Bloodthorn Stag 1

"My Turn, Flaming Drill!" Instilling the Fire Qi into his spear, Kong Huo Yu threw his spear towards one of the escaping monkeys. As it was caught off guard, the Red Iron Monkey could not harden in time and got impaled into the tree. Seeing that he had secured one of his targets, he quickly changed targets to the next closest Red Iron Monkey. 

The monkey could sense his impending danger and knew it had to fight as his escape path had been cut off by Hong Yao's Uproot. Hardening its body, the Red Iron Monkey had a metallic luster as it sprunk towards Kong Huo Yu with its flexible tail. 

"Kahhhh!" 

Kong Huo Yu smirked as he got excited about fighting the Demonic Beast. His hands caught on fire as he punched towards the monkey. "Flaming Punch!" 

As the fists clashed, it was clear that Huo Yu was strongly by a sizeable margin due to the gap in cultivation strength. Knowing that the monkey was caught of guard, Huo Yu twisted his body in the air as he came in with a Flaming Kick to end off his fight. The Red Iron Monkey had been blasted to the ground. 

On the other hand, Hong Yao's fight was even more one side as he did not move from his position and only made use of the Red Iron Tree's roots. He had caught hold of the other three Red Iron Monkeys before sending a clean slice across their throats when the roots brought them closer. 

The fight was over in a minute. 

"Damn, we are pretty impressive as a team, aren't we?" Kong Huo Yu commented happily. 

"Mmm. Not too shabby for our first battle." Hong Yao recalled the roots of the tree back into the ground. He wasn't the type to harm nature when it wasn't necessary. "If we can incorporate in Lin Xi Xi's and Li Tian's techniques, we can be even more unstoppable." 

The two of them quickly foraged the fruits from the tree and started to clean up the bodies of the Red Iron Monkeys. Most demonic beasts were edible by humans and can be used as a good source of Qi replenishment. In the case of Red Iron Monkeys, although the meat was quite tough, this was still something the team could consume in the wild, once it was cooked. Lin Xi Xi soon found the two of them and reported her findings. 

Just as Li Tian had predicted, the water source stretched towards the far East. In that direction, there seemed to be another family of Red Iron Monkeys. Before deciding to go over there, the trio waited in this area with their secured food source for Li Tian to return. 

As Li Tian sprinted along the tree branches, he noticed that there was a team that was coming along this direction. From his knowledge, the team seemed to comprise of three of his classmates and one other person. They were amid battling a group Rank 2 Red Iron Monkeys that were in a similar disposition as the group he found earlier. As expected, the fights were one sided as the strength difference was there. 

Li Tian wanted to find some rank 3s and was guessing that it was probably further inside the Red Iron Forest. He decided to head back to his team as there was nothing much to find if they only stayed in the other peripheries. 

"Chhhhiiiii…" A rustling sound could be heard below Li Tian. He realised there was a male student running in his direction. He seemed to be running away from something. There was a crimson shadow dashing closer and closer towards the student. Panic was written on his face. 

Li Tian got a closer look at the Demonic Beast and realised it was a Rank 3 Bloodthorn Stag. It seemed to be in a berserk state as it never left sight of the student. 

'Mmm. Guess I'll do a good deed today.' Li Tian thought to himself as he leaped down from the tree. 

The male student realised a little boy had appeared behind him and quickly warned, "Runaway! The Bloodthorn Stag is very dangerous!" 

The male student had recently entered the Qi Refinement stage and got cocky about his ability. He was the scout of his team and decided to target a lone Bloodthorn Stag. Unfortunately for him, this Demonic Beast was not a regular Rank 3 Bloodthorn Stag and was born with the scary Berserk innate ability. This not only allowed the stag to get a multiplier on his strength, it caused the Demonic Beast to lose all sense of rationality and would focus all of its attention on its attacker. Because of this, the student had to slip away quickly and had accidentally dropped his Help Signal that the school had given him. 

Li Tian did not heed his warning and instead, drew his sword out. Taking in a deep breath, he regulated his emotions as he focused on the incoming Demonic Beast. 

"Li Beginner Sword Style: Zephyr." 

Like a simple breeze on a cool spring day, Li Tian's body moved with the wind as he gave the Bloodthorn Stag a clean cut across the neck, ending its life humanely. 

Before the student could figure out what had happened, Li Tian disappeared without a trace, leaving the student alone with the dead stag. The boy student could only thank his lucky stars and started to pillage the meat from the Demonic Beast. 

Li Tian wasn't interested in the body as he was too lazy to carry it back with him. Besides, if he wanted to, he could always kill another one when he was with the team. Just now, Li Tian had used the Li Beginner Sword Manual, which was created by the first ancestor of the Li Clan. The manual had three sword styles, the first style being Zephyr. The Li Beginner Sword Manual did not require a specific type of Elemental Qi and rather, focused on a swordsman's ability to focus in on its enemy. If the swordsman was able to clear his emotions away in the moment, he would be able to fully utilise the sword manual to its fullest potential.