Ears led the way through the woodlands. Wenling was right behind him along with Jing and Li Li. Ears had impressive hearing despite not being a part of any notable family. He used his hearing to scout the path forward for them. Many in the gang suspected that it was actually a bloodline ability of his that allowed him to hear so well but Ears himself denied this. He was born to a normal family whose ancestors were nothing but farmers. There wasn’t a chance of his blood being anything but mortal.
“Come on Vice Commander, it gotta be a bloodline. That shit just ain’t normal.”
“He has a point Ears. I mean I can’t do anything like that!”
“I told you bastards that I don’t have a bloodline. Some men are born stronger than others. Some men are born better looking than others. I was just born with ears that better than others.” Ears explained.
“I guess it makes sense when you put it like that...”
“It's a shame I was born better looking than most. My good looks don’t help me like it does the Vice Commander.” One of the ugliest men boasted, causing many to laugh.
“Pfft! Gahahaha! You ugly asshole! You almost made me spit out my water with that joke!”
“Bwahahaha! Only a Pig-nosed Jade Monkey would consider you handsome! You’d definitely be the best-looking monkey in the jungle!”
“Oi! Who are you shitheads calling ugly? I don’t see any of you with girlfriends!” Although surprising, the ugly fellow did have a girlfriend! His physique was strong, his intelligence wasn’t too bad, and his flirting skills were unmatched compared to the others.
This statement shut the others up as they did not have women of their own like Zian. They knew of Zian’s girlfriend as well. She wasn’t anything too beautiful but she wasn’t ugly either! A plain girl accepted an ugly bastard like him. It made the rest feel that the world was too unfair. Should they lower their standards for a chance of happiness too? The ugly bastard did seem happier ever since he got in a relationship.
“Shut the hell up! I hear something!” Ears ordered.
Everyone immediately stopped their talking as Ears got down low to the ground. He placed his ear on the woodland’s ground to get a better sense of what he was hearing. The ground beneath their feet started to softly rumble. Jing could clearly feel and hear what was happening with her refined body. Ears would understand in a few seconds too, along with everyone else. Ears shot up quickly and took out his daggers.
“Take out your weapons! Whatever is coming is coming fast and with plenty of numbers!” He yelled.
Everyone heeded his instructions as fast as possible and got ready to take on whatever was enough to unnerve their Vice Commander. Wenling took out her glaive, Jing took out multiple talismans from her satchel and threw them around the group. She was making a box-shaped formation! She planted four talismans in each corner of the group and grabbed the sword that she carries around on her waist to use as a base for the formation. Upon taking the sword out, she stabbed it into the ground in the center of the group and slapped a conduit spell on it, activating the array and creating a qi barrier around them. It was the most basic of defensive formations but it was something.
She sat down exhausted against the barrier to catch her breath. It looks like she made the formation just in time as the Wolfeng Gang could now see what was coming towards them. A stampede of spirit beasts came charging their way. Everyone was shocked at what they were witnessing and almost couldn’t believe it. They wouldn’t have stood a chance against that many spirit beasts even if they had an extra life!
“Thanks Jing!”
“You really saved our asses there!”
“If it wasn’t for you, we’d definitely be swallowed up by those spirit beasts.”
Jing’s cheeks burned as she took in the numerous thanks from the group.
“N-No... Problem...” Li Li glared at anyone trying to get too close to her. Since he was a spirit beast at the 9th stage, it was pretty effective.
The spirit beasts rammed into the array but only caused small ripples to occur on the barrier. It wasn’t enough to destroy it. As the spirit beasts were charging, Wenling noticed that they seemed to be running from something rather than just coming after them... Those that ran into the barrier quickly ran around it while looking back. If these spirit beasts were truly after them, then they wouldn’t have given up after running into it once.
‘Something dangerous must be up ahead. Which means something valuable must also be near. A beast tide on this level can’t be caused by any regular beast. There must be a valuable plant or treasure nearby that would have caused a powerful beast to rampage and scare the other animals away.’ Wenling guessed.
The beast tide passed them by and everyone expected the ground to stop rumbling by this point but instead it got even bigger! They looked ahead and saw a giant white figure snapping trees in half with just a simple push. Its eyes were bloodshot and strained making it look as if it had blood-red eyes and an evil aura. Like some sort of demonic beast!
“What kind of fucking rabbit is that!?”
“That’s way too big to be a rabbit! It has to be a mutant bear or something!”
“Bears don’t have ears or teeth like that!”
“What’s that on its head!?”
On top of the giant rabbit spirit beast, an mesmerizing azure lotus plant that has bloomed could be seen stuck to the skull of the rabbit. The qi radiating off of that plant was even greater than the mutant rabbit’s! Wenling and Ears shared a look. That plant must be the cause of whatever is happening to this rabbit! They’ve never heard or seen anything like this rabbit before and it was far too different in physique to just be a mutant spirit beast.
“Maybe it won’t be able to get in here...” Someone hoped.
“It is just at the 7th stage...”
“A normal 7th stage spirit beast wouldn’t be able to cause a beast tide on that level. Get ready you sorry bastards. We’re taking that spirit plant on its head!” Ears commanded.
The giant rabbit stood up on its hind legs and started rapidly clawing the qi barrier. The barrier had ripples appear all over the formation but it could handle this much power. Seeing that its claws weren’t working no matter how fast it clawed the barrier, it tried biting into it with its powerful teeth. The teeth managed to puncture a small slit into the barrier, shocking everyone. Ears commanded them to get into position and to get ready to attack once the barrier is down. The rabbit turned around, showing its back to everyone, before kicking the barrier with both of its feet and completely shattering the defensive array.
Wenling took the lead as soon as the barrier fell. She jumped on top of the rabbit and stabbed her glaive into its back as everyone else followed after her. The sudden pain caused the beast to cry out and swipe at the cultivators with its claws. The claws easily ripped through the bodies of some of the gang, splitting them from the waist, chest, and head. Seeing members of their group dying so easily already, made the ones who survived take extreme caution in dealing with this beast. That could’ve been them that died right there.
Ears sped around the spirit beast to try and attack from its back like Wenling but the spirit beast was somehow able to see him even though he was almost entirely behind it! It used its back legs to kick at him, forcing him to dodge or he would die from the powerful legs of the spirit beast. Whatever that plant was doing on top of its head was giving it strength that only those at the 9th stage could show! The rest of the gang started slicing and slashing at the rabbit with their weapons before running away once its attention wasn’t focused on Ears.
Wenling continued to stab and slice with her glaive on the back of the giant spirit beast. With her powerful 9th stage Qi Gatherer power, it wasn’t hard for her to take most of the attention of the rabbit. It hopped a great distance into the air with Wenling on its back, making everyone on the ground look up in awe. Wenling herself even got nervous about being this high up in the sky. This damn rabbit sure can jump but it won’t get rid of her that easily! She stabbed her glaive deep into the back of the beast and held on with all her strength as it came falling down.
“Holy shit....” A cultivator said looking into the sky.
“Is the Commander going to be okay falling from that height?”
“I don’t have a fucking clue...”
“Vice Commander, do you think you could survive that fall?”
“Maybe. If I stick my blades in the back of the jumpy bastard and make sure to have it land on the ground first instead of me maybe I'll get away with some broken bones.” Ears replied honestly.
“Li Li, go save her.” Jing told him secretly. He followed her request without hesitation.
Li Li might not have liked the tall woman but he didn’t wish for her to die either. His mom cared about her for some reason and so he cares too! Not as much but if she’s useful for his mom then that’s good enough reason to not want her to die. He took off like a white blur in the sky without a sound. He snagged Wenling from the back of the bunny and gently flew back down to the ground. Wenling managed to get her glaive before she was whisked away by the young owl and the rabbit crashed to the ground.
“KILL IT WHILE ITS DOWN!” She ordered from above.
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