"Good afternoon, everyone," Qing Shu said, smiling. A chorus of replies answered him. "I hope you all enjoyed the exciting art of throwing moonblades - I was here to give you another kind of lesson. Namely, in martial arts."
Understandably, many of them seemed less enthusiastic when they heard that.
"Now, don't get your moods too dampened down," Qing Shu said. "After all, when your primeval essence runs out, it is sometimes only your fists that you can rely upon. Our current clan head, Fang Yuan, was quite good at this when he was at the academy. Now, as a demonstration..." He beckoned to Fang Zheng. "Mind volunteering?"
Fang Zheng stood opposite to Qing Shu. "Alright, Fang Zheng will come at me, just watch closely for now."
Qing Shu knew that they really weren't ready for this kind of lesson, but they needed something flashy or else they'd stop paying attention.
"Are you sure?"
"Sure."
Fang Zheng launched himself at Qing Shu, who was a bit taken aback. Fang Zheng had been training with Fang Yuan for some time, and even if that were not the case, he was not just sitting on the sidelines. He often fought himself now.
That said, Qing Shu was still more experienced, and managed to lock Fang Zheng in.
"Alright, good work from Elder Fang Zheng," Qing Shu said.
The others watching were nearly dumbfounded as the speed with which the two of them moved was amazing.
"Alright, now I'll show you a few basic moves, please pair up and start practicing," Qing Shu said.
They had a bit of an issue here as the youngsters were not as many as the mortals, leading to a lopsided total. Fang Zheng was keeping a particularly close eye on them simply because he wanted to know how they were getting along. Ultimately, Qing Shu paired off against someone while Fang Zheng watched.
One of the mortal woman with long eyelashes was giving him sideways glances, though he didn't care for such. If he remembered correctly, she was the one with the highest aptitude among her class - though it was still only C-grade.
Afterwards, Fang Zheng had to go deal with his own issues.
Being an elder was not just lounging around and giving orders as many people thought, because there were threats that only they could deal with. And because times were uncertain, even the elders were feeling like they were being worked to the bone. One of them had even audibly complained that he had not been so busy even when he had been a rank two Gu Master scrambling for resources.
***
Bai Ning Bing's detonation had killed off most of the life on Qing Mao Mountain, including plant life. Without plants, the herbivores couldn't graze. When the herbivores couldn't graze, the prey animals, such as the wolves, also starved. That left humans as one of their few food sources. However, even the humans were low in number and rarely ventured outside their villages. With the Myriad Beast Kings of the wolves killed, most of those had simply perished.
They were not increasing in number to cause another similar wolf tide for another thirty years, assuming they managed to survive complete extinction. However, it was the nature of heaven to deplete surpluses and replenish deficits. Whenever there was a vacuum, a loss of a predator in an area, there was only one thing to come in and fill its place.
Earlier, when the ice had still covered the mountain, particularly at the base, no animals wandered near. However, now that summer was in full swing and the mountain was beginning to recover, so too were other animals being attracted towards this new ecological vacuum.
Yao Le had actually been the first one to see them. She had gone on a small mission to hunt for some medicinal herbs, which were very limited in supply given the events that occurred on the mountain.
"What happened?" the Gu Master leading the group said, as she suddenly stood up to him, pointing.
"Bears! Yes, there's a lot of them over there." One of their investigative Gu Masters took a look and shuddered at what he saw. "It's not just a bear group about eighty strong, but… there's a Lunar Bear among them."
"A Lunar Bear? Are you sure? There are only eighty of them, that shouldn't be possible."
"I'm definitely sure," the investigative Gu Master said.
Lunar Bears were Thousand Beast Kings and were called such because of the particular markings on their bellies, which resembled the moon, as well as their silvery fur. In the moonlight, their bodies would often emit a soft glow and they had excellent nocturnal vision. It was said that their first-generation ancestor had gotten the inspiration for creating the Moonlight Gu after seeing a lunar bear.
Although it was called a 'Thousand Beast King' it was possible that most of its companions had died out.
The Gu Master in charge said, "Alright, let's head back to the village."
***
"How many are there?" Fang Zheng asked as the group came back to report.
"About eighty. There was definitely a Thousand Beast King among them. I also saw two Hundred Beast Kings in a group that small."
Normally, these things usually ruled over the appropriate number of lower animals. However, there were times when that was not possible. Sometimes they would be the only surviving members of their species, and then go somewhere else. It looked like this flock had encountered some trouble near the base of Qing Mao Mountain, or while traveling, and many of them had died out.
"Alright then, don't worry, we'll deal with it," Fang Zheng said, smiling.
The Gu Master team left. "Where's Fang Yuan? I thought that he would be here," the Gu Master in charge said, clicking his teeth. "With him here, we could have dealt with it easily enough."
If the Lunar Bear was not killed, then it would grow into a true Thousand Beast King as the number of bears would reach that number over time. Soon, there might even be a Myriad Beast King among the bears. Instead of a wolf tide, the village might end up dealing with a bear tide if this problem was not nipped in the bud.
"Don't worry - I'm sure Fang Zheng can take care of it," Yao Le answered. "He's Rank 3 now, isn't he?"
Additionally, Feng Zheng had his own reasons for trying to deal with this.
After all, those bears could pose an obstacle for when they tried to relocate the village in the future. He reached out to Qing Shu and the other elders, though naturally, they were not very happy. "Fang Yuan should go ahead and deal with it, shouldn't he?"
"Where is he now?"
"You said he was dealing with something around the mountain? Isn't this more important"
This was the biggest threat they had faced up until now other than the Blood Path Gu Master who had come to extort them. Although technically they were all Rank 3 Gu Masters a large number of bears; over eighty, would not be easy for a single person to deal with. And naturally, they wished to minimize casualties given just how few Gu Masters the village already had.
"It is no matter," Feng Zheng said. "We will deal with this ourselves."
The elders were not very happy with it but complied nonetheless, as a team was made to deal with this bear problem that they had.
"Ready?" Qing Shu asked, noting the Gu on Fang Zheng's arm, a Chainsaw Golden Centipede. "Where did you happen to find that?"