Okay, that wasn't what I expected to happen. I thought when the dagger girl, Mei Wu, fainted just at the sight of my body.

Really, how was I expected to think this would happen? In the first place, I only did the X motion and stuck my tongue to see how that Xie Li fellow would react to me not taking him seriously and rejecting him.

If he had only laughed and didn't care, then he was a relatively good fellow, and I might get some info about the world without having to fight him when I didn't know a lot about anything but the parts of the forest I lived in. If he acted violent, then that might have been a problem, and in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have done that. He might have been too powerful for me for all I knew.

Maybe I should have acted clueless instead, though since he wanted to have sex with me, as he believed I was a human girl, I probably would have fought him anyways or attempted to run if he was too strong. Still, he did as I expected such a Young Master to do, rushing into battle without care.

It was a bit surprising when I saw him summon that Golden-eyed King Ape and fusing with it. The first time I saw a strengthening-type beast summon and it was quite strong. Him fusing with it increased his power drastically. Had I been Bronze-ranked, I would have died with that single blow he had attempted to give me.

Luckily, me being Silver-ranked had given me a massive edge against him, catching him with my vines before I stabbed him with an oversized leaf full of paralytic poison and with plenty of qi to ignore his own raging energy, deeply piercing into his stomach before the momentum threw him towards his other buddies.

It definitely helped that my mocking tone had enraged him even further, making him a bit more incapable of thinking straight, otherwise he might have focused his power to defend himself instead of just wanting to punch and/or sexually assault me.

After I had shown my full body to the still unharmed duo, Mei Wu and that axe-wielding guy that I don't know his name, I had expected shock from them, but I hadn't expected the woman to faint after I teasingly welcomed them. I tried to put my most teasing tone, but apparently that had terrified her so hard she just dropped from fear.

Must have been under a lot of stress since the beginning. Poor woman.

"Ah- ahhh!" the axe-wielder drew my attention. He too, was shaking as his eyes were filled of fear. His grip on his axe was so tight I thought he might break his weapon by accident, as his qi focused on his axe as he swung at me.

My senses only felt fear and desire to survive as he attacked. Am I really that scary?

Some vines and thick tree branches that I generated from my body intercepted it, and I barely had to use any effort to halt his swing with no scratch on my shields.

Another swing. Another block. Another desperate slash. I pushed him away with a slightly stronger swing of my branches.

All the while, I could feel the young master's qi fiercely combatting my paralytic poison and slowly starting to move again in less than a minute while that Demonic Hound was moving towards him.

Strange. I put enough paralytic poisons and pollen to knock out these bears I fought before, and yet this guy is resisting it.

Is it the normal durability of warriors and rankers from sapient races, or is it just him? Or maybe he had been given poison resistance training and it happened that he just had gotten resistant enough to my brand of paralytic one that he can still move? Did his ape summon give him higher tolerance?

Ah well, I better deal with and subdue him and that woman. Being a young master means that he must have a higher understanding of politics and influencial people in the continent.

That Mei Wu would preferably survive. She had shown a sharp sense of danger, and she tried to tell her superior to run away, which means that either she is the smarter person in the group, or she is just that good at knowing when to fold them.

But first, I would need to crush this extra (axe-wielder guy) for the moment. Don't worry, I won't kill you, for now.

There was no need for me to actually move from my spot for this. It was just a simple thing for me really; just blowing away paralytic and sleep-inducing poison and pollens when he was attempting to jump and slash at my face, abandoning any defense for the sake of killing me in one hit, in such desperation that would have been rewarded if I was closer to his level instead of being much stronger.

His attack didn't reach my body, as he was caught with my vines and branches. I made sure to break his arms and legs so that he won't break free, then my sleeping and paralytic hit him in full, and he lost consciousness in less than ten seconds.

'Man, my poisons are quite strong. They knocked out this guy in record time! What's his level anyways?' I thought absent-mindedly as I saw Xie Li had now stood up on his feet, and I focused on him for real.

"Damn you..." he said, anger in his voice as he momentarily put a hand on his bloodied stomach. The injury wasn't exactly healing, but it seemed like it stopped bleeding. So that's the small regenerative factor of strengthening-type beasts when used, huh. Quite fascinating.

"Grrrrr!" the Demonic Hound growled at me, as demonic black flames was erupting from its body, qi burning the plants and soil around it, but I had no feeling of fear or worry about that.

Instead, I felt as if I was in front of a delicious meal! I felt so hungry and I had to stop myself from drooling. Instead of that demonic qi inducing fear like it would do to many humans and beasts, it instead made me feel like I was in front of a feast, and I had full permission to eat to my heart's content!

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I forcefully stopped myself. It's not good to only focus on that Demonic Hound. I better focus on the young master as well.

The buzzing of the Worker Bees caught my attention for a moment, but I just waved them to leave, knowing that they won't win against this guy. And despite their felt reluctance, they obeyed my request and quickly left the area. Even they could see the sheer difference in power, and knew that they would be more of a hindrance against him.

Sorry, bees. You don't deserve to be killed by this guy.

"So, you are a beast, huh? You dare to trick me with your appearance? I, Xie Li!?" he shouted in fury, and I felt my body tensing. Hey, you idiot, you're the one who tried to seduce me first then couldn't take a no for an answer.

He chanted, and I prepared to attack him and counter his next attack, but, no attack came. Instead, light glowed before a book was suddenly in his hands.

'A Grimoire!' I was surprised. This guy had a Grimoire?! He also had a Guardian Beast and an Inherent Skill then!

"If you like to tempt me so much, then why don't you become mine?" he asked with a sneer, and a strange sensation entered my mind. No, it is trying to enter my mind to... connect me with him?

'What the? So that's what being contracted feels like?' I realized, and I forcefully broke the connection he was trying to make between me and him with his Grimoire.

I winced and found myself retreating a few steps. I couldn't cut the connection without mental harm to me, it seemed. Had I not been able to think like I do, and only followed my instincts, I might have become his beast.

I immediately moved to attack. I no longer could go easy on him, knowing that he would try to make me his beast. Not to mention that I doubted he would treat me nicely anyways.

My body rushed towards him, rapidly closing the distance despite my size. A wave of toxic pollens surrounded me like a sphere, moving with me, and I knew that if he got hit with it, he would be paralyzed again, and this time, I would cripple him.

"Know your place, beast!" he roared and jumped towards me as well. Is he really rushing at me without protection? I was surprised to say the least. What is he planning to-

I immediately realized my mistake when he still held his Grimoire, and used one of its functions, and summoned a Halo Shield!

Fuck! I completely forgot about that characteristic! Even the weakest halo shields can tank attacks from Innates with no problem. My physical attacks won't reach him with that!

My pollens couldn't penetrate the shield, nor could my vines break it, but since he couldn't just pierce through me with the halo shield, he turned it off and directly punched my lower half in the face!

"Guh- ha!" I was thrown away, multiple teeth of my giant mouth broken from the impact. Even when he is generally weaker than me, injured, and quite mad, he still has serious power that I couldn't just defend against casually, and I didn't expect him to use that halo shield like that.

"Quick, attack her!"

The Demonic Hound launches itself at me as I hit the earth, Xie Li falling on one knee as he takes a moment to resist the poisonous pollen he breathed, and the acidic saliva that I spit from the blow to my lower mouth.

"Tch! You're in the way!" I told the beast as I threw my vines at it. I had no intention of allowing it to survive, which is why I filled the vines with not only my poisonous pollen, but also created the most lethal poisonous nectar I can manage. I only needed a single injury, and sadly for it, I could do that just fine.

This thing was just a few times stronger than that Black Wolf I fought before, but it still was quite weaker than me, now that I had become a Silver-ranked beast. Had it been a Bronze-ranked Level 5 or 6, it would have probably been able to ignore the difference in ranks, but with it being only Level 4, not to mentiong the fact that I was also cultivating, it was just a bit too weak to really fight me.

A vine hit its leg, piercing it, and pumping my poisonous nectar as it fell on the ground, howling and wailing. Life rapidly leaving it.

I only bothered to sense its qi, as the very honorable young master, Xie Li had already managed to stand straight.

He won't stand up anymore though, if I had any valid opinion about it.

"Die!" he screamed as his muscles bulged even more, and his once-handsome visage looked like a beast's face as his qi pulsed again, moving to his fist.

If that hit my head, even if I defended against it, I would probably have a concussion. It would also be able to harm my lower half as well, which wasn't something I prefer at all.

Instead, I did what I did against the Black Wolf, and infused qi into my arms, and punched. Offense is the best defence against this guy at my current level.

Our fists collide, and I liked the fact that I pushed him away as a result, and to add insult to his injuries, I spewed a large amount of poisonous nectar at him during the exchange, drenching his entire body in it. Something like this is easy for me now.

"Gh- Kah- huegh!" he shuddered as he hit the ground, his body weakening from the toxic liquid, and I knew that even if he managed to escape me, he won't survive to see another day.

"You- you piece of- ugh! How dare- harm me? Think you can do this!? When my clan finds out..." Xie Li hissed, blood leaking from his mouth as he tried to move as he glared at me.

"Yeah, yeah, I know it all. How dare I defy you and your clan? Courting death, blah blah blah. I honestly couldn't care less about that list of rants and quotes. Please die for me, will you?" I cut him off and stabbed his legs and arms with my vines.

I didn't care that he couldn't understand my language at all. I just wanted to kill him and be done with it. Thus, using a large and pointy branch, I filled it with qi and shoved it at this guy's heart.

I managed to stab him just a moment before he summoned his Grimoire and that halo shield again. So there was a plan in his head, to delay me just enough with his ramblings to summon that shield, and let his beast's small regenerative factor to help close his wounds and resist the poisons before escaping, probably with using a teleporting crystal or something like that.

'Shame that I didn't wait for you to rant, you trash.' I thought as pain filled his visage, before his qi dropped, then vanished.

And without an owner, the Grimoire stopped working, dropping on the ground with a thud, and the Golden-eyed King Ape followed its master in death, ceasing to exist as Guardian Beasts can only be alive as long as their masters are alive.

The ape-like looks vanished, showing that handsome face, eyes open in pain. Serves him right.

I glared at the corpse, and immediately used a vine to slice his neck just as a cautionary measure, before dragging it to be swallowed alongside his dead Demonic Hound.

Sorry, not sorry, buddy. I read enough xianxia and wuxia stories to know that while generally, people die when they are killed -thanks for the quote, Shiro!- they might as well be able to live if one didn't make sure they're extra dead.

"Now, that I had finished the biggest problem as of this moment, what should I do with these two?" I spoke to myself as the bees returned now that they sensed that the larger threat had ceased to exist.

I absent-mindedly gave them some of my nectar as I moved towards the two, still unconscious humans.

Okay, first step: stripping these two naked of whatever they have and wear.

I won't let them have even the smallest jewel on their persons!