The first light of the day shined upon the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range as Edward and Robert started their hunt for the Hundred Beast King. They were slowly climbing the mountain, in order to not alert the beasts. They knew that if they were impatient and directly charged to the peak, it would alert all the beasts in this mountain. This mountain, the tallest in the mountain range, was the Hundred Beast King's mountain and its territory. The beasts here were all his subordinates. They had to stay alert in order to not warn all the beasts, they only wanted to take down the Hundred Beast King and his subordinates atop the mountain. Taking on all the beasts in the mountain will be a stupid thing to do, so they had a plan.

Finally, after slowly and patiently climbing the mountain for several hours, they reached the top. Although they were going slow, climbing up a mountain within a few hours was still not a big deal from cultivators of their level. By the time they reached the mountain, it was already noon, and the sun was just above the head.

After reaching the top of the mountain, they could see the Hundred Beast King and his strongest subordinates. The subordinate beasts surrounded their master, the Hundred Beast King, as the Hundred beast King was in deep sleep.

The Hundred Beast King was a lion type beast called Red-maned Lion. They are the descendants of the Flaming Lion, a very powerful high-level beast of legends. The stronger bloodline a Red-maned Lion had, the stronger they were. The strength of the bloodline could be determined by the color of the man. The redder it is, the stronger the bloodline. This Hundred Beast King had a deep crimson red mane, suggesting that its bloodline was at the very peak. Its bloodline was clearly the purest among Red-maned Lions.

"Why are all the beasts surrounding the Hundred Beast King? And why is the Hundred Beast King sleeping right now? It never sleeps during the daytime. It's a beast of daylight, it gains power under the sunlight, but it is sleeping at noon when the sunlight is the strongest? How come?", Robert wondered.

"I have been thinking about the same thing. From what I am seeing, I don't think it is sleeping right now. There is a reason for all this.", Edward said.

"What reason?", Rober asked, not understanding Edward's implications.

"See how the subordinate beasts are gathered around the Hundred Beast King? They are protecting their leader."

"Protecting? Why?"

"The sun is exactly above the head, and the Hundred Beast King has been at the perfect peak of Grade 3 for quite a while. You understand what that means, right?",Edward asked.

"Now I get it!. Shit! It's trying to breakthrough. We have to stop it. Or else, if it becomes a grade 4 beast, we won't be able to even return alive from here!", Robert jumped hurriedly as soon as he realized what's going on.

Grade 4 is a qualitative jump from grade 3. It is entirely on a different dimension. In the first three realms, known as the Three Shackles of the Body, the main source of power for cultivators is their body, their physical essence. But starting from the 4th realm, all the physical essence merges with one's flesh, blood, and bones, turning physical essence into pure, intense physical strength, and the source of power is switched to the spirit, as the Three Shackles of the Spirit starts from the fourth realm. The main power source is the spirit and cultivators cultivate and use Qi instead of physical essence. So, while there are pretty large gaps between each realm in the first three realms, the gaps are nothing like the gap between the 3rd and 4th realm. The gap between these two realms is so vast, that a Qi Accumulation realm cultivator can take down hundreds of Shell Shattering Realm cultivators based on their physical strength alone, let alone the new power that one can use in this realm, Qi. The power of Qi is unimaginable and very destructive. Although the Qi used by Qi accumulation realm cultivators is the most basic and weakest form of Qi, it is still devastating.

If by chance, the Hundred Beast King manages to break through to grade 4, then the chance of Edward and Robert escaping alive from here is pretty much zero.

"Okay, Robert. Listen to the plan first. You will go first to attack them. You will not engage any of the beasts in combat, instead, randomly attack and provoke them until they target you, and then you will run away from here, letting them follow you. While the subordinates are after you, I will engage the Hundred Beast King in battle and take it down. Do you understand?", Edward's face turned serious as he explained.

"All right. I believe I can take care of the subordinates after I lure them far away from here, right?", Robert wanted to go all out and sharpen his abilities, so he asked.

"Yeah. Take them down if you can, and I won't forbid you to push yourself or escape danger, as this kind of life and death crisis is where cultivators can bring everything out of them and grow stronger.", Edward said.

"Okay, I understand.", Robert nodded.

While Edward hid nearby, Robert slowly moved forward. Both of them had already masked their scent using some technic. So, the beasts weren't aware of their presence.

Robert, as soon as he reached where the beasts gathered, he unsheathed his sword and threw and attack.

"Flying Vertical Slash!"

Now that Robert was in the Shell Shattering Realm, he could release physical essence out of his body, which means he could use long-ranged attacks embedded with physical essence. For example, this Flying Verticals Slash. It was a sword attack infused with physical essence that worked like a flying blade. It could cut targets even without the actual sword touching him, as long as the wave of physical essence touched the target, it would be slashed apart.

Robert did not stop and attacked again with his sword.

"Flying Horizontal Slash!"

Rober's previous vertical and this horizontal slash attack merged and supported each other, turning into a '+' shaped sword beam.

The attack landed right in the middle of the beast's gathering, in front of the Hundred Beast King. The Hundred Beast King ignored everything as it was too focused on its breakthrough, but the subordinates roared is all of them looked at the direction of Robert. Robert did not care and threw more attacks on them. Some of the beasts got killed, some got injured, even the stronger ones got a few cuts here and there. The beasts roared as they started chasing Robert. Robert quickly started running, luring the beasts on the other side of the mountain.

"Yeah! Come on you fools! Chase me! Kiss my ass if you don't dare!", Robert provoked the beasts while shaking his butt towards them. Although the beasts couldn't understand human language, they understood the meaning of his words seeing his butt-shaking and other physical expressions.

Robert suddenly looked and around and made sure Edward didn't see what he just did. Robert was this type of playful person inside, but he never showed it in front of people. Especially, not in front of Edward. He did not want an 'always smart and serious' type guy like Edward see this side of him. So, he usually kept his image of a 'serious and dedicated swordsman' in front of Edward.

Suddenly, while Robert was 'provoking' the beasts to lure them away, he could hear Edward's voice from the mountain top.

"Yeah! Come on! Get me you stinky beast! See, I brought two axes to cut your balls off! One ax for each ball! Now come on and fight me! If you don't, I will cut your balls off and you won't be able to get a wife."

"What the hell!", Robert shouted in his mind. Was that really Edward? He couldn't believe his ears, and he did not know whether to laugh or cry. When did the revered reincarnation of the First Paragon become an expert in cutting off balls? He has never seen this side of Edward, at least not in front of him or other people.

Edward, on the other hand, thought that Robert had already lured the beasts away from here and was nowhere around. So, he tried to have some fun with the Hundred Beast King to lure it into a fight. The Hundred Beast King kept cultivating to break through and did not show any reactions. Edward didn't want to kill the hundred beast king just like that. He wanted a fight, as this was a training for him and the sole purpose of this hunt. What he did not know was Robert hadn't gone away and was shaking his butt nearby, trying a similar method to lure the beasts to follow him out of their territory. So, this was totally an unexpected circumstance.