Night fell clear and cold. With it came screams of horror from disciples who failed to take notice of the caves made by the Moonlight Hornets. Wu Jilong had long since already found a cave to wait out the night in.

Wu Jilong sat cross legged in meditation with his eyes closed. The cool air in the cave was filled with the faint smell of coal dust which caused his nose to wrinkle but he ignored it. Far away at the mouth of the cave the scarlet character denoting wall burnt dimly while a wall of scarlet flames sealed Wu Jilong off from the world. Currently Wu Jilong was circulating all of his Qi within his daitan.

To form an Aura Sea one must amass enough Qi within their daitan to influence a change in Qi Essence. This is common knowledge to all cultivators in the Grand Peak Continent but it is only the most basic step of Aura Sea Formation. What Wu Jilong is doing is the first step in forming an Aura Sea of Cinders, inside his daitan an ash moon began to take form. The moon controls the oceans and seas of the world, forming a moon inside one’s Daitan will allow them to calm their Aura Sea to levels past that of the Aura Seas of legend.

Yin and Yang are two constantly opposing yet complementary forces striving to be complete: fire and water, the sun and the moon, heaven and earth, life and Qi. One cannot exist without the other. This was the answer to the first step of forming an Aura Sea of Cinders that bridges the Yin and Yang of fire and water, heaven and earth, and life and qi. The aura sea of cinders burned with the heat of a raging fire but stood still like a frozen lake.

…

Four days passed in the blink of an eye. Inside Wu Jilong’s daitan the ash moon smoldered brilliantly as it took its final shape. Black and gray Qi spiraled around the ash moon giving it an otherworldly feeling, it felt as though it came from the after life to rule over death. Content with the results of his meditation Wu Jilong snapped causing the scarlet flame at the mouth of the cave to disappear.

The gentle warmth of a dawn sunrise greeted Wu Jilong as he emerged from meditation. Only three days remained in the Feasts of Magical Beasts Contest but Wu Jilong did not feel rushed in the slightest. In truth, nothing of value to him could be gained from this tournament.

Originally he entered to reawaken his combat prowess but after a single fight with cultivators of the Shamanic Foundation Stage Wu Jilong knew this was nothing more than a far fetched wish. Four days ago while fighting Ni Kuo and Ni Tianyi he chose to fight tactically, Wu Jilong did this to stop himself of continuing his old habit of outright crushing his opponents through sheer force. From the very beginning killing both of them would have been as simple as snapping his fingers for Wu Jilong.

Upon exiting the cave Wu Jilong realized something was wrong. The canyon was far too quiet. Wu Jilong could feel it. Even with hundreds of cultivators inside the canyon an occasional roar from magical beasts that stayed behind would sound out, yet today it was eerily silent. It was as if even the trees dared not to make a sound on this morning.

Wu Jilong donned an olive green robe before sneaking his way through the woods of the canyon. The air was rich with the scents of blood and grass, mixed with the pleasant fragrance of fresh rain. Overhead the remnants of once mighty storm clouds remained. “The blood is fresh, otherwise the rain would have washed it away,” Wu Jilong said.

Without making a noise Wu Jilong ran past tree after tree trying to find the source of his unease. Not long after he started running he once again found the Autumn Tiger and her cubs that he saved four days prior. Only they were no longer alive.

Tigress and cubs hung from a single tree impaled by the tree’s dark black branches. Each body was missing its head.“The lack of blood on the branches means that the tigress and her cubs were impaled after being killed,” he said. Wu Jilong took a step forward to inspect the corpses and then froze in place. Off in the distance Wu Jilong sensed an extremely suffocating killing intent.

Twenty meters away a pair of cold black eyes fixated on Wu Jilong. They seemed barren of all emotion, devoid of any sympathy. These eyes belonged to the magical beast which killed the tigress and her cubs, the very same magical beast who caused the canyon to grow silent.

Wu Jilong couldn’t make out the beast’s figure because it was concealed under multiple fallen trees but behind the fallen trees the headless bodies of more than twenty disciples from the Sect of Five Corners hung from the trees like rotting fruit. Their once brilliant robes of gold, red, silver, green, and white were now stained red with their own blood and tissue.

Boom!

Suddenly the fallen trees surrounding the beast were sent flying with ease revealing the beasts true form. Pitch black fur as sharp as knives covered its huge body which sat upright on its hind legs with its two tree trunk sized arms out in front. Yellow teeth sharp and jagged like mountain ranges formed multiple rows in the beast's mouth as it smiled at Wu Jilong.

It was a magical beast that filled the hearts of many cultivators with terror. The king of the forest. An Obsidian Backed Gorilla. Obsidian Backed Gorillas are the most sadistic of the Gorilla species of magical beasts, once picking a target to hunt the Obsidian Backed Gorilla will follow the prey at a speed slow enough to give its prey the hope of escaping yet fast enough to become their shadow.

After killing its prey the Obsidian Back Gorilla will only eat the brain of whatever it has killed then hang its body from the tree branches just as Wu Jilong had seen on the way here. The Obsidian Back Gorilla’s title as king of the forest was not an empty title, at a young age they would reach the Earthly Understanding Stage, in adulthood they would reach the peak of the Heavenly Understanding Stage.

Had the Sect Head and Faction Elders known that an Obsidian Back Gorilla was in the area they would have never sent the disciples into Grand Beast Canyon. It was unheard of for such a strong magical beast to enter Grand Beast Canyon, this was because compared to other areas within the Grand Peak Continent the World Qi here was less pure and could only nurture the life of weaker beasts.

The reason why the Obsidian Back Gorilla entered Grand Beast Canyon was the very same fire storms from seven days ago, its previous home was burnt to the ground so the beast had to find a new place to live and it came to Grand Beast Canyon. Such a coincidence could be said to be the will of the heavens.

Wu Jilong knew full well how dangerous the beast before him was, this Obsidian Backed Gorilla had already entered the Heavenly Understanding Stage, at this moment for it to kill Wu Jilong was but a simple task. Wu Jilong wasted no time and turned to flee, while he was fleeing he snapped causing ten scarlet flames with the character for pierce to appear.

The ten scarlet flames transformed into scarlet spears, around the spears the surrounding air began to tremble, the heat gave off by the spears was enough to singe the underbrush beneath Wu Jilong. With a gesture the ten spears flew forward at blinding speeds to stab the Obsidian Backed Gorilla.

Clank!

Although the force of the spears was great it was not enough to pierce the Obsidian Backed Gorilla’s fur. From the start Wu Jilong knew that this attack would not be enough to so much as even scratch the beast. He had only used this as an opportunity to distract the Gorilla while he ran. Wu Jilong speed through the forest with the Obsidian Backed Gorilla in pursuit, when the distance between the two of them got to small he would snap and ten more flames with the character for pierce would appear.

Thirty minutes passed and the gorilla grew tired of chasing Wu Jilong. It’s massive right arm shoot out towards one of the many trees to its right, in the blink of an eye one of the massive trees was uprooted and sent flying towards Wu Jilong. Without turning to look Wu Jilong snapped and a scarlet axe appeared in his hands. Wu Jilong swung his arm behind him forming a crescent arc using the scarlet axe, the tree was split in two easily. Seeing this the Obsidian Backed Gorilla roared in joy. Without stopping Wu Jilong continued to run while the Obsidian Backed Gorilla threw trees continuously.

“None of my attacks are strong enough to hurt him. If I can lead him back to that cave, I will kill him.” Wu Jilong thought. His mind was racing through hundreds of scenarios and possible actions he could take to fight the Obsidian Backed Gorilla. Possibility after possibility appeared in his mind. Although he was currently in a life or death situation a smile appeared on his face.

This entire time he wanted something that would reawaken his combat prowess but nothing inside the Canyon could rekindle the feeling of urgency and alarm that a true fight brings. But now Wu Jilong had the perfect opportunity to fight against an opponent who he had no hope of defeating.