The low growl of a demonic beast echoed from the distant jungle.
"Thud! Thud!"
Heavy footsteps came pounding through the silent night. Judging by their rhythm, someone was running.
Shi Yan couldn't tell whether a Martial Artist was hunting demonic beasts or demonic beasts were hunting humans. He didn't want to get involved, so he said to Di Ya Lan, "Hide yourself. Don't stick your nose into other people's business. Remember what happened with the Tusk Mercenary Group."
Di Ya Lan nodded, then whispered to Mu Yu Die from the tree hollow, "Don't make a sound. Stay right there inside the hollow."
"Come on. We'll hide in another tree with thick leaves." Shi Yan considered it for a moment, then moved quickly. Before long, he found an ancient tree with dense foliage and crouched beneath it.
He had barely settled down when Di Ya Lan caught up and hid beside him among the leaves.
The two peered through the gaps in the leaves, scanning their surroundings. Holding their breath, they concealed their presence, afraid someone might discover them.
Before long, five panicked mercenaries came stumbling over from the distance, looking utterly bedraggled.
All five were wounded to some degree. Their leader had reached the Human Position Realm, while the other four were in the Innate Realm.
The five fled in disarray, choosing their path blindly. Every so often, they glanced back as if some monstrous beast were on their heels.
And there really was!
The moment the five entered Shi Yan's field of vision, he spotted a Fire Cloud Yao Python and two Frost Lizards racing through the forest. Silver Armor Scorpions, each the size of a washbasin, also emerged from the five men's left, seemingly intent on surrounding them.
The five looked frantic and continued to charge blindly into the forest ahead.
Shi Yan's expression changed. They're done for.
The five men couldn't see it, but Shi Yan had a clear view. In their path stood a four-meter-long silver wolf, powerfully built!
The wolf had a pair of silver wings, each five or six meters long, covered in strange patterns that gave them a mysterious, eerie look.
Though this was Shi Yan's first time seeing the silver wolf, he'd heard the stories about it long ago. It was the Thunder Wing Silver Wolf, a seventh-level demonic beast and the apex predator of the Gloomy Forest!
The instant Shi Yan saw the Thunder Wing Silver Wolf, he realized this wasn't a mercenary hunting demonic beasts. It was... demonic beasts hunting humans!
The bloody hunt began in an instant!
When the five men charged into the forest and saw the Thunder Wing Silver Wolf waiting for them, they immediately let out desperate screams.
The Thunder Wing Silver Wolf gave them no chance. It spread its thunderous wings, and deafening explosions burst around the five men. Three of them were blown to pieces on the spot!
The Thunder Wing Silver Wolf stood there proudly, motionless, making no further move.
But the pursuing demonic beasts swarmed in and instantly surrounded the two survivors.
Under the combined assault of the Fire Cloud Yao Python and the Frost Lizards, the two men were pinned down. One was poisoned to death by a Silver Armor Scorpion, and the other was bitten to death by a Frost Lizard.
"Crunch!" "Crunch!"
In the silent forest, a series of horrifying sounds rang out.
Apart from the Thunder Wing Silver Wolf, the other demonic beasts gathered around the five mercenaries' corpses and gnawed on their bones.
Di Ya Lan looked horrified and couldn't bear to look.
She wasn't afraid of killing people, but she still couldn't stomach demonic beasts devouring humans. It made her feel like she was about to throw up.
Shi Yan watched the beasts without blinking, calmly calculating as he hid among the leaves.
The five mercenaries were dead, and the vital essence in their bodies would gradually dissipate, eventually scattering into the world as time passed.
If he could reach the area before the vital essence vanished completely, he could benefit from it!
But with so many demonic beasts feasting on the bodies, he didn't dare make a rash move. He could only hope they would leave soon.
"Wooo..."
A human scream rang out from far away, shrill and filled with despair.
The Thunder Wing Silver Wolf had been standing there, unmoving and indifferent. Suddenly, it let out a low growl and dashed off.
The demonic beasts that had nearly finished devouring the five mercenaries immediately stopped eating at its growl. They hurried after it, racing away as if in search of other human prey.
As soon as the beasts scattered, Shi Yan leaped down from the tree where he had been hiding among the leaves. Like a ghost, he darted toward the bloodied corpses.
Di Ya Lan jumped in fright and cried out softly from the tree, "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to take a look. I'll be back in a moment. Don't leave." Shi Yan didn't look back. He raced over as fast as he could, then stood amid the scattered limbs and closed his eyes to sense what remained.
Fortunately, though he had arrived late, a little was still there. The vital essence of a Martial Artist in the Human Position Realm was indeed greater. Two-tenths of it remained undissipated.
Wisps of vital essence invisible to the naked eye seemed drawn by a magnet. They streamed into his pores and flowed into the acupoints throughout his body...
Feeling the power within the vital essence, Shi Yan's lips curled into a satisfied smile.
Before long, all the vital essence still lingering there had flowed into Shi Yan's body.
Looking at the scattered limbs and organs, Shi Yan frowned. He endured the pungent stench of blood and rummaged through the packs on the five corpses, which were smeared with bits of flesh and clots of blood.
The food was soaked in too much blood and might even have Silver Armor Scorpion venom on it, so it was definitely inedible. Crystal coins weren't much use here, and carrying too many would slow him down. The mercenaries hadn't brought many with them anyway.
After searching for a while, all he found were materials from demonic beasts and a few packets of medicinal powder for treating wounds.
Bunch of paupers.
Shi Yan muttered under his breath. He wiped his bloody hands on the pack of one of the men, then moved through the tree's shadow toward the ancient tree where Di Ya Lan was hiding.
"Roar!" "Roar!"
The roars of demonic beasts rang through the Gloomy Forest. Just before dawn, the beasts had begun roaming everywhere, seemingly organized in their hunt for the Martial Artists and mercenaries in the forest.
Hearing the unnerving roars, Shi Yan wasn't alarmed—he was delighted.
The beasts' rampage was bound to affect the group pursuing them. Anyone bold enough to move around at night was sure to attract the attention of the beasts out tonight. The larger the group, the more obvious the target. Perhaps Dark Nether, the Mo Family, and the Tusk Mercenary Group would suffer heavy losses tonight and become prime targets for the beasts.
His guess was right...
That night, Mo Chao Ge and the others did receive special attention from the demonic beasts.
In their haste to hunt down Shi Yan and Mu Yu Die, the group hadn't rested after Hu Long killed himself. Instead, they continued searching the Gloomy Forest for Shi Yan and the others, attracting the attention of the beast horde. Only after losing five people did they accept reality and take shelter in an ancient tree.
"What were you doing?" Di Ya Lan furrowed her brows. "Were the things on those men worth taking such a risk? If a demonic beast had turned back, or another one spotted you, you wouldn't have escaped!"
"Am I not back safe and sound?"
Shi Yan climbed up the ancient tree. He didn't explain what he'd really gained from going over there. With a grave expression, he said, "Something's wrong tonight. I don't know why, but the demonic beasts have suddenly gone berserk and started hunting mercenaries and Martial Artists all over the forest. Maybe someone did something to anger a high-level demonic beast. Otherwise, this wouldn't be happening."
"What should we do?" Di Ya Lan looked helpless. "Should we keep going?"
"Let's wait. The beasts have been busy all night, so they probably won't show up during the day. We'll set out at noon."
"Sounds good."
Before you continue