Having dashed away from the troublesome group of cultivators from the Valley, Zhen Shi was now flying amidst the tress of the Berthleien forest waiting for Myne and Vivienne.

With a flash of light that partially illuminated the dark forest, the duo of legendary mages appeared almost immediately.

Turning to Zhen Shi, Myne laughed gleefully and said, "Bro Zhen Shi, why'd you run away from your own revolution do fast?"

Zhen Shi froze in embarrassment. Unable to handle this shameful situation, he shook his head and spoke 'matter-of-factly', "Isn't it obvious? I'm a handsome and scholarly fellow that cares not for the gratitude of others! Your's truly is more than satisfied with helping others!"

Hearing his shameless words, Vivienne spoke with mischievous eyes, "Are you sure? Those fellows probably would've showered you with treasures if you had stayed..."

Zhen Shi was speechless as he thought, 'WHAT? Why didn't you tell me sooner? Damn it! I can't go back now... I'll lose face if I do...'

As such, he calmly laughed and spoke through grit teeth, "I am aware! But like I said my reward is that satisfaction of helping the helpless!"

Myne and Vivienne grinned at his obvious discomfort and displeasure.

Intending to change the subject, Zhen Shi asked curiously, "Oh yeah, now that the two of you are free, what will you do?"

Myne answered immediately as if in prior agreement with Vivienne, "It's been too long since the two of us have been outside that valley. We don't believe that the world has changed too drastically, but, the old hag who trapped us inside and all our other 'friends', weren't trapped in a situation that prevented cultivation and ultimately the loss of their laws. As such, it would be too dangerous to reveal our real identities... So, if Brother Zhen Shi doesn't mind we'd like to follow you!"

In addition, Myne was thinking, 'To show my gratitude, I should also do my best to make sure this brother of mine, stays away from those shameless tendencies of his...'

Ignorant of his thought, Zhen Shi was elated at this suggestion, "Why the hell would I mind? Two legends are actually willing to follow me!" However, he too was thinking, 'This is perfect! I can help him sat away from his masochistic tendencies!' while looking at Myne in pity.

Vivienne noticed something unusual in their gazes at each other, but couldn't figure it out exactly...

Zhen Shi shouted with a smile of anticipation, "Alright! Let's head over to the Lyonesse Kingdom! I have a promise to keep after all!"

But... suddenly... Zhen Shi realized a small problem, and thought, 'SHIT! I came here to train! I have wasted a week but I was unable to cultivate even beyond Core Formation Stage 5. My skills haven't improved much either...'

If any other cultivator heard his thoughts they would probably cough up blood and drown themselves in it.

Nevertheless, Zhen Shi said, "Umm... Forget what I said. Let's spend a few days here. I need to get some training done."

Myne and Vivienne shrugged in agreement. They didn't really mind. And so, the trio spent the next few hours dashing about the Berthelien forest.

Zhen Shi planned to find some more demonic beasts and level up.

------------------

However, even as hours passed with them running around, Zhen Shi was unable to find even a single beast or bug. It was almost as if the beasts were purposefully avoiding him...

However, he was currently in a region that was far away from where he had fought the beasts before... so this made no sense...

While pondering this matter, his eyes fell onto Myne and Vivienne who too were looking at him expectantly... Instantly, he understood the crux of the problem!

'No wonder I could find no beasts! The aura being released by these two would easily scare off most beasts!'

As such, "Ughh... are you guys living demonic beast repellant?" asked Zhen Shi in exasperation. At this rate, he'd have to go off on his own for a while...

Myne and Vivienne were confused. Myne answered him, "Hmm? We thought you were practicing your movement skill and our presence would keep beasts from interfering... or..."

ROOAAR!
Suddenly a powerful beast roar rang out from nearby. Judging from the sudden influx in aura, Zhen Shi could sense that the previous ape beast would be nothing but cannon fodder in the face of this beast!

Vivienne finished Myne's sentence pointing in the direction of the roar, "...Or maybe you wanted to attract a powerful beast, like that one, to practice fighting while being under our protection."

Zhen Shi was stunned by their reasonable explanation and his own accidental mistake, and thought, 'System, I was just testing YOU this entire time. But you failed to figure it out... I'm disappointed...'

System: (ಥ﹏ಥ)

Still, he had to explain himself to Myne and Vivienne. As such, "Of course, of course. I was practicing a movement technique I learned recently. And I was 'obviously' anticipating the arrival of a powerful beast. That was my plan... for, umm, dinner! Yes, Dinner! I had heard that demon beasts were quite delicious food..." explained Zhen Shi.

And it was partially true! Not only had he's learned [Draconic Wind Steps] recently, but within the Scholarly Library next to the book, 'How to make the perfect beancurd', was another book on cooking that mentioned demon beast was a delicacy... if prepared properly...

As such, Vivienne and Myne could only assent to Zhen Shi's 'foolproof' reasoning.

But the roaring continued as a Soul Destruction Stage giant demonic butterfly emerged from the trees.

Zhen Shi was curious, 'How do butterflies even roar?'

As if in answer, the Butterfly roared with an unsightly pair of mandibles stretching sideways, "I can sense the deaths of countless beasts on one of you and the death of one of my kin on the other. As such, I'll kill you two. But this lady appears to be innocent. So she may leave if she pleases."

'Fuck! So that's how it roared. How ugly...' Zhen Shi frowned staring at the hairy mandibles. But he was feeling pretty good about this god-sent gift of EXP.

However, Vivienne interrupted his thoughts as she spoke with growing excitement in her eyes, "Little bro, I'm sure you are confused as to why demonic beasts are a delicacy and yet not a single hunter hunts them for meat. This is because the kill must be performed in a specific method, that is only known by those who are well-versed in the art of cooking..."

Zhen Shi felt a sliver of suspicion rise as he heard her words. And his suspicion was immediately proved correct as Vivienne suddenly dashed forwards while speaking, "So... let me handle the preparation of this beast for our meal!"

Before Zhen Shi could protest, she calmly flicked her fingers and whispered, "Light Magic: Seven Slashes of Light!" Exactly seven terrifying slashes of formless light aether were launched towards the surprised demonic butterfly.

The light from her spell illuminated the dark forest causing Zhen Shi to squint at the sudden brightness. As the light disappeared and his vision cleared, Zhen Shi saw that the poor Butterfly had been perfectly cut into eight even pieces...

Zhen Shi's eye twitched at this sight, ಠ_ಥ. 'FUCK! Me and my scholarly mouth!'

Zhen Shi shouted in despair while running towards the lifeless slabs of butterfly meat, "No! Big Sis what've you done?? My EXP points!"

Both Myne and Vivienne were confused even more now.

Zhen Shi bent down to the slabs of butterfly and spoke with an aching heart, "Aiya! What a tragedy! Little Beast, at least you can rest in peace knowing that you were able to become a butterfly in this life..."

He turned to Myne and Vivienne and spoke with a painful smile, "I'll be going out to kill some more beasts now. Don't worry I'll be back in a few hours. Until then, you guys prepare the food." Having said this, Zhen Shi immediately disappeared in a gust of [Draconic Wind].

Myne and Vivienne looked on as Zhen Shi's figure disappeared into the forest. Vivienne heaved a sigh, "Myne did I do something wrong? He seemed so heartbroken... and ran away..."

Myne laughed with a nonchalant wave of his hands, "Don't worry about it. He said the same thing last time to me and was fine pretty soon after. But, I am beginning to wonder if he actually is one of those demonic beast rights activists! He refused it before, but he always acts sorrowful when they die in front of him... That 'exp point' might even be some sort of slang among other fellow activists!"

Vivienne nodded in understanding but immediately frowned, "But wasn't he the one that suggested to eat it in the first place?"

Myne shrugged, "Even I don't understand that kid sometimes. Maybe he IS a demonic beast activist and was genuinely upset. Or maybe it could be something even stranger... perhaps he was upset HE didn't get to kill the beast? Either way, he'll be back after 'killing more beasts' as he supposedly said. We should be able to make some assumptions based on whether he eats the Demonic Beast Meat or not..."

Vivienne nodded, but after a few moments, asked worriedly, "Do you think he'll be fine against those three beasts? They are much stronger than him..."

Myne grinned nonchalantly, "Of course! He was able to survive against you! Even if you were holding back, that goes to speak a lot about his strength! He can surely handle those puny creatures."

Vivienne smiled and moved to begin preparing the meal.

Myne continued after a moment, "More importantly, Vivienne I just confirmed something interesting. That butterfly beast accused me of killing one of it's kind! But the only beast I killed in the last millennia was that earthworm! Previously I though Bro Zhen Shi was just joking and misunderstood him... But now, it appears that just like he said, earthworms become butterflies!"

Hearing his own words, Myne fell into thought, 'Hmm... I wonder if I misunderstood anything else about this brother of mine...'

'Nah. Not possible.'

???

Zhen Shi was rather unhappy at having lost the chance to gain EXP points, but in the end, he figured it was for the best. He wasn't particularly confident of facing a Soul Destruction Stage Demonic beast at his current level anyways...

And most importantly, making his mood much better, he was able to discover three demonic beasts who seemed to have followed the butterfly! Two of them were huge muscled elephant beasts at the Spirit Transformation Stage. The other was a winged bat beast at the Nascent Soul Stage.

Having witnessed the death of the Soul Destruction Stage Butterfly beast, these beasts immediately began to flee in fear when they saw Zhen Shi. But noticing that the pursuer was only at the Core Formation Stage they immediately halted shamelessly.

Zhen Shi was greatly pleased. After all, his cultivation level was nowhere close to that of these beasts. As such, if these fellows were to focus on escaping, even with [Draconic Wind Steps], he wasn't confident of catching up to them...

The bat beast snickered wildly, "Little Core Formation boy, what are you doing? Where'd you find the balls to chase after us?" and spoke shamelessly forgetting the fact they had been running away fearfully just a few minutes before. The Elephant beasts laughed shamelessly as well.

Zhen Shi shrugged and replied, "Ehh? Could it be that in addition to being batty in appearance, your brain is batty as well?"

Pointing at the trunks on the faces of the elephant beasts he continued mischievously, "I got the balls from those two next to you of course! Can't you see that only the 'dong' is left on their faces?" Zhen Shi had to fight off the urge to laugh at his own joke.

The trio of beasts was speechless at his clever retort. But almost immediately they stared at Zhen Shi with rising killing intent.

Ignoring this, Zhen Shi continued with a relaxed smile, "Back in my homeland, there is a tale... a tale of a great Bat Hero. He is exceptionally intelligent and powerful. He also had a clown for a nemesis, who is almost always captured in the end..."

The Bat retorted with a grin, "Oh? Human child, are you trying to get me to forgive you by speaking of the greatness of Bats like myself? Well, continue, and I just might... However, these two definitely won't..."

Zhen Shi grimaced, "Huh? Are you crazy? The Bat Hero is just a human dressing up as one! I simply wanted to point out that you are the polar opposite of him! Why would I praise the creatures that always get idiotically electrocuted on live wires?" and replied amidst snickers.

The Bat beast was enraged by his provocation, and attacked while roaring, "~Go repent in hell you shameless brat~!!" The roaring elephants also roared in rage as they followed the beast in his attack.

'FUCK! Even Bats and Elephants roar now?'

Nevertheless, Zhen Shi was extremely calm as he faced off against the three attacking beasts. He immediately activated <Vermillion Dragonifcation> up to 65% and transformed into his bestial form. His body was covered in Azure Dragon Scales, two demonic horns curved out of his head, a draconic tail, and a pair of feathered wings carved out of his back. Just like that, he had transformed into a demonic beast!

And under the aura of the divine beasts being released by Zhen Shi, the three beasts were frozen in fear. The elephants could only sense the divine beast nature and were suffering from psychological pressure.

But the Bat, as a flying beast could vaguely sense the aura of the Vermillion Bird... He was truly stunned at this turn of events.

He had heard rumors about Scions of the Divine Beast clans wandering about the world using special skills to transform into human form but had never expected to meet one himself. And most importantly, be unfortunate enough to provoke one of them!

However, the Bat was rather confused as to why the descendant of the Vermillion Bird clan had the appearance of a dragon...

Nevertheless, it kneeled down in fear and muttered fearfully while hoping to be forgiven, "Young master, please forgive this foolish bat for his idiotic mistake. I was unable to sense the nature of your greatness while you were in unsightly human form. Now that you have revealed your true self, this lowly self is in awe!"

With the bestial killing intent, Zhen Shi was feeling exceptionally angry. As such, he shouted with a bestial draconic roar of rage, "FUCK! Are you saying that I am actually worse looking than this demonic beast form? Even after trying to kill me, you dare to say shit?"

Realizing that he had messed up, the Bat hurriedly flapped its wings and used the wind to push the two elephant beasts forward. Having gained a moment to react, the Bat immediately began to escape.

But those elephant beasts were truly unfortunate, as Zhen Shi punched their faces with his dragon scaled fists while using the full strength of his physical body.

As his fists struck their targets, the 'dong's on the elephant's faces were crushed into mush just a moment before their heads exploded. And the headless corpses collapsed down to the forest floor...

Ding!
Congratulations to the user for killing a Soul Transformation Peak- Demonic Beast.
The user has gained 15,000 exp! x2

Ding!
Congratulations to the user for reaching the Core Formation Stage 6!

But Zhen Shi ignored this as he had to completely focus on capturing the 'big fish' that was running away.

"Batsy, Batsy! Don't run away! Mr. J is here to have fun with you!" shouting so Zhen Shi difficultly calmed his mind down, just enough to make full use of both [Draconic Wind Steps] and his Draconic Beast Body, to chase the Bat Beast while throwing out the occasional <Hell's Flare>.

The Bat was truly panicking now, 'SHIT! Why'd I have to go and offend Mount Tai! This young master of the Vermillion Bird Clan is a lunatic! Those black fireballs will definitely slow me down if they hit!'

And as such, the Bat had to meticulously avoid all these attacks while proceeding forwards.

But despite Zhen Shi's hard work, he was unable to catch up to the Bat. And the distance between the two of them was only slowly increasing...

Realizing that this was not enough, Zhen Shi calmly brought out his divine bow and nocked an arrow. While dashing forwards with [Draconic Wind Steps], he infused the entirety of his arrow intent onto the arrow and also lit up the arrowhead with a flame of Hel's Flare.

With his mind as calm as he could manage under <Vermillion Dragonification>, Zhen Shi released the arrow while combining the formless chaotic energy of the bow onto the arrow as well. It streaked forwards silently amidst the shadowy forest.

But at the last moment, the Bat seemed to have sense the minute shift in the air aether, as it suddenly dodged, letting the arrow just lightly scrape by its wing.

But Zhen Shi didn't give up... This was because when he saw the arrow miss, amidst his feeling of defeat, he sensed a strange connection between the arrow intent on the arrow and his bow intent. Immediately utilizing this connection, he willed the arrow to turn around...

And miraculously the missed arrow swerved back, striking straight through the membrane of one of the bat's wings!

This was a surprising resonance between Arrow Intent and Bow intent! If he could replicate the results he would never miss his target again!

"HAHA! Batsy, you can't escape Mr. J now! Just stop and fight like a man!" shouted Zhen Shi in glee as he easily overtook the Bat that was now struggling to move with only one working wing.

The Bat roared in exasperation, "Very well! Even we Bats have pride and bravery! Young master pushed me to do this! Face the Divine Blessing of the Bat Clan!"

Zhen Shi shouted while preparing an attack, "What bravery? Don't Bat's always come out at night?"

The Bat shook his head, "Didn't the Vermillion Bird clan inform you about our history? Well, let me inform you then! But I can't assure that you'll live!"

Saying so, the Bat began to emanate hints of God aether. Immediately it opened its mouth and began to screech loudly, "WE OF THE BAT CLAN... ARE WE MAMMALS OR BIRDS?"

"IN THE GREAT WAR BETWEEN MAMMALS AND BIRD, INSTEAD OF SWEARING FEALTY TO ONE SIDE, WE FOOLISHLY KEPT SHIFTING TO THE MORE FAVORABLE SIDE!"

While shouting out these words, the Bat began to flap its wings and tap its feet in a mesmerizing pattern that enraptured all those who watched. It continued to screech and scream as if it were singing a heavy death metal song!

The screamed words and beats combined with the god aether, ultimately being launched towards Zhen Shi as deadly sound waves.

Ding!
Target Nascent Soul Demonic Beast has activated the Divine Blessing: Death Bat, from Minor God Cama-Zotz!

Ding!
The Target Demonic Beast has reached a pseudo-Soul Destruction Stage!

'Holy shit! The Bat is actually singing death metal! Not bad... But my poor ears...'

The Bat continued to scream in tune to the beat, "IN THE END WE WERE THROWN OUT BY BOTH SIDES...
THE WAR ENDED IN PEACE. BUT WE WERE HUNTED BY ALL...
FORCING US TO HIDE AND COME OUT ONLY AT NIGHT!!"

And the Bat continued relating it's lyrics, "WE OF THE BAT CLAN... ARE WE MAMMALS OR BIRDS??"

The god aether empowered sound waves were beginning to cause great damage to Zhen SHi who had unwittingly been entranced by the tale of the Bat Clan. Blood was seeping out his ears and his mind was shaken...

As the Bat continued to screech, it observed Zhen Shi intently with a smile of confidence on its face.

Zhen Shi calmed himself for a moment and began to ponder what to do... Either he could bring out the Divine Boom box and have an epic battle of death metal... OR... finish this instantly...

As such, opting for the easier and faster choice, which would also be more healthy for his poor ears, he pulled down his pants, "SHAMING THE HEAVENS!"

Immediately, Batsy was distracted by the 'heavenly vision' that awaited him, and in that moment of distraction lost control of the God Aether. As a result, his cultivation also dropped down to Nascent Soul...

But Batsy still had some degree of control and could speak. As such, while Zhen Shi prepared the entirety of his bow intent to launch out a devastating attack of [Descending Bow], while utilizing tetra-elemental aether for good measure, along with the flames of <Hell's Flare>, the Bat began to speak.

It murmured weakly, but there was also a strange hint of ecstasy or happiness in his voice, "Aiya! Who cares about some washed-up Bat race! Having witnessed this young master's 'Divine Sword', I'm more than satisfied! I can only hope that I will either be born of your 'Divine Sword' race in my next life or be worthy of using one for myself!"

Hearing this, Zhen Shi grimaced as he shook his head and struck down on the helpless bat with [Descending Bow], "~Go repent in hell you shameless brat!~"

The Divine Bow descended onto the Bat's body causing it to explode with its last words...

Still, after killing the Bat, Zhen Shi respectfully stayed silent for a moment. He spoke out, "Batsy, no matter how shameless you were, your skill in Heavy Death Metal was top-notch. So, Batsy, I can only hope that you'll get to meet your Mr. J in Hell!"

*Sigh* 'Such a shame to see a Bat genius of Death Metal die at a young age.'

'System is this what they mean by 'geniuses die young'...?'

System: "..."

Zhen Shi sighed heavily as he started to walk away. As he did, he spoke out one last time, leaving his 'insightful' words of wisdom to reverberate through the forest, "Batsy, skilled in the art of Death Metal, I hope you *RUST* in peace."