The crazily burning flame surrounded the fighting duo forming a giant ring in midair, appearing stunning. The bird screeched angrily, flapping its wings, each the size of an adult man, as flames burst from it, heading to Xue Yueliang.

"I guess we're really beginning then," she smiled, allowing her flames to converge in front of her, offsetting the beast's flames.

Seeing its attack is blocked, the bird circled around her, not leaving the barrier but clearly preparing for an all-out attack.

"Isn't it a bad idea to charge while in close range?" She asked.

In a world where the strong eat the weak, shouldn't these beasts have better fighting instincts? Or was the fact that it was a flying creature that gave it this confidence?

Regardless of the reason, she turned serious as she formed hand seals in front of her, utilising the Berserk Dragon Flame Mantra. The flames from her barrier streamed toward her, allowing her to increase the efficiency of forming this technique. Though she could interrupt it, that would not give her what she needed.

"Screech!" The fiery flame in front of the bird's mouth had fully formed, and with its cry, it headed toward Xue Yueliang, a competition of firepower.

"People say don't fight nature." She laughed, allowing a firewall to appear between them and upon contact, both attacks exploded, causing them to fall backward.

Landing on a nearby tree, Xue Yuelieng pulled off the branch that stabbed into her shoulder and gleefully looked toward the bird. It had a bloody leg and a few other miscellaneous injuries on its body. Although it still looked angry, it had a bit of fear in its eyes, but watching the blood spilling from her shoulder, it regained its confidence.

"How cute."

Rushing toward the beast, Xue Yuelaing felt some exhilaration awash her. Although she did not consider herself to be a battle maniac, it was always fun to fight an assured battle.

With this, Xue Yueliang and the bird exchanged a hundred moves midair, incinerating their surroundings and turning into a death range. In the beginning, Xue Yueliang was at a clear disadvantage; she began to gain an edge as she accustomed herself to aerial battle.

Seeing her grow stronger as the fight dragged on, the bird's feathers ruffled up and then blazed. Fiery arrows rained down on Xue Yueliang, causing her to fall at a disadvantage again. Guiding her sword to escape the attack, Xue Yueliang began to form hand seals. Gathering her Berserk Dragon Flame as it created a flaming ball in front of her. The blistering heat that it emanated increased, and the gathered flames headed quickly toward the bird, striking it directly on its head.

However, due to its familiarity with fire or its superior vitality, the strike only injured it without killing it, causing horrific burns to appear on its head. It was blinded from its left eye, causing it to release a sharp cry in pain, finally deciding it was time to escape.

"It looks like your not that dumb." Xue Yueliang smiled.

As she thought, having a higher ranked flame put her on a pedestal compared to creatures around the same level as her.

Chasing after the beast, she recreated the flame barrier from before, hoping to slow it done until she caught up to it.

The bird cried out in fear, and Xue Yueliang began to regret using her flame in full power. Using the mini orbs from before, she exploded some near her, hoping to accelerate her speed. It would be embarrassing if she could not catch up to an injured, burning, terrified bird, especially while her master was watching.

"Hey! Stop! There's no point in running!" She yelled out desperately, not knowing why she even bothered.

Seeing that it was about to escape her sight, she decided to land on a tree, pick up her sword and hope a leap would be enough to land her on its back. Focussing her crimson Qi onto her legs, she squatted down and used all her power to propel herself forward, like an arrow shooting from a bow. She went much faster than she expected but could not even catch on its rear.

Refusing to accept this, she clenched her teeth and stabbed her sword forward, but before she could fully see what she had done, the bird let out a horrifying screech.

Noticing where her sword landed, her expression turned as she said, "Well, this wouldn't have happened if you cooperated."

She used her sword to prop herself on its back, tightly held onto its feathers, and mustered all of her strength to steer it westward. At first, she had planned to kill it, but noticing how fast it was, she should get a ride from it first.

"Do you not think you're forgetting something?" An indifferent voice asked.

Xue Yueliang was startled for a second and realised, "Master!" But then looking at where the voice had come from, she noticed his illusory figure right beside her.

"How?" She asked curiously.

She did not notice fluctuations in him using Qi, and he silently appeared beside her, and even at this speed, his figure did not seem to be moving.

"It's not that easy to get rid of me," Yao Ming said, rolling his eyes and then pointing toward the ring: "My soul is tethered toward it."

Realisation appeared in her eyes as she smiled, "At least I never have to worry about accidentally leaving you behind."

"It's not like you were ever worried about that." Yao Ming said dissatisfiedly, "Besides, it's funny how an injured, burning, terrified bird almost escaped you."

A blush appeared on her face as she replied, "It didn't happen."

After this, she focussed on steering the bird, perhaps it really was dumb, but it followed her orders without question. Perhaps, it feared pain more than being used. Any bleeding injuries it had were cauterised by her flames, and it kept flying, not daring to even rest. Most beasts it came across left to the side after seeing its crazed look, and her days went uneventfully.

On the third day, the beast whimpered as it fell down, causing her to quickly jump off its back. The weak bird twitched on the ground, clearly unable to continue moving. Xue Yueliang walked toward it and pulled out her Black Moon Sword from its behind, instantly putting a cleaning spell on it. She then turned her attention to her worn-out clothing and noticed a peculiarity.

During the fight and the few days of fighting, her robes had long since been damaged, but she could see the robe patching back together.

"How marvellous," she praised.

She had been wondering what she would have to change into but seeing this, she was glad.

"Cultivators get injured often, so it would be weird if we couldn't do this little." Yao Ming answered her astonishment. "You really are a country bumpkin."

"I've only been cultivating for a few years." She said, defending herself.

It seems like even being born into a prestigious clan still meant there were many things she still did not know. There was always so much to discover.

Her gaze turned to the beast that was bleeding out as it cried pitifully and wiggled toward her.

"You're hoping I save you?" She asked, a strange expression on her face.

"What gave you the impression that I'm such a kind-hearted person?"

"It was your mount for a few days." Yao Ming answered for it, amused.

"And?" Xue Yueliang asked, not understanding its thought process.

"How about I end things quickly for you?" She asked and swung her blade, beheading it. That was the furthest her kindness would take her.

A flaming beast core fell out of the disconnected head, leading her to reach out and grab it, but before she could, a black streak rushed forward and swallowed it in one gulp. Without even letting her react, it opened its mouth wide and devoured the rest of the beast's corpse before letting out a satisfied burp. In less than a breath of time, the corpse in front of her disappeared, stunning her.

"Hei Yu?" Xue Yueliang asked, looking at the tiny rabbit in front of her.

It looked at her innocently and let out a little squeak, but it was interrupted by its burp that came with a raging flame.

"Gas reflux?" She asked again, still stunned before shaking it off.

Hei Yu did not even have any organs, so how could he have digestive problems? Strictly speaking, he was a flesh-stuffed, embroidered skin bag.

"I've missed you," she smiled, opening her arms and allowing him to jump in her embrace.

"You know I wanted that beast core, though."

Hei Yu and her were mentally connected, and just as she could understand his mental fluctuations, so could he. This was why he had rushed out first before she could block him from eating the beast core.

She had been curious about it because, from the many beasts she hunted, she had not seen something so strange. A beast core was a crystalline object. Any power it contained would always be stored inside and would not usually manifest outwardly.

Hei Yu pouted in her arms but still communicated his apology, causing her to sweetly smile. Patting his head, she said: "If you just need something, you can just ask me."

"How about you stop treating him like your child and work on yourself?" Yao Ming asked dissatisfied.

He found this eerie for reasons he could not explain and wished to interrupt it.

"Why, are you jealous?"

"Of a beast?" Yao Ming said, offended.

Hei Yu smiled at him smugly and cuddled onto Xue Yueliang, but she put him down, causing him to sadly skip away. Xue Yueliang smiled as she waved around her sword, "These past few days really taught me the importance of balance."

Although the bird obediently went in the direction she wished, that did not mean it made it easy on her as it tried to shake her off in every turn or scrape her off by every tree. While holding onto dear life, she felt her confidence in executing this move increase. She made a swooping motion with her sword, and after feeling she was ready enough, she made her move.

"Invincible Sword Swirl!" She exclaimed, spinning in place as the sword Qi flowed from her sword, one ring after another.

Her navy blue dress made her appear as the revolving darkness, and her sword Qi was the expanding light. It was what should have been as beautiful as it was lethal, but it was ruined by her following actions. Just as she tried to gracefully come to a stop, she tripped over her own foot and fell down.

"I was just about to praise you." Xue Yueliang's lips twitched, but she decided to look around before replying.

"Seeing the amount of destruction I caused, I'd say I did a good job." She had created a small clearing around herself, making her proud.

"Yet, you fell right after."

"It doesn't matter if everyone else around me is dead." Xue Yueliang said, comforting herself.

"I guess you're right."

"Master, what was that fire that surrounded the beast core?" She asked, changing the subject.

Since she couldn't figure it out herself, it made sense to ask him. Maybe, he would give her a straight answer this time.

"It was the beast's spirit," Yao Ming answered, "It was about to form a spirit and gain intelligence."

"That thing?"

Beasts were generally unintelligent, and those that formed an intelligence were powerful. They had the advantage of having a stronger physical body than humans, but also the ability to think and so could not be easily trapped by humans. It was surprising to hear that such a lacklustre bird was about to become something so terrifying.

"Fighting on pure instinct is better than fighting with limited intelligence," Yao Ming explained. "It's not that it was dumb. It's just that it did not fully develop yet."

As they were conversing, Hei Yu walked up to Xue Yueliang, dazed as he shakily placed himself on her lap.

After petting it, Xue Yueliang snorted, "You're not that good at acting." Hei Yu's shivering body instantly came to a stop as it stared at her innocently, making her wonder where he learnt this behaviour from.

It must have been Li Hua.

"You like him the most in this world. What more could he want?" Yao Ming asked, a frown on his face.

"He's still at the infant stages of his life, so it's normal for him to be clingy."

"I always thought you would be completely cold-hearted, but I guess a tigress will never eat her own cubs." He said before disappearing away.

Xue Yueliang perched the triumphant Hei Yu on her shoulder and walked on. Thanks to the bird's kind contribution, the three days of non-stop flying saved her three weeks, slightly abating her worries of arriving late. The two months left for her to arrive were not too long, nor was it a short period. She felt a mild excitement surge in her body, the two people she knew, Li Hua and Sun Wei, were strong, and there could be others at that level. Any battle to be had would be an exciting one.