Small Beast Tide

The vault of heaven was night-dark, stars filling the sky.

The wind in the mountains was cold, cold enough to pierce the bone. Beside the blazing bonfire, a richly dressed yet thinly clad mother and daughter huddled together, shivering. Among this group, they alone had not chosen to stay in the huts, instead choosing to sleep out in the square.

"Mother, I'm hungry."

"Sleep." A thin, frail figure appeared near the mother and daughter, and a cool voice followed. "Once you're asleep, you indeed won't feel hungry."

The mother and daughter raised their heads and looked at the youth seated cross-legged beside the bonfire, saying nothing.

Ye Tong watched the flickering flames, memories from the distant River of Time surfacing in his mind: a dilapidated Taoist temple in the mountains, the bonfire before it, wild rabbits roasting on an iron rack, and that lean, aged face.

"Master!" Ye Tong suddenly felt his nose sting. During those impoverished childhood years, whenever he felt hungry, there had always been mountain game by his side.

His gaze passed through the bonfire and fell upon the little girl secretly studying him. She was eight or nine years old, delicate in appearance, with a pale face and unnaturally purplish-red lips. Her body trembled faintly; the cold was making her suffer.

Ye Tong stood up.

When he returned and sat down before the bonfire again, he had two salted flatbreads and a bowl of hot water in his hands. Without any unnecessary words, he placed them before the mother and daughter, then took a carving knife and a piece of jade from his robes.

"Th-thank you, young sir."

The woman's lips moved, and a weak voice sounded. She then picked up one salted flatbread and stuffed it into her daughter's hands. Taking out a handkerchief, she carefully wrapped up the other flatbread and tucked it into her bosom.

The corner of Ye Tong's eye took in the entire scene.

He understood.

It was not that the mother and daughter did not wish to stay in the huts, nor that they did not want a bite of hot food. They simply had empty pockets and could not afford the silver.

"Pitiful people," Ye Tong sighed inwardly, turning his attention to the carving.

Time slowly passed. In the blink of an eye, it was already the latter half of the night. Ye Tong had just finished carving a lifelike Jade Carving when his ears twitched lightly. Then he abruptly looked up at the sleeping mother and daughter, seized them almost instantly, and swiftly retreated to the front of the huts amid their cries of alarm.

"Medicine Slave!" Before Ye Tong's words had faded, Medicine Slave had already appeared at the door.

"Ring, ring, ring..."

At the very moment Ye Tong retreated, clear, urgent bells rang out around the camp. The cultivators stationed on the perimeter withdrew toward the huts, shrinking their defensive line. As if facing a great enemy, they swept their sharp gazes over the surrounding woods.

"What's going on?"

The plump middle-aged man dressed in fine silks had only just stepped out of a hut when three men and one woman surrounded him. With their backs to him, they watched the surroundings vigilantly. Clearly, they were his guards.

Gao Shan.

That was the name of the burly man from the Baishun Merchant Guild who controlled the Dragon Lion Eagle. At this moment, Gao Shan's face was livid, anger flashing in his eyes. His tightly gripped saber was already raised as he scanned the surroundings and shouted, "Camp Officer Meng Jia, are Fierce Beasts attacking again?"

Meng Jia wore a purple Battle Robe, a longbow on his back and a demon-head saber in hand. His voice boomed like a great bell. "The alarm bells on all four sides are ringing together, which means Fierce Beasts are all around us. These damned beasts attacked the camp during the day, and I never expected them to come again at night. Listen up, everyone! Once the camp falls, none of us will leave here alive."

The plump middle-aged man loudly said, "We're only passing through. We aren't members of your Baishun Merchant Guild. There's no need for us to risk our lives for this camp against the Fierce Beasts. Envoy Gao Shan, please have the Dragon Lion Eagle take us away at once."

Gao Shan gritted his teeth. "No one from the Baishun Merchant Guild will abandon their brothers and flee alone. If we hadn't encountered this, that would have been one thing. But since we have, I am duty-bound to fight side by side with them. Even if I die in battle, my heroic spirit will remain with my brothers."

"Damn it."

The plump middle-aged man knew the Baishun Merchant Guild's rules. Just as Gao Shan had said, in such circumstances, any envoy responsible for controlling a Dragon Lion Eagle had to remain and fight side by side with their companions. Fleeing at the critical moment was simply impossible.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two Sabertooth Wolves sprang from the dense forest. They were incredibly fast, pouncing on the nearest Baishun Merchant Guild guard in the blink of an eye.

"Kill!"

That guard was clearly no ordinary man. His reaction was swift as lightning, and he swung his saber at the Sabertooth Wolves. At the same time, two guards only seven or eight meters away shot toward them in an instant, blades and swords flashing as they attempted to kill both Sabertooth Wolves in a single strike.

A hundred meters away.

Ye Tong stood alertly before the huts. He paid little attention to the two Sabertooth Wolves, instead sweeping his gaze through the pitch-black forest. He could already clearly see pairs of ghostly blue eyes appearing.

"Groups of three, maintain formation."

No sooner had Meng Jia spoken than several lightning-fast figures lunged at him. They were four Unicorn Rhinoceroses, dark red all over and covered in scales. Their levels were not high; they were merely Level One Fierce Beasts, and among Level One Fierce Beasts, their speed was quite slow. Yet their scaled armor possessed terrifying defensive power. Even experts at the seventh or eighth level of Qi Refinement would find it difficult to break open their defenses without weapons capable of slicing through iron like mud.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Four sword shadows pierced the four Unicorn Rhinoceroses' eyes in the blink of an eye, passing through their brains and killing them. Yet even more Unicorn Rhinoceroses charged out from the dense forest.

Once the plump middle-aged man saw the dozens of Unicorn Rhinoceroses rushing out, his expression became incomparably ugly. Then, when he saw all manner of Fierce Beasts endlessly emerging behind them, his face turned deathly pale, and he cried out in shock, "How can this be? How can there be a Small Beast Tide here?"

A beast tide!

It was a term that could make everyone turn pale at the mere mention of tigers. Even a Small Beast Tide could crush small towns and devour thousands upon thousands of humans. The plump middle-aged man froze. With only the guards here, there was simply no way they could withstand a beast tide.

Medicine Slave carried a black pack on his back, his hunched body now straight as a ramrod. He raised the Dragon Head Cane and stood before Ye Tong. Beside them, the middle-aged woman also drew the short sword she carried and shielded her daughter.

"Mother, I can do it."

The frail little girl produced a sharp dagger from somewhere and held it across her chest. Yet panic lingered in her eyes, and her body trembled faintly.

The middle-aged woman said, "Yan'er, do you remember what I told you? As long as we reach the prefectural city, your father will be waiting for us at the city gates. If Mother dies here, go see your father alone."

"Mother, no."

The little girl stubbornly shook her head.

The middle-aged woman said no more, because more than a dozen Fierce Beasts had already pounced.

Medicine Slave moved. The middle-aged woman moved as well. Even Ye Tong dashed forward in an instant, drawing his longsword without hesitation and sweeping it toward a Level One Fierce Beast that had lunged at him.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

One Fierce Beast after another was killed by Medicine Slave and the middle-aged woman.

Ye Tong, however, needed half a quarter-hour merely to barely kill one Fierce Beast. His arm was also torn open by another Level One Fierce Beast, leaving a bloody wound. Still, the three moved with great coordination. After forming a half moon defensive line, they vaguely shielded the little girl outside the hut door.

At this moment.

The number of Fierce Beasts that had charged into the camp had already exceeded two hundred, yet more continued to pour in without end. Moreover, as time passed, the Fierce Beasts rushing in grew stronger and stronger. Gradually, Level Three Fierce Beasts had begun to appear.

Of the several dozen Baishun Merchant Guild cultivators, several had already died beneath the claws and fangs of Fierce Beasts, while more than half had been injured.

The plump middle-aged man was no weakling, possessing the cultivation of the Xiantian Fourth Level. His four guards were also exceptionally powerful. The three men were all at the Houtian Nine Levels, while the woman had reached the Xiantian First Level realm. In the short span of a quarter-hour, more than twenty Fierce Beasts had died at their hands.

It was brutal and perilous. Beast roars and the muffled groans of wounded warriors rang out without cease.

After Medicine Slave's Dragon Head Cane once again sent a Level Two Fierce Beast flying, his heart sank to the bottom. There were simply too many Fierce Beasts, and more were constantly arriving. If this situation continued, everyone in the camp would likely perish here.

"Camp Officer Meng Jia, where is this place?" After noticing a Level Three Fierce Beast drawing near, Medicine Slave immediately shouted.

Meng Jia had already become a man of blood. Though most of it was Fierce Beast blood, several wounds deep enough to expose bone still marked his body. Hearing Medicine Slave's question, a trace of mockery flashed through his eyes as he loudly replied, "Black Forest, Ten Thousand Blood Mountain."

"What?"

Medicine Slave's expression changed drastically.

Black Forest and Ten Thousand Blood Mountain lay deep within the Golden Phoenix Mountain Range. Fierce Beasts roamed rampant here, and the environment was perilous. Let alone Innate Realm cultivators, even powerhouses of the Foundation Establishment Realm would have only the slimmest hope of escaping if trapped here. Medicine Slave had originally intended to take Ye Tong and flee alone after this place fell, but now it seemed fleeing would be worse than staying to fight the Fierce Beasts to the death.

"Set up the weapons!" Meng Jia roared.

Immediately, eight lightning-fast figures rushed from the huts. Working in pairs, they carried small ballistae and swiftly set them up before the hut doors.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Each arrow shadow that shot out pierced a Fierce Beast with unerring accuracy. Within half a quarter-hour, hundreds of ballista bolts were fired, directly killing more than a hundred Fierce Beasts and greatly easing the pressure on those fighting.

"Second round."

"Third round."

"Fourth round."

In the span of two quarter-hours, four full rounds and over a thousand ballista bolts were fired. Apart from seven or eight Level Three Fierce Beasts and more than a dozen Level Two Fierce Beasts, no other living Fierce Beasts remained in the entire camp.

"Roar..."

An enraged roar rolled out from the nearby dense forest. Immediately afterward, more than a hundred Black Lions over two meters tall charged into the camp with howls. They were incredibly fast, like a sweeping black wind. The dozen or so Baishun Merchant Guild guards on the outermost perimeter were swallowed up within seven or eight breaths.

Meng Jia roared, "What are you waiting for? Shoot them!"

Before one ballista, a sturdy Baishun Merchant Guild guard drew his battle saber and shouted, "The bolts are all used up. We can only fight them head-on."

In an instant.

Everyone present turned pale.