Chapter 32: The First Lock. Yao Jun was hiding at the top of a tree. The entire tree was trembling slightly, a sign that Yun Yantian had completed the first part of their plan. Yao Jun took a deep breath and calmed his mind. He cast a glance at two locations not far from him, Little Gray and Little Thunder were hidden in those locations, ready to strike at any time. The trembling slowly got stronger, Yao Jun could also hear the sound of trees getting crushed and pushed aside. Yao Jun pulled out his sword and readied himself. If they made a mistake and failed in their sneak attack, their chances at killing the Demonic beast would be much lower. Yao Jun held his breath and waited. He didn't have to wait much longer before he saw Yun Yantian running into the clearing that was located in front of Yao Jun. Yun Yantian glanced at the tree where Yao Jun was hiding and gave a short nod, signifying that everything had gone according to plan. Shortly after Yun Yantian entered the clearing, a large beast crashed into the clearing after him. The beast was almost ten meters long and five meters tall. It's body looked just like a massive tiger. It was covered in pitch black fur, it's amber eyes like two jewels in the night. It's head was adorned by two horns that pointed backwards. The horns were as large as Yao Jun's arms, and as thick as his thighs. This was a beast that Yao Jun and Yun Yantian had chosen after a long period of discussion. They initially thought that they could just hunt whatever they wanted in this forest, but they were quickly proven wrong. Almost every beast in this forest had reached the 1st level. Some had even evolved into Massacre Beasts. Neither Yun Yantian or Yao Jun had heard about this pitch black tiger before, but it was one of the few Demonic beasts they found that had just recently entered the 1st level. They figured that they could kill it as long as they worked together and were careful. As the tiger entered the clearing and chased after Yun Yantian, Yao Jun sprung into action. His eyes lit up with a ghostly gray light, a spot not too far from him also lighting up with the same light. Yao Jun worked together with Little Gray, both focusing all their power to use their illusions to confuse the black tiger. The tiger's eyes lost their focus for two seconds, but they quickly regained their clarity. But when it regained it's clarity, it was already too late. The moment the Yao Jun's eyes lit up with gray light, Yun Yantian and Little Thunder sprung into action. A sword shot out from Yun Yantian's hand, heading straight for the tiger's right eye. Little Thunder shot out from the forest not far from the tiger, his purple fur crackling with lightning. Little Thunder's jaws clamped down onto the tiger's left hind led, discharging as much lightning into it's body as he could. Yun Yantian's sword lodged itself into the tiger's eye, blinding it's right eye completely, while Little Thunder almost completely crippled it's leg. Little Thunder and Yun Yantian immediately backed off after finishing their attacks, they only spent a total of three seconds launching their attacks and retreating. The black tiger roared in pain. It's roar was loud enough to make Yao Jun feel like his ear drums were collapsing. With Yun Yantian and Little Thunder pulling back, Yao Jun and Little Gray charged in. Little Gray flew into the air and swooped down at the tiger's left eye, while Yao Jun charged at it from it's now blinded right side. The black tiger saw Little Gray charge at it's remaining eye and lowered it's head to dodge the attack. Yao Jun grasped this chance and jumped up, grabbing onto the black tiger's head. The black tiger realized that it had most likely been tricked and started shaking it's head, trying to throw Yao Jun off. Yun Yantian, Little Thunder and Little Gray did not let this chance slip, launching their attacks all at once. Yun Yantian sent a myriad of swords flying at the black tiger's abdomen, Little Thunder ran around between it's legs, sending streams of lightning into it's legs, while Little Gray used it's beaks and claws to swipe and peck at the tigers back. Yao Jun gripped onto the tiger's horns, refusing to let go no matter how much it shook it's head. He used it's two horns and fur to make his way towards it's left eye. Looking into the tiger's amber eye, Yao Jun only saw fear, but since Little Thunder had already sent so many streams of lightning into it's legs, it could not even run for it's life. Yao Jun raised his sword and stabbed it into the tiger's eye, robbing it off all sight. He then grabbed onto it's fur and climbed down the side of it's head and onto it's throat. If he tried to stab it in the neck, it would be hard to say if he would be able to pierce deep enough to kill it. If he stabbed it in the throat, it would be much easier to stab deep enough to kill it. Yap Jun stabbed into the tiger's throat, his blade going in all the way to the hilt. After stabbing into it's throat, he drew the sword sideways, slicing open it's throat before pulling his sword out. It's blood shot out from it's throat like a fountain, covering Yao Jun in bright scarlet blood. Yao Jun let go of it's fur and dropped down to the ground. The tiger was already covered in wounds and greatly weakened, it would not be able to live for much longer. After waiting for around one minute, the tiger fell over, it's massive body losing all traces of life. The fight against the tiger had only lasted a total of around 5 minutes, but to make sure that nothing went wrong, Yun Yantian and Yao Jun had planned for almost three days. They first tracked down the weakest Demonic beasts and selected the most suitable one, they then had to find a place where there were very few Demonic beasts. After finding this clearing, they then needed to stalk the prey until it was close enough to the clearing that Yun Yantian could lure it over. “Hah. Next time, you can be the bait, I don't think my heart will be able to handle being bait.” Yun Yantian came up behind Yao Jun and patted him on the shoulder while he sighed. His heart had been in his throat ever since he started luring the tiger towards the clearing. The fear of having a massive beast chasing after you from behind was truly hard to describe. “No problem. If i'm not wrong, after I absorb this Demonic beast, I should be able to break through to the 1st level. At that point, fighting against Demonic beasts like this one won't be as hard.” Yao Jun took out a piece of cloth from his interspatial ring and started wiping his face. Being covered in sticky blood was a rather unpleasant feeling, but he was full of excitement when he thought about breaking through and reaching the next level. “Are you going to absorb it and use it as a new Demonic beast?” Yun Yantian cast a glance at Little Thunder while he spoke. This tiger did not seem to have any special abilities like Little Thunder, but it's large frame and strong physical body would still be useful. “No. it's tiger bloodline will be good for Little Thunder, and it's strong bones will help Little Gray strengthen it's own bones, covering up one of his weaknesses.” Yao Jun shook his head as he placed a hand on the tiger. He had already planned how he would use the Garden of Eden. If a Demonic beast did not have any good special traits or abilities, there was no point in absorbing it, it would be better to feed it to his current pets, allowing them to grow stronger. A black light covered the tiger, it's large body quickly shrinking. It's large body turned into a fist sized black light that shot into Yao Jun's chest, covering the entire gate. Absorbing the beast like this would allow Yao Jun to immediately spread it's energy and power into his pets and the gate, without the need for Little Gray and Thunder to physically eat the body. The black light sank into the gate, lighting up the last of the indents in the gate with an abyssal black light. The nine lights flew out from the indents and merged into a single blob of multicolored light. The blob of light floated upwards and merged into the first of the nine spikes that were located above the gate. The spike lit up with a bright light, but before Yao Jun managed to express his happiness, the spike broke off. The spike fell down from the gate and lodged itself into Yao Jun's heart. Before Yao Jun managed to react, a surge of pain tore through his body, slowly changing his body.