The beast looked up at the young man on the cliff edge and evaluated his strength.
The young man knew what the beast was doing and allowed a bit of his cultivation loose, directed toward the beast so it would not affect the sleeping villagers and Mark, who was in the middle of a crucial step in his advancement process.
When the beast was met with a power it could sense, it stopped scaling the mountain toward the sheer cliff and responded to the being threatening it. It spoke without using its mouth or vocals, seemingly summoning the sound from its mind.
"Young human, I am the lord of these valleys and have sensed the aura of an abomination. As per the ancient custom, I must put this abomination down before its power can threaten my clan. Surely your Kingdom knows of these customs among beasts."
The young man just stared down at the giant beast, unwavering in his position. Inside his head, he was a bit confused.
'What does it mean by Abomination? Sure, Mark is an unnaturally gifted body cultivator with talent I have only heard of in legends, but an Abomination?'
Taking his unwavering posture as defiance, the great Vampire Moose spake again.
"I will take it that you intend to defend that abomination. Thus, I must regretfully slay you along with the village that birthed this vile disharmony of the natural order."
The more the moose talked about Mark, the more confused the young cultivator became. Nevertheless, it was his duty to defend the village from any external threats.
He jumped down from the edge of the cliff and landed quite gracefully in front of the Beastly Lord. His landing made hardly any sound, as if he landed on pillows instead of jagged rocks.
With the sheer cliff face behind him, instead of the village, he brandished the sword on his hip and released a tyrannical aura with it. The power coming from the young man was now sharp and threatening to the giant moose.
The elder vampire moose actually took a step back as its head involuntarily dipped slightly.
The young cultivator spoke up once again.
"Elder Lord, I apologize for my disrespect while standing in your domain. It was not my intention to threaten you, but you have forced my hand. This village is under the protection of the Sinclair Kingdom due to the orders of the Empire Sect. Both of these forces own the land we stand on and allow you to rule this valley."
The young man put his sword away to emphasize his desire to seek a peaceful resolution.
"The village in that mountain will not be directly influenced by the kingdom or the empire, including all of its subjects. That includes you and me."
The moose snorted, as if to scoff with its snout.
"And what of the caravans with powerful cultivators that travel through these valleys at regular intervals?"
The young man nodded, as if he anticipated this question.
"The caravans are required to go through training on how to speak to the villagers in order to prevent any undue influence, but they are necessary to provide goods that the villagers do not have access to. The cultivators are required to restrict their cultivation down to the level of a mortal, leaving only their bodies once they pass the threshold of the mountain."
Without waiting for the elder moose, the young man continued.
"I will put it this way, valley Lord, I am at the peak of the Core Forming level of human cultivation. This puts me at the peak of the third level. You are a mid Lord, which puts you at the middle of the third level for beasts. While this puts you at an advantage strength-wise, I am sure you felt the sharpness of my aura when I stepped down here, or you would not have taken a step back."
Seeing the acknowledgement in the eyes of the beast, the young man continued on again.
"With my refined weapon, I could cut you down here and now with little effort. With this gap in true power between us established, I am formally forbidding you from directly interfering with the mountain village and its inhabitants as long as they remain on that mountain."
The valley lord, already resigned to the power of the young human in front of him, spoke up after mulling over the words the cultivator seemed to use ever so carefully.
"Direct threats against the village are prohibited then. . .I see. . .Then I suppose you will have to qualms with indirect action?"
Indirect action. The only reason he was able to give the hint to Mark. The reason the caravans can recruit villagers from time to time. Of course, indirect actions were technically permitted. Though the young cultivator was not one to give direct assistance to those trying to skirt the kingdom's laws.
"Elder Valley Beast, I leave you with the warning that you are not to directly interfere with the mountain people."
With his last statement to the beast, whom he could tell was more intelligent than he initially thought, he jumped back up to the village and then to his place in the elder tree.
The beastial lord just sauntered back to his dwelling place in the valley as he thought to himself.
'I know of every lord in these mountains and the valleys. If I cannot take direct action, then I will remove that village in the most indirect way possible. . .'
From its cave, the elder beast called for its messengers. A pack of grey wolves, nearly as large as the mountain wargs, soon appeared at the mouth of the large cave that the moose occupied as its dwelling place.
The largest wolf, at the front of the pack of about a dozen, stepped into the cave on its own. The moose gave it instructions on how it wanted to go about indirectly attacking the mountain village, which the wolf led its pack to carry out.
The elder vampire moose thought to itself in satisfaction as it watched the grey wolf alpha leave its cave.
'Many may not know where those mindless mountain beasts come from, but after being the lord of this valley for the past several centuries, I would be a useless fool for not learning several of the mountain's secrets.'
...
From his elder tree, the young-looking cultivator watched the actions of the elder beast who was dealing with the grey wolves several kilometers away. The young man just shook his head in disdain.
'It seems I will have to soon supplant the foolish elder beast. I doubt it knows what indirect interference even means. . .'
He then turned his gaze to the house of the young blacksmith, as another pulse of energy could be felt coming from the sleeping craftsman.