As the sun rose, the war pack camp residents exhaled with relief. Four nights and three days, most of them had been gathered around the center of the camp, providing the aura required for the shield against the swarm.

The [Ancestral Song] was a unique ability, that when intoned by the elders, allowed to combine the auras from any Saint Beast that was close to the singer. It was their only way to protect against the swarm, and it had saved them again.

*Plop* *Plop* *Plop*

Dozens of Beastmen and Beasts sat or even fell to the ground, absolutely exhausted. The [Ancestral Song] made no distinctions between the young and the old, the just ascended and the ones close to the peak. And if one remained inside the two thousand range of the shield, the aura would be siphoned at an alarming rate.

But now that danger had passed, it was time to rest and recuperate. Still, not everyone in the camp proceeded to recover right away, with several figures darting through the gathering and towards the west.

***

With a Saint Beast's speed, a distance less than a mile was laughable. And when the moving Saint Beast had a reason to use its utmost speed, the entire trek would take no more than an instant.

*Swoosh*

Bai Rui had run off right as the [Ancestral Song] dispelled. She only noticed that she had been followed when she stopped at her destination., in front of what their human guest, Wu Guang, called his base.

*Swoosh* *Swoosh*

"The protective treasure is still glowing. They are fine!" Arriving right after her, both Xi Ai and Chi exclaimed with relief.

*Swoosh*

Dian was the last of the four to arrive, and when he did, he even took a few breaths to be able to talk. Beastmen had a better innate aptitude for Aura regeneration, while as any Beast, he required at least twice the time. Thus, his expense because of the [Anscestral Song] was higher. And by this moment, he was practically out of both aura and qi.

"But why they haven't come out? Could it be that they did not notice that the swarm left?" Dian spoke up while lowering on the ground, panting.

"Wu Guang! Bai Ze!" With the array, one which they thought of as a treasure being completely closed. There was no way to enter, making Chi and Xi Ai call for the two inside.

Their senses allowed them to sense that both presences were inside, so when no answer followed, the four of them looked at each other questioningly.

*Thump*

After a few more unanswered calls, Bai Rui attempted to touch the array, only to rebound back.

"It is still active, but why they don't answer?" Alarmed, she tried to look through the opening that served as a door, but the array blocked even her powerful eyesight.

"Could it be that Wu Guang used something to block sounds as well?" Having recovered enough to stand up, Dian asked.

"So what now?" Chi asked while looking at the others.

"They will sense our presence outside at some point, won't they? Although it is strange that they haven't yet, maybe they are exhausted from keeping it on? I do not know about us, but cultivators can retract their senses to lower their qi expense. Maybe Wu Guang taught something like that to Bai Ze?" Xi An half-asked, half-affirmed while inclining her head.

Bai Rui did not say anything, but the twitching of her ears and tail, along with the nervous glances towards the barrier, were clear enough about how she felt.

"Don't worry, they are inside, and we can sense their presence. So it means both are alive and probably well. Let's wait for a bit" Chi reassured her while sitting down and concentrating on his spirit core to start recuperating aura.

Spirit and Saint beasts could not meditate as cultivators did, and to replenish their cores, they had to consume qi-infused food or other sources of nutrition. As for the aura, it wasn't recovered naturally as for cultivators either. The beasts had to diverge their inner qi consciously during what appeared as a meditation.

Feeling that Chi's words were sensible enough, Xi An and Dian followed his example. As for Bai Rui, she could not calm herself to do so. She had not gotten any messages from Wu Guang for over three hours, and between that and the strange feeling that something was wrong, she could only pace around the array now.

***

A war pack was always led by a single, usually the strongest, member. But even so, a single being could not control and take care of all of the pack. Thus, the position of the elders, an idea taken from the human powers, was established.

One of the elders for Hu Laohu's pack was Xiaoshan Mao, who Bai Qi had seen previously and considered a relative of the Bai sisters. And in some part, she was one indeed. Being of the same kin as them, she had also been part of the [White Hill Cats] at some point. But several years ago, she had left it to explore the region. During her travels, Xiaoshan Mao met a young Hu Laohu.

And for one or another reason, she became a member of his pack. Even an elder of it later, as her knack for training the young generation was discovered. And when disaster struck the remaining [White Hill Cats], with most of the Bai bloodline wiped out, she recalled her roots, taking the three survivors under her wing.

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Such a thought appeared in Xiaoshan Mao's mind as she finished examining the few beastmen that lost their consciousness from overexertion. The human's safety was also important, as they had promised it. And this Wu Guang turned out to be a very good guest, not only bringing gifts but training a few of the youngsters and supplying the pack with some pills as well.

Thus, after mulling on the thought, she decided to go and check for herself.

***

"What is happening here?" The elder appeared without a single sound and immediately asked the four youngsters. Three of them looked as if they were concentrated on recovery, which was good, but Bai Rui's nervousness was easy to read, making Xiaoshan Mao ask.

And after listening to the explanation and attempting to sense the insides by herself, she hardly contained herself from smacking them.

"Did a rock fall on your heads while you were kittens?!" She bellowed and then pointed at Bai Rui, "The others I understand, they had never been good at correctly understanding their senses, but you? It's your sister inside, so how can you miss that she's unconscious?!"

"What?!" A Half-surprised and half-worried exclamation escaped the mouths of the four as they looked at the elder who had approached the array's barrier.

At first, Xiaoshan Mao lightly touched it. Then she covered her claw with aura and touched again.

"At full strength, it should be able to block even a 3rd or 4th level Saint Beast, not bad. Still, it's weakened, and you four should have been able to breach it" As the elder spoke with a shake of her head, she slightly moved her hand back and then made a single, quick sweeping motion.

*Slash*

The aura-covered claw tore a gap in the already weakened array, and with a flash of golden, it disappeared completely.

Inside, the figure of a sleeping Bai Ze was the first thing to be seen. And just a few feet from her, surrounded by empty pill bottles, talismans, and glowing runes, sat Wu Guang. He did not show any sign of being conscious, and his aura was reduced to a few strands.

Xiaoshan Mao thought as she saw how now disconnected from whatever treasure he had used, the human slumped down to the floor, showing only the barest of life.

But what had happened inside? Why was Bai Ze sleeping while the human was in such a bad condition? The answers could only be found out when one of them awoke.

___________________________________________________________________

He did not know how long he had been unconscious, but Bai Qi knew he succeeded. At least from the fact that he was alive.

The first thing Bai Qi did as his consciousness returned was to check on his condition. He remembered that he overspent both his qi and soul power before, to the point that not even pills helped him recover.

He feared the worst, including damage to his dantian or an absolute lack of qi when he awoke, but surprisingly he was fine.

Even more, his qi pool wasn't empty. But filled at least to half its capacity!

He wondered as his eyes opened.

While he did not use his senses, at least not before asking about his recovery, his eyes were enough to determine that he had been moved into a tent. He was lying on a stack of pelts, and another one covered his body, which to Bai Qi's surprise was naked.

He thought after noticing that he was slightly sweaty and exuded a herbal aroma.

Bai Qi could not see his clothes anywhere in the tent, which except for the pelts and a few pots, was empty. Thus, he summoned a spare change of clothes from his [Void Ring] and dressed up before proceeding towards the cloth that served as a door. Moving allowed him to confirm that he wasn't misjudging his condition. And that with a few hours of meditation, he would reach his peak without any issue.

"I should probably avoid recovery pills for a few weeks. And maybe refine a cleansing pill?" He murmured as his inner view revealed several globs of impurities from the cheap pills he had used last. Bai Qi's own pills had run out on the third day, while the ones he had bought before were hardly above the 5th level.

He did not think about it while he required qi to fuel the array, but indeed, the pills sold at [Sagtsikhe] weren't good by any measure. And so should be avoided if able.

He had used over ninety such pills, with the effect lessening because of the amount and lack of time in-between. And the impurities in them had accumulated inside.

***

As Bai Qi moved the cloth out of his way, he blinked because of the strong sunlight.

"Wu Guang!" Hearing the name he used here, Bai Qi turned towards the caller and saw Bai Rui. Behind her, Bai Ze and Xi An stood, so he immediately smiled and greeted. Not forgetting to also thank them for taking care of him. After all, he doubted that anyone else had done it, considering that the tent was the Bai sisters' one. A fact he confirmed after looking into one of the pots and seeing the grass-woven cloths that both [Mist Cat] beast girls favored.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Did you fully recover?"

"Do you need something?"

These and a few other similar questions were quickly thrown at him by both Bai Rui and Xi An. As Bai Qi answered, he also found out that he had been bathed in a few different herbs to hasten his qi recuperation, but that was basically all that they did. It took most of Bai Qi's willpower to avoid blushing at the thought. Granted, he did not look at the beast girls as women, but...

The fact that made him break from the shameful thoughts was that Bai Ze remained absolutely silent. And she was avoiding looking at him while fidgeting with the hem of her skirt.

Bai Qi could only guess, and he did not want to touch a sore spot if he was mistaken about her reasons. Thus, Bai Qi restrained himself, only smiling at her in a moment that she did look at him.

Having cleared up that he was now fine, and that he did not need anything, Bai Qi planned to return to his base. He needed to calmly meditate for a few hours and to clean his body from the impurities.

Plus, he had sensed that his array mastery had increased somewhere around the 3rd day, and now he could consider himself a Grandmaster. If that latter feeling was correct, he should be able to make his breakthrough after cleansing his body and fully replenishing his dantian!

***

His plans were briefly interrupted by the need to talk with the cat-like elder, Xiaoshan Mao, and then by being caught by the group of young beastmen he jokingly referred to as his temporary disciples.

But after thanking the former for the rescue and assuring that he would rush to the camp with an alarm, then promising the young beastmen to continue their training on the next day, Bai Qi, at last, left the camp.

Bai Rui and Xi An even offered to walk him. But Bai Qi had refused by saying that they had done enough, and so should take some time to rest. "Form both me and before the training" He added as a joke.

Bai Ze again had been silent and did not even talk to him as Bai Qi began leaving. Noticing this, he decided to talk with her. If there were any issues between them, Bai Qi wanted to solve them.

The base showed no signs of the attack, or even of the rescue, except for the now-broken array. After confirming the ingredients he had left inside his [Void Ring], Bai Qi decided to quickly refine a few common-tier cleansing pills.