Chapter 5: Fighting a Beast

The other two hunters were silent as they tracked the animals in the forest: rabbits, deer, and anything else that could feed the villagers.

Kang Duyi, however, wouldn't stop talking to me. He kept asking me about my farm and how I was doing. His questions made me uneasy.

Why was he so curious about me? I barely knew him — I had better things to do than chat with him — so I did not know if he only had a curious personality or if he was after something else.

The forest was quiet, too quiet. No birds sang; the deeper we went, the darker it got.

The tree tops blocked the sunlight, casting shadows everywhere.

"Kang Duyi," one hunter called, "Come look at this."

I followed his gaze and saw a footprint on the muddy ground. It didn't belong to any of the usual creatures we hunted. Was this what Kang Duyi meant by strange movements near the village?

"What is it?" the hunter asked.

Kang Duyi frowned. "I don't know. I've seen nothing like this before."

The paw was huge. It looked like it could crush a man's skull with one swipe. I shivered, even though I knew I could defend myself if things turned dangerous. After all, my power was at the third layer of the Qi Condensation realm.

"Be careful," Kang Duyi said, then glanced at me. "You too, Tian Li."

I nodded. If a beast were lurking in the forest, one that could threaten the village, I would help fight it off. Not because I cared about the villagers or anything but because I had a farm to protect.

And Big. T and Big. F, my two loyal friends. They deserved my protection, and I would do anything for them.

We continued our hunt, with our primary goal being to bring back some food to the villagers. Of course, we still tried to find new clues about the mysterious beast.

There were other footprints scattered inside the forest. I found one. But what did the prints tell us? Nothing. Sure, it was a massive beast, but that was it.

It did not tell us what beast it was or whether it was dangerous. The unknown was scarier than anything else. Even I, confident with my cultivation of the third layer of Qi Condensation, could not help but worry.

A cultivation world had plenty of powerful beasts. The logic would be that a powerful creature would not appear in a lowly village, but a wise cultivator would never go against the heavens and assume something was impossible. Nothing was impossible.

As we traversed through the forest, I realized there were no animals. It was like they were hiding something; I was not the only one who realized that.

One of the hunters stated the obvious to Kang Duyi: "Something is scaring the animals away."

That was obvious. One did not need to be a cultivator to realize something was amiss in that forest. Having a brain was all it took. I couldn't believe people like that became hunters.

We only managed to find one rabbit after looking for it for two hours! That was a turtle pace, yet Kang Duyi was unconcerned. I looked at him and asked, "What will we do?"

"Don't worry about the food," he said, "We have plenty of in the village with the plantations and the cattle. We need to find the beast walking in this forest."

Riverside was a self-sustainable village, so despite the hunter's essential job, it would not make the town crumble with one bad hunting trip. Kang Duyi was more concerned about the beast that should not be there!

We were about to return when the ground underneath our feet started to shake. It felt like a heavy creature walked near us, and the two hunters — who were not cultivators — trembled in fear.

"W-We should head back!" they said.

I was thinking the same thing, but it was too late.

A creature came from behind the bushes—a wolf with blue fur with white lines on it. The wolf was way bigger than the ordinary wolves the mortals were used to.

I stared deeply into its blue eyes and saw a hint of intelligence. The creature had cultivation, one of the second layer of the Qi Condensation.

Perhaps Kang Duyi could tell it was not an enemy we could face because as soon as the beast appeared, he yelled, "All of you, run! I will stop the beast while I can!"

I didn't blame them. They were only mortals, so they had no reason to stay there and lose their lives for nothing. They would not make a difference in the fight.

"Tian Li, go!" Kang Duyi yelled once again.

He could not see my cultivation with his 1st layer of the Qi Condensation realm, so for him, I was a mortal like everyone else in Riverside.

I looked at him and smiled, "Kang Duyi, this will be a secret you cannot share with anyone else."

The hidden force inside my body burst, and I ran as fast as I could toward the wolf. Both Kang Duyi and the beast themselves were startled after witnessing such power.

I did not know any ranged attacks. I only knew a few essential martial arts the sect taught all members.

"Thundery Palm!"

Lightning enveloped my hand as I channeled my inner Qi to use the martial art. It was a flash of faint lightning, but its power was decent enough to scare a beast like that!

The wolf howled, jumping toward me, using his front paws to rip my body. There wasn't any fancy ability behind it, just pure strength attacks from a beast like that.

Its cultivation was low, so it only had a tremendously powerful body and not unique martial arts!

"Watch out!" Kang Duyi yelled!

He could see my power was not simple, but if the situation continued like that, the wolf and I would collide, with both parties getting hurt.

Well, I used another martial ability I learned from the sect!

"First Cloud Step!"

It was like a soft cloud was underneath my feet as I stepped on it, more than doubling my speed. The wolf blinked, and I was no longer there, appearing right behind it, hitting his spine with my palm!