Benton stood atop a cliff, looking over a wide valley. In the distance, a single snow-covered peak rose, ascending into the clouds. The qi signature at the top was so strong that it almost overwhelmed his spiritual sense even from miles away.
He dearly, dearly hoped that the huge source of qi wasn’t the Big Boss he had to face.
According to Su’s memories, a beast tide being caused by an entity at an equivalent realm to Nihility or higher was extremely unlikely. As in, no one had ever heard of such a high ranked beast causing one.
Of course, if such a high ranked beast attacked, it was unlikely anyone would have survived to tell the tale. Still, Benton optimistically figured that the leader was probably somewhere in the Nascent Soul realm, and that determination wasn’t just based on Su’s memories. From what Benton’s research in the Poison Claw Sect library back in Sixth Flawless Flowing City had revealed, the size of the waves launched against the village was indicative of a powerful beast but not a heaven-shattering one. Ergo, the Big Boss was probably between rank ten and rank twelve and most likely on the lower end of that range.
At worst, Benton should be fighting one full realm above his own, a feat he hoped was doable since he was much stronger than a typical peak Golden Core cultivator. If the beast were actually Nihility, though, he might as well just flee because it was unlikely he’d even be able to hit the creature, much less injure it.
Before finding the Big Boss, though, he still had to deal with the creature’s waves, starting with the ninth. There were six of the rank nine beasts making their way across the valley.
The fight should be interesting. It would be the first time that Benton faced the equivalent of a peak Golden Core cultivator, an opponent at his level.
He had a choice—wait at a higher elevation or Quickstep down to meet them?
Well, as Anakin had found out, it was impossible to defeat someone who had the high ground. After all, what did having superpowers mean compared to a slight advantage in height?
Benton chuckled.
Still, he supposed there was some benefit to the old adage. He waited, watching, until the beasts chose a path up the mountain. From that point, it was easy to see where they would need to traverse a pass, so he Quickstepped to that point to set up an ambush.
He found a nice high point and cloaked himself with his Stealth technique, his mastered Concepts ensuring not even a beast with the highest possible perception could detect him and all for the very low cost of about seven qi per minute. For that amount, he could remain cloaked for … literally forever considering his regen rate was greater than a quarter of a million per hour or about forty-seven hundred per minute. The amount required to stay stealthed was basically unnoticeable.
Combined with his perk that hid him from spiritual senses, he was completely undetectable.
Except maybe he wasn’t?
The beasts slowed before entering the pass. A single one, an eagle, flew above the ground at a height higher than Benton’s perch, obviously searching for something. Him, presumably. The creatures hadn’t, after all, exhibited that type of behavior previously when he’d observed them down in the valley. One or more of them must be able to somehow sense him. Either that or another factor had made them suspicious.
Like maybe the fact that he’d completely obliterated the last two waves?
Oh well, it wasn’t like he needed to ambush them. He felt confident in defeating the six beasts in a straight up fight. After all, if he couldn’t achieve such a feat, how was he going to defeat a creature up to a full major realm above him?
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He drew back his bowstring.
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Yang Xiu watched Yang Ru jump from the wall, using his technique to accelerate, putting himself between the badger and Ye Zan. In the ten months since she’d become Master’s disciple, she’d spent almost as much time sparring and practicing with weapons and watching other do the same as she had cultivating. Her anticipation of what would happen next in a fight was pretty darn good.
As soon as her brother’s spear hit the beast’s chest, she loosed her arrow, predicting where the two would intersect. And she was right. The badger was too surprised by getting hit to focus on her, and her shot hit the exact spot that Yang Ru’s had.
Since its qi shield was already weakened, the arrow penetrated, sticking into the badger.
Yes!
As soon as the beast landed, though, it darted for the shadows before anyone could stop it and disappeared from view.
Crap.
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Ye Zan turned to Jin LiJuan as soon as the beast disappeared. “Give me the coins.”
“No.”
“The badger is after the coins. It’s too dangerous for you. Give them to me.”
“No!”
Heavens. The girl was as stubborn as she was intense.
“Why not?” he said.
“Master gave them to me. It’s my job. My responsibility. If anyone is going to die protecting them, it will be me.”
Ye Zan opened his mouth to object, but he didn’t. For one thing, he doubted it would do any good. For another, he respected her argument. Yes, she was probably the youngest of the sect members and was definitely the weakest, but she was a sect member. The responsibility for the coins and for the barrier had been entrusted to her by Master. If Ye Zan were in her position, he would have refused as well.
Fine, then.
“Guards!” he yelled. “I want a cordon around her two people thick. Nothing and nobody gets through until that badger is dead. Understand?”
“Yes, Guard Captain!”
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Zou Tian caught Yang Xiu’s eyes, silently asking the question, “Can you sense the badger?”
She shook her head.
He frowned. She was able to find him even when he was cloaked in Shadow, but he wasn’t yet able to manipulate qi externally. The badger did have that ability, and it was stymieing her Qi Gathering level Perception technique.
What were they going to do? There was a dangerous beast loose in the village, one that was basically invisible. Even their most perceptive sect member, Senior Sister, couldn’t detect it. The badger could kill anyone it wanted.
Wan Ai was in danger.
How could he protect her if no one could find the creature?
A thought hit him. Yang Xiu hadn’t been the one to find out that it was inside the village in the first place. That honor belonged to him.
He didn’t even know how he did it, though, and until he figured it out, there was no way for him to repeat it. His best guess was that his very strong affinity to Shadow sensed either another Shadow user nearby or, perhaps more likely, the manipulation of Shadow nearby.
That latter explanation made sense to him. More so, it resonated with his understanding of his qi aspect. His gut told him he was correct, and Master advocated for them to trust their guts in absence of proof to the contrary.
The question was how to actually use the ability.
Just like everything else related to cultivation, Zou Tian figured that his best bet was to clear his mind with meditation, connect to his qi aspect, and let it guide him. He dropped into the lotus position.
For a moment, he was distracted by wondering if he should tell someone what he was doing, but he berated himself instead. His fellow sect members weren’t stupid. They knew he had been the one to sense the creature inside the village in the first place. Seeing him meditate, they’d quickly understand why he was doing so.
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Yang Ru had no idea how to find the badger, and letting it run loose to kill whoever it chose was not okay. He glanced up at the top of the wall. His sister was concentrating intently, and Zou Tian was meditating.
If neither of them could locate it, Yang Ru had no chance.
Think. What to do. What to do.
If he couldn’t find it, he should … draw it out. It was attracted to Jin LiJuan’s spirit coins. Which … was perfect. He had coins.
Additionally, he had another advantage. Besides being able to deliver a more powerful strike than any other sect member save Master, Yang Ru was also the toughest one. The combination of equaling the highest level of Spiritual Cultivation of the disciples at Foundation Establishment minor realm one and the highest level of Body Cultivation at peak Bronze and having access to a shield technique even if it was only at Small Success made him more able to withstand blows that would kill any of the others.
With a thought, he withdrew all the spirit coins from his spatial ring and let them pile into his cupped hands. His were the one thousand increment variety instead of the ones holding ten thousand that were being used to feed the shield, but his would soon be much more accessible than the others, which required passing through a wide expanse of sunlight to reach.
“I’m going to draw it out,” he yelled. “When it appears, throw a FED behind it.”
Yang Ru began walking toward the shadows that the beast disappeared into.