Shixuan was even more confused, while he understood what his brother meant… he had suddenly an idea! Right, a fortress would defend in every way possible! It wasn't supposed to be a shell, but often it would be people defending behind a wall. Since he was not only the wall but the whole fortress, maybe...?

He used his essence initially freeform as he pushed it towards the earth, but his Talent soon took over and strengthened what he imagined. Earthen hands came straight out of the ground in front of the sphere, they then pulled swords made of stone from the ground below. Positioning themselves, they waited till the attacker came forth.

Lila looked intensely at the forest around them. They were driving through a lot of farmlands prior, owned by the minor nobles. But the forest was close to the duchies, they would occasionally hunt there, so it was often left alone to ensure the thriving of wildlife to hunt. Unfortunately, the only way quickly to the march would be along the border of the two duchies, so there was no proper way besides somewhere in the middle ground.

Suddenly, she looked at one direction intensely "Three Talent Refining beasts… Wild Boars! They are coming forward quickly!"

Only Ji Li and Shixuan heard her voice, as they had already planted the sound-proofing formation. Ji Li told Shixuan to keep it deactivated for his own voice, so the guards could hear him, repeating any commands Ji Li said.

"One west, one north and one south while three look out for east. Shixuan, move your hands to the other sides, leave the least to the east. Lila, look at the other directions more intensely!"

They waited for just a bit till the guards saw the Wild Boars. They were somewhat impressed with the scouting abilities the eunuch employed, but they knew more than anyone that no one could mess with a proper eunuch; it seemed they weren't babysitting new eunuchs but guarding a proper one that was able to command.

When the boars came, they were already glowing and rushing forward. They hooves glowed the most in a brown colour. "They have earth speed enhancing Talents! Shixuan, dampen the earth below them!"

Ji Li himself also willed the Windflower's to strengthen the air pressure around the boars. But he waited with the Shooting Stars, they needed to somehow enter the body of the boars to do proper damage, but obviously their hide was too strong, so he waited.

With the ground damper and the air pressure increased, the boars somewhat slowed down by the time they were in range of the guards. The guards all had strength enhancing Talents, strengthening either their body or weapons somehow. They were basic Talents and not much to speak about; talents such as Ji Li's, Qianyu's, Shixuan's, Rong Xi's and other rarer options have to either be awakened when the people are young, or they have to have a legacy of some sort.

The three boars clashed with the guards, Ji Li used some of his flowers to fly and detonate in their wounds, though the result was expected. The beast he fought for his exam wasn't even Peak Essence Awakening Stage, against that, he obviously had a good chance. But against Talent Refining Stage beasts, and wild boars with their thick hide at that?

Ji Li knew his limits and just ensured some support from the back, while Shixuan's hands occasionally pushed away the boars that came too close. They thought that the battle would be one of attrition, and they would sure win as the boars seem already somewhat exhausted from their sprint; confusing Ji Li as they had not even seen them when they were sprinting.

They clearly landed in a battle when they didn't want that, and going somewhere else was difficult as Shixuan's fortress was a good blockade. Lila was still cautiously looking around; her danger sense hadn't stopped even when her other senses had already proven that the boars weren't dangerous. As she looked around, she saw three different streaks from somewhere else.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She instantly focused on them and told Ji Li "There are more! One boar from the north, two from west and south each! They are also in the Talent Refining Stage!"

Ji Li frowned while Shixuan had sweat running down his back as he was told by Ji Li to forward the command "One guard from east go to the north! South and West will get two boars each, north only one! Use your strength and kill the one from the north quickly, then split up between west and south!"

The boars east were already exhausted, and two guards would be enough to keep them in check. It didn't take long for the remaining boars to arrive, the boars coming from west had earth talents that enhanced their speed, while the southern ones had talents to enhance their thick hide. The northern one had a talent to enhance their tusks.

This made an unfortunate situation, at least it wasn't one with thick hide, but this wasn't much better. Ji Li focused all his Shooting Stars on the northern boar "Shixuan, tell another guard from east to head north, send all the hands from north to east, we need offense there, they do better defending the east than remaining north."

The commands were fulfilled in quick succession as the boar approached. They had used air pressure and earth dampening on all of them, so this one with longer and heavier tusks was even slower than the rest. The moment it came into range, Ji Li temporarily took off the sound-proofing formation to not disrupt the air flow that quickly formed a stream from the Shooting Stars as he commanded aloud "Attack in 5…"

The stars were already spinning in the air by now "4…"

The guards poured their essence into their talents and were prepared "3…"

The stars took off, flying quickly towards the boar "2..."

The stars hit and exploded at the touch, making the boar tilt to one side and nearly fall off "1…"

"Go!" with the command, the guards rushed and used the momentum to push the boar, it was already tilting strongly from the stars, and now it fell sideways. It couldn't use its normal capabilities to charge with its strong legs, and the tusk that would have made the charge a deadly one now destroyed it's tries to stand up.

With a great part of their strength, the guards pushed their swords into the boars hide. Ji Li was about to send another wave as he told them to back off, which they did. The stars directly shot into the wounds of the injured boar that was about to stand up.

It fell down again and hidden in the stars was a seed that attached itself on the large open wound. From the seed many vines grew as they enveloped the whole boar, it quickly grew as it was consuming the boar's blood. It grew larger as the boar stopped struggling, ice elemental essence flooded its blood system and stopped any attempt at standing up.

A large Dahlia flower grew from the injury, one even more beautiful and majestic than Ji Li had seen previously. At it's peak bloom it froze, it's beauty enveloped with a glassy light reflecting the light of the sun that came down from the gaps between the tree crowns.

This beautiful scene seemed abstract in the bloody fighting at the different fronts. The other sides had already began fighting and weren't faring too well, the east only able to stand with the help of the hands that were moving around with Shixuan's commands.

Reeling them out of the reverie, Ji Li commanded "Guards, back up the other sides!"

They quickly run and defended. Attacking in the same rhyme, one boar after another was attacked with shooting stars and frozen with Dahlia flowers. Restricted and frozen in time, the Boars couldn't do anything as their conscious faded.

It seemed pitiful, and as the last boar was frozen, Lila informed Ji Li "Ten horses, two from each direction! They are at the Essence Awakening Stage, but I detect eight Talent Refining Stage, two Essence Awakeners being guarded by guards while the other seem to be following tracks."

Frowning once more, Ji Li had a guess-

"Who is there? How dare you enter the hunting grounds of the Graces the Dukes of" Ji Li didn't bother listening, he was bad with names anyways, there was no reason to know about their names when he knew of their geographical location. Not like they would be running away all of a sudden, they were guards anyways, calling out when they hadn't even spotted him, how rude.

Slowly the guards with the Essence Awakeners approached Ji Li's group, they were about to shout too as the other guard somewhat encircled them, when Shixuan yelled aloud "How dare we? In the presence of an eunuch, a mere servant of a noble tries to command us?!"

The guards ate their words and looked closely, when they identified the robes, they jumped down and bowed. The Essence Awakeners were about to say something, when their guards also jumped down and bowed "We apologize, esteemed eunuchs! Please pardon us, but your lords, sons of the dukes" - 'nope, not gonna remember their names' - "are here in their territory to hunt. May we know why you are here?"