if anything, it had gone even better than expected. They had succeeded in eliminating three human beings and a total of four spirit beasts. However, it was time for the most challenging part to come.

The two remaining people were the most difficult to deal with, not only for personal ability but above all, for the strength of their spirit beasts. Moreover, unlike before, a surprise attack wouldn't work. As a result, they had no choice but to attack frontally.

And as he imagined, the two enemies were already standing waiting for their adversaries. In front of them, their spirit beasts were already ready-to-combat.

"Very well. I thought it would have been impossible to complete that a.s.signment, but if you give yourself to me, I will more than willingly accept your corpse."

The man who commanded the Barbarian Lion and the Mountain Gorilla was the first to speak as soon as he saw approaching two young martial artists and the albino buffalo. Immediately after, his companion spoke.

"We will make you repent of what you have done to our brothers. We will give your body and your spirit beasts' spirit cores to ours."

Hearing these words, Hei smiled and answered.

"If you have strength, then do it. But in any case, you will be dead before you can even think about trying."

Usually, he would have ignored this provocation, but on this occasion, he was obliged to respond to keep the morale of his companions and their momentum high. Words, although useless in 1 vs. 1 combat, apart from annoying your enemy, had a powerful effect when it came to group fights.

'Shui, I entrust you with the Barbarian Lion and the Mountain Gorilla. They are both two beasts comparable to a sixth stage spirit apprentice, so be careful.'

Shui loudly bellowed as he locked on the two powerful enemy spirit beasts.

'Ye, you take care of the Redhead Centipede. Xing, instead, will deal with the Yellow Scorpion. Be careful because both are species that have poison.'

'Yes, big brother. We will finish them without a doubt.'

'Lian, take care of the one commanding the centipede and the scorpion. I will fight their leader. Mi, you monitor from above and coordinate our movements. All right?'

Lian responded with a quick nod as Mi produced a buzz before going up and stopped in mid-air.

"Begin."

One word. Only one word was enough to begin the fight. Hei climbed up on Shui's back and headed for the enemy leader and his two spirit beasts. Ye and Xing took their full size and began their fierce struggle with their opponents. Lian had also started her battle alongside the young spider and the young snake.

"Shui, I leave them to you."

He then jumped upwards, using the head of the albino buffalo as a trampoline, and landed in front of his opponent. The Barbarian Lion and the Mountain Gorilla wanted to take advantage of it to attack him from behind, but Shui prevented them by charging them both and making them fly away from Hei.

"As the reports said. Your albino buffalo is at the peak of the first level. But if you think it's enough to beat my spirit beasts, you're wrong. My Barbarian Lion, although not at the peak of the first level, is not far from it. Moreover, my Mountain Gorilla, despite being recently advanced, has already consolidated its foundation thanks to the meat of your sects' martial artists. So, don't think you can stall for time waiting for your albino buffalo to save your a.s.s. "

Hei stared at the man without saying a word. Instead of talking, he took his shoes off with his feet and a.s.sumed his fighting position.

'Not even a word? The boy has strong nerves. Now I understand how he managed to win against others.'

Seeing that his provocations didn't take hold on the target, the chief beast tamer prepared himself for combat. He drew a two-handed longsword of fantastic craft. It was apparent that it wasn't an average weapon.

'Spider Run, four-legged mode.'

To begin with, Hei decided to use the four-legged mode of the Spider Run. Among his techniques, that was the one that allowed him to run fastest. In a few breaths, he came into the range of the enemy sword.

The enemy immediately tried with a quick lunge that Hei dodged easily by switching to two-legged mode. Then, the whirlwind of sword and spear exchanges began. Whenever the metal of the two weapons collided, it generated sparks that illuminated the s.p.a.ce around them.

"Wow, as a sect brat, you aren't bad at all. But you're too young and stupid if you think you can beat me."

The owner of the lion and the gorilla tried to provoke Hei again without success. However, his words weren't just words this time.

"Lion Wrath."

Suddenly, from the longsword in his hands, a wave of spirit power, in the form of a lion, was thrown from the tip of the weapon toward Hei.

"Intent of the Spear, Half Moon Blade."

Performing a horizontal movement, from the tip of the spear, came out a purplish purple crescent blade powered by Hei's spirit power.

The lion and the crescent blade met in midair, generating a bang, sending dust everywhere.

"What? A brat like you has already understood the intent of his weapon to such a degree?"

"Spider Thrust."

Suddenly, the spirit power on Hei's spear stretched forward, taking the form of a spider's leg directed towards the heart of his enemy.

"Lion Wrath."

Again, there was another bang. But this time, the enemy beast tamer suffered a portion of the damage, although it was nothing severe.

'Has he surpa.s.sed me in power? It is not possible?! I, Jin the Beast? Known as one of the best beast tamers on Rainbow Island?'

While his enemy was being surprised by his attacks, Hei stopped to think for a moment.

'I still can't fully accept it. If it weren't strictly necessary, I would avoid announcing the name of my moves aloud.'

It was true. The reason why both were announcing their moves aloud wasn't for a matter of glory or fanaticism or imposing their presence. When it came to sending one's spirit power outside one's body, the operation was so elaborate that it required maximum concentration. Yet, how could you keep your full attention in such a process during combat?

This question remained unresolved for years and years until the martial artists of the past discovered that shouting the name of the moves helped the body to elaborate on this process.

Human beings, or rather every living being, was able to a.s.sociate a particular sound or smell with a specific memory. And this wasn't something done voluntarily, but it was instinctive. Therefore, shouting the name of the move you wanted to use facilitated the execution of the technique itself. The downside was the loss of any kind of surprise attack.

However, it wasn't as if you couldn't use such techniques at all without shouting them out loud. It was just that the power of one's attack would be diminished, not to mention the increase of execution time. Therefore, this would have led to being more easily blocked before being able to complete your attack. As a result, future generations of martial artists had learned to live with such a lack of stealth.

After all, as long as you were stronger than your opponent, it didn't matter that you couldn't take him by surprise. So, saying aloud their moves had become a common custom a.s.sociated with being strong martial artists.