When the dust settled, the entire troop of beasts lay slain.
"Haha, that was no easy feat!"
Chu He laughed heartily as he recalled his weapon. The battle had dragged on too long, and since he wielded a heavy hammer-type magic weapon, his divine sense was now utterly exhausted, and his mana was nearly spent. If the fight hadn't ended when it did, he would have been in real danger.
The others in the squad weren't faring much better. The Ape King had proven far stronger than expected, and wood-element beasts were notorious for their toughness. Victory had been hard-won.
"Don't rush to harvest their blood essence. Qiuyue and I will stand guard, and everyone else focuses on restoring your mana."
Chen Moxuan's voice rang out. This was ape territory; no other beasts would dare venture deep inside. As long as no rival hunting party passed by, every herb on Cangyun Ridge was theirs for the taking. Better to recover now than be caught unprepared.
Ji An, also nearly drained, didn't mind the filth as he sat cross-legged on the ground, clutching a spirit stone to absorb its power. His spirit rat scurried over and stood watch, alert.
The energy within the spirit stone was turbulent and harsh. As it coursed into his meridians, Ji An felt a faint swelling pain, none of the comfortable smoothness of ordinary cultivation.
When the stone was completely drained, thanks to the stone turtle's constant siphoning, he had only regained about thirty percent of his mana.
He frowned inwardly. I'll need to stockpile more talismans… and learn to fight more efficiently. With this stone turtle inside me, I won't last long in drawn-out battles.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw Chen Moxuan and Jiang Qiuyue had also begun absorbing power from their stones. Tian Yulei kept watch, while Chu He was already harvesting the Jade Spirit Fruit.
Hearing movement nearby, Tian Yulei turned and gave Ji An a warm smile.
This was only his second time reaping such a massive haul with the squad, an opportunity that might not come again for years. And half the credit, he knew, belonged to this newly joined senior brother.
When Ji An came closer, Tian pressed down his excitement and whispered:
"Brother, you keep watch, I'll handle the beasts. Heh, a huge harvest this time! Our storage pouches probably won't hold it all, we'll just have to take the most valuable pieces."
"Alright," Ji An replied. He then produced his beast-control token, instructing the spirit rat to search for nearby spiritual treasures.
With a squeak, the rat darted into the underbrush.
Two quarters of an hour later, Chen Moxuan and Jiang Qiuyue finished their recovery, and everyone began cleaning up the battlefield.
Ape blood essence, pelts are always in high demand. Even the meat of wood-element beasts was considered highly nourishing. Of course, they couldn't possibly take it all.
"Ji An, come with me. Let's check the apes' den for anything worthwhile. The rest of you, keep clearing the field, but stay alert."
Chen Moxuan's mood was buoyant. Since the opening of Mount Moyan, countless cultivators had coveted this troop of apes; many had died for it. Beasts with higher intelligence often collected trophies, so there was a fair chance of spoils.
The den wasn't far from the Jade Spirit Fruit trees, marked by a peach tree outside, not a spiritual variety.
Ji An activated the Stone Turtle Shield, leading the way inside. Twelve plates of earthy-yellow light floated around him in a protective orbit.
Chen Moxuan gave a silent nod of approval. With a defensive talisman clenched in his hand, he followed close behind.
There shouldn't be enemies lurking in the den, but in hunting, caution was everything. No one ever knew when disaster might strike.
Apart from the stench, Ji An was surprised to find the cave fairly clean. At the far end lay a scatter of white bones, along with some magic weapons and several storage pouches.
Chen Moxuan sighed when he entered:
"Cultivators hunt beasts, and beasts hunt cultivators… Heaven's cycle never ends."
A pang of sorrow welled up in Ji An's heart. The fallen grieve for their kind… On the path of cultivation, the road was littered with bones; someday, perhaps, he too would share the same fate.
He quickly steadied his emotions, changing his tone:
"We must carry on the will of our fallen peers, and walk farther on the path of cultivation."
The two of them moved forward to collect the spoils. Chen Moxuan shook his head repeatedly.
"This magic tool hasn't been nourished by spiritual energy for too long, so no fixing it. It's only worth scrap material."
"This storage pouch was ripped apart by the Greenwood Apes. Can't be used. What a pity."
After turning the cave upside down, Chen Moxuan ground his teeth.
"Damn it, not a single usable pouch! Only eleven broken magic tools, and two that are still mostly intact."
"That's already pretty good. We even found forty-five spirit stones that I didn't expect."
Just as Ji An finished speaking, a sharp whistle sounded outside.
Chen Moxuan's face darkened instantly. He shot out of the cave in a flash:
"Someone's coming, follow me!"
The whistle was their agreed-upon signal: they had encountered other cultivators.
Ji An lifted the Stone Turtle Shield into his hand, pulled out several talismans, and cast Windriding Technique to follow quickly.
Bursting from the cave, he saw four talon-birds swooping in from afar.
"Not friendly," Chen Moxuan barked under his breath. "Prepare for battle!"
As Ji An peered closer, he saw the lead figure, a bald cultivator in only a short tunic, his bronze skin gleaming faintly like metal, arms thick with corded muscle. Ji An felt he'd seen this man before; there was a sense of familiarity.
"That bald one is Yang Lie, a body-tempering disciple of the sect."
Jiang Qiuyue's pupils contracted. Yang Lie was famous among the sect's beast-hunting disciples as one of the strongest. His companions were no less impressive: each of them was at the ninth level of Qi Refinement.
Although Yang Lie was not known for misconduct, for such a powerful squad to approach without regard for the unspoken rules was itself a threat.
The sect forbade disciples from killing each other, but in the wilds… how many really abided by that? With enough profit on the line, men could become beasts.
The four landed about ten zhang away. Yang Lie whispered a few words to his team, then strode forward four or five zhang and stopped.
"So it's Junior Brother Chen," he said. "Didn't expect you to get here first. My squad had been eyeing this troop of apes for a long time, planning a big harvest. Looks like now we won't even get a sip of the soup."
He patted his waist, where four storage pouches swayed.
Chen Moxuan cupped his hands respectfully:
"Senior Brother did arrive a bit late. Still, there's plenty of beast meat left here; we'd be glad to offer some. That way, this trip won't have been in vain."
The meat couldn't all be carried off anyway. It was a feeling to see how Yang Lie would respond.
"Haha! My appetite's too big, just beast meat won't satisfy me."
Yang Lie grinned, pulling off three storage pouches and tossing them over.
"If you were wandering cultivators, I'd demand a toll before letting you leave. But as fellow sect brothers, if we don't stand together, how are we different from rogues?
Your squad's strength isn't bad. In the future, we might even fight side by side.
Hold onto those for now, return them to me later."
With that, Yang Lie turned, calling to his team to mount their talon-birds and fly off.
"Many thanks, Senior Brother! Let's share a drink when we're back!" Chen Moxuan shouted after them.
"Strong wine, and plenty of meat!"
Wild laughter echoed from the sky as they disappeared.
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