The forest in the morning could only be described to those who had seen it. Green trees, a bright light crawling up beyond the scope of branches. The perfect peace, the piece of nature for a liar’s eyes. In the shadows cast by dry, crisp leaves clinging to the branches, beneath the light. A beast who had done nothing but eat for the chance to survive, to have offspring before taking its last breath. He met the silence, alone. Its herd had left, while the people chased them off, and the ones who brought his end shouting overtop of his cooling flesh and shattered bones.

“What do you think you’re doing!? Hand back my axe!” Tui said, stomping back up to Hao, standing just an arm’s reach away.

Hao dropped the axe behind him, it hit the dirt with a thud. He was happy to drop it, it was a sturdy weapon but overly heavy. Hao went all out with the strike, he used it like it was a pickaxe, performing his personally created technique to get the most use out of it. The flesh and bones of the beast were much tougher than that of normal stone.

Tui’s ability to use the axe like it was a normal weapon was a testament to his strength. But Hao was not in the mood to acknowledge that. He sat down, leaning towards the ground, his hand reaching out to touch the beast.

He touched its neck, he broke, and the shattered leg that was close to his right knee. Its body was bloodied. A red stream dripping in a fast flow soaking into the ground. The neck was misshapen and thick, but the thick hide was not broken.

“Did you not hear me? I think I asked a similar thing first. What were you doing?” Hao said.

“Hunting a Demonic Beast, of course. Is that not why we’re here? That is the purpose of all this, is it not?” Tui said. Hao couldn’t see his face. Nor did he want to. Perhaps Hao was the one in the wrong.

“Indeed, we are here for that. But you caused such damage and pain for no other reason than you could. You had the chance to kill it in one blow, your strength would let you, as Senior Brother has astounding cultivation. That is if the mission was your priority…” Hao said, his voice was close to a mumble but no one missed his words.

“It’s a Demonic Beast! Who cares what I do with it? It could evolve and get stronger in the future. We are doing the righteous thing in taking its life. We have every right to stop potential harm to humanity,” Tui said. Everyone but the one opposing him believed such words, except for Hao.

Hao was surprised, though. The big man played dumb before if he knew how to speak so well. Or he rehearsed this speech and was in this kind of conversation more than once.

“You used foolish reasons and a righteous tongue to condemn a creature that has committed no crimes. You just wish to waste time and cause harm to make yourself feel powerful.” Hao said, his words more hushed now. He was still looking down at the beast as he stood, his hand leaving its thick neck. The hanging tongue and half-open eyes spoke of the terror in its final moments. Bugs landed on the still-wet eyes between the lids.

“You sympathize with monsters because you are one. Filthy barbarian islander!” Tui said, pulling his axe up to his side. He was getting ready to swing the axe at Hao.

If Hao did not expect such a thing, he would be a real fool. He was waiting for the man to take another step, he didn’t stand a chance in a normal exchange of blows, he would blind him first. His enthusiasm for hiding his strength and secrets had waned. The small dagger in the spirit-holding bag was perfect for taking eyes and necks.

As quick as the wind, a feathered fan was held high. Yi Shou stood between them, his hands wide and pointed out. “Now, neither of you are acting like teammates. I can see why either of you are angry, or what started this in the first place.” Yi Shou said, somehow louder than Axe.

“You should speak to the madman you recruited into our team,” Tui said, pointing the end of the axe at Hao.

Yi Shou kept his back to Hao, watching Tui. “Brother Hao, to be fair, it seems indeed you were the one to start this, I hope you have a reason. If not, you would be in the wrong.”

“You also caused everyone to be distracted, letting the other Demon Beast get away,” Jingshe said, seeming eager to get in a jab, the smirk on her face only growing until it reached a smile.

Hao looked up with a smirk, looking around the forest, at Jingshe in front of him. “What do I have to do with the job you failed?” He said, “Those were anything but Demonic Beasts, the tallest was up to your ribs, the small to your hips. A mortal farmer could keep them docile with a fence and a handful of grass.” The truth of the situation lingered in the air. The herb was something pathetic when compared to the other he saw. It was just some sort of harem for the bull they had slain.

“Not that you would be much help over here. Picking your fingernails with that sword in your hand. It’s obvious the edge of it has seen more soap than blood, I can tell just by the way you point it out,” Hao said. Not interested in arguing with her. Quickly shutting her down, pointing out her lack of contribution to keep her quiet.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“You! You…” Jingshe started.

“At least she didn’t cause any problems. If we stuck to my plan, we would have collected all of them but you interrupted that too.” Tui said, his forehead looking like a river in high-tide, mounting with pressure ready to overflow and flood the small case that was his head.

“Plan?” Hao said, waiting for a second with a deliberate pause. “Oh, you mean standing there, yes your plan almost led to a great show. But Senior brother, if you want to watch two animals mixing up their water, creating a new beast, you shouldn’t bring your juniors into it.”

“Do you really think the Sect would pat you on the back before killing a couple of young females and babies? That’s just destroying the roots before the grass grows. If anything, the sect would punish us for destroying potential resources.”

Hao was ready to explode. He was still waiting for someone to get too close with their weapon drawn, he was unsure what punishment would wait for him. None if I could convince the rest to keep quiet.

Tui gritted his teeth. The words of Hao were true, and the rest realized it. If those green-horn demon beasts were allowed to mature, the resources they could provide would be multitudes more than what they would get now. The others had their own reactions. Yi Shou scrunched his eyes and Junior Sister Dai covered her mouth. Just now they realized the implications of destroying possible resources used by the Sect and not sticking to their mission.

“We… never found a solution for carrying more than one back up the mountain. If we got two more, things we would have just gotten… more… complicated.” Dai said, her words just loud enough to hear them. It was hard to tell if she was cute and shy or bold and brash as she walked backward after what seemed like taking a side.

Her words were a wake-up. Bells to Hao’s ears, he initially thought the back and forth would be against him, and it only looked like it was against him more and more. Even if his arguments were solid, he was an aggressor, an interloper, and an interrupter. Acting against the plan, ‘distracting’ his teammates, and then pushing one back to take the kill. But it seemed the Heavens favored him in this situation.

Tui damaged the beast in ways other than the near torture he inflicted. A topic Hao was now banking on, waiting for someone else to start up the discussion once again. The silence before the shouting back and forth was longer than the fight with the bull.

“Well… Enough of this. That does not explain why this crazy child attacked me,” Tui said. He had no corner at his back, not one that he could see. He was the strength of the team, the eldest, and friends with the second strongest. As far as he was concerned, he was the cornerstone and could do as he pleased. The axe in his hand spun around once before its end was pointed in Hao’s direction again.

“All I did was stop you from doing any more damage,” Hao said. And caused more pain. He kept that thought to himself. He had his answer ready, his response quick. “Surely you know what the most expensive parts of a Demonic Beast are?” His voice was approaching condescending, a sudden change in demeanor, a growing confidence and scholarly knowledge. He invoked two of his favorite people in his act.

The other four of the group swung their heads. They looked at each other and Hao, thinking the question was silly. “The core.”, they said one after another.

“Yes, the core is the most important part. But it’s not the only thing the sect is eager to have. But there is energy in the core—Core blood—Which is exhausted during extreme stress.” Hao said, keeping a few things to himself. “Then it’s the unique traits of the beast, if it has any.” Hao pointed at the horn, which leaked a pallid red liquid.

“Then a fully intact hide. It’s not easy to come by one without any damage, if the treasure forging hall needs them, they pay extra.”

“The last I will point out are the bones. Larger, longer, and stronger bones are the most sought, they are an important selling point to the Sect. That is the most versatile part of making treasures. I don’t think I need to mention blood, losing some is inevitable…” Hao finished up, pointing out the injuries on the beast, he shook his head in disappointment. “It’s just that I was happy to hear we had a Senior Brother with good killing power on the team. I thought we would get generous pay for the beast, but…”

“You’re just making things up!” Tui said, a shout from a voice that would have come from a man a quarter his age.

Hao was, but also he was not; his words were all true, and there was plenty he did not say. But he used the perfect facts to give him an argument, taking the entire situation and putting it to his advantage. What use would it be to point out the other three legs that weren’t broken? A judge does not convict a man of murder after mentioning all the people he didn’t kill, that is what you call stupidity. A pointless thing to mention as the leg was broken after the people around got involved, it did not take an investigation to find that out.

“I work with the Hall leader in charge of the food hall. He taught me how to butcher and the parts of the beast before he let me go out on a mission,” Hao said. It was all he needed to say. It’s easy to win an argument when you don’t need to spout lies and make things up. But being able to talk is useful. I should get more lessons from everyone. Not everything he mentioned was from Senior Tu’s tutelage. Some of it came from Grandpa He; The unique traits of beasts being one of the many things he heard from the old man. The old man told him a little about the leafy horns of the bulls.

Tui’s face turned white, he looked like a ghost for a second. Then it returned to normal. The silence was nice, the sound of the axe scraping dirt as it lowered left a pleasant taste in Hao’s mouth as he turned around. The Cultivators look at each other straight through Yi Shou, eye to eye Hao and Tui. A shadow of brutality took root in Hao’s heart, the sound of wailing while legs were broken filled him until he looked away from the giant man.

The situation dissolved. Hao gave a perfunctory bow, with a “hope we work well together in the future”, to Tui. Hao would have the strength to kill the beast if it was not stationary and he had the sturdy axe to land the blow. The man named Tui’s strength was needed for the team to continue their hunts. Even if he had no skill or technique.

Hao gave a reminder once the air was cleared. “For now, we should get the beast up the mountain. It’s losing blood as we speak.” Hao gave back two a little more face as they traveled. He planned to leach as much effort from the man as he could.

As the body was moved, taking turns to move it, they came to an agreement on the pay.

“We can split the core price,” Yi Shou said.

Hao took meat and blood for fewer sect points, which everyone quickly agreed to.

“Is Brother a physical Cultivator? Ah, Brother should be careful and focus on Spiritual Cultivation.” Lou Yi Shou said to Hao when he asked for the blood.

Just before they started up the mountain, the group was getting tired; taking turns pulled the beast on their backs. Tui wanted to push for a little more face, the way he did that was questionable. “Jingshe, how about you give me some of your contribution points…” he asked, it seemed Hao’s words got him to question her use. She walked off hearing it, her walk was more of a storm. Tui had to rush to catch up to her.

The two of them walked ahead of the young three, Hao watched them close. He got a foreboding feeling when he saw them walking together.