A few days passed after Mu and Haiyang made their blood pact. Besides cultivating and some small talk nothing really happened. With the little amount of speaking they’ve done, there was still an awkward air around them.

One afternoon Haiyang grew bored after his morning cultivation. So he climbed to the top of one of the surrounding trees and scanned the area.

He looked to the east seeing nothing but trees and the occasional bird. Then, he scanned to the west. Again there wasn’t much but when he looked a bit to the south he saw something that made him excited.

He saw a clearing that was much bigger than the home he resided in now. He made a few mental notes about distances and a few other things before climbing down. He rushed toward the clearing making that his next target.

Before he ran off he turned to the relaxing Mu and said, “I’m heading west. Hold down the base until I’m back.”

“Will do,” Mu lazily said without opening his eyes.

Haiyang didn’t even care to respond and moving toward the southwest. At first, it was a slow jog before it turned into a full on sprint. He weaved in and out between many trees feeling the wind on his face. He felt free and his mouth curved into a small smile.

He felt free but that doesn’t mean he lost his caution. He still stretched out his senses and had his qi field up. He was constantly receiving the information is sent back. From the small movements of bug and the swaying of the plants.

Haiyang ran for about ten minutes before he finally reached the clearing. It was huge, at least twice the size of his current one. In the center stood a huge tree that gave off massive amounts of wood qi. The quality and quantity were on the level of the Silver Crowned tree at the Lan manor.

The tree was at least 40 meters tall and three meters thick. It’s leaves were bright green with slight golden veins. The barked matched the dark brown color of the surrounding trees.

Haiyang started to circle around the clearing, staying in the cover of the trees. When he circled to the other side that’s when he saw it.

Beneath the tree was a huge stretching panther. It was easily two meters tall and three meters long. Its eyes were violet and fur a green-tinged gray. When it opened it’s mouth it showed a full set of dagger-like teeth.

Haiyang immediately stood dead still. He retracted all of his qi hoping to stay hidden. His fur stuck straight up in fear. When he tried to sense the panther’s aura it hit him like a rock thrown from a pro baseball player. It had an aura twice as strong as the owl or the wolf he faced when he first arrived at the forest.

Haiyang turned and sprinted away at full force back to Mu and the spirit tree. He weaved through all the trees leaving caution in the wind. He made it back before seven minutes passed and barely slowed before running into the sleeping Mu.

“Mu! Mu! Wake up,” Haiyang yelled!

Mu slightly stirred and slowly opened his eyes to the excited and terrified looking Haiyang.

“What,” Mu said slightly annoyed.

“I found a new spirit tree that is at least twice the strength of this one,” Hayang yelled excitedly!

Mu’s ears perked up as he said, “Ok ok ok where!”

“Towards the south. There’s just one problem,” Haiyang explained.

“What would that problem be,” Mu excitedly asked but with a slightly dampened spirit?

“The guardian is pretty strong,” Haiyang shuddered.

“Oh, it can’t be that strong. With the two of us we got this,” Mu exclaimed as he perked right back up.

“You sure about that,” Haiyang questioned but clearly perked up as well.

“Of course! If I wasn’t then my name isn’t Mu,” Mu laughed out, “Now lead the way, my friend.”

The duo sprinted through the forest, with Haiyang leading, without the worry of alerting other beasts. They weaved through the trees arriving in almost ten minutes.

Outside of the clearing they stopped and stared at the now moving panther.

Mu sensed it’s aura and shuddered, “Ok that’s a strong beast but we still got this.”

“I hope we got this or we be torn apart. So what’s our plan of attack,” Haiyang asked?

“Our what,” Mu asked confused?

“Our plan? The thing we’re gonna do to attack that thing,” Haiyang said looking at him strangely.

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“Well...ah...you see...I didn’t think that far ahead,” Mu laughed.

“Well…” Speechless Haiyang just stared at Mu.

“Why don’t you come up with the plan. You got this,” Mu exclaimed staring expectingly at Haiyang.

“Well…” Haiyang stood in thought for a moment before saying, “How about you attack it head on since I use seal magic. I’m a much better supporting role than attacking.”

Mu thought for a moment before responding with an excited, “OK!” He then started to run straight at the panther with green qi gathering at his paws. When he was a few meters from the panther it started to turn around clearly noticing him. Of course, he just jumps at it with his paws up preparing to swipe.

Haiyang was speechless and he mumbled, “Idiot.” He also ran out preparing a few seals at his paws.

By this moment Mu finally reached the panther letting his paws swipe at it.

The panther raises it’s qi filled paw and swats the much smaller Mu away.

Mu goes flying crashing into a tree behind Haiyang.

Haiyang stops his charge staring at Mu then back to the panther.

The panther licks its lips and started to charge at Haiyang. With every step, there was a small boom and small imprint in the dirt.

Haiyang filled his paws with yan qi and using small qi pads launched himself to the right. After the panther charged passed him he let out the seals he readied.

The two seals flew fast and straight right at the panther’s shoulder and neck. They landed perfectly on target.

The panther wobbled a bit before a surge of qi showed and the seals shattered.

Haiyang stood there in slight fear. He looked towards Mu and saw that he was getting up so Haiyang shook his fear away and readied another seal.

Mu roared, “I’M NOT A FLY THAT YOU CAN JUST SWAT AWAY I’M A BEE! BUZZ BUZZ BITCH!” He then jumped at the charging panther his claws glowing green from overflowing qi.

The panther was confused about what Mu said but smiled when he jumped at it again. It raised it’s right paw and swiped at the flying Mu.

Mu did a mid-air twist slightly getting out of the way. The claws still slashed his side leaving a long bloody gash on his side. He forgot about it and continued forward slashing at the panther’s face.

The panther couldn’t dodge and got three claw marks over its nose. They barely leaked any blood but yet the panther still hissed at Mu and started to swipe at him again.

Mu landed on the ground wobbling but not stopping. He dodged each swipe of the panther’s and constantly retaliated with swipes of his own. He was constantly cut the panther’s legs.

During this time Haiyang snuck behind the panther after recovering from Mu’s...battle cry...sure let’s go with that. He prepared to let out the seals the next chance he got.

The panther swiped at Mu and he wasn’t moving fast enough. Haiyang released his seals aimed right at the swiping leg.

When the paw was a couple of centimeters away from Mu the seals finally hit! The swipe slowed slightly and the glow of the paws dimmed but it still struck Mu hard.

His side was cut again bleeding even more and he stumbled a meter or two. His eyes flickered fiercely lighting up even more. He charged up and under the panther’s incoming swipe! With qi filled paws he slashed open the panther’s chest leaving a small blood trail going to the panther’s stomach.

The panther roared loudly and jumped back. A glowing paw slapped the ground causing roots to start to grow around Mu. They slithered up and around him as he fought back.

Within a minute they wrapped around his legs and torso slowing crawling up to his neck. He was constantly fighting back against the roots trying to not let them constrict him.

Haiyang saw his struggle and sent out his seals striking the panther’s chest. This time they didn’t break and the panther became slightly sluggish. Haiyang didn’t look though as he charged straight towards the struggling Mu.

When Haiyang was five or so meters away a green light lit up off Mu. Haiyang stopped and stared slack-jawed as he sensed Mu’s aura begin to rise.

The panther stopped too and just stared in shock.

A minute or two passed before the light began to fade in which Mu let out a loud roar. He struggled and easily broke through the roots. When his paws hit the ground he started charging at the panther.

The panther started to charge at Mu and tried to swipe at him. Mu easily dodged it and returned with a swipe of his own cutting into the panther’s legs.

Haiyang woke up from his shock and started charging a seal with all the qi he could muster. When Mu dazed the panther with a swipe to the head Haiyang sent out the powered seal at the panter’s leg.

The seal flew straight and hit the panther’s leg dead on!

The panther fell after losing its main support crashing face first into the ground. It struggled to get up as it growled towards Mu.

Mu approached the fallen panther and let out a series of strong swipes at its head. Sending blood everywhere with each swipe. Soon a full minute passed and the panther let out a howl as the rest of its body slumped into the ground.

Mu let out a prideful howl before he slumped to the ground.

Haiyang was concerned before he heard a soft snore and realized Mu just fell asleep in blood-soaked dirt. Haiyang let out a small chuckle as he pulled Mu by the scruff of his neck closer to the tree.

After he dropped Mu off at the base he started to dig a new set of chambers. He followed the same four chamber design and was done before half an hour passed.

He returned to the surface happy with his new residence. Haiyang looked over at Mu’s blood-soaked fur and used some yin qi to clean it.

Haiyang walked over to the dead panther and cut open its head. He clawed out the green gem like beast core and placed it in his new treasure chamber.

He quickly ran back to the last spirit tree to collect his other beast cores. After the twenty minute round trip, he finally placed his beast cores to the much shinier one.

Haiyang let out a small smile before going to his cultivation chamber. He analyzed the gains he made during the battle and a good portion of his left leg was stabilized.

He started to absorb the wood qi from the tree. First slow then he was absorbing massive amounts of the qi. He started to stabilize each of the symbols.

Soon his mind started to strain and he finished his left leg and slowly stabilized a few on his left arm. He let out a small breath stopping his absorption of the wood qi.

He laid down and let out a weak smile before drifting into sleep.