Edward was walking slowly walking towards the ox from behind. He was waiting for a chance to get near enough and jump on its back. Once he is able to ride on its back and grab its horns, it will be quiet easy to take it down.

"NOW!", he thought and jumped.

Just as he was about to get on its back, the ox suddenly kicked backward without looking behind.

"Oh no! It noticed!", he shouted in his mind. There was no way to dodge the kick mid-air, so he could only curl up his body to defend.

BOOM!

He was sent flying backward by the kick and hit the trunk of a tree. He had already put up defenses, so he did not sustain any serious damage, only a few minor injuries. But by the time he stood up, the ox had already turned around and was rushing towards him, aiming its horns at him, intending to finish him off.

Seeing this, he quickly jumped high up, dodging the rushing ox. It hit the tree trunk. The whole tree shook. The trunk broke at the point of impact and the whole tree came crashing down.

"Oh no, It is going to fall on me!"

Edward moved his body forward to step on the ox and jumped forward once again, moving out of the range of the falling tree. The tree fell on the ox with a bang. The ox got almost crushed by the tree.

"Huff", Edward let out a sigh of relief. Just as was he was about to relax and sit down for resting, the fallen tree moved, and the ox threw off the tree from its body. It was angry, and it rushed towards Edward at a fierce pace.

"Damn!, It's tougher than I thought!", Edward jumped to the side, and as soon as the bull reached him, he brought out the ax from his backpack and swung it at the ox's throat. Unfortunately, his aim was off due to the force of the jump and it hit the shoulder of the ox.

This time, although the ox was lucky to avoid its throat from getting cut off, it was still seriously injured, and it also realized that it would not be able to beat its opponent. So, it started to flee.

"Damn! It's running away! If it somehow manages to return to its herd than not only all my efforts will be for nothing, but also I will be in great trouble.", thought Edward.

He quickly persued the ox. Edward was fast, faster than even most cultivators of level eight of the physical essence realm, a level higher than him. this was due to the fact he saw Snow fight and learned to utilize his strength to build-up speed from her. Snow had some magical methods due to her deep and high cultivation and mastery of martial arts. Although Edward's technics were nowhere near as mystical and powerful as Snow's, he still learned the basics, which was a big enough boost for him, as none of the cultivators or beasts in this country came anywhere near Snow's level.

With his speed, he soon caught up to the injured ox. This time he used his small sword to cut one the hooves of the ox. It lost its balance and tripped. Now, it couldn't stand up anymore. Edward quickly sliced off the ox's head and killed it off.

"Phew. Finally.", Edward breathed a sigh of relief.

He started peeling off the ox's skin. Soon, the skin was peeled off. He made a rough bag out of the skin and collected the bull meat inside it. He put up a fire and grilled most of the meat. After eating a lot of meat, he was full and decided to take rest. While resting, he brought out the skull of the bull, shattered it, and pulled out a glowing gem. It was actually the beast's core. This was where all the energy inside the ox's body came from. Human cultivators create rings of physical essence inside their body, while beasts create cores inside their skulls. Physical Essence rings may increase in number with the level of cultivation, but a beast always has only one core, the only thing that changes is the amount of energy stored inside the core. This core had many uses. He was not familiar with all of them but he knew that alchemists and blacksmiths used these cores for creating pills and forging weapons. As per the rule of the competition, participants are to keep the beasts cores as proof of what beasts they had killed. they can claim points in exchange for the beast cores. According to the manual given by the academy, these points gained now will not only help the participants to secure their position in the selection exams but also can be exchanged for items later in the academy. When they get admitted to the academy, the main currency within the academy is not money, but these 'Academy Points'.

Edward rested for three hours, then he started to move once again.

"It's time to start hunting again.", he thought.