Chapter 13 - Northern Wilderness

As Yaan guessed, they weren’t waiting around without reason. After the beast tide resistance groups were quickly established, spiritual treasures were given to those core disciples who currently lacked such a treasure.

It wasn’t a problem for Great Elder Wan to personally gift Yaan with a spiritual treasure. The only reason he hadn’t done so until now, was simply because there hadn’t been any need. A basic treasure that could be used by a little Qi Gathering realm cultivator was nothing to him. That said, the sword he gave Yaan was nothing simple, it was a weapon that would still serve him well even after ascending to the True Yuan Qi realm! The Elder wanted to make sure that Yaan was fully protected, it would be too pitiful if he died to a wild beast.

Yaan examined his new sword carefully. Similar in size and shape to his old sword, only the blade was sharper and occasionally released a red glimmer of light. The handle was wrapped with a flattened black vine, providing it with a strong grip that wouldn’t easily be lost.

After sheathing his sword in a holder strapped to his back, Yaan glanced around curiously.

After forming their groups, they were now being lead across and down the mountain, towards the Northern outer sect. The 200 plus people descended from the core sect, passing through the winding paths as a caravan of people led by the Great Elders.

Their pace was slow but steady, reaching the inner sect within an hour or two. The inner sect disciples were already being herded en mass across the sect to the Northern face of the mountain, joining the core sect disciples. As the two groups converged, the swarm of people headed down to the foot of the mountain in a continual stream.

The inner sect disciples wore expressions of reverence as they saw the majesty of the core sect disciples in their distinctly recognisable robes. Even some of the weaker inner sect Elders showed respectful towards these genius disciples.

The hierarchy of the Heavenly Path Sect was fairly simple. The outer sect disciples were all mortals, disregarded by the sect and considered ‘candidates’ rather than true sect members. Upon reaching the Qi Gathering realm, one could enter the inner sect. If an inner sect disciple broke through to the True Yuan Qi realm before the age of 50, they would have the opportunity to rise up and become a core sect disciple. If they only reached this realm after their 50th birthday, they would most likely be stuck as a low ranking Elder of the inner sect for the remainder of their lives.

To reach the Qi Temple realm meant becoming a higher ranking Elder, whilst the Great Elders were those at the Spirit Core realm. Anyway, it was abundantly clear that a core sect disciple was considered more valuable than a True Yuan Qi realm Elder. Even towards a child like Yaan, these Elders would act with respect, despite the difference in both age and strength.

Yaan and Elia were the only Qi Gathering realm disciples in the core sect, but nobody dared to look down on them for this. On the contrary, any Qi Gathering realm child capable of entering the core sect must be a heaven defying genius that the sect was carefully nurturing, not someone the likes of whom these lesser Elders could afford to offend!

The core disciples mostly kept to themselves, not mixing with inner sect disciples. Although this was the case, many of the core disciples wore blatant smug and prideful expressions as they noticed the attention they were receiving from the others.

Elia herself also felt extremely proud as she overheard the awe and praise directed towards her. She and Yaan would always attract this sort attention as the youngest core sect members, no matter where in the sect they went. She glanced over towards Yaan secretly, wondering if he felt the same way.

Yaan looked totally indifferent, as if he hadn’t even noticed the countless reverent gazes. Elia’s heart sank, feeling again that she was inferior to Yaan.

Actually, Yaan was just more focussed on the surrounding inner sect. He had never actually been to this place before, so he was quite curious to see how the conditions differed compared to the core and outer sect’s.

As expected, it was a moderate midway point between the two extremes of the sect that he had experienced until now. The atmosphere in the inner sect was saturated with a spiritual energy density between that of the outer and core sect, whilst the housing and scenery also seemed more average. Yaan thought that the conditions here were fairly nice, though obviously it couldn’t compare to the beauty of the core sect.

A calm atmosphere, flowers planted and grass well kept, properly designed housing that was obviously well maintained by the servants…this was basically what Yaan had been expecting from the Heavenly Path Sect prior to his arrival.

The further down the mountain they descended, the less luxurious the conditions became. The crowd was steadily growing, until there were thousands of disciples and Elders making their way downwards, towards the bottom of the mountain.

Yaan quickly noticed that the spiritual energy density in the atmosphere was steadily decreasing. He had spent so long in the core sect and never actually stepped foot outside since reaching the Qi Gathering realm. This was the first time that Yaan had felt such a low spiritual energy density.

“Is this the normal spiritual energy density throughout the world…?” He muttered to himself, not really asking this question to anyone in particular.

“Spiritual energy density varies massively between places. Even moving between countries on the same planet, or between provinces within the country, will lead to a big change in the surrounding spiritual energy.” Rui chimed in.

‘What’s a planet?’ Yaan thought to himself, but didn’t continue speaking in this crowded place.

Down the mountain the group travelled, now five thousand strong and counting. The beautiful scenery faded away, replaced by ordinary trees and grass like that found within the surrounding mortal villages. As they reached the outer sect, even the grass and trees thinned out.

Seeing so many prestigious Qi masters arriving at their village caused the mortal outer sect disciples to feel somewhat terrified. They were mostly ignored by the Elders though, who walked straight past their village and stopped at the other side.

The mountain was surrounded by forests on all sides. The dark forest to the South, the Northern wilderness to the North, and the forests segregating them from the adjacent mountains to the East and West.

The Sect Lord turned around to address the now slightly anxious crowd.

“We will establish more sturdy borders and station points throughout the Northern outer sect. Each village will be renovated and transformed into a station point, where groups can return to rest and receive their merit points.”

It seemed that the Sect Lord had already decided upon the method they would utilise to resist this beast tide. Strengthen the border, reinforce the outer sect and tempt everyone with rewards and glory.

“He is somewhat capable, at least he satisfies the minimum requirements to maintain a sect.” Rui commented plainly.

The efficiency of a group run by an absolute power was displayed in all its splendour in this moment. The weak outer sect disciples were put to work doing manual labour and assisting with the reinforcement of the borders and villages, whilst the resistance groups were arranged and assigned to their own posts.

Yaan’s group was sent to Hun Village, an outer sect village located on the North Western side of the mountain foot. They would not be assisting with the renovations, instead immediately embarking into the Northern forest. For now, they were instructed to explore the Southern border of the Northern wilderness, which could also be considered the Northernmost territory of the Heavenly Path Sect.

The scouts that were sent out earlier finally retuned with pressing information. According to their reports, the first wave of the beast tide was heading towards the outer sect rapidly. The number of beasts in this first wave made up only a tiny fraction of the total, whilst their average strength was just Rank 1 or 2.

Still, Yaan kept up his guard, running through this information mentally once again. His eyes darted about as he tried to maintain his maximum alertness, wary of any potential dangers.

He had never before seen an actual demonic beast. The closest he had encountered was that strange black fish, but that monstrous thing was only the newborn baby of an actual demonic beast. That said, he had encountered a few tamed spirit beasts used as mounts by some of the Great Elders in the sect, but those beasts alone were enough to make him feel quite wary. Demonic beasts and wild spirit beasts would have very different temperaments compared to tamed spirit beasts, though…

Towards this unknown threat, he of course felt uneasy.

“Don’t worry so much, Elia, Yaan.” Boln smiled back at them. “Rank 1 and 2 beasts aren’t all that powerful, I can even deal with peak Rank 2 beasts alone.”

His bragging wasn’t for nothing, Boln was indeed capable of this. Learning this comforting fact allowed Elia to relax slightly.

“He’s right Yaan, you need to relax. You can’t stay tense this entire time or you will exhaust yourself rapidly. When travelling alone in the outside world, it is essential to remain both aware and relaxed at all times. This is a skill that can only be developed through experience.”

Yaan nodded his head at Rui’s advice. Boln mistook this as Yaan accepting his words of comfort, so he returned his attention to the path ahead.

There were some differences in this Northern forest compared to the dark forest that surrounded Yaan’s home village. This forest was much brighter, the trees larger and further spaced apart. A wide variety of bright green and blue colours shone here, giving the impression of an exotic rainforest rather than a gloomy suppressing wilderness.

The high humidity accentuated to this feeling, it was as if they had entered an entirely different world.

This alien feeling increased the uncomfortable feelings experienced by both Elia and Yaan. The other three in their group were slightly better off, since they had some experience with the Northern wilderness.

“Grrr…”

The group suddenly tensed up, everyone looking ahead and narrowing their eyes. Boln stroked his hand across a red ring on his left hand, causing it to flash with a red light. A spear appeared in his hands, which he quickly pointed at their first foe.

A wolf. Yaan stayed back and examined this wolf that was much more intimidating than any he had seen before. It had grey fur all over, but its claws and eyes were a blood red, whilst its body must have been 8 feet in length.

The wolf growled at them whilst baring its teeth. Elia instinctively stepped back and grabbed ahold of Yaan’s robe. He turned to her in surprise, but couldn’t bring himself to say anything after catching sight of her fearful expression.

Yaan sighed, realising again that their experiences of the cultivation world had simply been too different. Elia had been treated well, not encountering any danger or suffering, whilst Yaan was continually forced by circumstance to fight for his own survival and progress.

Returning his gaze forwards, Yaan waited and watched on expectantly. He felt a bit of anticipation as he wondered how Boln would handle this encounter.

“Eh, what are you doing, Boln?” Kaila asked in confusion, seeing that he had actually pulled back casually.

Boln turned back towards Yaan and flashed a smile.

“Little Yaan, this is just a weak Rank 1 dire wolf, how about you show us your skills? Since you’ve never fought a beast since becoming a Qi master, this is a good opportunity for you. We don’t know when we will next find such a weak beast on its own.”

Yaan blinked in surprise, but ended up nodding in agreement. Boln was right, this was indeed a good opportunity. He gently pushed away Elia’s hand from his robe, then walked forwards calmly, continuing to stare directly into the wolf’s eyes. Elia was left feeling stunned, not understanding how Yaan was able to remain so calm in the face of a monster like this!

‘He…is he really going to fight it alone?’ Elia thought, feeling some disbelief and worry.

Yaan saw the beast's killing intent, but also its fear. This wolf could tell that these humans were no weaklings, so it ended up baring its fangs defensively. It relaxed slightly when the strongest of the humans stepped back, but regained its aggression on making eye contact with Yaan.

Dangerous! Facing this child, the wolf actually felt a powerful sense of danger!

The closer Yaan walked towards the wolf, the more killing intent he revealed. With each step, it felt as if his entire demeanour was straying further and further from its usual state. Whilst he was entirely focussed on this battle, his intent to kill spread out openly and without restraint. Kaila, Elia and Findi all felt shocked as they felt Yaan’s aura develop into something overwhelmingly bloodthirsty, but Boln who had already witnessed Yaan’s aura before, only watched on in anticipation.

“Is this really the aura of a child…?” Kaila muttered. She felt slightly shaken that this boy she had known for a couple of years now, was actually hiding such an intense killing intent!

Yaan was unaware of his group’s gazes, now arriving at the wolf and drawing his sword simultaneously. He didn’t stop walking, continuing forwards calmly. This unusual calmness sent powerful warning signals through the wolf’s mind, causing it to hesitate and actually take a step back. Yaan took one more step and raised his sword on a single smooth motion.

As the sense of danger shooting through the beast’s mind reached its peak, it leapt forwards, opening its mouth and aiming for Yaan’s throat. The image of such a large beast pouncing towards a child would send shivers down any mother’s spine, but the outcome was not what they would expect to see.

To Yaan, this wolf was simply too slow. Its moments were plain and simple, the action of it aiming for his throat had already been predicted by Yaan before it even left the ground.

He didn’t step back, but instead slid forwards and to the left swiftly, his sword flashing as he injected his Yuan Qi and filled the blade with an additional sharp power. The blade was already sharper than any ordinary sword, but this injection of Yuan Qi created a powerful effect where the sword was coated in a layer of sharp red Qi.

Combined with Yaan’s barbaric physical strength, the wolf simply stood no chance.

Chi!

The blade slashed through the wolf’s throat cleanly, beheading it in a single, barely visible slash. This scene made Findi’s jaw drop to the floor. He, like Yaan, was also at the Peak Qi Gathering realm. He assumed that whilst they were both at the same realm, he would certainly be the stronger of the two due to his age, his size and his experience. However, this single blow of Yaan’s let him know that his judgement was dead wrong, Yaan was most definitely more powerful than himself!

Thud!

The wolf’s body hit the floor, its head rolling slightly to the side. Its blood gushed out and drenched the turquoise grass with a crimson red, making Elia’s face turn slightly pale. She took a step back and swallowed, staring at the beheaded beast in shock.

“Hah…”

Yaan exhaled slightly and the tension rapidly dispersed from his body.

“Haha, that was amazing Yaan! I knew that you would win, but didn’t expect it to be so easy. Your constitution sure is something, I would guess that you physical strength is no less than that wolf!” Boln praised Yaan whilst laughing cheerfully.

“Senior disciple is too kind, I still have much to learn.” Yaan replied with a forced smile.

“Too humble, really!” Boln grinned.

Yaan sighed internally, he wasn’t just being modest…

“You wasted far too much energy dealing with such a weak thing. Why would you use your full strength on a weak Rank 1 dire wolf? You need to learn to control your strength appropriately if you want to survive.

Yaan’s eye twitched at the stark contrast between his group’s praise and Rui’s criticism.

The group retrieved the wolf’s eye balls as proof of their victory. They needed to bring back something identifiable like this if they wanted to earn their merit points back at the Hun Village station point.

The group continued on, everyone feeling in high spirits after witnessing Yaan’s impressive display. It was obvious that not only did he possess unusual strength for someone at the Qi Gathering realm, but his battle experience was nothing to scoff at either! This additional pillar of support was naturally welcomed by the group.

As they travelled deeper into the forest, Yaan realised something that made him feel startled.

“Wait, I can actually absorb slaughter aura from killing beasts?” He muttered.

“Huh, what did you say Yaan?” Boln asked, looking back at him and smiling again.

“Ah, nothing.” Yaan realised that he mistakenly spoke aloud and quickly covered for himself. Luckily he had only muttered quietly and was hanging back a dozen feet behind Boln, so he wasn’t overheard.

“Well of course you can, life is life after all. You probably misunderstood owing to the initial requirement of killing 100 of your own race.” Rui explained as if this was obvious.

Yaan wanted to scream at her, ‘then why have I been killing so many humans?!’, but managed to keep his cool.

Thinking about it, he did understand. Rui just wanted him to grow stronger, and killing prisoners was the safest way for him to do so right now. Venturing into the wilderness and hunting beasts would come with an added layer of danger compared to targeting weakened prisoners. It was only now that he was presented with the opportunity to explore a shallow region of the wilderness with the support of a group, that Rui believed this method to be something reasonable.

Yaan silently refined the slaughter aura from the Rank 1 beast to replenish the Yuan Qi he used up in the battle. The slaughter aura released by the dire wolf was similar in strength to that of a Mid Qi Gathering realm human, but he was easily able to deal with this without stopping.

They didn’t delve too far into the wilderness, staying within a couple of miles of Hun Village. The frequency with which the group encountered beasts increased as time went on. At first, they were simply testing each member’s abilities whilst working on their teamwork. After all, a large scale beast tide was something that could drag out for many months, so they would be working together for quite some time.

Findi was able to deal with a Rank 1 boar with a little more effort than Yaan, whilst Boln and Kaila’s abilities were obviously top tier. With Boln’s Peak True Yuan Qi cultivation, it wasn’t even a problem when they came across a Rank 2 red wing eagle. Boln completely decimated the bird with three successive jabs of his spear, destroying its sharp feathers and ending its life swiftly.

Elia was the only member of their group who ran into some troubles. She had a Late Qi Gathering realm cultivation and she trained in a type of sword arts, so she should be capable of dealing with weaker Rank 1 beasts. Unfortunately, her battle experience was completely lacking.

“Don’t panic Elia, remember your training!” Boln shouted out words of encouragement whilst keeping a close eye on the battle.

Elia was facing off against a Rank 1 dire wolf, the most common beast in this area of the woods. This wolf was even weaker than the ones Yaan and Findi had faced, an Early Rank 1 beast at most.

Her hands trembled slightly as she faced the vicious looking beast. She tightened her grip and clenched her teeth, but her anxiety was still obvious to the wolf, giving it a burst of courage.

The wolf leapt forwards suddenly, aiming to tear out her neck. Clearly, this was a common tactic employed by canine beasts.

“Ah!” Elia cried out and stepped backwards, closing her eyes and stabbing out randomly with her sword.

Whoosh!

The expected impact never came. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Boln had pierced through the brain of the wolf with his spear.

“I, I’m sorry…” She apologised in embarrassment, flushing red and looking down at the ground.

“Don’t worry Elia, it’s only because your combat experience is lacking. After spending some more time in the wilderness, you’ll definitely improve quickly.” Boln comforted her. He smiled and patted her head, doing his best to make her feel like she wasn’t causing them any troubles. Yaan couldn’t help but think that he was the picture perfect group leader.

Boln had more more less been expecting this. It was common that a pampered prodigal child would only become capable after leaving the comfort of the sect and experiencing the real world for the first time.

Despite everyone’s words of encouragement, Elia couldn’t help but feel down as they continued onwards.

‘No, I can always make up for it next time!’ Her eyes brightened and she resolved herself. There was no time for self pity. If she wanted to change people’s opinions of her, then she should just do better in the future!

After a few hours flew by, the situation became increasingly dangerous. The lone beasts that they only encountered every half hour previously were now showing up in groups every few minutes. With her weak abilities, Elia was forced to watch whilst everyone else did battle and protected her. Seeing their teamwork improving gradually, she began to feel left out.

From her first battle until dark, Elia didn’t get to fight. The group returned to Hun Village in good spirits that evening, though Elia felt a little bit depressed that she didn’t have the chance to redeem herself. Regardless, they all felt happy that they had survived the first day of the beast tide, even feeling that overcoming this entire calamity might not be as difficult as they had imagined.

This naive notion would later be torn to shreds.