The march continued the next day. Vultures and ravens accompanied them. The birds patiently waited for more corpses and only vanished at night. No one knew where they went to, but in their stead came new observers. Predators then lurked in the shadows, but this day was different, scarier.

The mad laughter of hyenas came before sunset. They had never caught one, and the disciples didn’t try anymore. The sly animals merely annoyed them, but today they seemed wild, and there were a lot. Their laughter’s overlapped in the darkness, creating a cascade of sounds. Insanity lay in their voices.

Blair saw their shadowy figures circling the camp. Sometimes their shadows even touched him. The animals with their brown and black pattern were nearly invisible in the darkness of dusk. They continued to laugh. It was almost like the beasts talked to them. “You are trapped. Trapped.” That sure was funny to them.

Then the first hyena rushed into the camp and bit a ghoul to death, dragging it away. It cracked the spine immediately. An uproar followed. The disciples got together, calling the ghouls closer. They formed an inner and outer wall, readying a battle formation. Those hyenas were damn scary. They would be larger than a lion on earth.

The immortal world sure was scary. An eerie stillness made Blair tense. The hyenas didn’t continue. They were still there, but none came into the camp. That changed after the sunset, and the moon shone in its full glory.

The beasts now attacked in earnest. The human’s only saving grace was the full moon, spending enough light to fight. The hyenas used feints and baited out the ghouls where they could. However, the disciples held a short leash, not opening the formation up.

Blair saw the glee in the hyena’s eyes. It was the same the disciples and ghouls had, a glee of bloodlust. That was not something an animal should have.

The fight dragged on. The beasts took many casualties against the tight formation but continued to fight. Then a bunch of unusually tall hyenas charged directly at Blair. They ripped apart three other ghouls. Meanwhile, Blair’s instincts went into overdrive. He managed to perceive all positions of the animals. One attacked him directly. Another could swap target and attack him as well.

There was no other option than to unleash his qi with full brunt. It formed an aura around him and strengthened his body. He evaded the hyena, pushing its head away, and he was right in doing so as the other hyena used that short window of opportunity to attack him as well.

This time Blair focused all his might into one punch. Even the qi in his arm tightened, creating a powerful blow that smashed the beast away. The hyenas head cracked, and it wobble for a bit. Yet that wasn’t all the attack did. A bunch of qi latched onto the beast and tore it apart. A tiny brown shimmer of qi fought against it but got devoured just like the beast’s skin and flesh.

Blair had seen the acid-like properties of the qi before but never used it himself. His empowered punches had always dealt enough damage. That was until now as he needed all his strength. After surviving, he would need to pay the price for giving the qi leeway, but that was for later.

Now their formation was broken, and one ghoul after another got torn apart. It looked bad, but the painful cry of multiple beasts startled him. He had seen a red shimmer fly past him, coming from the disciple’s position. His curiosity wanted to look back, but he needed to concentrate on the enemies in front of him. Whatever magic they used, it was about time.

A hyena, with a gaping wound, rushed at him. This time Blair lost his footing while retreating. He fell, and the hyena pounced. It was by sheer luck that a red flash hit the beast. Blair only saw a red misty, nearly spectral crescent fly past. It hit the hyena right in the face, tearing flesh and bone apart. The hyena died on the spot.

Then the counteroffensive began. Blair didn’t understand why the disciple had waited so long and willingly lost that many ghouls, but they now rushed into the beasts. The ghouls followed them closely, and together they unleashed havoc. Granted, the disciples were rested compared to everyone else as they mainly observed the fight.

Blair relieved his stress, fighting for survival was something else. He rampaged until all hyenas were either dead or had fled. After that, he rested, and the disciples healed themselves with pills they pulled out of pouches. They collected the dead ghouls, and Kraden’s face turned sour. “A thrilling fight, but Matteo, you lost both of your ghouls. Are you serious?” Matteo meekly lowered his head. “Someone has to take the hit for the team.”

“Mate, I clearly saw lack behind. You are supposed to control them.” Haki said.

“What can I do when they are too weak?” Matteo asked.

“Enough!” Kraden demanded, “I will arrange a special training for you and an appropriated punishment.” Matteo’s face turned grim, faintly nodding.

“Haki, Adam, you two will guard us,” Kraden said. After that, they sat down and meditated in shifts.

Blair focused on his qi at the same time. It had become powerful during the fight and shredded his flesh again. It was like he decayed alive. He needed all of his focus to reining it in.

After that, the days full of hunting continued, and they slowly approached an enormous mountain chain. The clouds snuggled with the mountaintops, and only the midday sun made them vanish and revealed the monumental peaks. The plains got crowdy once more as other disciples came. At some point, others joined their group. Their number of disciples increased to over twenty in the blink of an eye.

In the end, streams of disciples climbed the mountains. They behaved unusually tensely. The jokes and banters stopped. They climbed the mountain for half a day, before reaching a plateau. Yellowish grass was everywhere, and the disciples moved closer. They vigilantly scanned every corner. Something was about to happen.

A deafening roar crashed into them, and a hymn of bells retorted. From a distant rock wall emerged a bizarre creature. The battle was about to start. Blair thought he was dreaming. The creature had a lion's head, and a scaly body. Add to this a snake's head at the tail end, and you got a mythical monster. Most impressive of all was the valiant qi it radiated. Its thick golden energy put it naturally in the limelight.

Blair took a moment to marvel at its sight. The creature's energy felt warm and majestic. It was the total opposite to the cold and bloodthirsty qi the slaughter sect used. He envied the beast for a moment. A slight shiver ran down his spine as the beast bared its fangs. Even the snake's head hissed ominously.

Then Kraden’s screams got everyone to move. “Ghouls tight formation. Initial four-man teams. Keep your distance!” They scurried into action. The disciples cut their hands and waited. Meanwhile, Blair got the order to defend them with everything he got. What a silly thought. If possible, he would kill them himself. However, he still wanted to keep his identity hidden.

“Fire!” Kraden yelled. The disciples hurled a torrent of crescent-shaped qi at the creature. Blair recognized it as the red flashed he had seen in the fight against the mad hyenas. It took the disciple nearly a minute to unleash the group attack.

Initially, the beast had postured and tried to intimidate them, not understanding that the fight had started already. It was only after the attacks hit that it understood. Multiple attacks had cut into its head. Now enraged and wounded, it charged. The slaughter qi that lingered in the wounds tried desperately to spread, but the golden qi of the beast held it in place.

The beast collided with a team. Their ghouls were sent flying or left crushed on the ground. Meanwhile, the disciples retreated. The two nearest teams closed in. Their ghouls performed a pincer attack, but that only managed to slow the beast down.

Then came a second volley of ranged attacks. It split the skin and tore flesh away. The qi of the beast moved to its head as it needed that to defend against the still lingering slaughter qi.

The back and forth of charge, defend, and attacks continued. The red auras of the ghouls went out like little fireflies in a stormy night, but in return, they frequently damaged the armored part of the beast as it lacked qi there. Some disciples closed in with great caution. Their ghouls were in front.

A bloody melee ensued. Blair had been spared as Kraden commanded from a distance. The fight was nearly won when the beast fled. Nobody could stop it. A hasty chase down the mountain ensued. They left the plateau behind and followed the beast down a ridge to a cave.

They arrived a couple of minutes later, but it seemed like the creature was trapped in its lair. When they finally arrived, a booming roar made them shake. The beast emerged instantly. Its aura had increased violently, now flickering uncontrollably. That turned the fight turned upside.

Blair had no idea what it did in the cave, but the result frightened him. At the same time, he felt proud. The beast managed to resist the disciples till the end. The moment it crushed two disciples at once made him even happier. However, Kraden panicked.

“All on me!” He yelled. His closest man formed a circle around him and the others, with no choice left, followed. Now Blair was in the frontline, and he knew of the imminent doom that the charging beast resembled.

Blair's legs turned heavy as his heartbeat rose. He had to survive. In front of him was the beast, about to run him over. Faced with nothing but death, he fled. The giant beast didn't care about him, and the disciples knew they had to hold tight or the beast would pick them up one by one. Blair felt the bells spell on him as Kraden was confused about what the hell just happened.

Shortly after, the beast crashed into the formation. Blair barely evaded death. Meanwhile, the beast crushed the defender with its reinvigorated body. It would have continued to kill them all, but a sudden eruption of qi pushed it back. A defensive dome of qi spread with Kraden as the epicenter.

The beast crashed against it but did no damage. It ultimately backed off. Now, there was the angry beast, the shielded disciples, and Blair out in the open. He certainly had expected something else. In fact, he hoped that the beast and the disciples would destroy themselves for him to clean up the rest and get a chance to run away.

It was like silence stopped the battlefield for a moment, but the beast wanted to vent its anger on somebody. That somebody was Blair. His instincts screamed danger. He immediately released any restrains he previously had on his qi.

The atmosphere was electric. The qi's madness, together with his desperate will to live, made him charge. There was now no place for him to run to. His only option was to win the unlikely fight. The two clashed, and the beast's knife-like claws descended on Blair. He, in return, blocked the attack with his arm. His flesh and muscles got ripped apart. The arm become a worthless piece of meat hanging down his shoulder, and worse, Blair got thrown to the side.

He hastily go up, and immediately attacked again. Victory remained the only option. He suicidally went for the head. That was the most dangerous and vulnerable spot. He had one chance and had to make it count. He threw anything that slowed him down out of the window. His hesitation and self-preservation were luxurious he couldn't effort at the moment.

All his energy congregated around his one arm, creating a thick aura. Much of his qi, however, was bound in place. So a thin aura remained around his entire body. It was the same for the beast. It roars as if to welcome its challenger. The disciples, meanwhile, looked on in horror as the two clashed one final time.

The fangs glistered in the red sun, and the claws swiped at Blair. In the last second, he accelerated, jumping directly at the beast. The suicide move allowed him to avoid the claws, and he got the chance to attack for once.

He laughed loudly. The thrill of being so close to death agitated him. His remaining fist grabbed the snout, and he pulled himself closer. Their qi’s clashed the moment he touched the skin. His flesh sprayed in all directions as the beast’s dominant energy shredded him bit by bit. His qi was not enough to resist, but he readied a punch nonetheless, hitting right into the eye. He clawed his way into the beast's brain.

Little time passed, but Blair looked no longer human. He resembled a scarecrow, feeling an existentially shredding agony. It was no longer mere pain as the qi evaporated his flesh. His life was on the line, and he had survived too many times to give up now.

He launched his fist deeper into the eyes of the mighty beast. It roared like crazy and was about to bite him to death as a red bolt of lightning descended from the heavens. It hit the beast, both collapsed.