Liu Zhu turned around and unsheathed his guandao with no warning, startling the herb gatherers around him. Before they could ask what was happening they saw a vicious beast similar in appearance to a panther dash out from the bushes behind him, letting out shrill mix between a growl and a purr as it lunged at his vitals. He looked unfazed upon seeing the creature and finished the strike he had already set in motion, cleanly decapitating it in the middle of its failed sneak attack. The vicious beast that attacked him was about equal to an Early Bone and Marrow Tempering cultivator, so it was a bit risky to try to go for the kill in a single move like that, but with the element of surprise on his side he managed to pull it off, slaying the beast before it realized that it'd been noticed.
Upon noticing the vicious beasts Liu Zhu had also noticed that the one closest to the group was sneaking towards him. At that point he decided to pretend not to notice its presence so that he could launch a sneak attack and get a good idea of the beasts' strength. If they were all as strong as he was he'd be forced to grab who he could and run away, but fortunately the situation wasn't that dire. Now he just had be on guard and make sure he could protect the herb gatherers while they formed up. As the first vicious beast's head hit the ground, Liu Zhu had already began to yell out orders. "Gather towards the clearing 20 feet in front of me. There are more."
The herb gatherers were surprised by the sudden appearance of such a powerful vicious beast but had been through many expeditions in these forests and this wasn't the first time they'd been threatened by vicious beasts. They wouldn't be any help in winning a fight, but at the very least they knew how to reduce their chances of dying. They moved as quickly as they could towards where Liu Zhu had specified, trying to form up so that he could protect them. Unfortunately, despite the men's best efforts, the vicious beasts were approaching them far faster than they were approaching each other. At this rate the vicious beasts would maul at least one of them to death before they were able to gather up. Liu Zhu needed to act now.
Liu Zhu's first instinct was to charge forward and cut off the vicious beasts before they could kill anyone, but that wasn't an option here. The vicious beasts were approaching from two directions at once, so if he went to cut off one then he'd be even farther away from the other when it reached one of the herb gatherers. As Liu Zhu thought about this, he internally sighed. The only way to take care of this problem was to be in two places at once. While that was impossible, the thought had given him an idea.
Liu Zhu's idea was a last ditch effort to reduce the amount of casualties to zero. He couldn't be in two places at once, but that didn't mean it was impossible to attack two vicious beasts in two different places at once. It was just extremely difficult. Since he had his fists and his guandao to fight with, he figured he could throw his guandao at one beast while he fought back the other with his bare hands. That would nearly kill one vicious beast and delay the other, giving the herb gatherers the time to form up into one group and making it possible to protect them. Of course, this was much easier in theory than it was in reality. To pull this off required good timing, aim, and more than a bit of luck. Still, it was the only option he could think of so he had to try it.
Liu Zhu turned towards an herb gatherer to his right, yelling to make sure he was heard. "Zexi, when you see me move dive for the ground immediately! That's the only way you'll be able to react in time!" Without any further context the man this was directed at was extremely confused, but since it was a life and death situation and Liu Zhu was far more capable than him he didn't question it. Immediately after he was able to process this he saw Liu Zhu dash in the opposite direction, his arm already pulled back and his guandao held in an odd fashion, similar to that of a javelin. The old man dived for the ground as quickly as he could, and while he was doing so he heard a loud whooshing sound coming towards him. Moments later a warm sensation covered him as blood splattered all over him. The old man, confused, glanced behind him and saw that the vicious beast who was chasing him had been sent flying backwards, impaled into a tree with Liu Zhu's guandao sticking through its chest. Normally it would've had the time to dodge a weapon thrown from dozens of meters away, but since the herb gatherer had been obscuring its vision until after the guandao was thrown it never had a chance to react. After staring at the corpse of the vicious beast for a moment and regaining his bearings the old man stumbled to his feet and dashed towards the other villagers.
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As Liu Zhu's guandao brutally killed one of the vicious beasts, he managed to leave some minor wounds on the other one in a single round of hand to hand combat. This delay allowed the herb gatherers to form up about ten meters behind him, and since Liu Zhu was closer to them than any of the vicious beasts it would be impossible for one of them to snatch a villager up as food without him intervening. With the pressure on him greatly alleviated, Liu Zhu let out several powerful blows, injuring the vicious beast he was fighting and sending it tumbling several dozen feet back. He didn't pursue it, simply watching as he came to a stop.
As Liu Zhu beat up this vicious beast, the noises of the vicious beasts nearby became much quieter. The growling disappeared, replaced with a few faint, fearful noises. He had been prepared to kill these beasts one by one, fighting in a battle of endurance while making sure no one died, but it seemed like he wouldn't have to do that. Vicious beasts would naturally attack humans, but they, like most animals, had some limited intelligence. Unless they were driven into a bloodthirsty rage, like during a beast horde, they'd consider whether or not who they were attacking would be able to kill them. This meant that after seeing three of their number be easily defeated by Liu Zhu, any thoughts of snatching up his group as easy prey disappeared and were immediately replaced with ones about getting away. Upon noticing that the beasts were going to leave Liu Zhu retrieved his guandao, not wanting to pursue the beasts. His job was to be an escort, not to serve as animal control for all of The Northern Wastes.
With the worst over, Liu Zhu quickly made sure everyone was alright before having them follow him. The risk was low, but there was always a chance that the vicious beasts might just be temporarily retreating and that they would come back after meeting up with the rest of their pack. To avoid this hypothetical they would need to ignore the main task of gathering herbs for a while and cover ground as quickly as they could, exiting the territory of these beasts. This precautionary measure took up an hour, but after that things went back to normal, although everyone was more wary after that scare.
Still, the herb gatherers had had closer brushes with death and most of them had seen at least one of their coworkers die before their eyes before. Something like that wouldn't shake them up for too long. For the rest of the day they continued answering Liu Zhu's questions and teaching him all about the local plants and how to find them. This lasted until it was almost dark out, at which point they set up camp and prepared to cook one of the vicious beasts Liu Zhu had slain earlier for dinner. Many of the vicious beasts living nearby had tough, unpalatable meat, but not what they were going to eat tonight- apparently the variation panther species that had nearly killed some of them earlier was incredibly tasty, and everyone was more than ready for some posthumous revenge.