Outskirts of the Vagrant Woods.
The group from the Forest Clan arrived and met one of their scouts. They carried a lot of low-grade equipment, such as traps and extra weapons. The scout bowed, not expecting the forest patriarch himself to show up, “Patriarch!”
“Have you found them?” Patriarch Lin Huangfu asked without delay. He was a big and muscular middle-aged man carrying a heavy axe, his face containing similar traces to Little Fu.
The scout shook the head, “No, sir. We searched by bloodline, but they must have gone deeper. We can’t get past that many spirit beasts, some of them are very keen.”
“How many are there?” The second elder asked, one of the three peak of the Spirit Sea Realm cultivators of the Forest Clan, along with the patriarch. The remaining one stayed in the clan.
“Over three hundred in this part of the forest alone, the strongest at the peak of the middle Spirit Sea! Also, spirit beasts became agitated on the other parts, and the clans are having trouble with them,” the scout explained.
“Peak of the sixth layer? What about the two-headed lioness queen? The first report said the peak of the initial stage!”
“That… was true before, but other beasts arrived. As strange as it sounds, they aren’t attacking each other.”
“Patriarch, maybe we should wait, this looks strange,” The second elder said.
The forest patriarch shook the head, “Little Fu is inside, I don’t know if dead or alive, and you want me to wait? Second elder, you stay here, if anything happens to me you will lead our Forest Clan!”
“No, no, how can I? If patriarch wants to go in, these old bones will follow!” The second elder voice fell and the twenty cultivators from the clan all clasped their hands, “We will follow the patriarch!”
The second elder lived for one hundred and thirty years without hope of breaking through to the Spirit Gate Realm. Their patriarch, a rare talent, brought the hope of becoming a fifth-ranked influence. The other cultivators in the group only reached the middle of the Spirit Sea Realm at most. Higher ranked Spirit Sea Realm cultivators made up the backbone of the clan and losing too many here would harm its foundation.
When the group braced themselves to go in, another party rushed in from the northern section, the leader nodding to the forest patriarch. He wore heavy armor and carried a halberd with flame inscriptions. A white-robed elder with pure white hair beside him also nodded.
“The flame commander of Bluecloud City and an elder from the White Clan!” The second elder recognized them.
The group had over one hundred people, and those two in the lead reached the seventh layer of the Spirit Sea Realm. The forest patriarch and second elder surpassed them in cultivation but not in battle efficiency. The White Clan and the City Lord’s Mansion possessed better techniques and resources.
“Good, they should be able to handle things inside. Let’s go in as well!” Patriarch Lin Huangfu went in first and the others followed, with the scout leading the way. Not long after, many spirit beasts rushed over in random attacks with no coordination. The group had no trouble killing them.
“Patriarch, it’s up ahead!” One scout shouted standing atop one tree.
“Everyone, fall to formation, be ready for a tough battle!” They had to break through this chokepoint no matter what. As they advanced, dozens of spirit beasts poured in from every corner of the forest, most at the peak of the Body Tempering Realm, but many also in the Spirit Sea. The cultivators set up traps and defensive battle formations right away.
The forest patriarch liked to lead the vanguard, always the first to attack with his prized axe. He held it above the head, hacking down with great force and Qi reinforcement.
[Forest Clan Axe Technique – Woodland Fury]
A grass-eating monkey spirit beast had its body hacked away in two. The second elder didn’t fall behind either, striking with [Leaf] in a quiet but powerful way. The other cultivators fought well, taking little to no damage with them in the lead.
The patriarch and elder couldn’t show might anywhere near what their cultivation could reach. Their cultivation law and techniques lacked power and quality. Reaching power equal to the peak of the Spirit Sea Realm demanded a lot of spiritual energy, reducing their capabilities in a prolonged fight. An inefficient Qi path also led to less power and a lot of wasted energy.
It was more than enough to deal with lower-ranked spirit beasts, but far from sufficient to handle the truly powerful ones. Stronger beasts came out after the first few waves, and things looked dangerous.
Furious roaring red lizard, peak of the fifth layer of the Spirit Sea Realm.
Triple slashing dragonfly, peak of the fifth layer of the Spirit Sea Realm.
The powerful beasts occupied the patriarch and elder for a while, and the sheer amount of spirit beasts overwhelmed the other cultivators even with the traps and defensive battle formations. The scout shouted:
“Patriarch, no good, there’s a lot more of them coming! Even a-” A spirit beast at the third layer of the Spirit Sea Realm pounced at him, and he retreated in a hurry.
“Why are these beasts so fierce?! Even the spirit traps we brought aren’t enough!” The second elder became distraught with worry. They prepared well before coming but still found themselves pushed back, “Take out the spirit crossbows!”
A few cultivators took the first rank crossbows from their backs and shot. They were often used in hunting and considered a treasure for the Forest Clan. The bolts held the beasts back for a while, killing many, but the spirit beast army kept coming.
“This is endless, it’s as if they’re trying to keep us here! Something important is up ahead!” Patriarch Lin Huangfu thought out loud. The number of tired and wounded cultivators increased, but the spirit beasts did not retreat.
*
“Senior, we will meet again someday!” Ming Ren, Lin Qiang, and Lin Dong clasped their hands and bowed to Jana.
“We must, you are carrying my hope.” Darkness always surrounded Jana, but now light arrived at its doorstep, “Little humans, you can always come here to chat, the formation will recognize you two.”
“We will, senior!” Lin Dong and Lin Qiang felt a strong connection to Jana because of their bloodline induction, as close as true family bonds.
“Aren’t you going to wake them up?” Jana pointed to the rest of the group.
“They will wake up after we leave, it would take too long to explain. They will probably faint too,” Ming Ren said, “Besides… Little Fu will be too loud.”
Lin Dong and Lin Qiang couldn’t help but agree. After a double-hour, they mastered enough of the formations to use in battle. Thanks to Ming Ren’s guidance, they even consolidated their realms and advanced on martial arts, reaching large accomplishment stage in most techniques. He also helped them understand how to use Qi and true elements more efficiently.
There was nothing else they could do, so the group said goodbye to Jana and headed out.
More than saying they walked out on their own, Jana threw the entire group out. Lin Dong, Lin Qiang, and Ming Ren didn’t fall, but the others hit the ground in weird positions. As expected, the twin-headed lioness queen and its army waited for them. It roared in excitement and the other beasts trembled.
“Lin Dong!” Shouted Ming Ren.
“I’m going!” Lin Dong stepped forward with [Unmovable Forest – Large Accomplishment Stage], each step as if a deep-rooted tree walked—firm, steady, and strong. With the queen’s command, the spirit beast army attacked. A wild ape at the peak of the third layer of the Spirit Sea Realm punched at Lin Dong.
Lin Dong met fist with a fist, revolving the [One With The Wood] cultivation law and bringing his might to the extreme. He used Qi much more efficiently than the forest patriarch, and the heaven-grade cultivation law together with his newly tempered body transformed him completely.
A Body Tempering law by itself couldn’t cross higher layers at the next realm, yet it made easier for him to reach the peak of the Body Tempering and even the first two layers of the Spirit Sea. Its Qi distribution lacked nothing even when compared to Spirit Gate cultivation laws. A cultivator spent a lot more spiritual energy to cross realms, but compared to the low-grade cultivation law from before, it was like heaven and hell.
Lin Dong’s heaven tier arts could now generate might equal to the eight layer of the Body Tempering Realm with ease.
Fist collided with fist, and the wild ape screamed in pain as his shattered. Lin Dong followed the strike with [Leaf], and the mighty chop crushed the enemy’s chest. The other spirit beasts halted in awe, and the queen went mad as her underlings hesitated. It roared once again and rushed forward, tearing its own allies apart in fury.
“Get into formation!” Ming Ren shouted. His attention peaked as he would allow no mistakes against the queen. With a flick of his wrist, the first rank sword appeared once again. Lin Qiang drew her low-grade unranked thin sword and focused on summoning, pinkish energy flowing from her body.
To her left, saber-toothed cat, second layer of the Spirit Sea Realm.
To her right, flood mantis, first layer of the Spirit Sea Realm.
They followed behind Lin Dong, flanking the queen. Lin Qiang gave orders using thought and positioned herself behind Ming Ren to support. The formation looked like a trident, Lin Dong and the summoned beasts as the prongs. The queen attacked Lin Dong with the claws, but the flood mantis slashed her legs on the left, and the saber-toothed cat jumped on the right. Lin Dong met the claw instead of running away, crossing his hands to block.
Ming Ren, Lin Dong, and Lin Qiang revolved their cultivation laws and joint spiritual energy together to activate the battle formation. This formation’s biggest merit was allowing them to focus Qi in a specific cultivator with ease. With all the Qi around Lin Dong, he could use might much higher than his current realm, with minimum strain. The formation shared the burden the same way it shared the power, and Lin Dong’s wood element lessened it further.
The twin-headed lioness had might of the peak of the fourth layer and two monster cores, yet Lin Dong at the peak of the third layer of the Spirit Sea Realm didn’t lose to it at all. In fact, he stopped the paw with ease. With help from Ming Ren’s Divine Light Dragon Body burst activation and the formation, he reached the peak of the sixth layer in power!