While elder Lin Dong held the beast’s claw, the summoned flood mantis slashed its left leg, and the saber-toothed cat hacked below its arm. The queen roared in pain and attacked the flood mantis with the three-pronged tail, aiming for its head, while biting Lin Dong with its huge fangs.
The twin-headed lioness had confidence in the attack’s might but its eyes widened in disbelief when it missed both the elder and mantis. As if it could see the future before the tail even came, the mantis jumped back, and it hit the ground.
Lin Dong pushed the claw away, using an instant movement technique to open space. The enemy bit only air. Ming Ren warned them in advance, predicting every move using his vast battle experience.
With inner Qi distributed to his legs, Ming Ren [flashed] past the queen before it recovered, wounding its left eye with a slash. His cultivation was only at the peak of the sixth layer, but his power far surpassed the realm with the battle formation and low-grade first rank sword.
The queen flinched in pain, raising its left arm too late to guard. The saber-toothed cat bit its neck, avoiding the scales, and the flood mantis slashed the leg again. The spirit beast shook, trying to throw the cat off its body while keeping the mantis at bay with the tail.
Elder Lin Dong stepped forward, right leg in front, arched body, and struck with tremendous power. He gathered all the spiritual energy in the battle formation to his fist.
[Forest Clan Fist Technique – Branch]
The impact tossed the queen into the air. This time Lin Qiang stepped in, stabbing into a weak spot with her thin sword, focusing the complete strength of her new powers into a small but powerful stab that punctured several inner organs. Blood spilled all over, the queen screamed in panic, and her army joined the battle.
“Take the queen!” Ming Ren faced the other spirit beasts together with the mantis and the cat, giving Lin Dong and Lin Qiang time for the finishing blow. He weaved in the middle of the beasts with sudden powerful bursts of power, dancing as he cut them down.
[Dance Of The Clear Sword]
A clear and elegant sword style, with deadly power and speed. Even beasts at the peak of the first layer of the Spirit Sea Realm fell in a breath while the others had to fight back and focus on him.
Lin Qiang summoned a scaled greenbeast, assuming the [Beast and Fist Collaboration] formation with Lin Dong to kill the queen. They only learned up to the small accomplishment stage but had the confidence to finish the wounded enemy with their new cultivation.
Little Fu, Lin Yin, and Lin Shu woke up with the noise. Little Fu woke up first, drool on his face as if he had the greatest nap of all times.
“Oh? Diarrhea elder Dong and Lin Qiang fighting that huge monster? …and winning? I guess I’m dreaming…” Little Fu tried to close his eyes but the noise wouldn’t go away, so he tugged on Lin Yin.
Lin Yin woke up with a less embarrassing face, but he also couldn’t believe what happened and tugged on Lin Shu, who showed the same expression. It took a while for them to snap out of the daze.
“Should we… help?” Lin Shu asked.
“Do they look like they need any help?” Lin Yin answered.
“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED, IS THIS A NIGHTMARE?” Little Fu lost his mind. How did those two become so powerful?
Lin Dong and Lin Qiang switched back and forth before attacking, putting the enemy on the defensive. This battle formation couldn’t match the one with Ming Ren’s leadership, and yet their higher cultivation base required less effort to reach balance and become stable. They had no Spirit Sea Realm techniques but incorporated true elements for greater effect.
True elements changed Qi properties with powerful effects. Lin Dong’s True Element of Wood could speed the growth of plants, increase the efficacy of related pill creation, and even possessed healing effects. Yet, without special arts, it had little offensive power.
Lin Qiang’s speed increased with the True Element of Wind, and her physical resistance with the True Element of Earth. Jana’s bloodlines had less effect on Lin Dong than Lin Qiang or Ming Ren, but an ancient bloodline still had many benefits. Their sight improved and bodies became stronger, healing at a quicker pace. Their spirit sea grew and strengthened further.
Even if he absorbed less power, Lin Dong benefited in a special way: his True Element of Wood mutated. True elements had grades, and a recently awakened true element was of common grade. Raising the true element’s rank would be impossible for most cultivators as it didn’t depend on effort or talent but on fortuitous encounters.
Lin Dong came in contact with a high-grade true element in Jana’s bloodline, causing his own to transform. The wood element immediately rose a level, reaching spirit-grade equal to the Spirit Gate Realm. Because of Jana’s bloodline, his hidden potential was even higher but limited by cultivation. If he ever reached higher realms, the true element would also evolve.
Ming Ren never stopped warning them in advance even as he fought the other spirit beasts. This level of threat couldn’t break his concentration. The queen struggled in vain, outmatched and overpowered until its death cry echoed. The mighty creature that seemed unstoppable before looked pathetic, and elder Lin Dong broke its neck using [Leaf]. The remaining spirit beasts fled in fear.
“Hahahahaha!” Lin Dong laughed out loud. His former self could never defeat such a powerful beast, much less without breaking a sweat. Lin Qiang smiled satisfied.
“Elder, Lin Qiang!” The others approached.
“Your cultivation…?” Lin Yin asked.
“*Ahem* a lot of things happened, explanations will have to wait!” Elder Lin Dong said.
“WHAT? No, I need to know! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? HOW DID YOU TWO BECOME SO STRONG?” Little Fu shamelessly shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Quiet, Little Fu! Do you want to attract more spirit beasts?!” Elder Lin Dong roared, and Little Fu and the others shrank in fear. Was this truly the same elder Lin Dong?
Ming Ren finished collecting the best spirit beast cores and joined them. He threw away most of the corpses to save space for cores but kept the queen’s, “We need to move.”
“What’s going on?” Lin Qiang asked.
“Your Forest Clan came,” Ming Ren’s found out his spiritual sense range had increased after assimilating Jana’s bloodline.
“What? Our clan came?” The news gave Little Fu and the others hope.
“Two at the peak of the Spirit Sea Realm, should be your patriarch or strongest elders.”
“Definitely father!” Little Fu shouted. The others agreed, “Hahaha since father came, we’ll be fine!”
Lin Dong looked at Ming Ren. He hadn’t relaxed at all.
“That might not be the case. We need to help them, there are a lot of beasts there strong ones,” Ming Ren added.
“How do you know that?” Lin Shu was curious but Ming Ren only scratched the head.
“Then we must help father,” Little Fu was a brat, but already lost his mother, and feared to lose his father too.
“Benefactor…” Lin Dong watched Ming Ren’s expression, hesitating to ask him for help again. He and the Forest Clan already received too much and gave nothing in return, but the battle formation could only display its might if Ming Ren led. The youth predicted the enemy’s movement and relayed it to them via some technique, not something he could replicate.
“Let’s go!” Ming Ren smiled. He was very fond of Lin Qiang and Lin Dong, and Little Fu had blood ties to him. The Forest Clan could become one of his swords, so he had several reasons to help them, “You three take care of the weaker spirit beasts, leave the strong ones to us!”
The group once again ran through the forest.
*
In the Cloud Clan of Bluecloud City.
“No news of the brat?” Patriarch Yun Jie had a worried expression. He regretted not dealing with this incident in a better way. Now not only he had to worry about his eldest daughter finding out what happened but also locked his youngest for fear of her spilling out everything.
“No, I can’t believe we can’t find a fourth layer boy after sending that many people out,” one elder said.
“Resourceful and detestable!” Yun Jie roared, “Lin Xue is still bedridden. Did that lass Shuqing eat?”
“The miss refused food and visitors,” a female elder added.
“I must make that girl listen! Keep looking for the brat, make sure the other clans don’t find out,” Yun Jie headed to Yun Shuqing’s room, knocked on the door, and barged in. Yun Shuqing sat cross-legged, eyes closed, purple familiar energy around her.
Mental energy!
“… This… this is… how is this possible? Half-step Spirit Sea Realm!” His second daughter had no talent and stayed in the fourth layer for years. How did she suddenly reach the peak of the Body Tempering Realm and even almost broke through?
After Ming Ren broke the shackles in her Dao heart, Shuqing only had to focus on cultivation to reach a breakthrough. The frustration at the entire situation became the catalyst that drove her to greater heights, as consuming countless spirit herbs and pills over the years already gave her enough Qi to refine. The surprises didn’t end there as vapor surrounded her body, forming a thin layer of water.
“True Element of Water!” Yun Jie became even happier.
The thin layer solidified and the temperature in the room fell abruptly.
“True Element of Ice! Dual elements!” Yun Jie trembled, and he fell to his knees thanking the heavens and his ancestors. Another genius was born in his Cloud Clan.
However, he didn’t know that at that moment he had already repaid kindness with enmity!