"Why are you so surprised? It's just a tier 5 wolf?"

Zhao Fan said as the wolf's headless body slowly fell down.

Just a tier 5? You are tier 3 you mothef-!

"How did you guys even survive while hunting in the forest? You have a large amount of skills and techniques but choose to use some impractical abilities"

"Huh, well I-"

Huo Long froze as he realized that he was blaming Zhao Fan for being weak, while he himself had the least impact. He somehow neglected that the whole reason the fight was so difficult was because he couldn't lock the wolf down like he was supposed to. If he didn't use an impractical move in the beginning, the whole fight would go differently.

"I guess you’re right, it’s my fault that the fight was difficult and I even put the group in harm's way" Huo Long sighed.

"Brother Long, you don't need to worry, you learned a new move and were eager to use it. It was a weak beast so it posed no danger anyways."

Zhao Fan tried to give the other some face.

"What are you doing dumbass? You wanted to be the leader and at the perfect opportunity to take over, you started kissing his feet?"

Hei Long's angry voice sounded.

"Everyone has feelings, if I try to forcefully take charge, how would Huo Long be able to swallow the humiliation? Once I improve my strength it will only be natural that I become the leader, but I don't want to act in this way. "

"You are seriously valuing these people so much after you just met them? Our plan is not to hunt with them for long anyways, why do you care if they get butthurt? They will get more benefits from someone who knows what they are doing leading"

Zhao Fan did not reply. It was clear to him that he and Hei Long were very different. Even if they both shared the same body, they clearly walked two different roads.

"Brother Long, I think next time let's try using only normal attacks" He suggested.

"Normal attacks?"

"It seems that not everyone is proficient with using skills in combat, what's the point of using them if they have no effect? I suggest we try to not use any to better understand our roles and the tempo of battle"

"Zhao Fan is right, we don't really have much experience fighting in the wild. My earth sphere skill obviously has some terrible restrictions, using my shield would normally suffice" Gong Yu agreed.

"Mhm, I didn't think too much and cast my biggest fire spell right away which was like using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken. But I use long-range attacks. I obviously can't stop using all my skills" Zhou Da chimed in as well. It seemed that despite their high cultivation rank, Zhao Fan's groupmates lacked practical experience in battle.

Zhao Fan sighed internally "At least they admit it"

Hearing the comments, Huo Long felt that it was a good idea. "Since everyone agrees, it’s probably a good idea to cut down on our skill usage because of our lack of experience. Let's just do this for now, everyone, don’t use any abilities unless you need to escape danger. We can still use qi to empower weapons and use the weapon's engraved skills if they are a part of your primary attacks."

Huo Long finished talking and turned to look at Zhao Fan. He had already realized that the latter had a plethora of battle experience and wasn't weak at all. His body was strong enough to resist the impact of a tier 5 beast head on and his techniques were also extremely mysterious.

"Zhao Fan, it seems you are a lot stronger than I thought. With your strong body, you can defend as well as attack. We already have two people in the front line so I think it's best if you stay in the center. You can protect the flankers, act as our backup and fall back to Zhou Da if necessary."

Zhao Fan smiled. This was exactly what he wanted. He had shown his value and was not underestimated by the group anymore. Even if he was slightly lacking in terms of pure power, his experience, no matter how little it was, played a pivotal role in the group of noobs. The center was also the best position for him since that was the role which allowed him to control the pace of the battle as he saw fit.

"It seems Huo Long is a lot smarter than I thought. He's inexperienced, but he is a good strategist and leader. Most importantly, he isn’t conceited despite being the strongest here" A voice sounded in Zhao Fan's head.

After Huo Long finished speaking, the group set out again.

Not too long after, they once more encountered a tier 5 wolf. It seemed that they were very common because of the invasion.

As it charged at them at a high speed, Huo Long once more took initiative and attacked first. This time he used a basic attack, charging his spear with lightning qi and pointing it ahead of himself.

As the two collided, the sharp spear wedged itself deep into the wolf's hide, temporarily paralyzing it with the lightning shock.

"Now!"

Liu Zhong yelled as he and Jia Shuren charged out from the sides. The wolf's hide was minced as the twin swords and daggers grazed its body. They couldn't do lethal damage without using abilities, but even light injuries like the cuts they made would eventually kill the wolf.

"Fall back!"

Huo Long yelled as the beast finally managed to unskewer itself from the spear. Yelling in fury, it pounced on the nearest person to it which was Jia Shuren.

Just before the wolf's claws landed, a large shield appeared in its view. Holding it, was a brown skinned figure seemingly made out of rock.

An unpleasant sound resounded as the wolf's claws slid over the surface of the shield, leaving no mark. Even without activating the earth sphere, Gong Yu's strengthened body allowed him to stand his ground.

The wolf could only try to switch targets since it couldn't hurt Gong Yu and Jia Shuren, Huo Long was also a no-go as his spear left the wolf frightened. It's only other option was to go the other way and chase Liu Zhong!

The wolf turned and dashed towards his new target at the highest speed. However, before it managed to reach its target, another figure appeared before it.

It's outstretched claws were once again blocked as they met Zhao Fan's gloves. The fist and the claw bounced off each other, neither managing to break through, but just as the wolf was about to attack again, Zhao Fan moved in quickly and headbutted the wolf.

The wolf was knocked back by a few meters but didn't get injured, only slightly staggered. As it was feeling confused, a huge glowing spear came down at its chest and stabbed in, pinning the wolf to the ground!

WOOF

Two shadows moved in once again and decorated the defenseless wolf with numerous cuts while fireballs rained down from a distance and seared the flesh of the wolf in a steady burst. As it was getting more and more miserable and started to cry out, a larger fireball shot straight into its mouth, instantly killing it.

"Whew, that went a lot better" Huo Long said what was on everyone's mind. It was a big humiliation for him to blunder during the last fight and he exhaled a sigh of relief knowing that he held a major contribution in killing it this time.

After his words, the tension was broken and everyone happily discussed.

"Fusing the element of earth into my body lets me defend without using any qi or abilities. I think that the earth sphere spell isn't suited for me because once I use it, the people inside it are defended but can't escape for a short time. Next time we are in town, I'll try to get a shield with a more suitable ability!"

"Fusing it into your body?" Earlier, Zhao Fan was confused on how Gong Yu's body hardened and changed color earlier.

"Brother Fan, you haven't comprehended an element yet, so of course you don't know. One of the greatest uses of elements is to infuse it in your qi, but another common application is infusing it into your body to get special attributes!"

"Everyone else has comprehended an element already, why don't they use their elements this way?"

"This isn't some ability which can be easily used by anyone. Gong Yu's family heavily deals with the earth element and he can easily learn from countless experienced masters. However, if the ability is not used properly, you might suffer very horrifying drawbacks. Most people can use this skill at the Foundation Establishment realm and people who can use it in the Qi Gathering realm are outliers" Jia Shuren explained while looking at Gong Yu with jealousy.