Chapter 13
In a large but old room decorated in a Western style, five middle-aged men gathered around a large, circular wooden table. Their faces were grim after reading the reports from the scouts they had sent into the forest.
"It seems that the beast tide would be arriving earlier than expected," a man wearing a red robe with a long sword on his back said.
"Our preparation this time is better than the last beast tide. All the clans in the town have been preparing for this," a fat man with large prayer beads dangling on his neck said while stroking his black beard.
"This time, we will let the youngsters participate in the defense. This would be a valuable lesson for them in strengthening their resolve."
"Yes, but I hope that the young master of the Mo family would not cause trouble. I've heard that he's been out of control. If he continues being a spoiled brat, I don't mind sending Nao'er to teach him a lesson," the man in a blue Daoist robe, emanating a powerful sword aura, said while looking at the man next to him.
The Mo clan patriarch felt a mix of guilt and annoyance. He knew he had spoiled his great-grandson a little too much, but what could he do? He only had one grandson and was the only heir of their clan.
"Elder Bing, thank you for your concern, but there's no need to worry about my family matters. I will just lock that smelly kid at home to prevent disaster during the upcoming event," the patriarch of the Mo clan said while waving his hand.
The group just nodded, as everyone thought that would be the best action to take. But the Mo clan patriarch cursed deep in his heart. Although his great-grandson was a bit mischievous, he was still young and would learn when he grew up. Who were they to reprimand him on how to raise the juniors of his family? Although he was angry, he still managed to smile at everyone at the table.
...
Meanwhile, deep within the forest, two people were being chased by legions of gray-colored ants. The young man dashed from tree to tree with ease while carrying a young woman in his arms as if it were nothing. Every now and then, the young woman would send some fireballs toward some flying ants that drew close to them.
"Shin, the number of flying Rock Ants are increasing! Whatever you are planning, you have to do it now!" Cherry Lao shouted.
Although she was confident in her defense, looking at the number of flying Rock Ants made her feel depressed. Even if she exhausted all the energy she had, it would not be enough to clear even half of their number. Even if worst came to worst and she ignited her Gold Core to make it explode, it still wouldn't be enough to clear even half of them.
"I think to end this, we have to kill the Queen," Shin Jiao said.
"No! That would make things worse. They would slowly destroy the forest, and that would cause too many beasts to run amok and cause more destruction in the outside world."
"Then, what should we do?" Shin Jiao asked. Although he already had a plan, he needed to check more information so that he could make some adjustments.
"Actually, the one making the colony clear out the surroundings is the old queen," Cherry Lao explained. "According to the records, the new queen doesn't have the ability to control all the Rock Ants yet. But the old queen can. The goal is to harvest enough food for the next queen to serve as nutrients so that it would become stronger and also produce more Rock Ants and fill their colony. So if we eliminate the new queen, the old queen will go berserk. But if the old queen is killed, the new queen would just retreat back to the colony along with the rest of the Rock Ants. I don't know if the records are true."
Seeing that Shin Jiao was listening attentively, she continued.
"I heard a story that there was once a Nascent Soul cultivator from the city of Er who went and tried to kill the old queen. Although he was successful, he still lost both his arms. This is because he found out that the old Rock Ant Queen is a Level 6 beast," she said, looking apprehensive.
"What?! Then there is no hope in forcefully stopping this. The only option we have is to try our best to escape. Hmmm… okay, I hope this will work. Cherry, I want you to hug me," Shin Jiao said with a sheepish smile.
"You... We are in a desperate situation now. You… you're not thinking of doing… that. Right?" Cherry Lao said shyly.
"I… I'm not thinking about that. I mean… Just…" Shin Jiao stuttered at the misunderstanding.
Without saying a word, he lifted her up, then grabbed both her legs and carefully wrapped them around his waist. As if by reflex, Cherry Lao suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck. The position made both their faces turn crimson. But Shin Jiao forcefully regained his composure and began to tinker with some materials while running, as both his hands were now free. Cherry Lao, on the other hand, was still feeling uneasy. She wanted to let go and fly by herself, but Shin Jiao's speed in dashing from tree to tree was as fast as her flying speed through the air. Plus, since she was only at the primary stage of the Gold Core realm, she would consume a lot of her spiritual energy and, in turn, become a burden to Shin Jiao. Although she felt shy, she realized that her life was still more important than her dignity. Well, they already had feelings for each other, so she just accepted and enjoyed the feeling.
"Cherry, don't space out!" Shin Jiao shouted as he quickly jumped and evaded the attack of a flying Rock Ant.
"Sorry… I… I was thinking of something," she said, flustered and angry with herself for being too emotional.
"Here, take this… It's an energy shield. Use it to block some of their attacks, and later, when I say the command, you must adjust the size to maximum by pressing the red button," Shin Jiao commanded while still running and tinkering.
Cherry Lao felt a little confused at his actions. All she could see was him making something by combining some metal, a beast core, and a crystal. Then, after finishing them, he just threw them on the ground.
"How is this a plan? He's just wasting a lot of materials… or are those failed ones? Is this his first time crafting something?" Cherry Lao felt confused at Shin Jiao's random actions.
"Shin… We don't have much time!" Cherry Lao shouted as she could not rest from firing fireballs, as the number of flying Rock Ants had multiplied by hundreds. Luckily, she was holding a shield and being carried by Shin Jiao. If she were alone and escaping at this speed, even if she went in any direction, she would just use up her spiritual energy. In fact, she would have already fallen a long time ago.
Although Shin Jiao was acting in a relaxed manner, he was busy mentally multitasking. He didn't know if the chain reaction would be enough to stop the flying Rock Ants. As for the crawling ones, although they were fast and relentless, they were easy to deal with.
Shin Jiao was now feeling a little fatigued after a long time running. He couldn't count how many contraptions he had thrown as he was busy dashing through the trees, eyeing the flying Rock Ants, and crafting. This was the first true challenge he had faced so far in his life. One wrong mistake and he could lose his life, and also Cherry Lao's.
But no matter how hard a person tries not to make mistakes, sometimes one cannot control everything. At this time, Shin Jiao suddenly noticed that in front of them was a cliff. But before he realized it, a strong force suddenly bumped them. In his moment of neglect, he didn't notice that Cherry Lao was already overwhelmed and was unable to push back the attacks anymore.
After being hit, both of them fell to the ground. Then, all of a sudden, in the corner of his eyes while they were falling, Shin Jiao saw silver flashes from afar. Then, a booming sound followed.
"Cherry! Shield now!" Shin Jiao shouted with a slight panic in his tone.
Cherry Lao gritted her teeth as her hand was still feeling the recoil of the attack, making it numb. She lifted the shield high up in the air, then she pressed the red button as instructed by Shin Jiao. While waiting for the shield to activate, her eyes suddenly grew wide in fear. As she saw a series of towering explosions of white smoke, everything that the white smoke touched turned to ice. She saw the flying Rock Ants falling from above the moment they were hit by the white smoke. Although she felt relieved that the creatures were stopped, a sudden, dangerous realization hit her: they were in the range of the incoming explosions.
But before she knew it, something blew up from below them, and they were suddenly engulfed by the thick white smoke.
...
When Shin Jiao and Cherry Lao were running high atop the trees, down below, all over the forest, beasts of every kind were running as far as they could from the incoming wave of Rock Ants. Some higher-level beasts stayed and wanted to fight against the wave of Rock Ants, but when the wave hit the beast, not even its bones were left.
Meanwhile, at the boundary of the endless Daemon forest, long lines of countless cultivators were grouped systematically, forming a wall to face the beast tide. On the faces of each cultivator showed excitement and fear at the same time. They were excited to gain some beast cores and carcasses. According to their old rules, the number of beasts will be divided among the total number of cultivators. Since the beast tide numbered in the hundreds of thousands, it was ten times more than the number of cultivators present, and there was a possibility that each one would gain at least five to ten beast cores and carcasses. Although sometimes this was unfair, the town of Dis had been doing this kind of thing for hundreds of years, so no one objected.
And of course, there were still those who excelled and killed more than their share, and they usually received rewards from the town council.
"I can't wait to kill my first beast. I will exhibit my prowess this time and gain my status."
"Ha! A greenhorn, eh. I guess this is your first time to face a beast. Let me give you some advice, lad. If you face a Level 3 beast, I suggest you fight with the group and forget about honor and status, as you cannot use that… when you're dead."
"Ha, ha, ha. Hey, old man! Don't frighten the kids. They might piss their pants off."
"Senior brother, let's make a bet on who has the most kills."
"Junior sister, I'll protect you; no beast would be able to hurt you, I promise."
These were the conversations within the crowds as they waited for the signal from the scouts. Everyone was tense while waiting for the thing that they had been preparing for a year. Each had been taught how to follow the formations and the killing arrays to effectively defend and kill the beast wave.
Sometime later…
"Hey! What's going on? Why are there no beast waves coming? If I remember correctly, they should have been here by now. The beast wave has never been late before," one of the scouts said while surveying his surroundings.
"Yeah, this is too weird. Maybe they found another way and went to other towns. What do you think, senior brother?" another scout also chimed in, looking for confirmation from their leader.
The three-man scout team had been waiting atop the tallest tree in the area for hours, yet the beast tide had not arrived.
"This is not normal. I have a bad feeling about this. Junior brother Jiang, report to the front lines that the coast is still clear. Junior brother Min, you stay here, I will go ahead and see what's going on." The scout leader gave them their orders.
There were actually many scouts in the area, but the three of them were the best of all. So they were the ones who usually spotted the beast tide first. But no matter how they waited and scanned the area, they found nothing.
After receiving their commands, each went on their way. The leader of the scout dashed from tree to tree using a lightweight technique. He noticed that he had already traveled for about an hour and saw a number of beasts in the area, but those were calmly roaming around as if nothing was happening.
"What's going on here? We clearly saw the flying of the red birds this morning, which shows that the endless forest was disturbed. But I have traveled for 100 kilometers already, and there are still no traces of a beast tide here. This is too baffling," the scout leader murmured to himself.
Just as he was about to turn back, he saw a flying figure appear behind him. It was an old man in a red robe, who was in the late stages of the Gold Core realm. When he saw the old man, the scout leader immediately cupped his hands and bowed.
"Greetings, 4th Elder!"
"What have you found?" The old man asked while his gaze swept through the area.
"Reporting to the 4th Elder. I found something strange; the beasts in this part are actually calm, and there are no traces of a beast tide here."
"Yes, this is too strange indeed. You go back now, I will continue the investigation." The old man said as he floated into the air and continued going deep into the forest.
The scout leader immediately turned around and was about to run back when he noticed two figures running from the corner of his eye. As a scout, his eyesight was not like any ordinary cultivator, as he could spot any tiny object from miles away. Although the two figures were around 2 kilometers away from him, he was still able to spot them.
"Hmmm… cultivators? One of them seems to be wounded. I need to check this out," the scout leader murmured as he quickly rushed in the direction of the people he saw.